Active clinical trials for "Dementia"

Background: Dementia rates are increasing worldwide and consequently burden global healthcare resources to a serious degree. However, there is a declining number of caregivers to provide care. It is for this reason that many new technologies, such as socially assistive robots, have been developed because of their potential to support caregivers in promoting the independence of people with dementia. Most of the (socially assistive) robots have so far been tested for people without dementia in mainly laboratory or institutional settings, like nursing homes. Consequently, there is a lack of knowledge about the possible uses of robots from the perspective of those affected by dementia in real-life/care situations (e.g. at home). Testing in a laboratory setting cannot capture the complexity and high variability of everyday situations occurring during the care of persons with dementia. Methods The design is a mixed method intervention study of a refined socially assistive humanoid robot. In total, three people with dementia, three relatives, three dementia trainers and three professional caregivers were included in the study. Quantitative data of technology acceptance were collected using the "Technology Usage Inventory". Qualitative data (main focus: experiences with the robot and handling the robot) were collected by means of observation and qualitative interviews. Movement data of people with dementia were collected by means of the eye camera of the robot. This study helps to further refine and test a socially assistive robot for people with dementia living at home.

The proposed study will adapt and pilot test an efficacious advance care planning interventions, Sharing Patient's Illness Representations to Increase Trust (SPIRIT), with patients with mild dementia and their surrogates to promote open, honest discussions while such discussions about end-of-life care are possible. Patient and surrogate decision maker dyads will participate in a single SPIRIT session and will then have a follow up phone call 2-3 days later. One year after the SPIRIT session some surrogates will be contacted to provide additional feedback about the intervention.

The project aims to make new technologies for locating people with dementia easier to use for the patients and those caring for them. Objective: To systematically understand what improves the user experience of persons with dementia (PwD) and their primary caregivers (CG) with locating system watches to ultimately allow users to obtain more benefits from using these watches. Aim: Improving the user experience of PwD and CG with locating system watches using a cross-over design and a theory-based educational session approach.

This implementation study will be conducted to test a Socially-Assistive Robot (SAR) system for residents in an Assisted Living environment. The goal of the SAR system is to enhance social engagement and connectedness. The system engages residents via robot-facilitated activities such as trivia and reminder and is integrated with the SimpleC Wellness Platform.

ADVANCE-PC: Aligning Dementia & adVANce Care planning Education in Primary Care, is a communications and implementation support intervention that builds on existing ACP programs, understanding of dementia, and clinical expertise to provide training and technical assistance tailored to the needs of primary care clinicians and clinics that are often over-burdened and under-resourced. For this pilot, we will recruit six primary care clinics to test the ADVANCE-PC delivered using remote technology (ECHO). The pilot will include conducting one ECHO cycle and assessing the feasibility and acceptability of the program content and this mode of delivery (Aim 1) and testing pragmatic outcome assessment for the intervention (Aim 2).

The study has two phases: Phase B and Phase C. The purpose of the Phase B study is to determine the performance (sensitivity and specificity) of a smartphone application (DelApp) to identify delirium in the whole inpatient sample. The study also aims to determine the performance (sensitivity and specificity) of the DelApp to discriminate between delirium (with or without dementia) and dementia (without delirium). The purpose of the Phase C study is to determine the efficacy of the DelApp software application in detecting delirium in unselected patients in an inpatient sample and to determine the performance of the DelApp to discriminate between delirium and dementia. The study also aims to explore the performance of the DelApp in tracking change in cognitive function.

Stroke is a leading cause of disability, affecting about 34,000 to 41,000 individuals in the Netherlands of middle and old age every year. Due to the aging of the population, this figure will increase considerably over the next decades (Struijs et al., 2005). Twenty-five percent of stroke patients die within one month, making stroke a major risk factor for premature death in developed countries. According to the World Health Organization, stroke is the third leading cause of the burden of disease in middle and high-income countries (World Health Organization, 2008). It has a significant negative impact on quality of life of both the patients as well as their caregivers and significant others. Surviving stroke patients often struggle with its manifold and lifelong lasting consequences, with 35 percent of patients being functionally dependent one year after stroke (Wolfe, 2000) and cognitive and emotional changes which are found up to two years post-stroke (Rasquin, Lodder, & Verhey, 2005). Depression, apathy, and cognitive impairment are very prevalent and significantly contribute to the burden of the disease, but their etiologies remain poorly understood. The aim of the CASPER study is to gain more insight into the etiologies of post-stroke depression (PSD), post-stroke apathy (PSA), vascular cognitive impairment (VCI), and post-stroke dementia. Therefore, the primary objectives are to identify biomarker-based predictors of PSD, PSA, and VCI. A secondary aim is to study effect modulation, especially the interaction between cerebrovascular disease, neurodegenerative changes and inflammation in post-stroke dementia. CASPER is a prospective clinical cohort study of 250 first-ever ischemic stroke patients with serial assessments at baseline (10 to 12 weeks after stroke), six and 12 months after baseline. Another wave (36 month after baseline) was later added.

The goal of the project is to conduct a prospective, randomized-controlled clinical trial to determine the extent to which the Coordinated-Transitional Care (C-TraC) program impacts transitional care quality, patient cognition/function, caregiver stress and 30-day rehospitalizations in patients with documented diagnoses of dementia discharged from the hospital to the community.

To establish a cutoff value using a ratio of CSF tau to Aβ42 (tau/Aβ42) for distinguishing patients wth mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD) from health elderly control subjects. The investigators hypothesize that a cutoff can be found that has at least 80% sensitivity and 60% specificity.

Aging is associated with a loss of brain function and conditions such as dementia and Alzheimer's disease. It is likely that decreased brain metabolism is contributing to the progression of age related degenerative diseases. Aerobic exercise training can increase brain volumes and is associated with decreased risk for degenerative brain conditions. However, little is know about the changes that occur to brain metabolism with aerobic training and aging.