Active clinical trials for "Brain Diseases"

The purpose of this study is to compare the efficacy of two (2) different doses of idebenone with that of a placebo over a one month period on cerebral lactate concentration as measured by magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Hypothesis: Is the combination of oral L-ornithine-L-aspartate and lactulose more efficacious than oral lactulose alone in treatment of hepatic encephalopathy? Study design; Randomized, double-blinded, placebo controlled trial

The purpose of this study is to assess the long term safety of SCH 420814 (preladenant) in participants with moderate to severe Parkinson's Disease who are taking an L-Dopa/dopa decarboxylase inhibitor and/or dopamine agonist. All participants must have participated in the main study (P04501; NCT00406029) entitled "A Phase 2, 12 Week, Double Blind, Dose Finding, Placebo Controlled Study to Assess the Efficacy and Safety of a Range of SCH 420814 Doses in Subjects With Moderate to Severe Parkinson's Disease Experiencing Motor Fluctuations and Dyskinesias."

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the experimental drug AST-120 compared to lactulose in patients with mild hepatic encephalopathy.

The investigators will conduct a proof-of-concept study to provide preliminary evidence of efficacy of physical exercise dose on ambulatory function in adults undergoing sub-acute stroke rehabilitation.

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a potentially reversible functional disorder of the brain with neurological and psychiatric symptoms. HE occurs in up to 70% of patients with cirrhosis at some time during the course of disease. The chief neurotoxin implicated in the development of HE is ammonia. An important aim of treatment of HE is the reduction of the ammonia in the body by lowering the amount of ammonia produced and increasing its detoxification. Enteric production of ammonia can be decreased by non-absorbable disaccharides such as lactulose and antibiotics such as rifaximin. L-ornithine- L-aspartate (LOLA), the salt of the natural amino acids ornithine and aspartate acts through the mechanism of substrate activation to detoxify ammonia. In clinical trials, LOLA has shown a statistically significant effect with respect to reduction in HE grade, reduction of blood ammonia concentration and positive effects on psychomotor function in patients of cirrhosis with minimal HE and overt chronic Grade I HE, as compared to placebo. However, there is lack of data on the efficacy of LOLA in patients with overt acute hepatic encephalopathy which is one of the major causes of hospital admissions and resource utilization in decompensated cirrhotics. Each admission for HE causes a major financial loss to the family and financial burden on the society. Any drug which decreases the hospital stay by rapidly improving HE, will clearly lead to decreased hospital costs to the individual and the society as a whole. Hence, such a trial is a national priority. The investigators hypothesize that LOLA, if added to the standard treatment of overt acute HE (i.e lactulose), may lead to a faster recovery and decrease in hospital stay of these patients. In this prospective, randomized, placebo controlled trial, the investigators aim to evaluate the efficacy of intravenous L-ornithine, L-aspartate in reversal of overt acute hepatic encephalopathy in patients with liver cirrhosis.

As an alternative for the treatment of Minimal Hepatic Encephalopathy (MHE) Agave fructans have shown prebiotic effects, and have shown to improve function of the digestive system, control and induce glycemic effect satiety. Therefore the impact of the fermentation of such prebiotic in the gut may contribute to improving health and quality of life of patients with MHE.

Neonatal Encephalopathy is a serious condition arising from unexpected lack of cerebral blood flow and oxygen supply to the foetal brain at the time of birth. Every year, approximately one million babies die from neonatal encephalopathy in low and middle-income countries and a quarter of these deaths occur in India. In the past decade, a number of clinical trials in high-income countries has shown that cooling therapy along with optimal neonatal intensive care reduces death and neurodisability after neonatal encephalopathy. Cooling therapy is now used as a standard therapy after neonatal encephalopathy in all high income countries, including the UK. Although the burden of neonatal encephalopathy is far higher in low and middle-income countries, the safety and efficacy data on cooling therapy from high income cooling trials cannot be extrapolated to these settings, due to the difference in population co-morbidities and sub-optimal neonatal intensive care. The HELIX trial proposes to examine whether whole body cooling to 33.5°C initiated within 6 hours of birth and continued for 72 hours reduces death or neurodisability at 18 months after neonatal encephalopathy in public sector neonatal units in India. A total of 408 babies with moderate or severe neonatal encephalopathy will be recruited from the participating centres in India over an 18 to 24 month period. The babies will be randomly allocated to whole body cooling or usual care. The cooling therapy will be achieved using an approved cooling device (Tecotherm) that is already in clinical use in the UK and in India. MR imaging and spectroscopy will be performed at 1 week of age to examine the brain injury. Neurodevelopmental outcomes will be assessed at 18 months of age. Primary outcome measure is death or moderate/severe neurodisability at 18 months.

MRI though not painful requires deep sedation for children due to the loud noise created. With deep sedation comes respiratory depression so the interest in Dexmedetomidine. For standardization MRI brain was chosen and also for the fact that patients usually have history of convulsions where drugs like ketamine may not be a good option. Patients were recruited after ethics committee approval. After pre-medication with intranasal midazolam 0.2 mg/kg body weight, Intravenous access was established and then patients were divided in two groups. One group received intravenous propofol 2mg/Kg and infusion of 100mcg/per kg body weight per minute. The other group received intravenous bolus of Dexmedetomidine 1mcg/kg over 10 minutes and then a infusion of Dexmedetomidine 1mcg/kg/hour. Primary out come was to study the recovery time of patients sedated with Dexmedetomidine compared to patients sedated with propofol for paediatric MRI brain. Secondary outcome were analysed in terms of time for induction,procedural disruptions due to awakening and haemodynamic stability . Follow up was done on phone for any adverse events.

This study examines the effect of inhaled xenon gas in the treatment of newborn infants with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) in combination with cooling, which is the standard treatment for this condition. The hypothesis is that the xenon + cooling combination will produce better neuroprotection than the standard treatment of cooling alone.