Active clinical trials for "Parkinson Disease"

This study will examine the effects of lithium aspartate 30-45mg/day on MRI biomarkers and blood-based therapeutic targets among 15 early-stage Parkinson's disease patients.

The research team aims to provide evidence of Parkinsonian (PD) Stutter management by addressing the primary neurological issue in this disorder using Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS). The team proposes to perform unilateral DBS on 3 patients with PD stutter refractory to intensive speech therapy, to determine a response in their PD stutter. The assessments will be double-blinded. The investigators will use the outcome of this case series to determine the feasibility and details of a larger randomized controlled trial.

This protocol will leverage the novel (on-label, FDA-approved) local field potential measuring capability of the Medtronic Percept™ PC DBS system to study the effects of globus pallidus internus and globus pallidus externus (GPi, GPe) DBS on: the wash-out and wash-in dynamics of motor behavior and local field potentials (LFPs) and correlations between fluctuations in gait and LFPs during activities of daily living (recorded over 4 weeks). These experiments will elucidate the relationships between GP LFPs oscillations, lower limb function, postural control and gait performance.

This project aims to investigate the practicality and utility of home-based high-intensity interval training (HIIT) by undertaking a previously developed, novel home-based HIIT intervention for people with Parkinson's (PwP).

Pain is an increasingly recognized non-motor symptom of Parkinson's disease (PD), with significant prevalence and negative impact on the quality of life of patients. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of the primary motor cortex（M1）has been proposed to provide definite analgesic effect for pain syndromes. However, very few placebo-controlled studies have been performed specifically to relieve pain in PD. What's more, based on behavioral measures alone, it is impossible to reveal the full network dynamics reflecting the impact of TMS. Electroencephalography (EEG), with high temporal resolution, records signal that its origin in electrical neural activity, which makes it suitable for measuring TMS-evoked activation. By recording the TMS induced neuronal activation directly from the cortex, TMS-EEG provides information on the excitability, effective connectivity of cortical area, thus exploring cortical network properties in different functional brain states. In addition, the use of EEG offers great prospects as a tool to select the right patients in order to achieve adequate, long-term pain relief. Besides assessing the efficacy and safety of high-frequency neuronavigated M1-rTMS in PD patients with musculoskeletal pain, the objective of this study additionally aimed to characterize cortical activation behind pain relief. Influence on motor and other non-motor symptoms after rTMS were also investigated.

Under a grant from the Department of Defense's PD program, Dr. Morley's is investigating new approaches that 1) use "gamification"- applying rules of games like point scoring, achieving silver, gold or platinum levels and competition-- to increase physical activity in PD; 2) identify whether certain PD patient respond differently to gamification interventions than others.; 3) use readily and commercially available (including Fitbits) digital health technologies to perform all study activities remotely and enable a "touchless" study where patients don't have to come in person for any studies visits. The study is underway and actively recruiting.

Background: Falls are common in elderly individuals and those with neurological conditions like Parkinson's disease. Parkinson's disease causes postural instability and mobility issues that lead to falls and reduced quality of life. The fear of falling (FoF), a natural response to unstable balance, can exacerbate postural control problems. However, evaluating FoF relies primarily on subjective self-reports due to a lack of objective assessment methods. Objectives: This mixed-methods feasibility study aims to develop an objective method for assessing fear of falling during motion and walking using virtual reality. This protocol examines a range of FoF-related responses, including cognitive, neuromuscular, and postural stability factors. Methods: Parkinson's disease patients and healthy controls will complete questionnaires, movement tasks, and walking assessments in real and virtual environments where FoF can be elicited using virtual reality (VR) technology. Data from center-of-pressure measurements, electromyography, heart rate monitoring, motion capture, and usability metrics will evaluate the method's acceptability and safety. Semi-structured interviews will gather participants' and researchers' experiences of the protocol. Discussion: This method may allow accurate assessment of how FoF impacts movement by measuring cognitive, neuromuscular, and postural responses during gait and motion. Virtual environments reproduce real-life scenarios that trigger FoF. Rigorously assessing FoF with this approach could demonstrate its ability to quantify the effects of FoF on movement. Conclusions: This protocol aims to improve FoF assessment by evaluating multiple responses during movement in virtual environments. It addresses current measures' limitations. A feasibility study will identify areas for improvement specific to Parkinson's disease. Successful validation could transform how FoF is evaluated and managed.

Propofol is a short-acting general anesthetic drug commonly used in clinical practice, with rapid clinical onset of action, amnesic, anxiolytic, antiepileptic, and muscle relaxant effects. The lack of natural antioxidants in patients with Parkinson's disease and propofol's ability to protect the brain by inhibiting oxidative stress, its pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties make propofol a suitable anesthetic drug for functional stereotactic surgery in patients with Parkinson's disease. However, changes in brain functional status during propofol anesthesia in Parkinson's patients are unknown. There is a lack of data from extensive clinical studies to support the need for propofol dosing during induction of anesthesia compared with non-Parkinson patients. This study is a prospective cohort study designed to compare the differences in propofol dosing requirements during induction of propofol anesthesia in patients with PD versus non-PD and to monitor the characteristics of altered brain functional status such as EEG and cerebral blood flow autoregulation capacity in PD versus non-PD patients during the perioperative period.

In this study, we plan to have Parkinson's patients perform exercises according to the task-oriented training method. Since recent studies have suggested that task-oriented training should be organized as a series of workstations that allow for more intensive practice, each of them has a program content implemented in the form of a station. The program will be implemented in 11 different stations with 3 minutes and a 1-minute break at each station, 3 days a week for 8 weeks under the supervision and guidance of a physiotherapist. The task-oriented training program will be carried out by applying the above-mentioned exercises in the form of stations sequentially within a certain period of time. For all exercises, the intensity perceived by the individuals will be ensured to be 12-15 points of perceived exertion according to the Borg Perceived Exertion Scale. In this way, the exercise program can be easily individualized according to the person's pain, complaints, and functional status. In our study, after the task-oriented approach, foam roller application and myofascial release will be applied at the end of each session. Foam roller application; C7-T1 and posterior neck region, thoracic spine, lumbar spine, and right and left sides of the thoracolumbar spine will be applied with a foam roller, which is a myofascial release device, in each session. Each application area will be applied in 3 sets of 60 seconds of application and 30 seconds of rest. The intensity of the pressure for the intensity of the application will be subjectively controlled with a target numeric rating scale rating of 7/10 (0 represents no discomfort and 10 represents maximum discomfort). In the sham group, similar to the literature, the intensity of the application will be applied in accordance with the 0/10 numeric rating scale, at the same application sites, for the same duration and the same rest intervals. Within the scope of our study, participants' gait, balance, rotation time, range of motion, level of achievement of the treatment goal, quality of life and trunk impairment will be evaluated at the beginning of the study and at the end of 8 weeks.

Many patients with Parkinson's Disease (PD) report an increased consumption of fast-acting sugars. This tendency to consume sweet, high-sugar foods occurs in some patients even before the onset of cardinal motor symptoms. Some recent studies have demonstrated that PD patients have an increased consumption of fast-acting carbohydrates compared to healthy controls. However, the reason for this change in eating behavior has not yet been adequately explained. It is discussed that the increased sugar intake leads to an increased dopamine release in the brain via an increase in insulin and thus to an improvement in clinical symptoms. This study investigates the influence of fast-acting carbohydrates on insulin and glucose blood levels as well as motor and non-motor symptoms in patients with PD using an oral glucose tolerance test and a placebo oral glucose tolerance test in a crossover design.