Clinical Research Directory

Ambient Temperature and Thermoregulation During Exercise in Children and Youth

Little is known about how children and youth regulate body temperature during exercise across different environmental temperatures compared with young adults, including whether differences in whole-body heat exchange contribute to their responses. The goal of this clinical trial is to determine how ambient temperature affects thermoregulation during exercise in boys and girls aged 9-16 years compared with young adult men and women aged 20-25 years. Participants will complete four study visits at ambient temperatures of 22°C (Celsius; 72°F, Fahrenheit), 26°C (79°F), 31°C (88°F), and 36°C (97°F), while exercising at the same moderate-intensity metabolic heat production of 160 W/m² (W = watts, m = meters). During each visit, participants will complete four 15-minute periods of exercise (exercise bouts 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively) separated by 15-minute rest periods. Testing will be performed in a whole-body air calorimeter, a specialized chamber that precisely measures heat lost through evaporation and dry heat exchange and the amount of heat stored in the body. These measurements, together with core temperature and heart rate, will allow researchers to determine how increasing ambient temperature affects the body's ability to lose heat and whether these responses differ between children and youth and young adults.

Exercise Intensity and Heat Responses in Children and Youth

Little is known about how children and youth regulate body temperature during exercise in the heat compared with young adults, including whether differences in whole-body heat exchange contribute to their responses. The goal of this clinical trial is to determine how exercise intensity affects thermoregulation in boys and girls aged 9-16 years compared with young adult men and women aged 20-25 years. Participants will complete three study visits in a hot environment of 36°C (degree Celcius (97°F, degree Farenheit)), performing light-, moderate-, and vigorous-intensity exercise corresponding to metabolic heat production of 120, 160, and 200 W/m² (w=watts, m=meter), respectively. During each visit, participants will complete four 15-minute bouts of exercise (i.e., bout 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively) separated by 15-minute rest periods. Testing will be performed in a whole-body air calorimeter, a specialized chamber that precisely measures heat lost through evaporation and dry heat exchange and the amount of heat stored in the body. These measurements, together with core temperature and heart rate, will allow researchers to determine how increasing exercise intensity affects the body's ability to lose heat and whether these responses differ between children and youth and young adults.

Study to Assess the Effectiveness of a Heat Risk Reduction Decision Support Platform and the Barriers and Facilitators of Its Implementation With 30 US Local Health Department Sites

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if an innovative online decision support tool (Chart) that provides localized health risk assessment for extreme heat at the census tract level helps local health departments plan and prepare for extreme heat by identifying risk drivers in their jurisdictions, highlighting interventions that are effective for their jurisdiction's risk profile, and providing information regarding intervention implementation. This trial will evaluate barriers and facilitators of the tool's implementation. The main questions it aims to answer are: 1. Does a health department using the tool have better reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance of heat-health activities compared with an information-only control? 2. What are the barriers and facilitators of Chart's implementation? Researchers will compare health departments using Chart to health departments using provided heat-health information only.

Transcutaneous Electrical Stimulation and Controlled Heat in People With and Without Diabetes

The investigators would like to see if the combination of TENS and controlled heat in a boot increases blood flow to the foot more than baseline or heat alone in people with and without diabetes. This may help people with diabetes and a diabetic wound that will not heal.