Active clinical trials for "Obesity"

The purpose of this study to assess the effects of chronic administration of Vyvanse (lis-dexamphetamine) on glucose metabolism in a sample of children and adolescents with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) who also have glucose intolerance and are obese.

Obesity is common (>30% of US adults), contributes to substantial morbidity and mortality, but is difficult to treat. Partly this is due to the transient, arduous and modest nature of lifestyle interventions. Partly it is due to the limited efficacy and safety problems of existing pharmacotherapy. Only one drug, orlistat, is approved for long-term use in obesity; but its effects on weight are relatively small. There are drugs that have been approved for other diseases but which also reduce weight. One promising approach to treating obesity is combination therapy with orlistat and one or more of these other agents. The investigators propose an innovative approach to developing new therapies for obesity coupling the use of combination therapy with rigorous assessment of cardiovascular safety. Vascular function is a quantitative surrogate clinical endpoint that has been strongly and independently linked to future cardiovascular events. Our hypothesis is that combination pharmacotherapy will reduce weight and improve vascular function in obese human subjects. The co-primary endpoints will be weight and vascular function.

Whenever a person has a cesarean section there is a risk that there will be a problem with healing of the wound. The most common type of wound healing problem is separation and opening of the skin and fatty tissue just beneath the skin. This type of wound healing problem happens more often when the patient has a high body weight. In most cases, metal staples are used to bring the skin together to close the wound. Usually, the staples are left in place for a longer time when the woman is heavy, in hopes of decreasing the chance of wound healing problems. But it is not known if leaving the staples in for a longer time is actually helpful. In some cases, leaving the staples in longer may cause more pain and will require you to see the doctor again to get the staples taken out. The purpose of this study is to see if there is any difference in how the wound heals in heavy women after cesarean section when the skin staples are removed after a short period of time versus a long period of time.

A 1 year worldwide study in obese and overweight patients to assess the safety and effect on body weight of an investigational weight loss drug.

OBJECTIVE: Obesity and chronic sleep deprivation have both become increasingly pervasive medical problems in recent years. The prevalence of adult obesity has doubled over the past 30 years and continues to increase. In addition, industrial societies attach an economic value to maximizing the waking period to the longest tolerable limit by sleeping as little as possible. Average sleep time has decreased over the last century by 2 hours. Chronically sleeping less has been associated with increased weight, endocrine and metabolic health risks including glucose intolerance, cardiovascular disease, and mortality. The possibility that the current epidemic of obesity and metabolic health risks may be partially related to insufficient sleep is now being recognized. The objective of this proof-of-concept controlled trial is to investigate the impact of increasing sleep time in chronically sleep-deprived, obese subjects. STUDY POPULATION: 18-50 year old, obese (BMI 30-50) men and premenopausal women, chronically sleep deprived, recruited from the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area. Chronic sleep deprivation will be verified by the use of sleep logs and the use of actigraphy before entry into the study. Secondary causes of sleep deprivation such as insomnia, psychological (depression), and medical conditions associated with poor sleep quality (including obstructive sleep apnea) will be exclusionary criteria. DESIGN: This is a randomized, 12-month duration, comparison-controlled clinical trial of an extension of sleep up to approximately 7 hours and 30 minutes (Intervention Group) or continuation of habitual short sleep schedule (Comparison Group). The proposed treatment is an educational and behavioral intervention aimed at increasing sleep in a non-pharmacological fashion. The main analysis of the study will be to determine if additional sleep will result in a significant difference in body weight at the end of 12 months between the Intervention Group and the Comparison Group. In addition, we would like to establish whether 12 months of additional sleep will result in: a) a decreased prevalence of metabolic syndrome; and b) changes in the endocrine profile (i.e. inducing changes in leptin [increase] and ghrelin [decrease] opposite to the changes associated with chronic sleep deprivation). At the end of the 12-month intervention study (Phase 1, Efficacy Randomized Phase Study), all participants will be given information about the potential benefit of more sleep and encouraged to increase sleep time. Health teaching about proper nutrition and adequate exercise will also be provided at that time to the Intervention and Comparison Groups. All participants will be evaluated 6 months later to assess the effects of this intervention in a real-life situation, and offered participation in a three-year extension with semi-annual visits (Phase 2, Effectiveness 3 Year Follow-Up Phase Study), for which matched external comparison subjects will also be recruited ad hoc. OUTCOME PARAMETERS: body weight, average number of hours of sleep/night, fasting glucose and insulin, oral glucose tolerance test, leptin, ghrelin, adiponectin, other relevant endocrine and anthropometric measures, body composition, various metabolic parameters, food intake, energy expenditure, and quality of life measures.

The accumulation of iron is known to affect the functions of the liver, adipose tissue and muscle. The brain is a well-known place of iron deposition, which is associated with cognitive parameters of subjects with obesity. The hypothesis is that certain parameters related to glucose metabolism (glycemic variability, the circulating concentration of AGE receptor agonists, pentosidine and HbA1c) are associated with cognitive function, brain iron content and gut microbiota composition in subjects with obesity. The study includes both a cross-sectional (comparison of subjects with and without obesity) and a longitudinal design (evaluation one year after weight loss induced by bariatric surgery or by diet in patient with obesity) to evaluate the associations between continuous glucose monitoring, brain iron content (by magnetic resonance), cognitive function (by means of cognitive tests), physical activity (measured by activity and sleep tracker device) and the composition of the microbiota, evaluated by metagenomics.

This cross-disciplinary study will assemble and longitudinally follow a large, diverse birth cohort to determine the relationships between early life antibiotic exposure, microbiome development, growth, antibodies, and immunostimulation.

There is an ongoing and worsening problem with obesity in the developed, and much of the developing world. Although it has long been realized that Western diets that are rich in sugar and fat play an important role in this, it has only recently been realized that exposure to these diets, particularly in childhood, can damage the part of the brain that determines how much fat there is in the body. The result of this damage is that the so-called "set-point" for fat in this part of the brain is pushed upwards. There is a lot of evidence from animals that activating the brain's balance (vestibular) system pushes this set-point for fat downwards to cause fat loss, probably because this tricks the brain into thinking that the animal is more physically active. The aim of this study is to see whether the same effect can be triggered in humans by non-invasively stimulating the vestibular system with a small electrical current through the skin behind their ears.

The objective of the present study is to estimate the effect of nudging proposals on the students' Body Mass Index, based on changes made in the school environment. This is a factorial randomized community trial, which will be conducted in 18 public schools in the city of Duque de Caxias, RJ.

This study will investigate the effects of breastfeeding and breastmilk composition on infant gut microbiome development as well as obesity and cognitive outcomes. Breast milk contains certain natural sugars that can promote the growth of 'good' bacteria in the intestines and reduce the growth of harmful bacteria. The purpose of this study is to look at the effects of these natural sugars in breast milk on the infant's bacteria and the impact of this on development of obesity and cognitive outcomes by 2 years of age with plans for longer term follow up contingent upon funding.