UAB - Center for Clinical and Translational Science

Growth-restricted very preterm infants (VPT) are born without adequate fat mass (FM) deposits and low docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) concentrations. They often experience further declines in DHA concentrations during the initial three weeks post-birth while advancing enteral feeds and receiving lipid supplementation predominantly through parenteral nutrition. These suboptimal enteral and parenteral nutrition practices significantly heighten the risk of faltering postnatal growth. One promising approach to mitigate these issues is enteral DHA supplementation. However, it remains unclear whether the early administration of DHA through enteral supplementation could lead to a more substantial increase in head growth without affecting FM accretion in growth-restricted VPT infants. To address this question, we propose a masked randomized clinical trial involving 152 VPT infants.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: May 2024

open study

Periodontitis is a bacterial inflammatory disease and antibiotic use is being empirically used as part of its treatment. However, a clinical practice guideline on periodontal treatment adjuncts published in 2015 identified weak evidence on the use of systemic antibiotics and large heterogeneity across small scale studies, suggesting that larger pragmatic clinical trials would benefit clinical decision making. This will be a prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, stratified by practice and practitioner. The study will investigate the effectiveness of adjunctive antibiotics as adjunct to scaling and root planing (SRP) compared to SRP with placebo for the treatment of generalized stage II-III, grades A-C periodontitis in approximately 544 patient participants from about 34 National Dental PBRN practices. Periodontal data will be collected at baseline, re-evaluation (6 weeks), and final (12 months) study visits. Changes in periodontal clinical and patient-reported outcomes will be assessed to determine the effectiveness of SRP plus adjunctive systemic Amoxicillin / Metronidazole antibiotics (AMXM) versus SRP with Placebo.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Apr 2024

open study

This comparative effectiveness study will clarify current first-line preventive treatment approaches for use by neurologists, psychologists, and primary care providers in the context of real world care, and will demonstrate the feasibility of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) via telehealth for youth with migraine. The focus is on applying evidence-based care and enhancing access to it. CBT via telehealth while taking a clinically-prescribed, pill-based prevention therapy (amitriptyline) will be compared to CBT via telehealth alone.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Aug 2023

open study

PE-TRACT is an open-label, assessor-blinded, randomized trial, aiming to compare catheter-directed therapy (CDT) and anticoagulation (CDT group) with anticoagulation alone (No-CDT) in 500 patients with submassive PE, proximal pulmonary artery thrombus and right ventricular dilation.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jul 2023

open study

The AV-MDR is a prospective, non-randomized, open-label, multi-center registry. The purpose of the AV-MDR study is to proactively collect and evaluate clinical data on the usage of the devices in scope within their intended use with the aim of confirming safety and performance throughout their expected lifetime, ensuring the continued acceptability of identified risks, detecting emerging risks on the basis of factual evidence, ensuring the continued acceptability of the benefit-risk ratio, and identifying possible systematic misuse or off-label usage such that the intended use can be verified as appropriate.

Type: Observational

Start Date: Oct 2020

open study

The overall objective of this study is to compare outcomes following early versus delayed weight bearing for adult patients operatively treated for an ankle fracture without syndesmotic fixation. Additionally, early weight bearing will be tested in patients with unicondylar plateau fractures that do not involve joint impaction in the context of a pilot study.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jan 2020

open study

Evaluate voice and swallowing outcomes post operatively.

Type: Observational

Start Date: Oct 2009

open study

The goal of this observational study is to help us understand more about the best ways to help individuals living with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) get the best care. The main question it aims to answer is: How to find individuals unaffiliated from SCD specialist care use three distinct pathways? Once unaffiliated individuals are found using the pathways, Investigators will employ linkage coordinators (trained staff) to engage these patients in care. Participants will be asked to fill out an assessment survey which will cover areas such as previous and current treatment, clinic and hospital experience, pain, and quality of life. Participants will also be given the option of participation in a 1-hour long interview how they feel about treatment for sickle cell disease including clinic experience, pain, and quality of life?

Type: Observational

Start Date: Jun 2023

open study

Living with spinal cord injury (SCI) can have a significant negative impact on an individual's mental health and restrict participation in personally valued activities and roles. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is an evidence-based approach that can lessen symptoms of mental health disorders (e.g., depressive symptoms) and improve quality of life through mindfulness and acceptance processes and behavior change processes for valued living. Evidence for ACT for individuals living with SCI, however, is limited to a very few studies that involved in-person group-based ACT and did not focus on depressed individuals with SCI. The primary goal of this study is to evaluate the effects of an 8-week videoconferencing ACT program on improving mental health outcomes in depressed individuals living with SCI. The primary hypotheses are that the ACT group will show improvements in depressive symptoms at posttest and 2-month follow-up compared to the wait-list control group. Investigators will invite 120 individuals living with SCI and reporting depressive symptoms and randomly assign them to either the ACT group or the wait-list control group. The ACT group will receive eight weekly individual ACT sessions guided by a coach through videoconferencing with a booster session at 1-month follow-up. The wait-list control group will continue his or her own care as usual during the study period and have the option to receive eight individual ACT sessions after study participation ends. Data will be collected at pretest, posttest, and 2-month follow-up and compared between the ACT group and the control group over time. About 40% of individuals living with SCI report depressive symptoms and other mental health symptoms, and mental health disorders following SCI are associated with negative long-term outcomes. Managing uncomfortable or painful thoughts and emotions arising from functional limitations and accepting changed lives while moving forward for valued living through ACT skill practice will help individuals with SCI alleviate symptoms of mental health conditions, promote engagement in personally valued activities, and improve quality of life.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Apr 2024

open study

The purpose of this study is to establish the recommended phase 2 dose of eflornithine in combination with temozolomide in patients whose glioblastoma is newly diagnosed, and to evaluate safety and tolerability of this combination at that dose.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jul 2023

open study

This study will evaluate the effectiveness of the Bright Bodies intervention in improving body mass index (BMI) among 7-13 year-old children with obesity simultaneously with the impact of the implementation strategy on adoption, reach, fidelity, cost, and maintenance of the intervention in three heterogenous settings serving patients disproportionately affected by obesity.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Oct 2022

open study

Multicenter, prospective, randomized controlled trial providing mobile health supported physical rehabilitation to 120 patients who have been critically ill with COVID-19 and who complete at least one exercise session.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Feb 2023

open study

266 family caregivers will be randomly assigned to either immediate intervention or delayed intervention groups. All caregivers will complete baseline surveys and 3 weeks of daily diaries. The immediate intervention group will receive 12 weeks of CuRB-IT. They will complete 3 rounds of 3-week daily diaries followed by an intermittent survey at 12 week intervals for the next 33 weeks. The delayed intervention group will receive 12 weeks of attention, complete 1 round of 3-week daily diaries followed by an intermittent survey, then complete 12 weeks of CuRB-IT, and complete 2 rounds of 3--week daily diaries followed by an intermittent survey at 12-week intervals for the next 18 weeks.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Apr 2023

open study

This phase I trial studies the side effects and best dose of trametinib and everolimus in treating pediatric and young adult patients with gliomas that have come back (recurrent). Trametinib acts by targeting a protein in cells called MEK and disrupting tumor growth. Everolimus is a drug that may block another pathway in tumor cells that can help tumors grow. Giving trametinib and everolimus may work better to treat low and high grade gliomas compared to trametinib or everolimus alone.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Dec 2020

open study

The primary goal of this project is to determine the effects of exercise on the gut microbiome in breast cancer survivors and determine how these changes may relate to psychosocial symptoms such as fatigue.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jan 2020

open study

The purpose of this study is to investigate the brain activity associated with motor and non-motor symptoms of movement disorders, including Parkinson's disease (PD) and essential tremor. These movement disorders commonly have significant non-motor features, such as depression, cognitive and memory impairment, decreased attention, speech and language disturbances, and slower processing speeds. The investigators are interested in the brain activity associated with these motor and non-motor symptoms, and propose to investigate changes in brain activity while the investigators perform recordings of the surface and deep structures of the brain, in addition to the typical recordings the investigators perform, during routine deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Sep 2019

open study

A placebo-controlled, multicenter, randomized trial to test GKT137831 in ambulatory patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. This drug is an inhibitor of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase (NOX) isoforms. The investigators hypothesize the drug will decrease pulmonary injury due to reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated by NOX enzymes, which are believed to play an important role in the development of IPF. Treatment with GKT137831 could result in significant benefit for a lung disease that has, until now, been almost invariably inexorable. This clinical trial represents the bedside application of a series of NOX translational and basic studies and discoveries, over several years, from the laboratory of Dr. Victor Thannickal.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Sep 2020

open study

The Investigators have recently published on differences in pain sensitivity measures between cis and trans individuals in the local area. The investigators observed the anticipated differences in pain sensitivity between CM and CW (CW > CM), but found that the TW were phenotypically similar to CW in all measures. However, the investigators did not assess hormone level, nor did the investigators recruit TM participants. Here, with the assistance of two local community group stakeholders the investigators will recruit the following groups: CM, CW, TM+T (currently taking exogenous testosterone), TW+E (exogenous estradiol), TM, and TW (n=20/group). The investigators will use quantitative sensory testing to assess sensitivity to cold, pressure, and heat via standardized protocols. Blood samples will be taken for assessment of stress and reproductive hormone levels, immune cell populations and stimulated cytokine release. Finally, questionnaires will measure pain state, quality of life (QOL), voice QOL, body image, appearance, self-reported health, masculinity/femininity, community connectedness, gender role, sleep, depression, social support, adverse childhood experiences and stigma.

Type: Observational

Start Date: Mar 2023

open study

This is an observational study of 1000 participants to further define the nature of early chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in younger, at-risk individuals. The study has three main goals: - To use CT scan imaging to identify which smokers will develop COPD. - To identify biomarkers predictive of smokers that will develop COPD. - To determine if sputum (phlegm) can be analyzed to predict which smokers will develop COPD. Procedures (methods): All participants will undergo study related questionnaires assessing medical history, smoke exposure and use, medication use, social and behavioral health, pulmonary symptoms, food frequency, and will provide nasal swab, blood, stool, and urine samples, pulmonary function testing to determine function, sputum induction to provide a sputum sample for airway biospecimen analysis, and CT imaging of the lungs.

Type: Observational

Start Date: Sep 2021

open study

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) will serve as the site for the RURAL Study Coordinating Center, led by PI Vasan Ramachandran, MD. The primary function of the Study Coordinating Center (SCC) is to serve as an administrative liaison between all of the RURAL study's cores. The SCC schedules, facilitates, and hosts, all RURAL meetings including preparation for Observational Study Monitoring Board (OSMB) meetings, and maintains direct communication with the study's program officers at NHLBI. The SCC monitors the overall progress of RURAL and keeps all RURAL cores abreast of study updates through meetings, emails, newsletters. It also maintains the official RURAL website and serves as an administrator for investigators seeking to collaborate with RURAL through the submission of Ancillary Studies. The SCC will have no direct interaction with any participants, nor will it have access to identifiable data.

Type: Observational

Start Date: Jan 2021

open study

This protocol seeks to determine if weight reduction with the Optifast VLCD program leads to reduced contribution of endogenous oxalate synthesis to the urinary oxalate pool in obese calcium oxalate stone formers.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Dec 2021

open study

To assess blood levels of vasoactive mediators that may regulate pulmonary endothelial permeability and contribute to multi-organ injury in patients with COVID-19 disease and to correlate the levels of these mediators with disease outcomes such as ICU admission, length of ventilatory support, respiratory failure, kidney failure, heart failure, and death.

Type: Observational

Start Date: May 2020

open study

The primary objectives of Cohort A Phase 1b are to evaluate the safety and tolerability of TTI-101 orally administered as a single agent to participants with locally advanced or metastatic, and unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) and to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and/or recommended Phase 2 dose (RP2D) of TTI-101 as a single agent. The primary objectives of Cohort A Phase 2 are to evaluate the safety and tolerability of TTI-101 orally administered as a single agent at the RP2D to participants with locally advanced or metastatic, and unresectable HCC and to assess the preliminary efficacy of TTI-101 as a single agent in participants with locally advanced or metastatic, and unresectable HCC. The secondary objectives of Cohort A Phase 2 are to assess response, progression, survival, and pharmacokinetics. The primary objectives of Cohorts B and C Phase 1b are to evaluate the safety and tolerability of TTI-101 orally administered in combination with pembrolizumab therapy (Cohort B) and in combination with atezolizumab and bevacizumab therapy (Cohort C) to participants with locally advanced or metastatic, or unresectable HCC and to determine the MTD and/or RP2D of TTI-101 when used in combination with pembrolizumab therapy (Cohort B) and in combination with atezolizumab and bevacizumab therapy (Cohort C). The primary objectives of Cohorts B and C Phase 2 are to evaluate the safety and tolerability of TTI-101 orally administered in combination with pembrolizumab therapy (Cohort B) and in combination with atezolizumab and bevacizumab therapy (Cohort C) at the RP2D to participants with locally advanced or metastatic, and unresectable HCC and to assess the preliminary efficacy of TTI-101 in combination with pembrolizumab therapy (Cohort B) and in combination with atezolizumab and bevacizumab therapy (Cohort C) to participants with locally advanced or metastatic, and unresectable HCC. The secondary objectives of Cohorts B and C Phase 2 are to assess response, progression, survival, and pharmacokinetics.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Mar 2023

open study

Similar to the paradigm established in other hematologic malignancies that are considered curable, the achievement of MRD(-) status is necessary for long term disease control in MM. The fact that the majority of patients remain MRD (+) after induction therapy and AHCT points to the opportunity to deploy novel agents with complementary mechanism of action and favorable toxicity profile to reach and maintain MRD (-) status. Given its favorable toxicity profile, the convenience of oral administration, and compelling single agent activity even in heavily pretreated MM, iberdomide is likely amenable to long term therapy in patients with high-risk of relapse/progression identified by the persistence of MRD(+). The investigators intend to develop combination(s) of iberdomide with other agents with complementary mechanism of action in the consolidation setting post AHCT in order to achieve and sustain MRD (-).

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jan 2023

open study

Acute stroke systems of care should emulate trauma systems which deliver the full range of care to all injured patients by means of organized, coordinated efforts in defined geographic areas. Just as trauma systems have proven ability to save lives of the most severely injured patients, clinicians should have a stroke system able to provide care to patients with the most severe strokes. The most severe type of acute ischemic stroke is due to proximal large vessel occlusion (LVO). Mechanical thrombectomy (MT) offers an extraordinary potential to improve the outcome of patients with LVO. Unfortunately, in part because MT is available only at advanced stroke centers, only a minority of patients with LVO are treated with MT, and there are racial, socioeconomic, and rural disparities in access to MT. Based on the success of trauma systems and our prior collaboration, the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) is planning a five-year statewide quality improvement initiative of trauma communications center (TCC) coordinated severity-based stroke triage (SBST) which aims to transform the fragmented acute stroke care system by coordinating prehospital and inter-facility emergency stroke care.

Type: Observational

Start Date: Apr 2022

open study