Kornimate/medical-research-clean huggingface dataset:
acupuncture in postoperative pain control for minimal invasive thoracoscopic surgery patients

Conditions: Acupuncture; Pain Control; Randomized Controlled Trial; Thoracic Surgery

Summary: minimal invasive thoracoscopic surgery has been used widely for common thoracic diseases in recent years. patients who received thoracoscopic surgery recovered much quickly and returned to their daily life sooner because of small operation wound and less invasion. however, operative pain was still an important factor, which might contribute to several post-operative complications. in daily practice, patients received oral/intravenous form non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and opioid agents, or patient-controlled analgesia for post operative pain control. however, some side effects were observed occasionally. the role of acupuncture in post-operative pain control was frequently discussed in recent research. the main mechanisms of acupuncture in pain control were (1) to stimulate the release of endogenous opioid and (2) to block trpv1 receptor. the randomized controlled trial arranged by gary deng and his colleagues in 2008, was the first clinical trial investigated the role of acupuncture in post-operative pain control for traditional thoracotomy patients. however, there was no further research about the role of acupuncture applied to minimal invasive thoracoscopic surgery. thus, the aim of this randomized controlled trial was to investigate the role of acupuncture in post-operative pain control for minimal invasive thoracoscopic surgery patients. in order to deliver a safe and effective way in pain control, and to save medical cost and promote quality of patient care.


Eligibility criteria:
inclusion criteria: * age more than 20-year-old * both male and female patients * nationality: republic of china (r.o.c., taiwan) * who received thoracoscopic surgery for benign lung tumor/disease, metastatic lung tumor, primary lung cancer, mediastinal tumor exclusion criteria: * abnormal function of coagulation * platelet count less than 20 x 10\^3/mm\^3 * international normalized ratio (inr) more than 2.5 * severe comorbidity, for example central vascular, cardiovascular disease, liver/renal failure * who would not cooperate in access, or express appropriately

Keywords: minimal invasive thoracoscopic surgery pain control acupuncture randomized controlled trial
biomarkers to predict response to interferon therapy in patients with melanoma

Conditions: Melanoma (Skin)

Summary: rationale: collecting and storing samples of blood from patients with cancer to study in the laboratory may help doctors learn more about changes that may occur in dna and identify biomarkers related to cancer, and may help doctors learn how well patients will respond to treatment. purpose: this laboratory study is looking at biomarkers to predict the response to interferon therapy in patients with melanoma.

objectives: * generate a comprehensive multiplexed array of melanoma-associated serological markers and validate it using serum samples from patients with melanoma and healthy control participants. * determine changes in the profile of serological markers induced by interferon-alfa 2b (ifn-α2b) therapy. * define panels of serological markers with prognostic and predictive power for ifn-α2b therapy responses in patients with melanoma. outline: this is a multicenter study. serum samples are used for multiplex analyses. biomarkers to be assessed include cytokines, chemokines, growth factors, angiogenic and antiangiogenic molecules, matrix metalloproteases (mmps), tissue inhibitors of mmps (timps), melanoma-associated antigens, basic fibroblast growth factor, insulin-like growth factor i and ii, thrombospondin, endostatin, angiostatin, vasostatin, and vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitor. projected accrual: a total of 1,716 samples will be accrued for this study.

Eligibility criteria:
disease characteristics: * diagnosis of melanoma or healthy volunteer (control) patient characteristics: * not specified prior concurrent therapy: * not specified

Keywords: recurrent melanoma stage iv melanoma stage ia melanoma stage ib melanoma stage iia melanoma stage iib melanoma stage iic melanoma stage iiia melanoma stage iiib melanoma stage iiic melanoma
mobile phone reminders (and photovoice) for routine immunization in nigeria - the moping study

Conditions: Immunization; Infection

Summary: this study aims to implement and test the efficacy of photovoice, short messaging service (sms) and phone call reminders in improving childhood immunization coverage (uptake, timeliness and completion rates) and reducing incidence of vaccine-preventable diseases (vpds) among infants in nigeria

this will be a single-blind three-arm cluster randomized controlled trial involving post-partum mothers and/or caregivers of infants (age 0-12months) attending immunization clinics in 12 randomly selected primary health care centres (clusters) across sokoto, jigawa, kano, ogun, oyo and lagos states of nigeria. additionally, a photovoice methodology will be implemented in 6 community clusters (one in each state) involving group discussions between community members (pregnant women in their third trimester, parents/caregivers of infants age 0-12 months), community leaders, service providers and policy makers on benefits of timely immunization and consequences of non-vaccination. parent-infant pairs will be followed up for 12 months during which sms and phone call immunization clinic appointment reminders will be provided to mothers and/or caregivers in intervention arm 1, and photovoice intervention provided at study commencement to participants in intervention arm 2. respondents in the control group would receive standard care (routine paper-based appointment scheduling alone). the investigators will document and compare immunization uptake (all doses and vaccines), timeliness of receipt and completion rates of scheduled immunization between the three groups, as well as incidence of vpds between the groups using multivariate statistical analyses.

Eligibility criteria:
inclusion criteria: * mothers/caregivers of healthy infants (age 0 - 12 months) who: 1. have a mobile phone access 2. received antenatal care and/or delivered their babies in a hospital 3. plans to receive immunizations at the selected phcs * purposively-selected community sample of pregnant women in their third trimester, parents/caregivers of infants, providers, community gatekeepers and policy makers exclusion criteria: 1. parents of infants requiring hospital admission due to significant illness, congenital deformity/malformation and prematurity 2. foreigners
efficacy and safety of fractional co2 laser combined with intralesional insulin, botulinum toxin or triamcinolone acetonide in the treatment of keloid: a clinical, dermoscopic and immunohistochemical study.

Conditions: Keloid

Summary: keloids are macroscopic cutaneous scarring that result from disturbance of wound healing, that occurs on predisposed individuals . keloid shows a kind of over-healing, producing over abundant wound matrix responsible for raised, inflexible red scar tissue, that causes pain and itching .

multiple hypotheses have been proposed for keloid formation. though the pathogenesis of keloids is not fully understood, it involves the dysregulation of complex inflammatory pathways . several studies reported that igf-ir was overexpressed in keloid ﬁbroblasts . current treatment options include intralesional and topical therapies, surgical interventions, radiation, and laser-based therapies. intralesional corticosteroid is the most commonly used nonsurgical treatment for keloids . fractional laser combined triamcinolone acetonide with may minimize collagen production by decreasing fibroblast activity, with a low recurrence rate of 15.4%, which is superior to each modality. in recent years, physicians were using botulinum toxin a (btx-a) as a modality for prevention and treatment of keloids. botulinum toxin type a, isolated from clostridium botulinum, is a potent neurotoxin that blocks neuromuscular transmission. it has been shown to improve scar cosmesis by decreasing tension on healing wound edges. the role of topical insulin in wound healing has been under search in literature since 1970s . zhang et al. explored the effect of local insulin injection on systemic blood glucose level and wound healing in patients with diabetic foot ulcer. as far as the investigatorrs are aware, this is the first study to assess the effectiveness and safety of intralesional insulin for the treatment of keloid.

Eligibility criteria:
inclusion criteria: * patients aged equal or more than 10 years old * with keloids diagnosed clinically * with any size less than 10 cm2 exclusion criteria: * pregnancy * hypertrophic scars * diabetes mellitus * kidney or liver disease * active infection at site of lesion * lesions suspicious for malignancy * patients use medications that reduced tissue healing during the study or in a period less than sex months ago (immunosuppressants and isotretinoin) * patients received any treatment for keloid in the last 3 months
comparison of new surecore biopsy of needle to standard of care during transperineal prostate biopsies

Conditions: Prostate Cancer

Summary: to study a novel biopsy needle system for performing transperineal prostate biopsy. prostate biopsy remains the standard approach for prostate cancer detection. while pre-biopsy mri allows for targeting of visible lesions, systemic or 'off target' samples are recommended due to the well-recognized risk of undegrading and under sampling with current commercially available needles. the surecore plus single-use biopsy needle produces a more intact tissue core with a same caliber 18g needle with \~21% more tissue per core in pre-clinical studies. this research study will determine if a new biopsy needle designed to produce more robust tissue cores per sample can improve detection and characterization of prostate cancer.


Eligibility criteria:
inclusion criteria: * patient older than age of 18 undergoing prostate biopsy exclusion criteria: * unable to consent * any comorbidity that, in the opinion of the investigator, could compromise protocol objectives * prisoners
stit-2: evaluation of safety and efficacy of short-time tni® treatment in patients with copd and hypercapnia

Conditions: COPD; Hypercapnia

Summary: evaluation of safety and efficacy of short time tni treatment in patients with copd and hypercapnia. acute testing of oxygen demand using tni vs. standard oxygen application in stable copd patients with hypercapnia.

tni, the nasal insufflation of a high flow of warm, humidified air, is an extremely comfortable and uncomplicated alternative to numerous other approaches in non-invasive ventilation (niv). up to now, niv therapy could only be applied by masks with the associated complications as patients could not tolerate high airflow delivered by a thin nasal cannula without humidification and warming, thus causing concomitant negative effects. the new therapy tni shows a high rate of acceptance by children, too. at present, there are two different types of devices available for nasal insufflation in clinics: tni 20s, an air humidifier for clinical compressed air, and the tni20 oxy, an air humidifier for clinical compressed air, which can be combined with oxygen. tni 20 oxy the system, which is unique throughout the world, is optimized for the application of flows of up to 20l/min and fulfils the minimum requirements of the "american society of testing and materials" for a high flow air humidifier in the non-invasive application of 10 mg h2o/l (equivalent to about 60% rel. humidity at an ambient temperature of 22°c) for the air humidity. the warming of the air flow by 5-15°c can be adjusted relative to the ambient temperature. condensation is prevented in the nasal applicator by heating the tube as far as the nostrils. the device automatically controls humidity and temperature depending on the prevailing ambient conditions. the tni®20s can be attached to the hospital infrastructure by means of a standard pressure regulator. in another ongoing study (stit-1) tni 20 oxy was evaluated for its safety in copd patients without hypercapnia. in a first interim analysis which included 14 patients high flow oxygen delivery was safe.

Eligibility criteria:
inclusion criteria: * copd patients with an indication for long-term oxygen therapy (ltot) * presence of hypercapnia at rest without oxygen supplementation (paco2 \> 45 mmhg) * age 30 - 85 years * functional gold class: copd gold iv as defined by the following: fev1/fvc \ 50 mmhg exclusion criteria: * clinical instability of the patient * no lung function testing possible * exacerbation within the last 14 days prior to inclusion into the study * serious concomitant diseases that may jeopardize the inclusion of the patient into the study from the investigator's point of view * severe anaemia, defined by a haemoglobin \<8.5 g/l * participation of the patient in any other ongoing study

Keywords: oxygen high flow copd hypercapnia
magnetic resonance imaging of atrial septal defects

Conditions: Atrial Septal Defect

Summary: an atrial septal defect (asd) is a hole in the heart that can lead to heart failure. depending on the size and severity of the asd, they can be treated during a heart catheterization with a special device that can permanently seal the asd, but knowing the exact size and severity of the asd is crucial. newer mri techniques may provide a better way at diagnosing the size and severity of an asd. we compared mri to other standard clinical ways for evaluating an asd.

background: atrial septal defect (asd) flow can be measured indirectly by velocity-encoded cardiovascular magnetic resonance (vecmr) of the pulmonary artery and aorta (qp/qs). imaging the secundum asd en face could potentially enable direct flow measurement and, additionally, provide valuable information regarding asd size, shape, location, and proximity to other structures. methods: patients referred for possible transcatheter asd closure underwent a comprehensive standard evaluation including transesophageal and/or intracardiac echocardiography (ice), and invasive oximetry. cmr was performed in parallel and included direct en face vecmr after an optimal double-oblique imaging plane was determined accounting for asd flow direction and cardiac-cycle interatrial septal motion. we hypothesized that en face vecmr using an optimized imaging plane can accurately determine asd flow, size, and morphology, and that it would provide information incremental to comprehensive standard evaluation.

Eligibility criteria:
inclusion criteria: * suspected atrial septal defect (asd) undergoing evaluation for possible transcatheter closure exclusion criteria: * contraindications to magnetic resonance imaging * known sinus venosus or primum defects
effect of il--1β inhibition on inflammation and cardiovascular risk

Conditions: HIV; Cardiovascular Disease

Summary: the purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of il-1β inhibition on safety, measures of systemic and vascular inflammation and endothelial function (all indicators of cardiovascular risk) in treated and suppressed hiv infected individuals this study will assess the safety and effects of canakinumab on endothelial function (assessed by flow-mediated vasodilation \[fmd\] of the brachial artery), vascular inflammation (assessed by fdg-pet/ct scanning), key inflammatory markers of cardiovascular disease (cvd) risk (high-sensitivity c-reactive protein \[hscrp\]), interleukin-6 (il-6), soluble cd163 (scd163), d-dimer, t-cell and monocyte activation in the blood, and size of the hiv reservoir. 10 individuals will receive a single dose of 150mg canakinumab with follow-up for 12 weeks. in the second part of the study, 100 participants will be randomized (2:1 - canakinumab to placebo) and will be followed by for 36 weeks.


Eligibility criteria:
inclusion criteria: 1. hiv infection, 2. age ≥ 40 years \< 60 years 3. on continuous art for at least 12 months with no change in regimen in 12 weeks prior to study entry 4. cd4+ t cell count ≥ 400 cells/mm3 5. hiv rna level below the standard limit of quantification for 52 weeks prior to entry 6. high risk for cad as defined by either documented cvd (including prior mi) or diabetes mellitus or 1 cvd risk factor (current smoking, hypertension, dyslipidemia, or hscrp≥2mg/l.) 7. individuals on stable doses of lipid lowering therapy and/or anti-hypertensive medication will be allowed in the study. 8. appropriate documentation from medical records of prior receipt of pneumococcal vaccinations exclusion criteria: 1. women of childbearing potential or pregnant/nursing women 2. cabg surgery in the past 3 years 3. class iv heart failure 4. uncontrolled htn 5. history of tuberculosis or latent tb that is not treated 6. nephrotic syndrome or egfr\< 30 ml/min/1.73m2 7. active hepatic disease or active/chronic hepatitis b or c 8. any prior malignancy including ks 9. serious illness requiring hospitalization or active infection requiring antibiotics within 90 days 10. requirement for live active vaccination 3 months prior to, during, and 3 months after study 11. concurrent immune modulating therapy 12. diabetes mellitus 13. history of multiple imaging studies associated with radiation exposure 14. neutropenia defined as anc\<1500/mm 15. triglycerides\>400 mg/dl 16. history of hypersensitivity to study drug 17. history of ebv-related lymphoproliferative disorders 18. active or untreated latent tb infection
study of crenolanib for the treatment of patients with advanced gist with the d842-related mutations and deletions in the pdgfra gene

Conditions: D842-related Mutant GIST

Summary: this phase ii study is designed to evaluate the antitumor efficacy and pharmacokinetics of crenolanib (cp-868,596) in patients with d842-related mutant metastatic gist.

crenolanib (cp-868,596) is an orally bioavailable, selective inhibitor of pdgfr receptor tyrosine kinase with ic50s of 0.4 ng/ml and 0.8 ng/ml for pdgfrα and pdgfrβ, respectively. in preclinical models of cell lines with the d842v mutation in the pdgfra gene, crenolanib (cp-868,596) blocked phosphorylation of pdgfrα at nanomolar concentrations, suggesting that it may provide a clinical benefit to patients with d842v mutant gist. in addition, crenolanib was also active in inhibiting phosphorylation of cell lines with two point mutations (double mutants) pdgfra v561d + d842v and pdgfra t674i + d842v.

Eligibility criteria:
inclusion criteria * male or female, of any racial or ethnic group * age 18 years or older * life expectancy of greater than 12 weeks * patient able and willing to provide informed consent * normal liver function, defined as ast and alt ≤2.5x uln, and total bilirubin ≤ 2x uln. * total creatinine ≤ 1.5x uln * ecog performance status 0 - 2 (appendix ii) * patients must have histologically or cytologically confirmed gist with a d842-related mutation or deletion on the pdgfra gene * patients must have measurable disease, defined as at least one lesion that can be accurately measured in at least one dimension (longest diameter to be recorded) as \>20 mm with conventional techniques or as \>10 mm with spiral ct scan. see section 10.1.2 for the evaluation of measurable disease. * patients must have recovered from any prior therapy and completed the minimum of, either 5 half-lives of prior therapy or 2 weeks must have elapsed since prior treatment exclusion criteria * patient unable to provide informed consent * ecog performance status \> 2 * any concurrent anticancer therapy, immunotherapy, or hormonal therapy. * any other investigational agents taken within 2 weeks of start of study drug or if study drug will commence within 5 half-lives of prior therapy * patients with known or active hepatitis b or c; liver cirrhosis. * patients with active fungal, viral, and bacterial infections * positive serum pregnancy test * pregnant or lactating women * patients on concomitant medications that induce or inhibit cyp3a4 (appendix iii) * patients with severe and/or uncontrolled concurrent medical disease that in the opinion of the investigator could cause unacceptable safety risks or compromise compliance with the protocol e.g. impairment of gastrointestinal (gi) function, or gi disease that may significantly alter the absorption of the study drugs

Keywords: gastrointestinal stromal tumor pdgfr inhibitor crenolanib (cp-868,596)
study of protective effects of paricalcitol on inner layer of vessels and its protective effect on inflammation

Conditions: Chronic Kidney Disease; Endothelial Dysfunction; Inflammation; Hypertension

Summary: the study is about possible protective effects of paricalcitol (zemplar) upon inflammation, blood pressure and kidney function. kidney inflammation occurs when white blood cells become abnormally stimulated and accumulate in the kidney and cause damage to the kidney. the purpose of this study is to determine if paricalcitol helps improve kidney injury, blood pressure control and kidney function in patients with chronic kidney disease. the study will last about 7 weeks and involves about 8 visits to the medical center.

we hypothesize that use of paricalcitol in patients with chronic kidney disease will lead to improvement in oxidative stress, inflammation, endothelial function and subsequently ambulatory blood pressures and glomerular filtration rate. we will pursue our hypothesis by the three specific aims: aim 1: to compare oxidative stress markers in patients treated with paricalcitol before and after the study. aim 2: to measure endothelial function by flow mediated dilation in patients with chronic kidney disease before and after paricalcitol. aim 3: to measure actigraphy guided ambulatory blood pressure and gfr in the absence of changes in anti-hypertensive medications in patients with chronic kidney disease. the study will be double blind randomized pilot trial in 24 patients with chronic kidney disease with 1:1:1 allocation to paricalcitol 1 microgram: paricalcitol 2 microgram: placebo.

Eligibility criteria:
inclusion criteria: * patients with chronic kidney disease with estimated gfr of 30 ml/minute or more. * patients receiving stable dose of ace inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blockers for at least one month. * patients not currently hypertensive more than 180/110 mmhg by clinic blood pressure. * hemoglobulin a1c\< 11% exclusion criteria: * patients taking vitamin d analogs * calcium\> 10 mg/dl * phosphorus\>6 mg/dl * patients with anticipated need of dialysis in the next 6 weeks * patients unstable in the opinion of the investigator * patients who have emergent need for starting iv iron * patients who will be started on statins within the next 6 weeks * patients currently taking pde5 inhibitors * patients allergic to radiocontrast, zemplar or who can not take nitroglycerin * patients known to be hiv positive * patients who can not give informed consent

Keywords: chronic kidney disease endothelial dysfunction inflammation hypertension paricalcitol blood pressure vitamin d glomerular filtration rate