Active clinical trials for "Alzheimer Disease"

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a major public health problem due to its socio-economic weight. An early diagnosis of AD is urgently needed as it would constitute a determinant breakthrough from a social, financial and research standpoints. Therefore, the investigators need predictive markers of AD, and neuroimaging is a particularly promising tool, especially when using complementary neuroimaging techniques and a longitudinal design, allowing to assess the relationships between the different biomarkers of the disease, their dynamic and their chronology.

One of the interests of the Alzheimer Plan 2008-2010 is to provide increase support to helping families. It's also of major to involve the patient in the most active treatment possible, encouraging social inter relationship as well as cognitive and behavioural stimulation activities. In the frame of non drug related approaches to Alzheimer disease (AD), several research projects and actions have already been conducted, but no specific study concerning the efficiency of different types of respite care structures have been conducted so far in France. The present project concerns the thematic of the frame "Development and diversification of respite care structures". A platform is defined in the Alzheimer Plan as a "diversified range of despite structures according to patients' needs and informal caregivers' expectations" providing several objectives: Two objectives targeting the informal caregivers: offer spare time or tutored inform, support and accompany Two objectives targeting the patients: encourage maintain of the patient social life and relationships and work together towards his/her psychological and emotional well-being contribute to improve functional cognitive and sensory capacities The study COMPARSE suggests to compare for the patient - informal caregiver couple, the impact of three different groups of patient care on health profit; resit platform (P), the day care group (D), the control group without access to a respite structure (C).

Therapeutic education expands in Alzheimer's Disease management in France. Several studies revealed a positive impact on caregiver's burden and/or quality of life. The purpose of this study, is to determine whether a therapeutic educational programme for both AD patients and primary caregivers, in community dwelling, improves patient's quality of life.

In 1906, Dr. Alois Alzheimer first described the disease that later took his name. Today, 100 years later, 24 million people worldwide suffer from Alzheimer's disease or other dementias. The term 'dementia' is clinical and is used to describe brain disorders that cause decline in mental functions, memory first and then speech, judging and overall behavior. Alzheimer's disease is by far the most common form of dementia, followed by vascular dementia, dementia with Lewy, the frontotemporal dementias etc. In Greece there are 141,000 patients with dementia. With increasing life expectancy, the figures are expected to increase dramatically in the future. Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia, as well as 50-60% of patients with dementia suffer from this disease. The second most common type of dementia is vascular, ie that associated with cerebrovascular disease and is the 15-30% of all dementia cases and is most common between the ages of 60-70 years and is more common in men than women. It is estimated that 5% to 8% of people over 65 suffer from dementia, while in industrialized countries ranges at the following levels :15-25% over 85 and 32% over 90 years. Dementia is characterized by a slow onset and progressive course. The syndrome includes disorders in general intelligence, learning and memory, problem solving, perception, judgment, executive function, language and synergy of movement, but without impairment of consciousness. Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder with distinct clinical and histopathological features, although with variations from person to person. In its early stages it is sometimes difficult to diagnose cognitive impairment from normal aging of the brain. With the passage of time, the continuous decline in recent memory, fluency, ability for spatial orientation ultimately restricts the autonomy regarding basic activities of daily life such as managing finances. The anxiety and depression complicate diagnosis in early stages, but gradually decline with loss of sensitivity. Intermediate stages of the disease require increasingly supervision in daily self-care activities, such as personal hygiene and clothing. In the advanced stages are usually essential nursing care in institutional context. The severity of symptoms of the disease varies and is determined by premorbid factors such as education, gender, cultural background. Epidemiological studies have shown as protective factors against the onset of dementia, higher education, taking estrogen and anti-inflammatory drugs. On the other hand, age, family history of dementia, head injury, hypertension and Down syndrome are risk factors for developing the disease. Finally, some genetic factors appear to be protective, and other pressures to the disease.

Cognitive and behavioral units (CBUs) have been created between 2008 and 2012 French National Alzheimer plan for the management of behavior problems of patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease or other related disorders and necessitating hospitalisation. This Alzheimer plan is promoting the evaluation of these units through the observation of the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) evolution. As these units are new, it appears important to assess their long-term impact on patients care.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus has been associated with an about 2-fold increase in risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Patients with AD have been reported to have reduced insulin sensitivity. It may be hypothesized that, compared to insulin sensitive subjects otherwise similar in general health and body habitus, insulin resistant subjects are more likely to have cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) indicators of incipient AD pathology, abnormalities in CSF peptides related to insulin signaling and glucose homeostasis, and possibly other metabolites that are associated with a risk of AD. The objective of this study is to examine the relation of insulin resistance and the concentrations of CSF biomarkers. The results of this study may be useful in the detection of the subjects who are at risk for cognitive decline and AD.

Stroke and dementia are two of the most common and disabling conditions worldwide, responsible for an enormous and growing burden of disease. There is increasing awareness that the two conditions are linked, with cognitive impairment and dementia common after stroke, vascular dementia accounting for about one-fifth of all dementia cases and recent evidence on the contribution of vascular risk factors to Alzheimer's disease. Yet little is known about whether brain volume loss - a hallmark of dementia - occurs after stroke, and whether such atrophy is related to cognitive decline. The aim of this research is to establish whether stroke patients have reductions in brain volume in the first three years post-stroke compared to control subjects, and whether regional and global brain volume change is associated with post-stroke dementia in order to elucidate potential causal mechanisms (including genetic markers, amyloid deposition and vascular risk factors). The hypotheses are that stroke patients will exhibit greater brain volume loss than comparable cohorts of stroke-free controls, and further, that stroke patients who develop dementia will exhibit greater global and regional brain volume loss than those who do not dement. An understanding of whether stroke is neurodegenerative, and in which patients, may be used to help guide the early delivery of disease-modifying therapies.

Cognitive and memory problems characterize Alzheimer's disease (AD). Along with these disorders, psychological and behavioral symptoms (also known as neuropsychiatric symptoms) , as well as pathophysiological processes are frequently found and involved significantly in maintaining autonomy, prognosis and treatment of the disease. Apathy or disorder motivation is the most common disorder behavior and early stages of cognitive impairment. Apathy is particularly associated with cognitive difficulties such as attention deficit disorder - concentration. In terms of prevention as term care , there is now a broad consensus that interventions on cognition and behavior must not be limited to pharmacological treatment but should also promote non-drug approaches. Interest in video games (serious games and serious games) as intervention support rehabilitation is growing. Similarly, the virtual reality (VR) and the new information technologies and communications offer significant opportunities in terms of rehabilitation and therapeutic assistance. This protocol is part of a European project to propose techniques for improving the treatment of people at risk of social exclusion ( VERVE project ) aims . A first experiment conducted in 2013 showed the acceptability of Virtual Reality (VR) in healthy elderly subjects. In a second step , it is important to validate the feasibility of using the RV or in frail subjects with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease in mild to moderate in a clinical environment. This is a biomedical , randomized given to a group of patients with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease & diseases associated with mild to moderate.

This study will recruit a total of 150 evaluable subjects (30 cognitively normal volunteers, and 60 MCI(Mild cognitive impairment), and 60 AD(Alzheimer's disease), respectively) Each evaluable subject involved in this study must fulfill all the inclusion and exclusion criteria according the subject grouping. Safety measurement will be evaluated by medical history, vital signs, physical examinations, laboratory examinations and collecting of adverse events. This study is expected to be completed in a period of 3 years.

Photozig and Stanford University are creating a program to help cope with caregiving, alleviate related stress, and enhance quality of life for caregivers, with funding from the National Institute on Aging. This home-based program includes a free DVD, printed materials, and resource website. In addition, after completing the program, participants will have free access to final online resources for 1 year. There are no face-to-face meetings, and participants can live anywhere in the United States.