View clinical trials related to Alzheimer Disease.
Filter by:Background: Alzheimer's disease is a major health problem in our society. To date, pharmacological treatments to reduce Alzheimer's disease symptoms have obtained poor results and there is a growing interest in finding non-pharmacological treatments for this impactful disease. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation is a non-invasive tool which can induce changes in brain activity and long term modifications of impaired neural networks, and therefore holds promise as a clinical intervention. Our overall goal is to study the benefit of targeting Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation based on the individual's unique functional connectivity (personalized targeting) instead of current non-individualized approaches. Specifically, the intermittent Theta Burst protocol will be used and changes in cognitive, functional, and emotional deficits in these patients will be evaluated. Functional brain connectivity changes induced by the TMS treatment will be also assessed. Methods: A double blind randomized controlled trial will be conducted to assess the effects of TMS treatment immediately, one month, three months and six months after the end of the treatment in comparison to the baseline measurements. Forty-five patients with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, will be randomly allocated (1:1:1) into experimental (active Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation), sham control group, or conventional intervention control group. Neuropsychological, functional, and emotional assessment will be conducted, as well as functional connectivity measures, in order to assess the effectiveness of the treatment. Discussion: The investigators expect to demonstrate that personalized Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation intervention has measurable positive impact in cognitive and emotional functioning, functionality, and brain connectivity, thus representing a potential treatment for Alzheimer's disease.
This study is to examine the possible effect of supplementing Magnesium sulfate on patients with Alzheimer Disease (AD) in controlling or reducing the amount of amyloid present in the brain, and increasing cognitive ability in individuals that have amyloid deposits.
The effect of Chromium to improve glucose levels in Alzheimer Disease (AD) is controversial. The hypothesis of the study is to evaluate the effect of supplementing the AD individuals with Chromium combined with exercise and assessing the effect of the supplementation on glucose metabolism.
Despite the high prevalence of Alzheimer's disease (AD), its underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. An emerging body of evidence supports disorientation as an early marker for AD-related neurodegeneration. In this study we intend to collect, coregister and analyze Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and , functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI, fMRI) data from AD-spectrum patients to establish orientation as core disturbance in AD.
This study protocol proposes an EEG based neurofeedback (EEG-NFB) technique to upregulate the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) in patients suffering from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and early Alzheimer's disease (AD). EEG-NFB has been successfully used as a clinical tool for over 40 years. It is based on electrical activity measured near the surface of the brain using EEG and fed back to the patient within half a second. MCI is a clinical condition considered as a precursor of AD. NFB appears to be a promising approach to treat MCI, since it has been shown to be able to induce changes in brain plasticity. This research focuses on the PCC, which has been reported to be implicated in MCI, and due to its location (proximity to the surface) accessible by means of EEG- NFB. A preliminary research in MCI patients, conducted at our lab showed the lower the memory score was at the beginning of the training, the better a subject managed to improve later on. The investigators therefore presume that patients with early Alzheimer's disease, whose cognitive ability is more affected compared to MCI, may benefit from EEG-NFB as well, and maybe to a larger extent compared to MCI.
The purpose of this study is based on the Flutemetamol-PET senile plaque imaging to investigate the peripheral blood biochemical and brain MRI imaging biomarkers and to research completely independent intellectual property rights neuropsychological test tool for the MCI due to AD. At the same time, the investigators will study the efficacy and safety of early treatment of MCI due to AD by Huperzine A in 52 weeks.
The purpose of this study is to compare average methylation of epigenetic markers on genomic DNA and some genes (APP, BACE, LRP, SorL1) involved in cerebral amyloid homeostasis: - Of obese young adults and healthy young adults - Of obese young adults and individuals affected by Alzheimer's disease (AD) having been obese at young adult age (<50 years old) or individuals affected by Alzheimer's disease (AD) having never been obese. The secondary purpose is to determine if there is an association between the frequency of these epigenetic markers and elements associated to the metabolic syndrome (lipidic and glycemic analysis, leptinemia, inflammation markers) and clinical ones (visceral fat mass, body mass index) in young adults.
The close homology between the central and enteric nervous systems suggests that a disease process affecting the central nervous system could also involve its enteric counterpart. The investigators have recently shown in that the enteric neurons can be readily analyzed using routine colonic biopsies. This led us to propose that the enteric nervous system could represent a unique window to assess the neuropathology in living patients with a neurodegenerative disorder. The investigators have already used this approach to show that Parkinson's disease pathology was recapitulated in a single colonic biopsy. By contrast to Parkinson's disease, the detection of Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology in the enteric neurons has so far failed. This may be due to the low number of human tissue samples in addition to the low sensitivity of the immunohistochemical methods that were used. The aim of the current research project will be therefore to reevaluate AD pathology in a large number of human colonic samples using both a morphological and biochemical approach . The enteric nervous system could represent a unique window to assess the neuropathology in living patients with AD. This might open the way to the development of novel AD biomarkers that will directly assess the neuropathological process. Main Aim : To Analyze the presence of beta-amyloid pathology in the enteric nervous system (ENS) in AD patients Secondary Aim(s): 1. To analyze and describe the presence of tau in the enteric nervous system (ENS) in AD patients 2. To assess neuronal loss in submucosal tissue in AD patients. 3. To examine Glia cells in the enteric nervous system in AD patients..
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) induces a cerebral seizure by electrical stimulation under general anesthesia and muscle relaxation, is regarded as a highly efficient (for specific and severe psychiatric disorders) and extremely safe modern treatment option. Alzheimer´s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder which is characterized by progressive cognitive deterioration accompanied by declining activities of daily living, by a variety of behavioral disturbances and by neuropsychiatric symptoms. The clinical progression of disease can be delayed by pharmaceutical therapies like acetylcholinesterase inhibition (e.g. rivastigmine) for 6 to 12 months at most. Along with the well-known biomarkers of AD (Aß- and tau-proteins) a lower brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) level is since recently being considered as a negative predictor for the further disease course. In animal experimental studies it was possible to arrest the disease progression with the aid of neurotrophic substances. Many single studies, but also a number of meta-analyses show primary gray matter atrophy in hippocampal, parahippocampal and medial temporal brain regions. Strikingly, ECT yields exact opposite effects to those caused by AD: an ECT series leads to an increase of serum BDNF-levels in patients. Parallel to this observation evidence exists for gray matter volume gain after an ECT series, especially for the hippocampus. There is sufficient clinical experience regarding the use of ECT in AD-patients, mainly on the basis of following indications: a) affective disorders and b) behavioral disturbances. A positive effect of ECT on the symptoms of agitation and aggression was assessed in AD patients alongside with a very good tolerability. To investigate the potential salutary effects of ECT on AD the investigators designed a pilot study with the following concept: Patients with a confirmed AD diagnosis and preexisting stable antidementia medication over at least 6 months will receive a modified maintenance ECT over a total of 27 weeks. In the proposed pilot study, the investigators hypothesize that cognitive functioning of AD patients will improve significantly and independently from affective symptoms, when initial and final examinations are compared. The affirmation of the hypothesis would provide not only further insight into the mechanism of action of ECT but also a very important reference point for the development of new treatment options for a so-far incurable disease.
The purpose of this study is to investigate if behavioral intervention for dementia caregivers will decrease caregiver burden in caregivers of patients with dementia. This multicenter, randomized trial will be conducted with 80 dementia caregivers, who will be randomized into two groups. One group consists of 40 participants who will receive behavioral intervention and 40 who will not receive intervention (waitlist control). The waitlist control group will be also provided the same intervention after the intervention group has completed the intervention. The behavioral intervention consists of 90-min-session a day with an interval of two weeks for 2 months. The primary outcome measures are the changes in scores of Zaret's Burden Inventory and Philadelphia Geriatric Center for Moral Scale (PGCMS).