Active clinical trials for "Atrophy"

The investigators propose to prepare for clinical trials where SMA patients are asked to join the research effort. The visits will include questions, physical exam, blood drawing, and sometimes X-rays and a skin biopsy. The investigators will use modern computer methods to process the information during which the investigators will plan a clinical trial. Once the clinical trial begins, the investigators will offer SMA patients participation if they meet the criteria for that trial. Identifying an effective SMA treatment is very important because there is currently none. Clinical trials are the only way to decide whether a new treatment works in SMA patients or not.

The primary aim of this research proposal is to examine whether this novel training program approach is capable to tackle excessive loss in muscle mass, function and contractile capacity with aging. Previous investigations have universally shown a dramatic loss in type II muscle fibers, while certain countermeasures in their follow-up studies were generally ineffective and limited to attenuate this phenomenon. Probably, they failed to meet recruitment threshold of larger motor units and subsequently innervate type II muscle fibers. Furthermore, previous investigations also failed to provide any data on specific blood markers that may provide additional insight into muscle fiber loss with aging. Muscle fibers type II play a crucial role in the human ability to produce as much as force as possible over a limited time-frame (e.g. 100-200 ms) to counteract unexpected perturbations during stair climbing for example and thus avoiding falls. Therefore, this data collection would be noteworthy in particular, especially for this population due to health-related outcomes and healthy aging process. Since age-related decline is accelerated already after short bouts of physical inactivity, with small recovery potential, any attempt to counteract age-related and disuse-related decline have high clinical significance. Based on the findings, data collected may aid in development of safety guidelines and protocols aimed at reducing health risks in this specific population. Importantly, in case the aforementioned hypotheses are confirmed, present findings may offer important information to the healthcare system, especially for reducing economic burden.

The purpose of this study is; compare respiratory function parameters and respiratory muscle strength in patients with MSA compare to healthy controls, and to evaluate the results of SNIP and PImax in measuring inspiratory muscle strength in MSA patients.

The aim of this study is to analyze neoformed bone after maxillary sinus lifting with transcrestal approach, in atrophic crests (≤5 mm residual bone height). Clinical and laboratory data will be related to maxillo breast anatomy.

The goal of this observational study is to evaluate the risk factors associated with incident HGD/GA in patients with CAG with or without IM who are enrolled in endoscopic surveillance, as well as to compare GA incidence according to the OLGA and OLGIM scales in patients 18 years or older. . The main questions it aims to answer are: What risk factors are associated with incident HGD/GA in patients with CAG with or without IM? What is the comparative HGD/GA incidence according to the OLGA and OLGIM scales?

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is characterized by persistent airway obstruction and inflammatory response of the lungs and bronchi. Episodes of exacerbations contribute to increase the severity and prognosis of the disease. Muscle dysfunction (loss of strengh and muscle mass) is one of comorbidities affecting 30% to 60% of patients and playing a key role in their prognosis. During exacerbation, some studies have suggested an association between muscle dysfunction and modifications of inflammatory circulating factors such as CRP, TNF-alpha, IL- 6, IL8, but no exhaustive study has identified precisely one (or more) biomarker(s) that can induce this muscle wasting during the exacerbation of COPD. Our hypothesis is that the serum of exacerbated COPD patients represents a deleterious microenvironment for the muscle cells which would amplify the mechanisms of atrophy linked to hospitalization. Our team has already developed a cell culture model to study the effects of the plasma microenvironment on atrophy of cultured myotubes. The investigators have shown that the serum of COPD patients can induce muscle atrophy. The objectives of this study are : 1/ to evaluate the effects of circulating pro-inflammatory factors on atrophy and the myogenic capacities of muscle cells; and 2/ to identify one (or more) circulating biomarker (s) that may be responsible for the muscle damage induced by the microenvironment of hospitalized patients for exacerbation of COPD. First, myotubes and myoblasts of healthy subjects will be cultivated with 9 exacerbation copd patient serum or 9 copd patient serum or 9 healthy subject serum. Myotube diameters, atrophy, inflammatory and oxidative stress markers and alteration of the myogenic capacity of satellite cells will be compared between three groups. Second, the differential expression of circulating proinflammatory molecules will be compared in the serum of the three groups. Identifying circulating factors associated with muscle weakness is a necessary step to better understand the mechanisms and consider a personalized therapeutic approach that can improve the functional and clinical prognosis of disease. .

This study is a single-blind intra-individual comparative study to evaluate the short and medium term tissue response after the injection of 2 brands of hyaluronic acid gels (HA), designed for deep injection, that have been used for several years on a worldwide scale.

The autonomic or automatic nervous system helps control blood pressure. Diseases of the autonomic nervous system may result in a drop in blood pressure on standing in many cases leading to fainting. Diseases that affect the autonomic nervous system include pure autonomic failure, multiple system atrophy and Parkinson's disease, and can present with very similar symptoms and it is sometimes difficult to determine an exact diagnosis. The purpose of the study is to find out if the blood pressure response from taking a single dose of the medication atomoxetine can help in the diagnosis of these diseases.

The main goal of the GENEPARK consortium is to employ innovative haemogenomic approaches to determine gene expression profiles specific for genetic and idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. These gene expression signatures will be utilised clinically as non-invasive diagnostic tests for PD. The sensitivity of the newly developed diagnostic test will be determined by extensive validations on an independent cohort of PD patients, whereas the specificity will be assessed by testing patients with atypical parkinsonisms, including multiple system atrophy, progressive supranuclear palsy and diffuse Lewy body disease. In order to test the specificity of the diagnostic set in other disorders that affect basal ganglia, Huntington's disease and dopa responsive dystonia patients will be analysed. The second objective of the proposal is to determine correlations between gene expression signatures and different stages of PD and thus provide the basis for early diagnosis and monitoring of disease progression. These changes in blood gene expression will be correlated with alterations detected by neuroimaging in the brain of PD patients. Such combinations of molecular and morphological markers of disease may ultimately facilitate the selection and monitoring of neuroprotective therapies for PD. Finally, GENEPARK aims to develop new bioinformatic software tools for selection of genomic biomarkers using microarray data. A set of established computational tools will be applied and novel methods, some of them based on mechanistic modelling of the neurodegenerative diseases, will be developed in order to study the advantages and limitations of the different methodologies. With special emphasis on the careful clinical selection of patients and sufficient power regarding patient numbers, as well as extensive quality control and validation of the data, GENEPARK aims to develop a standardised approach to development and validation of haemogenomic biomarkers of disease.

Primary Aims: To determine how effective long term Natalizumab (NTZ) therapy is in slowing the progression of whole brain atrophy. Whole brain atrophy rates will be measured through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans and compared between patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) who have been using NTZ for at least 2 years versus age and gender-matched healthy controls. The primary outcome will be whole brain atrophy rate measured as the percent change in brain volume (PBVC) over a two-year period. Primary hypothesis: The investigators hypothesize that long term (>2 years) NTZ therapy will slow the rate of whole brain atrophy in patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) (as measured by percent change in brain volume), reaching a whole brain atrophy rate similar to that of non-MS controls (a true "disease activity free" state).