Active clinical trials for "Dementia"

Dementia is a clinical syndrome which characterized by progressive cognitive impairment, behavior disturbance and dysfunction of daily activity. In aging population, Alzheimer's dementia (AD) is the most common late onset dementia which occupied about 50-75%, the vascular dementia, frontotemporal lobardegeneration (FTLD) and corticobasal syndrome is followed. On the other hand, the young onset dementia (YOD), which represents the onset of dementia before65 years old, is only about 1/10 to 1/100 proportion of late onset dementia. The YOD is different from late onset dementia in the proportion of degenerative subtype (e.g. the FTLD is more frequent than AD). Besides, frequent atypical presentation of clinical syndrome in the YOD which characterize the different variant of AD made the early accurate diagnosis of AD is more difficult. Currently, there is no available data to describe the proportion of subtype in YOD in Taiwan. In AD dementia, two important biomarkers are amylod plaque made by ß-amyloid protein and neurofibrillary tangle made by phosphorylation tau protein. In the past, they only can be seen under the microscope findings at autopsy study. Recently, the new amyloid tracer and tau tracer had been developed and could evaluate the deposition of amyloid and tau protein in human brain. These progresses had substantially improved the accurate diagnosis of degenerative dementia. A noval tau tracer [ 18F]PM-PBB3, which had substantially improved the off-target binding and more clear background in human brain than previous tau tracer. In current project, investigator will aim to consecutive collect 50 YOD due to the neurodegeneration in 3 years using the NIA-AA research framework system(ATN system) to achieve accurate diagnosis of the dementia subtype by the detail clinical neurology study, neuropsychological examination, amyloid positron emission tomography (PET) and tau PET study. In the first year, investigator will perform feasibility study to explore the topographical tau distribution in different subtype of YOD. In the next 2 years, investigator will perform a large scale study in a group of YOD to understand the amyloid and tau deposition and their association with clinical parameters. From current project, investigator could understand the tau deposition in different YOD subtype. Investigator also could understand the correlation between clinical phenotype and molecular pathology. Investigator will use a mathematic model to construct the model of diffusion kurtosis imaging from brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and relate the white matter integrity with amyloid and tau PET imaging.

To investigate the biomarkers of MND/FTD spectrum disease To explore the possible pathogenesis of MND/FTD

The investigators laboratory has been studying families with a history of ALS for more than 30 years and is continuing to use new ways to understand how genes may play a role in ALS, motor neuron disease and other neuromuscular disorders. The purpose of this study is to identify additional genes that may cause or put a person at risk for either familial ALS (meaning 2 or more people in a family who have had ALS), sporadic ALS, or other forms of motor neuron disease in the hopes of improving diagnosis and treatment. As new genes are found that may be linked to ALS in families or individuals, the investigators can then further study how that gene may be contributing to the disease by studying it down to the protein and molecular level. This includes all forms of ALS, motor neuron disease and ALS with fronto-temporal dementia(ALS/FTD). We also continue to study other forms of neuromuscular disease such as Miyoshi myopathy, FSH dystrophy and other forms of muscular dystrophy by looking at the genes that may be associated with them. There have been a number of genes identified that are associated with both familial and sporadic ALS, with the SOD1, C9orf72, and FUS genes explaining the majority of the cases. However, for about 25% of families with FALS, the gene(s) are still unknown. The investigators also will continue to work with families already identified to carry one of the known genes associated with ALS.

Older adults (≥ 55 years) who do not eat enough nutritious food are at risk of malnutrition. Malnutrition can lead to frailty, hospitalization, poor quality of life, and death. SCREEN (Seniors in the Community Risk Evaluation for Eating and Nutrition) is the leading nutrition risk screening tool for cognitively well older adults living in the community. The purpose of this study is to determine if SCREEN can be used to find nutrition risk among older adults diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment or dementia (i.e., MCI-D) living in the community and persons living in retirement homes. SCREEN and other nutrition and health measures will be completed in 600 older adults (300 living in retirement homes with or without MCI-D, and 300 living with MCI-D in the community). SCREEN will be completed twice to determine reliability, and persons with MCI-D will have their results compared to those of a caregiver who completes it on their behalf. A dietitian's assessment and rating of nutrition risk will be used as the gold-standard to determine validity.

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is the second most common cause of dementia and is associated with parkinsonism, hallucinations, and cognitive fluctuations. Diagnosis is often either missed or delayed due to physician lack of familiarity with characteristic features, the inability of structural MRI to detect a pathological signature for this condition, and the lack of healthcare provider access to "indicative biomarkers" that are either unavailable at community clinics or costly due to lack of insurance coverage. The role of resting state function MRI (rs-fMRI) as a diagnostic biomarker has been underexplored in this disease. We propose using a novel cloud-based automated imaging software processing program that identifies abnormal brain networks or connectomes using resting state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) and data from the Human Connectome Project (HCP). Furthermore, the imaging protocol to capture this data is relatively short (15 minutes) and can be performed at most imaging centers, lending potential clinical applicability to this study. We intend to study dysfunctional large scale brain networks (LSBNs) in DLB by comparing rs-fMRI imaging data in this population with cognitively normal (CN) and mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) subjects from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI)-2/3 database.

The VOICE Of bvFTD study is a telephone interview research study about life with or at risk for behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). The study aims to understand how bvFTD impacts individuals' day to day lives, how people think about themselves, and what challenges they face.

The Mexican American population in the U.S. is rapidly growing and aging. This project seeks to determine the prevalence and outcomes of cognitive impairment and dementia in Mexican Americans. It also seeks solutions to help patients with cognitive impairment and dementia and their caregivers get the resources they need.

Behavioral interventions currently provide the most useful approach to addressing the behavioral and social needs of those with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) due to Alzheimer's or other diseases. This randomized, multisite, 3-arm study will investigate the impact of computerized brain fitness vs yoga vs an active control group (wellness education) on changes in cognitive function, daily functioning and quality of life in persons with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and their partner. In addition, in vivo neuroimaging measures of plasticity during the pre- and post-intervention periods will be measured and compared between the three different treatment groups. These neuroimaging measures of plasticity will be investigated in their relationship to the cognitive outcomes within each group.

This project will conduct a retrospective clinical database review and a one-time research interview to evaluate outcomes among a sub-set of caregivers (CGs) who were enrolled in the Behavioral Health Laboratory (BHL) Caregiver Outreach and Telehealth Education Program (COTP). The investigators will recruit CGs whose Care Recipients (CR) met criteria for clinically significant cognitive impairment and/or dementia and who received care management services through the COTP.

Informal caregivers of people with dementia are at greater risk of developing physical and mental health problems when compared to the general population and to informal caregivers of people with other chronic diseases. Internet-based interventions have been explored in its potential to minimize the negative effects of caring, accounting for their ubiquitous nature, convenient delivery, potential scalability and presumed (cost)effectiveness. iSupport is a self-help online program developed by the World Health Organization to provide education, skills training and support to informal caregivers of people with dementia. This intervention study aims to determine the effectiveness of a Portuguese culturally adapted version of iSupport to decrease caregiver burden, symptoms of depression and anxiety, and to improve quality of life, positive aspects of caregiving and general self-efficacy. The study has two arms: access to "iSupport" for three months or access to an education-only e-book. iSupport is grounded in problem-solving and cognitive behavioral therapy techniques and it consists of 23 lessons organized around 5 modules: 'Introduction to dementia'; 'Being a carer', 'Caring for me', 'Providing everyday care', and 'Dealing with behaviour changes'. One hundred and eighty four participants will be recruited by referral from national Alzheimer's associations. Participants will be included if they match the following criteria: being 18 years or older and provide e-consent; being a self-reported non-paid caregiver for at least 6 months; caring for a person with a formal diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease; being skilled to use internet; and experience a clinically relevant level of burden or depression or anxiety symptoms. Data is collected online, resorting to self-administered instruments, at baseline, 3 and 6 months after baseline. A two-sided alternative hypothesis was assumed for this study: Mean caregiver burden at 3 months after baseline is different in informal caregivers of people with dementia assigned to the iSupport program as in those assigned to a minimal education-only intervention. Findings from this intervention study will offer evidence to support an informed decision making on scaling up iSupport as a new intervention program with minimal costs aimed at minimizing the psychological distress of informal caregivers of people with dementia in Portugal and elsewhere.