Clinical trials

This study is being done to answer the question: Do people with Parkinson's benefit from a new stepping therapy, and how do people with Parkinson's best learn new steps and rhythms set to music? Researchers will also compare individuals with Parkinson's Disease with people with Mild Cognitive Impairment, and with people with neither of these conditions. The purpose of this study is to identify principles of human-music interactions to establish underlying guiding theories for application to music-based rehabilitation for older populations with neurodegenerative disease, leading to more refined and targeted music-based rhythmic movement therapies.

The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate whether a 4-week music therapy (MT) intervention can reduce chronic pain and improve psychosocial outcomes in youth with sickle cell disease (SCD). The main questions it aims to answer are: * Does MT reduce pain intensity, frequency of pain episodes, and improve health-related quality of life (HRQoL)? * Does MT alter immune cell composition and gene expression in inflammatory pathways, as measured by single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq)? Researchers will compare participants randomized to music therapy versus a control condition to see if MT produces superior improvements in pain and psychosocial outcomes, and distinct molecular changes.

PTSD is one of the most universal and severe psychiatric disorders whose incidence continues to rise due to the common exposure to severe trauma in the United States and worldwide. After trauma, a proportion of individuals maintains high symptoms of PTSD and depression, which can persist for years. The early weeks following trauma present a unique opportunity to deliver early interventions that can prevent chronic PTSD and depression from occurring, and the researchers propose a brain-based intervention that will reduce reactivity to threat, an early risk mechanism for chronic PTSD. This study is being done to learn more about whether brain stimulation in the weeks after a trauma can change brain activity that is linked to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

The purpose of this study is to understand why certain hearts have ventricular arrhythmias and help identify areas of the heart that cause arrhythmias. There is still a significant gap in understanding why ventricular arrhythmias occur. This study will examine the electrical properties of the heart tissue to understand how these arrhythmias occur, and hopefully identify areas that might lead to ventricular arrhythmias. The hope is that studying this might be able to improve outcomes during ventricular tachycardia (VT) ablations.

In the present study, investigators intend to establish a large database of cardiovascular patients. More specifically, investigators will create a database of approximately 12,000 cardiac catheterization and heart failure patients from Emory University Hospital, the Emory Clinic, Emory University Hospital Midtown, Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta VA Medical Center, Organized/Planned Community Events in the Atlanta Metropolitan area, held at places of Worship, local Community Centers, shopping Malls, doctor's Offices and Health Clinics and any other miscellaneous locations, e.g. Parks, Leisure centers, Conference centers. Once the data has been collected, investigators will run a variety of statistical analyses to which will help us to learn more about the factors that cause various cardiovascular diseases such as coronary heart disease, angina, heart failure, hypertension, and stroke. The statistical analyses will also help us to understand how these diseases can be treated more effectively. By collecting a large amount of data on a large number of cardiovascular patients, investigators will be able to analyze, with a great deal of precision, those factors that influence the onset, course, and treatment of cardiovascular disease. The results of these precise analyses can then be used to help optimize clinical efforts to prevent and treat cardiovascular disease.

This is a Phase 1 study to determine the safety and efficacy of allogeneic neonatal mesenchymal stromal cells (nMSCs) for the treatment of Dilated Cardiomyopathy. The purpose of the study is to help doctors and scientists learn if allogeneic neonatal mesenchymal stromal cells (nMSCs) infusions are a safe and effective way to improve cardiac function and left ventricular ejection fraction.

This study will test the effectiveness of a community-based patient navigator intervention from mid-pregnancy through 12 month postpartum for a high-risk population of medically underserved women. The RCT will enroll 540 pregnant women before 20 weeks of pregnancy and randomly allocate them into two different study arms from the time of prenatal enrollment through 12 months postpartum. If found to be effective, the community-based patient navigator intervention can be implemented as a standard of care at Grady and other provider practices serving high-risk women to improve maternal health outcomes and reduce racial disparities.

This study aims to develop imaging-based biomarkers to assess which chronic stroke participant with lower extremity disability may respond or resist high intensity interval training (HIIT). Previous research suggests that physical exercise training is safe and could help improve the walking speed of non-ambulatory stroke survivors. However, inter-individual variability in response to exercise is extraordinarily high regardless of adherence, and predictors of response remain elusive. Chronic stroke survivors with lower limb disability resulting in slow walking speeds will participate in 12 weeks of cycling exercise at Emory University under the guidance of a physical exercise instructor, 3 days a week, for 25-60 minutes. During some of the exercise sessions, the investigators will collect blood lactate with a finger prick. Brain scans with an MRI before and after the 12 weeks of exercise will be done; motor function tests that include walking, sitting down, standing up, and turning around will be collected. Participants' memory and thinking will be assessed, and participants will fill out questionnaires about their health before and after their stroke, and well as questions about their diet. The participation will last between 14-16 weeks (up to 42 study visits).

This study will evaluate the efficacy of a structured parent-mediated behavioral intervention called Sleep Parent Treatment (SPT) for insomnia in autistic children ages 3 to 7 years 11 months, compared to another behavioral intervention called Sleep Parent Education (SPE). Eligible children will be randomly assigned to either the SPT or SPE intervention for 10 weeks.

The current study aims to monitor fecal continence after autistic youth complete enuresis treatment and for individuals who continue to experience encopresis after acquiring urine continence, evaluate a caregiver-mediated version of a Multidisciplinary Intervention for Encopresis (CM-MIE) delivered via telehealth to determine efficacy in a randomized clinical trial.

The goal of this clinical trial is to test whether the Function-Based Elopement Treatment (FBET) can reduce elopement in children aged 4-12 with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and to assess its feasibility in community-based Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) clinics. Researchers will evaluate FBET in a single-arm open-label trial in one clinic, followed by a comparison of FBET to treatment as usual (TAU) across at least six ABA clinics to evaluate effectiveness and implementation. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Is it feasible to use FBET in community-based ABA clinics? * Does FBET reduce elopement? * Does FBET lead to greater clinical improvement? Participants will: * Receive 12 sessions of FBET over 20 weeks with trained BCBAs or receive treatment as usual * Complete caregiver assessments at baseline and endpoint * Engage in caregiver training and practice treatment between appointments

The primary objective of this protocol is to develop a comprehensive, multicenter international prospective registry to capture long-term clinical outcomes for adult patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-coated balloons (DCB) for de novo coronary artery disease.

The goal of this study is to quantify day-to-day changes in blood glucose during treatment towards remission in ketosis-prone diabetes (KPDM) and describe them using a mathematical model of KPDM pathogenesis and remission.

The goal of this clinical trial is to test the effectiveness of evidence-based Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) among adult patients who screen positive to one or more risky alcohol or substance use behaviors while seeking care at a sexual and reproductive health (SRH) clinic. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Does SBIRT impact patients' alcohol and substance use, SRH, mental health, physical health, quality of life, and wellbeing? * Does SBIRT effectiveness differ by ethnicity, socioeconomic status, age, gender, and urbanicity? * Does SBIRT effectiveness differ by delivery mode (in-person vs. telemedicine)? Participants will receive in-person and telemedicine SBIRT, or usual care. Participants will complete surveys at interviews at baseline, 30 days, and 3 months. Researchers will compare patients who received SBIRT to patients who receive usual care to see if patients who receive the SBIRT intervention have a greater reduction in negative outcomes as compared to those who receive usual care. In this setting, usual care consists of basic quantity and frequency questions asked inconsistently as part of the admission process and varying by provider, with no standardized approach to screening, treatment, follow-up, or referral.

This phase I trial studies the best dose and side effects of mephalan in treating patients with multiple myeloma who are undergoing stem cell transplant. Chemotherapy drugs, such as mephalan, work in different ways to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells, by stopping them from dividing, or by stopping them from spreading. This trial uses a new method of dosing that is based on analysis of each individual's blood levels of melphalan after receiving a part of the dose, termed pharmacokinetic analysis. This may help to learn more about how to dose melphalan correctly and which patients are likely to benefit from a personalized dose.

The goal of this observational study is to quantify the real-world effect of minimally invasive surgery (MIS) in patients with acute spontaneous supratentorial intracerebral hemorrhage.

This study aims to learn whether a cognitive behavioral intervention can improve lifestyle and glucose targets for adults with type 1 diabetes.

The purpose of this study is to find out if regular handgrip exercise performed at home can improve blood pressure at rest and during exercise in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). This study is also intended to understand what causes an increase in blood pressure at rest and during exercise (i.e., increased adrenaline levels, or decreased ability of blood vessels to dilate). Patients with CKD will be recruited from primary care, Nephrology and other subspecialty Clinics throughout the Emory Healthcare System. Participants will attend 4 visits of 2-3 hours and 3 visits of 1-2 hours. The home exercise training will last for 8 weeks.

Babies Can't Wait (BCW) in Georgia will be referring families with children seeking an autism spectrum disorder (autism) diagnosis at the Emory Autism Center's (EAC) Child Screening and Assessment Clinic.The objective of this study is to develop, pilot, and evaluate a diagnostic protocol for children identified at high risk for autism in the BCW early intervention program screening (part of a public health service). This program evaluation will be using pre- and post-data and data collected through the process to evaluate the effectiveness of the EDRM pilot.

The goal of this hybrid Type 1 effectiveness-implementation trial is to test the extent to which a peer support and community resource navigation intervention improves psychological well-being, addresses non-biologic drivers of health (access to healthcare, supportive services, nutrition, housing stability, transportation, chronic stress, social support), and thus reduces cardiometabolic risk among rural, low-income farmworker women aged 18-50 years. The main questions it aims to answer are: * If and to what extent does the intervention reduce stress, social isolation, and psychological distress by improving social support and access to needed resources? * If and to what extent does the intervention improve cardiometabolic health, measured by the American Heart Association's Life's Essential 8 (LE8) score? Researchers will compare the CHW-led Sisters for Heart Health intervention to a Basic intervention (LE8 assessment and resource information) to assess the effect of peer support and community resource navigation on heart health outcomes.

The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate whether an audio diary mobile application (Fabla-diabetesMM) is feasible to use and may support self-management in older adults with type 1 or 2 diabetes and multimorbidity. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Is it feasible to adapt and implement the Fabla-diabetesMM audio diary mobile app among 30 older adults with diabetes and multimorbidity * Does the use of the audio diary mobile app affect self-management outcomes

Through the use of community-engaged processes, this project seeks to develop and implement clinical decision support (CDS) and a kidney health coaching (KHC) intervention. The CDS seeks to streamline workflows to effectively screen, identify, and link to care for those patients with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD). The overall project goals are to 1.) Design and conduct community-engaged clinical trials to test new interventions that dismantle the systemic factors that contribute to kidney health disparities. 2.) Foster research collaborations between investigators, people living with kidney disease, community-based organizations, and other key stakeholders. Researchers aim to assess whether the KHC intervention is effective at delaying the transition to kidney replacement therapy (KRT) and central venous catheter use or death.

This phase II trial tests how well propranolol and pembrolizumab work to cause tumor re-sensitization and therefore treatment in patients with triple negative breast cancer that has not responded to previous checkpoint inhibitor therapy (refractory), cannot be removed by surgery (unresectable) or has spread from where it first started (primary site) to other places in the body (metastatic). Propranolol is a drug that is classified as a beta-blocker. Beta-blockers affect the heart and circulation. Beta-blockers, like propranolol, may help to counteract effects of certain stress hormones produced by the body during cancer treatment and may increase the effectiveness of the pembrolizumab. Pembrolizumab is a drug that is classified as an immune checkpoint inhibitor. Immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies, such as pembrolizumab, may help the body's immune system attack the cancer, and may interfere with the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. Propranolol may be able to re-sensitize the cells of the immune system to respond to the checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab in patients with checkpoint inhibitor refractory metastatic or unresectable triple negative breast cancer.

The goal of this project is to measure the clinical utility of an objective and quantitative eye-tracking assay collected on a standalone, mobile investigational device to accurately screen 9-month-old infants for autism spectrum disorder and other actionable delays.

Older adults' low adherence to the national physical activity guidelines may stem from a failure to increase positive affective responses to exercise (e.g., enjoyment). Exercising with personalized, tempo-synchronous music playlists has shown promising effects on physical activity promotion in midlife-to-older adults during a cardiac rehab program. The purpose of this study is to determine how personalized, tempo-synchronous music playlists called rhythmic auditory stimulation (RAS) influence exercise behavior change and affective responses to exercise over 8 months among community-dwelling, sedentary older adults.