Clinical Research Directory

Efficacy Trial on Meningococcal B Vaccine for Preventing Gonorrhea Infections

Objectives: Efficacy of a meningococcal vaccine against Neisseria gonorrhoea (NG) infection among men who have sex with men (MSM). Design: Parallel randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial. Setting: A teaching hospital in Hong Kong. Participants: 150 adult MSM at risk of gonorrhoea infection (condomless sex with more than one man within the last six months, history of sexually transmitted infection \[STI\] diagnosis, inclination to have condomless sex, and other PrEP-eligible criteria) would be recruited into the trial, with half allocated to intervention and control group each. Intervention: Intervention and control group would receive, one month apart, two doses of meningococcal vaccine and normal saline, respectively. Main outcome measures: Safety and efficacy of vaccine against gonorrhoea (time to first gonorrhoea infection and incidence), and behavioural change after vaccination. Expected results: NG incidences in two groups would be compared. Efficacy of vaccine against gonorrhoea would be determined after controlling confounding variables. Characteristics of participants with incident NG would be distinguished from those without incident infections. Change of frequency of sexual activities and networking would be noted. Implications: Strategies on STI screening and vaccination could be informed. Reduced STI burden post-vaccination could be measured with surveillance system.

PrEPwise Pilot Among Black Women in Eastern Virginia

HIV is a virus that affects many people, but Black women in the U.S. are a population at a much higher risk of getting it compared to white women-about 18 times higher. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a medicine if taken as recommended by a clinician can prevent HIV almost completely (99% effective). The problem is that many Black women, especially those living in the Southern U.S., don't know about this medicine called PrEP or find it hard to access it. To address this, healthcare providers sometimes use "decision aids" which are tools, like brochures or videos, designed to help people understand their medical options and make informed choices based on what's important to them. While these tools have worked well for other health issues, they haven't been widely used for preventing HIV. The challenges are doctors do not have enough time to explain PrEP fully to patients during clinic visits and also some Black women do not trust the healthcare system because of a long history of unfair treatment toward Black communities. Community health workers (CHWs) are trained health workers from the same communities as their patients and can facilitate their ability to provide culturally appropriate health education and information consistent with patients' values and needs. Because of this, patients are often more comfortable talking to them. This project aims to test the acceptability and effectiveness of a decision tool to be integrated into HIV testing services to help Black women decide if PrEP is right for them. The investigators are calling this intervention PrEPwise. A tool originally designed for women dealing with opioid addiction will be adapted to fit the needs of Black women living in the South. The long-term goal of this project is to make it easier for Black women to learn about PrEP and decide whether to use it, ultimately helping lower the number of new HIV cases in Black women.

Improving Maternal and Child Health Through Point-of-care STI Testing

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if point-of-care tests (POCTs) for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) improve the timely treatment of syphilis, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and trichomonas in pregnant women. It will also learn about the feasibility, acceptability, and cost-effectiveness of implementing POCTs in a large safety-net hospital setting. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Do POCTs reduce delays in STI treatment compared with standard laboratory-based testing? * What barriers, facilitators, and processes affect POCT implementation in prenatal and obstetric care? * What are the costs and cost-effectiveness of POCTs compared with standard testing? Participants will: * Complete a baseline survey and receive either POCTs (fingerstick blood draw or vaginal swab) or standard laboratory STI testing. * If diagnosed with an STI, complete a follow-up survey approximately one month later. * Stakeholders (providers, hospital leadership, and public health officials) will complete interviews to inform implementation strategies.

Integrated Care Versus Usual Care for Opioid Use Disorder and Infectious Diseases in Veterans

Opioid use disorder (OUD) confers a higher risk of acquiring and transmitting infectious diseases, which may have long-term health consequences in Veterans. Treatment of OUD with medication assisted therapy is highly effective, however this often occurs independently of infectious diseases care. This project will test out a new model that combines infectious diseases and OUD care within one VA clinic appointment. This new care model may improve the health of Veterans and reduce cost and time required for Veterans who often need to attend multiple outpatient appointments.

The Community Youth Development Study: A Test of Communities That Care

The Community Youth Development Study is an experimental test of the Communities That Care (CTC) prevention planning system. It has been designed to find out if communities that were trained to use the CTC system improved public health by reducing rates of adolescent drug use, delinquency, violence, and risky sexual behavior when compared to communities that did not use this approach. The primary purpose of the current continuation study is to investigate whether CTC has long-term effects on substance use, antisocial behavior, and violence, as well as secondary effects on educational attainment, mental health, and sexual risk behavior in young adults at ages 26 and 28. The continuation study also examines (a) how the interaction of social, normative, and legal marijuana contexts creates variation in the permissiveness of individuals' marijuana environments from late childhood to young adulthood and (b) whether, when, and for whom permissive marijuana environments increase marijuana and ATOD use and misuse from age 11 to 28 and interfere with the adoption of adult roles.

Epidemiology of Sexually Transmitted Infections and Its iMpAcT on fEmale Infertility

A longitudinal study to investigate the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections among young women and determine the role of the female genital tract microbiome in fertility