Active clinical trials for "Rare Diseases"

One in six people in the United Kingdom and over 400 million people worldwide have disabling hearing loss. This figure will double by 2050 as predicted by the World Health Organisation. There is an urgent need to improve our knowledge regarding hearing loss, its underlying mechanisms, optimal diagnostic modalities, reliable and accurate functional and imaging biomarkers. A less-well studied condition associated with progressive hearing loss is infratentorial superficial siderosis (iSS). It results from iron deposition along the surfaces of brain structures which control hearing and balance. It is currently considered uncommon, but may well be under-recognised and therefore under-reported. Despite its severity, our current understanding of its impact on the hearing (auditory) and balance (vestibular) functions is limited, and this has an adverse impact on the treatment offered to these patients. Additionally, iSS patients have been reported to have cognitive impairment yet literature reports of cognitive assessment in iSS are few. The cognitive dysfunction may be specific to iSS or due to progressive hearing impairment or a combination of both, and further studies are required to establish this. Olfaction is also known to be affected in patients with iSS yet is rarely reported in the literature. Due to the significant morbidity and progressive nature, there is a clear need to improve our understanding of the audiovestibular dysfunction resulting from iSS. The aim of this study is to comprehensively assess audiovestibular function in iSS compared to age-related hearing loss and the controls/normative data and as a means to quantify deficits for monitoring disease progression and response to treatment, to assess the impact on the quality of life, to analyse clinically-obtained data (including imaging, cognitive and laboratory data), and correlate these with functional findings in iSS.

The overall purpose of this project is to advance understanding of the neurophysiological features of Rett syndrome (RTT), MECP2 Duplication (MECP2 Dup) and RTT-related disorders (CDKL5, FOXG1) to gain insight into disease pathogenesis, with an emphasis on identifying biomarkers of disease evolution and severity. This specific study is intertwined to the core study Natural History of Rett Syndrome and Related Disorders (RTT5211), which characterizes range of clinical involvement and genotype-phenotype correlations and will provide phenotypical data for determining the clinical relevance of the neurophysiologic parameters; study subjects here are co- and primarily enrolled in RTT5211. The proposed studies will serve as basis of future translational investigations, including further refinement of biomarkers, development of outcome measures, and clinical trials per se.

Families of children with rare diseases (i.e., not more than 5 out of 10.000 people are affected) are often highly burdened with fears, insecurities and concerns regarding the affected child and his/her siblings. The aim of the present research project is to examine the psychosocial burden of the children with rare (congenital) pediatric surgical diseases and their family in order to draw attention to a possible psychosocial care gap in this population.

After the use of DNA chips for diagnostic purposes, high-throughput sequencing (HTS) is transforming the field of developmental diseases, from fundamental research to care. Nonetheless, before HTS can be transferred to everyday clinical practice, in particular for expert diagnosis using exome HTS, it is necessary to anticipate the nature of the information to be given to patients and to parents in order to obtain consent for exome HTS. The objective in terms of public health is to allow patients with rare diseases to benefit from innovative technologies in optimal conditions of information and accompaniment. the objectives of this project are to evaluate the preferences of families of patients with development disorders as regard to suspicious and incidental findings from HTS before its introduction for diagnostic purpose, and then, following the exome analyses carried out for diagnostic purposes, describe, analyse and understand the experience, expectations and reactions of families and geneticists concerning the diagnostic trajectory in general and at the time the results of the HTS were announced in particular A methodology that associated quantitative and qualitative approaches was chosen so as to combine the advantages and overcome the shortcomings of each: a quantitative study to investigate a large number of patients, which would ensure a certain representativeness of the population and allow sub-groups analyses to study the upstream phase concerning indications for high-throughput sequencing; and a qualitative study, which though it allows only a small number of patients to be investigated, makes it possible to describe, analyze and understand in depth the complex downstream phenomena of high-throughput sequencing results

Prospective, multi-site, study to evaluate the clinical utility of cWGS in a proband. One group will receive cWGS and a clinical report approximately 15 days after blood samples are received, while the other group will continue to receive standard of care until Day 60. The standard of care group will receive cWGS and a clinical report at Day 60 as part of secondary and tertiary analyses. Both groups will be followed for a total of 90 days.

In this study, Investigators will conduct a prospective cohort study of dialysis patients by collecting research-quality information on patient characteristics, comorbid diseases and laboratory markers used in routine practice, as well as novel biochemical markers and genetic data. Investigators will utilize data from the cohort to test the independent relationship between biochemical and genetic markers and Fabry disease and other rare diseases.

This project is a randomized controlled trial to use a mobile health journal, called Zamplo (formerly known as MyHealthJournal or ZoeInsights), to record patient reported outcomes (PROM) in patients with metabolic disorders. The objective of the study is to assess the feasibility, acceptability and potential effectiveness of the Zamplo. The primary hypothesis is as follows: The Zamplo platform will significantly increase patient activation at 6 months post-baseline, defined as an individual's knowledge, skill, and confidence for managing their health and health care. The primary outcome is as follows: Patient activation following the use of Zamplo will serve as the primary outcome of interest and will be measured by the Patient Activation Measure (PAM) 13. The PAM 13 shows the degree of the patient's ability to manage their health with confidence by providing a total patient activation score. Brief Background: This project is a randomized controlled trial to use a mobile health journal, called Zamplo, to record patient reported outcomes (PROM) in patients with metabolic disorders. Zamplo is a software as a service (SaaS) digital platform on both iOS and Android platforms that allows real-time entry of patient symptoms and response to medications. It provides the patients with an interface to see their progress, store questions that they will ask at the next clinic visit, record their health data and use their data to engage in their health outcomes. MAGIC Clinic Ltd., which is the largest clinic in Alberta that manages metabolic disorders such as Fabry disease, Pompe disease, and Gaucher disease, will provide access to Zamplo to patients free-of-charge to evaluate its utility in managing the symptoms of their disease. Brief Study Design: The study is a two-armed randomized controlled design with 1:1 allocation to treatment (Zamplo app group) or control (usual care) arms, with assessments at four time points: baseline, 1 month, 3 months (primary outcome), 6 months and 12 months follow-up post-baseline. This is an open-label trial. The investigators intend to recruit 150 participants in this study, with 75 of them being controls. Inclusion Criteria: Adult patients with a diagnosis of metabolic disease Access to a smartphone with data connection Willingness to devote 10-15 mins of time in a day to log medications and notes Able to speak and write English sufficiently to complete questionnaires. Exclusion Criteria: Insufficient cognitive function to participate in the study The use of any electronic application requires some competency with the software on a cellphone, downloading the application and entering the data. Some patients who are elderly may not be familiar with this technology and would be excluded.

The main objective of the study is to assess the oral health-related quality of life of patients with rare diseases and followed in the rare disease centers of expertise at Necker Hospital in Paris by semi-structured interviews.

Background: SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes COVID. It has caused a global pandemic. Most people have no to mild symptoms. But some people need to be hospitalized, and a small number need critical care. Older age as well as some socio-demographic factors and chronic health conditions may play a role in the severity of COVID. In this study, researchers want to assess sociodemographic-, population-, disease-, and gene-based risks for features associated with severe SARS-CoV-2 outcomes. As more is understood about COVID, researchers also want to learn more about people s experiences with COVID vaccines, long-haul symptoms, and other related disease features. Objective: To measure the frequency and severity of COVID infection in people with rare and common diseases, looking for conditions that increase risk of severe outcomes. To describe experiences with COVID vaccines, symptoms, and other features of COVID in people with rare and common diseases. Eligibility: People greater than 1 month of age, both with and without rare disease, who have access to the Internet. Design: This study will take place online. Participants will visit a website. They will fill out a survey. It should take less than 30 minutes to complete. They will answer questions about their current health and COVID experiences. They will answer questions about their demographic and location features that may impact their exposure to the virus. All questions are optional. Participants may repeat the survey if their responses indicate a need for follow-up. Participants medical records may be reviewed. Participants may be contacted for future studies related to: COVID Their underlying health conditions A new exposure that is being studied....

Background: The SARS-COV2 outbreak has had a major impact on the economy and society. Researchers want to learn how widespread the infection is in the rare disease community. To do this, they will get blood samples from people with rare diseases. They will use at-home sampling. This will allow them to get samples from people across a wide area. Objective: To estimate the proportion of people with rare diseases who have SARS-COV2 antibodies in the National Center for the Advancement of Translational Sciences Rare Disease Clinical Research Network (RDCRN) Rare Diseases Survey over time. Eligibility: People under age 90 who have a rare disease and have taken part in the Cincinnati Children s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) protocol# 2020-0299. Design: RDCRN will tell CCHMC participants about this NIH study. RDCRN will only reach out to those who agreed to be contacted for future studies. They will be contacted by phone and email. Participants will have a virtual visit to collect data. It will take place over the phone. Participants will be sent a home kit to collect a blood sample. The kit contains gauze, a lancet, bandages, a collection device, and instructions. They will also be given shipping materials. They will give up to 80ul of blood. They will ship the sample back to NIH. Participants will complete a survey. It can be done online or over the phone. Participation will last for 1 week.