Chronic Inflammatory Disease

Researchers are evaluating the effect of Ibuprofen on reducing the acute inflammatory response after one-stage non-surgical periodontal therapy in adults with periodontitis. The study aims to answer whether Ibuprofen effectively lowers markers of inflammation such as hs-CRP, Procalcitonin, and IL-6 following this dental treatment. This is a randomized clinical trial focused on patients with generalized unstable periodontitis and a pocket depth of 4 mm or more. Participants will first attend a baseline visit where demographic information, clinical examination, and baseline blood samples will be collected. All will receive scaling and oral hygiene instructions, and one week later, clinical parameters will be recorded again. The test group will receive Ibuprofen doses starting one hour before root surface debridement and continuing three times daily for three days, while the control group will undergo the same dental procedure without Ibuprofen. Root surface debridement will be performed by a single periodontist, and treatment duration will be recorded. Participants will attend a follow-up visit one week after root surface debridement to collect blood samples, complete a pain questionnaire, and record plaque index to assess oral hygiene compliance. The main outcomes measured are changes in systemic inflammatory markers after seven days and postoperative pain using a visual analog scale. The study involves active monitoring of clinical parameters and patient-reported pain over the course of one week following treatment.

This research aims to determine whether supplementation with vitamin E alpha-tocopherol reduces inflammation and clinical activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis RA. RA is a common autoimmune disease causing chronic joint inflammation and potential joint damage, which leads to disability and affects quality of life. The study focuses on patients with early RA who have low vitamin E intake and are already receiving standard RA treatments. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two groups one group will receive conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs FARMEs plus 800 mg per day of vitamin E, while the other group will receive the same FARMEs plus a 200 mg per day magnesium oxide placebo. The supplementation lasts for one month, with participants taking two capsules daily, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. During the study, participants will attend clinic visits at the start and end of the supplementation period for assessments including clinical activity, blood tests measuring vitamin E levels, inflammatory markers, autoantibodies, and antioxidant capacity. They will keep a diary to track symptoms and supplement intake. Researchers will evaluate changes in vitamin E levels, clinical disease activity DAS-28, pro-inflammatory cytokines, acute phase reactants, and autoantibodies to understand the impact of vitamin E supplementation on RA.

The 100-Year Human Aging Study is a long-term observational research project enrolling adult participants to undergo detailed multi-system health screenings and follow them throughout their lives until death. The study aims to identify which health measurements taken at enrollment and repeatedly over time can predict overall mortality, cause-specific death, serious diseases, and functional disability. It addresses the current lack of validated longevity measures by generating data on how various physiological and cognitive functions relate to aging outcomes. Participants undergo a comprehensive clinical screening that includes tests of cardiorespiratory fitness, strength, mobility, neurocognitive performance, sensory functions, and metabolic health. Structural imaging assessments like DEXA scans, echocardiography, electrocardiography, spirometry, retinal photography, and vascular ultrasound are performed. Laboratory tests and detailed medical, social, and environmental histories are also collected. The study allows participation from single tests up to a full two-visit screening, with repeat testing encouraged to track health changes over time. Throughout the study, participants receive individualized reports with investigational estimates of biological age and predicted mortality risks, which are being evaluated against actual health outcomes. Researchers collect data continuously on mortality, disease occurrence, disability, and health behavior changes. The study involves ongoing follow-up with periodic assessments and aims to preserve all collected data for future analyses, with participant involvement potentially spanning their entire lifespan.

Researchers are studying the immunologic changes on the surface of the eye in cancer patients, focusing especially on those with ocular graft-versus-host disease oGVHD. This observational, natural history study aims to understand risk factors, mechanisms of eye damage, drug targets, and effects of oGVHD on the eye over a period of up to four years. Two groups will participate cancer patients scheduled for bone marrow transplant, who will be evaluated every three months for two years, and healthy control patients without eye disease or cancer history, who will be evaluated every six months. During each visit, standard eye exams will be performed alongside collection of biological specimens such as ocular surface wash, mucocellular material, corneal filaments, impression cytology of conjunctiva, blood, or serum. Participants will attend periodic study visits for clinical exams and specimen collection while receiving their usual care. Researchers will assess various factors including eye disease risk, mechanisms of eye damage, and ocular effects of graft-versus-host disease. The study involves repeated evaluations and biological sampling to track changes over time, with a maximum follow-up of four years.

Researchers are evaluating the effect of a processed blood product called liquid platelet-rich fibrin S-PRF in helping healing after treatment for severe gum disease periodontitis stages II to IV. This study compares the use of the blood-derived material with standard treatment using saline irrigation, aiming to see if the blood product improves gum healing after deep cleaning procedures. Participants have severe gum disease with symptoms like bleeding, receding gums, loose teeth, and swelling. Participants will receive standard treatment involving full mouth scaling, root debridement, and cleaning with local anesthesia. After treatment, about 20 mL of blood will be taken to produce liquid S-PRF, which will be used to flush gum pockets on one side of the mouth. The other side will receive saline irrigation as a comparison. Follow-up visits are scheduled monthly for 3 months to monitor healing and outcomes. During the study, participants will undergo dental exams, X-rays, and jaw mold making. They will also receive oral care instructions and kits. Researchers will measure gum probing depth, clinical attachment level, bleeding sites, plaque scores, and gum margin changes before treatment and after 3 months. Safety and healing progress will be closely monitored throughout the study duration, which lasts about 3 months.

Researchers are evaluating a new MRI pulse sequence called 3D DL oZTEo to detect bone erosions in the hands of patients with inflammatory arthritis. The study aims to validate this technique against current standard methods like radiography and conventional MRI, as these structural changes are important for diagnosis and treatment decisions in rheumatic conditions. This is an interventional study conducted at Mayo Clinic. Participants will have the FDA-approved oZTEo MRI pulse sequence added to their routine hand MRI scan. The oZTEo images will be anonymized and processed using a deep learning algorithm developed by GE Healthcare. This additional sequence is assessed alongside the standard MRI to compare its ability to detect bone erosions. During the study, researchers will analyze MRI scans with and without the 3D DL oZTEo sequence to determine the presence and number of bone erosions in the hand. Participants must have recent hand radiographs confirming erosions and are scheduled for hand MRI as part of their clinical care. The study measures outcomes on the day of imaging and monitors the accuracy of erosion detection.

Researchers are investigating the use of three-dimensional 3D printing technology to improve nasal irrigation outcomes for adults with chronic rhinosinusitis, with or without nasal polyps. Chronic rhinosinusitis is a common condition causing nasal obstruction, facial pain, nasal discharge, and loss of smell, significantly affecting quality of life. This study aims to personalize nasal irrigation techniques based on individual nasal anatomy to enhance treatment effectiveness and patient satisfaction, especially for those who are not candidates for surgery or prefer less invasive options. Participants use a 3D-printed nasal replica derived from their CT scans to help determine the best head position for nasal irrigation. The study compares three groups a control group using the standard FDA-recommended head position, a backfill group using a specific 90-degree ear-to-shoulder tilt, and a model group using a personalized optimal position based on their 3D nasal replica. All participants irrigate their sinuses once daily with 2 mg mometasone in 240 mL NeilMed sinus rinse bottles for 8 weeks. During the study, participants complete symptom evaluations including the Nasal Obstruction Symptom Evaluation NOSE score, 22-item Sino-Nasal Outcome Test SNOT-22, and Visual Analogue Scale VAS for nasal congestion at baseline and after 8 weeks of treatment. CT scans assess sinus inflammation using the Lund-Mackay LM score at the same time points. The study monitors patient adherence and collects data to evaluate whether personalized irrigation improves quality of life and nasal symptom relief over the 8-week treatment period.

This trial tests whether handing patients a combination inhaler as they leave the emergency room reduces how often their asthma flares again over the following three months. The reasoning starts with a gap in current practice. Asthma attacks send about two million people to US emergency departments each year. Most are treated and sent home, but roughly one in six comes back for more care on the same episode. Adding an inhaled steroid at discharge has looked promising since a 2000 Cochrane analysis of three trials, where the benefit was real but fell just short of statistical significance. Even so, uptake never took hold. Emergency clinicians hesitate to start what feels like a lifelong maintenance drug, and patients tend to give up on a steroid-only inhaler because it does nothing for symptoms in the moment compared with their familiar albuterol. Airsupra sidesteps both objections by combining albuterol and budesonide in a single device, which makes the emergency department a plausible place to start inhaled steroid therapy for the first time. Rather than randomizing individual patients, the study randomizes hospitals. Thirty emergency departments are split into two groups of fifteen, balanced by US region so the halves look alike at baseline. At intervention sites, enrolled patients go home on a short oral steroid course, such as prednisone 50 mg daily for five days, plus Airsupra to use as their rescue inhaler. Control sites treat patients however they normally would. Everyone receives a short asthma education handout. Enrollment runs through the Multicenter Asthma Research Collaboration, part of the Emergency Medicine Network founded in 1996 for exactly this kind of research. Massachusetts General Hospital coordinates the study from Boston but does not enroll patients itself. In broad terms, participants are adults aged 18 to 54 whose emergency physician has decided to discharge them on a short steroid course. Data collection happens on two tracks. In the emergency department, staff conduct a brief structured interview and a focused chart review using instruments developed for earlier asthma studies, entering everything into a central REDCap database. Afterward, patients are contacted at about three, six, and twelve weeks, usually by phone and sometimes by text, to discuss symptoms, medication use, and any side effects, with asthma control scored on a ten-item questionnaire called the AIRQ. Separately, patients sign releases so the Boston team can gather medical records covering the year before enrollment and the three months after, pulled from the enrolling hospital, the primary care provider, and any allergist or pulmonologist involved. Those records are what confirm repeat flares and document what medications patients are taking at the three-month mark. The main question is recurrence, meaning any urgent or unscheduled visit to a clinician for worsening asthma within three months of the original emergency visit. That is deliberately broader than the usual three-week relapse window, since symptoms typically settle within one to two weeks while the underlying inflammation takes closer to three. Nobody knows the true recurrence rate in this population, but the investigators expect around 33% under usual care, combining early relapses with additional flares across the autumn and winter weeks that follow. Asthma control at three months is the leading secondary question, alongside three-week relapse and whether patients start Airsupra at any point during follow-up. On the statistical side, recurrence is analyzed as time-to-event data, unadjusted and then adjusted for demographics such as age, sex, race and ethnicity, and insurance, plus any clinical factor showing an association at P<0.20. Three-month asthma control is compared with a t-test or Mann-Whitney U-test, and repeated measures arent needed because baseline control is meaningless during an active attack. There is no interim analysis, given the short enrollment period and Airsupras established safety record. Detecting a one-third reduction in recurrence, 22% versus 33%, requires 1,290 patients. Allowing for 70% follow-up, the target was raised to 1,860, or 930 per arm and 62 per site. Based on three decades of experience with this network, each site should reach that number within a four to five month enrollment window running from August to December.

Researchers are studying whether the PET radiotracer 68Ga-FAPI-46 can detect fibrostenosing Crohns disease in the small bowel. This early phase 1 case-control study aims to understand if early or developing fibrosis areas take up the tracer, which binds to fibroblast activation protein FAP. Participants with small bowel Crohns disease will be grouped based on imaging results to compare tracer uptake between those with and without strictures. Participants will receive a PETCT scan using the radioactive tracer Gallium-68-labeled fibroblast activation protein inhibitor-46 68Ga-FAPI-46, administered intravenously at a dose of 5 mCi 10%. Cases include participants with small bowel strictures or probable strictures, while controls include those without strictures but may have other disease features. This design allows researchers to investigate different stages of fibrosis development in Crohns disease. During the study, participants will complete the PETCT scan with 68Ga-FAPI-46. Researchers will monitor the completion rates of these scans over an average of 2 years. Participants will be evaluated through imaging and clinical assessments related to their Crohns disease status. Safety, tracer uptake patterns, and disease characteristics will be documented throughout the study period.

Researchers are exploring the potential use of the imaging agent 68Ga Ga-FAPI in PETCT scans for diagnosing and monitoring various chronic inflammatory and fibrotic diseases. This pilot study focuses on 13 different clinical conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, liver fibrosis, and systemic lupus to assess whether this new radiotracer can improve disease evaluation compared to current methods. The study aims to gather initial data to guide further development and possible routine use of this imaging technique in these diseases. Participants receive a 68Ga Ga-FAPI PETCT scan in addition to their usual medical care. The imaging is performed either once at baseline or longitudinally at baseline and again at 3 and 6 months if their treatment is intensified at inclusion. This approach allows researchers to observe how the radiotracer behaves in different diseases and over time, helping to refine its clinical application. During the study, participants undergo PETCT scans to measure the intensity of the PET uptake and correlate these findings with pathology evaluations, biomarkers, functional parameters, and imaging characteristics at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months. This detailed assessment helps to understand the diagnostic value of 68Ga Ga-FAPI in chronic inflammatory and fibrotic conditions. The study runs until October 2028 and is conducted at a single center, with participants followed through these imaging and clinical evaluations.