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Hello current and future volunteers! We hope that this issue of the “Participating in NIH Research” newsletter will be interesting and helpful for all of you. This publication provides insight into the exciting world of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), offers good medical information, and profiles some of the studies that are currently enrolling patients.
The “Participating in NIH Research” newsletter includes information about both healthy volunteer and patient studies. No matter if you have a pre-existing medical condition or if you are interested in becoming a healthy volunteer, this newsletter is for you!
Video Clips and MRI Study for Adolescent Males
Study Number: 06-N-0048
Parents! Your healthy children, who are right handed and native English speakers, are needed for a research study that determines whether specific brain areas are related to aggressive behavior. Your child will be asked to play video games, to watch video clips that show mildly to moderately aggressive behavior, or to imagine aggressive scenes. This outpatient study will also include non-invasive brain scanning called Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and questionnaires. Your child will be asked to come for two visits of two to three hours each. Youths with neurological diseases, psychiatric disorders, or implanted metal in their bodies do not qualify. Your child must have parental permission to participate in this study. Compensation is provided for time and inconvenience.
Vitamin C Study for Healthy Adult Males
Study Number: 04-DK-0021
Doctors at the National Institutes of Health invite healthy men ages 20–45 to participate in a study that will examine vitamin C concentration in both blood and urine. The study requires a 24-hour overnight stay at the NIH Clinical Center. No medication is given. If you are a non-smoking male and would like to be considered for this study, please call us. Participants will be compensated.
HIV Vaccine Study
Study Number: 02-I-0127
• I resolve to help the human race.
• I resolve to be a part of the fight against HIV/AIDS.
• I resolve to become an HIV vaccine volunteer.
The Vaccine Research Center invites healthy, HIV-negative individuals between 18–50 years of age to participate in an investigational HIV vaccine trial. Volunteers will be compensated for their contribution and it is impossible to become infected from a preventive HIV vaccine. Each volunteer makes a difference in advancing the development of vaccines to prevent HIV. If you only make one resolution this year, make it count! Join the Human Race against HIV/AIDS. With every volunteer, there is hope.
Ebola Vaccine Study
Study Number: 03-I-0285
Healthy adults, ages 18–50, are needed to participate in the study of an investigational Ebola Vaccine. Financial compensation is provided. The study will evaluate the safety of the vaccine and see if it generates an immune response. You cannot become infected with the Ebola Virus by receiving the vaccine. Help build better vaccines for a healthier world!
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Study Number: 03-AR-0133
The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases seeks adults with rheumatoid arthritis for a study that will examine how patients evaluate or rate symptom improvements. The study involves two visits to the NIH over one to four months for physical exams, written questionnaires, computer-based exercises, and blood draws. No treatment is provided.
Help Us in Our Effort to Fight HIV
Study Number: 03-I-0079
The Vaccine Research Center at the National Institutes of Health is conducting an investigational, therapeutic HIV vaccine trial. The trial will evaluate the safety and tolerability of an HIV vaccine regimen. You may qualify if you are HIV positive, are between the ages of 18–50, have a CD4+ count >350, have a viral load <400, and must meet additional eligibility criteria. Please note that the vaccine regimen in this study is NOT a replacement for your current therapy. Financial compensation provided.
Ankylosing Spondylitis
Study Numbers: 03-AR-0131, 03-AR-0130 and 04-AR-0205
The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases is seeking individuals with Ankylosing Spondylitis to participate in research studies. If you have been diagnosed with AS, please consider participating in a study. Participants will come to the NIH Clinical Center for one or more outpatient visits. All study related tests are provided at no cost. Compensation is provided.
Pulmonary Sarcoidosis
Study Number: 06-H-0072
Doctors at the National Institutes of Health are conducting a study to evaluate the effects of atorvastatin (Lipitor) in patients with pulmonary (lung) sarcoidosis. This study will determine if atorvastatin (Lipitor), a widely used cholesterol-lowering drug, can help patients with pulmonary (lung) sarcoidosis and replace or reduce the need for steroids, such as prednisone. To participate you must be 18–70 years of age, have stage II or stage III Pulmonary Sarcoidosis, and require treatment such as prednisone.
Search for more clinical trials at http://clinicalstudies.info.nih.gov. Please type the word “Healthy” for a full listing of NIH Healthy Volunteer opportunities. You can also search by individual keywords to find specific NIH patient studies.
All NIH studies are conducted in Bethesda, MD just 9 miles north of Washington DC and conveniently located on the metro’s red line. Compensation is provided for the healthy volunteer studies featured above.
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 Sharon Gamble-Bowen was born in Washington D.C., grew up in Maryland, and went to High Point High School. She received an AA in Computer Science/Electronic Technology from Montgomery College, a BS in Information Technology from Columbia Union College, and a MBA/TM from University of Phoenix. She currently works for the NIH’s department of Clinical Research Informatics as an Information Technology specialist.
Q: How many different studies have you volunteered with?
A: I’ve volunteered on and off for 20 years in about 10 to 15 different studies. Once I volunteered in the first study, it was easy to go back for others. Eventually the researchers knew that I was going to be a good volunteer and if, for instance, they needed someone who could lie still in the MRI machine, they would call me and ask if I would volunteer.
Q: What was your most interesting experience as an NIH Healthy Volunteer?
A: A few years ago, I did a study for African Americans and diabetes and during one of the initial tests, the doctor actually discovered that I was a diabetic. I was able to immediately go to my primary care physician and deal with this problem before it progressed too far. If I hadn’t been a healthy volunteer in that study, there is a good chance that I wouldn’t have discovered my diabetes until my body already started to have serious problems.
Q: What was your motivation to volunteer for your first study?
A: My first study was on allergies and I volunteered because I wanted the researchers to have enough people to work with so that maybe they could come up with a cure. Also, being a black woman, I really wanted to volunteer so that I could help provide a more balanced research population for the study.
Q: What do you learn as an NIH volunteer that you didn’t know as an NIH staff member?
A: I worked in the Nuclear Medicine Department for a long time and always saw the amazing health care being provided to all NIH patients. That view never changed, even when I became a volunteer myself, and I have always been very happy with my care and the care of others.
Q: How did it feel to be a volunteer in all the different studies?
A: I worked with many different groups from many different institutes and each and every one made me feel like an important volunteer who was playing an important part of their research.
Q: Would you recommend the experience of being an NIH healthy volunteer to your family and friends?
A: Yeah, I definitely always do recommend being a healthy volunteer. But in my experience, a lot of people are scared of being treated like “a guinea pig.” They need to realize that no one here treats you that way. Rather, every study you participate in is your chance to help doctors improve medicine and make health care better for everyone.
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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the federal government’s biomedical research agency and one of the world’s leading medical research organizations. The NIH Clinical Center is the research hospital located on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland. Currently, there are about 1000 studies being conducted on common and rare diseases. The Patient Recruitment and Public Liaison Office (PRPL) is part of the NIH Clinical Center. PRPL staff members assist patients, their families, and physicians by providing information about participating in research studies being conducted at the Clinical Center.
For more information about participating in clinical research at the NIH Clinical Center
Phone: 1-866-444-6676
TTY: 1-866-411-1010 (toll free)
E-mail: prpl@mail.cc.nih.gov
Web: clinicalstudies.info.nih.gov
Se habla español
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Back to School Health Questions
Speaking at a recent seminar on caregiving at NIH, Chloe JonPaul, the Maryland state representative for the National Family Caregivers Association, said that self-care is not a luxury for caretakers; “It is your right as a human being.” She shared these tips:
- Reward yourself with mini-breaks.
- Don't be afraid to ask for help. It shows that you are willing to be a problem-solver.
- Use every tool you can find including local groups, web-based support networks, reading materials, and anything else that can help.
- Block out negative thoughts. Try to think “I want to,” not “I have to.”
Your goal is to never say, “I should have” or “I would have.” Make sure you’ll be able to say, “I did it.”
For resources from NIH’s National Institute on Aging, call 1-800-222-2225 or visit these websites:
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| Supplements May Not Help Knee Pain |
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Many people use the popular dietary supplements Glucosamine and Chondroitin sulfate to treat Osteoarthritis. But a new study sponsored by the NIH shows that these substances, which are naturally found in and around cartilage, may not work as well as many had hoped.
Researchers, led by rheumatologist Dr. Daniel O. Clegg of the University of Utah School of Medicine, enrolled nearly 1,600 people with Osteoarthritis of the knee in the Glucosamine/Chondroitin Arthritis Intervention Trial (GAIT). They were randomly assigned to receive 1 of 5 treatments for 24 weeks: Glucosamine, Chondroitin Sulfate, Glucosamine and Chondroitin Sulfate combined, a placebo, or a pain medication called Celecoxib.
Those taking Celecoxib had less pain after 24 weeks than those taking the placebo. However, there were no significant differences between the other treatments and the placebo. When the researchers looked closer, Glucosamine combined with Chondroitin sulfate did provide pain relief for a smaller subgroup of people with moderate-to-severe pain.
Because of the small number of people in the moderate-to-severe pain group, however, Clegg said that the findings “should be considered preliminary and need to be confirmed in a study designed for this purpose.”
Measures of pain over a 24-week period don’t rule out the possibility that these compounds may still help with osteoarthritis. The GAIT team is continuing their research to examine whether Glucosamine and Chondroitin sulfate can delay the progression of Osteoarthritis. The results of that study are expected in about a year.
For more information, please visit: nccam.nih.gov/
research/results/gait/
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