Active clinical trials for "Autonomic Nervous System Diseases"

The current pilot study will recruit participants experiencing new, returning, or ongoing symptoms related to COVID-19 illness for at least four weeks after being first infected with SARS-CoV-2. All participants will attend a virtual 6-week course entitled Mindful Awareness Practices (MAPs) created, hosted and led by expert facilitators from the Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC) at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). This intervention will consist of a mix of lecture, practice, group feedback, and discussion regarding mindfulness. Mindfulness is the mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present while acknowledging and accepting any feelings, thoughts, or bodily sensations. The research team will collect self-reported measures of mental health symptoms, physical health symptoms, and demographic information before and after participants attend MAPs. Objective health measures will also be collected by the research team including an active stand test, a 6-minute walk, and a blood sample.

Vagal nerve stimulation is a neurosurgical procedure consisting of implantation of an impulse generator battery with leads placed into the vagus nerve in the neck. This procedure was FDA approved for epilepsy in the 1990s and is commonly performed as an outpatient surgery. The mechanism of efficacy is not well understood; however it is increasingly recognized that electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve may impact other organ systems in the body including the immune, gastrointestinal and autonomic systems. The primary objective of this study is to characterize the pre- and post-operative bowel habits and gut microbiome of patients implanted with vagal nerve stimulator (VNS) for epilepsy. Secondary objectives of this study include: (1) to characterize the pre- and post-operative autonomic profile, (2) characterize the pre- and post-operative immune profile, and (3) to elucidate whether gut microbiota changes are related to VNS efficacy for epilepsy.

The primary purpose of this pilot study is to specifically examine the effect of parental reading on the ANS of mother and neonate in the hospital setting. The investigators will examine the effect of live maternal-infant reading on typically developing infants to better understand the physiological benefits of live reading on newborns.

The present study focusses on the effects of the diagnostic testing environment on psychological wellbeing, cardiac symptoms and patient satisfaction during cardiac stress testing (CST) in patients who are referred to the Institute Verbeeten for SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI). The diagnostic procedure consists of two days of MPI using SPECT: day 1 of MPI involves obtaining a resting image and day 2 (typically 3 or 4 days later) a stress MPI following exercise or pharmacological challenge with adenosine. The diagnostic procedure can result in undesirable effects on psychological wellbeing, such as anxiety or psychological distress. These effects can be related to anticipatory anxiety (day 1 of MPI) and/or responses to the exercise or adenosine stress testing (day 2 of MPI). The present investigation aims to develop methods to further improve patients' experiences and wellbeing during the diagnostic process for the presence of inducible myocardial ischemia. This research project will compare four groups to establish the effect of providing information and supportive coaching: (1) care as usual, (2) information support using video materials, (3) supportive coaching during the diagnostic testing procedure, and (4) a combination of both interventions. The video-based information and supportive coaching are aimed at reducing feelings of anxiety, uncertainty and psychological distress during the diagnostic testing procedure. In addition to standardized self-report questionnaires, this project will utilize facial expression analysis software to measure emotional states during CST as well as 24- hour ambulatory assessments to evaluate autonomic nervous system activity, cardiac symptoms and psychological wellbeing during everyday life activities in the period between the two days of MPI. It is hypothesized that additional video-based information and supportive coaching during the diagnostic process for the inducibility of myocardial ischemia will result in improved psychological wellbeing (reduced acute negative emotions; primary outcome) as well as less cardiac and other physical symptoms and improved patient satisfaction (secondary outcomes) of the diagnostic clinic visit. The innovative aspect of the present proposal is its focus on emotional expression during evaluation for myocardial ischemia using FaceReader software in combination with self-reported momentary mood and perceived stress assessments. Knowledge about the interaction between psychological wellbeing and cardiac function obtained in this project will strengthen the development of future interventions aimed to reduce symptom burden and psychological distress in patients undergoing diagnostic evaluations for heart disease.

The prevalence and incidence of end-stage renal disease in Taiwan ranks highest in the world, and it is based on the 2018 health welfare According to statistics from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, kidney disease is the ninth leading cause of death in Taiwan. As the course of chronic kidney disease (CKD) progresses, autonomic nervous system dysfunction, inflammation, and physical and psychological symptoms (such as fatigue, sleep disturbance, and depression) will increase, which will further damage the structure and function of the kidney Intensified, increasing the demand for dialysis treatment and the risk of cardiovascular disease, which consumes social and medical costs. If the investigators can intervene in a feasible measure to effectively regulate the autonomic nervous function of CKD patients, reduce inflammation and physical and psychological symptoms, and delay the progression of the disease, it will be the main goal of caring for CKD patients. To explore the intervention of heart rate variability biofeedback, which can improve the autonomic nervous function (heart rate variability [Heart Rate Variability]), inflammatory response (interleukin-6 [Interleukin-6, IL-6], C-reactive protein [ C reaction protein, CRP]) and physical and psychological symptoms (such as reducing fatigue, sleep disturbance and depression).

Dysautonomia in post-covid-19 condition appears to affect a significant number of patients, with reports raising the incidence up to 61%, having an overlap with myalgic encephalomyelitis/ chronic fatigue syndrome. Quality of life and daily function is significantly impacted and conservative management interventions, despite the lack of high quality evidence up to now, are needed to ameliorate disability. 50 adults with a dysautonomia post-covid-19 diagnosis based on the Ewing battery and a NASA lean test will be enrolled in a randomized single blinded controlled trial with a crossover design. Feasibility and lack of definite dysautonomia diagnosis will be the primary out-comes, while secondary outcomes will be health-related, clinical and cardiopulmonary exercise test indicators. Safety and acceptance will also be checked, primarily excluding participants with post exertional malaise. The Long-CoViD patients Causal Diagnosis and Rehabilitation study in patients with Dysautonomia (LoCoDiRE-Dys) study intervention will consist of an educational module, breathing retraining and an individualized exercise intervention of biweekly sessions for two months with regular assessment of both groups. LoCoDiRe- Dys aims to be the first post-covid-19 randomized study in people with dysautonomia offering a multimodal intervention both in diagnosis and management

In an implementation study, designed as a RCT in people with type 1 diabetes(T1D) and an elevated Pressure pain sensitivity of the chest bone(PPS) as indicative of dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system (ANSD), to describe the effect of a selfcare programe on the following outcome measures: PPS, and the effect on health risk factors associated to quality of life, physiology and metabolism. People acceptance of the program: Can T1D people comply with the program and integrate the program into their daily life? The professional staff acceptance of the program: Does the staff comply to the program and does the program comply to the routines of the clinical department?

The goal of this proposed clinical case series is to evaluate the effect of a non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation paradigm on: 1) Symptom reporting via validated patient reported outcomes, and 2) objective clinical biomarkers of autonomic nervous system function. This will be a placebo controlled, randomized controlled trial with a crossover design built in. This study will aim to recruit 40 people with Long COVID to be a part of this research.

The main purpose of this study is to gather data and assess changes in patient-reported outcomes with the stellate ganglion blocks as treatment for their sympathetically-mediated long COVID symptoms.

ROHHAD (rapid onset obesity, hypothalamic dysfunction, hypoventilation, and autonomic dysregulation) syndrome is a rare pediatric disorder associated with a cancer called neuroblastoma and presumed to be driven by an attack of the immune system on specific area in the brain. Patients develop severe symptoms and often succumb to this disease. Based on the researchers' experience the investigators conduct a clinical trial to study intensive immunosuppression with high-dose cyclophosphamide in these patients. In addition to describing the symptomatic improvement, the investigators' trial seeks to define objective markers of disease activity.