View clinical trials related to Neuro-Degenerative Disease.
Filter by:Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease, which affects 2-3% of the general population above 65 years. There are significant differences in incidence depending on geographical location, race, and ethnicity. The exact cause of the disease is still unknown, but the role of genetic and environmental factors has already been established. Certain genetic forms of the disease make up for a small percentage, so it is thought that environmental factors have a more significant impact on the development of the disease. The incidence of PD is higher in people exposed to significant quantities of pesticides and traumatic brain injury, while there is a smaller incidence in smokers and people consuming more significant quantities of caffeine. The project will finish in four years, with the first 20 months dedicated to the first phase (genetic-epidemiological research), and the entirety of the 48 months for the second phase of the project (prospective clinical research). The main goal of the first phase of the project is to determine which genetic mutations are the ones most represented in the Croatian population afflicted with the familial form of PD. In the second phase the main goal is to determine the influence of genetic factors and microbiological factors on the disease's progression as well as on the treatment outcomes. Specific goals of this part of the project are to determine how many patients in the general population of PD patients present with a genetic disorder and which genes have a role in that disorder, as well as determine the composition of intestinal and oral microbiota both in the patient test group and the healthy control group. Furthermore, specific goals are to evaluate the effects of standard PD treatment on the composition of microbiota, neurodegeneration progression and the activity of neuroinflammation in the central nervous system (CNS) and to examine whether there is a link between the physiological and the pathophysiological function of microbiota, using markers of disease progression and glial activity. Last specific goal is to analyze potential pathological conformation protein forms that could be used as a biomarker in early stages of the disease and a biomarker of disease progression. The first phase of the study will provide the first epidemiologic data on the familial form of PD, as well as the mutations most represented in patients with PD in Croatia. Additionally, the prospective clinical study will contribute to enlightening the intertwined effects of genetic and environmental factors in the emergence and progression of the disease, as well as their effect on treatment outcome. Intestinal and oral microbiota composition analysis will determine whether there is a difference between PD and the healthy population while using the short-chain fatty acid profile will determine the metabolic differences between the two groups. Analyzing the markers of CNS homeostasis, inflammation, and neuroglial function will determine the progression of the disease and also correlate them to genetic factors as well as the microbiota function and composition. Analyzing the pathological conformation forms of alpha-synuclein could lead to the discovery of novel biomarkers in the early stages of the disease, as well as to follow the progression of the disease
This study evaluates an educational brochure tailored to caregivers of people with Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease dementia, Lewy body disease, frontotemporal dementia, and vascular disease dementia. The goal of the brochure is educating caregivers about the decreased ability to detect emotion and decreased empathy that can be seen in dementia, increasing caregiver competence in providing care, and teaching caregivers ways to manage over time that lessens burden and improves quality of life.
Alzheimer's disease, stroke and TBI are frequently observed brain disorders, causing significant morbidity. For none of these disorders, there are in vivo diagnostic biomarkers available that allow determination of disease burden, patient-specific prognosis and therapy follow-up. However, they all share a similar mechanism that may cause accumulation of tau oligomers in the brain, synaptic dysfunction and cognitive and/or behavioral impairment. Until recently, the only way to quantify synaptic density and tau deposition was using post-mortem immunohistochemistry. Now, in vivo Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging of synaptic density has become possible trough development of 11C-UCB-J, a levetiracetam-based radioligand, expressing high affinity and specificity for SV2A. Furthermore, the novel radioligand 18F-MK-6240, specifically targeting tau deposits, was clinically implemented in our center. Through PET-MR, we can visualize the cascade of tau deposition, synaptic loss and degeneration of grey and white matter and relate these pathologic features to cognitive and behavioral deterioration. The goal of the study is to: 1) measure tau deposition and loss of synaptic density in these conditions as a potential measure for disease load 2) determination of the mid-term (2 years) monitoring capacity of combined functional-structural PET-MR imaging 3) relate progression of the imaging markers to cognitive and/or behavioral decline and 4) determination of the optimal combination of PET-MR metrics for early identification and risk-stratification of cognitive and/or behavioral dysfunction in de novo patients.
Hereditary neurological disorders are relatively common in paediatric neurological practice, but it has considerable overlap with adult neurological disorders. It is a group of of genetic diseases, most of which with a Mendelian inheritance affecting neurological system. Pathogenic mechanisms of these diseases are not fully understood. There is currently no effective therapy for most of these diseases. Disease-specific and patient- specific iPS cells would provide useful source of cells in culture modeling in these diseases. In this study, disease-specific iPS cell lines repositories from hereditary neurological disease patients will be established. The cell lines will be registered and make them available to other investigators.
The main goal of the study is to provide a unique multidimensional picture of the health of the population with simultaneous optimal standards of sampling, processing and storing of data and biomaterial that will allow discovering novel mechanisms in the development and progression of common civilization diseases. In the effect it will improve prevention, diagnosis and treatment.