Clinical Research Directory

Finasteride and Cutibacterium

High levels of Testosterone causes high amounts of skin bacteria (Cutibacterium Acnes) which can go into the skin during a shoulder replacement surgery and cause a terrible infection. The goal of this experiment is to have participants take Finasteride, a medication that blocks testosterone production, for 2 weeks and evaluate the following: * Blood levels of testosterone * Amount of bacteria on the skin. Participants will: * Be assigned to take Finasteride, or a placebo (a look-alike pill with no active medicine) once daily, for 2 weeks * Have a small sample of their blood collected and their skin swabbed with a Q-tip to determine Testosterone levels and bacteria on the skin * Blood draw and skin testing will take place before starting Finasteride or the placebo (day 0) and at the end of the experiment (day 14).

Do Wound Protectors Reduce Contamination in Total Shoulder Arthroplasty?

Prosthetic joint infection is a devastating complication of shoulder arthroplasty. A relatively novel method of preventing PJI has been with the use of a wound protection device. There is minimal investigative research on the use of a wound protector in shoulder arthroplasty, specifically with an ability to decrease wound contamination. The investigators primary purpose of the proposed study is to determine if the use of a wound protector deceases the deep wound colonization of bacteria in primary shoulder arthroplasty. A secondary purpose is to evaluate if the wound protector decreases soft tissue trauma during total shoulder arthroplasty.

Reduction of Bacterial Seeding in Total Shoulder Arthroplasty

The purpose of this study is to compare the growth of intra-operative tissue cultures of Cutibacterium Acnes after primary shoulder replacement when using a no-prep control group versus Prontosan wound gel applied to the skin layer after the skin incision has been made.

The Role of Cutibacterium Acnes in the Development of Degenerative Lumbar Intervertebral Disc Disease

The goal of this study is to clarify the role of the bacterium Cutibacterium acnes in the development of degenerative disc disease in patients with lumbar disc herniation who underwent microdiscectomy as part of their regular medical care.