Active clinical trials for "Brain Diseases"

Most patients with minimal consciousness status in Critical Care Units (CCU) are considered as an 'unconscious patient' with a neurological examination. Evaluating these patients as unconscious patients may lead to neglect of psychosocial needs in patient-care, a continuation of unchanged treatment protocols for a long time and desperate evaluation of prognosis. In this study, the investigators aimed to evaluate the emotional responses of patients who were considered by the healthcare providers and relatives of patients as an 'unconscious patient' by using electrophysiological tests.

This study is to establish a new, alternative stereotactic biopsy frame (AW frame) in the field of stereotactic neurosurgery.

Idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (INPH) is a treatable disease of the elderly, typically causing gait impariment, dementia and urinary incontinence. The objective of this study is to make an epidemiological survey of INPH in Umeå, Sweden. Subjects with self-perceived gait impairments will be identified through a questionnaire. They will go through clinical examinations and have an MRI of the brain. A control population will also be investigated to enable comparisons between the populations. The main hypothesis is that the prevalence of INPH in the population is higher than what is previoulsy known.

This study included 20 patients listed for liver transplantation in addition to 20 age- and sex- matched controls. Neurological, psychiatric, laboratory and radiological examinations were performed for both patients and controls before and 6 months after liver transplantation. Assessment of cognitive functions by Trail Making Test A (TMT A), TMT B, Digit Symbol Test (DST), and Serial Dotting Test (SDT) was done before and after liver transplantation.

The purpose of the study is to evaluate whether variability of CPP (cerebral perfusion pressure) is related to sepsis-associated encephalopathy and outcomes of patients with sepsis.

This study will examine differences in how the brain processes English and Korean in native Korean speakers who are fluent and non-fluent in English as a second language. It is thought that people who are non-fluent in a second language process the second language differently from their native language-using different areas of the brain and requiring additional working memory. The study will increase understanding of language acquisition, brain plasticity and bilingualism. Native Korean speakers between 18 and 50 years of age with English as a second language may be eligible for this study. Three groups of individuals will be enrolled: 1) less fluent bilinguals - those who have lived in the United States for at least 1, but less than 2 years and studied English after age 12 and who have a TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) score above 550; 2) fluent bilinguals with early acquisition - those who were exposed to English before age 7 and lived in the United States after that; and 3) fluent bilinguals with late acquisition - those who were exposed to English after age 12 and lived in the United States after age 10. People with a history of head injury or neurological or thought disorder, left-handed people, and people who cannot read the material used in the study will be excluded from the study. Participants will undergo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning while reading words in English or Korean; while translating from one language to the other; and while answering questions about the meaning of words in each language. MRI uses a strong magnetic field to image brain tissue. The patient lies on a table that slides into a narrow metal cylinder, which is the scanner. The head is restrained gently with foam padding to limit movement. The patient can see out of the scanner through a mirror and is in contact with the technician via an intercom at all times during the procedure. The scans measures blood flow to different parts of the brain, providing information about what brain regions are being used during the tasks performed. Another scan will be done to obtain a detailed picture of the brain's structure. This study will evaluate the usefulness of MRI in identifying brain areas involved in processing different languages and increase knowledge about how illness affects brain function. It may help plan treatment for bilingual patients who must undergo brain surgery for uncontrolled epilepsy or who have a neurological disorder affecting different languages with varying degrees.

The histology of the placenta of newborn infants with perinatal asphyxia and hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy is analysed. There will be an evaluation if placenta could be a biomarker for neurodevelopmental outcome at 18-24 months of age.

This study aims to assess the diagnostic validity of a new minute-MRI sequence for neuroradiological evaluation in comparison to conventional MRI.

The purpose of this study is to explore the inflammatory biomarkers for the diagnosis of obstetric posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome.

Excessive uterine activity may be one of several aetiological factors that contribute to depressed neurological function in the newborn. During labour, uterine contractions can compress the fetal cranium at pressures high enough to impair cerebral perfusion. Contraction rates greater than 7 in 15 minutes are associated with an increased risk of neonatal encephalopathy. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists defines uterine tachysystole as more than 5 contractions in 10 minutes, averaged over a 30-minute window. By this definition, excessive uterine activity is common and, at best, a non-specific predictor of depressed neurological function in the newborn. There is a need for predictors of neonatal encephalopathy that are more specific and clinically applicable. Contraction and relaxation duration are two measures that closely reflect the proposed role of excessive uterine activity in the pathogenesis of neonatal encephalopathy. Prolonged contractions with short relaxation periods result in progressive reductions in fetal cerebral oxygenation. Shorter uterine contraction periods are associated with an increased risk of low umbilical cord potential of hydrogen (pH) values. Our primary aim is to measure parameters of uterine activity, for example relaxation and contraction duration, and determine their relationship with the risk of neonatal encephalopathy. We will also investigate how measures of uterine activity interact with other measures of labour and fetal well-being, including cervical dilation rates and fetal heart rate patterns. In babies with neonatal encephalopathy, we will investigate the relationship of uterine activity with electrophysiological, radiological and developmental outcomes. We will perform a retrospective case-control study of babies born in the Rotunda hospital from 2005 until the present. The assessor of the Cardiotocograph (CTG) recordings will be blind to the disease status of the infants. For each recording, every uterine contraction and rest interval will be measured. Summary variables created from these measures will be used to compare the case and control groups. The primary variable will be mean rest interval duration.