View clinical trials related to Brain Diseases.
Filter by:The primary objective of the study was to compare the efficacy, safety and tolerability of Extracorporeal Albumin Dialysis (ECAD) using the Molecular Adsorbent Recirculating System (MARS®) device in improving severe HE by 2 grades compared to Standard Medical Therapy (SMT) in patients with chronic End Stage Liver Disease (ESLD) during a 5 day study period.
The study will be conducted in two phases. Phase A will evaluate the contribution of bacterial overgrowth and colonic inertia to development of Hepatic Encephalopathy (HE)in 50 ambulatory subjects with HE and hepatitis C cirrhosis. This phase will include a Screening and Evaluation Visit. Phase B will evaluate the effect of rifaximin on bacterial outgrowth and severity of HE in 20 of the subjects enrolled in Phase A who have a somewhat greater degree of encephalopathy. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the following: 1. the relationship between bacterial overgrowth and the presence and severity of HE in patients with hepatitis C cirrhosis; 2. the effectiveness and tolerability of rifaximin relative to placebo in treatment of HE associated with hepatitis C cirrhosis; 3. the relationship between bacterial overgrowth and the presence and severity of HE before and after rifaximin treatment.
We have completed patient enrollment in the the double blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of intravenous (IV) N-acetylcysteine (NAC) vs. placebo for the treatment of non-acetaminophen ALF. The purpose of this study is to examine the safety and efficacy of intravenous NAC in children with ALF for whom no antidote or other specific treatment is available. Inclusion in the NAC Study required enrollment in the Pediatric Acute Liver Failure (PALF) Study Registry.
The purpose of this follow-up study is to assess the long-term safety and tolerability of galantamine in individuals with mild cognitive impairment who participated in a previous study with galantamine
Urea cycle disorders (UCD) are a group of rare inherited metabolism disorders. Infants and children with UCD commonly experience episodes of vomiting, lethargy, and coma. The purpose of this study is to perform a long-term analysis of a large group of individuals with various UCDs. The study will focus on the natural history, disease progression, treatment, and outcome of individuals with UCD.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the long-term efficacy and safety of galantamine in patients with Alzheimer's disease.
Hypothesis: Prolonged whole body cooling in term infants with perinatal asphyxial encephalopathy reduces death and severe neurodevelopmental disability. This study aims to determine whether whole body cooling to 33-34°C is a safe treatment that improves survival, without severe neurological or neurodevelopmental impairments at 18 months, of term infants suffering perinatal asphyxial encephalopathy.
Asphyxia is a leading cause of neonatal death in Zambia. This study will be conducted in two cities in Zambia to determine if the combined Neonatal Resuscitation Program/Essential Newborn Care Program compared to the new World Health Organization (W.H.O.) basic perinatal care education of health care providers (Essential Newborn Care Program) results in reduced mortality due to perinatal asphyxia.
This study will examine how holoprosencephaly (HPE) affects people, how they change over time, and what genes may be involved in the cause of the disorder. HPE is a defect of brain development in utero in which the forebrain fails to sufficiently divide into two hemispheres, resulting in a single-lobed brain and skull and facial malformations. In most cases, the defects are so severe that babies die before birth. There are three classifications of HPE. In alobar HPE the brain does not divide at all; this form is usually associated with severe facial deformities. In semilobar HPE the hemispheres divide somewhat, causing an intermediate form of the disorder. In lobar HPE, the mildest form, separation of hemispheres is nearly normal. Patients with HPE and their direct blood relatives may participate in this study. Patients are seen by a team of medical specialists at the NIH Clinical Center for the following procedures: - Physical and neurological examination - Eye examination - Imaging studies, such as echocardiogram, abdominal ultrasound, brain MRI - Electroencephalogram (EEG) - Hearing evaluation - Blood and urine samples for genetic and endocrine studies, routine blood chemistries, urinalysis, and urine electrolytes - Other consultations as needed - Possibly photographs, including front and side views of the face and other body parts that may be involved in HPE, such as the eyes, teeth, hands, and feet Parents will be asked questions about the child's prenatal, birth, newborn, and past medical history, growth, behavior and development, and therapy and medication. Because HPE is a genetic disorder and gene changes can be passed on in a family, parents will also be asked to undergo the following procedures: - Completion of a medical and family history form - Physical and neurological examination - Blood and urine samples (for mothers only) - Specialty consultations as indicated - Possibly photographs, including front and side views of the face and other body parts that may be involved in HPE, such as the eyes, teeth, hands, and feet - Psychosocial study. Some parents will be asked to participate in a telephone interview or complete a questionnaire, or both, about their attitudes, beliefs, and concerns about how they and their family cope with their child's condition. Some questionnaires may include questions about aspects of their marriage and personal feelings and experiences. Parents will meet with a doctor and a genetics nurse to discuss the results of the tests and answer questions. Parents may be asked to bring their child back to the NIH after 2 years for follow-up examination and possible additional or repeat testing. ...
This study will examine the underlying mental processes that determine how people understand social behavior, remember information, and think. Language, planning, problem solving, reasoning, social behavior, and memory are the critical parts of cognition that make up daily life. This study will explore the association between performance on various experimental tasks and day-to-day functioning. Healthy normal volunteers and patients with certain kinds of brain damage (primarily focal or degenerative lesions of the human prefrontal cortex) or psychiatric disorders may be eligible for this study. Candidates with central nervous system trauma, disease or dysfunction will be screened with a routine neurological examination and history. Participants may be asked to complete written tests, sit in front of a computer monitor and press a key to indicate a decision about what appears on the screen (for example, whether a statement is accurate) and answer questions from a test examiner. A skin conductance response (SCR) test may be done along with some of the cognitive tests. SCR uses electrodes (pieces of metal attached to wires) placed on the fingers to measure the subject's emotional reaction to a test. Participants may also do an evoked response test, in which the subject watches words or scenes on a TV screen while his or her responses are recorded from electrodes placed on the scalp (similar to an electroencephalogram). The tests will be scheduled for an average of one session a week, with each session lasting from 30 minutes to 3 hours. Generally, 15 sessions will be scheduled over a 1-year period. Special arrangements will be made to accommodate participants from out-of-town. Participants may have a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of the brain. This test uses radio waves and a strong magnetic field to picture structural and chemical changes in tissue. For the procedure, the subject lies on a table in a space enclosed by a metal cylinder (the scanner) for about 1 hour. In addition, some study subjects will be invited to participate in a training study designed to improve their planning or social behavior. Participation requires coming to NIH daily over a 1- to 2-month period for 1 to 2 hours each visit.