Clinical trials

Oral nicotine pouches (ONPs) are non-combustible nicotine products that may reduce cigarette craving and smoking cue-induced brain activity, supporting their potential as harm-reduction tools for adults who smoke cigarettes. This within-subject, repeated-measures study will evaluate the acute effects of a single 6 mg oral nicotine pouch on subjective craving and prefrontal neural responses to smoking-related cues using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Participants will complete assessments before and after nicotine pouch administration following overnight nicotine abstinence to characterize changes in craving and neural cue reactivity.

Background: Sealants are a great tool in the prevention of caries in the pediatric population. It has been shown that up to 71% of occlusal decay is preventable after a single sealant application in a fissure, and thus is the standard of care due to difficulty for pediatric patients in hygiene, diet, and overall home care until manual dexterity increases. Purpose: This prospective randomized case control study aims to look at the longevity of sealants with bonding agent cured prior to sealant placement vs those with uncured bond. The study will be performed by USC graduate pediatric personnel. Methods: A split mouth prospective randomized control study will be performed on pediatric dental patients at Long Beach Memorial's Children's Dental Health Clinic and USC Pediatric Dental Clinic, placing sealants with cured bond on half of a mouth and sealants with uncured bond on the contralateral half. Intraoral photos will be obtained at the initial visit and recalls to evaluate the overall retention/longevity of the sealant placement. The goal of this study is determine which sealant has higher longevity and to provide recommendations for future pediatric dentists regarding sealant procedures.

This study is an intervention domain of the Musculoskeletal Adaptive Platform Trial. The primary goal of this pragmatic, randomized, open-label, comparative effectiveness trial is to evaluate if arthroplasty is superior to internal fixation when used to treat minimally displaced femoral neck fractures in older adults ≥60 years old. We hypothesize that arthroplasty will reduce death, preserve ambulation, increase days alive and out of hospital, and improve health status compared to internal fixation within 4 months and 12 months from randomization.

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if hearing devices, like cochlear implants, affect social and cognitive function of older adults. The main questions the researchers want to answer are: * How social are older adults with hearing loss before and after using hearing devices? * How well do older adults with hearing loss think before and after using hearing devices? * For older adults who have hearing loss and use hearing devices, do changes in social interaction explain changes in how well they think (cognitive function)? * Do brainwaves (EEGs) in older adults with hearing loss change after using hearing devices? * Are there differences in how social older adults with hearing loss are compared to older adults without hearing loss? What Participants Will Do: * Participants will take questionnaires for around 60 minutes. Questionnaires will ask participants about their background, health, hearing, and how social they are. Another set of questionnaires will check their thinking ability or cognition. * Participants will wear an audio sensor (TILES Audio Recorder on Jelly Mobile phone) for 2 weeks. The sensor will collect and store information about a participant's voice during conversations. Once the device has information about a participant's voice such as pitch and tone it will store this information and delete the audio recording. Words spoken during conversations will be deleted. * (Optional) Participants can choose to participate in a 45-60-minute EEG (electroencephalogram) recording session. Participants will have sensors placed on top of their heads. Sensors will record the participants' brainwaves. Sounds will be played to see how participants' brainwaves change when they hear sounds. Eligible participants will be invited to participate in 4-month follow-up study.

This research study will test the efficacy of a telehealth version of the Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students (BASICS), which is the gold standard prevention and intervention approach to target heavy alcohol use on college campuses across the United States.

The long-term goal of this project is to improve the health and well-being of preterm infants and their parents. Although there is evidence to support positive multisensory interventions in the NICU, these interventions are often applied in an inconsistent manner, reducing their benefit. Through a rigorous and scientific process, we have developed a structured multisensory intervention program, titled Supporting and Enhancing NICU Sensory Experiences (SENSE), which includes specific doses and targeted timing of evidence-based interventions such as massage, auditory exposure, rocking, holding, and skin-to-skin care. The interventions are based on the infant's developmental stage and are adapted based on the infant's medical status and behavioral cues. The multisensory interventions are designed to be conducted during each day of NICU hospitalization by the parents, who are educated and supported to provide them. The proposed work aims to determine the effect of multisensory interventions on parent mental health, parent-child interaction, brain activity (amplitude integrated electroencephalography), and infant developmental outcomes through age 2 years, with specific attention to language outcome.

The purpose of this clinical trial is to adapt and test a brief patient-caregiver early intervention designed to reduce posttraumatic stress symptoms in hospitalized burn patients and their caregivers. This intervention is a brief, 4-session cognitive-behavioral intervention designed for burn patients and their loved one to complete together, during and after hospitalization. The intervention targets relational communication and functioning through reduction of invalidating, negative statements and avoidant coping by teaching patients and their loved ones to engage in adaptive natural disclosures, supportive responses, and approach coping after the burn trauma. The intervention uses evidence-based psychotherapy techniques, including psychoeducation, motivational interviewing, and skills coaching. The clinical trial will occur in two sequential phases. In the first phase of the study (case series), the intervention will be provided to two burn patient-caregiver dyads (four adults) to pilot test the intervention, seek patient and provider feedback, and refine the intervention. All four adults will receive the intervention. In the second phase of the study, the randomized controlled trial (RCT) phase, investigators will enroll 20 more burn patient-caregiver dyads (40 more adults) who will be randomly assigned (like the flip of a coin) at the dyad level to receive the intervention or a burn survivor-only minimally enhanced usual care psychoeducation control condition (mEUC). The goals of the RCT phase are to study whether the intervention is acceptable to patients, feasible to conduct, and whether the intervention improves burn survivor-caregiver healthy relationship communication about difficult events and treatment outcomes compared to mEUC.

The goal of this study is to examine the effects of providing personalized information about behavioral, physical, and genetic factors that are associated with elevations in risk for some health problems. The main research question is: can we affect young adult behaviors through communication about these health-related risks? Participants will be asked to complete an in-person baseline session where they provide a DNA sample, complete online surveys, and do a brief interview. They will then receive one of several brief online information sessions and be followed in online surveys approximately every 3 months over the next 2 years.

This study seeks to understand how endometrial cancer patients get medical information about cancer care and their satisfaction with those health-seeking methods. It also assesses patient interest in using an artificial intelligence educational resource.

The purpose of the present study is to characterize the endocrine and metabolic responses to a modest, short-term energy deficiency (\~250 kcal/day) across the menstrual cycle in recreationally active women using different contraceptive methods (oral contraceptive, hormonal IUD, and non-hormonal IUD). This study will leverage daily urinary hormone metabolite tracking and comprehensive metabolic assessments, providing foundational data addressing an important and previously unexamined interaction between energy availability and hormonal regulation in contraceptive users.

This is a Phase 2 prospective, randomized, controlled, double-arm study to assess personalized self-management training (PSMT) intervention efficacy and patient experiences compared to standardized self-management training (SSMT). A total of 120 gastrointestinal (GI) cancer patients will be enrolled and randomized 1:1 to complete a 6-week self-management training program (either PSMT or SSMT) to be carried out by licensed occupational therapists with doctoral training. This study aims to examine whether PSMT is more effective in increasing adherence to healthy behavior recommendations compared to SSMT in GI cancer patients.

Untreated anxiety undermines long-term physical and emotional wellbeing, especially among college students, with rates worsening since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is the leading evidence-based intervention for anxiety, but many students fail to complete exercises between CBT sessions, reducing its effectiveness. Socially assistive robots (SARs) help promote adherence to home-based practice in the context of elder care, social skill learning, and physical therapy, but it is unknown how SARs can enhance CBT. The specific objective of this research is to develop personalized CBT SARs that can support CBT compliance for college students with anxiety. To meet the goals of the proposed work, these studies will determine how SAR personalization based on implicit and explicit feedback can help promote greater CBT compliance and anxiety reduction outcomes for students.

This double-blind, randomized, crossover trial aims to test the hypothesis that longer-term indoor air filtration intervention can slow atherothrombosis progression by reducing indoor fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure in adults with ischemic heart disease history.

This phase II trial evaluates manual lymphatic drainage breast massage for reducing treatment-related side effects in women undergoing radiation therapy after breast conserving surgery for breast cancer that has not spread to other parts of the body (localized). Breast conserving surgery can be an effective treatment option for early stage breast cancer, but it can also be associated with side effects including fluid collection in tissues/swelling (lymphedema), pain, reduced quality of life, and poorer body image. Manual lymphatic drainage is a gentle massage technique used to reduce swelling. It may be a safe and effective way to reduce treatment-related side effects in women receiving radiation therapy after surgery for localized breast cancer.

This phase II trial studies how well low-dose radiotherapy works in treating bone pain in patients with multiple myeloma that has spread to the bone. Radiation therapy uses high energy x-rays, gamma rays, neutrons, protons, or other sources to kill tumor cells and shrink tumors. Low-dose radiotherapy may be more convenient for patients and their families, may not interfere as much with the timing of chemotherapy, and may have less chance for short term or long-term side effects from the radiation.

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if pre-walking infants with Down syndrome can use a suspension walker in their home and community environments. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Is suspension walker intervention feasible for pre-walking infants with Down syndrome? * What are barriers to successfully using suspension walkers in home and community environments? * What are facilitators for successfully using suspension walkers in home and community environments? Participants will: * Use a suspension walker in the home and community for a three-month period (goal 20 minutes/day, 5 days/week) * Meet with a therapist three times in their home to learn how to use the walker * Track how often they use the walker for one week each month * Complete assessments of infants' gross motor skill and ability to use the walker before and after the three-month period * Be interviewed after the three-month period about their experiences using the walker

The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate a long Clomid protocol as compared to a 5-day Clomid protocol for ovarian stimulation in patients with diminished ovarian reserve undergoing ovarian stimulation for in-vitro fertilization. The aim of the long Clomid protocol is to intensify stimulation of the ovaries and reduce both cost and injection burden for patients. Participants will be randomized to receive the long Clomid protocol vs. the typical protocol involving Clomid only for 5 days followed by growth hormone-releasing hormone (GnRH) antagonist. The primary outcome the investigators will evaluate will be the number of mature eggs retrieved.

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if a brief digital intervention can reduce e-cigarette use and prevent cigarette smoking initiation in teenagers ages 12-17. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Compared to the control condition, does the intervention reduce e-cigarette use frequency in teenagers? * Compared to the control condition, does the intervention reduce risk to start smoking cigarettes in teenagers? Researchers will compare the digital intervention to see if it leads to greater reductions in e-cigarette use and smoking risk than a waitlist control condition. Participants will complete 5 brief online surveys across 12 weeks, and some will be selected to do a post-intervention virtual interview. In this interview, participants will be asked to share their opinions about the intervention and identify areas that need refinement.

This study assesses breast cancer screening adherence for women at moderately increased risk for developing breast cancer based on gene mutation status or empiric risk model estimates. It also seeks to determine facilitators and barriers to screening.

This clinical trial evaluates a golf recreational exercise program for enhancing survivorship in underrepresented prostate cancer survivors. Golf is a multimodal recreational activity that requires participants to utilize all muscle groups to perform the golf swing, walk over hilly and uneven terrain, maintain balance during putting and squat-like tasks. Physical activity and exercise are beneficial to physical function, cognitive function, psychosocial health, and overall quality of life during prostate cancer survivorship. These aspects of health are impacted by prostate cancer treatment, especially androgen deprivation therapy. Additionally, supervised, group-based activity programs facilitate participation in physical activity. Researchers want to examine the changes in functional abilities, psychosocial health, and quality of life following participation in in a golf program designed for prostate cancer survivors.

This study aims to better understand the cause of colorectal cancer and how to find the best treatment for Hispanic patients with colorectal cancer. The genetic information in the blood and tissues may explain why patients who have the same type of cancer and receive the same treatment do not always have the same results. By combining genetic (certain qualities or traits passed from parents to offspring) information with clinical data, such as the responses of different kinds of cancers to different treatments, this study could lead to more knowledge about why certain cancers occur and why they respond differently to treatments. Information gathered from this study may help researchers match treatments to the genetics of each patient and the genetic changes in their tumor. This approach is known as personalized medicine.

This phase I trial tests the safety, side effects, and best dose of a new intervention, AU409, in treating patients with primary liver cancers that may have spread from where it first started to nearby tissue, lymph nodes, or distant parts of the body (advanced) or advanced solid tumors that have spread to the liver (liver metastatic disease). AU409 may stop cancer from growing and spreading. This trial may help researchers determine if AU409 is safe and effective in treating patients with liver cancers and solid tumors with liver metastatic disease.

This research trial studies characterization of T-cell repertoire through next-generation sequencing in patients with acute myeloid leukemia undergoing stem cell transplant. Characterizing T-cell repertoire may help to understand if immune system plays a significant role in high risk patients with acute myeloid leukemia.

This pilot trial studies the impact of genetic information on developing liver damage caused by asparaginase in participants with newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Testing saliva samples may help doctors find certain genetic markers that may predict whether participants will tolerate asparaginase, which is given as part of clinical care for acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

This study assesses how personal relationships (such as friendships, family relationships, or romantic partners) influence the physical activity (exercise) and well-being of young adult cancer survivors. Researchers also hope to learn how social relationships change after a cancer diagnosis, and how these changes might impact important health behaviors. The information provided may help researchers learn more about better ways to support young cancer patients in the future through interventions that help maintain good social relationships and health levels of physical activity.