View clinical trials related to Parkinson's Disease.
Filter by:This study will compare the effects of placebo and donepezil, a drug that helps conserve concentrations of the neurotransmitter, acetylcholine, on measures of balance and gait in subjects with Parkinson's disease (PD). This study is a double-blind, placebo controlled, cross-over randomized clinical trial. Short-latency afferent inhibition (SAI), a physiological index of cholinergic function will be measured to determine if the deficits in balance and gait correlate with abnormalities of the SAI and if SAI is altered by donepezil as a measure of drug efficacy. Cognitive tests like the Attention Network Test (ANT) will be administered to determine if changes in gait and balance are mediated by changes in attention. The results of this study will be the most direct test of the hypothesized role of cholinergic neurons and the neurotransmitter, acetylcholine in terms of gait and balance. The study is exploratory because it is not known whether donepezil will affect gait, balance or attention, nor which measures of gait, balance or attention will be sensitive to drug manipulation. The study's immediate goal is to determine the potential utility of cholinergic manipulation as a strategy for preventing or treating balance and gait dysfunction in PD. The findings of this trial are intended to lead to more sharply focused questions about the role of cholinergic neurons in balance and gait and eventually to Phase II B trials to determine clinical utility of cholinergic manipulation to prevent falls and improve mobility.
The purpose of this study is to determine whether people with Parkinson's disease (PD) experience reduced perception of respiratory resistive loads versus healthy adults in the same age group. Further, the study will determine whether people with PD and trouble swallowing experience even more reduction of their perception of a respiratory resistive load.
We are trying to identify factors associated with improved quality of life and fewer PD symptoms. We are attempting to identify practices, beliefs, and therapies used by individuals who report excellent quality of life, few PD symptoms, and reduced rates of progression. After agreeing to participate, we will ask participants to fill our questionnaires about their experience with PD, their health in general, along with their food intake every six months for five years.
Only one study has evaluated the effect of TENS in LUTD in Parkinson's syndromes. It was reported at the congress of the "Société Interdisciplinaire Francophone d'UroDynamique et de Pelvi-Perinéologie" (SIFUD-PP) in 2011 by Ohanessian et al., and comprised 6 female patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) or multisystem atrophy (MSA), with overactive bladder. Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, 20 minutes daily for 6 weeks, was associated with subjective improvement of LUTD assessed with the Patient Global Impression of Improvement (PGI-I) in 5 of the 6 patients. In view of the encouraging results of this pilot study, we hypothesize that TENS treatment may improve LUTD in patients with a Parkinson's syndrome, Parkinson's disease (PD) and multisystem atrophy (MSA).
The purpose of this study is to determine the impact that treatment with a cellular concentrate derived from an individual's own fat, known as the stromal vascular fraction (SVF), has on the quality of life of people with Parkinson's disease (PD). SVF contains components with "regenerative" properties, including stem cells that may be capable of ameliorating specific disease conditions. This study is designed to evaluate quality of life changes in individuals with PD for up to 12 months following SVF treatment.
Fatigue is one of the most common and debilitating symptoms experienced in Parkinson's Disease (PD) and Multiple Sclerosis (MS). There are multiple proposed mechanisms of disorder-related fatigue, however, it is unknown whether PD or MS patients experience compromised blood lactate responses to an acute bout of exercise, subjecting them to exercise-related fatigue. These populations may experience higher energy expenditure at rest due to increased rigidity, however, limited data exists investigating resting energy expenditure in these populations. Researchers hypothesize that PD and MS patients will display higher resting energy expenditure than healthy age-matched controls, and that level of energy expenditure will correlate with amount of rigidity or spasticity. Also, we hypothesize that baseline levels of lactate will not be different between PD/MS and control groups, but post-exercise blood lactate levels will be significantly higher in the PD/MS groups.
The purpose of this research study is to test cough function in individuals with Parkinson's disease and healthy older adults. Cough is a complex, defensive function which involves movement of the chest and lungs. The investigators want to compare the movement of the chest wall and the lungs during voluntary and reflex cough. The long-term goal of this research is to develop treatments for people with cough dysfunction. Cough dysfunction increases the risk for respiratory infections such as pneumonia. The results from this study will provide information to help researchers understand the difference between reflex and voluntary cough more fully.
The purpose of this study is to assess the effectiveness of a forced exercise aerobic exercise program, utilizing a cycling activity, on specific gait parameters and balance in individuals with Parkinson's Disease (PD). Design: pilot, feasibility, randomized control, evaluator blinded. Subjects: Twenty four patients with idiopathic PD Hoehn and Yahr (H&Y) stage II or III. Intervention: Participants randomly assigned to one of two exercise groups, forced exercise or self selected exercise, on cycling machine three times a week for 8 weeks. Both groups to exercise at same aerobic intensity level to keep heart rate at 60-80% heart rate max. Outcomes: Gait parameters of step length, width, and variability as measured by the GAITRite; 6 Minute Walk Test; mini-BESTest (balance testing); exercise tolerance via Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) scale.
The purpose of this study is to test whether Rifampin affects blood levels of istradefylline in humans. Rifampin could possibly decrease istradefylline levels.
A simple, painless and reliable method to detect Parkinson's disease at an early stage is very important to patients, doctors and researchers. Doctors want to help patients early, and scientists want to select patients for their research who will help in development of better drugs. We hope that the changes in electrical activity of hand muscles during handwriting will help in early detection of this disease.