Clinical Trials

This study is being done to see if nitrous oxide during vasectomy decreases pain and anxiety, and also assess whether patients have better satisfaction when they control their own level of nitrous oxide during the procedure. If we find that patients experience less pain or anxiety with nitrous oxide, it could be suggested that self-adjusted nitrous oxide (SANO) may be a useful tool for improving experience of care during vasectomy.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether treatment with tiagabine (Gabitril) during the early course of schizophrenia can fundamentally correct the brain deficits associated with the disease.

This study is funded by the National Institutes of Health.

The objective of this study is to determine whether a new minimally invasive method for in vivo measurement of cortical bone tissue properties can identify those who are at risk for fragility fractures of the hip and radius. The investigators hypothesis is that women with fragility fractures of the hip and radius have altered cortical bone tissue properties compared to non-fracture controls independent of standard clinical tests, such as bone mineral density (BMD) by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA).

A urodynamic study (UDS) is a common procedure done to learn more about the cause of urinary symptoms. For some patients, UDS can be associated with anxiety or discomfort. Nitrous oxide (or laughing-gas) is a well-known sedative which is frequently used in dental offices and for pediatric procedures to reduce anxiety and pain. This study is being done to see if giving low-dose (25-50%) nitrous oxide at the time of UDS affects the measurements taken during the procedure, such as how much volume your bladder can hold, and pressures during urination. If the measurements are the same with and without self-administered nitrous oxide (SANO), it could be suggested that nitrous oxide may be a useful way of reducing patient anxiety and pain during UDS.

This is a randomized, pilot interventional study in participants with visual field deficit (VFD) caused by cortical lesion. Damage to the primary visual cortex (V1) causes a contra-lesional, homonymous loss of conscious vision termed hemianopsia, the loss of one half of the visual field. The goal of this project is to elaborate and refine a rehabilitation protocol for VFD participants. It is hypothesized that visual restoration training using moving stimuli coupled with noninvasive current stimulation on the visual cortex will promote and speed up recovery of visual abilities within the blind field in VFD participants. Moreover, it is expected that visual recovery positively correlates with reduction of the blind field, as measured with traditional visual perimetry: the Humphrey visual field test. Finally, although results will vary among participants depending on the extension and severity of the cortical lesion, it is expected that a bigger increase in neural response to moving stimuli in the blind visual field in cortical motion area, for those participants who will show the largest behavioral improvement after training. The overarching goals for the study are as follows: Group 1 will test the basic effects of transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) coupled with visual training in stroke cohorts, including (i) both chronic and subacute VFD stroke participant, and (ii) longitudinal testing up to 6 months post-treatment. Group 2 will examine the effects of tRNS alone, without visual training, also including chronic and subacute VFD stroke participants and longitudinal testing.

Nearly 25% of Americans die in intensive care units (ICUs). Most deaths in ICUs are expected and involve the removal of ventilator support, or palliative withdrawal of mechanical ventilation (WMV). Prior work by the Principal Investigator (PI) found that patient suffering can be common; with 30-59% of patients going through this process experiencing distress. Thus, experts and national organizations have called for evidence to inform guidelines for WMV. This research study will 1) develop and refine a Comfort Measures Only Time out (CMOT) intervention consisting of a structured time out with check-list protocol for the ICU team (nurse, physician, respiratory therapist) to improve the process of WMV. and 2) Pilot test the CMOT intervention in 4 ICUs (2 medical/2 surgical) among 40 WMV patients.

Peripheral inflammation and microvascular dysfunction are central to the pathophysiology of schizophrenia (SZ). Retinal imaging allows for the accurate quantitative assessment of the condition of retinal microvessels, and early studies implicate microvascular dysfunction in SZ, but the specific pathophysiological mechanisms underlying greater length, density, capillary network and diameter are not yet entirely understood. Anti-inflammatory drug trials in SZ suggest that Early Course Schizophrenia (ECS) individuals with elevated peripheral inflammation show the greatest benefit to adjunctive anti inflammatory treatments. Also, there is a growing interest in the use of Sodium Nitroprusside (SNP) in SZ but further studies are needed as results are inconsistent. This study will determine the effectiveness of SNP on psychosis symptoms, cognition, and retinal measures in symptomatic ECS.

This study is a pilot clinical trial to assess the feasibility of implementing a group-psychotherapy intervention to modify emotional stress (e.g., anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress) following ICU hospitalization

The purpose of this study is to understand better the mechanisms of action of calcitonin gene related peptide (CGRP) targeted monoclonal antibodies in migraine prevention. Specifically, the protocol will allow the investigators to determine whether the main site of action of this novel and recently-approved class of migraine prophylactic drugs act inside or outside the brain and if so, where.

The purpose of this study is to test the efficacy of InVEST (Individualized Vocational and Educational Support and Training) for CHR-P (clinical high risk for psychosis) to address specific role functioning difficulties associated with the CHR-P phase. Our specific goals are:

Part 1: Preliminary open trial of InVEST (n = 8) to collect preliminary feasibility and acceptability data by providing the intervention, administering assessments, and collecting focus group and self-report feedback from open trial participants. The open trial phase will help to refine recruitment approaches and to modify the treatment manual as needed.
Part 2: Preliminary randomized controlled trial of InVEST vs. Delayed InVEST (DI) to explore preliminary evidence of efficacy of InVEST vs. DI (n = 30). The investigators hope to gain understanding of the feasibility of InVEST and the study's assessment procedures, and to gain a preliminary understanding of the intervention's efficacy for functioning difficulties experienced by young people at CHR-P.

Goal of this project is to investigate whether increases in inflammation that result from common patterns of restricting sleep on week nights and catching up on sleep over the weekend are caused by disruption in the newly discovered inflammatory resolution pathways. These pathways are crucial in the active termination of the inflammatory response, and their disruption may contribute to ongoing unresolved inflammation, which has been observed not only during periods of sleep restriction, but also after recovery sleep has been obtained. If the hypothesis is true, it is possible that increasing the body's natural production of endogenous, inflammatory resolution mediators may provide a non-behavioral strategy to limit the inflammatory consequences in those undergoing periods of sleep restriction with intermittent recovery sleep.

A multicenter, randomized, parallel-group, placebo-controlled, double-blind, Phase 1/2a clinical study to investigate the safety, tolerability, immunogenicity and exploratory efficacy of a vaccine regimen consisting of an Ad26.Mos4.HIV prime and a boost with Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA)-BN-HIV in combination with broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAb) PGT121, PGDM1400, and VRC07-523LS in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-infected study participants on suppressive anti-retroviral therapy (ART).

The SAFE-PAD Study aims to evaluate the long-term safety of paclitaxel-coated devices compared with non-paclitaxel-coated devices for femoropopliteal artery revascularization among a broad, real-world population of patients with peripheral artery disease. This multi-year analysis aims to create an ongoing mechanism to evaluate the safety of paclitaxel-coated devices in real world practice. The null hypothesis is that the paclitaxel-coated devices are associated with an increase in mortality relative to the non-drug-coated devices beyond an acceptable magnitude (i.e. the non-inferiority margin), and the alternative hypothesis is that paclitaxel-coated devices are not associated with an increase in mortality relative to the non-drug-coated devices beyond the non-inferiority margin.

This research study is studying an immune-based cancer drug as a possible treatment for prostate cancer.

The drug involved in this study is:

-Nivolumab

Diet and lifestyle changes are the recommended first line treatments for symptom relief in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Currently the only diet that is widely recommended and for which there is good evidence of efficacy in IBS is one low in fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols (low-FODMAP). While effective, the Low-FODMAP diet is burdensome and costly to patients and in clinical practice adherence to FODMAP restriction is less than optimal. Further, patients who respond to a FODMAP restriction often are reluctant to reintroduce more FODMAPs into their diet, which may deprive them of foods, particularly fruits and vegetables with important health benefits. Therefore, there is a need for other dietary interventions for IBS that are less burdensome to patients. This clinical trial assesses the efficacy of two dietary interventions.

Primary high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) testing has become first line screening for cervical cancer in high-income countries. The feasibility of this approach in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is less clear, as is the role of HPV testing among women living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The proposed study seeks to evaluate the accuracy of cervical cancer screening algorithms using primary HPV testing followed by various forms of visual evaluation, including visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA), colposcopy and automated visual evaluation (AVE) for the detection of high-grade cervical dysplasia, using histology as the gold standard. We will validate the AmpFire Assay for HPV self-sampling in our setting. We will determine safe screening intervals in women living with HIV (WLHIV) in an HPV-based cervical cancer screening program and compare triage strategies for positive HPV results at WHO recommended screening intervals for WLHIV. We also seek to understand in-depth the attitudes, acceptability and preferences regarding cervical cancer screening, HPV testing, and self-sampling, for women in Botswana through interviews of a sub-set of women recruited for the cervical cancer screening study. Finally, we will analyze the cost of two-stage cervical cancer screening algorithms using high-risk HPV testing in Botswana.

Hemispatial neglect is a disorder where the patient has difficulty attending to objects and information in the left side of space, which occurs following strokes to the right side of the brain. This project is designed to help us understand how optokinetic stimulation treats the symptoms of hemispatial neglect.

The visual system has increasingly been recognized as an important site of injury in patients with schizophrenia and other psychoses. Visual system alterations manifest as visual perceptual aberrations, deficits in visual processing, and visual hallucinations. These visual symptoms are associated with worse symptoms, poorer outcome and resistance to treatment. A recent study using brain lesion mapping of visual hallucinations and identified a causal location in the part of the brain that processes visual information (visual cortex). The association between visual cortex activation and visual hallucinations suggests that this region could be targeted using noninvasive brain stimulation. Two case studies have found that brain stimulation to the visual cortex improved visual hallucinations in treatment resistant patients with psychosis. While promising it is unclear whether these symptom reductions resulted from activity changes in the visual cortex or not. Here we aim to answer the question whether noninvasive brain stimulation when optimally targeted to the visual cortex can improve brain activity, visual processing and visual hallucinations. The knowledge gained from this study will contribute to the field of vision by providing a marker for clinical response and by personalizing treatment for patients with psychosis suffering from visual symptoms. This grant will allow us to set the foundation for a larger more targeted study utilizing noninvasive brain stimulation to improve visual symptoms in patients with psychosis.

The purpose of this protocol is to perform a prospective, randomized, double-blinded, pacebo-controlled clinical trial to determine the influence of a non-invasive positive pressure ventilation device on exercise capacity and symptoms in adult patients with ECAC. Primary outcome will include the total distance traversed by the study subject during a standard 6-minute walk test, and secondary outcomes will include peak flow measurement and symptom reporting before and after the exercise testing. The study will focus on the use of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device. CPAP is FDA-approved for the treatment of various medical conditions, including obstructive sleep apnea and heart failure, but is not FDA-approved for the treatment of ECAC. The study will enroll 32 ambulatory study subjects with confirmed ECAC at the BIDMC, and each study subject will be monitored for up to 3 months.

Airway stents are used as standard of care to identify which patients with excessive dynamic airway collapse will benefit from a definitive surgical treatment. However, the specific way in which these stents are effective has not been tested. The purpose of this research study is to determine the effectiveness of airway stents when used in the airways of patients with severe symptomatic excessive dynamic airway collapse compared to patients with severe symptomatic excessive dynamic airway collapse that do not receive airway stent.

A diagnostic tool that identifies biomarkers that predict response prior to and during induction of ozanimod will have a major impact on improving outcomes in UC patients. Using SOMAscan from SomaLogic (Boulder, CO), our study aims to discover serum protein biomarkers in UC patients that predict response to ozanimod and to gain insight into the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying ozanimod response.

This study evaluates the influence of home air purification on the lung health of adults with eosinophilic COPD. Half of the participants will receive real air purifiers (HEPA filters) and half will receive sham air purifiers.

This is an unblinded pilot study to investigate the technical feasibility of using an electrical impedance tomography device for noninvasive pulmonary function monitoring in ALS patients. The study will enroll patients with ALS in one cohort and healthy volunteers in a second cohort that will both undergo EIT imaging with the investigational device prior to and while performing a standard PFT procedure.

Overview of study. This is an observational study that is intended to provide the first in-human data using EIT as a biomarker of muscle health in neuromuscular conditions. We will seek patients with neurological disorders (both neuromuscular and other neurological conditions) as well as healthy subjects for study. EIT measurements will be performed on appendicular muscles (in the upper and lower extremities) depending on the condition, both at rest and with contraction. EIT measurements will be repeated on an intermittent basis to assess repeatability as well disease progression or improvement over time.

This study is evaluating the use of two painless, non-invasive technologies in the assessment of muscle health over time in both healthy volunteers and patients who have diseases that affect the nervous system.

Transrectal prostate biopsy is a commonly performed ambulatory procedure for diagnosing prostate cancer. Prostate biopsy are associated with pain or anxiety. Nitrous oxide (or laughing gas) is a well-known inhaled anesthetic which is frequently used in dental offices and for pediatric procedures to alleviate a patient's anxiety and pain. This study seeks to determine whether administration of nitrous oxide at the time of prostate biopsy will improve a patient's experience of care.

The OPTIMIZE Trial compares whether iDose dashboard-driven infliximab dosing (iDose-driven dosing) is more effective and safer than standard infliximab dosing for inducing and maintaining disease remission in moderately to severely active CD.

This double-blinded, placebo-control trial clinical trial aims to investigate the effect of IV oxytocin infusion on peri-operative opioid consumption following a minimally invasive hysterectomy under general anesthesia. The patient population will be women scheduled for an elective, minimally invasive hysterectomy at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

The investigators hypothesize that, compared to a placebo, exposure to intravenous (IV) oxytocin will reduce the amount of opioid consumption for women after a minimally invasive hysterectomy procedure.

This is an observational study that is intended to determine the capacity of three technologies to serve as diagnostic biomarkers for myofascial pain syndrome. We will seek patients with myofasical pain syndrome as well as healthy subjects for this study. Electrical impedance myography (EIM), myofiber threshold tracking (TT) excitability testing, and ultrasound with shear wave elastography (SWE) measurements will be obtained from the trapezius muscle (the muscle that extends over the back of the neck and shoulders). These measurements will be repeated within 2-5 days to assess repeatability of these methods.

Cesarean delivery has become the most common surgical procedure in the US. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have been shown to improve the quality of post-cesarean analgesia and markedly reduce opioid consumption. The effect of NSAIDs on healthy volunteers results in inhibition of platelet aggregation and prolonged bleeding time. However, in the obstetric population, the presence and degree of platelet inhibition after NSAID exposure is less clear. The investigators plan to use Platelet Aggregometry and Thromboelastography (TEG) to evaluate the effect of ketorolac on platelets.

The primary aim of this study is to translate temporal interference (TI) stimulation methodology into humans and examine its safety, feasibility, steerability, and focality. In the proposed early phase human experiment, the ability to apply TI stimulation will be assessed along spatial dimensions to selectively modulate neural activity and assess the feasibility of selective targeting deep brain structures without exciting overlaying cortex. The overall goal of the study is to advance TI methodology and its translation to humans.

The specific aims in this study are to

Assess the safety of TI stimulation.
Assess the feasibility, focality, and steerability of TI stimulation by selectively modulating activity in subregions of a cortical area (calcarine cortex)

It is hypothesized that TI stimulation can be used to impact different regions of the visual field that are represented within the calcarine fissure of the human brain.

It is hypothesized that TI will be well tolerated by human subjects and side effects will be consistent with other forms of transcranial electric current stimulation (tES).

This study will explore whether a 21-minute meditation practice called Shambhavi Mahamudra Kriya leads to changes in brain health and explore how it affects cognitive and physiological function.

The primary purpose of this trial is to test the feasibility of implementing a meditation program in the perioperative period.

The purpose of this pilot study is to assess the feasibility of delivering a multicomponent prehabilitation and measuring patient-centered outcomes in older adults undergoing major surgery.

This protocol will utilize the lymphedema indentometer, or durometer (a novel, noninvasive piece of equipment that measures skin elasticity), to better characterize disease progression in patients with lymphedema. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center patients who undergo treatment of lymphedema will be candidates for this noninvasive test. This device and the data it generates will help understand the incidence of lymphedema at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center compared to national data and the outcomes of surgical treatment of lymphedema.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether administration of a non-centrally acting muscle relaxants will improve the Overall Benefit of Analgesia Score (OBAS), and Richmond Agitation Sedation Scale (RASS) scores in patients undergoing lumbar fusion.

The purposes of the study are:

Study Aim 1. To assess the mechanisms underlying the biological effects of short-term walnut consumption on appetite with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and assessing neurocognitive function/memory
Study Aim 2. To investigate the effects of walnut consumption (48g per day over 5 days) on appetite and satiety by analyzing molecules which regulate energy homeostasis such as adipokines, as well as resting metabolic rate which measures energy expenditure.
Study Aim 3. To investigate the effects of walnuts (48g per day over 5 days) on insulin resistance, lipids, and inflammatory markers in obesity as well as the effect of walnuts when consumed as part of a mixed meal, on glucose excursions, insulin secretion and the excretion of gut peptides and free fatty acids.

The purpose of this protocol is to investigate, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the effect of treatment with lorcaserin on centers of the brain that control appetite and food intake, as well as lorcaserin's downstream metabolic effects.

Multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of anamorelin HCl. Approximately 100 subjects with advanced PDAC and cachexia will be randomized 1:1 to anamorelin HCl 100 mg or placebo, taken orally once daily (QD) for a total of 25 weeks. Subjects will be instructed to take the study drug at least 1 hour before their first meal of the day

This study will compare stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) to trans-arterial chemoembolization (TACE) as a bridging strategy for patients with HCC undergoing liver transplantation. We propose that SBRT will be associated with longer time intervals between initial treatment and the need for retreatment, compared to TACE, as a "bridge" to liver transplantation in subjects with HCC.

The study is being conducted to learn why some patients with Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) do not respond to a commonly used treatment drug, Finasteride. The hope is to find ways to predict which patients will not respond to Finasteride so that, in the future, these patients can be identified prior to offering this treatment and they can be offered alternative treatment strategies in its place. The aim is to see if noninvasive techniques such as MRI can detect inflammation of the prostate to assist with early detection of those who will and who will not respond to Finasteride.

The investigators aim is to compare outcomes between an angled-tip guidewire and a straight-tip guidewire in cannulation of the common bile duct during ERCP. This is a randomized, controlled, single-blinded study. The primary outcome is success of cannulation and secondary outcomes are incidence of post-ERCP pancreatitis, procedure duration, and rate of complication between the angled wire and straight wire.

The investigators are trying to learn more about the cause of kidney diseases such as Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) and Nephrotic syndrome by studying genetics. The investigators are interested in discovering which genes play a role in causing a predisposition to FSGS/NS. The investigators also want to learn why FSGS/NS can run in families. Participation in our study involves a saliva sample and a urine sample that you can give from home. There is no cost to participate. All information is kept private and confidential. The investigators also like to include healthy volunteers (parents, spouses) if interested/available but of course this is completely optional.

In the PATHFINDER 2 trial, the study investigators will test the intraoperative EEG-guided multimodal general anesthesia (MMGA) management strategy in combination with a postoperative protocolized analgesic approach to:

reduce the incidence of perioperative neurocognitive dysfunction in cardiac surgical patients
ensure hemodynamic stability and decrease use of vasopressors in the operating rooms
reduce pain and opioid consumption postoperatively

This project proposes to conduct the first study of the predictive utility of olfactory hedonic measurement for targeted psychosocial rehabilitation in schizophrenia. The information gathered from the project is of considerable public health relevance, in that, through simple, reliable olfactory assessment, it will provide knowledge about which individuals are most likely to benefit from these psychosocial interventions. Such information is crucial for tailoring existing interventions and developing new approaches to optimize outcomes in schizophrenia.

In this pilot study, the investigators aim to assess feasibility of subject identification and data collection, including specimen processing, as well as the rate of enrollment for a future, larger study of the effect of empiric antibiotics for all patients with advanced cirrhosis admitted to the hospital without an existing indication for new antibiotic use. Specifically, the investigators will assess the incidence of infection after the time of enrollment and associated outcomes. Subjects will be randomly assigned to receive antibiotics vs placebo.

Acute hypoxemia is common and deadly in resource variable settings. While studies in high income countries (HICs) have indicated a possible benefit to high flow oxygen as compared with standard flow oxygen, rigorous studies in low or lower middle income countries (LMICs) have not been performed. Studies in sepsis have demonstrated that interventions that improve outcomes in one context may actually be neutral or harmful in a different context.

The goal of this study is to test whether high flow oxygen results in better outcomes for hypoxemic adult patients, as compared with standard flow oxygen, in five LMIC hospitals. The main questions it aims to answer are:

For hypoxemic adults in these LMIC study settings, does high flow oxygen or standard flow oxygen result in lower mortality?
What are the facilitators and barriers to using high flow oxygen in these settings?
Does high flow or standard flow oxygen use more oxygen?

Participants will be randomized to receive either high flow oxygen through a large nasal cannula, or to receive standard flow oxygen, through nasal cannulas, face masks, or non-rebreather masks. Researchers will compare the outcomes for the two groups, to see if one group of patients has better outcomes than the other.

The study will also examine how much oxygen is used by the two patient groups, as well as other factors relevant to the feasibility of implementation of high flow oxygen in these sites.

The main purpose of this study is to learn about the influence of two different behavioral interventions (lasting 8 weeks) involving sleep for lowering blood pressure, and to study the mechanisms involved. There is research evidence that healthy sleep promotes heart-health and may decrease blood pressure, and that sensitivity to insufficient or disrupted sleep may be influenced by sex. This research will compare two interventions that are each designed to improve sleep health, and will investigate sex differences in response. The project includes 3 in-hospital stays with biological measurements to evaluate the underlying mechanisms associated with the effectiveness of two different blood pressure lowering behavioral interventions.

The goal of this research study is to determine whether hormonal therapies used early in the course of prostate cancer could increase the amount of Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA) as detected by PET/CT scans for participants with recurrent prostate cancer. This study will measure PSMA levels using standard PET/CT scans and participants will receive standard-of-care androgen receptor antagonist monotherapy.

The names of the treatment interventions involved in this study are:

Androgen receptor antagonist monotherapy.
PSMA PET/CT scan

It is expected that about 15 people will take part in this research study.

Participation in this research study is expected to last about 4 weeks.

The main purpose of this study is to learn how transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) helps improve negative symptoms of schizophrenia. These 'negative symptoms' include anhedonia (the inability to enjoy things), low motivation, and decreased facial expression.

TMS is a noninvasive way of stimulating the brain. TMS uses a magnetic field to cause changes in activity in the brain. The magnetic field is produced by a coil that is held next to the scalp. In this study we will be stimulating the brain to learn more about how TMS may improve these symptoms from schizophrenia.