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.

Have you had a genetic test that revealed a change (mutation) in the genes that affect your body's elastic fibers? This study aims to learn more about the impact of changes in connective tissue genes on an individual's overall health. To participate in this study, you or your child must be between the ages of 2 and 100 years old. You must have also had a genetic test that identified changes in a gene that affects elastic fibers (e.g., ELN, LOX, MFAP4, FBLN5 and EFEMP). This study is located at the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

Do you have overweight? Circadian rhythm disorders can cause overweight and obesity. This study is examining how not getting enough sleep causes these complications. To participate in this study, you must be between the ages of 20 and 40 and have overweight but not obesity. This study is located in New York, New York.

Are you a healthy adult who regularly sleeps for 6.5 or fewer hours? This study is examining whether getting enough sleep can lower your risk of high blood pressure. To participate in this study, you must be between 18 and 65 years old, regularly sleep for 6.5 or fewer hours, and be able to adjust your sleep schedule for the study. This study is located in Rochester, Minnesota.

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.