Effect of Folic Acid in Levodopa Treated Parkinson's Disease Patients
Parkinson DiseaseThis is a prospective single center, randomized, double-blind, 2 arm placebo-controlled study in subjects with Parkinson's disease receiving levodopa .The patients will be randomized to receive tablet Folic Acid 10 mg per day or placebo for 8 weeks. The safety and efficacy outcome measures will be assessed at baseline and 8 weeks.
Pentoxifylline and Parkinsonism
Parkinson DiseaseParkinson's disease (PD) is a chronic neurodegenerative disease clinically characterized by bradykinesia, hypokinesia, rigidity, resting tremor, and postural instability. These motor manifestations are attributed to the degeneration and selective loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc), leading to a dopamine (DA) deficiency in the striatum. The environmental factors are the most common risk factor for Parkinson's disease, while hereditary determinants have minor role for disease. Furthermore, the clinical diagnosis of PD rests on the identification of characteristics related to dopamine deficiency. However, nondopaminergic and nonmotor symptoms, including cognitive dysfunction and depression, which is one of the most common and persistent symptoms, are sometimes present at an earlier disease stage and, almost inevitably, emerge with the disease progression. Neuroinflammation is considered one of the most important factors contributing critically to pathophysiology of PD . Recently, high mobility group box-1 (HMGB1) protein has been encoded as a potential inflammatory biomarker in PD. HMGB1 mediates immune response mostly through endothelial cells and macrophage activation via targeting two vital cell receptors; Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and advanced glycation end products (RAGE). HMGB1 leads to a sequential cascade of inflammatory response through enhanced release of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukins (ILs), prominently IL-1β and IL-6. HMGB1 mediated also up-regulation of nuclear factor kappa-β (NF-κB) with subsequent flared pro-inflammatory storm.
Transcranial Photobiomodulation as a Therapy for Patients With Parkinson's Disease: Relationship...
Parkinson DiseasePain1 moreParkinson's disease is a progressive and degenerative neurological movement disorder that affects thousands of people. The disease is characterized by presenting motor and non-motor symptoms, as the disease progresses, it becomes more disabling, making it impossible for the individual to perform simple tasks. A non-motor symptom increasingly reported by patients and undertreated in clinical practice is pain. During the past few decades, possible neural substrates of pain have been studied extensively, resulting in a potential network of connected brain areas that are believed to underlie pain processing and experience. There is no definitive consensus on all areas involved in such a pain network; however, pain-related regions consistently found across all studies include the thalamus, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), posterior and anterior insula, amygdala, prefrontal cortex (PFC), secondary somatosensory cortex (IBS), and periaqueductal gray (PAG). With the aim of helping to improve the painful condition, non-pharmacological therapies have been studied, and one of them is phototherapy, a non-invasive method used by several areas of health, which has been shown to be increasingly effective in the treatment of decreased pain sensitivity. The present study aims to evaluate the effects of transcranial photobiomodulation in patients with Parkinson's disease. This is a randomized study, in which investigators will analyze the effect of FBM on pain control and on magnetic resonance images to better elucidate the connectivities of pain areas. Afterwards, the researchers will carry out a better elaboration on the treatments of individuals diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, the researchers will evaluate the pain through questionnaires, and the researchers will also evaluate the motor cognitive capacity of these patients before and after the therapy.
Single Ascending Doses of HER-096 in Healthy Subjects
Parkinson DiseaseThis study evaluates the safety and tolerability of HER-096 in healthy volunteer subjects by comparing the effects of active study treatment HER-096 to placebo (0.9% physiological saline). In addition, the pharmacokinetic profile of HER-096 in humans will be investigated. The investigational medicinal products will be administered as a single dose by subcutaneous injection.
Programming Strategy of VFS for Gait Impairments in PD
Parkinson's DiseaseDeep Brain Stimulation2 moreVariable Frequency Stimulation(VFS) is a stimulation pattern applied in Deep Brain Stimulation(DBS) therapy for Parkinson's disease(PD). Peking Union Medical College Hospital was the first centre conducting research on VFS. The studies in the past have resembled conclusion that VFS provides improvement not only in the major symptoms such as tremor and rigidity, but also in gait and balance disorder. However, the best programming strategy of VFS has not met agreement. The random-controlled double blinded crossover study is designed for participants who underwent DBS surgery in bilateral subthalamic nucleus for parkinson's disease. The investigators study several strategies on programming and observe the improvement of symptom to look for the best one. A 4-month follow-up is designed to observe a relatively long-term effectiveness of VFS. The study intends to gather more clinical evidence to guide further studies on VFS application.
A New 3D Virtual Reality-based Upper Limb Training to Improve Dexterity in Parkinson's Disease
Parkinson DiseaseWe investigate the impact of a 4-week virtual reality-based upper limb training in Parkinson's disease. The benefits on dexterity of this training program will be evaluated. For these purposes, a randomised, two arm, single assessor blind, parallel design with a monocentric, study setup will be performed.
Exercise and Plasticity in Parkinson Disease
Parkinson DiseaseWe will study the effects of intensive rehabilitation in PD on plasticity with a multimodal approach. We will define first, whether exercise in PD restores the potentiation of the motor cortex to normal levels with both 5 Hz-rTMS PAS and beta modulation and whether such improvements are accompanied by structural changes studied with diffusion MRI tractography and network analysis (Aim 1). With the study of muscle synergies and spatiotemporal organization of the spinal motoneuronal output during gait and reaching movements we will define the presence of functional changes in spinal cord mechanisms and connectivity and whether such changes are global or involve selective districts (Aim 2). Finally, we will study post-exercise changes in sleep pattern, as sleep is impaired in PD and plays a crucial role in the definition of plasticity-related phenomena (Aim 3). This project will generate breakthrough data on the mechanisms of exercise, novel biomarkers to monitor efficacy of treatments and thus, possibly leading to better restorative, disease-modifying and symptomatic therapies for PD.
Curative Effect and Mechanism of Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation on Non-motor Symptoms...
Parkinson DiseaseThis study is a double-blind comparative study examining the curative effect and mechanism of the transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation treatment on non-motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease patients. The investigators hypothesize that treatment using transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation will improve the non-motor symptoms, such as improving sleep, and improve cortical activity simultaneously in Parkinson's disease patients.
Low-load Resistance Training With Blood Flow Restriction in People With Parkinson's Disease
Parkinson DiseaseThe study's objective is to determine the feasibility of low-load resistance training with blood flow restriction in people who have advanced Parkinson's disease and impaired mobility using a mixed-methods convergent parallel design in a single cohort. The study's long-term goal is to develop clinically feasible exercise interventions that are effective at improving mobility, participation, and quality of life for people with advanced Parkinson's disease.
Telerehabilitation in People With Parkinson's Disease
Parkinson's DiseaseAlthough TeleRehabilitation (TR) is widely accepted as an appropriate model for the provision of professional health services in the field of physiotherapy, with already established standards, guidelines and policies, there are still few studies in the literature on the use of TR as a rehabilitation tool in people with Parkinson's Disease (PD). Therefore, further studies on the efficacy of TR in the management of motor and non-motor symptoms of PD are needed. The study TEMPO aims at assessing the efficacy (in terms of autonomy in carrying out the activities of daily life) of a home TR program based on serious games in people with PD compared to conventional day-hospital treatment.