Active clinical trials for "Brain Injuries"

The investigators hope to develop a treatment for suicidal ideation (SI), impulsivity and functional impairments (such as difficulties in social and work settings) that occur after a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). These conditions have been shown to be linked. The investigators are using a high-powered magnetic pulse, called intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) applied to the head to see if it can improve these symptoms. The high-powered magnetic pulse causes certain cells in the brain to activate, which seems to strengthen connections between parts of the brain. The purpose of this research is to gather early information on the safety and effectiveness of iTBS provided to the front of the head for impulsivity, SI and functional deficits after mTBI. The investigators plan to use the data collected in this study to develop larger studies in the future. iTBS is FDA approved, but not for these specific symptoms, or in the specific location the investigators are placing it. The investigators are testing to see if its effective for the above conditions when applied to the front of the head.

This is an observational study of patients with severe acute brain injury, which aims to characterize the development of hyperglycaemia and hyperlactataemia and the influence of these markers on clinical outcome. Additionally, in a subgroup of patients undergoing advanced multimodal neuromonitoring on either clinical or research indication, the relationship between hyperglycaemia and brain glucose levels as well as systemic and microdialysis lactate will be examined.

The purpose of this research is to determine the effectiveness of using the Dynavision D2 to improve left neglect in adults with brain injury, and improve performance of ADLs/IADLs. This study will use a randomized control trial at Providence Care Hospital in Kingston Ontario, with clients admitted to the Stroke and ABI services who have been identified through the Catherine Bergego Scale (CBS) as having moderate to severe left neglect. Individuals will be randomly assigned to the control arm, where they will get the usual 60 minutes of OT treatment daily or the intervention arm, which is 30 minutes of their usual OT treatment and a 30 minute session of the Dynavision for 10 sessions for short stay inpatients (~ 3 weeks) and 20 sessions for clients with longer 5-6 week stay. The CBS will be used to measure change in neglect severity at three time points: baseline, following 10 sessions and following 20 sessions, for those that stay for longer.

The aim of this work is to elaborate a statistical model to predict the effectiveness of robotic treatment in subjects with neurological diseases. The model will be used to understand which subjects are most responsive to this type of treatment

Glutamate is an important neurotransmitter present in over 90% of all brain synapses and is a naturally occurring molecule that nerve cells use to send signals to other cells in the central nervous system. Glutamate is a non-essential amino acid with restricted passage to the brain from the blood. In the CNS, glutamate is synthesised in neurons as part of the glutamate-glutamine cycle.5,6 so it plays an essential role in normal brain functioning and can improve situations related to impaired cognitive,motor and emotional functions and can be used to improve traumatic brain injury patient general health status

This study seeks to measure changes in cognition through verbal and visual test procedures and changes in biomarkers of Traumatic Brain Injury and inflammatory and metabolic parameters.

The purpose of this study is to determine if experimental drug treatment improves recovery after TBI as compared to a control (placebo) group. Changes in recovery will be measured throughout the study. The study drugs listed below are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) but are being used "off-label" in this study. This means that the drugs are not currently approved to treat TBI.

For the last decades, many aspects of human life have been altered by digital technology. For health care, this have opened a possibility for patients who have difficulties travelling a long distance to a hospital to meet with their health care providers over different digital platforms. With an increased digital literacy, and an aging population often living in the countryside, far from hospitals or other health care settings, an increasing need for digitalization of meetings between patients and health care personnel is inevitable. However, neuropsychological assessment is one sort of health care not possible to directly transfer into digital form. These evaluations are most often performed with well validated tests, only to be used in a paper-pencil form with a specially trained psychologist during physical meetings. The aim of this project is to investigate whether a newly developed digital neuropsychological test battery can be used to perform remote assessments of cognitive function in patients with neurological injuries and impairments. To this date, there are no such test batteries available in the Swedish language. Mindmore (www.mindmore.com) is a test system developed in Sweden, performing neuropsychological tests on a tablet, but still with the psychologist present in the room. This system is now evolving into offering the possibility for the patient to perform the test in their own home, using their own computer or tablet. The aim of the present research project is to validate this latter system (Mindmore Distance), using the following research questions: Are the tests in Mindmore Distance equivalent to traditional neuropsychological tests in patients with traumatic brain injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's Disease, epilepsy, and brain tumor? Can the results from Mindmore Distance be transferred into neuropsychological profiles that can be used in diagnostics for specific patient groups? How do the patients experience undergoing a neuropsychological evaluation on their own compared to traditional neuropsychological assessment in a physical meeting with a psychologist?

The objective of this exploratory study is to elucidate the underlying cerebral mechanisms of cognitive deficits. To achieve this, the investigator will apply functional brain imaging techniques to patients suffering from cognitive deficits due to cerebral lesions. The investigator will employ a "single-case" approach, suitable for studying rare behavioral profiles such as acquired reading disorders (alexia) or visual perception impairments (agnosia). If necessary, the investigator will use multiple non-invasive imaging methods in the same patients, including: Magnetic Resonance Imaging (structural and functional), renowned for its spatial resolution and the diverse information it provides, and Electrophysiological methods (MEG and EEG), notable for their temporal resolution. The employed stimuli will consist of visual or auditory presentations of verbal material (words, sentences, numbers, etc.), potentially combined with the collection of simple vocal or motor responses (button presses). The results will be interpreted by integrating the neuropsychological analysis of the deficit and the lesion topography. Importantly, following the methodology of single-case neuropsychology, the stimulation protocols will be modulated and adapted to each individual case. Consequently, parallel data should be collected from healthy control subjects whenever necessary. For protocol development, the investigator will also collect purely behavioral data, without brain imaging, from groups of control subjects.

The purpose of this randomized controlled trial is to evaluate whether the InMotion intervention, delivered via telehealth (using a HIPAA-compliant video platform or phone), which uses evidence-based behavioral and motivational counseling to increase daily physical activity, is an effective treatment for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) for people who are at least one year out from sustaining a traumatic brain injury (TBI). The first aim is to compare the efficacy of the InMotion intervention to the waitlist control (WLC) condition on measures of depression severity and associated conditions in under-active adults with TBI and MDD. For the second aim the investigators plan to identify possible moderators of exercise treatment effects. The third aim will examine possible mediators of treatment outcome. In addition, the weekly dose of exercise, the extent to which exercise generates positive affect, and engagement in enjoyable or meaningful aspects of life will be explored.