Active clinical trials for "Alzheimer Disease"

The objective of this study is to identify early and accurate semantics markers of Alzheimer's disease (AD) by using two types of methods. First, the investigator will evaluate semantic processing of patients with AD or related disorders which will be compared to age matched controls by taking neuropsychological tests. Then, the investigator will analyze the effect of contextual word predictability on eye movements in reading sentences with the help of the same participants by using an eye tracker. Both of these methods will be used twice with a time interval of 6 months.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the commonest cause of dementia. There is no effective treatment to cure the disease. Cholinesterase inhibitors, such as donepezil, are widely recommended to patients with mild to moderate AD. But the cognitive function of most of the patients using donepezil gradually aggravate, with Mini-Mental State Examination(MMSE) score falling by 2 points per year on average, and donepezil cannot effectively delay AD progress. DL-3-n-butylphthalide(NBP) is a synthetic chiral compound containing L- and D-isomers of butylphthalide. It is developed from L-3-n-butylphthalide, which was initially isolated as a pure component from seeds of Apium graveolens in 1978 by researchers of Institute of Medicine of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. Studies in the past several decades have demonstrated that NBP is effective in alleviating oxidative damage and mitochondria dysfunction, improving microcirculation. NBP was approved by the State Food and Drug Administration of China (SFDA) as a therapeutic drug for treatment of ischemic stroke in 2005 Not only for ischemic stroke, NBP has been reported to increase the expression of N-methyl-D-aspartate subtype glutamate receptor 2B(NR2B) and synaptophysin in hippocampus of aged rats after chronic cerebral hypoperfusion and increasing brain acetylcholine level, which are important processes involved in learning and memory. It could alleviate the learning and memory deficits induced by cerebral ischemia in rats. A multicentre, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial conducted by Professor Jia investigated that NBP was effective for improving cognitive and global functioning in patients with subcortical vascular cognitive impairment without dementia and exhibited good safety over the 6-month treatment period. The pathogenesis of AD involved mitochondria dysfunction and microcirculation dysfunction, which are the action targets of NBP. Investigators observed that MMSE score lowering slowly when using NBP treatment in patients with mild to moderate AD already receiving donepezil. But investigators lack of system evaluation and follow-up. Hence, investigators hypothesized that NBP may have therapeutic efficacy for patients with AD and designed the present study.

One of the crucial challenges for the future of Alzheimer's disease (AD) therapeutic approaches in elderly is to target the main pathological process responsible for disability and dependency. However, a progressive cognitive impairment occurring after the age of 70 is often related to mixed lesions of neurodegenerative and vascular origins. Whereas young patients are mostly affected by pure lesions, aging favors the occurrence of co-lesions of AD, vascular and Lewy body types. Pure DLB (Dementia with Lewy Body) and AD are distinct disorders but they often coexist in old age patients, the Abeta pathology of DLB/AD cases being different to that observed in patients with AD alone. Vascular dementia (VD) and AD with cerebrovascular disease (AD+CVD) are the leading causes of dementia next to AD alone. Lack of consensus persists about the diagnosis criteria for VD and AD+CVD, due in part to their clinical, pathological heterogeneity and the multiple pathological subtypes. We do not know the precise role and weight of each brain lesion type in the disability progression in elderly. To target the actual pathological process, we need to disclose the functional weight of AD, Lewy body and vascular lesion types in elderly. Most of the studies report on functional and clinical abnormalities in patients with pure pathologies. Thus, co-morbid processes involved in the transition from an independent functional status to disability in the elderly with co-lesions still remain to be elucidated. Neuropathological examination often performed at late stages cannot answer this question at mild or moderate stages. Brain MRI, Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) with DaTscan® and CSF biomarkers help routinely in performing the diagnosis of pure or mixed lesions responsible for dementia. The topography of the atrophy in MRI helps to provide information about the etiological diagnosis. Medial temporal lobe atrophy on MRI has good discriminatory power for AD compared to DLB and VD in pathologically confirmed cases. DaTscan® SPECT presents with good sensitivity and specificity at early stages of DLB. The good diagnosis value of CSF biological markers has led recently to their inclusion in the research diagnosis criteria of AD. Low Aβ1-42 and high levels of total tau and hyperphosphorylated tau isoforms appear to be the most sensitive and specific CSF biomarkers. Aβ1-42 is lowered in AD, as well as in other neurodegenerative diseases like DLB, VD. The combination of MRI, particularly medial temporal atrophy measures and vascular lesions on FLAIR MRI sequences, SPECT and CSF biomarkers seem to be of incremental value for the diagnosis AD, VD, DLB and mixed profiles. The aim of this study is to identify the biomarkers (MRI, SPECT-DaTscan® and CSF), and their combination, that are the most predictive of functional disability in elderly presenting with a progressive cognitive decline related to AD, DLB, VD and all mixed patterns.

To establish a cutoff value using a ratio of CSF tau to Aβ42 (tau/Aβ42) for distinguishing patients wth mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD) from health elderly control subjects. The investigators hypothesize that a cutoff can be found that has at least 80% sensitivity and 60% specificity.

The main objective of the study is to evaluate the use of EEG in the management and follow-up of neuropsychiatric disorders. Secondary objectives are therefore better understanding of the pathological activations in neural network during neuropsychiatric disorders, their clinical evolution and response to therapies.

Recent studies indicate that there is a relationship between cognitive decline and vitamin D deficiency. Up to now, no study has investigated the prevalence of vitamin d deficiency in patient with Alzheimer's disease. Our aim is to investigate the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and analysis the associated characteristics in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Background: New research criteria for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) have recently been developed to enable an early diagnosis of AD pathophysiology by relying on emerging biomarkers. To enable efficient allocation of health care resources, evidence is needed to support decision makers on the adoption of emerging biomarkers in clinical practice. The research goals are to 1) assess the diagnostic test accuracy (of current clinical diagnostic work-up and emerging biomarkers in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF), 2) perform a cost-consequence analysis and 3) assess long-term cost-effectiveness by an economic model. Methods/design: In a cohort design 304 consecutive patients suspected of having a primary neurodegenerative disease are approached in four academic memory clinics and followed for two years. Clinical data and data on quality of life data, costs and emerging biomarkers are gathered. Diagnostic test accuracy is determined by relating the clinical practice and new research criteria diagnoses to the reference diagnosis. The clinical practice diagnosis at baseline is reflected by a consensus procedure among experts using clinical information only (no biomarkers). The diagnosis based on the new research criteria is reflected by decision rules that combine clinical and biomarker information. The reference diagnosis is determined by a consensus procedure among experts based on clinical information on the course of symptoms over a two-year time period. A decision analytic model is build combining available evidence from different resources among which (accuracy) results from the study, literature and expert opinion to assess long-term cost-effectiveness of the emerging biomarkers. Discussion: Several other multi-centre trials study the relative value of new biomarkers for early evaluation of AD and related disorders. The uniqueness of this study is the assessment of resource utilization and quality of life to enable an economic evaluation. The study results are generalizable to a population of patients who are referred to a memory clinic due to their memory problems.

Weight loss is a frequent problem associated with Alzheimers disease (AD). Mirtazapine has weight loss as a frequent side effect. The aim of this retrospective study is to check whether mirtazapine 30 mg (once daily) can counteract weight loss in patients with AD or mixed dementia (AD + vascular).

This evaluation of the efficacy and safety of AXONA will be a chart review carried out at 16 practices in which AXONA has been prescribed for the treatment of patients with mild-to-moderate AD. Efficacy of AXONA will be assessed by comparison of patient status before and after initiation of treatment.

Non-randomized natural history study involving 12 subjects with Down Syndrome, who are aged 30-60 years old. This study will observe 3 different groups: four non-demented subjects between ages 30-40 years old, four non-demented subjects between ages 40-50 years old, and four demented subjects 50-60 years old. Currently available longitudinal data in DS suggest a high rate of transition to dementia from the late 40s through the early 50s of these individuals. This, together with the universal presence of plaques in DS by their mid 40s makes this age range ideal for studying the development of AD.