Active clinical trials for "Parkinson Disease"

Historically, participation in clinical studies is highly skewed towards particular demographic groups of people. This study will invite several participants to gather a wide range of information on clinical trial experiences for Parkinson's Disease patients. The aim of the study is to identify the factors that limit the ability of a person to enroll in, as well as complete a clinical trial for treatment of Parkinson's Disease. The data collected from this study will help improve future outcomes for all Parkinson's Disease patients as well as those in under-represented demographic groups.

Parkinson's disease is a common progressive degenerative disease affecting 3% of all patients over the age of 65. Given their age and frailty, these patients frequently require surgical procedures with general anesthesia. However, after surgery, patients with Parkinson's disease have longer hospital stays and a greater chance of not returning to independent living compared to age-matched controls (Berman MF, unpublished data). In part, this is due to a higher rate of post-operative delirium, which had an incidence of 60% in this population in one study. There is anecdotal evidence from neurologists specializing in movement disorder suggesting that there is also significant deterioration in parkinsonian motor symptoms and cognition lasting for months or years following surgery and anesthesia. The basis for this deterioration is unknown. We hypothesize that these problems are caused by particular medications used during inhaled anesthesia for surgical procedures.

The role of disorders of socio-emotional processes in cerebral diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, frontal temporal dementia, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, traumatic brain injury, stroke, focal lesions, has been recognized recently. Social cognition refers to a large group of emotional and cognitive abilities regulating inter-individuals relationships and it includes mainly theory of mind, emotional information processing and empathy. However, assessment of socio-emotional processes is still largely based on experimental tests that are not validated for clinical purpose. In addition their long duration of administration is not adapted to clinical examination. Finally these tests have not been standardized and normalized in French-speaking population.

Currently there is one Levodopa inhaler on the market, the INBRIJA® inhaler. When looking at the user instructions for the INBRIJA®, multiple steps are necessary including preparing and cleaning the inhaler. The Levodopa Cyclops™ inhaler also requires steps to be ready-for-use, however there are less steps required to reach this 'ready-for-use' state. This is mainly because the medicine (Levodopa) is already prefilled in the inhaler. Moreover, the Levodopa Cyclops™ is a single-use inhaler and cleaning steps are not necessary. Since both inhalers should be used during off episodes, there might be a preference for one inhaler over the other due to the instructions. An off episode might impair the ability and length to successfully operate an inhaler due to mental or mobility issues. This study investigates if Parkinson patients have a preference for one of the inhalers based on handling steps, ease-of-use, understandability.

Levodopa treatment is associated with long-term complications. Dopamine deficiency is associated with abnormal activity in certain parts of the brain. Zolpidem may change this abnormal activity and, by doing so, may work in a different way than levodopa to help parkinsonism. The working hypothesis for this aim is that ZLP is superior to placebo in acutely improving motor symptoms of PD. The investigators will conduct a randomized,controlled, double-blind, cross-over study in 40 patients with PD. Each patient will receive placebo, levodopa and 2 doses of ZLP in a randomized order on 4 different occasions, about one week apart.

The clinical and pathological similarities between LRRK2 related parkinsonism and idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) indicate that monogenetic LRRK2 parkinsonism may be a paradigm for the development of Lewy bodies disease, and a careful look at discrepancies between these two conditions may provide insight into the pathogenesis of PD. The early involvement of the enteric nervous system (ENS) during PD led to theories that an as yet unidentified external agent entering the ENS causes PD . If lesions of the ENS are found in patients who present with a genetic form of parkinsonism would go against this notion, and thus provide insight to the pathophysiology of the disease.

A randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled study employing a mixed parallel group and fixed sequence cross-over design. Patients will be randomized to one of two treatment groups ('E2007' or 'Placebo') in a 1:1 ratio and receive investigational drug treatment concomitant with their standard individualized anti-Parkinsonian therapy for a total of six weeks. Investigational drug treatment for patients in the E2007 treatment group will be started 2 mg E2007 o.d. but will be escalated to 4 mg E2007 o.d. after three weeks.

The underlying goal of this study is to assess [18F] PBR06 PET imaging as a tool to detect microglial activation in the brain of Alzheimer Disease (AD), Parkinson Disease (PD) and Multiple Sclerosis (MS) research participants.

Gait disorders and falls are frequent in patients with parkinsonian syndromes. In patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), these signs occurred later during the course of the disease in comparison to patients with other degenerative parkinsonian disorders. The pathophysiology of these symptoms are still not fully understood. Gait initiation challenges the balance control system as the body moves from an upright stable static posture to a continuously unstable gait. The aim of this study is to analyse the gait initiation process in patients with parkinsonian disorders.

Parkinson disease (PD) is a progressive neurological disorder strongly linked to advancing age that results in decline in mobility and thinking. Based on prior research, we think that small amounts of inflammation in the brain may contribute to the mobility and thinking problems in people with PD. We are trying to measure inflammation in the brain in order to understand how this inflammation could be contributing to the symptoms of PD. This study involves a brain PET scan with a new, investigational radioactive tracer called [11C]-CS1P1 to identify inflammation in the brain.The goal of this project is to quantify neuroinflammation with [11C]CS1P1 PET and compare to motor and cognitive function in participants with various stages of severity of PD compared to controls.