Active clinical trials for "Wounds and Injuries"

The purpose of this study is to conduct a pilot trial investigating cognitive training in older Veterans with a history of traumatic brain injury (TBI) to assess training effects, acceptability of training to participants, and to explore whether other factors influence training effects.

Individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) have significant functional loss and poor quality of life. Individuals with cervical SCI are suffering much worse sickness within the SCI population. Tetraplegia resulting from cervical SCI bring a formidable emotional, physical, and financial burden in our society. Hand function is especially important to people with tetraplegia. Hand function is associated with independence in many activities, and impairments in upper extremity function can compound difficulties in many other areas, such as bowel and bladder management. Thus, it is not surprising that restoring hand function was found to be a priority for individuals with tetraplegia. Nowadays, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) plays an essential role in the diagnosis of SCI and helps to monitor disease progression and efficacy of therapies. Advanced MRI techniques, such as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and functional MRI (fMRI), have shown the potential to improve the understanding of human spinal cord in healthy and pathological condition, and serve as imaging biomarkers to characterize damage degree, monitor the response to treatment, and predict the outcome of intervention. Meanwhile, multi-channel EMG (Electromyography) recordings can provide a mapping of neuromuscular activities from an electrode-array. The application of robotics in upper extremity function restoration of SCI patients has been started to help SCI patients to recovery upper extremity function. Combined DTI and fMRI to monitor the recovery of upper extremity function of SCI patients, this project will provide a tailored-made EMG driven soft-robotic hand prosthesis for tetraplegia individuals. We will provide the individuals with neuromuscular rehabilitation to preserve the residual function and to enhance the functional recovery. The eventual goal is to further design a useful robotic hand for regaining partial daily function to improve the quality of life for those individuals with tetraplegia.

Chronic non-healing wounds considerably impact quality of life in affected patients and are a substantial burden on the Canadian health care system. Microbes colonizing a chronic wound play an important role in impeding effective healing. Chronic wounds are colonized by polymicrobial communities and no single organism can be seen as causal. Only a small fraction of wound bacteria are cultured by diagnostic tests and studies have shown little agreement between culture and molecular based approaches, therefore an effective diagnostic for wound microbes is required. It is know that the composition of the microbial community associated with a wound changes as it heals although the causal relationship is somewhat unclear. Although not very effective in treating chronic non-healing wounds, antibiotics are often administered, contributing to concerns of antibiotic resistance. The wound dressings produced by Exciton Technologies Inc. (ETI) effectively aid in the healing process in chronic wounds through unknown mechanisms. ETI's wound dressings contain a combination of silver salts with three different valence, +1, +2 and +3 that have antimicrobial activity and are effective in reducing biofilm formation in vitro. However, it is not known how these silver salts impact microbial ecology of the wound and the role this plays in wound healing. The objectives of this research are to develop a new diagnostic tool based on molecular characterization of wound sites so as to predict how to best treat wounds and to identify new microbes to be targeted by ETI's technology. This project will utilize molecular microbial ecology for the assessment and evaluation of topical silver interventions, gaining insight into the management of chronic infection. Substantiating the microbiota-modifying effectiveness of silver wound dressings towards increasing clinician and patient understanding to improving clinical outcomes.

This research will study the healing of standardized wounds created in the oral mucosa of volunteer participants during daily intake of tablets and topical application of oil containing the probiotic bacterium Lactobacillus reuteri. Our null hypothesis is that the consumption and topical application of probiotic supplements containing L. reuteri does not improve clinical healing of oral wounds in healthy participants when compared to controls.

Most individuals who have survived an acquired brain injury (ABI) present consequences affecting the sensorimotor, cognitive, affective or behavioural components. The conditions can vary from mild to extreme. The consequences of an ABI may have a considerable impact on their functioning, and secondary conditions like depression or sedentary behaviours, so they suffer changes in their Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL). The purpose of this project is to determine the effect of a physical activity group program on HRQoL. As well as to identify factors that facilitate or act as a barrier to practice physical activity.

The present study is an explorative analysis of the relationship between cerebral blood perfusion and oxygenation and lung mechanical variables at different ventilator settings. It is a safety study excluding patients with severe lung injury or brain edema.

In this study, 6 volunteer participants with chronic spinal cord injury will be invited to use an autonomous hand exoskeleton device controlled by a brain/neural-computer interaction (BNCI) system fusing electroencephalography (EEG) and electrooculography (EOG) to detect the intention of the user to grasp objects of daily life. The BNCI system consists of a lightweight hand exoskeleton connected to portable motors, rechargeable batteries and a computerized control system integrated into a wheelchair. Before, during and after use of the BNCI system the volunteers will perform standardized assessments and complete questionnaires to assess the functional and psychological effects of the exoskeleton. Functional outcomes primarily focus on motor function in performing daily life actions while psychological outcomes primarily focus on safety, reliability as well as predisposition and perceptions of disability.

The purpose of this study is to dermine whether local-water filtered infrared-A (wIRA) irradiation can reduce postoperative wound infection. wIRA irradiation is applied 20min directly preoperatively, before patients underwent abdominal surgery. The wIRA is a harmless light source, that has been described before. We test the impact and clinical outcome of patients undergoing a one-time preoperative wIRA irradiation on postoperative wound healing.

This two-week study will compare the healing of minor wounds when no bandage is applied against four different types of bandages. The study investigators will make five small wounds similar to scrapes (about a half-inch square) on the back of subjects who qualify to participate in the trial and have given informed consent. Four of the wounds will be covered by different bandages and one will be left uncovered. Participants will visit the clinic every day for 2 weeks or until all the wounds are healed (whichever comes first). At the clinic, the bandages will be removed, the doctor will score the wounds, a picture will be taken of the wounds and new bandages will be applied. It is expected that some pain and itching will be experienced, because they are part of the normal wound healing process. Subjects will be asked about adverse events at each visit and will have the opportunity to discuss issues or concerns with the investigator or the doctor during the course of the trial. It is expected that the wounds will be completely healed within 14 days, but if not, the participant will need to return to the clinic for follow-up treatment until the wounds are completely healed. We will see if the different bandages help with the healing of the wounds during the study.

This study will test a special powder for ulcers caused by a variety of conditions such as pressure that sometimes happen when a person is at the end of life. The powder will be applied to these ulcers to see if it helps with pain, odor and drainage (leakage). People who are being cared for by hospice or palliative care organizations will be invited to be in the study. The study will also find out if the powder is easy to use by caregivers as well as improving the comfort and quality of life of the person who has the ulcer.