Clinical trials

The purpose of this study is to determine the amount of substances contained in skin known as microvesicle particles (MVP). The hypothesis to be tested in this study is that treatment with a single dose of 75mg of amitriptyline will block the MVP released from the skin from a very small localized burn injury.

In patients with bleeding from a brain aneurysm, severe headache is the most common complaint. However, the pain is difficult to treat. The use of standard pain medications is common, but pain control remains poor. Additionally, pain medicines have multiple side effects including sedation, interference with breathing, intestinal cramping, low blood pressure, and the risk of addiction. In the present study, the investigators will examine the use of a medication to block the sphenopalatine ganglion which is a bundle of nerves that includes nerves that cause head pain. This block is performed by spraying numbing medication into the back of the nasal cavity on both sides. This particular pain medication does not have the side effects discussed above. The purpose of the study is to see if this treatment will decrease pain without causing unwanted side effects. All patients in the study will receive standard pain medicine as needed for headache. Information will be collected from the patient's medical chart on the amount of pain medication used and the amount of pain the patient describes having. The average pain will be calculated for the first 24 hours the patient is in the hospital. At that point, the patient will receive pain medication sprayed into the back of the nasal cavity on both sides. Patients will also receive this treatment 3 days later. Following these treatments, information will be obtained on the average amount of pain, and how much other pain medication is used. The investigators will look at the amount of pain and the amount of other pain medicine used over the first 24 hours before the nasal pain medicine treatment and compare it to the time after the treatments to see if the amount of pain decreases and if the amount of other pain medicine needed decreases as well. Six months after discharge, the patient will be contacted by phone to find out more information about how much head pain they had after discharge from the hospital.

It has shown that laser wounding of geriatric skin protects it against skin cancer. The purpose of this study is to determine the origin of cells called fibroblasts which are present after treatment with Fractionated Laser Resurfacing (FLR). These cells restore a youth-like ultraviolet B (UVB) response, but where they come from is currently unknown. The study recruits subjects who are scheduled to undergo abdominoplasties to investigate the origin of those cells stimulated by laser treatment.

Rosacea is a common skin condition associated with easy blushing and red face; many patients with rosacea react to sunlight with increased redness. The purpose of this study is to determine if the use of a topical medication will help reduce sunlight induced redness and irritation in patients with rosacea.

These studies are designed to assess the synergistic efficacy of topical 0.1% triamcinolone cream paired with 40,000 IU of oral vitamin D3 daily in treating mild to moderate psoriasis. The study is designed to have all subjects treated with triamcinolone cream (TAC) for 4 weeks, then will be randomized 1:1 into vitamin D3 or placebo for an additional 12 weeks. At that time, the study will become open-label and all subjects will be placed on (or continue) vitamin D3 for an additional 12 weeks. The study will take place over 28 weeks total.

This study is following up on previous studies that have demonstrated that geriatric subjects respond different to ultraviolet B (UVB) light than young subjects. The treatment of geriatric skin with dermal rejuvenation therapies (dermabrasion, fractionated laser resurfacing) restores the appropriate UVB response. Ongoing studies have tested the ability of fractionated laser resurfacing (FLR) to assess how long this wounding effect lasts-and have found that this appears to be a durable response which lasts for at least two years. The findings that FLR protects geriatric skin at two years is the impetus for this study. This study is an interventional study to assess if FLR treatment of one forearm of geriatric subjects with multiple actinic keratosis will result in the short-term removal of actinic keratosis, and the long-term decrease in levels of future actinic keratosis and other non-melanoma skin cancers in comparison to the untreated arm. Study length and visit: The first part of the study is completed in 1 day then there are follow up visits at 90 days and every 6 months for 5 years.

The purpose of this study is to test how the skin of night shift workers responds to artificial sunlight (ultraviolet B radiation; UVB) at two different times of the day in comparison to normal day shift workers. After the skin biopsies are obtained, they will be brought to the laboratory to be exposed to UVB radiation and to measure UVB responses.

This study does not involve any particular diagnosis. The goal of this research study is to explore the effects of artificial sunlight (ultraviolet B radiation; UVB) on the skin of young adults versus geriatric adults. Sunlight exerts many effects on the body. There is evidence that in response to ultraviolet B radiation (UVB), which are the burning rays of sunlight, young adult skin responds differently than geriatric skin. In fact, researchers feel that this difference in how the skin reacts to UVB is why skin cancers are found in older skin. Researchers believe that a major difference between young adult and geriatric skin is that young skin has a lot of a protein called insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), whereas geriatric skin has very little. The current study will test how young adult versus geriatric skin responds to UVB, and if geriatric skin treated with an injection of small amount of IGF-1 drug will then act like young skin.

The purpose of this study is three-fold. First, researchers will assess whether subjects who have clinically abnormal reactions to sunlight (photosensitivity) have increased levels of microvesicle particles (MVP) following ultraviolet B (UVB) treatment to localized area of skin. Second, researchers will assess if topical application of the medicine imipramine will block UVB-induced MVP release. Third, researchers will assess if the topical cream will block UVB-induced increased erythema reactions (reddening of the skin).

This study will examine the impact of training primary care providers (PCPs) in motivational interviewing (MI) using artificial intelligence (AI) to augment the training process. MI is a patient-centered approach to engaging patients in their own care. There will be a control group and two intervention groups, with the intervention groups receiving a different amount of MI training. The hypothesis is that the AI-augmented MI training will result in improved patient outcomes, improved clinician wellbeing, and reduced behavioral manifestation of clinician biases. This mixed-methods project will also collect qualitative data from structured interviews and focus groups with participating PCPs to examine perceived facilitators and barriers to the use of the MI approach in primary care.

The purpose of this study is to determine if the Fractionated Laser Resurfacing (FLR) procedure can protect one forearm/wrist from precancerous actinic keratosis (AKs) as well as prevent skin cancer in older subjects with active AKs. This study builds on a similar study ongoing at the Dayton Veterans Administration dermatology clinic. This study is also testing if a photograph of the skin can be used to predict where the AKs and an skin cancers will form.

The purpose of this study is testing the use of topical Imipramine in combination with topical photodynamic therapy's (PDT) effect on pain following treatment. PDT is a commonly used treatment in dermatology for patients who have many pre-cancers (actinic keratosis-AKs) on their skin. These are both FDA-approved treatments, but this study is evaluating their use in combination, which has not been evaluated in the past. The investigators have been doing studies using animals that suggest that imipramine might make the PDT less painful and might help it work better. In order to participate, the subject and their dermatologist have decided that they would benefit from PDT to treat their skin due to many AK precancerous lesions. Please note that neither PDT nor imipramine are experimental treatments, but treating their skin with imipramine before PDT is a new approach.