Active clinical trials for "Brain Diseases"

This pilot intervention trial will assess the feasibility of a live consultation between community hospital providers and tertiary care providers employing a novel teleconsult platform, Maine Neonatal Encephalopathy Teleconsult (Maine NET), on the time to initiation of therapeutic hypothermia (TH) for 10 infants born in community hospitals in Maine compared with matched historical controls. Community hospital providers and tertiary care center provider satisfaction with the Maine NET platform will also be assessed. We hypothesize that immediately available expert assessment via a teleconsult platform will promote earlier implementation of TH and be associated with high levels of provider satisfaction.

In line with the ever-growing aging of Western populations, the development of preventive strategies to slow down the effects of aging on cardiovascular health represents a major challenge in order to preserve functional capacities and a sufficient quality of life in the elderly. The alteration of vascular function (at the cerebral and systemic level) with aging is an important feature in the clinical picture including a decrease in physical and cognitive capacities. Although physical activity is recognized as an essential means of combating the effects of aging, optimizing its effects by defining the most effective strategies of practice remains a key objective. Offering alternative interventions to exercise training is also necessary for people who are unwilling or unable to engage in a physical activity program. In this context, hypoxic conditioning, alone or in conjunction with rehabilitative exercise training, is a new therapeutic modality with strong preclinical validity, in particular from a cardiovascular standpoint, and used in other pathologies to improve cardiovascular function and exercise performance and quality of life. Our aim is, therefore, to investigate the effect of hypoxic conditioning (alone or in conjunction with exercise training) on cerebrovascular health in the elderly.

Rationale: Delirium is a type of acute encephalopathy that is triggered by an underlying somatic disorder. Patients experience disturbances in attention, alertness and other cognitive functions. In patients with delirium, a characteristic electroencephalography (EEG) pattern is seen, known as polymorphic delta activity. The MDR certified medical device "Deltascan" can detect this EEG pattern. Traditional clinical delirium screening instruments are known to have limited sensitivity, in particular for detecting hypoactive delirium. We hypothesize that adding EEG based encephalopathy detection to clinical observation scales increases the sensitivity and results in earlier detection of delirium and subsyndromal delirium, resulting in improved clinical outcomes of critically ill patients, such as delirium duration, ICU length of stay or survival. Objective: This randomized controlled trial aims to study the effect of implementation of EEG based encephalopathy detection (DeltaScan, Prolira, Utrecht, The Netherlands, hereafter: DeltaScan) on relevant clinical endpoints (ICU length of stay, sedative requirements and delirium related complications, among others) in a mixed medical and surgical intensive care unit population. Study design: a randomized controlled trial Study population: adult patients (>18 years) admitted to the ICU for unplanned care with a minimal anticipated ICU length of stay of 48h. Intervention: either usual care, where the patients' medical team obtains regular delirium screening, versus usual care plus twice daily DeltaScan measurements. During the daily medical rounds, the DeltaScan results will be presented to the patients' medical team together with decision support, consisting of DeltaScan trend interpretation and protocol-based suggestions for evaluation of underlying delirium cause. Main study parameters/endpoints: primary endpoint will be ICU length of stay. Secondary endpoints are encephalopathy/delirium occurrence, ICU encephalopathy/delirium free days, ventilator free days, organ support free days, sedative, opioid and antipsychotic drug requirement, delirium related complication occurrence, frequency and duration of physical restraints application, ICU mortality, ICU readmission, hospital length of stay, hospital mortality and 90-day mortality. Nature and extent of the burden and risks associated with participation, benefit and group relatedness: In this study, it is not expected that randomization to the intervention group adds risk for patients. This is a study of a diagnostic intervention with additional encephalopathy/delirium observations consisting of a short (90 seconds) EEG measurement, which does not harm the patient. Clinicians will receive protocol-based decision support alongside the diagnostic observation. No additional medical treatments will be conducted as part of the study protocol.

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the use of autologous Bone Marrow Derived Stem Cells (BMSC) as a means to improve cognitive impairment as occurs in Alzheimer's Disease and other dementias and to improve behavior and socialization issues which occur in adult Autism Spectrum Disorder. The use of Near Infrared Light, in conjunction with the use of BMSC, will also be assessed.

A study in Finland found that a multidomain intervention of physical activity, nutritional guidance, cognitive training, social activities and management of vascular risk factors slowed cognitive decline in healthy older adults at increased risk of cognitive decline. A 6-month pilot study was initiated in Singapore, which demonstrated the cultural feasibility and practicality of the FINGER interventions and a set of locally adapted interventions in an Asian population. The SINGER study is a 2-year randomized controlled trial that aims to test the efficacy and safety of these lifestyle changes, including diet and cardiovascular risk factor management, cognitive and physical exercises, in delaying cognitive decline in older adults at risk of dementia.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the feasibility and begin to evaluate the effect of a sensorimotor intervention (SMI) provided in the first 6 months of life for infants with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.

Epilepsy is a chronic condition that requires consistent follow-up aimed at seizure control, surveillance of comorbidities, monitoring of antiepileptic drugs (AED) levels and side effects. Patients may encounter difficulties to be assessed adequately and the disease burden is increased by the need for travelling across the country for medical consultations. Driving restrictions are a further limit to access specialized Centers able to provide an integrated approach focused on patient needs. Telemedicine (TM) offers an invaluable support to patient follow-up, joining the sparse distribution of patients in the country with the prompt availability of a team of experts. The project assesses, through a randomized controlled trial, the non-inferiority of TM in monitoring seizure control compared to usual (face-to-face) care. This approach, coupled with a new self home-sampling method for the measurement of AED levels, will reduce health care costs and simplify patients management.

Patients with end stage of liver disease or cirrhosis can develop confusion due to high ammonia and inflammation. This confusion is brought upon by changes in the bacteria in the bowels and may not respond to current standard of care treatments. Repeated episodes of confusion can make it difficult for patients to function and may result in multiple admissions to the hospital and burden on the family. The investigators have studied using a healthy person's stool to replace the bowel bacteria, called fecal microbial transplant, in small studies with good results. In this trial the investigators propose to perform these procedures using an upper and lower route in Veterans who suffer from this condition and follow them for safety and hospitalizations over 6 months. The investigators will compare this to placebo treatments and hope that this intervention can improve the health and daily functioning of affected patients.

Background: Most people who get COVID-19 seem to recover with no long-term effects. However, some people who recover from acute COVID-19 infections report lingering symptoms. This is called long COVID. Many people with long COVID report symptoms related to the nervous system; these can include problems with fatigue, speech, and memory. Objective: To test motor memory in people with long COVID, compared to healthy volunteers. Eligibility: People aged 18 to 90 years who are also enrolled in study protocol 000089. Healthy adults are also needed. Design: Participants will be screened by telephone. They will confirm they are able to type without discomfort using their nondominant hand. They will confirm they have access to a computer connected to the internet. All study tasks will be done online. Participants will complete 2 tasks in 2 days. Participants will be sent a link to a website. The website will give them instructions. They will place the fingers of their nondominant hand over 4 numbers on the keyboard and type a sequence (eg, 4-1-3-2-4). They will type this sequence as often as they can in 10 seconds. Then they will rest for 10 seconds before repeating the task. They will repeat this pattern for 15 minutes. After they finish the typing task, participants will take a 10-minute questionnaire. They will answer questions about their experiences with COVID-19 and memory issues; they will say which hand they use for tasks such as brushing their teeth or throwing a ball. Participants will get a notice to repeat the typing task 22 hours after they finish the first one. They should complete the second task within 28 hours....

Testing and validating an e-health (smartphone application) approach to better understand the determinants of day-to-day symptomatology in depression, medication adherence, and treatment efficacy in the goal of maximizing patient care.