Active clinical trials for "Brain Diseases"

The purpose of this study is to determine whether transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) combined with large spontaneous portosystemic shunts embolization are effective in the prevention of hepatic encephalopathy (HE).

Perinatal asphyxia-induced brain injury is one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality in term and preterm neonates, accounting for 23% of neonatal deaths globally. Although many neuroprotective strategies appeared promising in animal models, most of them have failed clinically. Erythropoietin (EPO) is an endogenous cytokine originally identified for its role in erythropoiesis. Clinical trial has demonstrated the safety and efficacy of recombinant human erythropoietin (r-hu-EPO) in the prevention or treatment of anemia of prematurity. To date, there are no reports evaluating possible effects of EPO on neonatal HIE.

This study will look at the safety of a drug used in participants who have had hepatic encephalopathy (HE) in the past.

The purpose of this study is to determine if the study drug is safe and effective in preventing hepatic encephalopathy (HE).

This is a bridging study to visually and quantitatively assess PET images obtained after single application of 300 MBq [18F]florbetaben and PET scanning of patients with Alzheimer disease.

The objective of this pilot study is to investigate the feasibility of performing umbilical cord milking in neonates who are depressed at birth.

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a progressive degenerative brain disease with symptoms that include memory loss, problems with impulse control, and depression that can lead to suicide. As the disease progresses, it can lead to dementia. Currently CTE can only be diagnosed postmortem where an over-accumulation of a protein called tau is observed. There is now a new experimental measure that makes it possible, for the first time, to measure tau protein in the living human brain using a novel positron emission tomography (PET) ligand, [F-18] AV-1451 (aka, [18F]-T807). The main objective of this study is to use a novel PET approach to measure tau accumulation in the brain. The presence of CTE at autopsy in deceased National Football League (NFL) players has been well documented. Accordingly, we will conduct this study in a group of retired NFL players who have clinical symptoms of CTE and are suspected of having CTE based on high levels of tau in their spinal fluid and abnormalities seen on research brain scans. We will compare them with a control group of former elite level athletes who have not experienced any brain trauma, deny any clinical symptoms, and who have completely normal spinal fluid tau and amyloid levels, and brain scans. We will also include a group of subjects with AD. All participants will be recruited from ongoing studies, headed by the Partnering PI of this proposal, Dr. Robert Stern, at the Boston University Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy and the Alzheimer's Disease Center. We will use both a beta amyloid PET scan ([18F]-florbetapir) and a tau PET scan ([18F]-T807) on consecutive days. With the beta amyloid scan we expect little or no evidence of amyloid in the NFL players with presumed CTE, and no evidence of amyloid in the control group of athletes with no history of repetitive brain trauma. In contrast we expect to see beta amyloid accumulation in the AD patient brains. With the new tau ligand, we expect that the NFL players with presumed CTE will show elevated levels of tau protein in the brain, which will not be observed in athletes without a history of brain trauma, but which will be seen in the AD patients' brains. Another goal is to use the latest MRI technologies to develop specific tau imaging biomarkers that correlate with the PET and spinal fluid tau measures but without the radiation of PET or invasiveness of spinal taps. The development of these surrogate imaging markers of tau, is critically important to diagnosing CTE. This in turn will lead to studies relevant to treatment and prevention of this devastating disease. Finally, as an exploratory method of examining possible genetic risk for CTE, we will also use cutting edge genetic analysis of blood samples from subjects in this proposal and compare tau load, measured by PET tau ligand uptake and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) p-tau level, with a measure of genetic susceptibility to tau load, referred to as the genetic risk score for tau.

During the birth process certain conditions can cause oxygen delivery and/or blood flow to the baby's brain to become interrupted. This can cause permanent brain damage. Brain damage occurs in two phases. The first occurs at the time of injury when brain cells in the affected area 'die'. There is nothing that can be done about this. The second phase of injury occurs over the next few days. This second phase is caused by inflammation and release of toxic chemicals from the injured site. Cooling the baby to a temperature of 92.5° F, for 3 days has been shown to reduce the second phase of injury and bran death. All babies will receive the benefit of cooling. Although cooling helps it does not completely stop the second phase of injury. Melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone that is produced by the brain, and helps regulate the sleep-wake cycle. It has the potential to stop the second phase of brain injury by inhibiting inflammation and release of toxic chemicals. The reason for this research is to find out if melatonin can or cannot improve the outcome of babies with this kind of brain damage. Every baby enrolled in the study has a 50:50 chance of getting melatonin. A total of six doses of medicine will be given. The baby's brain function will be assessed by an EEG, brain oxygen monitoring, and a neurologic examination at 18 months of life. All of these are routinely used as part of standard care for patients with this kind of problem. The only difference is that half the babies enrolled in the study will get the drug called melatonin and the other half will receive placebo. The dose of melatonin being used in the study is higher than the amount normally produced by the body. No side-effects of this dose have been reported in other research studies using melatonin in newborn and premature babies.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of albumin infusion to prevent post tips hepatic encephalopathy'

This randomized, controlled clinical pilot trial will evaluate the effects associated with in-office use of closed-loop, acoustic stimulation neurotechnology (High-resolution, relational, resonance-based, electroencephalic mirroring; HIRREM), compared with acoustic stimulation not linked to brainwaves (ambient nature sounds), for participants with pre-hypertension. Data collection will occur at baseline, and at intervals after completion of the intervention. Outcomes include blood pressure, measures of autonomic cardiovascular regulation, behavioral symptom outcomes, quality of life, alcohol use, and functional performance measures. The primary outcome will be change in blood pressure from baseline to 4-6 weeks after intervention.