UAB - Center for Clinical and Translational Science

The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether the use of the Detection of Elder Mistreatment Through Emergency Care Technicians-Revised for Primary Care (DETECT-RPC) screening tool increases the average reporting of elder mistreatment (EM) by homebased primary care (HBPC) clinicians.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Feb 2025

open study

In 2014, a team of parents, nurses, and physicians created Patient and Family Centered I-PASS (PFC I-PASS), a bundle of communication interventions to improve the quality of information exchange between physicians, nurses, and families, and to better integrate families into all aspects of daily decision making in hospitals. PFC I-PASS changed how doctors and nurses talk to patients and families on rounds when they're admitted to the hospital. (Rounds are when a team of doctors visit patients every morning to do a checkup and make a plan for the day.) Rounds used to happen in a way that left out patients and families. Doctors talked at, not with patients, used big words and medical talk, and left nurses out. PFC I-PASS changed rounds by including families and nurses, using simple non-medical words, and talking in an organized way so nothing is left out. When PFC I-PASS was put in place in 7 hospitals, patients had fewer adverse events and better hospital experience. But it didn't focus on how to talk with patients with language barriers. This project builds upon upon PFC I-PASS to make it better and focus on the special needs of patients who speak languages other than English. This new intervention is known as PFC I-PASS+. PFC I-PASS+ includes all parts of PFC I-PASS plus having interpreters on and after rounds and training doctors about communication and cultural humility. The study team will now conduct a stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial to compare the effectiveness of PFC I-PASS+ and PFC I-PASS to usual care at 8 hospitals.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Mar 2024

open study

The choice of autograft for ACL reconstruction continues to be debated. To date, there has only be one completed randomized controlled trial with quad tendon to BTB and the tendon included a bone plug. There has been no study to date comparing an all soft tissue quad tendon to patellar tendon in a randomized controlled trial for ACL reconstruction.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Sep 2023

open study

Advancements in prenatal genetic screening have significantly improved the identification of chromosomal abnormalities and heritable conditions during pregnancy, yet current standards for patient education in this domain are largely ineffective. The most effective approach to education about prenatal screening is one-on-one genetic counseling, but due to the limited number of counselors this is not feasible, especially in rural and frontier areas. The investigators will address this national problem using a novel education game that can more effectively address this gap in healthcare decision-making.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Mar 2023

open study

The goal of the current pilot clinical trial is to evaluate the safety and tolerability of pirfenidone in patients with predicted moderately severe and severe acute pancreatitis. Pirfenidone is currently approved by FDA for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Now, over 5 years of data has accumulated demonstrating safety of its use in humans. The investigators' preclinical data suggest that pirfenidone is very effective in reducing the severity of acute pancreatitis in animal models. Following are the objectives of the proposed clinical trial: Primary Objective: - To evaluate the safety and tolerability of pirfenidone, compared to placebo, in patients predicted to have moderately severe or severe AP. - To evaluate the efficacy of pirfenidone in reducing the laboratory markers of inflammation and improving patient reported outcome measures. Secondary Objective: - To evaluate the efficacy of pirfenidone in reducing the severity of acute pancreatitis, as measured by well-defined endpoints.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Aug 2023

open study

The purpose of this study is to determine how effective a 6-week exercise program is for improving memory compared to a no-intervention control group, investigate the brain changes that may be responsible for memory improvements, and determine if the memory benefits and brain changes are retained 6 weeks after completing the exercise intervention in people with Idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE).

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jul 2021

open study

Many of the 2.8 million family caregivers (FCGs) of persons with advanced cancer are underserved, particularly African-Americans and rural-dwellers in the Southern U.S.. Most have poor access and awareness of community-based palliative care services and have received no formal support or training despite providing assistance to their relatives an average of 8 hrs/day. Providing intense care and witnessing a close friend or family member struggle with advanced cancer can result in FCGs experiencing marked distress, particularly as their care recipients near end of life (EOL). Reports from NCI and NINR caregiving summits, systematic reviews, and the National Academy of Medicine have highlighted major limitations of cancer caregiver interventions, including a lack of attention to underserved populations and cost, poor scalability, over reliance on highly-trained professionals (e.g., nurses, psychologists, behavioral therapists), lengthy sessions over a short duration, and a lack of demonstrated impact on patient outcomes and healthcare utilization. To address this gap, the investigators have developed and tested feasibility and acceptability of a lay navigator-led early palliative care intervention called ENABLE Cornerstone for rural and minority family caregivers of persons with advanced cancer in the Southern U.S.. Evolving out of the team's prior trials and community stakeholder formative evaluation work, this multicomponent intervention is based on Pearlin's Stress-Health Process Model where lay navigators, overseen by an interdisciplinary outpatient palliative care team, employ health coaching techniques and caregiver distress screening to behaviorally activate and reinforce psychoeducation on managing stress and coping, getting and asking for help, improving caregiving skills, and decision-making/advance care planning over 6 brief in-person/telephonic sessions plus monthly follow-up from diagnosis through early bereavement. This proposed hybrid type I randomized effectiveness-implementation trial will determine whether ENABLE Cornerstone compared to usual care can improve family caregiver (Aim 1) and patient outcomes (Aim 2) and will evaluate implementation costs, cost effectiveness and healthcare utilization (Aim 3), over 24 weeks with 206 family caregivers and their patients with newly-diagnosed advanced cancer. To maximize recruitment, the investigators will recruit from two community cancer centers in Birmingham, AL and Mobile, AL. Our theory-driven, standardized approach is innovative because it uses lay navigators in collaboration with a palliative care interdisciplinary team to promote caregiver activation, skills and knowledge enhancement, as opposed to other difficult-to-implement intervention models that rely mostly on delivery of services by advanced practice professionals providing lengthy sessions over a short duration. If effectiveness is established, the ENABLE Cornerstone intervention offers a highly scalable and reproducible model of formal caregiver support that would be primed for dissemination and implementation.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jan 2020

open study

The APOLLO study is being done in an attempt to improve outcomes after kidney transplantation and to improve the safety of living kidney donation based upon variation in the apolipoprotein L1 gene (APOL1). Genes control what is inherited from a family, such as eye color or blood type. Variation in APOL1 can cause kidney disease. African Americans, Afro-Caribbeans, Hispanic Blacks, and Africans are more likely to have the APOL1 gene variants that cause kidney disease. APOLLO will test DNA from kidney donors and recipients of kidney transplants for APOL1 to determine effects on kidney transplant-related outcomes.

Type: Observational

Start Date: Mar 2019

open study

The rare histiocytic disorders (RHDs) are characterized by the infiltration of one or more organs by non-LCH histiocytes. They can range from localized disease that resolves spontaneously, to progressive disseminated forms that can be sometimes life-threatening. Since they are extremely rare, there is limited understanding of their causes and best treatment options. Physicians, patients and parents of children with RHDs frequently consult members of the Histiocyte Society regarding the best management of these disorders. Very often, no specific recommendation can be made due to the lack of prospective outcome data, or even large retrospective case series. The creation of an international rare histiocytic disorders registry (IRHDR) could facilitate a uniform diagnosis of the RHDs, as well as the collection and analysis of the clinical, epidemiological, treatment and survival data of patients with RHD. The registry may also lead to future therapeutic recommendations, provide a framework for future clinical trials and create excellent research opportunities.

Type: Observational [Patient Registry]

Start Date: Oct 2014

open study

The purpose of this study is to determine if treatment with a single dose of RE104 for Injection reduces depressive symptoms or depressive symptoms mixed with anxiety symptoms in participants with Adjustment Disorder due to cancer or other illnesses such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Parkinson's Disease (PD) or Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) as compared to active-placebo.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jul 2025

open study

The purpose of the study is to determine how blood sugar levels in individuals with and without hypoglycemia after bariatric surgery respond to different doses of glucagon, a hormone that is usually present in your body that regulates blood sugar levels. In this study, there will be 4 visits to the clinical research center. In the first visit, medical history and physical exam will be performed, and blood samples will be taken to assess overall health. During visit 2, a continuous glucose monitor will be placed under the skin. (This may be combined with visit 1, depending on the schedule of visits.) In visit 3, we will test the effect of a total of 4 different doses of glucagon, in increasing doses. In visit 4, we will test the effect of a total of 3 doses of glucagon, in decreasing doses. For both visit 3 and 4, we will infuse labeled stable glucose to allow us to measure how much glucose the body is making, and will measure levels of hormones which regulate glucose, such as insulin and glucagon.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Nov 2024

open study

The primary purpose of this study is to perform a high-quality randomized control trial comparing intramedullary tibial nail fixation with standard design nails to a micromotion tibial nail device, to evaluate the rates of union and post-operative outcomes.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Apr 2025

open study

The purpose of the study is to observe the outcomes of patients with acute myeloid leukemia who do not receive an immediate second round of chemotherapy after undergoing a standard mid-induction bone marrow biopsy.

Type: Observational

Start Date: May 2024

open study

This is an open-label, two-part, phase 1-2 study designed to determine the safety, tolerability, PK, pharmacodynamics (PD), and proof-of-concept efficacy of ST316 administered IV in subjects with selected advanced solid tumors likely to harbor abnormalities of the WNT/β-catenin signaling pathway. The study consists of two phases: a phase 1 dose escalation/regimen exploration phase and a phase 2 expansion phase.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jun 2023

open study

The goal of this clinical trial is to develop an pharmacist-led preoperative opioid taper intervention for patients undergoing total knee or hip replacement who are on chronic opioids before their surgery. The main questions it aims to answer are: - Is the intervention feasible and acceptable to patients? - Does the intervention result in a decrease in opioid dose during the preoperative period? Participants will meet with a clinical pharmacist, who will provide some basic education on pain and opioids, and will propose an opioid taper schedule. The pharmacist will then follow-up with the participant by phone each week until surgery to assess progress and adjust the taper as necessary.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jan 2024

open study

The study aims to test the benefits of a 24-week, cardio-emphasized Movement-to-Music exercise program for reversing cardiometabolic health risk factors compared to asynchronous, standard exercise programs among 132 adult wheelchair users. The targeted cardiometabolic health factors are waist circumference, triglycerides, "good" cholesterol, glucose, and blood pressure. Additionally, a 12-week follow-up phase (weeks 25-36) is included to see whether the gains are maintained.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Sep 2023

open study

This phase I trial studies the side effects of nivolumab before and after surgery in treating children and young adults with high grade glioma that has come back (recurrent) or is increasing in scope or severity (progressive). Immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies, such as nivolumab, may help the body's immune system attack the cancer, and may interfere with the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Oct 2020

open study

The purpose of this project is to examine the effects of virtual reality greenspace exposure on physiological and affective acute stress responses among adults with mobility impairments.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Apr 2025

open study

Approximately 150 patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) associated with acute hypoxemic respiratory failure (AHRF) will be randomized at up to 40 sites. Patients will be randomly assigned to either Auxora or matching placebo. Study drug infusions will occur every 24 hours for five consecutive days for a total of five infusions.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jul 2024

open study

The proposed 6-month pilot Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomize Trial (SMART) has two aims. The first and primary aim is to determine the feasibility of conducting a full-scale SMART to compare weight-focused (i.e., weight loss) and weight-neutral (i.e., weight loss is not an explicit goal) adaptive biobehavioral interventions for improving cardiometabolic health in Black adults with overweight or obesity (BMI ≥27 kg/m2) plus at least one weight-related cardiometabolic condition (high blood pressure, prediabetes or diabetes, and/or high cholesterol). Biobehavioral interventions are treatment strategies that combine lifestyle-based behavioral interventions such as eating a healthy diet and exercise with medications. In this study, participants will be randomly assigned to receive either weight-focused or weight-neutral health coaching for 7 weeks. At week 8, participants will be identified as either "responders" or "nonresponders" to the initial interventions. The threshold for response in the weight-focused condition is greater than or equal to 3% weight loss. The threshold for response in the weight-neutral condition is engaging in greater than or equal to 150 minutes of moderate physical activity for the 7 days prior to the week 8 study visit. Responders to the initial interventions will continue with health coaching on a biweekly basis for weeks 9-26 of the intervention. Nonresponders will be re-randomized to either intensify the lifestyle-based intervention by receiving a membership to the YMCA and enrolling in group fitness classes or augmenting the health coaching with enhanced medical management in partnership with their established primary care provider. The second aim is to use clinical data from the pilot SMART to estimate treatment effects and the between-person variability in these effects. Because this is a pilot study, these estimates will not be used to make comparisons or draw conclusions on the comparative effectiveness of intervention conditions. Rather, these data will be used to generate preliminary effect sizes that can be used to estimate the sample size required for a full-scale trial. Clinical trial feasibility data will be collected on an ongoing basis throughout the study and clinical data will be collected prior to initiating the intervention (baseline) and at week 8 (response visit) and week 26 (post-intervention visit).

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Oct 2024

open study

African Americans are less likely to receive quality end-of-life (EoL) care. Addressing disparities in EoL care will need efforts to support a better understanding of African American patients' EoL cultural values and preferences for EoL communication and the impact of historical and ongoing care delivery inequities in healthcare settings. Our proposed "Caring for Older African Americans" training program is designed to empower clinicians to improve goal-concordant EoL care delivery by using community-developed storytelling videos to create empathy with experiences of racism in EoL care, guidelines for culturally concordant EoL care delivery, and an implicit bias recognition and management training to mitigate bias in goals of care communication.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Feb 2025

open study

I-SPY Phase I/Ib (I-SPY-P1) is an open-label, multisite platform study designed to evaluate single agents or combinations in a metastatic treatment setting that may be relevant for breast cancer patients with the overall goal of moving promising drug regimens into the I-SPY 2 SMART Design Trial (NCT01042379) and/or other oncology-based trials in a timely manner.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Feb 2023

open study

To determine if there is any benefit to using pulsed lavage to wash out the mastectomy pocket during breast reconstruction. Primary outcomes will include post-op complications including surgical site infection (SSI), hematoma, seroma, and implant failure.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Mar 2024

open study

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and tolerability of: - casdatifan when taken alone in participants with advanced solid tumor malignancies and clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) during the dose escalation stage; and - casdatifan monotherapy and casdatifan in combination with cabozantinib or zimberelimab in participants with ccRCC in the dose expansion stage

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Oct 2022

open study

Constraint-Induced Therapy (CI Therapy) is a behavioral approach to neurorehabilitation and consists of multi-components that have been applied in a systematic method to improve the use of the limb or function addressed in the intensive treatment. CI Therapy for the more-affected upper extremity (UE) post-stroke is administered in daily treatment sessions over consecutive weekdays. Sessions include motor training with repeated, timed trials using a technique called shaping, a set of behavioral strategies known as the Transfer Package (TP) to improve the use of the more-affected hand in the life situation, and strategies to remind participants to use the more-affected UE including restraint. Robust improvements in the amount and qualify of use have been realized with stroke participants from mild-to-severe UE impairment.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Dec 2022

open study