Active clinical trials for "Paralysis"

Studies have shown that alpha-lipoic acid and L-acetyl carnitine may have some neuroprotective activities and it is hoped that they could be helpful for people with neurodegenerative illnesses such as progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). The purpose of this study is to find out whether the nutritional supplement alpha-lipoic acid/L-acetyl carnitine is safe and well-tolerated in individuals with PSP when given daily, and whether it affects their well-being, brain scan measurements and blood tests that measure the energy metabolism in cells.

The study aims to evaluate evidence-based practice behavior in usual care physical therapy in Flanders. Secondly, it aims to compare the effectiveness of a predefined physical therapy program based on evidence-based guidelines to the effects of a period of usual care. It is hypothesized that supporting therapists by providing a predefined evidence-based intervention program, will result in an improved treatment outcome compared to the usual care physical therapy.

Children with cerebral palsy (CP) have life-long motor disorders and are typically subjected to extensive treatment throughout childhood. Despite this there is a lack of evidence supporting the effectiveness of treatment aiming at improving motor function and activity in daily life. The primary area of interest of this research programme is to determine the effectiveness of an early intervention program in children younger than 12 months of age who are at risk of developing CP. A randomised control trial is planned, addressing hand use, mobility and communication in a home-based program. New treatment principles based on recent knowledge of brain plasticity will be employed. The overarching goal of this research programme is to develop and evaluate new intervention principles for children with neurodevelopmental disorders based upon theories of early learning induced brain plasticity. Our overall aims can be formulated as follows: To evaluate the effects of an early intervention programme on the overall development in children with risk of developing cerebral palsy and other neurodevelopmental disorders. The program includes intensive intervention towards the foci: hand use, mobility and communication in a home based program The hypothesis is that the design of the Small-Step-Program intervention, with clear foci on specific areas of development during different time periods and conducted in the child's home environment, will facilitate development and be more effective than usual care. The second hypothesis is that children learn what they practice, meaning that children will have a more rapid development within the focus of each specific step in the training, when compared to the, for the time being, untrained steps. The third hypothesis is that children's ability to learn within the different steps of the intervention programme will be influenced by the specific characteristics of any underlying brain pathology. The fourth hypothesis is that parents in the study group will be less stressed and can better cope with their child's situation than parents to children receiving usual care. Thus, the tools provided within the Small-Step-Program intervention, like education, supervision and feedback of how to practice communication and task performance will make parents more able to cope with the child's delayed development.

The effect of breathing biofeedback training to influence the function of the cardiac autonomic nervous system at rest and in activity in children with cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy children suffer from a non-progressive damage of the brain. It is the most common injury that causes physical handicapped in childhood. There are a few researches that investigated the autonomic function in cerebral palsy children. Those researches found hyperactivity of the sympathetic autonomic system, including high resting heart rate compare to their typically developed pears. The recommended treatment for cerebral palsy is activity, muscle strengthening and mobility. The impairment in the autonomic system influences the everyday function and has correlation with secondary morbidity. As far as we know there are no researches who investigated the following issues. In this study we would like to: Describe the autonomic cardiac function, Breathing function, motor function and the correlation between them in children with cerebral palsy. Compare the autonomic cardiac function at rest in aerobic test and in diaphragmatic breathing. Test the influence of breathing training on Heart rate variability parameters at rest, in aerobic test right after the breathing training program and one month after, in children with cerebral palsy

Myotonia is a functional limiting symptom where the muscle stiffens on action leading to arrest of movement. Pharmacological treatment may make the difference between a physically restricted and a normal life. Today, patients with myotonia are treated with Mexiletine a medications resulting in adverse events up to 40 % and which very expensive and difficult to obtain. Our clinic has, forced by the above problems related to Mexiletine, treated a few patients with the drug Lamotrigine with pronounced positive effect in all. Lamotrigine belongs to the same category of drugs as Mexiletine but has fewer and milder side effects. Based on the similarities of the 2 drugs in pharmacological action and the positive experiences investigators are convinced that Lamotrigine will show a positive effect if evaluated in a broader scale. Due to the advantages of Lamotrigine compared to Mexiletine investigators find it of outmost importance for patients that this drug is assessed formally to establish Lamotrigine as a treatment choice for myotonia. Investigators believe that this will potentially make a huge difference in life quality for persons with myotonia. Investigators aim at investigating the efficacy and tolerability of Lamotrigine in the treatment of myotonia in a randomized doublet blinded placebo controlled crossover study.

OBJECTIVES: I. Assess the efficacy of dichlorphenamide in the treatment of episodic weakness attacks in patients with hyperkalemic periodic paralysis, paramyotonia congenita with periodic paralysis, and hypokalemic periodic paralysis.

The purpose of this project is to investigate if there is a significant difference in active joint range of motion, questionnaire on gait function and health related quality of life between patients randomized to treatment with Botulinum toxin type A and patients randomized to placebo treatment.

The objective of this study is to determine the efficacy and safety of treatment with intrathecal baclofen for severe spasticity in children with cerebral palsy.

Our primary aim is to determine whether and how muscle architecture of the quadriceps muscles in cerebral palsy (CP) adapts to two separate training programs: traditional strength training (ST) vs. velocity-enhanced training (VT). For the ST group, we hypothesize that muscle size will increase in conjunction with strength. For the VT group, in addition to the above, we hypothesize that fiber length will increase with measures of muscle power. We also hypothesize that walking velocity will improve in both groups but that knee motion and step length will improve only with VT.

Study hypothesis: A 6-week p.o treatment with 5 mg/Kg Coenzyme Q10 is safe and tolerable,increases the brain's metabolism and ameliorates clinical symptoms in patients with PSP.