Active clinical trials for "Respiration Disorders"

There are two fundamentally different ways to ventilate critically ill patients: constant flow, volume-preset modes (such as volume assist-control) and pressure-preset modes (such as pressure-control and pressure-support). Critically ill patients suffer mechanical derangements of the respiratory system that raise the work of breathing. Knowledge of these mechanical properties is useful diagnostically and as a measure of response to treatment over time. It has been proposed that only constant flow, volume-preset modes are able to offer diagnostic information about the changes in the subject's lungs in terms of resistance and elastance properties. This study proposes to examine if similar information can be extracted from pressure-preset modes by comparing information from both modes of ventilation.

This study will be used to evaluate and observe the overall performance and controls of the Helix ventilator. Pressure and flow data between participants' current devices and the Helix ventilator will be assessed in either invasive or non-invasive ventilation. To evaluate ventilator performance, pressure and waveform data will be assessed as well. Also, patient and caregiver feedback will be captured. The target population is infants to adults weighing more than 5kg. Participants will be recruited by Boston Children's Health Physician's Group. Up to thirty participants will be enrolled in the study.

Patients with chronic lung diseases travelling by plane often suffer with symptoms related to lower oxygen levels they are exposed to while flying. Therefore, patients with respiratory conditions are routinely assessed to establish if they need supplemental oxygen in flight. A hypoxic altitude simulation test (HAST) is often part of this assessment and consists in having patients breathe a oxygen/nitrogen blend with a lower oxygen concentration compared to normal room air, simulating in-flight conditions. Oxygen levels are measured before and after the test through a blood sample (from the earlobe or an artery in the wrist) and with a finger probe. In-flight oxygen is required if the oxygen level in the blood is lower than 6.6 kPa. HASTs are time consuming, costly, and require a dedicated hospital appointment. Using historical data, the Investigators developed scores based on capillary blood gas (blood sample from the earlobe), diagnosis and sex to predict the outcome of the HASTs. The Investigators validated the proposed scores in a separate historic cohort of patients and showed it had good concordance with the HASTs results. In this study, the Investigators want to confirm prospectively if the score, based on blood results (venous and/or earlobe), can predict the outcome of the HASTs and therefore reduce the number of tests performed, travel time for patients, and costs for the NHS. All patients, aged 18 or older, who are having a HAST for clinical purposes at the cardio-respiratory lab at Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust will be invited to take part in the study. The Investigators will record diagnosis, results of HAST and previous spirometry from the medical notes, perform a spirometry if not done in the previous 12 months and collect a blood sample (one tube, 4 mls). With these data, the Investigators will calculate the score and assess its agreement with the outcome of the HAST. Each participant's involvement in the study will last for approximately 90-120 minutes, which is the normal duration of a HAST. The Investigators aim to include up to 280 subjects in the study.

Obstructive airways disease is the most common group of acute illnesses leading to hospital treatment in children. This group consists of different age-related diagnoses, such as bronchiolitis in infants or wheezing and asthma in older children. Though these entities overlap with each other, they have common characteristics and the same leading symptom breathing distress. The investigators aim conduct an observational cohort study to examine if the clinical course of respiratory distress be quantified and the treatment improved in children with acute breathing difficulty using a new non-touch non-invasive SLP measurement device? Thora3Di is a new CE- and FDA-approved medical device able to measure chest and abdominal wall movements during tidal breathing with a method called structured light plethysmography (SLP). The method is non-touch and non- invasive, it does not need any connection with the child. One-month- to 12-years-old infants and children are recruited from the paediatric wards at Evelina London Children's hospital. The child lies or sits within the field of vision of the SLP device with their chest and abdomen exposed. A grid pattern of normal light will be projected onto the chest and changes in the format of the grid as the infant or child breathes will be recorded by the SLP device. Data will be collected for each child for 3-5 minutes once in 24 hour periods for 2-10 times during hospital stay. The aim is to reduce duration of hospital stay by finding predicting parameters for obstructive airways diseases with the new SLP method, and further aim to standardization of treatment strategies, to reduce expenditure.

The main aim of this study is the development of the Beliefs about Ventilation Questionnaire (BVQ).

The primary objective of the study is to determine the correlation between mean pleural pressure and oesophageal pressure in the immediate aftermath of bi-pulmonary transplantation. In this research, oesophageal pressure will be measured by a nasogastric tube with an esophageal balloon (also suitable for feeding the patient) usually installed at the time of transplantation, pleural pressure will be measured by several Pleurocath-type catheters (Prodimed Inc, France) which the thoracic surgeon will have positioned at the end of the surgery without additional skin intrusion.

The environmental pollutants and endogenous reactive oxygen metabolites from inflammatory cells exert substantial pathological effects on the lung cells [1]. Oxidative stress (OS) is a major factor that plays a significant role in lung cancer (LC) [2], chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) [3] and obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) [4, 5]. The current evidence suggests that OS takes part in the mechanisms involved in initiation, promotion and progression of respiratory diseases. The major exposures that cause OS can be summarized as smoking, and ambient air pollution that contains particulate matter smaller than aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 µm [6-8]. Epidemiological and clinical studies showed that the overall outcome of pulmonary OS is increased mortality due to increased incidence of respiratory diseases [9].

The purpose of this study is to detect adverse drug reactions for long-term use (particularly clinically significant adverse drug reactions) occurring in clinical settings, to examine factors likely to affect the safety and efficacy in the Japanese asthma patients who are treated with fluticasone propionate/salmeterol xinafoate.

In response to the European regulatory authorities, GSK is conducting a post-marketing observational study to assess the efficacy of Relenza when used as prophylaxis against influenza. SPECIFIC AIMS Determine the frequency of patients who received Relenza from October 2006 through April 2009, and among them the number who have no concurrent diagnosis of influenza, i.e., those receiving Relenza for prophylaxis, and among these the number who have a family member with a medical visit for influenza within three days preceding the above indentified patient's dispensing of Relenza. This is to determine the feasibility of conducting detailed analysis. If analysis is feasible then tabulate the frequency of influenza-like-illness and respiratory outcomes in users of prophylactic Relenza and their family members and in family members of persons using Relenza for the treatment of influenza (i.e., index cases). If analysis is feasible then estimate the direct effect of prophylactic Relenza on the occurrence of influenza-like-illness and respiratory outcomes, the secondary effect of Relenza treatment of influenza on susceptible family members, and the total effect of Relenza (treatment plus prophylaxis). METHODS Overview of Study Design This is an analysis of the 30-day risk of influenza-like illness and respiratory outcomes in persons for whom some household members (index cases) have had a medical visit associated with a diagnosis of influenza. The exposed individuals to the index case will be categorized into one of four cohorts according to whether the exposed person received prophylactic Relenza or no antiviral treatment and by whether the index family member with a diagnosis of influenza received antiviral treatment. Estimates of the direct effect of Relenza prophylaxis, the indirect effectof preventing disease in susceptible family members, and the total effect of disease reduction when both index cases and susceptible family members are treated will be obtained from different comparisons between cohorts, as outlined below. The research will cover the first three influenza seasons during which Relenza has been indicated for prophylactic use in the United States. These will be from October through April of 2006-2009.

The purpose of this research study is to collect cells and liquid from the air passages of healthy adults, both smokers and non-smokers. These samples will be used for test-tube studies to explore mechanisms of diseases of the respiratory tract, and to compare the samples between people who smoke cigarettes and people who don't. Obtaining these samples requires an invasive procedure called "bronchoscopy".