COPD

This study will seek to enroll immunocompromised patients with Lower Tract parainfluenza infection. It also contains a sub-study to enroll patients with severe COVID-19.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of once daily oral inhalation dose of MK-5475 380 µg in participants 40 to 85 years (inclusive) with Pulmonary Hypertension associated with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (PH-COPD). The primary hypothesis of the study is MK-5475, a soluble Guanylate Cyclase (sGC) stimulator is superior to placebo in increasing 6 Minute Walking Distance (6MWD) from baseline at Week 24.

The purpose of this Phase III study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of tozorakimab Dose 1 and Dose 2 administered subcutaneously (SC) in adult participants with symptomatic COPD and history of ≥ 2 moderate or ≥ 1 severe exacerbation of COPD in the previous 12 months. Participants should be receiving optimised treatment with maintenance inhaled therapy (ICS/LABA/LAMA triple therapy, or dual therapy if triple is not considered appropriate) in stable doses throughout at least 3 months prior to enrolment.

Phase 3 study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a benralizumab in patients with moderate to very severe COPD with a history of frequent COPD exacerbations and elevated peripheral blood eosinophils (≥300/μL). Eligible patients must have a history of ≥2 moderate and/or severe COPD exacerbations in the previous year despite receiving triple (ICS/LABA/LAMA) background therapy for at least 3 months and ICS-based dual inhaled treatment for the remainder of the year. Eligible patients must also have an elevated blood eosinophil count. The treatment period will be of variable duration and will continue until the last patient has the opportunity to complete a minimum of 56 weeks, at which point all patients will complete the study. The primary endpoint will be analyzed at Week 56.

Heated, humidified high-flow air (HHHFA) devices improve airway clearance. HHHFA use for an average of 1.6 hours a day in COPD patients with chronic bronchitis improves health-related quality of life, lung function, and delays the first respiratory exacerbation. However, HHHFA for an average of 1.6 hours a day had no effect on COPD exacerbation frequency or hospitalization, dyspnea, or exercise capacity, likely due to short duration of the treatment. Conversely, the effect of HHHFA for longer time periods on chronic bronchitis patients has not been studied. Moreover, the effect of HHHFA on sleep quality has not been studied. A prior study in COPD patients showed that use of HHHFA for more than 7 hours during sleep can be achieved. The overall objective of this research is to examine the effect of HHHFA during sleep on COPD patients with chronic bronchitis. In this pilot study, the study team will examine the effect of HHHFA during sleep on clinically relevant short-term outcomes including: respiratory symptoms, quality of life and sleep, lung function and exercise capacity. Subjects will be recruited and consented. Once a subject agrees to be in the study the baseline visit will occur. The first test will be the Pulmonary Function testing. If the subject qualifies based on the PFT's they will complete the remainder of the baseline visit. During this visit subjects will complete questionnaires, have a physical, 6 minute walk test and CT scan. Subjects will receive device training on the heated, humidified high-flow air device. Subjects will have a followup call between 3-7 days to check in on how the subject is doing with the device. After 6 weeks the subject will return for another round of testing as was done at baseline. This will be the final study visit.

This study will use dual energy x-ray computed tomography (DECT) to evaluate the relationship between heterogeneous perfusion, hypoxia (low oxygen in inspired gas) and induction of pulmonary vascular dilatation to characterize emphysema susceptibility in a normal smoking population. The investigators will correlate DECT measures of perfusion with lung injury measured by single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). The investigators will study the effect of pulmonary arterial vasodilation to see if it eliminates indices of persistent lung injury in smokers that are susceptible to emphysema

Symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and high body mass index (BMI) overlap. The investigators are trying to find out if a program proven to help people lose a modest amount of weight and increase their physical activity will improve COPD symptoms for those with a high BMI. The program uses a series of video sessions and self-study handouts focused on healthy eating and increasing physical activity, and encourages participants to monitor their weight, diet, and physical activity for one year. For those who want to, they will be able to work with a health coach to help meet weight and activity goals. We hope that the program will lead to improved exercise tolerance, body weight, dyspnea, generic health-related quality of life, and major cardiovascular risk factors (central obesity by waist circumference, Framingham Risk Score, and blood pressure) through 12 months of follow-up. To be in the study, participants will need to have COPD, high BMI, history of smoking, shortness of breath, and be at least 40 years old.