Medication Responsiveness in Parkinson's Disease
Parkinson DiseaseMedication Compliance2 moreUp till now, dopaminergic replacement is considered as the gold standard for the symptomatic treatment of motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease (PD). However, the intake, especially higher doses when taken for a longer duration, are associated with several side effects including response fluctuations. These fluctuations in medication response are often characterized by a wearing-OFF period, also defined as the recurrence of PD symptoms before a patient should take the next dose of medication. The duration of test sessions during research experiments (e.g. in the field of rehabilitation) can interfere with the period of the optimal therapeutic effect of dopaminergic medication, influencing outcomes of a study. Therefore, the objective of this project is to get more insight in the measurability of ON-OFF fluctuations by testing the applicability of a short and simple timed tapping task (TTT) on a smartphone in rehabilitation research studies. The assessment can be useful for future clinical studies in PD where a precise estimation of medication is indispensable for accurate research outcomes.
Comparison of Sensory Cuing Modalities for Freezing of Gait
Parkinson DiseaseThe investigators intend to compare the effects on the resolution of visual and auditory sensory cues on the resolution of freezing of gait in patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease.
A Study to Test the Safety, Tolerability, and Blood Levels of UCB0022 in Healthy Participants and...
Healthy Study ParticipantsParkinson's DiseaseThe purpose of the study is to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetic (PK) of UCB0022 and food effect.
The WalkingTall Study: Comparing WalkingTall With Parkinson's Disease (WalkingTall-PD) With Mobility-plus...
Parkinson DiseaseThe purpose of this study is to determine and compare the effectiveness of WalkingTall-PD (the new intervention) against Mobility-plus (a PD appropriate exercise program) with respect to stabilizing gait, reducing step-time variability, preventing falls and enhancing independence in people with Parkinson's disease. WalkingTall-PD is a novel neuro-rehabilitation program delivered through a tablet/smart phone and smart socks for people with Parkinson's disease that aims to improve mobility and reduce falls. WalkingTall-PD combines a variety of PD-specific rhythmic stimuli (auditory, visual and haptic cues) which are synchronised with high intensity stepping, walking and balance training. Mobility-plus is a "pseudo placebo" comparator program using non-slip socks, a low intensity paper-based exercise program and health information specific to Parkinson's Disease.
Exploratory Study About the Implementation of Technology in the Rehabilitation
StrokeParkinson Disease3 moreThis qualitative study aims to identify the needs and recommendations of both patients and healthcare professionals in terms of rehabilitation technology, more specific three pre-defined user scenarios. These scenario were developed based on brainstorm sessions with healthcare professionals from the rehabilitation ward of UZ Brussel and AZ Sint-Maria Halle. The purpose of this study is to create an overview of recommendations that will be used to develop the smart devices in a later stage of the SAIRE project.
Validation of Dyskinesia Rating Scales
Parkinson's DiseaseThis study will evaluate the responsiveness of a variety of available dyskinesia rating scales to treatment with amantadine or placebo in Parkinson's disease patients with dyskinesia. The study will be a parallel, double-blind, randomized trial of 68 patients treated with amantadine or placebo for 8 weeks. Pre-treatment evaluations will be performed and compared to end of study evaluations on the best treatment dose (200 or 300 mg amantadine or matching placebo) daily. Safety evaluations will be conducted. The responsiveness of the different scales will be evaluated statistically with a mixed model in which changes in the outcome measures over time will include a fixed effect of treatment group assignment. The model will additionally account for random effects of intercepts (the scale scores at baseline) that will include both random variation (person-specific) and specific variation associated with rate of change in outcome. The investigators may include adjustments for possible confounding covariates, including baseline demographics and center. The goal of the program is to provide researchers with the best scale(s) to distinguish dyskinesia change in Parkinson's disease (PD) associated with amantadine in comparison to placebo and to establish the magnitude of effect achievable with amantadine as a comparator "gold standard" that must be met or surpassed by future anti-dyskinetic agents. Additionally, with the use of paper and pencil questionnaires, the study will investigate the impact of patient optimism and patient and rater expectation of positive effects on the dyskinesia rating outcomes.
Apomorphine Effect on Nociceptive Perception in Parkinson's: a Clinical and Imaging Study
Parkinson's DiseasePatients suffering from Parkinson's disease (PD) frequently experienced painful sensations. We suppose that painful symptoms could be related to the neurotransmitter deficit of PD. So, we would like to evaluate the involvement of dopaminergic system in nociceptive processing in PD patients. The objectives of this study is to assess and to compare the effect of a dopamine agonist administration on the nociceptive threshold and on the cerebral activity using positrons emission tomography (PET scan) in two groups of PD patients (in 16 painful PD patients and in 16 pain free PD patients). We hypothesise that dopamine agonist could normalise nociceptive threshold and cerebral activity which were both abnormal in PD patients. Moreover, we think that painful PD patients could be more improved by dopamine agonist than pain free PD patients.
Integrated Multidisciplinary Care for Parkinson's Disease: a Controlled Trial
Parkinson's DiseaseThe aim of the present study is to evaluate the (cost) effectiveness of a new health care system in which an individualised multidisciplinary assessment is given to patients with Parkinson's Disease(PD)in combination with treatment by a dedicated team of specifically trained health professionals, compared to usual care. Overall, we anticipate to gain more insight in the clinical effectiveness and health care costs of multidisciplinary treatment in PD.
D-serine Adjuvant Treatment for Parkinson's Disease
Parkinson's DiseaseThe proposed experiment will evaluate the effects of the NMDA receptor full agonist D-serine (~2g/day) on persistent symptoms of Parkinson's Disease and on antiparkinsonian drugs-induced dyskinesias. D-serine will be used as add-on therapy to on-going medications received by Parkinson's Disease patients. The rational for this study stems from observations made in pervious clinical trials with schizophrenia patients, in which it was demonstrated that D-serine adjuvant treatment resulted in:1)improvement of parkinsonian side effects induced by antipsychotic drugs and 2) improvement of depression and negative (i.e apathy, blunted effects, anhedonia) symptoms which are similar to symptoms encountered in Parkinson's Disease. The study will have a crossover design in accordance to which each patient will receive, in random order D-serine and placebo for a 6 weeks period each. Thus, any participant will have the opportunity to receive the experimental treatment.
Effectiveness, Tolerability and Safety of Rasagiline in Early Parkinson's Disease Patients Not Treated...
Parkinson's DiseaseStudy to look at the effectiveness, tolerability and safety of two doses of Study Medication in Early Parkinson's Disease (PD) Patients who have not been treated with Levodopa.