All clinical trials

In the proposed study, the investigators plan to establish the burden of early onset (EO) neonatal sepsis in the newborn population born at Maela Refugee Camp over a two year period. Aims Define the contribution of Group B streptococcus(GBS) to this problem by establishing: The prevalence of maternal GBS carriage The prevalence of culture positive and culture negative EO GBS sepsis The perinatal risk factors for EO GBS cases Through these data assess the potential for intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis using different strategies for reducing the burden of neonatal sepsis in this setting To define the serotypes and antibiotic susceptibility profile of carried and invasive GBS strains To evaluate the prevalence of serum antibodies to common GBS capsular serotypes in pregnant women in this population, the influence of carriage on serotype (ST)-specific antibody and the ST-specific antibody concentrations in the mothers of cases of confirmed and clinical GBS disease.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether chemotherapy induces regression in atherosclerotic plaques in oncologic patients already undergoing PET FDG as part of their routine assessment.We will use PET FDG to assess whether the inflammation in atherosclerotic plaques is affected by chemotherapy and anti angiogenic therapy.

The Cirrus HD OCT, a new spectral domain optical coherence tomography, has better resolution than the previous OCT. Reproducibility and discriminating ability of the Cirrus HD OCT for glaucoma detection will be studied.

The normal range of retinal nerve fiber layer thickness might be different between Asians and Caucasians. However, the recently developed imaging device such as the Cirrus HD OCT includes only the Caucasian data. So, the investigators want to find its normal range of in Asians.

Left ventricular (LV) remodeling after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) has been well described in previous studies. However, there is a paucity of data on the incidence of and risk factors for LV remodeling in modern clinical practice that incorporates widespread use of acute reperfusion strategies and almost systematic use of "antiremodeling" medications, such as angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and beta blockers. The recent improvements in AMI management do not abolish LV remodeling, which remains a relatively frequent event after an initial anterior wall AMI. As a leading cause of heart failure, postinfarction LV remodeling represents an important target for therapeutic interventions. Within the ventricular mass, size, shape, connections and orientation in a three-dimensional space of every single constituent determine its functional behavior. The complex architecture of the ventricular mass creates multiple inhomogeneities of electrical and mechanical loads at the cellular and the microscopic tissue level, that cause cardiac function to be 'stochastic in nature'. The myocardial infarction will altered the ventricular shape and functional inhomogeneities carrying the morphodynamic advantages such as impaired suction for diastole after diminishing recoil relaxation with decreased twisting strain in systole. The alteration in contractile mechanics interacts with the intraventricular fluid dynamic filed that influence the regional myocardial shearing stress. Altered LV transmural wall strains have been proposed to cause infarct extension and may have an important role in propagating LV remodeling.

Disruption of an atherosclerotic plaque is responsible for at least two-thirds of acute coronary syndrome. Thus, identification of plaques vulnerable to rupture has become important. The natural history of individual plaques is unknown and needs to be established. Multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) angiography is a useful noninvasive imaging modality for assessing coronary plaque characteristics. Using MDCT, the researchers prospectively investigate the relationship between the characterization of coronary plaques and cardiovascular events in a large multicenter study.

The study of plasma and urine proteomic profiles in patients with ischemic brain injury is important to better understanding of the mechanisms by which thrombolytic agents or other therapy affects clinical outcomes. The purpose of this study is to study the proteomic profile of patients with ischemic brain injury and compare it to control subjects without ischemic brain injury, subjects with other chronic neurologic diseases or systemic vascular diseases, and pre- and post- therapy which may be associated with, or predictive of, therapeutic outcome. The investigators hypothesize that there is a unique set of proteins expressed in serum and urine in patients with ischemic brain injury that may provide a more complete understanding of ischemic brain injury pathophysiology. Ultimately, this study may provide information of direct relevance to the medical care of a large proportion of patients with ischemic brain injury and other neurologic diseases in the future. And proteomic proteomic profile may provide important information about the roles of specific biomarkers. Perhaps the prevention of ischemic injury related complications.

Disease related biomarkers have been established decades ago, e.g. blood glucose for diabetes diagnosis and management. Their discovery has grown dramatically during the past decade and they have the potential to lead the physician in diagnosis -especially differential diagnosis - and therapy. However, a specific serum-biomarker in lung diseases has not been established. Aim of the current study is to to measure lung specific proteins in the serum in patients with various lung diseases and to correlate those with disease severity, lung function and other laboratory results

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the correlation among magnetocardiography (MCG) patterns and various known cardiovascular risk factors.

The main objective of this study is to investigate depolarization characteristics represented by changes in HyperQ in asymptomatic, apparently healthy athletic and non-athletic individuals. We also aim to examine a subgroup of obese and non-obese subjects. The goal of the study is to establish normal HyperQ values in these populations and compare HyperQ values of age-matched athletic vs. non-athletic individuals of similar health status.