Active clinical trials for "Brain Stem Infarctions"

Sturge weber's syndrome is an oculcutaneous syndrome, ocular manifestations may include heamangioma in the eye lids, choroidal heamangioma, or glaucoma, the glaucoma may present at infancy and may be due to resistance to aqueous outflow through trabecular meshwork(1), it may develop later and this is due to episcleral venous raised pressure.(2-3) Glaucoma associated with Sturge weber syndrome is difficult to be treated medically with high risk of complications when treated with bleb -based surgeries. Suprachoroidal hemorrhage or detachment is a challenging complication which must be encountered. The usage of Ahmed valve in the management of glaucoma associated with Sturge weber syndrome is a bleb based procedure carries the risks of over filtration or encapsulation and decreased filtration with failure to control glaucoma. The use of Ahmed valve in the management of pediatric glaucoma associated with Sturge weber syndrome has better results as recorded by Nassiri et al. Ahmed valve implantation can have some drawbacks such as pupillary irregularity, lens opacification, or encapsulation.(4-7) Glaucoma drainage devices such as Ahmed valve, Molteno or Braeveldt valve can be used when other methods of treatment fail, they provide alternative pathway to the aqueous to be collected in a plate positioned under the conjunctiva, (8-10) Encapsulation is a major problem occurs around the end plate due to fibrous reaction and so the drainage of the aqueous is decreased , Epatein (11) attributed that to fibro vascular proliferation in the episcleral tissue .the fibrous reaction is multifactorial , it may be due to the size of the end plate, the biomaterial, design or the shape of the plate. The use of drainage devices with advanced drug delivery system can improve the success of drainage device. A double-layered porous coating for Ahmed glaucoma valves based on biodegradable poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) was described by Ponnusamy et al. [12] to produce continuous release of antifibrotic agents [mitomycin C (MMC) and/or 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)] to the subconjunctival space. This release continue for about one month with decreasing fibrosis, the nanofiltration membrane could entrap the proteins passing out from the anterior chamber leading to minimal increase in aqueous resistance.(12-13)

In this project the accuracy of a novel, rapid magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) approach to detect brain abnormalities in patients with Sturge-Weber syndrome (SWS) will be tested; this new imaging approach, that can create multiple types of MR images in about 5 minutes, without contrast administration (and sedation even in young children), can be also readily applied in other pediatric brain disorders in the future. The investigators will also study how advanced MRI, including susceptibility-weighted and diffusion tensor imaging can detect detailed signs of brain vascular and neuronal reorganization that helps improve neurological and cognitive outcome of children and young adults with SWS, who could benefit from targeted interventions in the future to minimize neurocognitive deficits in affected patients. All enrolled subjects will undergo advanced brain MRI and neurocognitive evaluation to achieve these goals.

The purpose of this study is to obtain preliminary device safety information and demonstrate proof of principle (feasibility) of the ability of people with tetraplegia to control a computer cursor and other assistive devices with their thoughts.

The purpose of this study is to obtain preliminary device safety information and demonstrate proof of principle (feasibility) of the ability of people with tetraplegia to control a computer cursor and other assistive devices with their thoughts.

The goal of this study is to improve our understanding of speech production, and to translate this into medical devices called intracortical brain-computer interfaces (iBCIs) that will enable people who have lost the ability to speak fluently to communicate via a computer just by trying to speak.

This project adds to non-invasive BCIs for communication for adults with severe speech and physical impairments due to neurodegenerative diseases. Researchers will optimize & adapt BCI signal acquisition, signal processing, natural language processing, & clinical implementation. BCI-FIT relies on active inference and transfer learning to customize a completely adaptive intent estimation classifier to each user's multi-modality signals simultaneously. 3 specific aims are: 1. develop & evaluate methods for on-line & robust adaptation of multi-modal signal models to infer user intent; 2. develop & evaluate methods for efficient user intent inference through active querying, and 3. integrate partner & environment-supported language interaction & letter/word supplementation as input modality. The same 4 dependent variables are measured in each SA: typing speed, typing accuracy, information transfer rate (ITR), & user experience (UX) feedback. Four alternating-treatments single case experimental research designs will test hypotheses about optimizing user performance and technology performance for each aim.Tasks include copy-spelling with BCI-FIT to explore the effects of multi-modal access method configurations (SA1.3a), adaptive signal modeling (SA1.3b), & active querying (SA2.2), and story retell to examine the effects of language model enhancements. Five people with SSPI will be recruited for each study. Control participants will be recruited for experiments in SA2.2 and SA3.4. Study hypotheses are: (SA1.3a) A customized BCI-FIT configuration based on multi-modal input will improve typing accuracy on a copy-spelling task compared to the standard P300 matrix speller. (SA1.3b) Adaptive signal modeling will allow people with SSPI to typing accurately during a copy-spelling task with BCI-FIT without training a new model before each use. (SA2.2) Either of two methods of adaptive querying will improve BCI-FIT typing accuracy for users with mediocre AUC scores. (SA3.4) Language model enhancements, including a combination of partner and environmental input and word completion during typing, will improve typing performance with BCI-FIT, as measured by ITR during a story-retell task. Optimized recommendations for a multi-modal BCI for each end user will be established, based on an innovative combination of clinical expertise, user feedback, customized multi-modal sensor fusion, and reinforcement learning.

The purpose of this research study is to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of using two CRS Arrays (microelectrodes) for long-term recording of brain motor cortex activity and microstimulation of brain sensory cortex.

The CortiCom system consists of 510(k)-cleared components: platinum PMT subdural cortical electrode grids, a Blackrock Microsystems patient pedestal, and an external NeuroPort Neural Signal Processor. Up to two grids will be implanted in the brain, for a total channel count of up to 128 channels, for six months. In each participant, the grid(s) will be implanted over areas of cortex that encode speech and upper extremity movement.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation applied with an electromagnetic therapy stimulator 'ALTMS-A' for upper-limb motor function recovery with the sham control group for those who need upper-limb rehabilitation treatment for subcortical and brainstem stroke

The goal of this project is to test a new AAC-BCI device comparing gel and dry electrode headgear used for communication while providing clinical care. Innovative resources will be employed to support the standard of care without considering limitations based on service billing codes. Clinical services will include AAC assessment, AAC-BCI device and treatment to individuals with minimal movement due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), brain stem strokes, severe cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury (TBI) and their family support person. This is a descriptive study designed to measure and monitor the communication performance of individuals using the AAC-BCI, any other AAC strategies, their user satisfaction and perceptions of communication effectiveness, and the satisfaction of the family support persons.