Active clinical trials for "Motor Neuron Disease"

Patients with motor neurone disease (MND) typically experience relentless motor decline and die within three years of symptom onset from respiratory muscle weakness. There are currently no effective therapies and the discovery of novel therapies is hampered by the lack of a sensitive disease biomarker. Consequently, there is a huge drive to discover novel biomarkers, which can reliably track disease progression over time. These can then be incorporated into clinical drug trials to expedite effective drug discovery. Muscle fasciculations represent the hyperexcitability of diseased motor neurons and are almost universally present from the early stages of MND. The investigators predict that the site, frequency and shape of fasciculations might provide a sensitive measure of disease progression in an individual. In order to calibrate this technique, the investigators will conduct a 12-month longitudinal study, recruiting 24 patients from the King's College Hospital Motor Nerve Clinic, comprising a mixture of patients with MND and those with benign fasciculation syndrome. Patients in this latter group have fasciculations but do not develop weakness and have normal lifespans. They are therefore an optimal control group. At each visit, the investigators will take resting HDSEMG recordings from all four limbs and perform standard clinical measures of disease progression. The investigators will also monitor the decline in motor unit number using a newly validated neurophysiological technique, called Motor Unit Number Index (MUNIX).

The psychological impact of ALS on both patients and caregivers is high and affects their quality of life (QOL). However, there is minimal research about psychological interventions to improve QOL in the ALS scientific literature. Recent advances in clinical treatments aimed at improving the health of people with chronic disorders are based on the concept of mindfulness. Mindfulness can be defined as a flexible state of mind resulting from the simple act of actively noticing new things, as opposed to mindlessness, the human tendency to operate on" autopilot". Preliminary data suggests that mindfulness may promote a better QOL for people with ALS and their caregivers. The investigators also found that a mindful attitude was associated with slower disease progression. This project's goal is to develop an innovative, web-based online mindfulness training program and intervention, customized for people with ALS and their primary caregivers. It is an active learning intervention, with cognitive exercises and lectures that increase participants' mindfulness. The efficacy of this program for improving QOL, and for reducing anxiety and depression in people with ALS and their caregivers, will be tested with a randomized clinical trial. Assessments immediately post-treatment as well as 3 and 6 months after recruitment will be conducted, comparing subjects undergoing the mindfulness intervention to a control group.

This is a prospective investigation of the effects of Laughter therapy (LT) on perceived stress, self-efficacy, mood and other wellness measures in people with the following neurological conditions: Alzheimer's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, brain injury, Huntington's Disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's Disease, post-stroke, spinal cord injury.

Our objective in the proposed project is to: (a) operationalize and determine the feasibility and acceptability of a trial where clinic multi-disciplinary clinic (MDC) visits are audio/video recorded and shared with patients with ALS and their caregivers; (b) gather preliminary data examining the impact of routinely adding audio/video recordings of clinic visits to UC on self-management ability and other behavioral, health and health services outcomes at baseline (T0) and other regular interviews from enrollment (T1= 1 Week, T2= 3 Months); and (c) identify factors pertinent to the acceptability of our study protocol and the audio/video recording of visits.

To evaluate the pharmacokinetics of single doses of edaravone oral suspension in Patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

To evaluate the pharmacokinetics of single doses of edaravone oral suspension in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Patients with gastrostomy

Abstract: Context/background: people affected by Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) see their own life totally disturbed after the diagnosis. This disease also courses, apart from the functional and depressing worsening, with internal damage manifested by a cardio respiratory deterioration. There are not many clinical studies publications about this disease given that is considered a weird illness with short prognosis. Objectives: to examine the effects of the inspiratory muscle training (IMT) on respiratory muscle strength, heart rate variability (HRV), quality of life and mood in patients with ALS. Methods: 20 volunteer patients, male and female, with ALS, bulbar or spinal will take part of the cuasi-experimental study and they will be divided into two groups: an experimental group (n = 10) and a control group (n = 10). The Maximum Inspiratory Pressure (PIM), the HRV, the quality of life and mood will be measured. The participants of experimental group will conduct 30 inspirations per day, 15 in the morning and 15 in the evening, 5 days per week, through 8 weeks. The resistance of the training in the experimental group will be increase acording to the PIM measured at the first visit. During the first week, the resistance will be at 30% of PImax, weeks 2 and 3 at 40%, weeks 4 and 5 at 50% and the last 3 weeks at 60%. After 8 weeks, all participants will fill up again all scales and post training measurements will be taken.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a disease that causes the death of upper and lower motor neurons. ALS symptoms are characterized by stiffness, muscle twitching, and worsening weakness due to muscle breakdown. Onset of symptoms are typically arm or leg weakness or difficulty speaking or swallowing and gradual development of overall body weakness. The cause is unknown and there is no cure for ALS. Poly MVA was found to substantially lower fatigue and improve quality of life in a pilot study of patients with varied medical disorders. The reduction in fatigue was also observed in a small series of patients enrolled in an open label study for patients with gliomas. In this study, we want to find out more about a dietary supplement, called Poly MVA (also called the study drug in this form), for people with ALS. We want to find out if Poly MVA reduces the symptoms of fatigue and depression when taken daily. The supplement contains vitamins, minerals and amino acids (proteins) and has been used by patients with other medical conditions to help with their fatigue and quality of life.

Rehabilitation interventions such as physical training and neural stimulation after spinal cord injury (SCI) have been shown to increase neural plasticity. However, both physical training and neural stimulation require a large number of repetitions, and the retention of the intervention effects may be fleeting. In this proposal the investigators will test Remote ischemic conditioning (RIC), which has been shown to promote neural plasticity and has practical and theoretical advantages. RIC consists of transiently restricting blood flow to any 'remote' limb using a blood pressure cuff. This induces several of the body's systemic defensive reactions. RIC has been shown to improve motor learning. The investigators propose that RIC alters motor pathway excitability through a combination of systemic increases in plasticity-promoting factors and inhibition of inflammatory factors. The investigators have designed a clinical trial to test this hypothesis in 8 persons with SCI and 8 able-bodied controls. All participants will receive active/sham RIC plus a hand exercise. The investigators will measure effects on blood pressure, motor neuron excitability, and systemic inflammatory markers before and after RIC as well as after hand exercise. Starting July 2021, we will also enroll 5 individuals with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in this study.

The goal is to improve the fundamental knowledge about articulatory motor performance in people with Lou Gehrig's disease (also known as ALS) and Parkinson's disease (PD), in order to develop more sensitive assessments for progressive speech loss, which may lead to the improved timing of speech therapies.