Clinical Research Directory

Biological Impacts of Rising Temperatures on Maternal, Fetal, and Newborn Health: A Cohort Study (BIRTH Cohort)

The goal of this study is to learn how being exposed to high environmental temperatures during pregnancy affects the health of pregnant women and their babies. The study also aims to understand how the body responds to heat stress during pregnancy and how this might lead to pregnancy complications and birth problems like early birth or low birth weight. The main questions that the study aims to answer are: 1. What are the acute and chronic effects of environmental heat exposure on pregnancy and birth outcomes across different trimesters? 2. Through which biological pathways does heat stress impact maternal, fetal, and infant health across varying gestational ages? 3. How do socio-demographic factors, maternal characteristics, and nutritional status of women modify the relationship between environmental heat exposure and adverse pregnancy outcomes? The study will take place in rural parts of Sindh, Pakistan. These areas often experience extreme heat and have limited access to electricity or cooling systems like fans or air conditioners. This study will include pregnant women who are in their first trimester (under 14 weeks of pregnancy). Before starting any study activities, researchers will explain the study to each woman in a language she understands and ask for her written permission to take part (informed consent). At the beginning of the study, participants will visit a study clinic. During this visit, researchers will check their height and weight, perform an ultrasound, and collect a small amount of blood for testing. Participants will also be asked to wear a small device that measures the air temperature and humidity in their surroundings. The researchers will follow each participant during her pregnancy, with visits during the second and third trimesters at the study clinic. At each visit, researchers will check how much heat the participant has been exposed to using the data from the device and from her own answers to a simple questionnaire. The questionnaire will have questions about their heat exposure at work, home, type of clothing, and how they deal with hot weather. Serial ultrasound, blood and urine tests will be conducted so researchers can study signs of stress, hydration, and other changes in the body. A smaller group of participants will also wear a device to measure their body skin temperature, heart rate, physical activity and sleep during pregnancy. When the baby is born, researchers will collect information about the birth, including the baby's weight and length, the time of delivery, and whether there were any complications during birth. After delivery, both the mother and baby will be followed for up to 12 months. During this time, the research team will check the health of both the mother and baby and see how heat exposure during pregnancy may affect the baby's growth over time. At delivery, placental weight and volume will be collected for a smaller group of women. Breastmilk sampling will also be done for this group of women to understand the effect of high temperatures on breastmilk quality. This study does not involve any treatment or medicine. Instead, researchers will observe the participants to learn how real-life heat exposure affects them during pregnancy. The findings from this study may help public health officials and governments find better ways to protect pregnant women and babies from the harmful effects of climate change and extreme heat, especially in places with limited resources.

Influenza & COVID-19 Obstetric and Perinatal Epidemiology Study in India

This study will be conducted as a prospective cohort study, enrolling all eligible women in their first trimester of pregnancy during a baseline visit during week 6-13 of pregnancy at Government Medical College Hospital, Nagpur. The Hospital provides primary, secondary, and tertiary care and the obstetric department delivers about 10,000 babies a year. The hypothesis is that co-infection of other respiratory viruses (ORV), particularly COVID-19 and Influenza increases the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes in mothers and babies and could address the current standard of care in India to not vaccinate pregnant women during pregnancy, by either encouraging vaccination against both viruses before planning a pregnancy or during pregnancy based on global data supporting the safety of this strategy.

Mitigating Infectious Morbidity and Growth Deficits in HIV Exposed Uninfected infanTs With Human Milk Oligosaccharides

Primary Objective: * To evaluate the effects of synbiotics on infectious morbidity and growth while it is in place from 4 to 24 weeks of age. * To evaluate the effects of synbiotics on infectious morbidity and growth from 4 to 48 weeks of age. Secondary Objectives: * To evaluate the effects of synbiotics on growth from 4 to 72 weeks of age. * To evaluate the effects of synbiotics on infant neurodevelopment at 48 and 72 weeks of age. * To evaluate the effects of synbiotics on biological measurements while it is in place from 4 to 24 weeks of age. * To evaluate the effects of synbiotics on biological measurements from 4 to 48 weeks of age. * To evaluate the effects of synbiotics on gut microbiome and fecal short chain fatty acids from 4 to 72 weeks of age. * To investigate feasibility, acceptance, tolerability, and behavioral adherence with the intervention. * To investigate whether the synbiotics reduces infectious morbidity and improves growth in CHEU relative to CHUU. * To investigate whether infant gut microbiota composition, maturity and function, and markers of inflammation and HMOs at baseline and over time are associated with morbidity and poor growth in CHEU and CHUU.

BCG Revaccination With the Third Dose of Diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis Vaccine and Infant Mortality in Africa

Studies in low-income countries show that vaccines can have important non-specific effects on other infections. Live BCG vaccine can train the immune system and reduce susceptibility to unrelated infections. In contrast, non-live diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis-containing (DTP) vaccine enhances susceptibility in females: DTP vs no DTP is associated with 2-fold higher mortality, and in DTP-vaccinated children, females have higher mortality than males. These effects are seen as long as a vaccine is the most recent vaccine. WHO recommends BCG at birth followed by three DTP vaccines. A metaanalysis based on observational studies has shown that co-administration of BCG+DTP is associated with lower mortality than BCG followed by DTP. The investigators will implement a randomised trial in urban Guinea-Bissau, including 6000 children, to test the hypothesis that an extra dose of BCG given with DTP3 (BCG2+DTP3 vs. DTP3) can: * reduce death and hospital admissions by 25% * reduce the F/M severe morbidity hazard ratio

Increasing Neonatal HIV Test and Treat to Maximize the Long-Term Impact on Infant Health and Novel Infant Antiretroviral Treatment

This study aims to improve HIV healthcare services for mothers living with HIV and their newborns in Tanzania and Mozambique. The main questions it aims to answer are: 1) does enhancing screening with maternal HIV viral load monitoring at delivery identify more mother-child pairs at high-risk for HIV vertical transmission? and 2) are high-risk infants linked to appropriate prevention and care? The study will expand access to HIV testing services to more rural settings using a hub-and-spoke referral system.

Emergency Care Action Plans for Infants with Medical Complexity

An Emergency Care Action Plan (ECAP) is a tool intended to be helpful to providers when treating a child with complex medical needs during an emergency. Once created, ECAPs are added to the Electronic Health Record (EHR), shared with the child's caregiver(s), and kept up by all of those involved in a child's care. The goal of this study is to measure important health outcomes (ex. inpatient days, emergency department visits) in terms of the use of the ECAP for infants discharged from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). This study will also measure other real-time potential challenges related to the use of the ECAP including, but not limited to, if it is being used, if providers and caregivers want to use it, and if they keep using it over a long period of time.