This study is for patients who have advanced cancers, such as head and neck cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, and others. This study is testing a new treatment for these types of cancer. The new test drug is called ficerafusp alfa. Pembrolizumab is an approved drug by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the diseases described in this study and will be used as approved. The type of cancer a patient has will determine whether he/she will get ficerafusp alfa alone or ficerafusp alfa in combination with pembrolizumab. Participants will receive either ficerafusp alfa alone, ficerafusp alfa in combination with pembrolizumab or ficerafusp alfa, depending on your cancer until the cancer gets worse, they experience bad side effects, or until they withdraw consent, or until the Investigator considers it is in his/her best interest to discontinue the study drug.
This study aims to improve access of Veterans with epilepsy living in rural areas to the most important diagnostic procedure for the care of patients with epilepsy: the routine electroencephalogram (EEG). We will test a new method for recording EEG which uses a novel dry electrode system headset that does not require an EEG technologist to operate. The headset integrates the EEG electrodes and amplifier into a compact system which is easily placed on the head. This approach could make it possible for a nurse or nurse assistant with minimal training to record an EEG in a rural community based outpatient clinic (CBOC) as part of an epilepsy telemedicine outreach program along with clinical interviews. We will compare performance of this dry electrode system to standard EEG when it is used by EEG technologists in three VA medical centers. This project has the potential to improve access of Veterans to the EEG procedure and decrease cost to the Veterans Health Care System.
The purpose of this study is to understand whether there may be certain characteristics or patterns that might predict seizure events in patients undergoing EEG monitoring and at home. Researchers will also be assessing the comfort and usability of a new device called NextSense EEG earbud device at the same time as routine inpatient epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU) admissions, as well as device use in the home environment. In order to enroll in the at-home extension, the participant must be enrolled in the inpatient EMU admission portion of the study. Participants will be asked to assess their mood, sleep quality, and the comfort and usability of the device during their inpatient admission at regular intervals. If participating in the at-home extension, these same assessment questionnaires, in addition to a seizure diary, will be completed by participants at regular intervals.
This study is for patients that have been diagnosed with leukemia. This study is called a screening study and we are doing this study to find better ways to diagnose and treat leukemia in children, adolescents and young adults. Bone marrow, blood, and medical information about participant's cancer and treatment will be collected. Participants can expect to be on this study for 5 years.
Sensory stimulation has been shown to enhance rehabilitation outcomes. However, most sensory stimulation devices interfere with natural hand tasks. Thus, a new wearable stimulation device has been developed to deliver imperceptible vibration to wrist skin. This study is to evaluate the community use of the device for patients with neurologic movement disorders. Participation will include wearing the provided device and charging the device every night. The knowledge regarding community use of the device may contribute to improving the device functionality and usability for future users of the device.
The purpose of this research is to compare the risks and benefits of two different procedures used to help patients with mitral valve regurgitation (also known as MR). MR is a condition where the valve does not close fully when it is supposed to, and some blood can then leak back into the left atrium instead of circulating to the rest of the body. The treatment options this study will compare are: (1) transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (abbreviated as TEER; which is a catheter procedure for repairing the mitral valve that doesn't require surgery to open up the heart) and (2) mitral valve repair surgery, which is an open-heart surgical procedure. There are no new or "experimental" procedures being tested in this study: both treatment options are well-established treatments and are regularly performed in patients who have MR.
Because head and neck cancer arises in cosmetically and functionally critical areas, head and neck cancer survivors suffer high rates of body image-related distress. Body image-related distress is a source of significant morbidity, contributing to stigmatization, social isolation, and worse quality of life. Unfortunately, effective therapies exist to manage body image-related distress among head and neck cancer survivors are lacking. We have developed a novel, scalable, tele-cognitive behavioral therapy intervention for head and neck cancer survivors with body image disturbance that could provide the first effective treatment in this population, thereby minimizing psychosocial morbidity, improving quality of life, and developing new standards of clinical care.
This study is attempting to understand whether 30-minutes of a new ear stimulation technology can reduce pain in healthy individuals. Participants in this trial will attend two experimental visits, during which they will receive ear stimulation during the intravenous administration (I.V.) of either saline or naloxone. During each visit, the amount of thermal pain participants can tolerate will be determined before and after ear stimulation. Brain scans will also be collected before and after ear stimulation. Each visit should last about 3 hours.
Improving alcohol use disorder (AUD) treatment among Veterans is a national public health problem. The rate of AUD among Veterans is twice that of civilians, with up to 50% of Veterans having AUD. Family-based AUD programs are rarely undertaken in busy treatment clinics, and Veterans with problem drinking behavior or AUD are commonly excluded from couple therapies. As a result, there is a need to develop effective family AUD treatments that are both brief and highly accessible to Veterans.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate a new treatment add-on called Brief Family-Involved Treatment (B-FIT), which will be delivered via telehealth among Veterans engaged in alcohol-based treatment/therapy.
This study is an 12-week, Stage-II, open randomized controlled trial examining B-FIT in combination with treatment as usual, TAU (i.e., B-FIT + CBT treatment) as compared to TAU alone (i.e., CBT treatment). Veterans and their treatment companion (family member, partner, friend) will complete weekly assessments during the treatment phase in addition to 3 & 6 month follow-up assessments, all via telehealth.
Over 2400 people who have sickle cell disease and are between the ages of 15 and 45 have been enrolled into the National Registry (SCDIC-I) of patients with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD). A rich resource of natural history data, the SCDIC-I Registry has longitudinal data collected yearly since 2016 from patient surveys (e.g. self reported pain incidences, sleep, barriers to care, experiences during and after pregnancy), medical record abstraction (e.g. medications, transfusion history, co-morbidities) and laboratory results. The 150 patients (or 1200 among the 8 sites) will be selected from both MUSC adult and pediatric SCD clinics starting at 12 years of age; those not previously enrolled in the SCDIC National Registry will be offered the possibility to enroll in SCDIC-II.
We will look at the following:
1- Compare the effect of new SCD medications – crizanlizumab, voxelotor, and L-glutamine – on clinical outcomes in individuals with SCD.
2 - Identify genetic and genomic predictors of response to crizanlizumab, voxelotor, and L-glutamine
3 - Integrate study data into the CureSCi metadata catalog (MDC) to enhance future cross-study analyses.