Active clinical trials for "Brain Injuries"

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of an animal assisted mindfulness intervention (AAMI) on patients with acquired brain injuries on their global severity of psychological distress. In addition, the effects on the patients' symptoms of depression, anxiety, perceived stress, mood, coping and mindfulness/self-compassion will be assessed. The study experimental condition consists of 6 weeks of intervention, containing 6 different modules. In every session, an animal will be present. In the control condition, the same program and same exercises will be used without the presence of or reference to animals. Sessions take place two times a week for 6 weeks (leading up to a total of 12 experimental/control sessions), each lasting for about 60 minutes. 24 participants are planned to be included, 12 patients in each group.

The study examines whether infants with a perinatal unilateral brain lesion can perform an "Action Observation Training" [AOT] at the age of 9-12 months . AOT is the targeted and concentrated observation of movements and actions to learn new motor skills. In adults with hemiplegia after a stroke and in older children with hemiplegia, AOT can lead to an improvement in the functions of the affected hand/arm. Infants with early unilateral brain damage are at increased risk of developing a hemiplegia and thus impaired upper limb function. There is little known about treatment options to promote arm and hand skills in early childhood and their effectiveness. In particular, there is a lack of knowledge whether AOT could also be used in infants. It is known that even in infants at an early age brain activity can be measured while they are observing movements and infants learn a lot about observing and imitating. Knowledge about the measurement of manual skills is also reduced. So far, tests have been used to observe and evaluate how infants use their hands when playing (e.g. Mini-Assisting Hand Assessment). The aim of this study is to investigate whether measurements with motion sensors can also be used in infants. In the pre-post study, about 5 to 10 toddlers will be examined. During four weeks, the parents should give the child 20 minutes of AOT per day at home. A therapy diary will be completed for this purpose. During six weeks, the parents will use movement sensors on two days a week for the upper limb of the infants. Finally, three questionnaires about the AOT and the motion sensors will be completed by the parents.

Children with acquired brain injury (ABI) often struggle with complex impairments, including cognitive (such as memory and attention), social, emotional and behavioral challenges. There is broad agreement that there is a lack of evidence-based knowledge about rehabilitation for children with ABI in the chronic phase. The current study is a feasibility study of a planned randomized controlled trial (RCT), the CICI-intervention, directed towards children with ABI and their families in the chronic phase. The feasibility study aims to evaluate the study protocol, the assessment procedures and the technical solutions prior to performing the RCT. A feasibility study with six participating children and families will be conducted in close collaboration with schools and local health care providers. The intervention to be tested (the CICI-intervention) focuses on the child's and family's individually identified target outcome areas to be addressed, with corresponding rehabilitation goals. The intervention aims to enhance everyday functioning in the home and school environment by reducing ABI-related symptoms, and by attaining rehabilitation goals in areas noted as challenging by the participants. In the future RCT-study the efficacy of the CICI-intervention will be measured in terms of goal attainment, community participation, cognitive, behavioral, social, and family functioning.

This randomized clinical trial will test a behavioral caregiving intervention that has been used successfully for dementia and spinal cord injury caregivers to provide services to stressed and burdened parent caregivers of post 9/11 service members/veterans. This intervention is six intensive individual sessions that will teach problem solving, cognitive restructuring and stress reduction targeted to an individual assessment of the care dyad's needs. It will be compared to another method of delivering content, education webinar sessions, which are analogous to the usual standard of care and will function as an attention control arm. The objective of the study is to determine which of these delivery mechanisms is more effective at helping parent caregivers of injured post 9/11 returning troops to improve their depression, anxiety, and burden, and to determine the feasibility of using individual sessions with this population of caregivers.

This study aims to assess speech therapy's effectiveness in understanding other people's thoughts (implied) using written stories. The main objective is to examine whether the therapy improves understanding of the stories worked on in the sessions. We also explore whether the observed progress is maintained one month after the end of treatment and whether it is generalized to neuropsychological tests, video material, and the participants' daily lives. This therapy will be administered to four individuals with brain lesions, for six weeks, at the rate of two weekly sessions of one hour.

Concussions are the leading form of mild traumatic brain injury. Management of concussions and mild traumatic brain injury is a high priority medical focus, social concern, and research topic. Currently, there are no FDA approved treatments for acute concussion. The current standard of care is rest followed by gradual return to normal activity. The purpose of this study is to show improvement in the way patients feel or function after a concussion. OXE-103 is a protein hormone produced in the laboratory which identical to the hormone ghrelin that is secreted by the stomach. This study will investigate the use of this hormone as treatment for symptoms of acute concussion. The goal of this study is to show improvement in the way study participants feel or function after concussion. An OXE-103 (ghrelin) agonist is already FDA approved for another condition, but not for concussion. For concussion, it is considered investigational. This study will examine, if ghrelin is taken every day for two weeks, if the brain will heal faster and help improve or resolve symptoms. The study will also include a placebo arm and a non-treatment group (for those who wish to participate but do not want to receive any treatment). The OXE-103 and placebo will be self-administered through injections using needles.

Background: Individuals with neurological conditions (stemming from brain injury or stroke) can experience high levels of emotional distress leading to decreased quality of life and increased health care costs. Though mental health problems are prevalent and disabling, they often go untreated for various reasons, such as access to specialized care, rural and remote location, lack of time, or concerns about stigma related to seeking care. Internet delivered cognitive behaviour therapy (ICBT) overcomes barriers to face-to-face therapy by often reaching a much wider group of patients who experience unequal access to health care. The internet based program is based on cognitive behaviour therapy, which is an evidenced-based treatment that helps patients identify and modify thoughts and behaviours that contribute to their mental health concerns. ICBT has been shown to be effective in improving psychosocial outcomes such as depression and anxiety, along with disability and quality of life among persons with chronic health conditions. Rationale: Despite evidence for ICBT among those with other chronic conditions, its efficacy has yet to be evaluated among those with neurological conditions such as brain injury and stroke. Objective: The aim of the current study is to pilot an ICBT program developed through a patient oriented approach to improve overall wellbeing among those with mild traumatic brain injury. Methods: In this project, an ICBT program for those with mild traumatic brain injury developed through an patient oriented approach (Phase 1) will be piloted amongst a small group of participants (n=20) to examine acceptability, feasibility, and limited efficacy. At the end of the program, participants will be asked to complete a brief semi-structured interview examining barriers and facilitators to the ICBT program. Participant feedback from the interviews will be used to further improve the ICBT program to meet the needs of the population. The results from the study will be used to guide larger studies to evaluate effectiveness of the program in a community setting. Anticipated Impact: Ultimately, the proposed project aims to improve overall wellbeing and access to health care service for those who have mild traumatic brain injury and mental health concerns.

In a worldwide context of accelerated demographic aging, traumatic brain injury (TBI) in older adults has become a public health problem. TBI incidence grows following an exponential curve as people get older, increasing the occurrence of TBI in ageing individuals. Rehabilitation programs used in clinical settings have generally been developed for younger adults, and their efficacy with older adults who sustain a TBI has not been evaluated. The investigators have tailored a modular cognitive rehabilitation program for individuals who sustain a TBI in older adulthood, the Cognitive Enrichment Program (CEP), by adapting approaches which have shown to be effective in normal ageing and with other neurological conditions. The aim of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the CEP in adults having sustained a TBI during later adulthood. Specific objectives are to evaluate the effectiveness on memory, executive functions, psychological well-being and daily life activities using psychometric tests, self-reported questionnaires, and daily life-like tasks. The investigators hypothesize that memory and executive functions training included in the CEP will result in an improvement in both psychometric and self-reported scores in a trained group of older individuals with TBI, whereas this will not be the case for a comparable TBI group who did not receive the CEP intervention.

The objectives of this VA SPiRE application are to develop a combined neuromodulation and yoga (iTBS+yoga) intervention for Veterans with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and chronic pain, assess the intervention's feasibility and acceptability, and to gather preliminary clinical outcome data on quality of life, function and pain that will guide future studies. This SPiRE project will directly benefit Veterans and VA Services by developing a new, non-pharmacological neurorehabilitation treatment for Veterans with mTBI and chronic pain in need of non-opioid treatment options. Neuromodulation is now offered at 30 VA hospitals and yoga is among the complementary and integrative health programs being rolled out as a part of VAs Whole Health implementation efforts. Thus, should iTBS+yoga ultimately prove to be efficacious, VA facilities will be well-poised to offer this treatment. A novel, activity-based, non-pharmacological treatment for Veterans with mTBI and chronic pain is of great need given the high prevalence of chronic pain.

Patients admitted to the ED with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury defined by GCS less than or equal to 10 and confirmed by head CT scan or MRI were randomized into 2 groups: one receiving animal assisted therapy (AAT) and one not receiving animal assisted therapy. Efficacy of AAT was measured by patient's progression in the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), Rancho Los Amigos Scale (RLAS), and ability to follow multi-step commands (LoCmds).