Clinical Trials

Are you an adult with sleep apnea, overweight, or obesity, or do you just want to help research? This study is looking at how sleep apnea changes fat tissue in the body. The researchers will examine whether these changes in fat tissue may raise the risk of heart and blood vessel diseases. To participate in this study, you must be between 18 and 60 years old with obstructive sleep apnea and healthy without any chronic diseases. This study takes place in Rochester, Minnesota.

Does your child have overweight or obesity or just want to be in a study on sleep and eating habits? Overweight and obesity are common in children who do not get enough good quality sleep. This study aims to understand how sleep deficiency can affect a child’s ability to make good food choices. Researchers will ask participants to spend either 8 or 11 hours in bed and to keep track of their food choices. Participants in this study must be 8 to 12 years old. This study takes place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Providence, Rhode Island.

The investigators propose to study the relationship between right ventricle (RV) steatosis and RV function, exercise capacity, and outcomes in humans with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and to identify potential drivers of lipid accumulation.

The Investigators propose a randomized trial of smart texts versus usual care for 6 months. The Investigators will randomize 100 PAH patients to the mHealth intervention or usual care. The Investigators will test the effect of a text-based mHealth intervention on HRQOL in PAH using the PAH-specific emPHasis-10 questionnaire. The Investigators will also test the effect of an mHealth intervention on exercise capacity, measured by a supervised home-based 6MWD test. Finally, the Investigators will examine the effect of the intervention on time to clinical worsening (composite of PAH therapy escalation, PAH hospitalization, and death) one year after randomization.

Investigators will conduct in-human PET imaging of 18F-fluoroglutamine (18F-FGln) in patients with PAH to compare glutamine uptake to that of controls.

The investigators propose to study the relationship between right ventricle (RV) steatosis and RV function, exercise capacity, and outcomes in humans with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and to identify potential drivers of lipid accumulation.

Patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) have reduced health related quality of life (HRQOL) and impaired exercise capacity. Despite fourteen approved therapies, most patients die within ten years. Increasing physical activity is highly efficacious in PAH, resulting in six-minute walk distance (6MWD) and HRQOL improvement that often exceeds the effect of medications. Prior activity studies required inpatient rehabilitation, which is impractical, hard to sustain, and poorly scalable to a rare disease.

The Investigators propose a randomized trial of smart texts versus usual care for 6 months. The Investigators will randomize 100 PAH patients to the mHealth intervention or usual care. The Investigators will test the effect of a text-based mHealth intervention on HRQOL in PAH using the PAH-specific emPHasis-10 questionnaire. The Investigators will also test the effect of an mHealth intervention on exercise capacity, measured by a supervised home-based 6MWD test. Finally, the Investigators will examine the effect of the intervention on time to clinical worsening (composite of PAH therapy escalation, PAH hospitalization, and death) one year after randomization.

Have you lived in Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, or Mississippi for at least two years and are you interested in participating in a clinical study where researchers are trying to better understand health and disease in rural areas? The study team will track your physical activity using a provided Fitbit device and will also ask questions about your health and lifestyle through a cell phone app. You will also receive a kit to measure environmental and health factors in your homes. Participants must live in one of these counties: Dallas County, Alabama; Wilcox County, Alabama; Boyle County, Kentucky; Perry County, Kentucky; Garrard County, Kentucky; Breathitt County, Kentucky; Assumption Parish, Louisiana; Franklin Parish, Louisiana; Oktibbeha County, Mississippi; and Panola County, Mississippi.

The proposed research study will provide preliminary evidence of the potential to utilize [F-18]FGln as a non-invasive imaging biomarker of glutamine flux and metabolism across a range of PAH subjects.

This study is evaluating the dynamics of red blood cell lysis, pfH, protective proteins and organ injury, limits will be set for safe levels of pfH following the use of CPB.