View clinical trials related to Rare Diseases.
Filter by:The primary goal of this study is to establish a biobank of dried blood spots and urines from a large control cohort and collect several cohorts as large as possible of patients affected or suspected of being affected by rare diseases (mainly hereditary metabolic diseases) or by autism spectrum disorders. A metabolomic database using a high-resolution mass spectrometer (i.e. the "Device") will be generated and specific biomarkers for the diseases will be confirmed or uncovered. The ultimate goal is to facilitate and improve the diagnosis and screening of the patients affected by these disorders, but also to improve the knowledge about the biochemical mechanisms involved over the course of the selected pathologies. High-resolution mass spectrometry allows the measurement of thousands of metabolites in a single analysis. The current biochemical tests used for the diagnosis of hereditary metabolic diseases are only using a combination of maximum a few dozens of biomarkers in one analysis. Objectives Unravel new biomarkers for diagnosis (+/- explore the altered pathways…) Uncover and/or validate newborn screening biomarkers through retrospective analysis of preserved newborn DBS from confirmed patients (useful for first or second tier biochemical NBS testing!) Validation of LC-MS qTOF for metabolomics screening as first line diagnostic test (thousands of metabolites) using diagnostic algorithms (modified z-scores) & continuous optimization by adding new cases and new controls in the database Generation of a biobank of urines and DBS from rare diseases (IEMs) & from a large reference population useful for other research applications
Rare and very rare neurological diseases primarily or exclusively affect the nervous system with a prevalence of < 5 out of 10'000 and 100'000 people, respectively. Besides these, there are undiagnosed neurological diseases: neurological conditions without a diagnosis after completing a full diagnostic examination. Rare, very rare, and undiagnosed neurological diseases are complicated and progressive and often cause variegated motor signs, impairments, and syndromes. Balance and gait are frequently affected in these conditions, already at the clinical examination. These balance and gait impairments limit activities and cause an increased risk of falling. Falls can eventually result in injuries, even severe. There are only a few studies about these diseases, likely because of their rarity. Hence, the clinical presentation and the course of rare and very rare diseases are poorly known or even unknown. Essential information for these conditions' diagnosis, prognosis, treatment and rehabilitation is missing. MaNeNeND is an observational study underway at the Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico "Carlo Besta" (Milano) aimed at detailing the clinical and biological features of very rare and undiagnosed neurological diseases. Research questions: 1. Do patients with rare (Ra), very rare (V) and undiagnosed (U) neurological diseases suffer a balance and gait impairment? 2. Is there a correlation between the clinical and instrumental severity of the balance and gait impairment in RaVU neurological diseases? 3. Are instrumental measures more sensitive in detecting balance and gait impairments in patients affected by a RaVU neurological disease than the clinical measures? 4. Do the balance and gait impairments in RaVU neurological diseases worsen in time? The current project aims at diagnosing, quantifying and detailing the balance and gait impairment in rare, very rare and undiagnosed neurological diseases. To this aim, questionnaires, clinical scales and instrumental tests will be administered to these patients to collect a wide range of balance and gait measures. These measures will also integrate those collected with MaNeNeND to provide a more detailed description of patients with rare, very rare and diagnosed neurological diseases. Participants will complete two questionnaires: the Dizziness Handicap Inventory - short form (DHI-sf, an ordinal score of self-perceived balance) and the Modified Fatigue Impact Scale (MFIS, an ordinal score of self-perceived fatigue). Moreover, a clinician will administer the Mini Balance Evaluation Systems Test (Mini-BESTest, an ordinal score of balance), the 10 m walking test (for measuring the gait speed and other gait parameters) and the Timed Up and Go test (an instrumental measure of mobility and balance). Walking and the Timed Up and Go tests will be recorded with a trunk-worn inertial measurement unit. Finally, participants will be asked to complete an instrumental upright stance and gait assessment, the first consisting of standing on posturographic plates and the second of walking on a treadmill equipped with force sensors. When walking on the treadmill, an optoelectronic system will also record the position in time of limbs and trunk. The quantification of the severity of the balance and gait impairment of the patients suffering a rare, very rare or undiagnosed neurological disease will highlight these persons' therapeutic and rehabilitative needs. Comparing the balance and gait impairment of rare, very rare and undiagnosed diseases with those of multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and peripheral neuropathy will highlight if the formers' balance and gait impairment has unique characteristics that could help ease the diagnosis of these uncommon conditions. The longitudinal measurements on rare, very rare and undiagnosed diseases will be paramount to identifying prognostic factors. In addition, the data collected in the current study will be crucial for future studies, for example, for estimating the sample size in clinical trials.
This is a single patient study of oral powdered fluoxetine to target developmental outcomes in a child with KCNC1-related disorder. This trial will be conducted at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital over 32 to 42 weeks, using a quasi experimental ABA phase design (placebo-fluoxetine-placebo) with randomized and blinded active treatment start and stop moments.
The purpose of this study is to collect data on how advanced and rare cancers respond to biomarker-based treatments.
The Epilepsy Learning Health System (ELHS) is a quality improvement and research network to improve outcomes for people with epilepsy. The ELHS is designed as a model of value-based chronic care for epilepsy as envisioned by the National Academies of Medicine Committee in their landmark reports "The Learning Health System" and "Epilepsy Across the Spectrum: Promoting Health and Understanding". The ELHS network is a collaboration among clinicians, patients and researchers that promotes the use of data for multiple purposes including one-on-one clinical care, population management, quality improvement and research. The ELHS Registry includes data on children and adults with epilepsy collected during the process of standard epilepsy care. These data are used to create population health reports and to track changes in outcomes over time. ELHS teams use quality improvement methods, such as Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles, to continuously learn how to improve care.
There are around 8,000 rare diseases and new ones are described every month in the scientific literature. They affect a limited number of patients. Nearly 80% of these diseases have a genetic origin and 30 to 40% of them are associated with dysmorphia. The latter can be suspected by evaluating the morphological characteristics of the patient. This medical skill, called dysmorphology, which allows a diagnosis to be made by evaluating the morphological characteristics of a patient, is based on experience. Diagnosis is often easy for relatively common diseases, but more difficult for rarer pathologies affecting few patients and often described in a single ethnicity and age of life. The study aims to create a dataset specific to the application of methods from artificial intelligence. Extending the methodologies described to profile and extremity photographs will allow better recognition and description of dysmorphia. This will allow to make diagnostic suggestions by comparison with the database. The Data Science team has already explored the notion of phenotypic similarity of patients. Jean Feydy is a mathematician expert in image analysis and will ensure the scientific robustness of the study methods. This project will conclude with the establishment of a diagnostic aid tool, integrating research results for doctors with a particular interest in developmental anomalies and intellectual disability.
The field of artificial intelligence is booming in medicine and in the field of diagnosis. The data can be varied: x-rays, pathology sections, or photographs. It is considered that 30 to 40% of the 7000 rare diseases described to date cause craniofacial dysmorphia. Their detection sometimes requires the trained eye of a geneticist, because certain phenotypic traits are subtle. These diagnostic difficulties and the fact that certain diseases are extremely uncommon lead to considerable diagnostic delays
SLC13A5 deficiency (Citrate Transporter Disorder, EIEE 25) is a rare genetic disorder with neurodevelopmental delays and seizure onset in the first few days of life. This natural history study is designed to address the lack of understanding of disease progression. Additionally it will identify clinical and biomarker endpoints for use in future clinical trials.
The project is focused on the detailed study of structural genomic variants (SVs). Such genetic mutations are in fact alterations in the DNA molecule structure and include copy number variants, inversions and translocations. A single event may affect many genes as well as regulatory regions and the specific phenotypic consequences will depend on the location, genetic content and type of SV. Many times, the specific disease-causing mechanism is not known. Here, we plan to study the molecular genetic behavior of structural variants as well as the underlying mutational mechanisms involved. First, we will use genome sequencing to pinpoint the chromosomal breakpoints at the nucleotide level, characterize the genomic architecture at the breakpoints and study the relationship between structural variants and SNVs. Second, we will study how structural variants impact gene expression. Finally, we will functionally explore the disease mechanisms in vivo using zebrafish and in vitro using primary patient cells and induced pluripotent stem cells. Our studies will focus on the origin, structure and impact of structural variation on human disease. The results will directly lead to a higher mutation detection rate in genetic diagnostics. Through a better understanding of disease mechanisms our findings will also assist in the development of novel biomarkers and therapeutic strategies for patients with rare genetic disorders.
This project aims to identify, through RNA-Seq technology, the genetic alterations underlying undiagnosed rare diseases in pediatric and adult patients with early onset and with negative WES. - Objective 1: Set up and validate techniques. Set-up and validation of the transcriptome analysis protocol in healthy subjects and in patients with known splicing alterations and/or altered RNA expression. - Objective 2: Diagnostic phase. Study of splicing alterations and RNA levels in cultured fibroblasts obtained from skin biopsies of patients with rare genetic diseases and negative exome. Exploratory goals - Compare the RNA expression profile obtained from skin biopsy-derived fibroblasts with the RNA expression profile from blood. The most relevant results will be validated in qRT-PCR. - To analyze the transcriptional and protein profile heterogeneity in skin-derived fibroblasts in enrolled subjects. To explore the effects of genetic (from WES) and transcriptional (from RNA-seq) alterations in participants' plasma and serum. Healthy controls Five healthy subjects will be recruited from the staff of the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research. The coded samples will be used to set up the method of isolation and culture of skin fibroblasts and RNA-Seq. Validation group For the set-up and validation of the skin fibroblast isolation and RNA-Seq procedure, ten adult patients with known diagnosis and with alterations in RNA levels and/or splicing will be recruited as positive controls. Patients who meet the requirements described above will be contacted by the doctors of the Daccò Center for an interview explaining the project. Those who agree to participate in the study will be asked to sign the informed consent before proceeding with the experimental part. "Discovery/Exploration" group The exploration cohort will be composed of 30 symptomatic undiagnosed patients with suspected genetic disease (children and adults with infantile onset) belonging to the Clinical Center of the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research and for whom WES investigations did not reveal causative genetic alterations.