Active clinical trials for "Premature Birth"

Preterm infants are born with immature lungs and often require help with breathing shortly after birth. This currently involves administering 100% oxygen. Unfortunately, delivery of high oxygen concentrations leads to the production of free radicals that can injure many organ systems. Term and near-term newborns deprived of oxygen during or prior to birth respond as well or better to resuscitation with room air (21% oxygen) compared to 100% oxygen. However, a static concentration of 21% oxygen may be inappropriate for preterm infants with lung disease. Our study will investigate how adjusting the amount of oxygen given to sick preterm newborns will affect the ability to maintain a safe oxygen level in their blood. Each infant will be assigned to receive one of three treatments at birth. Resuscitation will either start with 21% oxygen and be increased if needed, 100% oxygen and be decreased if needed or 100% oxygen with no changes made (current standard of treatment). The first two groups will have adjustments in oxygen concentration as needed to reach a safe target range of blood oxygen saturation. We anticipate that preterm newborn infants resuscitated with higher oxygen concentrations will have higher than "normal" levels of oxygen in their blood while those resuscitated initially with lower concentrations of oxygen will be more likely to have "normal" oxygen levels in their blood. All premature infants will have a surface probe placed on the right hand to measure the saturation of blood with oxygen. Following the resuscitation, treatment will proceed as per standard of care until hospital discharge. All infants will be admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit given their prematurity. The purpose of this study is to investigate how safely restricting the amount of oxygen delivered to newborns during resuscitation will affect the amount of oxygen in their blood. Hypothesis: In this randomized control trial, infants resuscitated with a "low oxygen delivery (LOD)" strategy (initiation of resuscitation with 21% O2) will remain normoxemic for the greatest proportion of time during resuscitation and infants resuscitated with a "high oxygen delivery (HOD)" strategy (100% O2 used for the entire resuscitation) will be normoxemic for the smallest proportion of time during resuscitation.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate pagoclone in the treatment of premature ejaculation.

The primary purpose of the study is to demonstrate that dapoxetine can prolong intravaginal ejaculatory latency time (IELT) compared with placebo in men with premature ejaculation (PE).

The purpose of this study is to determine if the administration of GSK958108 can delay ejaculation in patients with primary premature ejaculation as measured by the ejaculatory latency time (ELT) using the masturbation model and sexual visual stimulation, and to evaluate the safety and tolerability of GSK958108 in healthy men with PE

Pulmonary inflammation plays an important role in the development of chronic lung disease (CLD) in preterm infants. This inflammation occurs very early in postnatal life. Any therapy that could be beneficial in preventing CLD should be started very early. The investigators' previous double-blind study has shown that early (< 12 hours) postnatal use of intravenous dexamethasone for 4 weeks significantly suppressed pulmonary inflammation and significantly reduced the incidence of CLD. However, the use of dexamethasone was associated with increased incidence of infection and sepsis. Their follow-up study also suggested an increase in the incidence of psychomotor anomalies. As compared to intravenous administration, endotracheal instillation will provide more local anti-inflammatory effects and less systemic side effects. Infants will be eligible for the study if their birth weight (BW) is < 1500 gm and if they had severe respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) requiring mechanical ventilation shortly after birth. After informed consent is obtained, the infant will be randomly assigned depending on the condition of the infant. The primary outcome is the change in cytokines (interleukin-6, 8, 10 and TNF-α) levels in BAL fluid. Chronic lung disease (CLD) was judged at 36 postmenstrual weeks. Infants in the study group (S/B group) received surfactant (Survanta®, Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, IL; 100 mg or 4 mL/kg/dose) and Budesonide (Pulmicort®, AstraZeneca Pty Ltd., Australia; 0.5 mg or 1mL/kg/dose), while those in the control group (S group) received surfactant (Survanta® Abbott, 100 mg/kg/dose) and saline (1mL/kg).

Neurodevelopmental follow-up of infants at high-risk such as preterm born is necessary in order to early detect impairments and early start a supportive/therapeutic intervention. Valid tools should be available for screening infants with developmental problems even where resources are limited. Such screening would ensure an adequate medical care during and after hospital discharge as well as evidence-based parental pre- and postnatal counselling. While in Switzerland, these tools are specifically needed for the neurodevelopmental surveillance of moderate to late pretem born infants, in low- and mid-income countries, they are needed to monitor the whole population of preterm born infants. To fill this important gap, the present study aims to determine whether it is feasible to extend neurodevelopmental screening (currently offered to only a very small part of children born preterm), by using a new cost-effective neurodevelopmental assessment, the INTERGROWTH-21st Neurodevelopment Assessment (INTER-NDA, www.inter-nda.com Assessment) at age 2 years.

Strategies to prevent lung injury, facilitate lung development, and to support the preterm infant's capacity to breathe are decisive. Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is the gold standard in non-invasive breathing support in preterm infants with a positive pressure that keeps the alveoli slightly inflated during expiration. Non-invasive neurally adjusted ventilator assist (NIV NAVA) is a novel method of breathing support and uses the electrical activity from the diaphragm to trigger the ventilator and synchronize with the breathing cycle. During NIV NAVA the preterm infant controls the onset of the inspiration, the respiratory rate, inspiratory time and peak pressure. This method has the potential to improve the positive pressure transmission to the infant's lower airways, accurate synchronization with the breathing pattern and be a comfortable breathing support system for the preterm infant. The investigators will compare the effect on breathing effort in preterm infants during continuous positive airway pressure and non-invasive neurally adjusted ventilatory assist measured by electrical activity in the diaphragm, respiratory vital signs, systematic clinical scoring of breathing effort and comfort, and parent reported outcomes.

Comparing with a randomized controlled trial two different feeding systems in two groups of late-preterm newborns for evaluating which is more efficient in promoting the coordination in the process of sucking-swallowing-breathing and better cardiorespiratory stability. The B-ESP group will be fed with a feeding system with a valved ergonomic teat; the B-STD with a standard feeding system.

The investigators will test a new medical grade swaddling system for optimal and more appropriate positioning for preterm infants. This is a trial focused on sleep state, state regulation and long-term neurodevelopment. The central hypothesis is that this novel swaddling method will promote sleep and an optimal sleep-wake cycle, while also improving the neurodevelopment of preterm infants. It is proposed that adequate positioning and secondary feedback of natural movement of arms and legs stimulates and fosters normal brain development.

Neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) is the most common cause of respiratory failure in the first few days in life. It is characterized by the tendency of alveoli and terminal bronchioles to collapse due to the lack of surfactant. RDS is inversely related to gestational age and remains a dominant clinical problem encountered among preterm infants. The reduction in tidal volume secondary to alveolar collapse may result in alveolar derecruitment, cyclic opening and closing of atelectatic alveoli and distal small airways leading to inflammation and lung injury). On the other hand, the use of high positive end expiratory pressure (PEEP) may be associated with excessive lung parenchyma strain and unfavorable hemodynamic effects. Therefore, lung recruitment maneuvers have been proposed and used to open collapsed lung while managing with low pressure PEEP. However, the best recruitment maneuver technique is currently unknown. Proinflammatory cytokines are synthesized by alveolar macrophages, type II pneumocytes and other local pulmonary cells causing inflammation that starts a cascade leading to lung injury. Nevertheless, they are released systemically and can lead to injury of other organs. This study aims to measure inflammatory cytokines in the serum of premature infants who receive and do not receive sustained lung inflation. The study hypothesis is that, in premature infants supported with CPAP, the use of sustained inflation is associated with decreased inflammatory biomarkers and improved respiratory outcomes. The study includes infants with gestational age of 28-24 weeks during the first 6 hours of life who will be randomly assigned to either receive (or do not receive) sustained inflations. Serum concentrations of cytokines (IL-6, IL-8, IL-1β and TNF-α) will be measured at enrollment and at 96 hours. The primary outcome of this study will be the change in serum cytokine concentrations after intervention in both groups. Clinical respiratory outcomes will be monitored.