View clinical trials related to Pick Disease of the Brain.
Filter by:This research study is being conducted to find out whether Trappsol® Cyclo™, an experimental treatment for people with Niemann-Pick disease Type C1 (NPC-1) is safe at 3 different dose levels and what effects it has on people who have this condition. NPC-1 is caused by a defect in a protein which is important for the transport of fatty substances like cholesterol out of cells. Without this protein, fats build up in the cells ultimately leading to organ damage. The way in which this experimental treatment works is not fully understood but laboratory experiments have shown that it can potentially remove cholesterol build up from the cells in people who have NPC-1. Approximately 12 patients will be asked to take part in this research study for up to 56 weeks in total. recruitment is expected to take 9 months.Patients who take part will receive treatment by an intravenous infusion every two weeks. The study will look at what the body does to the drug as well as what the drug does to the body by taking and examining blood and urine samples. Samples of Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) are also taken by lumbar puncture during and following the first treatment dose. Patients will also have their hearing tested, be asked questions by their doctor as well completing questionnaires to help assess any changes in their condition during treatment. Optional assessments patients can choose to take part in include liver biopsies, additional lumbar punctures for CSF.examinations to see if the drug is affecting these. This study is being sponsored and funded by CTD holdings INC. It is planned to be run in the UK, Italy, and Sweden.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of 10 sessions of anodal transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS - 1 mA) applied to left Cortex DorsoLateral PreFrontal (CDLPF) of Alzheimer's or Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA) patients compared to the application of a placebo tDCS (sham procedure) on cognitive functions, which are evaluated at short term (1 week post-treatment) and mild term (3 weeks post-treatment). After unblinding, patients who received placebo treatment could be received active tDCS.
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a progressive neurodegenerative illness that affects the frontal and anterior temporal lobes of the brain. Changes in behavior, including agitation, aggression, and repetitive behaviors, are common symptoms in FTD. The investigators currently do not have good medications to treat these symptoms in FTD, and the medications the investigators use often have side effects. In this project, the investigators will test the use of low-dose lithium, compared to a placebo pill, for the treatment of behavioral symptoms in FTD. Lithium greatly reduces the behavioral symptoms of bipolar disorder, and many have found low-dose lithium to be well-tolerated in patients with dementia. Lithium appears to inhibit the creation of a protein involved in many cases of FTD called tau.
This retrospective study is a more extensive, confirmatory analysis of the cognitive and functional outcomes initially seen in 2 groups of MCI/dementia patients in Springfield, MA and compares specialized dementia care and a comprehensive treatment approach versus usual care delivered in a non-specialist setting. The first group of patients (n= 328) was seen by a dementia specialist, who utilized a standardized assessment and treatment protocol (CNS). This included comprehensive identification and treatment of hypoxia, sleep-disorders, and other cognitively-impairing metabolic conditions as well as maximally- dosed FDA-approved medications for dementia, depression, and PBA. The second group of patients (n= 280) was seen by non-dementia specialists in the community and received usual care which did not include comprehensive assessment or treatment of underlying metabolic derangements or maximal utilization of currently available medications. This study, evaluating date from a larger cohort (n>800) of specialist-treated cognitively-impaired patients, will further examine the hypothesis that a comprehensive dementia treatment protocol yields cognitive stabilization and/or improvement using already available dementia drugs when compared with usual community care.
Niemann-Pick disease, Type C is a rare genetic disorder characterized by a failing in intracellular cholesterol transport, inducing an accumulation of sphingolipids in the brain. Neurological signs are at the forefront of the disease. There are also psychiatric signs of psychotic kind among 28 to 45 % of patients according to studies, and a thirty cases were published. These signs can be concomitant with neurological signs or precede them. Is is likely that psychotic disorders are the first signs of a Niemann-Pick disease not yet non encore diagnosed for some patients. Yet, no prevalence study for this disease in a psychiatric population of patients currently exists. In response to this problem this study proposes to search patients whose disease could be of organic origin or patients whose disease is suspected, based on clinical data. The diagnosis will be confirmed certified with a genetic and/or biochemical test.
Behavioural disorders are very common right from the initial stage of dementia and contribute to loss of autonomy. Behavioural dysexecutive disorders have a particular status due to their prevalence and their diagnostic importance, as they often constitute the initial symptoms of Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD), Semantic Dementia (SD) and Huntington's disease (HD) and they are classically more frequent in vascular dementia (VaD) than in Alzheimer's disease (AD). The presence of these disorders at the stage of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) has only been partially evaluated and would increase the risk of progression to dementia. These classical data are based on non-standardized assessments and non-validated diagnostic criteria. The Groupe de Reflexion pour l'Evaluation des Fonctions EXécutives (GREFEX) has developed a standardized assessment tool for behavioural dysexecutive disorders, the Behavioural Dysexecutive Syndrome Inventory (BDSI) and has validated diagnostic criteria for this syndrome.
This is a human clinical study involving the isolation of autologous bone marrow derived stem cells (BMSC) and transfer to the vascular system and inferior 1/3 of the nasal passages in order to determine if such a treatment will provide improvement in neurologic function for patients with certain neurologic conditions. http://mdstemcells.com/nest/
This study is designed to learn more about overall tau burden in the brain of patients with Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA) and Frontotemporal Dementia.
The purpose of this research study is to evaluate tau distribution in the brain of subjects with: FTD caused by different genetic mutations, any mutation carriers (with or without symptoms), any non-mutation carrier, any sporadic FTD, normal controls.
The study will investigate the ability of a new PET tracer, 18F-AV-1451, to detect depositions of a protein, called tau, in the brains of people with a mutation in the tau gene that causes deposition of the protein, and in people without the mutation. Up to three 18F-AV-1451 scans will be performed (one per year) on control subjects without MAPT mutations, presymptomatic mutation carriers, and symptomatic mutation carriers.