Active clinical trials for "Parkinson Disease"

The purpose of this study is to measure alpha-synuclein in peripheral body tissues and fluids in Parkinson's disease (PD). This may help in developing better treatments for PD patients in the future.

The proposed study will capitalize on the early predictive information stored in an individual's genetic risk for Parkinson Disease (PD) in combination with the subtle features of tremors that can be extracted from movement data gathered by modern compact accelerometers in order to determine if accurate discrimination of essential tremor (ET) from PD can be achieved. Both of these technologies have a proven but somewhat limited ability to inform diagnosis of PD or differentiation of PD from ET - especially at early stages of the disease. The investigators hypothesize that a combination of prior genetic risk and current disease symptomology can synergize for accurate and early discrimination of PD from ET and ultimately inform a cost effective approach to movement disorder diagnosis. In this study, the investigators will collect blood from individuals with confirmed late-onset diagnosis of PD and ET. Gold standard diagnosis status will be determined via the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) - the accepted clinical gold standard for Parkinson's Disease diagnosis. DNA will be extracted from blood samples to characterize the genetic risk of individuals for PD via proven genetic risk models. In addition, participants will wear a wristwatch-like accelerometer device that will track their movements (tremors) at high temporal resolution and transmit movement data via a smartphone. Cognitive distraction tasks will be administered via mobile phones while simultaneously collecting movement data. Predictive tremor features will be extracted from movement data via signal processing approaches - e.g. discrete wavelet transformation. A final predictive model combining movement tracking information and genetic information will be designed in attempt to distinguish PD from ET individuals.

Gait and balance disturbances are one of the most incapacitating symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD) (Boonstra et al. 2008). They can cause falls and are therefore associated with the negative spiral of (near) falls, fear of falling, fractures, reduced mobility and social isolation; hence, having a profound negative impact on quality of life (Lin et al. 2012). Originally, symptoms of PD were ascribed to dopamine deficiency and basal ganglia dysfunction (Wu et al. 2013). However, in the last decades it has become clear that other brain structures are also involved in the pathophysiology of PD (Snijders et al. 2011; Stefani et al. 2007). An intriguing, emerging insight is that the cerebellum may be involved in the pathophysiology of PD (Wu et al. 2013). That is, the cerebellum is hyperactive in PD patients during different motor tasks (Yu et al. 2007; Hanakawa et al. 1999; del Olmo et al. 2006). However, whether cerebellar hyperactivity is pathological or compensatory and how it affects gait and balance in PD patients remain open questions. Here, the investigators aim to elucidate the role of the hyperactive cerebellum in gait dysfunction in PD patients by modulating cerebellar excitability with state-of-the-art non-invasive brain stimulation techniques and investigate the effects on gait.

Antipsychotic drugs are characterized by blocking dopaminergic D2 receptors. They have been found to be effective and safe for the treatment of schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, depressive episodes associated with bipolar disorder, or psychotic symptoms in the context of Parkinson's disease. Atypical antipsychotics have lower blocking potency on D2 receptors, at the time that interact with serotoninergic, adrenergic and histaminergic receptors, among others. Quetiapine extended-release has the same clinical efficacy as the immediate-release formulation, but reduces the amount of daily doses, possibly contributing to increased treatment adherence. The purpose of this registry is to explore adherence to treatment, the occurrence of adverse drug reactions and the clinical outcomes in a sample of patients under treatment with atypical antipsychotics in several Central American countries. For this study, clinical data will be extracted from the medical records of 1000 patients with schizophrenia, depressive disorders or Parkinson's Disease with hallucinations. Occurrence of adverse drug reactions, namely weight gain, somnolence, extrapyramidal reactions and symptoms of orthostatic hypotension; adherence to treatment; and changes in quality of life and clinical status will be assessed during the first 8 weeks of treatment.

The purpose of this research study is to learn about a possible association between cardiac denervation (the breaking down of nerves in the heart) and the development of fatigue in Parkinson's disease (PD).

Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system. The motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease result from the death of dopamine-generating cells in the substantia nigra, a region of the midbrain; the cause of this cell death is unknown. Early in the course of the disease, the most obvious symptoms are movement-related; these include shaking, rigidity, slowness of movement and difficulty with walking and gait. A multidisciplinary intensive rehabilitation treatment (MIRT) is able to improve different parameters in PD that are poorly responsive to dopaminergic therapy. In this study, we aim to understand whether the passive mobilization of the metatarsophalangeal joint of the hallux determines an increase in the joint range in this district, allowing to improve, at least, the gait.

Mild cognitive impairment and dementia are frequent non-motor complications of moderate to advanced Parkinson's disease. Brain positron emission tomography (PET) study findings confirm post-mortem evidence that cholinergic loss is related to cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease. However, current cholinergic augmentation therapy is not always effective and it should only target those Parkinson's disease patients who have evidence of cholinergic system impairment. The objective of this study is to study the association of a particular subtype of cholinergic receptors, so-called nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, with cognition in Parkinson's disease using a novel PET marker of cholinergic system integrity.

The goal of this study is to assess [18F]MNI-777 PET imaging as a tool to detect tau pathology in the brain of individuals who carry a clinical diagnosis of a tauopathy, including: Alzheimer's Disease (AD),Parkinson's disease (PD) Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP), chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and Frontal Temporal Dementia (FTD) and age- and gender-matched healthy subjects.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the different aspects of sexual function among adults with Parkinson Disease to develop a treatment and address sexual problems as a routine part of diagnostic workup and therapeutic planning.

This multicenter, post marketing observational study (PMOS) was designed to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of levodopa/carbidopa intestinal gel (DUODOPA) on motor fluctuations (duration of OFF periods) in participants with advanced levodopa-responsive Parkinson's disease (PD) and severe motor fluctuations and hyper-/dyskinesia (involuntary movements). Secondary objectives of this study were to assess the participants' quality of life; to assess the long-term safety of DUODOPA; to assess disability, cognitive function, and non-professional caregiver burden; and to assess the economic and social impact of family caregiver assistance.