All clinical trials

Assessing the prevalence and natural course of PTSD after the 1999 Turkish earthquake

The RATIO registry is a French registry designed by a multidisciplinary group to collect data on opportunistic and severe bacterial infections and lymphoma in patients treated with TNF-a antagonists ( infliximab, etanercept and adalimumab). A total of 486 medical units in metropolitan France participate in the RATIO registry. All diagnosis are retained after validation by 2 qualified infectious disease or haematologist physicians (on the basis of the standardized case report form, the hospitalisation summary, and the microbiological and radiological results). Risk factors for developing these conditions when treated by TNF-a antagonists will be identified in a case control study. Incidence of these diseases will be calculated.

This study aims to characterize the permeability as well as some protein involved in the cell junction in the oesophageal epithelium in patients with GORD symptoms. In addition these patients will be characterized for their reflux especially by pH-impedancemetry, Bilitec and oesophageal acid perfusion test. Correlations between the characteristics of the reflux and the biological results will be calculated.

The purpose of this study is to determine, in patients entered on the National Cancer Institute of Canada (NCIC)-PR.7 trial of intermittent versus continuous androgen ablation, whether the rates of osteoporosis, fractures, and alteration in body composition are reduced by intermittent androgen ablation. There will be two groups of patients: A cross-sectional group of 150 patients registered in PR.7 prior to January 1, 2002, randomized between intermittent androgen suppression (IAS) and continuous androgen suppression (CAS) (75 from each group). Patients who have definite bone metastases are excluded from this study. Biochemical failure does not exclude the patient. A longitudinal study of 150 newly accrued patients randomized between IAS and CAS (75 from each group). These patients will have baseline evaluation of bone loss and body composition, longitudinal monitoring and follow-up on an annual basis for patients on CAS and at the end of each "off cycle" of IAS. Patients taking bisphosphonates are excluded from this study.

The researchers select 100 cytomegalovirus (CMV) DNA samples from patients diagnosed with CMV infection. Patients include bone marrow transplant patients, pregnant women and newborns. The researchers determine viral load by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). They amplify CMV-gB sequences by PCR and type by sequencing and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). The researchers obtain clinical data from patients' records. They examine association between patients' clinical status and CMV-gB genotype and viral load.

The aim of this study is to survey patient's cognition and attitude about health-related quality of life, use of estrogen, experience of menopausal syndrome, compliance of medication, experience, and satisfaction for women who underwent hysterectomy and bilateral oophorectomy before menopause.

With the current therapeutic focus in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) shifting from symptom control to actual disease modification there is a growing demand for more objective and sensitive ways to evaluate structural damage in the joints of these RA patients. Conventional radiography of bone erosion and joint-space narrowing was the only imaging approach available for this. Now significant advantages are offered in terms of speed, precision and scope over conventional methods. These advances include digital radiography and computer aided analysis as well as MRI which allow earlier identification of bone erosion and direct visualization of pre-erosive changes, such as bone inflammation and synovitis. Molecular markers of tissue turnover have been used for decades in clinical trials of osteoporosis, but only recently in RA. In contrast to serum C-reactive protein (CRP), which is only a nonspecific indicator of systemic inflammation and not directly reflective of structural damage to joints, more recently developed molecular markers of synovial, cartilage and bone turnover might provide a better indication of destructive activity of the disease. Compared with radiography and MRI assessment, molecular markers are particularly useful for patient selection and treatment, but can be used in a variety of ways to accelerate clinical trials and reduce the uncertainty and cost of drug development. In this project, we will set up a panel of molecular markers which could show an association with the MRI results and have a quantitative correlation with the degree of joint damage (sensitivity: 90 - 95%; specificity: 80 - 90%). The work in this project includes imaging markers evaluation and molecular markers analysis: X-ray scoring; MRI; Bone degradation markers; Bone formation; Cartilage degradation; Cartilage synthesis; Synovial turnover and Others. Nine molecular markers will be examined: CartiLaps ELISA/CTX-II, Urinary CrossLaps ELISA/CTX-I, and Serum osteocalcin, Serum COMP, MMP-3, Serum PINP, Serum PICP, Urinary PIIINP and Serum YKL-40. The data will be managed to evaluate the significance of correlation to image and clinical reports, so as to get a simple algorithm of parameters (molecular markers) which can reflect the structural damage of joint using mathematics and computer science.

Expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-α in oral precancers and cancers

Null hypothesis of this study: Biliary atresia patients with cholestatic jaundice do not have systemic immunity defect.

Ovarian cancer became a more and more important disease in recent years due to its first mortality rate of gynecologic malignancies. The incidence of ovarian cancer also increased in recent year in Taiwan. The lack of symptoms, difficulties in early diagnosis, insufficient accurate tumor markers, and lack of information about ovarian tumor biology contribute to the poor prognosis in ovarian cancer patients. The prognostic parameters for ovarian carcinomas are tumor stage, histologic subtype, degree of malignancy, and residual tumor after surgical treatment. However, these factors present an incomplete picture of the tumor biology of ovarian cancer and are frequently interrelated. Thus, the identification of new biologic factors predictive of individual disease course and prognosis would be extremely useful. Detection of tumor markers that are released into the circulation can aid in the diagnosis and/or monitoring of therapeutic responses of patients with various tumors, including carcinomas of ovary. CA125 is the most commonly used serum marker for patients with ovarian carcinoma. Although it has proven clinically valuable in monitoring the response of patients to therapy, some ovarian carcinomas do not express CA125, and CA125 often is increased in patients with inflammatory disease. Thus, there is a need for improvement, either in the form of a more specific and/or sensitive assay or an assay that uses a different marker and can be used to complement CA125 toward the goal to improve patient survival by improving diagnosis. Mesothelin is a 40-kDa glycosylphosphatidylinositol-linked glycoprotein. In normal tissues, the expression of mesothelin has subsequently been shown to be largely restricted to mesothelial cells, although immunoreactivity has also been reported in epithelial cells of the trachea, tonsil, fallopian tube, and kidney. Mesothelin has been shown to be over-expressed in pancreatic carcinomas, gastric carcinoma and ovarian carcinoma, and it seems that mesothelin may be utilized as a new tumor marker for ovarian carcinoma. We will evaluate that if mesothelin can be a new potential tumor marker for ovarian cancer in this proposal.