Clinical Research Directory

Management of Cardiovascular Disease in Kidney Disease (MaCK) Study

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the largest concerns for patients with Chronic kidney disease (CKD). At present time the investigators do not have proven effective strategies to reduce high CVD related deaths in CKD. This study assesses a novel therapy (hydroxychloroquine, HCQ) for the treatment of CVD in patients with CKD. This is the first human proof-of-concept study and is planned to be conducted among US Veterans, who suffer from both CKD and CVD at a disproportionately greater rates. The outcome of this study has the potential to provide an entirely new line of therapy for the treatment of CVD in CKD.

Causal Mechanisms in Adolescent Arterial Stiffness

Hardening of the blood vessels, called arterial stiffness, is a risk factor for future heart disease and its causes are unclear. The proposed study will 1) randomly assign adolescents at high risk of stiffening blood vessels to take a protein supplement called carnitine and study its effects on arterial stiffening and 2) study carnitine related genes for their effect on arterial stiffening. The study will definitively establish a role for carnitine action as a cause of stiffening blood vessels and signal a way to treat or prevent stiffening.

Aortic Stiffness in Patients With Genetic Aortopathies

The goal of this observational study is to study arterial stiffness in patients with thoracic ascending aortic aneurysms (TAA), either syndromic or non-syndromic. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Stratification of aortic risk based on arterial stiffness; Compare measurements with morphological and haemodynamic features of the ascending thoracic aorta. Participants will be asked to undergo non-invasive evaluation of blood pressure and arterial stiffness.