Active clinical trials for "Muscular Dystrophies"

Background: - Muscular dystrophy can affect the muscles used for heart function and breathing. Treatment usually involves drugs that help improve heart function. However, better types of heart imaging studies are needed to improve treatment of heart problems related to muscular dystrophy. Better heart imaging methods are especially needed for children with muscular dystrophy. Researchers want to test different heart imaging methods in children with muscular dystrophy. They will look at cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and standard heart function tests. Objectives: - To develop and test new methods for imaging the heart in children with muscular dystrophy. Eligibility: - Children and adolescents between 8 and 17 years of age who have muscular dystrophy. Design: Participants will be screened with a physical exam and medical history. Participants will provide a blood sample at the start of the study. They will also have heart function tests before having the imaging study. Participants will have a cardiac MRI scan that will last up to 60 minutes. Some tests will require a MRI contrast agent (a drug that helps the image appear more clearly on the scan).

Background: We want to learn more about the relationship between the way families function and how children adapt to having a sibling with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). What we learn will help us design better interventions for families. Objective: To learn more about how families with an individual with DMD function. To learn how siblings adapt in families with an individual with DMD. Eligibility: One parent and one child, age 13-18, from a family where another child has DMD. The parent and the child must be able to read and write English. Design: One parent from each family will complete a survey about how family members communicate and relate with each other. The parent will also answer questions about the behavior of the child without DMD. This survey will take you about 40 minutes to complete. One child from each family, either a boy or a girl, will also complete a survey. This survey asks about how he/she views him/herself. It also asks about how he/she interacts with peers and family members and how he/she behaves. The survey also asks how satisfied he/she is with how his/her family functions. This survey takes about 30 minutes to finish.

The incidence of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is approximately 1 in 3.500 male newborns. During its progression there is loss of mobility, swallowing difficulties and a significant reduction in respiratory capacity. Due to the severity and consequences, is inevitable the need for a caregiver, that normally rely the mother.

Compare systolic function of left ventricle (LV) and right ventricle (VD) by 2D strain evaluation in Duchenne muscular dystrophy children versus a control group.

The objective is to determine whether nebivolol, a beta-blockade drug, can prevent the development of heart disease in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy aged 10 to 15 year-old.

Spinal cord injuries and people with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy or Infant Spinal Muscular Atrophy (ISA) are prone to pain and pressure sores associated with prolonged sitting. For this reason, it is recommended that people with spinal cord injuries release pressure every 15 to 30 minutes and motorized wheelchair users use the electric positioning functions at least 1 minute every hour. The aim is to prevent and/or reduce pain and pressure sores. These devices could help to observe daily the variability of users' pressure maps, their impact on occupational performance, the link with pain and redness and could propose customized adjustments.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a genetic disorder caused by an absence of dystrophin and characterized by progressive muscle degeneration. There is no cure for DMD at present but, there are several strategies under-researched for treatment of DMD such as steroid treatment, gene theraphy, exon skipping, stop codon read through and gene repair, cell theraphy and theraphy with drug that help to produce utrophin protein. The aim of this study is investigate the eficacy of human umblical cord mesenchymal stem cells on DMD and understanding if wild type gene can be transfered to the patient.

The muscular dystrophies (MD) are a group of more than 30 neuromuscular disorders that are characterized by progressive skeletal muscle weakness, defects in muscle proteins and the death of muscle cells and tissue. This study will investigate the use of far infrared radiation for managing muscular dystrophies.

The relentless progressive process of muscular dystrophy requires extraordinary medical, physical, and emotional care with severe consequences for caring parents (increased stress and diminished social, psychological and physical well-being). Despite the obvious need of support for parents only few and weak data exist regarding efficiency and efficacy of specific interventions supporting parental resilience and coping strategies. The presenting study aims to fill this gap by evaluating the efficacy of a structured self-management training for parents of children with severe progressive muscular dystrophy compared to parents receiving treatment as usual (TAU). In addition, investigators measure established biomarkers of psychosocial stress, such as pro-inflammatory cytokines, which will be used to monitor physiological changes with assumed significance for parental health.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a progressive neuromuscular disease for which no curative treatment has yet been identified, making it important to slow progression and improve the quality of life among affected boys and young men. Treatment with corticosteroids is standard of care for patients with DMD five years old and older, due to the robust observation that this intervention lengthens the interval prior to loss of ambulation but is associated with many side effects. This clinical trial will be conducted in the youngest age group able to receive corticosteroids orally and on whom study outcomes are measurable, ages 3 to 7 years. This is a randomized, double blinded, double masked, placebo-controlled clinical trial that will explore whether better synchronization of corticosteroid administration with the circadian rhythm will provide improved tolerability and at least comparable efficacy to current standards in which corticosteroids are always given in the morning. Furthermore, the trial provides a unique opportunity to rigorously evaluate corticosteroid effects in the young DMD patient, both for efficacy as compared to placebo and as a study of the impact of corticosteroid chronotherapy, or delayed release, on increased tolerability over standard therapy. The main hypothesis is that synchronization of the timing of corticosteroid dosing will improve medication tolerability in children, while maintaining (non-inferiority) the efficacy of corticosteroid. The study also offers a unique opportunity to measure several biomarkers as well as novel genetic modifiers that may further impact the response to corticosteroid in DMD.