View clinical trials related to Neuroplasticity.
Filter by:The goal of this observational study is to define a personalized risk model in the super healthy and homogeneous population of Italian Air Force high-performance pilots. This peculiar cohort conducts dynamic activities in an extreme environment, compared to a population of military people not involved in flight activity. The study integrates the analyses of biological samples (urine, blood, and saliva), clinical records, and occupational data collected at different time points and analyzed by omic-based approaches supported by Artificial Intelligence. Data resulting from the study will clarify many etiopathological mechanisms of diseases, allowing the creation of a model of analyses that can be extended to the civilian population and patient cohorts for the potentiation of precision and preventive medicine.
This clinical trial investigates the neuroplasticity and cognitive status changes of the human brain in microgravity. To explore the relationship between cognitive status changes and brain functional activities, gray matter and white matter changes under microgravity exposure, screen and identify representative image markers, so as to provide decision-making information for the cognitive status changes of relevant personnel under microgravity environment.
Investigation of the effect of an exercise program with visual stimuli on reaction time, cognitive function and physical fitness of children and adolescent soccer players.
If a subject agrees to participate, the primary investigators will collect some basic information including age, height, and weight. Intake of some general questions regarding health and each subject will complete some tests that measure walking speed, cognition, and balance. During these tests participants will be asked to stand from a chair, walk up & down a staircase, walk over objects in a forward, backward, and sideways directions, walk around objects in forward and backward directions. After completing those tests, participants will be asked to repeat them while doing another task such as counting out loud, naming objects, or passing an object from one hand to another. At the end of the day, a step counter will be attached to each subject's ankle and you asked to wear it when awake for the next 7 days. Investigators expect that the evaluation will last 1 hour. After 7 days, subjects will return the step counter to the researchers and begin the exercise classes. The exercise classes will occur 2 days per week for 8 weeks. In the class participants will be asked to perform gentle exercises and use memory to improve brain functioning. Each class is expected to last 1 hour. At the conclusion of the exercise classes, investigators will again perform the gait, balance and cognitive tasks as we did before each started the class. Once a subject finishes all the exercise classes and testing, investigators will call one every week to see if you have had any falls at home. The calls will go on for 6 months.
Cerebrovascular accident [CVA] (medical term for stroke) is a high burden worldwide disorder and the second leading cause of disability. As illustrated by the number of survivors that remain disabled after a CVA (2 out of 3 according to the US National Stroke Association), recovery is limited, and novel neurorehabilitation approaches are urgently needed. Hippotherapy is an emerging specialized rehabilitation approach, performed by accredited health professionals on a specially trained horse via its movement. A body of scientific evidence has gradually emerged in recent years, showing robust benefits of hippotherapy in various massive neurological disabling conditions including brain stroke. The aim of the study is to analyze the effect of a hippotherapy program of several cycles delivered during 22 weeks in total, on the functional and global evolution of post-stroke patients (with a score of Rankin ≥ 3 at inclusion) during the outpatient rehabilitation phase. A second purpose is to measure the impact of the intervention on the quality of life of their close caregivers. A prospective clinical trial on the effectiveness of hippotherapy versus conventional outpatient rehabilitation alone will be carried out. The 22-weeks program includes three cycles of hippotherapy as follows: an initial 2-weeks cycle, an intermediate 1-week cycle and a final 1-week cycle. One-hour daily sessions will be conducted during each cycle exclusive additional rehabilitation care. After each cycle, the patients will have a 9-weeks rest period where they will continue their conventional therapy. A battery of clinical tests will measure both functional and psychological outcome. The primary end point will be the functional independence of the patient. The secondary end points will consider the patient's sensorimotor and cognitive function, the severity of stroke and the quality of life, as well as the caregivers' burden and quality of life. Program evaluation is important in neurorehabilitation to ensure that patients are achieving meaningful outcomes from the care. A primary question is how do stroke patients clinically evolve after being discharged from the hospital and how stable is the achieved rehabilitation outcome. Hippotherapy optimizes brain plasticity and has a strong impact on the global rehabilitation process and functional outcome of these patients. A remaining question concerns the improvement of the caregivers' quality of life.
There are experimental evidences of the important role of high intensity physical exercise in Parkinson's disease (PD) treatment, that induces similar effects to pharmacotherapy. So far, the mechanisms of the impact of these changes on the brain subcortical and cortical regions functioning, motor activities and cognitive functions are still not clear. The aim of this longitudinal (prospective) human experiment is to examine the effects of two cycles of 12-weeks high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on: (i) the level of dopamine (DA) in putamen in striatum, (ii) neurophysiological function of subcortical and cortical motor structures and skeletal muscle activity, (iii) psychomotor behaviors critically associated with dopamine dependent neural structures functioning and (iv) neurotrophic factors' secretion level in blood. The investigators will recruit 40 PD individuals, who will be divided into two groups: one of them will perform two 12-weeks cycles of HIIT (PD-TR), and the other will not be trained (PD-NTR) with HIIT. The investigators will also recruit 20 age-matched healthy controls (H-CO) as additional control group who will not perform the HIIT. The PD-TR group will perform the two 12-weeks cycles of the HIIT, that induces beneficial, neuroplastic changes and alleviates the PD symptoms, what was found in earlier studies. All PD subjects (PD-TR and PD-NTR) will be examined during their medication "OFF-phase" (it means after dopaminergic drugs withdrawal) before (Pre) and after (Post) training cycles (first training cycle - HIIT 1; second training cycle - HIIT 2), and namely: Pre HIIT 1, 1 week-, 1.5 month- and 3 months-Post HIIT 1; and then similarly 1 week-, 1.5 month- and 3 months-Post HIIT 2. The subject from H-CO will be tested only once. To examine the assumed HIIT-induced changes in brain functioning the investigators will apply: (i) the positron emission tomography (PET), (ii) the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), (iii) electroencephalography (EEG) and (iv) an analysis of neurotrophic factors secretion level in blood. The investigators will also assess motor and non-motor symptoms of PD and psychomotor behaviors based on neuropsychological tests of cognitive functions and manual dexterity. The results of this project will help to answer the fundamental questions about HIIT induced mechanisms of neuroplasticity in PD patients, what is important from scientific and treatment-strategy point of view.
Corticomotor excitability, pain sensitivity, descending pain control and somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) is often altered in acute and chronic pain. Topical capsaicin generates stable, long-lasting hyperalgesia and ongoing tonic pain in healthy participants, which significantly inhibits corticomotor excitability in the primary motor cortex (M1). Recent studies (by Fischer et al 2017) indicated that multifocal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) administered to brain regions linked to the resting state motor network (network-tDCS) could enhance corticomotor excitability in healthy participants compared to single site M1-tDCS. It remains unknown whether network-tDCS has also the potential to modulate the inhibitory effects on motor cortex excitability, pain sensitivity, descending pain control and SEPs associated with prolonged pain
The purpose of this study is to investigate the efficacy of high definition tDCS on different cortical targets in modulating the nociceptive system in the healthy subjects.
The aim of this study is to use magnetic resonance imaging to explore and compare possible de novo neuroplastic changes induced by the isolated effects of the hypnotic agents sevoflurane and propofol, respectively. In addition, to explore possible associations between neuroplastic changes and clinical and/or biochemical outcomes. It is a randomised, cross-over, single blinded clinical study. N = 30. Female:male ratio 1:1.
Neuroscientific models of maladaptive aging emphasize the loss of sensorimotor stimulation and reduced modulatory capacities as core processes in the development of maladaptive plastic changes of the brain and subsequent cognitive and bodily decline as determinants of frailty and multimorbidity in old age. The investigators plan to analyze anatomical, neurophysiological, and neuropsychological correlates of maladaptive plasticity in frail persons and plan to test how innovative interventions that target maladaptive plasticity alter brain function and neurocognitive skills. There are novel interventions that have been shown to target the neurocognitive deficits and enhance plasticity in brain areas that are affected first in the progress of aging. Specifically, sensory training has been employed to enhance relevant input to the brain and to improve neuromodulatory function and has yielded high effect sizes. The investigators will perform proof of concept studies to examine the utility of sensorimotor training and examine the role of brain-derived neurotrophic growth factor to enhance brain plasticity and memory functions, as well as their transfer to other cognitive domains. The investigators will implement motivational enhancement strategies using virtual reality in these treatments that can further boost training effects and plasticity, but have not been employed in these treatments so far. Biomarkers for the remediation of maladaptive changes will involve neuropsychological assessments, brain imaging, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels, and BDNF genotype. Thus, the investigators will be able to comprehensively characterize dysfunctional plasticity and the specific mechanisms of the interventions that are employed and investigate innovative clinical trials.