Active clinical trials for "Parkinson Disease"

The objective of this study is to describe how activation of distinct pathways in and around the subthalamic nucleus (STN) and internal segment of the globus pallidus (GPi) correlate to changes in sleep outcomes in movement disorders patients after deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery targeting these structures.

Synucleinopathies are a group of rare diseases associated with worsening neurological deficits and the abnormal accumulation of the protein α-synuclein in the nervous system. Onset is usually in late adulthood at age 50 or older. Usually, synucleinopathies present clinically with slowness of movement, coordination difficulties or mild cognitive impairment. Development of these features indicates that abnormal alpha-synuclein deposits have destroyed key areas of the brain involved in the control of movement or cognition. Patients with synucleinopathies and signs of CNS-deficits are frequently diagnosed with Parkinson disease (PD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) or multiple system atrophy (MSA). However, accumulation of alpha-synuclein and death of nerve cells can also begin outside the brain in the autonomic nerves. In such cases, syncucleinopathies present first with symptoms of autonomic impairment (unexplained constipation, urinary difficulties, and sexual dysfunction). In rare cases, hypotension on standing (a disorder known as orthostatic hypotension) may be the only clinical finding. This "pre-motor" autonomic stage suggests that the disease process may not yet have spread to the brain. After a variable period of time, but usually within 5-years, most patients with abnormally low blood pressure on standing develop cognitive or motor abnormalities. This stepwise evolution indicates that the disease spreads from the body to the brain. Another indication of this spread is that acting out dreams (i.e., REM sleep behavior disorder, RBD) a problem that occurs when the lower part of the brain is affected, may also be the first noticeable sign of Parkinson disease. The purpose of this study is to document the clinical features and biological markers of patients with synucleinopathies and better understand how these disorders evolve over time. The study will involve following patients diagnosed with a synucleinopathy (PD/DLB and MSA) and those believed to be in the "pre-motor" stage (with isolated autonomic impairment and/or RBD). Through a careful series of follow-up visits to participating Centers, we will focus on finding biological clues that predict which patients will develop motor/cognitive problems and which ones have the resilience to keep the disease at bay preventing spread to the brain. We will also define the natural history of MSA - the most aggressive of the synucleinopathies.

This study is evaluating the use of two painless, non-invasive technologies in the assessment of muscle health over time in both healthy volunteers and patients who have diseases that affect the nervous system.

Cognitive neurodegenerative diseases are a major public health issue. At present, the diagnosis of certainty is still based on anatomopathological analyses. Even if the diagnostic tools available to clinicians have made it possible to improve probabilistic diagnosis during the patient's lifetime, there are still too many diagnostic errors and sub-diagnostic in this field. The arrival of biomarkers has made it possible to reduce these diagnostic errors, which were of the order of 25 to 30%. This high error rate is due to different parameters. These diseases are numerous and often present common symptoms due to the fact that common brain structures are affected. These diseases evolve progressively over several years and their early diagnosis, when the symptoms are discrete, makes them even more difficult to diagnose at this stage. In addition, co-morbidities are common in the elderly, further complicating the diagnosis of these diseases. At present, the only cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers that are routinely used for the biological diagnosis of neurodegenerative cognitive pathologies are those specific to Alzheimer's disease: Aβ42, Aβ40, Tau-total and Phospho-Tau. These biomarkers represent an almost indispensable tool in the diagnosis of dementia. It is therefore important to determine whether Alzheimer's biomarkers can be disrupted in other neurodegenerative cognitive pathologies, but also to find biomarkers specific to these different pathologies by facilitating the implementation of clinical studies which will thus make it possible to improve their diagnosis.

This study is being conducted to better understand the role of inflammation in Parkinson's disease (PD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). The investigators plan to recruit 30 PD, 30 AD/Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI), and 60 age matched healthy controls in this study to study the role of immune response in PD and AD. The study involves up to two study visits involving brief questionnaires and blood draw of up to 250cc (approximately 17 tablespoons) to be collected. More ways to participate, including 1) smaller amount blood donation (up to 100cc per visit for 1-2 visits); and 2) participation via tele-visit and mobile phlebotomy visits (blood donation up to 50cc, ~5 tubes, by a certified mobile phlebotomist at home/location of choice) now available.

Patients with subthalamic nucleus have to go through a lot of examinations and tests, before and after surgery which is difficult, sometimes painful, for the patient. The investigators used to chose the best plot of the leads for stimulation by a procedure long and exhausting for the patient and the examinator. The investigators can chose the plot using a software (Guide Xt), which can delete the exhausting test. The investigators would like to study the non inferiority of this tool to choose the best plot .

Development of a central repository for PD-related genomic data for future research.

This is a non-interventional observational study designed to systematically record the results of routine laryngeal examinations and specific characteristics of dysphagia in patients with multiple system atrophy (MSA), Parkinson's disease (PD) and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and related 4repeat tauopathies. The results of a fiberoptic / flexible endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) while performing a structured task protocol will be recorded. If available, laryngeal electromyography (EMG) results will also be recorded. In addition to the examination results, demographic and disease-specific data are collected, and two questionnaires, the Swallowing Disturbance Questionnaire for Parkinson's Disease (SDQ-PD) and the swallowing specific Quality Of Life Questionnaire (SWALQOL), are administered.

Background: - Researchers are interested in studying individuals who have known or suspected metabolic or genetic diseases that put them at a high risk for heart diseases or diseases of their blood vessels. To improve the results of the study, both affected and nonaffected individuals will be asked to provide blood and other samples and will undergo tests to evaluate heart and lung function. Nonaffected individuals will include relatives of affected individuals and healthy nonrelated volunteers. Objectives: - To study individuals who have or are at risk for cardiovascular diseases, as well as their unaffected relatives and healthy volunteers. Eligibility: - Individuals between 1 and 100 years of age. Participants may be healthy volunteers, individuals with cardiovascular diseases, or unaffected relatives of individuals with cardiovascular diseases. Design: Participants will have some or all of the following tests, as directed by the study researchers: Photography of the face and full body Body measurements Radiography, including chest or limb x-rays Metabolic stress testing to study heart and muscle function Echocardiography to study heart function Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies, including cardiovascular MRI, angiography, and contrast MRI, to study heart function and performance Computed tomography (CT) angiogram to obtain images of the heart and lungs Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging to study possible fat infiltration of the heart Six-minute walk test to study heart, lung, and muscle function and performance Vascular ultrasound to study blood vessel walls Blood, tissue, and other specimens will be collected for research and testing, and will be taken either as part of the clinical study or during surgical procedures. Follow-up studies may be performed under separate research protocols.

The goal of the Speech Accessibility Project at the UIUC Beckman Institute (https://speechaccessibilityproject.beckman.illinois.edu) is to collect, annotate, and curate a shared database of speech samples from people with atypical speech, and share this data set with researchers at other organizations. This two-year project plans to collect 1,200,000 speech samples from 2,000 people, each of whom will provide 600 samples. In Year 1, the initial focus will be people with Parkinson's. In Year 2, four more etiologies of interest will be recruited: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Cerebral Palsy (CP), Down Syndrome (DS), and Stroke. UIUC will build an open-source software infrastructure to collect annotated speech samples and share these data in an appropriately secure fashion with researchers from our partner technology companies (and eventually, other organizations as well) so that they can use these data to improve their automatic speech recognition algorithms. This project promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion by helping technology companies to fully support all types of speech, and it is also more efficient and less burdensome for these specialized patient populations to have one centralized "collector" of speech samples.