Active clinical trials for "Wounds and Injuries"

Renal dysfunction is a major risk factor for poorer outcome after liver transplantation. Nevertheless, mechanisms of renal dysfunction in liver transplant recipients are not clearly understood. Calcineurin inhibitors are generally perceived as the most important cause; however the liver transplant procedure itself represents a major surgical / hemodynamic / inflammatory trauma that - on its own - can cause renal dysfunction. Creatinine and creatinine clearance are late markers of acute kidney injury and changes in these parameters occur only after substantial injury has already occurred. Even a stable creatinine does not exclude structural kidney damage. A series of new markers of tissue injury have been identified and have the potential to identify acute kidney injury better and earlier than creatinine and creatinine clearance. The aim of this study is to determine whether and how liver transplantation affects these urinary and plasma biomarkers and to study whether the changes in these biomarkers may predict later changes in standard functional parameters (creatinine and creatinine clearance). For this purpose, the urinary and plasma biomarkers, together with creatinine, will be determined serially during the different phases of the liver transplant process and daily until day 5 after transplantation.

The overall hypothesis is that the long-term cognitive and behavioral sequelae of traumatic brain injury (TBI) are due to selective disruption of the long association white matter tracts of the cerebral hemispheres, with resulting functional impairment of the network of cortical regions that are interconnected by these long-range association pathways. We propose that traumatic white matter injury can be measured with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and that the impaired cortical activation can be detected with magnetoencephalography (MEG), and that the results of these imaging examinations will correlate with neurocognitive status and functional recovery after TBI.

Objective: To evaluate pediatric emergency department provider lumbar puncture success with and without the Compass Lumbar Puncture Enhanced, a new pressure transducer, in order to determine: the proportion of lumbar punctures where a) any cerebrospinal fluid is obtained on the first attempt, b) any cerebrospinal fluid is obtained on any attempt, and c) sufficient cerebrospinal fluid is obtained for standard tests (culture, chemistries, cell count); the time to provider success in obtaining a) a drop of fluid from the needle, and b) opening pressure measurement; the proportion of successful lumbar punctures that contain blood; and provider satisfaction. Background: Lumbar punctures are necessary to diagnose meningitis, neurological diseases and some cancers. They are common pediatric emergency department procedures that frequently require repeated attempts or are only partially successful, with sufficient blood to limit interpretation. Measuring cerebrospinal fluid pressure during lumbar punctures is recommended but rarely done, due to limitations of current technology. Liquid column manometry is cumbersome, time-consuming and frequently impractical. Existing pressure transduction probes that connect via tubing to external monitors are not designed or recommended for lumbar punctures. The pressure is displayed on a monitor that is difficult to view during the LP procedure and they equilibrate too slowly to keep pace of pressure changes during LPs. The Compass Lumbar Puncture Enhanced is a new, inexpensive, disposable, medical device, specifically designed for use during LPs, that has the potential to increase lumbar punctures success and decrease blood contamination. It attaches to the spinal needle and displays both a numeric pressure value and a pressure waveform, allowing physicians to more readily identify the cerebrospinal fluid space and measure cerebrospinal fluid pressure. The device is small, easy to use, and readily incorporated into standard practice. The Compass Lumbar Puncture Enhanced uniquely provides immediate feedback about pressure that may allow physicians to more quickly and confidently identify the CSF space, and instantly determine cerebrospinal fluid pressure when the space is reached. The investigators believe the Compass Lumbar Puncture Enhanced will increase lumbar punctures success and decrease the proportion containing blood. It has the potential to become the standard of care and be used in every lumbar puncture procedure. This study is expected to demonstrate the clinical utility of the Compass Lumbar Puncture Enhanced to the medical community. Increased awareness of the Compass Lumbar Puncture Enhanced and a positive demonstration of the viability of the technology will help attract either the investment capital or the strategic partnership necessary to fully develop the market.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the long term outcome of patients who receive hypothermia treatment for spinal cord injury. At this institution, intravascular hypothermia has been used for certain patients with spinal cord injury for the past two years. This study will collect data from vital signs and examinations while the patient is in the hospital and also when they follow up as an outpatient after they are discharged or go to a rehabilitation center. This data will then be analyzed and compared only to historically published data from previous studies. The aim of this investigation is to determine if intravascular hypothermia results in a beneficial outcome for patients with spinal cord injury.

The submitted proposal is designed to reduce morbidity and mortality to injured children. Significant variability in the initial trauma assessment exists among institutions. The proposed project is a prospective, observational, multi-institutional study of children following blunt abdominal trauma. The specific goals of the project are to: 1) Document history, physical exam findings, imaging, and laboratory values, which are available to physicians during the initial trauma resuscitation prior to a decision on whether to order an abdominal computed tomography (CT) to evaluate for potential intra-abdominal injury; and 2) Derive and validate a multi-variable clinical prediction rule based on data variables readily available during the pediatric trauma resuscitation to identify patients at low risk for intra-abdominal injury, in which unnecessary CT might safely be avoided. Information from this study could be used to develop a more standardized approach to the evaluation for intra-abdominal injury following blunt trauma in children. This information could lead to significant improvement in the early recognition of injury and to improved resource utilization.

Increased life expectancy in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) present clinicians with the challenge of managing the secondary complications of SCI with the chronic diseases common in an aging population. Cardiovascular disease, cerebral vascular disease, and cognitive dysfunction are among the primary challenges facing clinicians in the treatment of an aging population. Cognitive dysfunction has been reported in upwards of 60% of the SCI population, which have been primarily attributed to concomitant traumatic brain injury or pre-morbid conditions. Identifying possible modifiable risk factors which contribute to the increased prevalence of cognitive dysfunction in the SCI population is of significant clinical relevance and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disorders have emerged as possible contributors to the cognitive disorders in the general population. These risk factors include: physical inactivity, chronically low or high blood pressure (BP), reduced blood flow to the brain, arterial stiffening, and impaired nervous system regulation of the cardiovascular system. These risk factors are particularly prominent in the SCI population as they represent a model of profound inactivity, have trouble regulating blood pressure, and suffer impaired cardiovascular regulation from their injury. In addition, we've recently reported deficits in blood flow to the brain at rest and during cognitive tests; with results being further impaired in SCI with chronically low blood pressure. Therefore the goals of this project are to determine the influence of cardiovascular and cerebral vascular responses at rest and during cognitive testing on test performance in 80 individuals with SCI compared to 50 age-matched non-SCI controls. All potential subjects will undergo a rigorous two-part screening process which consists of an initial screening via telephone and a detailed, in-person screening. Eligible subjects will be invited to participate in a 3 hour laboratory visit during which their arterial stiffness, blood pressure, heart rate, respiration rate and, blood flow to the brain will be monitored at rest and during a comprehensive series of cognitive tests. We hypothesize that blood pressure and cerebrovascular response to testing will account significantly for performance in cognitive testing that otherwise would have been attributable to SCI status.

To observe changes of circulating and tissue dendritic cells in acute lung injury,including invasive aspergillosis pneumonia

The purpose of this study is to investigate the prevalence of overload injuries to road cyclists in Sweden, and if it 's possible to prevent low back pain by a simple exercise program for two months of training .

Primary caregiver thoracic ultrasound (U/S) is a skill which is growing in utility in critical care. First introduced for volume assessment in nephrology and cardiology, it is now being researched in emergency and critical care. Data is still evolving in its use in initial trauma evaluation. Inferior vena cava (IVC) diameter correlates with outcome in trauma, but utility of its measurement on U/S in the emergency department still has some controversy. In trauma specifically, small studies suggests benefit to the use of U/S to predict volume status, and most of these data are from one author. It is not known if this can be applied more broadly. The prognostic value of findings on limited transthoracic echocardiogram (LTTE, SonoSite Ultrasound) has been studied in several small studies, and only one small randomized controlled trial has proven benefit to its use. Due to inter-rater reliability and the fact that all reports on credentialing of thoracic ultrasound use in the trauma bay are from one group, it is not known if it can be applied to all trauma populations. Research question: Does LTTE (SonoSite Ultrasound) predict mortality, emergency surgery, intensive care unit (ICU) stay, hospital stay, time on ventilator, number of transfusions, or renal failure as well as or better than other methods of organ perfusion? Hypotheses: Use of LTTE is associated with improved outcomes (less organ failure, decreased hospital and ICU stays, transfusions, and mortality). LTTE predicts mortality, emergency surgery, ICU stay, hospital stay, time on ventilator, number of and transfusions better than other methods of organ perfusion (tachycardia, hypotension, lactate, lactate clearance, creatinine, base deficit).

The purpose of this study is to collect blood and urine samples that may help identify and validate biomarkers for the early detection and risk assessment of acute kidney injury (AKI).