Woman and Man
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Extract
Background and study aims Most cells in your body can detect the presence of something that can cause a disease (a pathogen) like a virus or bacteria, or an environmental factor like pollution. If your cells detect a pollutant like cigarette smoke, they react by removing it from your body in the same way as viruses and bacteria. We believe that susceptibility to infection may be influenced by environmental pollutants like cigarette smoke. We would like to see if this is the case, and if so why this happens. Who can participate? Healthy volunteers (smokers and non-smokers). What does the study involve? We need blood samples from healthy smokers (within 20 minutes of smoking a cigarette) and non-smokers so that we can look at their response to bacteria and viruses and the effect that smoking has on these responses. These tests will be carried out a laboratory at Imperial College. We would like to take a small sample of your blood - about 10 tablespoons. This will be taken using a needle from a vein in your arm by a trained research nurse or qualified doctor in the Unit of Critical Care Medicine at the Royal Brompton Hospital, and should only take about 20 minutes. You will need to inform us of any medication that you are taking. At the end of the study we will reimburse all your travelling expenses. What are the possible benefits and risks of participating? There is a slight risk of a small bruise where the needle is put in, and occasionally people feel faint when blood is taken, but there are no other risks involved. We will only carry out those tests detailed above on your blood sample. We will not carry out any tests for serious infections such as HIV and there is no need to declare such tests on an insurance or mortgage application. In the very unlikely event of your coming to any harm, Imperial College has insurance in place so that you may receive compensation without having to prove negligence on our part. The blood samples you give will be coded before any tests are performed on them, so that you cannot be identified from the samples. All of your details will be kept strictly confidential. Some blood may be stored for future use in research in this area. Where is the study run from? Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust (UK). When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for? August 2008 to August 2013. Who is funding the study? Wellcome Trust (UK). Who is the main contact? Dr Mark Paul-Clark [email protected]
Inclusion criteria
- Immunology and inflammation