Active clinical trials for "Parkinson Disease"

The objective of this PMS study is the evaluation of depressive symptoms measured with Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) Part I (mentation, behavior and mood) and with Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale Depression Subscore (HADS-D) under pramipexole treatment in early and advanced PD patients. In addition it will be investigated whether improvement of depressive symptoms is linked to improvement in motor function (UPDRS Part III). 250 patients diagnosed with Parkinson's disease (PD) will be investigated by 80 specialists (neurologists or neurologists/psychiatrists) across Austria. Pramipexole will be taken orally at an initial dosage of 0.375 mg/day (using a three times daily schedule independently of food intake) and can be titrated upwards, as required, at weekly intervals to a maximum total daily dose of 4,5 mg (TID) as per Summary of Product Characteristics (SPC).

The purpose of this research study is to test the usefulness of external magnetic stimulation (EMS) for treating the motor, cognitive, and neuropsychiatric symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD). Participants with Parkinson's disease will be recruited at the PADRECC of the Philadelphia VA Medical Center. Enrolled participants will be randomly assigned to receive either active external magnetic stimulation or fake stimulation. The external magnetic stimulation is delivered by wearing a helmet that is embedded with many small circuits which produce a very small magnetic field around the head. The helmet is to be worn daily for two minutes immediately before bedtime for three months in a row. The helmet is for investigational use only and has not been approved for use by the FDA.

The overall purpose of this research is to learn how Parkinson's disease affects thinking and memory in everyday life. Participation will involve thinking tests, questionnaires and interviews about thinking and activities in everyday life.

The purpose of this study is to develop a task to measure executive thinking skills that can be performed in a laboratory setting, but has clear parallels to the thinking demands of real life situations, and can be administered to patients such as those with Parkinson's who have difficulty moving.

The purpose of this study is to examine whether scores on questionnaires that rate how much Parkinson's Disease (PD) has slowed movements of the body differ when the order of the questions are changed. The consistency and accuracy of the questionnaires will also be examined. It is hypothesized that there will not be a difference.

The study is designed to collect data regarding the clinical course and outcome of patients suffering from memory disorders. Visits are charged to the individual's insurance inclusive of Medicare. Patients benefit from expert evaluation and treatment recommendations. Participants may be eligible for participation in experimental treatments in the future.

The purpose of the study is to determine the sensitivity and specificity of transcranial duplex scanning (TCD) and single photon emission computer tomography (SPECT) in patients suspected of having Idiopathic Parkinson Disease (PD) or Atypical Parkinson Syndromes (APS) with as golden standard the clinical diagnosis after 2-year follow-up.

This study will compare brain changes in people with Parkinson's disease with those of normal control subjects while they learn motor skills. People with Parkinson's disease sometimes have trouble learning new skills, but it is not known why. This study will use repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), nerve conduction studies, and electroencephaolography (EEG) to look for differences in the way the brain changes with learning in people with Parkinson's disease. Healthy normal volunteers and people with Parkinson's disease who are between 21 and 80 years of age may be eligible for this study. Participants undergo the following procedures in five visits to the NIH Clinical Center: Visit 1 Medical and neurological examination. Visit 2 Motor training. Participants perform a pinching movement once every other second, timed to a metronome, during rTMS. For TMS, a wire coil is held on the subject's scalp. A brief electrical current is passed through the coil, creating a magnetic pulse that stimulates the brain. The subject hears a click and may feel a pulling sensation on the skin under the coil. There may be a twitch in the muscles of the face, arm or leg. rTMS involves repeated magnetic pulses delivered in short bursts of impulses. Visits 3 and 4 Brain physiology studies using rTMS, nerve conduction studies (electrical nerve stimulation) and EEG. A nerve at the subject's wrist is stimulated with electrical impulses to measure the speed with which nerves conduct electrical impulses and the strength of the connection between the nerve and the muscle. rTMS is performed for 20 minutes. The EEG measures the electrical activity of the brain (brain waves). For this test, electrodes (metal discs) are placed on the scalp with a conductive gel and the brain waves are recorded while the subject moves his or her thumb briskly for 20 minutes. Visit 5 Subjects undergo rTMS for 20 minutes and have an EEG. ...

This study will examine how the brain chemical dopamine affects memory, reasoning, and other thought processes in people with Parkinson's disease with and without dementia and in healthy control subjects. Healthy normal volunteers and people with Parkinson's disease who are between 40 and 85 years of age may be eligible for this study. Pregnant women with Parkinson's disease and breastfeeding normal volunteers are excluded. Candidates are screened with a physical and neurological examination, blood tests, a brief mental test called the Mini Mental Status Examination, and other tests designed to assess memory, learning, reasoning, and other thought processes. Patients with Parkinson's disease also undergo a more thorough mental evaluation called the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale. The study requires about 15 hours over 4 or 5 outpatient visits to NIH. Participants undergo two positron emission tomography (PET) scans on two separate days and a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan, as follows: PET Scans The two PET procedures are done the same way, except one uses a radioactive tracer called [(18)F]DOPA and one uses a tracer called [(11)C]NNC-112. A catheter (small plastic tube) is placed in a vein in the subject's arm for injection of the tracer. The subject lies on the scanner bed and a special mask is fitted to his or her head to hold it in place during the procedure. Just before injecting the tracer, a 10-minute "transmission scan" is done of the head using a tracer called (68)Ge. Then, a series of scans using one of the two study tracers ([(18)F]DOPA or [(11)C]NNC-112 are done for about 90 minutes. About 1 hour before injection of the [(18)F]DOPA tracer, subjects take 200 mg of the drug carbidopa by mouth to help the tracer work properly. Blood pressure, breathing and heart are monitored before and after injection of the [(11)C]NNC-112 tracer. Patients with Parkinson's disease are taken off all Parkinson's medications the night before the [(18)F]DOPA scan and their motor function is tested the following morning before the scans are done, using the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale. Patients can resume all medications except L-DOPA (including Sinemet) after the movement test, and they can resume L-DOPA after the PET scan is finished. MRI Scan MRI uses a strong magnetic field and radio waves to obtain images of the brain. The subject lies still on a table that slides inside the scanner, a metal cylinder. They wear ear plugs to muffle loud knocking sounds that occur during the scanning and can communicate with the MRI staff at any time through an intercom.

Parkinson's disease is a frequent neurodegenerative disorder. Genetic forms of the disease have been recently identified. The monogenic form due to parkin mutation is responsible for many familial cases and sporadic forms. However, the relationship between the mutation and the genotype of patients is not fully established. The aim of this study is to compare clinical, metabolic and neuropsychological characteristics obtained in patients with parkin mutation with those of patients without parkin mutation.