Boston University - Clinical & Translational Science Institute

This phase II/III trial compares the effect of adding radiation therapy to the usual maintenance therapy with atezolizumab versus atezolizumab alone in patients who have already received atezolizumab plus chemotherapy for the treatment of small cell lung cancer that has spread outside of the lung or to other parts of the body (extensive stage). Immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies, such as atezolizumab, may help the body's immune system attack the cancer, and may interfere with the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. Radiation therapy uses high energy x-rays to kill tumor cells and shrink tumors. Giving radiation therapy in addition to atezolizumab may extend the time without extensive small cell lung cancer growing or spreading compared to atezolizumab alone.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jan 2021

open study

The goal of this study is to explore and evaluate whether a 2-dose schedule of Gardasil 9 among young and mid-adult women 16-45 years of age is generally safe and immunogenic, with an antibody response that is not inferior to that observed of a 3-dose schedule of Gardasil 9 among women aged 16-26 years old. The investigators thought that having a 2-dose vaccination regimen for individuals 16 to 45 would provide a more robust dataset than those of 27 to 45 years old.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Dec 2020

open study

To achieve global goals for the treatment of HIV, most high-prevalence countries are experimenting with and scaling up differentiated service delivery models (DSD). A handful of efforts have been formally described and evaluated in the literature; many others are being implemented formally or informally under routine care, without a research or evaluation goal. For most countries, however, we have little evidence on the big picture-the proportion of clinics offering alternative models, eligibility criteria and the proportion of patients considered eligible, the number of patients actually participating, health outcomes such as viral suppression, empirical resource utilization compared to traditional care, variations among the models, duration of patient participation, fidelity to model guidelines, effects on clinic efficiency, and sustainability without external donor support. AMBIT a set of data synthesis, data collection, and data analysis activities aimed at generating information for near- and long-term decision making and creating an approach and platform for ongoing evaluation of differentiated models of HIV treatment delivery in the future. The project will collect and analyze a wide range of existing data sets pertinent to DSD. This protocol is for an analysis of existing medical record data collected by the Department of Health, implementing partners, and other completed, ongoing, or new evaluations, trials, and observational studies. Outcomes to be reported include coverage/uptake of DSD, patients' outcomes, and distribution of each model. There will be no study interaction with individual patients, providers, caregivers, or others for this analysis.

Type: Observational

Start Date: Dec 2019

open study

This home-based study is a randomized (1:1) placebo-controlled trial of a single infusion of zoledronic acid-5 mg (ZA) for the prevention of fractures in men and women aged 60 years and older with Parkinson's disease and parkinsonism with at least 2 years of follow-up. A total of 3500 participants will be enrolled and randomized in the United States. Participants, follow-up outcome assessors, and study investigators will be blinded to assigned study treatment. This trial is funded by the National Institute of Aging.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Nov 2019

open study

This is a multi-center prospective comparative cohort study examining the safety, efficacy, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacogenomics of naltrexone for pregnant women with opioid use disorder. Pregnancy, delivery, and maternal and infant outcomes to 12 months post-delivery will be examined and compared with a cohort treated with buprenorphine/naloxone.

Type: Observational

Start Date: Dec 2018

open study

Early life exposures may lead to adverse effects on health in later life. The Boston birth Cohort study is designed to study a broad array of early life factors and their effects on maternal and child health outcomes.

Type: Observational [Patient Registry]

Start Date: Oct 1998

open study

The purpose of this study is to obtain informed consent to use stored human biological materials (HBM) (e.g., blood and other tissues) for future studies that may include genetic testing.

Type: Observational

Start Date: Feb 2002

open study

This online study aims to explore the benefits of nature for mood and cognition in persons with and without Parkinson's disease. For the purpose of this survey, "natural environment" refers to places that primarily consist of natural elements, such as vegetation, water bodies, and landscapes. This includes greenspaces (such as parks, gardens, neighborhood streets lined with trees, forests, or nature reserves) bluespaces (such as next to beaches, lakes, rivers, ponds, or waterfronts), and desert regions, among others.

Type: Observational

Start Date: Aug 2024

open study

Youth with epilepsy (YWE) are significantly more likely than their peers without epilepsy to experience isolation, interpersonal victimization, and low relationship satisfaction. This is a serious health concern. Poor social support, real or perceived, is consistently correlated to worsened outcomes in every domain of health-related quality of life. As YWE are two to five times more likely than their peers without epilepsy to develop a mental health condition, poor social support is likely a bidirectional risk factor. Currently, there are no best practices or recommendations for clinicians or other youth-serving professionals to reference when it comes to improving the perceived social support of YWE specifically. The research team has drawn from multiple fields of scientific knowledge to develop a novel intervention that aims to provide YWE with knowledge, skills, connections, and positive emotional support that can help them to bolster their support system at every level of the social ecological model (SEM). The proposed study is a pilot of this intervention to test its acceptability and appropriateness according to YWE participants ages 12 to 26. The intervention's impact on participants social-emotional learning skills and the feasibility of expanding the study protocol for use in a large, multisite randomized control trial will also be explored. The goal of this research study is to help evaluate a new program for young people diagnosed with epilepsy that will build up young people's social opportunities, interpersonal skills, and sources of emotional support. The investigators want to research the impact of this program. From this study, the investigators hope to learn what the program does well, and in what ways it could be improved from the perspective of YWE.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jul 2024

open study

The goal of this observational study is to learn how a physician uses the results of the Percepta® Nasal Swab test to manage people with a newly identified pulmonary nodule. The main questions it aims to answer are: - Does the use of the Percepta Nasal swab test reduce the number of invasive procedures in people with a low-risk result and whose nodule is benign? - Does the use of the Percepta Nasal swab test decrease the time to treatment in people with a high-risk result and whose nodule is cancer? Participants will be randomly assigned to either a group where the test result is provided to the physician (test arm) or to a group where the test result is not provided (control arm). Researchers will compare management of participants in the two groups.

Type: Observational

Start Date: Jul 2022

open study

The purpose of this clinical trial is to compare the effectiveness of office-based methadone with pharmacy administration and/or dispensing to office-based buprenorphine for the treatment of opioid use disorder. This study will also examine factors influencing the implementation of office-based methadone.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jun 2024

open study

The goal of this interventional study is to compare the baseline neural mechanisms and parenting in depressed and non-depressed children and to examine baseline neural mechanisms and parenting as predictors of Family-Focused Treatment for Childhood-Depression (FFT-CD) outcomes. The main questions it aims to answer are: - What are differences between depressed and non-depressed participants on baseline neural and parenting indicators? - Do baseline neural and parenting indicators predict response to FFT-CD? - Does change in parenting and neural functioning mediate change in depression from baseline to follow-up? Participants will: - complete baseline clinical measures - complete neuroimaging tasks via Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMR) - undergo a 12-session course of FFT-CD - complete follow up evaluations and neuroimaging

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Aug 2024

open study

Chronic pain and heavy drinking are common co-occurring conditions among patients presenting to primary care settings. Given their impact on functioning and medical outcomes, there would be considerable benefit to developing an accessible, easily utilized, integrative approach to reduce alcohol use and pain that can be readily incorporated into the health care settings. The objective of this study is to test a modified version of a smartphone-based intervention for reducing pain and alcohol use among individuals experiencing chronic pain who engage in heavy drinking. The primary goal is to test the feasibility and acceptability of implementing this intervention in a sample that includes participants from rural areas and providing initial data on the utility of the intervention.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Feb 2024

open study

The emergence of crawling and walking is significantly delayed in infants with Down syndrome (DS), but the development of independent mobility provides infants with new opportunities for exploring the environment and interacting with objects and people that are important foundations for early learning. Increasing infant mobility early in development with body weight supported harness systems may support infant exploration, communication, and social interaction. This project will set the stage for the first clinical trial of a mobility-related intervention specifically tailored for infants with DS by testing the feasibility of harness systems with infants and families and identifying measures that will serve as primary outcome variables. Upon completion of this pilot project, necessary preliminary data and experience required for an in-home, high-impact clinical trial for infants with DS will have been obtained.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jul 2024

open study

The goal of this clinical trial is to test efficacy of different investigational products (IPs) compared with placebo on the change from baseline to the end of the treatment period at Week 52 in lung capacity in participants with Interstitial Lung Disease Secondary to Systemic Sclerosis.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Apr 2024

open study

This study will identify unique signatures that people have which can cause pain by evaluating biological, psychological, and social markers using artificial intelligence. These markers can be used to accurately predict the response of diverse individuals with chronic low back pain (cLBP) to Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. This will help enhance clinician decision-making and the targeted treatment of chronic pain. The overall objective is to use a unique machine learning (ML) approach to determine the biomarker signature of persons undergoing mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) treatment for their chronic low back pain (cLBP). This signature will facilitate clinical prediction and monitoring of patient response to MBSR treatment. The design of the study is a single-arm clinical trial of the evidence-based MBSR program for patients with cLBP.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jul 2024

open study

This is a 3-year study to test the efficacy of a text message-based intervention program. Dental patients at 4 community health centers (n= 266) will be randomized to receive either text messages (TMs) regarding HIV prevention or TMs regarding overall wellness. Prior to enrolling the 266 participants, the investigators will conduct a feasibility pilot (n=20) to test the TM delivery as well as all study procedures. For both the pilot and the randomized clinical trial (RCT), recruitment will be conducted at 4 Community Health Center dental clinics (Codman Square, East Boston (both East Boston and South End locations), Geiger Gibson, and Upham's Community Health Centers). Recruitment materials (flyers and permission to contact forms) may also be made available at other clinics within the health centers. The study will enroll English and Spanish-speaking patients who have at least one risk factor for HIV but are HIV-negative. Patients enrolled in the pilot will complete self-report surveys at baseline, 1 and 2 months. Participants enrolled in the RCT will complete self-report surveys baseline, 3, 6, and 12 months after baseline; receive and respond to TM assessments during the 6-month intervention.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Aug 2024

open study

Lumbar spinal stenosis, a common condition in older adults, can cause pain and difficulty walking (i.e., intermittent neurogenic claudication - INC). Patients with INC not infrequently undergo spinal surgery that fails to help them 1/3-1/2 the time. The purpose of this multi-site feasibility study is to prepare for the conduct of a randomized controlled trial to test the efficacy of manual therapy, exercise, and intramuscular electroacupuncture in reducing pain and improving walking ability for those with INC, and ultimately limiting the need for surgical referrals.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jun 2024

open study

Military service members admitted to inpatient psychiatry for self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITBs) represent an at-risk group for continued SITBs and rehospitalizations in the post-discharge period. However, there is an absence of evidence-based interventions designed to be delivered on inpatient psychiatric units to reduce the risk of post-discharge SITBs. To address this gap, the investigator's research group developed Written Exposure Therapy for Suicide Prevention (WET-SP), a brief, scalable, suicide-specific psychotherapy based on the written disclosure paradigm. Written disclosure, in which an individual writes about a personally stressful experience and the related thoughts and feelings, yields improvements across physical and psychiatric domains. Pilot data suggest that written exposure also yields reductions in SITBs. Yet, no study has adapted the written exposure paradigm specifically to target the amelioration of distress associated with suicidal crises and examined whether implementing WET-SP reduces the risk of subsequent SITBs and suicide-related hospitalizations. The primary objective of this randomized controlled trial (RCT) is to evaluate the efficacy of WET-SP, in reducing the incidence and severity of SITBs in active duty military service members following a psychiatric hospitalization due to suicidal ideation, suicide plans, or a suicide attempt. Secondary objectives are to evaluate a potential mechanism of change (i.e., decreases in thwarted belongingness [cf. social disconnectedness]) and moderator of outcomes (i.e., arc of narrative [cf. linguistical parameters of the written narratives generated during treatment]). Participants randomized to WET-SP + TAU will receive five sessions of WET-SP delivered by the study team during their psychiatric hospitalization plus treatment-as-usual (TAU). Participants randomized to TAU will receive daily contact and patient-centered care delivered by the acute psychiatric inpatient unit provider team (e.g., psychiatrists, therapists, case managers). TAU includes psychiatric assessment, initial stabilization, nurse case management, medication management, treatment of medical comorbidities, group and individual therapy, and discharge planning. Outcome assessments will be administered at pretreatment, posttreatment, and 10-, 20-, and 30-week follow-ups.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Aug 2024

open study

This randomized clinical trial will evaluate the effect of tonabersat compared with placebo on central subfield thickness (CST) in eyes with center-involved diabetic macular edema (CI-DME) and good visual acuity.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: May 2023

open study

Since its launch in 2004, the overarching aim of the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) Study has been to validate biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease (AD) clinical trials. ADNI4 continues the previously funded ADNI1, ADNI-GO, ADNI2, and ADNI3 studies that have combined public/private collaborations between academia and industry to determine the relationships between the clinical, cognitive, imaging, genetic and biochemical biomarker characteristics of the entire spectrum of AD.

Type: Observational

Start Date: Jun 2023

open study

The investigators plan to examine the relation of perceptual variables-basic vision, unusual perceptual experiences(including but not limited to visual hallucinations)-to relevant functional variables such as cognition, mood, and alertness/sleepiness in an online sample of persons with Parkinson's disease (PwPD). It is hypothesized that unusual perceptual experiences will relate significantly to the selected variables. Participants do not need to experience visual hallucinations to be able to participate in this study. This is an observational study only, and not an interventional study.

Type: Observational

Start Date: Sep 2022

open study

A Phase 3 study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of birtamimab plus standard of care compared to placebo plus standard of care in Mayo Stage IV patients with AL amyloidosis.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Aug 2021

open study

This registry is an observational study designed to evaluate the effect of Oxbryta in individuals with SCD in a real-world setting.

Type: Observational [Patient Registry]

Start Date: Feb 2022

open study

This randomized trial will evaluate the effect of fenofibrate compared with placebo for prevention of diabetic retinopathy (DR) worsening through 6 years of follow-up in eyes with mild to moderately severe non-proliferative DR (NPDR) and no CI-DME at baseline. In addition to evaluating efficacy, this study aims to evaluate the feasibility of a model for ophthalmologists to prescribe or collaborate with a primary care provider such as an internist/endocrinologist to prescribe and monitor the drug safely. If this study demonstrates that fenofibrate is effective for reducing the onset of proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) or and the results are adopted by the community of retina specialists, a new strategy to prevent vision threatening complications of diabetes could be widely adopted. Widespread use of an oral agent effective at reducing worsening of DR would decrease the numbers of patients who undergo more invasive and much more expensive treatment for DR and who are consequently at risk for side effects that adversely affect visual function. This study will also assess the relationship of glycemic variability, as measured by continuous glucose monitoring with DR outcomes. Ancillary studies will characterize functional and structural outcomes in this cohort.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Mar 2021

open study