All clinical trials

Precocious puberty - the onset of signs of puberty before 8 years of age in girls - is be physically and emotionally devastating for kids and is sometimes caused by an underlying and medical condition. One sign of precocious puberty in small girls is breast development (thelarche). This can persist without other physical changes of puberty, it may continue into precocious puberty, or it may disappear. This project will improve the diagnostics of precocious puberty in girls and improve our ability to identify which girls with thelarche, who will develop precocious puberty and need medical treatment.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the segregation of the subthalamic nucleus into its motor and non-motor regions in patients with Parkinson's disease and healthy controls with the aid of ultra-high field magnetic resonance imaging.

The immune system is an intricate system comprised of specialized cells, proteins, tissues and organs. Proper functioning is critical to the body's ability to defend itself against harmful pathogens. Immunological disorders and deficiencies are defects in the immune system that lead to abnormal immune responses. Abnormal immune responses could be derived from immune deficiencies, dysregulations or hypersensitivities. The overall goal of this research study is to identify the mechanisms of primary immune deficiencies and immune disorders at the genetic, cellular and molecular level, using novel analytic techniques to be performed on immune cells derived from blood samples. The knowledge gained from the aims of this study could lead to better diagnostics and identify novel targets for therapeutic interventions.

Our overall objective is to understand the role of lifestyle factors, genetics and HPV infection in the development and prognosis of head and neck cancer particularly in Asia.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a virus-associated cancer that is rare among Caucasians but occurs at an elevated rate among Southern Asians. Rates of NPC are particularly high among individuals with a family history of this disease, but no specific genetic factors have been identified that can serve to guide clinical management of this high-risk population to ensure early detection and treatment of this life-threatening condition.

Food allergy is a potentially life threatening condition. The current practice consists of elimination diet and injectable epinephrine in case of a reaction. Recently, oral immunotherapy has emerged as a treatment for food allergy in milk eggs and peanuts. We conduct an oral immunotherapy program with ~500 patients so far. In this study we intent to follow patients who completed the program and assess their allergy status and quality of life.

In critical illness, patients are highly stressed and should have elevated cortisol (stress hormone) secretion to adapt to stress. Dysfunction of this system is referred to as critical illness-related corticosteroid insufficiency. Free cortisol (unbound form) which is mainly responsible for its physiologic function is difficult to measure. We hypothesized that the salivary cortisol, which can be obtained by noninvasive methods, can more accurately evaluate adrenal function of critically ill patients.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the invasive front in growth mode (expanding or infiltrative) and dedifferentiation (tumor budding) and comparing these with the tumor surface (polypose or flat) + / - ulceration in surgical specimens at colorectal cancer.

The first purpose of this study is to is to compare metabolic control of type 1 diabetes among children under the age of 7 years who use an insulin pump and a real-time (RT) glucose sensor, and children who use only insulin pump; the investigators will also determine dietary habits, their knowledge of type 1 diabetes management and emotional aspects of experiencing illness in the family, in both groups of children.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability and validity of the bipolar index (BPX) to diagnosis bipolar disorder, and to verify the stability of it in identifying bipolar disorder; the secondary purpose was to understand the dynamic changes of bipolar disorder in natural status.