Clinical Research Directory

GENESIS Project: Generating Evidence on the Needs of Ecuadorian Adolescents

Background: Adolescence is a period of intensified emotional responses and occurs when mental health disorders commonly develop since adolescents are learning how to deal with powerful emotions. Globally, 15% of adolescents experience a mental disorder like depression or anxiety. However, adolescent mental health goes beyond mental disorders. It is state of mental well-being that allows individuals to deal with stressors, recognize their abilities, develop their activities well, and participate in society, providing a holistic approach that highlights the interplay between psychological well-being and other aspects of life. Given this perspective, a Lifestyle Medicine (LM) approach based on a multi-component framework is needed for assessing adolescents' mental health. This study aims to evaluate adolescents' (aged 14-19) mental health, identify and mitigate the risks of developing any mental health disorder as well as formulate comprehensive interventions to promote and increase their emotional wellbeing. Methods: Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies will be performed. Adolescents from Quito, Ecuador will be recruited using a simple random sampling technique. The minimum sample size is 385; however, to increase the precision of the estimates, a target sample of approximately 1000 participants will be established. Main outcome measure will be mental health using social determinants of health and lifestyle medicine factors. Conclusion: This research project will evaluate adolescents' mental health through a holistic and multiapproach evaluation and interrelate social determinants of health and lifestyle medicine variables to propose and design multidisciplinary strategies and interventions to prevent and mitigate mental health outcomes in adolescents. Additionally, the results will be useful in informing public health authorities to evaluate or modify current policies

Reducing Blood Pressure in Mid-life Adult Binge Drinkers

This study has two phases: Phase 1 is to examine blood pressure, microvascular function, and sympathetic nerve activity in mid-life adult binge drinkers vs. alcohol abstainers/moderate drinkers. Phase 2 is to examine the effect of 8-week aerobic exercise training on blood pressure, microvascular function, and sympathetic nerve activity in mid-life adult binge drinkers

Nighttime Synchrony of Your Nutrition and Circadian Health

Sleep is an important factor for overall health. This study will see how different light exposure patterns and food intake impact a person's metabolism (how the body breaks down food) when sleeping is reduced. Participants will attend 6 to 8 in-person visits to the study clinic, including three overnight stays. People will complete surveys and medical tests. The study will last about 4 to 6 months.

Determining the Utility of a Behavioral Intervention in Chronic Migraine

This proposal will involve a pilot study to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and outcomes of a lifestyle behavior protocol in managing chronic migraine. Additionally, the proposal will investigate biomolecules that are uniquely involved in chronic migraine patients who respond to the protocol. Successful completion of this proposal will inform the design of a future full-scale behavioral clinical trial to control chronic migraine.

Apple Health Study

The Apple Health Study aims to build a diverse and inclusive group of participants to help researchers advance our understanding of how signals and information collected from apps and devices relate to health and may be used to predict, detect, monitor, and manage changes in health. To enroll, US residents who have an iPhone can download the Apple Research app from the App Store and go through the introduction and informed consent for the Apple Health Study. This study is fully remote, and all are invited to enroll if the eligibility criteria are met. Participants will be asked to complete tasks and surveys, using their iPhone and Apple Research app which include: * Selecting the types of data they would like to share with the study such as health and sensor data * Completing tasks and surveys including areas such as personal demographic information, personal medical history, family history, and social determinants of health

Lifestyle for the BRAin Health - Time Restricted Eating and Mindfulness

The study aims to evaluate the effects of a 9-month intervention combining yoga-based mindfulness techniques, cognitive training, and nutritional counseling on cognitive function, plasma markers of neurodegeneration (tau protein), physical fitness, and metabolism in older adults at increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

A Digital Lifestyle Intervention in Primary Healthcare to Prevent Cardiovascular Disease

Unhealthy lifestyle behaviors are well-established risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) which is the leading cause of death globally and in Sweden. Digitalization offers new and better possibilities for healthcare to fulfil their responsibility to support healthier lifestyles, however, to ensure scalability and sustained implementation of digital tools within healthcare, digital interventions need to be systematically maintained and delivered by the primary healthcare. The aim of this project is to evaluate whether a digital lifestyle intervention, developed within Swedish primary healthcare, can improve clinically important cardiovascular health outcomes and lifestyle behaviors. In this multi-center randomized controlled trial patients, 40-60 years, in Swedish primary healthcare will be recruited and randomized to the control or intervention group. All participants will receive standard care consisting of one structured health dialogue focused on lifestyle habits. The intervention group will also receive support through the digital lifestyle intervention for creating healthy habits regarding diet, physical activity, alcohol consumption, and tobacco usage. The primary outcome is LDL-cholesterol at 6 months post-randomization. Secondary outcomes 6 months post-randomization are HDL-, total cholesterol, fasting blood glucose, triglycerides, non-HDL, blood pressure, weight, height, BMI, waist circumference, cardiovascular risk evaluation (SCORE2), dietary intake, physical activity, sleep, stress, alcohol consumption, tobacco use, and health-related quality of life.

TREC@TAMU Cancer Prevention Registry and Repository

This study collects health and genetic information to implement cancer prevention and treatment strategies.

Effect of Sleep Extension on Ceramides in People with Overweight and Obesity

The overall goal is to determine how a sleep extension intervention (increasing time in bed) in individuals who maintain less than 6.5 hours sleep per night affects their plasma ceramides and insulin sensitivity. Participants will undergo a randomized controlled trial, with sleep extension (intervention) and healthy lifestyle (control) groups. The sleep extension is designed to increase participant's time in bed by 2 hours per night. Alternatively, the control group will receive basic health information (e.g., physical activity, goal setting, and nutrition when eating out).

Circadian Intervention to Improve Cardiometabolic Health

The overall goal is to examine the efficacy of a circadian intervention in people with overweight and obesity and habitual short sleep duration (HSSD). Participants will undergo a randomized controlled trial, with circadian intervention and control (healthy lifestyle) groups. The circadian intervention is designed to reduce nighttime light exposure and after-dinner snack food intake. Alternatively, the control group will receive basic health information (e.g., physical activity, goal setting, and nutrition when eating out).

Long COVID and Its Associations With Health Outcomes in Older Adults

The Peking University Health Cohort in Anning, Yunnan (PKUHC-AN) is a prospective cohort study carried out in Anning, Yunnan. The primary aim of this study is to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on older adults' health, and to provide high-quality evidence of real world research for the optimization of prevention and control strategies of COVID-19 and other emerging infectious diseases. Data will be collected regarding health status, history of COVID-19 infections and vaccines, lifestyle and socioeconomic characteristics, as well as the short- and long-term health outcomes.

Ageing BIOmarker Study in Singaporeans

The Ageing BIOmarker Study in Singaporeans (ABIOS) aims to understand the biological aging processes and how they affect health among people in Singapore. As people grow older, their risk of developing chronic diseases increases. This study aims to better understand the biological changes that come with age, particularly in three major ethnic groups: Chinese, Malay, and Indian adults over 21 years old. By examining a range of health indicators such as DNA methylation, inflammation, metabolism, cardiovascular health, physical function, and physical activity (i.e., molecular, physiological, and digital biomarkers of ageing), the study seeks to identify how ethnicity, lifestyle, and socioeconomic factors influence ageing. This unique study focuses on an all-Asian population, aiming to enhance our understanding of healthy aging across different ethnic groups.

Environmental Pollutants and Life Quality

This study is part of the MISTRAL project, funded by the European Commission under the Horizon Europe Program, within the Work Programme 2021-2022 of Pillar II - Health Cluster on Environment and Health, which has the main objective of creating a cloud-based informatics platform for Health Impact Assessment analysis that, thanks to artificial intelligence, is able to simulate different clinical scenarios, economic and social, before and after the introduction of environmental risk mitigation policies, starting from data and evidence derived from case studies (several European cities) with different levels of exposure to environmental, health, geographical and socio-economic factors. The Project involves 11 partners distributed among Italy (Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Azienda Sanitaria Locale di Taranto, University of Bari, Politecnico di Bari, APS PLANET), Belgium (University of Hasselt), Poland (AGH-University of Technology and Science), Germany (Nuromedia), Spain (Ubitel), Greece (WINGS-ICT Solutions) and England (University of Oxford, University of Suffolk). Specifically, the ZEPHYR study is a cross-sectional (cross-sectional), population-based, multicenter survey. The centers involved are the ASL of Taranto with the Taranto City Single District (Coordinating Recruitment Center), the University of Hasselt, Belgium (Recruitment Center Hasselt Hospital Campus), and the University of Krakow, Poland (Rybnik University Hospital as recruitment center).

Generation R Next - Optimaal Opgroeien

The aim of this randomized controlled trial is to improve birth outcomes and long-term outcomes in mother and child by optimizing lifestyle,nutrition and stress experience in the preconception period and early pregnancy in women and men The main research question that will be addressed is: Does an intervention focused on optimizing preconception and early pregnancy lifestyle, nutrition and stress improve the birth outcomes and long-term outcomes in mother and child? Participants will receive an individual lifestyle consultation at the start of the study. Depending on their study arm, participants will receive an additional lifestyle program focused on health during preconception and early pregnancy, coping with stress and adherence to a healthy(er) lifestyle. The given advices are based on national guidelines. Researchers will compare the intervention group and control group to see if (adherence to) this lifestyle program improve birth outcomes and long-term outcomes in mother and child.

Climbing Lifestyle Intervention for Modifying Physical Activity Behaviors: Pilot Study

The aim of this pilot study is to determine the effects of a 12-week indoor rock climbing training program on heart health, mental health, and behavioral health in generally healthy adults aged 18-35 years old who do not exercise. Participants will learn to rock climb using ropes on an indoor rock climbing wall and participate in the training program 2-3 days per week for 60 minutes each session over 12 weeks. Health outcomes will be measured at 4 time points over the course of the study (pre-intervention, 6-weeks/mid-intervention, 12-weeks/post-intervention, and 24-weeks post-intervention).

Using AI Text Messaging to Improve AHA's Life's Essential 8 Health Behaviors

The goal of our pragmatic clinical trial is to compare how well three different strategies might do to reduce risk factors for cardiovascular disease in patients experiencing health disparities. The three different strategies are: 1) text messages, 2) interactive chatbot messages, and 3) chatbot messages with proactive pharmacist support. To measure cardiovascular risk factors, the investigators are using the American Heart Association's Life's Essential 8 (LE8) factors-blood glucose, cholesterol, blood pressure, physical activity, body mass index, diet, and smoking. This study focuses on improving cardiovascular risk factors for individuals facing health disparities, such as ethnic minorities, limited English proficiency, and low-income groups. These groups are more likely to be seriously affected by cardiovascular diseases. Self-management, or an individual's roles in managing their own chronic disease, includes lifestyle changes, medication adherence. Improving patients' self-management has been shown to improve health behaviors, better disease control and improved patient outcomes. The main question this study aims to answer is if one of the strategies (texting, chatbot, or chatbot with pharmacist support) may improve patient self-management and patient outcomes. The investigators will enroll up to 2,100 patients from three health systems that serve large populations experiencing health disparities: Denver Health, Salud Family Health Centers, and STRIDE Community Health Center. The results might help researchers and health care systems find the best ways to involve patients with health disparities to managing their chronic cardiovascular disease.