Active clinical trials for "Hyperkinesis"

To observe the clinical efficacy and mechanism of functional near-infrared spectroscopy imaging neurofeedback therapy for attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder.

This study is an assessor-blind, parallel-group, controlled trial to evaluate the benefit of home-based training with a low-cost, mobile neurofeedback system (Myndlift) in adults with ADHD. Randomized controlled trials have shown significant benefit for neurofeedback, including persistent effects without the side effects of psychostimulants (i.e., diminished appetite, insomnia, anxiety, irritability). However, standard application requires clinic visits and significant expense, limiting training frequency and compromising potential efficacy. Additionally, extant evidence for efficacy comes almost exclusively from children and adolescents, with very few studies in adults. The present trial will measure the ability of home-based neurofeedback using a low-cost, user-friendly system to ameliorate symptomatology (e.g., enhancing attention, reducing impulsive behavior) in adults with ADHD. Participants will receive either neurofeedback or treatment as usual (TAU). Primary outcomes will be objective scores on a continuous performance task (CPT) and subjective report on a standardized adult ADHD symptoms questionnaire. Eligible participants recruited from an adult ADHD clinic will complete a baseline assessment (1.25 hours) including subjective questionnaires, computerized cognitive assessment, and resting-state EEG administered by a blinded assessor. The experimental group will train at home with a neurofeedback headset and tablet 4 times/week for ten weeks (session duration: 21-30 minutes). Neurofeedback will be provided via a conventional theta beta protocol in which participants train using gamified tasks, videos, or audio clips in a tablet-based app, and receive positive visual/auditory feedback when their brainwaves are in the desired range. The control group will follow the regular treatment plan set by the clinic (i.e., treatment as usual; TAU). Care may include pharmacological intervention, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), a combination of both, or no intervention. Care will often include pharmacological intervention (e.g., methylphenidate), with the specifics (e.g., type of medication, dosage) determined by psychiatrist recommendation. After completing the ten-week intervention period, all participants will return to the clinic for a follow-up assessment identical to the baseline assessment. It is hypothesized that home-based neurofeedback training will demonstrate non-inferiority to TAU as measured by improvement in subjective and objective symptoms.

To identify the difference in the lipidomic profiles between ADHD and controls; To examine the effects of methylphenidate and atomoxetine on the lipidomic profiles in ADHD, and the relationship between medication-related changes in the lipidomic profiles and medication-related improvements in the behavioral symptoms and neuropsychological functions; To map medication-related lipidomic biomolecules to their respective metabolic pathways to identify the underlying mechanisms of neuroprotective effects of methylphenidate and atomoxetine.

The main objective of the study is to demonstrate the non-inferiority of the personalized Neurofeedback Training device versus Methylphenidate in the treatment of children and adolescents with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

The aim of this study is 1) to investigate clinical effects of equine-assisted activities and therapy (EAA/T) for treating attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and 2) to compare the clinical effect of EAA/T and drug therapy in children 6-13-years-of-age. This study is designed as a 12-week, prospective, open labeled trial, including 24 sessions of EAA/T. Forty six subjects will be enrolled and various clinical tests will be administered at baseline and after EAA/T or drug therapy.

Children with ADHD display a certain brainwave profile which might be different to that of a child who does not have ADHD. Treatment with tPCS (transcranial pulsed current stimulation) has shown that this brainwave profile could possibly be altered to more closely resemble a brainwave profile of a child who does not have ADHD. Researchers believe that by changing this brainwave profile it might lessen symptoms of ADHD. tPCS is a name used to describe the type of current this device produces. It involves randomly (in no specific pattern) produced pulses of current at different times that the brain picks up. These pulses of low current stimulate the brain in a certain way and affect the brainwave activity. Treatment is given by applying a low frequency current using small electrodes clipped to the earlobes. The current comes from an external battery source. The pulses of current generated by this device stimulate certain parts of the brain which result in a possible increased control of attention and behaviour. This treatment has already been proven to be safe and will not hurt your child. Due to these specific parts of the brain being stimulated, and the positive results of previous research, it seems possible to control certain functions in children suffering from inattention and hyperactivity. The idea of using tPCS stimulation as a possible way for helping children with confirmed ADHD opens a new window to future research. The final goal of this device and research is to offer a safe, non-invasive (conservative treatment that does not require piercing into the body or the removal of tissue) treatment that can be used on a long-term basis and shows a clear improvement of ADHD symptoms for children and even adults with ADHD.

The investigators therefore propose a pilot study to establish the effectiveness of NIRS Neurofeedback training in reducing the intensity of ADHD symptom expression on children, improvement of the cognitive and global functions associated with ADHD, effects on cerebral blood perfusion in the cortex and safety plus possible unknown side-effects.

The overall objective of the current study is to determine whether computerized Working Memory (WM) training will enhance WM capacity in college students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). There are also four additional objectives. The first is to investigate whether the program's efficacy is impacted by the duration of the daily training sessions. The second is to determine whether improvements in WM will generalize to secondary outcome tasks, such as inhibitory control and planning. The third objective is to examine whether WM training will also ameliorate ADHD symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity. The last objective is to investigate whether improvements will be maintained at a two month follow-up period. The investigators will also be assessing healthy control participants,who will not be receiving treatment, but will be used as a basis of comparison with the ADHD participants, It is expected that the computerized WM training program will enhance WM capacity in college students with ADHD. In addition, it is believed that these increases in WM capacity will also lead to improvements in other executive functions. It is also hypothesized that WM training will lead to a reduction in ADHD symptomology. Lastly, these improvements should be maintained at three month follow-up.

Brief summary The aim of the study is to provide preliminary data on the relationship of Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) to cognitive and electrophysiological measures of brain and behavioural functions in adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and controls. This main aim will be achieved in two ways. First the investigators will measure the relationship of the various measures to blood levels of EFAs in ADHD cases and controls. Secondly, the potential effects of dietary supplementation with EFAs on cognitive-electrophysiological and behavioural measures in ADHD cases will be investigated. We will evaluate the extent to which changes in neuronal activity and cognitive performance are related to behavioural and functional measures over time. This is to be carried out by conducting a randomised controlled trial of fish oil supplementation in adults with ADHD (The OCEAN study: Oils and Cognitive Effects in Adult Neurodevelopment). The study design will be a 6-month double blind placebo control study with a group of 80 adults with a diagnosis of ADHD. The group will be divided into 40 participants who receive EFA dietary supplements and 40 who receive placebo, over a 6-month period. Allocation to EFA dietary supplementation and placebo groups will be randomly allocated and blind to both the investigator and participants. In addition a sample of 30 controls will take part in baseline levels of assessment and be used for case-control comparisons to investigate the links between EFA blood levels and cognitive-electrophysiological function at one time point. The study design will enable preliminary data to address the following hypotheses: Changes in cognitive and electrophysiological function (neuronal activity) will be found following supplementation with dietary EFAs. Changes in cognition and/or brain activity will be related to blood levels of EFAs. Changes in cognitive performance and electrophysiological parameters will correlate with behavioural function, affective regulation or functional impairments. At baseline, case-control differences in EFA blood-levels will be found which will be linked to cognitive and electrophysiological function.

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common neurobehavioural disorder of childhood. The investigators hypothesized that amantadine would be beneficial for treatment of ADHD, and this could be evaluated in a double blind, randomized, parallel group comparison of amantadine and ritalin. This will be a six-week, parallel group, randomized clinical trial undertaken in an outpatient child and adolescent clinic at Roozbeh Psychiatric Hospital in Tehran, Iran during April 2010-May 2010. 50 male and female subjects, ages 6 to 17 years with a DSM-IV-TR diagnosis of ADHD will be study population of this trial. At screening, investigators conduct a psychiatric evaluation with the DSM-IV-TR criteria for ADHD and the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-Present and Lifetime diagnostic interview and perform a complete medical history and physical examination. The diagnosis of ADHD will be confirmed by a child and adolescent psychiatrist before participants will be initiated into the study. All patients will be newly diagnosed. Parents were carefully interview and ask to rate the severity of the DSM-IV-TR ADHD symptoms that their children display at home. Children will be excluded if they have a history or current diagnosis of pervasive developmental disorders, schizophrenia or other psychiatric disorders(DSM-IV axis I); any current psychiatric comorbidity that required pharmacotherapy; any evidence of suicide risk and mental retardation (I.Q. <70). In addition, patients will be excluded if they have a clinically significant chronic medical condition, including organic brain disorder, seizures and, current abuse or dependence on drugs within 6 months. Additional exclusion criteria will be hypertension, hypotension. To participate, parents and children have to be willing to comply with all requirements of the study. After a description of the procedures and purpose of the study, written informed consent will be obtained from each patient's parent or guardian. Informed consent will receive before the administration of any study procedure or dispensing of study medication in accordance with the ethical standards of the investigative site's institutional review board and with the Helsinki declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. The protocol will be approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Patients will be randomized to receive amantadine or ritalin in a 1: 1 ratio using a computer-generated code. All study subjects will be randomly assigned to receive treatment using amantadine 100-150 mg depending on weight (100 mg/day for <30 Kg and 150 mg/day for >30 Kg) or ritalin at a dose of 20-30 mg/day depending on weight (20 mg/day for <30 Kg and 30 mg/day for >30 Kg) (group 2) for a 6 week double blind, randomized clinical. The principal measure of outcome will be the Parent and Teacher ADHD Rating Scale-IV that has been used extensively in Iran in school-age children and provides valid measures of behavioral abnormality and attention trial. Side effects will be systematically recorded throughout the study and will be assessed using a checklist that comprises 20 side effects including psychic, neurologic, autonomic and other side effects, administered by a child psychiatrist on days 7, 21and 42.