Active clinical trials for "Syndrome"

OBJECTIVES: I. Evaluate electrocardiographic parameters, including QT and PR intervals and QRS morphology/duration, across clinical stages in patients with Rett syndrome. II. Characterize abnormalities of cardiac conduction and repolarization. III. Assess arrhythmias, heart rate variability, and autonomic nervous system function in these patients using 24-hour Holter monitoring. IV. Record events believed to represent seizures with video, electroencephalogram (EEG), and polygraph monitoring in patients who have more than 1 clinical seizure every 5 days. V. Characterize these events with respect to clinical manifestations, EEG correlates, and other physiologic data. VI. Determine the frequency of seizures vs. events without electrographic correlates in these patients. VII. Determine whether Rett syndrome patients have characteristic or unique types of seizures and/or an epileptic syndrome.

To investigate whether women with Polycystic Ovary syndrome (PCOS) have evidence of an increased prevalence rate of subclinical atherosclerosis as measured by the presence of plaque, increased intima-medial carotid artery wall thickness and lower brachial artery flow mediated vasodilation.

This study will follow patients with salivary gland dysfunction to identify the long-term course of this disorder and its effects on the mouth, oral function, and overall health. Saliva is important in maintaining oral health and comfort. It moistens the mouth, lubricates food for easier swallowing, provides enzymes needed to begin the digestive process and promotes repair and cleansing of soft tissues of the mouth. Decreased salivary production or changes in salivary composition may affect oral and systemic health and cause an increase in tooth decay. Patients 4 years of age and older with dry mouth symptoms and a diagnosis of primary, secondary or incomplete Sj(SqrRoot)(Delta)gren s syndrome or salivary gland dysfunction due to radiation may be eligible for this study. Candidates will be screened with a complete medical and dental history and blood and saliva tests. Some patients will have a biopsy of the minor salivary glands, usually from the lower lip, to confirm or rule out the diagnosis of Sj(SqrRoot)(Delta)gren s syndrome and determine the extent of changes in the salivary glands. (A biopsy is the surgical removal of a small piece of tissue for laboratory examination.) The ability to taste and smell may also be evaluated, and patients may have an ultrasound examination of their swallowing function. Participants will have a general oral examination of the teeth and soft tissues of the mouth, general physical examination, eye examination and blood tests and will fill out a questionnaire on oral health and function. In addition, they will have the following tests and procedures: Identification of possible fungal infection Patients rinse their mouth with 2 teaspoons of a salt-water solution and spit it in a sterile container for laboratory examination. If a fungal infection is detected, treatment will be offered. Unstimulated salivary function assessment Saliva production is measured by collecting saliva samples through small suction cups connected to collection tubes over the salivary gland ducts in the mouth. Stimulated salivary function assessment A sour-tasting liquid (2% citric acid) is applied to the top and sides of the tongue at 30-second intervals to stimulation saliva production while saliva is collected using the procedure described above. Identification of markers of precancerous lesions The salivary gland biopsy done at the screening evaluation (or from outside sources) is examined for markers of precancerous lesions, as about 5 percent of patients with Sj(SqrRoot)(Delta)gren's syndrome develop a tumor called Non-Hodgkin s lymphoma. In some cases, the minor salivary glands may be re-biopsied a few years after the screening biopsy. Patients will be followed once a year with a comprehensive history and physical examination, eye examination, full oral examination, salivary function assessment and questionnaires about signs and symptoms of salivary gland dysfunction.

RATIONALE: Diagnostic procedures may improve the ability to detect residual disease. PURPOSE: Clinical trial to detect the presence of residual disease in children who are receiving therapy for acute myeloid leukemia or myelodysplastic syndrome.

Patients with Cushing disease have hormone producing tumors in their pituitary gland. Often these tumors are so small they cannot be detected by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The inferior petrosal sinuses are small veins that drain the blood from the pituitary gland. By taking a small sample of blood from these sinuses, doctors can differentiate a small tumor in the pituitary gland from other tumors in the body producing the hormone. Patients with Cushing disease have high levels of the hormone ACTH in the petrosal sinuses. Patients with other causes of Cushing syndrome do not have increased levels of ACTH in the petrosal sinuses. The procedure to collect blood from the petrosal sinus is called Inferior Petrosal Sinus Sampling (IPSS). The technique is very sensitive and can tell the difference between a pituitary tumor and other causes of Cushing syndrome nearly 100% of the time. However, IPSS is very difficult to perform and is only available in a few hospitals. Therefore, researchers are looking for another possible way to diagnose Cushing syndrome that would be less technically difficult and more readily available to patients. ACTH is produced in the pituitary gland as a response to the production of Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone (CRH) in the brain (hypothalamus). This study will compare ACTH levels in the internal jugular veins before and after CRH stimulation with those obtained by conventional IPSS from patients with Cushing's syndrome. Obtaining blood from the jugular veins is a simple, practically risk free procedure that could be done easily in a community hospital on an out patient basis. Researchers believe that CRH stimulation will increase ACTH production from tumors of the pituitary gland (corticotroph adenomas) so that the diagnostic information from jugular venous sampling would be equivalent to that of IPSS. This proposal to develop jugular venous sampling (JVS) with CRH stimulation as a test for the differential diagnosis of Cushing Syndrome would potentially contribute greatly to the medical care of patients with Cushing syndrome, as a less costly, safer and more widely available alternative to IPSS.<TAB>

Piriformis muscle syndrome (PMS) is a neuromuscular disorder that can cause symptoms of hip joint motion limitation, buttock pain and tenderness, and numbness radiating to the back of the thigh due to compression or irritation of the sciatic nerve.In the etiology of PMS myofascial trigger points are the most common cause and also hypertrophy in the piriformis muscle tissue, inflammation, trauma, anatomical variations of the piriformis muscle or sciatic nerve may also cause the development of PMS . Physical examination supports the diagnosis of PMS and may help to eliminating competing diagnoses. Multiple physical examination maneuvers have been identified to help diagnose but no physical examination maneuver is diagnostic for PMS. Compression and deep palpation may also exacerbate buttock or gluteal pain. Electrodiagnostic tests are usually normal in FMS and useful in excluding other conditions such as lumbosacral radiculopathy .There is no gold standard treatment option for PMS, conservative treatment and lifestyle changes remain the mainstays for the treatment. Piriformis muscle stretching is the form of an exercise technique in physiotherapy method that is generally used for those patients. The exercises focused on relaxing the priformis muscle to increase the resting length of the muscle and reduce the potential sciatic nerve compression because of this thigtness. Dry needling (DN) therapy is a treatment method where myofascial trigger points are stimulated using acupuncture needles or injection needles .DN can be applied according to the anatomical landmark method or under the guidance of ultrasound (US) and fluoroscopic imaging. US guidance is important in the management of PMS, which allows imaging of specific deep muscle groups and avoids complications such as procedural pain and damage of neurovascular structures . There are no randomized controlled studies other than case series on the use and frequency of application of the US-guided DN technique in PMS. The aim of this study is to compare the effectiveness of dry needling treatment applied to the piriformis muscle once a week for a total of 3 times under US guidance and 3-week exercise program treatment in PMS. The secondary outcomes of this study is to evaluate and compare the effect of these treatment modalities on Visuel Analg Scale (VAS) scores ,Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), lower extremity functional scale (LEFS) and (Douleur Neuropathique 4 Questionare ) DN4 scores in PMS patients at 3 months follow up.

compare and evaluate the effect of use of ultrasonic criteria of weaning versus the conventional ways of weaning in post-traumatic acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) patients who were ventilated for a long time. And compare their effect on the duration of ICU stay.

Adipose tissue secreting a number of adipokines which regulate insulin sensitivity, energy metabolism and vascular homeostasis, so the dysfunction of adipose tissue is linked with the incidence of obesity accompanied with insulin resistance, hypertension and cardiovascular disease (1). Obesity is known to alters the expression of adipokines due to the adipose tissue hypertrophy (2), including adiponectin, in which able to exert a potent anti-inflammatory and vascular protective effect (2). It has been proposed that adiponectin acts to prevent the vascular dysfunction due to obesity and diabetes by improves insulin sensitivity and metabolic profiles to reduce the risk factors for cardiovascular disease and protects the vasculature through its pleiotropic actions on endothelial cells, endothelial progenitor cells, smooth muscle cells and macrophages (1). The concentrations of adiponectin of 5 to 25 mg/mL had a significant inhibitory effect on the expression of monocyte adhesion and adhesion molecule induced by TNF-α in vitro. Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which adhesion molecules on arterial endothelial cells are responsible for the accumulation of monocytes/macrophages and T lymphocytes. While obesity is low-grade inflammation in which make a contribution on endothelial dysfunction by increasing the oxygen-derived free radicals (ROS) due to adipocyte hypertrophy, leads to an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and mitochondrial dysfunction (3). Adiponectin is accumulated in the vasculature, and it reduced on obesity due to suppression by TNF-α and lead to adiponectin-deficiency which stimulate the significant increases of Vascular cell adhesion protein 1 (VCAM-1) and Intercellular Adhesion Molecule 1 (ICAM-1) or known as CD54 in aortic intima (4). Here we investigate the level of adiponectin, ICAM-1, VCAM-1 with the incidence of MetS in obese adolescents.

A prospective study will be conducted to evaluate inflammatory activity in lacrimal glands due to Sjögren's syndrome on Superb Microvascular Imaging (SMI), gray scale ultrasound (US), color Doppler US and Power Doppler US.

Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS) is a common health problem among men and can cause severe quality of life. The pathophysiology of CPPS is still poorly understood and effective treatments are a challenging issue. This study aims to investigate the possible relationship between the presence of microorganisms in the prostatic fluid and symptom severity by presenting a retrospective analysis based on data from CPPS patients.