Active clinical trials for "Syndrome"

RATIONALE: Collecting and storing samples of bone marrow and tissue from patients to test in the laboratory may help the study of cancer. PURPOSE: This laboratory study is comparing proteases (enzymes that break down protein) in patients with prostate cancer that has spread to the bone with patients who do not have cancer that has spread to the bone.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a very common chronic functional gastrointestinal disorder characterised by abdominal pain/discomfort, bloating and alterations in bowel function. This condition significantly impairs quality of life and places a large burden on health care resources. Existing therapies for IBS are far from being satisfactory and new therapies are being constantly sought. The pathogenesis of IBS remains unclear. Imbalance in the intestinal microbiota is considered to be one important etiologic factor for IBS. That some probiotics are effective in the prevention and treatment of IBS supports this idea. Progut is a synbiotic: a combination of probiotics and prebiotics. Probiotics are viable beneficial bacteria that are normally present in a healthy digestive tract. Each capsule of Progut contains 9 billion viable bacteria from 8 different strains that are characteristics of a healthy normal gut microflora: Lactobacillus (L. acidophilus, L. casei, L. lactis, and L. bulgaricus); Bifidobacterium (B. longum, B. infantis and B. bifidum); and Streptococcus thermophilus at time of manufacturing. To ensure survival of these bacteria, Progut is encapsulated and enteric-coated. The primary objective is to evaluate the tolerability of Progut treatment 1-3 capsules/day in patients with irritable bowel syndrome under the same conditions as those likely to be encountered in a standard general clinical practice or outpatient clinic. The rationale for this study is to obtain tolerability data in patients with IBS in the Singapore. The secondary objectives are to evaluate the patients' satisfaction and symptom improvement with Progut treatment.

The Schnitzler syndrome is a rare entity characterized by an urticarial rash and recurrent fever in a patient with a monoclonal IgM component. Other frequent signs include joint, bone and muscle pain, enlarged spleen, liver and lymph nodes, increased blood sedimentation rate (BSR), elevated neutrophil count and abnormalities on bone morphologic investigations. In 2001, the investigators proposed criteria to diagnose this syndrome, which are currently admitted in the literature. The main complications of the Schnitzler syndrome are a difficult-to-control inflammatory anemia, AA-amyloidosis and malignant B lymphoproliferative disorders. About 15% of patients with a Schnitzler will eventually develop a lymphoproliferative disorder; thus this syndrome allows studying the relationship between lymphomagenesis and inflammation. By many aspects, the Schnitzler syndrome is reminiscent of auto-inflammatory syndromes. Though the term auto-inflammatory disease is as to yet restricted to diseases with Mendelian inheritance, some polygenic inflammatory diseases like for example Crohn's disease clearly involve pathogenetic pathways shared with the monogenic auto-inflammatory syndromes. The investigators stipulate that this could also be the case in the Schnitzler syndrome for the following reasons: (1) this is a recurrent fever of unknown cause; (2) the peculiar eruption, characterized pathologically by a neutrophilic infiltrate very similar to the one observed in the auto-inflammatory cryopyrinopathies (CINCA/NOMID syndrome, Muckle-Wells syndrome and familial cold-urticaria); the investigators recently individualized this particular eruption, significantly associated with systemic inflammatory disease, within the group of neutrophilic urticarias (Kieffer et al. Medicine, in press); (3) the occurrence of aseptic neutrophilic osteitis, very similar to the one reported in patients with Majeed syndrome, another auto-inflammatory syndrome; (4) a significant increase of neutrophil count, not otherwise explained; (5) a spectacular response to the IL-1 inhibitor, within hours after the first injection, similar to what is reported in the PAPA (pyogenic arthritis, pyoderma gangrenosum and acne) syndrome or the cryopyrinopathies, suggesting a direct pathogenic effect of IL-1.

Background: Rett syndrome (RS) is a panethnic (affecting all ethnicities) neurodevelopmental (impairment of the growth and development of the brain) disorder affecting primarily females. RS is characterized by the loss of intellectual functioning, fine and gross motor skills, and communicative abilities after a period of seemingly normal development. Caregivers of individuals with RS face many psychosocial challenges. The stressors can be grouped into the following six categories: emotional difficulties, health-related stressors, uncertainty about their daughter s illness, rejection by their social environment, lack of available or competent experts, and unfavorable comparison with healthy children. Researchers are making a significant contribution to the adaptation literature with a focus on family functioning and to the little psychosocial research that exists on families with RS. Researchers hope to narrow down the most important areas on which to focus for intervention strategies in families with RS. Objectives: To describe family functioning, perceived illness burden, self-efficacy, types of coping methods, and adaptation in caregivers of individuals with RS to examine the relationships between these variables and the outcomes of family functioning and adaptation. To examine the extent to which appraisals of being a caregiver of an individual with RS and methods of coping are associated with family functioning. To examine the extent to which appraisals of being a caregiver of an individual with RS, methods of coping, and family functioning are associated with caregiver adaptation. Eligibility: - Eligibility is based on answering yes to the following three questions: Are you 18 years old or older? Are you the caregiver of a child diagnosed with Rett Syndrome? and Does the child with Rett Syndrome currently reside in your home with you? Design: Participants in this cross-sectional research design will answer a quantitative survey that includes some open-ended questions. The cross-sectional study involves a one-time self-administered questionnaire that takes approximately 20 to 30 minutes to complete. The survey will be available in paper and electronic versions and includes demographics questions, measures of perceived illness burden, parental self-efficacy, coping methods, family functioning, and adaptation. Participants also will answer open-ended questions related to the individual s diagnosis. Participants may withdraw from the study at any point up until submission of the survey and may skip any question. Participants who experience psychological distress as a result of taking the survey are advised to contact the researcher. Study coordinators at the various clinics from which participants will be recruited will be notified of the possibility of adverse events and instructed to direct any members who experience distress to the appropriate professional services. Participants will receive a small financial compensation for completing the survey.

The main goal of this open-label, prospective, non-controlled, non-interventional post marketing surveillance study is to evaluate how pramipexole treatment works when applied in actual practice. In actual practice patients who would have been excluded in the clinical registration studies of pramipexole in moderate to severe primary Restless Legs Syndrome (i.e. those with certain disease histories, co-morbidities and/or demographic characteristics) will also be treated with pramipexole. Thus, during this post marketing surveillance study additional information on the efficacy and safety of pramipexole in those patients will be obtained. The objectives of this post marketing surveillance study are: To investigate the influence of Sifrol® (pramipexole) treatment on unpleasant sensory symptoms of Restless Legs Syndrome as measured with the short form of the McGill Pain Questionnaire. To assess if improvement of sensory symptoms correlates with overall Restless Legs Syndrome severity (International Restless Legs Syndrome Scale for Severity) and with secondary symptoms like sleeping problems and daytime tiredness (items 1 & 6 from Restless Legs Syndrome-6). To evaluate if the treatment effect of Sifrol on overall Restless Legs Syndrome severity (International Restless Legs Syndrome Scale for Severity) differs between patients with high pain scores and patients with lower pain scores. To compare General Practitioner and neurologist sites patient populations in terms of demographics, Restless Legs Syndrome severity at Visit 1 and treatment outcomes at Visit 3. To evaluate the development of behavioural changes under pramipexole treatment.

Obstructive Sleep Apnoea Hypopnoea Syndrome(OSAHS)affects at least 4% of males and 2% of females. OSAHS is the combination of excessive daytime sleepiness, snoring and apnoeas (stopping breathing at night). As well as affecting tiredness, mood, concentration and quality of life - there is growing concern that it can increase the risk of high blood pressure, heart problems, strokes and thromboses (clots in the veins). It appears that OSAHS may affect the thickness of the blood and cause it to clot more easily it also causes damage to the lining of the blood vessels (endothelial injury). These effects seem independent of other risk factors such as obesity, smoking, family history of clots etc. The investigators are testing new biomarkers: gel point and fractal dimension developed at the Swansea University to measure the 'clotting' of the blood in people with OSAHS and a similar group of people who snore and who are sleepy but do not have OSAHS on sleep studies (Controls) Also markers of vascular inflammation are being measured.

The protein polymorphism of the growth hormone receptor characterized by the genomic deletion of exon 3 has been linked to the magnitude of the first-year-growth response to growth hormone (GH) in girls with Turner syndrome. Objective: to study the long-term effect of GH therapy in Turner syndrome in correlation to this GHR polymorphism in a mainly retrospective design (chart-review).

To evaluate the effect of capsaicin in patients with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.

The Division of Medical Genetics at the University of Mississippi Medical Center is recruiting parents of children with a pervasive developmental disorder (including autism, autistic spectrum disorder, PDD-NOS, Asperger syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder, and Rett syndrome) to participate in a study to help determine potential causes of the increasing prevalence of these disorders. The study is being conducted using an anonymous on-line survey available to parents through a secure link. The study consists of approximately 90 questions about the affected child, siblings, parents, and grandparents, which will take roughly 10-15 minutes to complete. Several families will also be invited to participate in a phone interview. Both the survey and the phone interview are conducted using a self-designated code to protect anonymity and patient privacy. No identifying information such as name, date of birth, address, or phone number will be asked. Only questions regarding the year of birth of family members will be asked.

Primary Objectives: To compare the neuropsychiatric (NP) and neurocognitive (NC) symptoms and assess the quality of life (QOL) in older patients (age > 18) with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) or high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) receiving different therapies, chemotherapy (Clofarabine + ara-C) or targeted therapies (PKC412 + low-dose ara-C, or R115777 + low-dose ara-C, or decitabine, or STI + low-dose ara-C). To determine whether there is a correlation between the number of packed red blood cell (PRBC) transfusions and cognitive scores and/or QOL.