View clinical trials related to Neuro-Degenerative Disease.
Filter by:Every-day life means being part of a complex environment and performing complex tasks that usually involve a combination of motor and cognitive skills. However, the process of aging or the sequelae of neurological diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis (MS) compromises motor-cognitive interaction necessary for an independent lifestyle. While motor-cognitive performance has been identified as an important goal for sustained health across different clinical populations, little is known about underlying brain function leading to these difficulties and how to best target these motor-cognitive difficulties in the context of rehabilitation and exercise interventions. The challenge of improving treatments of motor-cognitive difficulties (such as dual-tasking and navigation) is daunting, and an important step is arriving at a method that accurately portrays these impairments in an ecological valid state. The investigators aim therefore to explore brain function during complex walking in MS (in comparison with people with Parkinson's disease and healthy controls) by investigating the effects of neurological disease on motor-cognitive performance and its neural correlates during three conditions of complex walking (dual-task walking, navigation and a combination of both) using non-invasive measures of brain activity (functional near infrared spectrometry, fNIRS) and advanced gait analysis in real time in people with MS (in comparison with people with Parkinson's disease and healthy adults).
The English version of the "Clinical Assessment of Dysphagia in Neurodegeneration" (CADN), represents a rapid and valid clinical assessment tool for dysphagia in neurodegenerative population. Currently, there is no validated tool in Italian specific for the clinical assessment of dysphagia in neurodegenerative disease with strong psychometric characteristics. The present study aims to translate and validate the Italian version of CADN in neurodegenerative population. Psychometric properties will be measured.
Alzheimer's disease is a severe neurodegenerative disorder of the brain that is characterized by progressive loss of memory and cognitive decline. With the ageing population, AD is a major public health problem affecting nearly 35 million people worldwide with numbers projected to rise to 115.4 million by 2050. AD is the only cause of death among the top ten causes that has no prevention or cure . It is believed that novel treatment of AD needs to start early or even at the prodromal stage in order to be effective. Therefore, there is an urgent need to find accurate methods of early detection before patients with AD develop clinical dementia. This study aims to identify biomarkers for AD in local Chinese population. this study hypothesizes blood-based proteomics, retinal imaging, ASL-MRP and tau PET can improve the accuracy and staging of AD.
The purpose of this study is to assess the efficacy of using intelligent volume assured pressure support (iVAPS-AE) versus spontaneous timed (ST) modes of non-invasive ventilation (NIV) in patients diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The investigators believe that the use of iVAPS-AE mode NIV over a 90 day period will produce NIV compliance data and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) scores that are equivalent or no worse compared to ST mode NIV.
The study will examine the reciprocal relationships between the community, healthcare system, and personal determinants of self-management behaviors in persons with Parkinson's disease and their association with the performance of these behaviors in persons with Parkinson's Disease. In the first part of the study, data will be extracted from electronic medical records of 2500. In the second part of the study, a sub-sample of 200 participants with Parkinson's disease will be asked to answer standardized questionnaires.
Functional neurosurgery is dedicated to modulating aberrant neural circuits associated with a wide range of neurological conditions. Recently, technological advances in MRI have permitted marked improvements in the direct visualization of neural targets, which is necessary for the accurate targeting in functional neurosurgery procedures. This research study focuses on imaging patient brains before their scheduled procedures by using a 3 tesla (T) MRI to provide higher resolution and quality brain images. The reason for this study is to assess the image quality using different MRI sequences or settings to improve the image resolution of the most common functional neurosurgery targets (e.g., subthalamic nucleus, globus pallidus, and thalamus) and compare the image quality of the brains in patients with healthy controls. Performing a preoperative MRI is standard-of-care for patients indicated for deep brain stimulation (DBS), gamma knife radiosurgery (GKRS), radiofrequency ablation (RFA), magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS). MRI sequence parameters shown to improve the image quality of different neural structures in a recent literature review (Boutet et al. 2021) will be reproduced on the 3T MRI at Toronto Western Hospital.
General aim of the study is the improvement of the clinical knowledge of ultra-rare inherited metabolic and degenerative neurological diseases (prevalence less than 5:100,000) in adulthood through the systematic longitudinal collection of clinical, laboratory and instrumental data.
Immediate family members shoulder the majority of care responsibilities for persons living with dementia. However, due to various societal changes, elder care responsibilities have expanded to extended family members, including grandchildren, siblings, nieces/nephews, siblings, and step-kin. The main objective of this study is to understand the caregiving journeys of various extended family members involved in dementia care. We aim to learn about caregivers' care management strategies; their use of home and community-based services and informal support; and barriers to service usage. We will use the results from the study to help enhance service delivery, alleviate care-related stress, and improve the quality of life of dementia patients and their caregivers. We will use a mixed-methods design to explore the challenges faced by caregivers as well as their service usage for the person living with dementia. Our methodology involves an initial telephone interview (approx. 70 minutes) that includes open-ended questions, standard items, and structured measures, followed by an 8-day semi-structured daily diary interview about daily care responsibilities and experiences with services (15-20 minutes each evening). This study will be conducted with 240 extended family members serving as one of the main caregivers for a person living with dementia in a community setting.
A study using Parkinson's disease animal model, transgenic fruit flies, demonstrated the potential of using tocotrienols (HOV-12020) as a therapeutic agent for delaying Parkinsonian motor dysfunctions. The proposed study aims to enrol 100 PD patients in a randomized placebo-controlled trial to investigate the effects of tocotrienols (HOV-12020) in motor and non-motor outcomes. Patients will be given oral tocotrienols (400mg/day) or placebo for 104 weeks. They will be assessed using the standard assessments scales in PD at baseline, Week 52 and Week 104. Neuropsychological evaluation will also be completed at these intervals to monitor progression of cognitive impairment (if any). Additional PD staging using MDSUPDRS (Part III), Hoehn & Yahr (H&Y) will be conducted at Week 26 and week 78. Blood samples will be collected to evaluate PD biomarkers and for safety monitoring (liver function, renal function and hematology).
This is a research study of a drug called cobimetinib in children and adults diagnosed with Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH), and other histiocytic disorders that has returned or does not respond to treatment. Cobimetinib blocks activation of a protein called Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MEK) that is part of incorrect growth signals in histiocytosis cells. Four different groups of patients will be enrolled.