District of Columbia

Children's National Medical Center

General Clinical Research Center
111 Michigan Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20010

Web site: www.childrensgcrc.org

Grant No. M01 RR020359

Special Assays, Services, or Tests

Affymetrix Genechip® profiling
Automated amino acid analyzer
Automated DNA sequencing
DHPLC
DNA microarrays
Quantitative PCR

Special Resources, Instruments, or Services

Air displacement plethysmography (BodPod)
Gas-chromatography mass-spectrometry
HPLC with radioactivity detector
Liquid-chromatography mass-spectrometry
MALDI-TOF/TOF
Neurobehavioral evaluation instruments
Pediatric Quantitative Muscle Testing System (PQMT)
Tandem mass-spectrometry

Major Areas of Investigation

ADHD/Autism: Cognitive function in children with and without attention and memory disorders; neuropsychological profiles in children with functioning autism.

Community Based Research: Studies into the prevention of child neglect; obesity intervention project for inner city Latino children and adolescents; teen violence; ADHD, head trauma; trial of psychosocial training for pediatric generalists; social networks and parent-provider communication among African-American parents.

Dental Research: Educating non-dental primary care providers about early childhood caries; the effect of severe early childhood caries and comprehensive dental intervention on children's weight.

Endocrinology: Youth type I diabetes non-adherence prevention program; characterizing the obesity of long-term cancer survivors.

Genetics: Candidate gene and protein studies in disease; monocyte membrane function in dysferlin deficiency; genome screen for neurofibromatosis type 1 modifier loci; an exercise intervention in insulin-resistant minority adolescents; type 2 diabetes in African-American children: exercise/insulin related muscle SNPs.

Hematology: A prospective study of transfusion-transmitted diseases as assayed by molecular and immunologic assays; international, randomized, controlled trial of immune-tolerance induction.

HIV and AIDS: Evaluation of HIV-Specific CD8+ T-Cell responses and escape mutations in relation to disease progression; prevalence of morphologic and metabolic abnormalities in HIV infected and uninfected women; short-cycle therapy in adolescents with established viral suppression; novel method to determine HIV incidence among youth; optimizing antiretroviral therapy in HIV-infected children and adolescents; effects of highly active antiretroviral therapy on the recovery of the immune function; effect of antiretroviral therapy on body composition; chronic kidney disease in pediatric AIDS.

Muscular Dystrophy: Molecular pathophysiology of muscular dystrophy by expression profiling; randomized study of daily vs. high dose weekly Prednisone therapy; randomized study of Pentoxifylline as rescue treatment; CoQ10 and creatine monohydrate in Duchenne muscular dystrophy; open-label pilot study of Oxatomide in steroid naive DMD.

Neurology: fMRI studies of remediation of developmental dyslexia; functional neuroanatomy of reading in hyperlexic children studied with functional magnetic resonance imaging; plasticity of language networks in childhood epilepsy; traumatic brain injury; Levetiracetam to prevent post-traumatic epilepsy; AED effects on neurocognitive function in children with new onset epilepsy; multi-domain assessment of children with cerebral palsy.

Oncology: Treatment studies for pediatric brain tumors; a phase II study of Irinotecan in children with refractory solid tumors; randomized phase III randomized study of Chimeric Anti-GD2 in high risk neuroblastoma following ABMT; treatment studies for hematologic malignancies.

Pharmacology: Optimizing pain treatment in pre-term neonates.

Psychiatry: Treatment of Early Age Mania Diagnostic; youth violence: unmet need for mental health services; early disruptive disorder: two developmental patterns.

Psychology: Psychological sequelae of disturbed sleep in children; early disruptive disorders in young children; outcome measurement of mTBI in children and adolescents.

Pulmonary Medicine: Improving pediatric asthma care in the District of Columbia; refining techniques for isolation of mononuclear cells from human respiratory washings; immunity and thrombosis in acute lung injury; characterization of mucins in tracheal secretions.

Rare Diseases: Urea cycle disorders—registry and longitudinal study; N-Carbamylglutamate (Carbaglu®): effect on ureagenesis in N-Acetylglutamate deficiency.

Sickle Cell Anemia: Silent cerebral infarct multi-center clinical trial; pediatric hydroxyurea phase III clinical trail.

Contact Information

For information about this GCRC and how to access its resources, please contact:

Georgetown University

General Clinical Research Center
Administrative Office
Georgetown University Medical Center
3800 Reservoir Road, NW, M-7201
Washington, DC 20007

Grant No. MO1 RR023942

Special Assays, Services, or Tests

The GCRC provides outpatient and inpatient clinical research support to both pediatric and adult research subjects. Some procedures that nurses currently perform or assist include:

Special Resources, Instruments, or Services

API-3000 tandem mass spectrometer
API-4000 tandem mass spectrometer
Capillary electrophoresis with UV and laser-induced detection
Cognitive testing room with video monitoring
Functional magnetic resonance and magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging core including 1.5 Tesla and 3.0 Siemens Magnetom Trio echo-planar imaging, diffusion tensor imaging, perfusion imaging, second order shimming, MR angiography, CINE, and spectroscopy with computational support
Gas chromatography with nitrogen, phosphorus, and flame ionization detection
High performance liquid chromatography with UV and fluorescence detection
HPLC
Liquid chromatograph with mass spectroscopy
Videotaping Laboratory

Major Areas of Investigation

Aging and Alzheimer's Disease: Assessment measures in dementia; therapeutic trials in treatment of cognitive impairment, of aging persons with Down syndrome, and to slow progression of Alzheimer's disease; studies of aging, learning, and memory disorder; assessment of Alzheimer's caregivers.

AIDS and HIV infection:Pharmacokinetic studies of combined therapy in HIV.

Behavior: Assessing cognitive elements of health literacy; psychogenetic assessment of nicotine dependence; prevention of child neglect; substance abuse treatment in adolescents; studies of tobacco abuse; adolescent health study; biobehavioral and psychosocial factors in medical illness.

Cancer:CALGB cancer treatment protocols; combination studies of targeted biologics for cancer treatment; cancer vaccine studies and development of biomarkers to assess response; screening trials in ovarian cancer; Molecular epidemiology of prostate and head and neck cancers; molecular markers in hematologic malignancy; novel strategies for breast cancer screening in high risk women; cancer genetics and family studies.

Cardiovascular Disease and Hypertension: Regulation of renal function by dopamine; contributions of angiotensin to oxidative stress in hemodialysis patients; use of noninvasive hemodynamic measures in the differential diagnosis of hypertensive disorders in pregnancy.

Chronic Multisymptom Illnesses and Immunology: Identification of markers of human exposure to biological agents; mucosal allergy and nasal pathophysiology in chronic fatigue syndrome; treatment trials in angioedema.

Endocrinology: Progression of impaired glucose tolerance to type 2 diabetes mellitus; cardiovascular risk reduction in diabetes mellitus; novel treatment strategies in insulin-requiring diabetes mellitus; defining adrenal hormonal responses to ACTH stimulation by tandem mass spectrometry; adrenal function in critical illness; assessment of thyroid hormone immunoassays versus tandem mass spectrometry in pregnancy and other physiologic conditions; studies to assess adequacy of thyroid hormone replacement and to detect genes regulated by thyroid hormone; pathogenesis and treatment of hyponatremia.

Genetics: Genetic determinants of tobacco smoke harm; mutational analysis of mitochondrial disorders.

Neuroscience, Neurology, and Cognition: Therapeutic studies in multiple sclerosis; effects of hyponatremia on neurognitive function and gait in the elderly; comparative neurocognitive effects of antiepileptic agents; behavioral teratology of antiepileptics following in utero exposure; cognitive function and functional MRI in autism, attention disorders, memory disorders; functional MRI assessment of sensorimotor integration, of language, and of reading; neural correlates of motor recovery following stroke.

Rheumatology: Development of assessment measures in systemic sclerosis; treatment trials in systemic sclerosis; treatment trials in interstitial lung disease and in sarcoidosis.

Sex-based Biology: Acquisition, progression and treatment of HIV in women; effects of pregnancy on glyburide pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics; variation of aortic stiffness across the menstrual cycle.

Contact Information

For information about this GCRC and how to access its resources, please contact:

Howard University

General Clinical Research Center
Howard University Hospital
Fourth Floor, 4 West
2041 Georgia Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20060

Grant No. M01 RR10284

Special Assays, Services, or Tests

Cytomegalovirus cultures
p24 HIV antigen by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
Lymphocyte subset studies
Western blot

Special Resources, Instruments, or Services

Body composition assessment
Brachial artery ultrasound for reactivity and carotid artery
ultrasound for intima-medial thickness and vascular function
Cardiac monitoring and telemetry
Echocardiography and Doppler studies
Exercise equipment with telemetric heart rate monitoring
24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring
Metabolic cart to measure basal energy expenditure
Nutritional consultations, intervention, education, monitoring
Random-zero blood pressure measurement apparatus
Special diets

Major Areas of Investigation

Alcoholism: Genetics of alcoholism, with neurophysiological evaluations and behavioral psychological assessments of alcoholics; alcohol preference and pharmacokinetics in African Americans.

Alternative Medicine: Studies involving the use of transcendental meditation versus education and the effects of antioxidants versus conventional or non-food-derived vitamin supplementation in the treatment of cardiovascular disease in older African American women and older African Americans, respectively.

Anxiety and Bipolar Disorders: Clinical treatment trials, imaging trials for major depression, bipolar and anxiety disorders, and genetics analyses.

Cardiovascular Diseases: Coronary artery disease (CAD) and the role of risk factors in the minority population; left ventricular hypertrophy and its effect on diastolic left ventricular function; effectiveness of CAD risk factor reduction with diet and exercise on disease outcome; ability to reduce and/or modify risk factors for CAD development in patients who have not yet manifested clinical evidence of the disease; optimal treatment for congestive heart failure; establishment of a better clinical index of impedance as an estimate of afterload.

Endocrinology: Effect of diabetes on CAD with specific emphasis on diabetes and coronary disease in African American women.

Genetic Disorders: Investigation of genetic markers as a possible reason for the excessive incidence of hypertension in African Americans; studies of the role of hypertension and the type of antihypertensive therapy on the progression of renal dysfunction in African Americans; the role of left ventricular hypertrophy in morbidity and mortality; investigation of obesity in the African diaspora, and its implications for an increased susceptibility to breast cancer.

Geriatrics and Gerontology: Mechanisms and treatment of systolic hypertension in the elderly population; Alzheimer's disease prevention with estrogens; the treatment of incontinence in African American women by behavioral intervention.

Hematology: Effects of iron overload in African Americans with sickle cell disease; studies involving the use of hydroxyurea in the treatment of sickle cell disease and the effect of exercise on cerebral, peripheral, and cardiopulmonary function in sickle cell anemia patients at steady state.

Neurology: : Management of hypertension in patients with cerebrovascular accident; the relationship between proinflammatory cytokines and neurobehavioral outcomes in stroke patients.

Pharmacology: Treatment adherence with HIV protease inhibitors (PI), PI blood levels, and treatment failure; the use of Ondansetron and Naltrexone in the treatment of alcohol dependence.

Contact Information

For information about this GCRC and how to access its resources, please contact: