View clinical trials related to Brain Injuries.
Filter by:Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is the most common cause of death and long-term disability in children. Much of the long-term disability stems from neurocognitive impairments that are not greatly helped by current cognitive training and pharmacological treatments for TBI related cognitive impairments. This study tests the hypothesis that a drug, D-cycloserine (DCS), will significantly enhance the effect of cognitive training in correcting cognitive impairments in children with moderate/severe TBIs. In order to do so, study subjects who fit inclusion criteria, including those with moderate to severe TBI who show persistent working memory weaknesses based on a screening, will be recruited. They will have three visits to UCLA. During the first visit, subjects will undergo an MRI protocol before and after taking a pill (drug or placebo, blinded). They will also participate in a number of paper and pencil cognitive tests. Then subjects will be enrolled in a 6 week computerized cognitive training program (CogMed). They will also be prescribed a drug/placebo pill (depending on which group they are randomized into), which they'll have to take at regular intervals during the 6 weeks. They will have weekly check in phone calls or visits by a coach trained in the program to make sure they are following the study protocol accurately, to have their questions answered, and for motivation. At the end of the training period, subjects will return to UCLA to again complete the MRI protocol and cognitive testing. After three months of enrollment, they will have a final visit to UCLA, including only cognitive testing. A total of 30 subjects will be entered into the study.
This research study evaluates the effectiveness of a low-cost Virtual Reality-based (VR) training system in providing a customized balance treatment in a skilled clinical setting. Participants will be assigned to one of three treatment groups.
The purpose of study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of autologous bone marrow-derived stem cells therapy in patients with anaerobic (hypoxic) brain injury. Stem cell therapy is an emerging alternative treatment modality in incurable and intractable neurological disorders. This pilot study aims to evaluate the feasibility and safety of stem cells in anaerobic brain injury.
Background: People with a traumatic brain injury (TBI) can have trouble making the best possible decisions. Researchers want to learn more about the parts of the brain that control decision making. They also want to know how these are different between people. This may help predict how people make decisions after TBI. Objective: To learn more about which parts of the brain are involved in making decisions and how decisions may be hurt after TBI. Eligibility: Adults age 18 to 60. Design: Participants will be screened with medical history and physical exam. They will also take memory, attention, concentration, and thinking tests. Participants will do up to 2 experiments. For Experiment 1, participants may have 3 scans: PET: a chemical is injected through a thin tube into an arm vein. Participants lie on a bed that slides in and out of the scanner. MRI: a strong magnetic field and radio waves take pictures of the brain. Participants lie on a table that slides in and out of a metal cylinder. It makes loud knocking noises. Participants will get earplugs. They might be asked to do a task. A coil will be placed over the head. MEG: a cone with magnetic field detectors is lowered onto participants head. After the scans, participants will perform a decision-making task. For Experiment 2, participants will perform a decision-making task before and after receiving transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). tDCS: wet electrode sponges are placed over participants' scalp and forehead. A current passes between the electrodes. It stimulating the brain. Participants will return 24-48 hours later to repeat the decision-making task.
The purpose of the study is to test the effectiveness of training using novel tablet applications for hand function, compared to traditional hand exercises. In addition, we aim to examine brain plasticity following treatment with the new tablet applications. We hypothesize that training with a tablet would prove to be more effective than traditional exercises. We expect to observe neuroplastic changes in the brain in patients who practiced finger movements using the tablet.
We are extending the researches of Taiwan neurosurgery traumatic brain injury (TBI) database which is led by Professor WT Chiu in Taipei Medical University and will recruit mild TBI (mTBI) participants who have ever been registered in the database. This database has been established for over 15 years and contains the information of over 150000 patients. It is one of the largest TBI database in the world. TBI usually results from traffic accidents, falls or violence events. Most of the victims are young people and the victims suffer from life-threatening and mental-physical deficits. Mild TBI (mTBI) usually was neglected before because its symptoms, signs are mild and mTBI patients usually were not obtained enough initial treatment. Therefore, mTBI might result in long-term cognitive and affective impairments, such as depression, indifference, anxiety, memory impairment, loss of attention and executive function. These late effects not only decrease the life quality of patients and their family but also increase the social and medical burden. Recent epidemiology studies have pointed out that TBI would increase the risk for dementia, especially Alzheimer disease (AD) by 2-4 times. However, the association between TBI severity, number of repeats, genetic factors and onset of AD remains further investigation. Amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques and neurofibrillary tangles are the pathological hallmarks for AD. Accumulation of Aβ is considered to be the first step of pathophysilogy of AD. Compelling researches have supported TBI accelerates the formation and accumulation of Aβ. These findings could link TBI with AD but the previous researches had limitations. There was lack of mTBI pathology data so the impacts of mTBI on Aβ accumulation were still obscure. By amyloid-PET, we could study the effects of mTBI on the accumulation of Aβ and this tool could be helpful for understanding the real impacts and pathophysiological mechanisms of mTBI on AD.
Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most frequent cause of motor handicap among children. The economic burden of CP in USA includes $1.18 billion in direct medical costs, $1.05 billion in direct non-medical costs, and an additional $9.24 billion in indirect costs, for a total cost of $11.5 billion or $921,000 average cost per person. Associated disabilities as mental retardation, delayed speech development add psychological burden of the disease on the family as well as economic burden. Mental retardation is the major problem in children with cerebral palsy. Improving mental development will have a positive effect on quality of life for the child and his family. Treating associated impairments (mental retardation) with Cerebrolysin will improve mental development and quality of life, and will decrease the economic burden in children with cerebral palsy.
Objective/Hypothesis: An eight-week course of forty low-pressure Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment's (HBOT's) can significantly improve symptoms and cognitive function in subjects with the persistent-post concussion syndrome (PPCS) of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI).
After a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) people often report balance problems. At Parkwood hospital we have noticed that balance is improved when patients with mTBI wear a weighted compression vest. This follow up pilot study looks at the immediate effects of weighted compression vests on participants with altered balance after mTBI. Participants will be recruited from the Ministry of Health Outpatient Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) Program wait list. Then each participant will perform a series of balance and walking tests under 2 conditions : 1) wearing a weighted compression vest , 2) not wearing a weighted compression vest. It will be randomized whether participants wear the vest on the first or second testing day. Participants will also be asked how confident they are about their balance and how anxious they felt performing the assessments after each testing session. We hypothesize that the weighted compression vest will improve fatigue and anxiety immediately and 24 hours after performing a complex task, and will improve static and dynamic balance, gait variability, and walking speed in patients with mTBI, during the tasks.
The improvement of treatment of preterm neonates improved their survival, however there is still significant portion of preterm infants (specifically very preterm infants) that suffers from brain insults and as a result developmental deficits. The brain injury is a consequence of hypoxic ischemic events, intracranial hemorrhages, as well as, infections and metabolic crisis. The brain injury is a combination of abnormal myelination, axonal damage and neuronal death. Although there is reduction in focal brain injury, diffuse brain injury is still abundant. Several treatments has been suggested and tested in animal models to prevent the brain insults including glutamate receptor blockers, allopurinol, xenon and different types of stem cells. However, two main obstacles prevent the use of these medication, first the uncertainty of their effect on the developing brain and second the difficulty to time the brain insult. Unlike neonatal asphyxia, when the delivery time and clinical signs are used to time and grade the brain injury, in preterm infants there is no real time tool to indicate severity and timing of brain injury. The disability point out a beneficial therapeutic window is a major obstacle in the acute treatment of brain injury in preterm infants. The aim of this study is to try and delineate such therapeutic window by using brain injury biomarkers. S100b and GFAP are well recognized biomarkers of brain injury in adults, children and infants. Serial measurements of S100b in saliva (every 2 days) and GFAP in serum (weekly) will be sampled. A database of the clinical status of the infants will be collected, as well as, head ultra sound weekly and head MRI a term age. Development will be assessed by at 18 months. Two hypotheses are stated: One, increase in the levels of S100b and GFAP in their timing will be correlated with the severity of the clinical status, Two the duration of increased level of S100b and GFAP will be associated with abnormal MRI at term findings and abnormal developmental assessment.