View clinical trials related to Stroke.
Filter by:The goal of this research is to improve communication to Veterans. The investigators want to improve how doctors and nurses talk to patients about the risk of heart attack and stroke. The investigators will give everyone in the study information about the risk for heart attack or stroke. The investigators will also provide information on how to reduce this risk. This information will be given in one of two ways. The investigators want to see which way of giving information works better for veterans. The investigators also want to assess the impact of personalized stroke risk communication to patients at risk for stroke on patient knowledge, beliefs, and preferences for risk reduction behaviors and evaluate the impact of personalized risk communication on medication adherence and blood pressure. The investigators plan to enroll approximately 100 veterans for this study. All veterans will be from the Durham VA Primary Care Clinics. The investigators will ask everyone to be in the study for 3 months.
Manipulation of object is a multisensory experience that includes tactile motion between the object and the fingerpad, visual motion elicited by the motion the object and the movement of the hand, and the active motor commend to control upper limb and hand conformation. It remains to be determined how such a complex interaction between touch and vision could be achieved effortlessly. In the present study, we will investigate how the motion information is transformed between touch and vision using the most novel approaches in human psychophysics, neuropsychology and monkey neurophysiology. Specifically, we will present tactile motion on primate fingerpads using a recently developed ball stimulator with a design in which we vary the direction of motion with respect to the skin surface and also vary the hand conformation and position. This setup allows us to systematically sample the possible scenarios involving coordinate transformation between the somatosensory and visual systems in conditions that could occur in hand exploration and object manipulation in daily life. We will present these tactile stimuli on normal human subject as well as stroke patients such as patients with spatial hemineglect. Finally, we will record from macaque monkeys in cortical areas that are thought to underlie the transformation of coordinates, such as the primary somatosensory cortex and posterior parietal cortex. The results of the present study will contribute to the understanding of multisensory integration and the rehabilitation for patients with impaired use of spatial information.
Remote limb ischemic preconditioning is neuro-protective and anti-inflammatory for ischemia- reperfusion injury. As the extent of its effect is unknown, the investigators will use clinical outcome, serum biochemical markers and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI)to determine the extent of its neuro-protective and anti-inflammatory effect.
Problems in attention can affect around 40% of stroke survivors and are associated with poor recovery of function. This project will provide the largest scale and most detailed examination to date of whether problems in attention after stroke can be remediated through direct brain stimulation. In Part 1 of the project the investigators will use two forms of direct brain stimulation (neural inhibition) to try and balance activity across the two sides of the brain following a stroke to one side. The investigators will assess whether each form of stimulation leads to an improvement in attentional functions, as well as to wider improvements in other cognitive abilities and to activities of everyday living. Performance will be tested immediately post remediation and on longer-term follow-up, and performance of the two intervention groups will be assessed against data the investigators have collected from a large-scale screen of cognitive impairments and recovery of function under standard treatment conditions. In Part 2 of the project the investigators will take the most promising intervention from Part 1 and the investigators will use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to determine the brain changes that are linked to the recovery of attentional functions. The investigators will test whether recovery is linked to a change in the balance of activation within the two hemispheres of the brain, and whether there are associated structural changes in cortical tissue and fibre tracts. The project will evaluate whether neural inhibition can improve attentional functions in particular, and cognitive abilities and everyday activities more generally, in stroke survivors. It will also provide novel information on how recovery of function comes about within the brain.
This is a randomized, assessor-blind, placebo controlled study in post stroke depression patients. Subjects receiving antidepressant drug would be assigned to either active or placebo scalp electro-acupuncture treatment, on the hypothesis that acupuncture intervention combined with antidepressants could produce greater therapeutic effects than antidepressants alone.
This study attempts to implement a lifestyle intervention programme aimed at changing the dietary habits, physical activity and alcohol and tobacco consumption in the 25-60year old adults in the MOH area, Ragama and measure the effectiveness of the programme.
Renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) polymorphisms influence 24h arterial pressure fluctuation. Resistant systemic arterial hypertension (RSAH) has an increased risk of end organ damage and unfavourable prognosis, whereas pseudo-RSAH usually respond favourably to drug therapy. To prospectively investigate, in subjects with RSAH in a tropical South American city: 1) Adverse cardiovascular events defined as fatal and non-fatal stroke or acute myocardial infarction (AMI); and 2) the association of RAAS polymorphisms and adverse cardiovascular events in this population. Study population: 212 hypertensives recruited from primary care assistance (time since first diagnosis of hypertension: 16.5±8.1 years) and without appropriate pressure control, between 2001 and 2006, corresponding to 0.48% of all hypertensives under care (18 new cases/year), 57±10 years old, 66% females. Under drug treatment schedule: three or more drugs including a diuretic. Ninety two randomly selected hypertensives basis had renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system genetic profile determined. Genetic assessment was carried out using a polymerase chain reaction assay amplification technique. The following single nucleotide polymorphisms were analyzed: renin (G1051A), angiotensinogen (M235T), angiotensin converting enzyme-ACE (I/D), angiotensin II type 1 receptor (A1166C), aldosterone synthase (C344T) and mineralocorticoid receptor (G3514C).
It is to be investigated if a correlation exist between the development of the HbA1c value and the complication rate is following a stroke.
Left ventricular filling pressure (LVFP) has prognostic significance in patients with heart failure. Traditionally, it should be assessed by invasive method, as cardiac catheterization and Swan-Gung catheter. In advance of new techniques and modality, echocardiography provides some useful parameters for assessing LVFP, such myocardial tissue Doppler imaging. Many articles had documented that peak velocity of early-diastolic trans-mitral inflow velocity divided by early-diastolic velocity over mitral annulus correlated closely to LVFP. However, myocardial tissue Doppler only provides the information of regional myocardium, so patients with regional wall motion abnormality, as coronary artery disease, can't be assessed by this method without handicap. In addition, conduction disturbance, like bundle branch block, also influences the result of myocardial tissue Doppler. For resolving those problems, the investigators had designed a new global parameter to assess LVFP. In the investigators prior study, left atrial distensibility correlated logarithmically to LVFP in patients with severe mitral regurgitation and also in patients with acute myocardial infarction. Left atrial distensibility provided a new viewpoint to assess left ventricular diastolic function and to predict prognosis. This time, to extend left atrial distensibility to general population received echocardiographic examination for predicting prognosis is attempted.
The procedure involves: (1) assisted hand movement by a mechanical device, (2) mechanical vibration applied to the surface of the forearm, and (3) stimulation of the brain with either transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) or transcortical direct current stimulation (DCS). These 3 components of the procedure are carried out simultaneously. Each subject will be evaluated pre- and post-treatment with several clinical tests of functional movement. The hypotheses of this project are that the AMES+rTMS and AMES+tDCS procedures are safe and will enable most of the stroke patients to recover finger extension.