Active clinical trials for "Vascular Diseases"

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of social network in improving drug compliance and risk factors control rate of stroke high-risk population after discharge.

Habitual short sleep duration (< 7 hours/night) increases the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and all-cause mortality. Yet most adults, especially emerging adults (i.e., 18-25 years) do not achieve the National Sleep Foundation recommendation of 7-9 hours of sleep each night. Additionally, the American Heart Association recently included sleep duration in the "Life's Essential 8". This recent development emphasizes the importance of sleep and the need to advance our understanding of how sleep impacts cardiometabolic health (CMH), particularly in emerging adults, a population whose CVD risk trajectory is malleable. Specifically, emerging adulthood is a critical age window when age-related loss of CMH accelerates. Based on my previous work and others, both self-reported and objective measures of poor sleep (e.g., duration, variability) are linked to early signs of elevated CVD risk in emerging adults, such as microvascular dysfunction and elevated central blood pressure (BP), which precede the development of hypertension.

Study ROR-PH-303, ADVANCE EXTENSION, is an open-label extension (OLE) study for participants with WHO Group 1 PAH who have participated in another Phase 2 or Phase 3 study of ralinepag.

This study attempts to reduce social inequality in cardiovascular health by performing an interventional screening trial on how best to decrease cardiovascular disease (CVD) among people with low social status.

This study will perform a prospective, longitudinal analysis of clinical and imaging findings from normal controls and subjects with retinal vascular disease to better define the diagnostic imaging criteria that signify change in disease stage. This includes disease progression in early stages of disease or disease regression with appropriate standard-of-care treatment.

This randomized, parallel-design trial will evaluate specific clinical and physiological effects of whole blueberries in adults 70 years of age or older.

The goal of this clinical trial is to improve communication among clinicians, patients with memory problems, and their family members. We are testing a way to help clinicians have better conversations to address patients' goals for their healthcare. To do this, we created a simple, short guide called the "Jumpstart Guide." The goal of this research study is to show that using this kind of guide is possible and can be helpful for patients and their families. Patients' clinicians may receive a Jumpstart Guide before the patient's clinic visit. Researchers will compare patients whose clinician received a Jumpstart Guide to patients whose clinician did not receive a guide to see if more patients in the Jumpstart Guide group had conversations about the patient's goals for their healthcare. Patients and their family members will also be asked to complete surveys after the visit with their clinician.

Accelerated atherosclerosis is an established complication of systemic autoimmune diseases, particularly SLE. Young female patients with SLE are more likely to develop myocardial infarction than matched healthy controls, and CVD is nowadays one of the most common causes of death (27%) in lupus patients. While traditional CV risk factors cannot explain such increased CV morbidity associated with SLE, common disease factors shared between SLE, atherosclerosis and treatment exposure may be of outmost importance in this process. Our group made 3 findings of particular interest that could link SLE pathogenesis and atherosclerosis-associated immune dysregulation: 1/ the investigators identified specific immunometabolites (circulating nucleotide-derived metabolites adenine and N4-acetylcytidine), which are increased in the circulation of SLE patients. These immunometabolites trigger a constitutive inflammasome activation resulting in aberrant IL1-β production. Given that IL1-β inhibition was reported to significantly reduce CV events without altering lipid levels, the investigators propose that these immunometabolites may represent novel candidate biomarkers of CV risk stratification in SLE. 2/ the investigators identified OX40L as an important costimulatory molecule implicated in follicular helper T cell (Tfh) activation in SLE. Interestingly, OX40L polymorphism has been associated to both SLE and atherosclerosis, and Tfh have been recently shown to accelerate atherosclerosis progression. 3/ Immune complexes-activated platelets sustain aberrant immune response in SLE and block immunosuppressive functions of regulatory T cells (Tregs) in a P-selectin/PSGL1 dependent manner. Selectins and Tregs cell dysfunction are well accepted players in atherosclerosis pathogenesis. Thus there are multiple pathways that are shared between SLE and atherosclerosis and that may results in an increased risk of CV-associated morbidity in SLE patients. Exploring these interconnected pathways in SLE patients together with traditional and other well-established disease-related factors, might lead to a better stratification of CV risk in SLE. The aim of this study is to investigate the accuracy, predictive value and utility of immunological disease-related biomarkers in stratifying CV risk in patients with SLE.

The purpose of this research study is to examine the role oxidants, substances produced in the blood that can damage blood vessel function, may play in blood vessel function in healthy individuals as well as individuals with mental health disorders (posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and/or generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)).

Lower limb amputation is common in the United States, with approximately 150,000 amputations annually. Most individuals walking with a prosthesis demonstrate asymmetrical loading-i.e., they favor the amputated side by placing more weight and increased ground reaction forces through the intact limb-which likely contributes to increased metabolic cost of walking. Lack of adequate muscular strength in the lower limb to attenuate these forces places increased stress on the joints, which may be displaced proximally, and may play a role in reported knee and hip pain in the intact limb. Lower limb muscle weakness following amputation has been well documented. Increasing quadriceps strength is important after an amputation because it is positively correlated with gait speed. Gait speed may also be associated with successful community mobility, which leads to improved quality of life following amputation. Individuals with amputation who resume an active lifestyle are able to maintain strength. However, these individuals represent a minority of persons with lower limb amputation; most individuals report more barriers than motivators to adopt an active lifestyle. Ischemic conditioning (IC) may strengthen leg muscles and reduce the metabolic cost of activity after amputation. In IC, the limb is exposed to brief, repeated bouts of ischemia (reduced blood flow) immediately followed by reperfusion. IC has been shown to improve muscle performance in healthy and diseased populations. IC has also been used more recently in patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) as an intervention to improve function, such as walking ability. Acute exposure to IC increases muscle strength and activation, both in healthy, active individuals and in those with severe neuromuscular dysfunction, such as stroke survivors. IC also attenuates muscular fatigue. Increased fatigue resistance at submaximal contraction levels following IC may be due to increased neural activation of skeletal muscle. Changes in neural activation of muscle may be particularly beneficial during cortical reorganization after amputation. Reduced quadriceps fatigue during submaximal activities may also drive changes in gait kinematics, such as increased knee flexion during loading and mid-stance. Exposure to IC may also increase the oxidative properties of skeletal muscle, offering a direct pathway to reduce metabolic cost. Therefore, IC may lead to cellular changes that lower the metabolic cost of activity. The primary aim of this study is to quantify the benefits of acute and chronic IC on quadriceps strength and walking economy in individuals with PAD and history of lower limb amputation.