Clinical Trials

Are you an adult who does not have high blood pressure and is interested in research? This study will investigate how the brain regulates the body’s response to stress and how infection with HIV or pre-hypertension affects regulation. Your heart and brain activity will be measured while you are at rest, during a mentally stressful task, and while you feel angry. The study will also test whether a breathing exercise improves regulation. People with and without HIV and pre-hypertension will be included. To participate in this study, you must be between 21 and 65 years old and not have high blood pressure. This study is located in Miami, Florida.

Do you have a high-risk pregnancy? This study will investigate the use of a non-invasive scan called fetal magnetocardiography to detect potential problems in the fetus in five high-risk pregnancy conditions associated with stillbirth. The scan is normally used to look at fetal heart rhythms. To participate in this study, you must be at least 18 years old and pregnant with one of the following: having a stillbirth in a previous pregnancy, carrying identical twins, or having a fetus that has been diagnosed with major congenital heart disease, fetal hydrops, or fetal gastroschisis. This study takes place in Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Are you a woman who is postmenopausal or a man older than 65? This study will investigate the effects of oral progesterone for older women and testosterone for older men on QT intervals. QT intervals that are increased by medicine can lead to dangerous heart rhythm problems. Researchers hope to learn more about why this happens and how to deliver safer doses. This study is located in Indianapolis, Indiana.

ASCEND researchers are partnering with families of children who receive extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) after a sudden failure of breathing named pediatric acute respiratory distress syndrome (PARDS). ECMO is a life support technology that uses an artificial lung outside of the body to do the lung's work. ASCEND has two objectives.

The purpose of this study is to compare reintubation rates and outcomes of patients treated with high-flow nasal canula oxygen therapy (HFNC) and patients treated with provider choice of standard care.

The purpose of this trial is to evaluate if augmenting a usual audit and feedback implementation approach with telehealth-enabled support improves coordinated spontaneous awakening/breathing trials and patient outcomes for mechanically ventilated patients.

Ventilated pediatric patients are frequently over-sedated and the majority suffer from delirium, a form of acute brain dysfunction that is an independent predictor of increased risk of dying, length of stay, and costs. Universally prescribed sedative medications-the GABA-ergic benzodiazepines-worsen this brain organ dysfunction and independently prolong duration of ventilation and ICU stay, and the available alternative sedation regimen using dexmedetomidine, an alpha-2 agonist, has been shown to be superior to benzodiazepines in adults, and may mechanistically impact outcomes through positive effects on innate immunity, bacterial clearance, apoptosis, cognition and delirium. The mini-MENDS trial will compare dexmedetomidine and midazolam, and determine the best sedative medication to reduce delirium and improve duration of ventilation, and functional, psychiatric, and cognitive recovery in our most vulnerable patients-survivors of pediatric critical illness.

The investigators will screen all mechanically ventilated ED patients for study eligibility and will enroll all consecutive patients satisfying inclusion and exclusion criteria. This study aims to improve care by educating caregivers on AWP and the use of the neuromuscular blockers, which are already routinely used, and studying that process in a rigorous fashion.

The goal of this study is to compare two different ways of helping patients with a condition called sepsis who need help breathing using a machine called a ventilator. The investigators want to study which way of setting the ventilator is better for the lungs.

Is your newborn in the NICU at Holtz Children’s Hospital in Miami? Newborns born very prematurely often need oxygen therapy or ventilation to help them breathe and survive. This study will help doctors understand how changes in oxygen and carbon dioxide levels while newborns are getting treatment affect how their lungs develop. While your newborn is in the newborn neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), researchers will record his or her oxygen and carbon dioxide levels, heart rate, and other measures. To participate in this study, your newborn must have been born prematurely between 23 and 28 weeks’ gestation, be less than 28 days old, and be receiving oxygen therapy. This study is located in Miami, Florida.