Active clinical trials for "Parkinson Disease"

Treatment resistant motor features, such as postural instability and freezing of gait are common in people with Parkinson's disease and major contributors to morbidity and mortality. This project will use sleep studies, quantitative motor assessments and magnetic resonance imaging to examine the relationship between abnormally increased muscle activity during rapid eye movement sleep and the development and progression of treatment-resistant postural instability and gait disturbances. Specifically, the investigators will test the hypothesis that anticipatory postural adjustments (weight and pressure shifts) during gait initiation are significantly reduced in people with Parkinson's disease who have abnormally elevated muscle activity during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep compared to individuals will Parkinson's disease whose REM sleep muscle activity is normal. In addition, the investigators will test the hypothesis that the level of RSWA at baseline is predictive of measures of motor decline (postural stability and gait) and alterations in the structure and function of locomotor brainstem networks. Since sleep disorders can emerge years before a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease, establishment of a link between sleep and treatment-resistant posture and gait disorders will help identify individuals at risk of developing these disabling motor features of disease.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the added value of PET-CT with [18F]FDOPA tracer for Assessment of the Myocardial Sympathetic Denervation in patients with or suspected with Parkinson's disease. The investigators expect to see normal values of uptake ratio of [18F]FDOPA , in patients with no synuclein underline pathology or previously known cardiovascular disease (no history of high blood pressure or take medications that influence the sympathetic system- exclusion criteria). Low values of uptake ratio is presumed to be found in patients diagnosed with Parkinson's disease or other synuclein pathology. The expected normal ratio of Heart/liver uptake values will be determined from scans of patients refered to [18F]FDOPA scan and were found to have normal [18F]FDOPA scan of the basal ganglia and no cardiovascular diseases.

This is an open-label, postmarketing, observational study to document health outcomes, in Canadian patients with advanced Parkinson's disease and long-term treatment with Duodopa (levodopa/carbidopa intestinal gel).

In previous work, the investigators analyzed the concentration of gut-derived peptides (ghrelin, pancreatic polypeptide [PP]) in serum of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). The investigators have shown that the secretion pattern differs between PD patients and controls. Beside ghrelin and pancreatic polypeptide other gut-derived peptides (e.g. Glucagon-like-Peptide 1[GLP-1], Amylin, etc.) might be relevant for PD as well. The rational to investigate gut-derived peptides in the neurological disorder Parkinson's disease (PD) is based on the following considerations: Receptors for gut-derived peptides are expressed in Central Nervous System (CNS) structures that are affected by the neurodegenerative process underlying Parkinson's disease Gut-derived peptides are involved in the modulation of higher brain functions (mood, cognition, reward-related behaviour) that are frequently altered in Parkinson's disease. The secretion of gut peptides is (co-)regulated by the vagal nerve that is dysfunctional in Parkinson's disease. Certain gut-derived peptides (ghrelin, GLP-1) stimulate neurogenesis and might be able to prevent cell death in neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson's disease. Objective: Collection of CSF and serum samples in a standardized way in order to quantitatively measure the concentration of gut-derived peptides (ghrelin, leptin, glucose-dependent insulinotropic peptide [GIP], GLP-1, amylin, PP, peptide YY [PYY], and insulin). Scientific questions: Do CSF (and serum) concentrations of these gut peptides differ between PD patients and controls? Do CSF (and serum) concentrations of the investigated peptides correlate with clinical and / or epidemiological characteristics of the investigated subjects (age, gender, BMI, disease duration, severity of motor impairments, presence of non-motor symptoms, co-morbidities, medication, etc.)?

The study population will include 100 parkinsonian patients in early stage of disease, with total duration not exeeding 5 years. The patients will undergo neurologic examination and evaluation of disease severity using the unified PD rating scale. Subsequently a brain SPECT will be performed using Tc-99m-Trodat1.

The study objective is to evaluate advantages and disadvantages of Neupro® versus oral anti-Parkinson medication by caregivers and physicians in idiopathic Parkinson's Disease patients requiring caregiver support in nursing home or outpatient care settings.

To observe and analyze the correlation between Single Nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and the incidence of Parkinson's disease in Taiwanese.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most prevalent neurodegenerative disease. The investigators clinical experience showed a trend of delayed emergence among patients undergoing deep brain stimulator (DBS) implantation and pulse generator placement under general anesthesia. Abnormal pharmacodynamics might be present among these patients, which had never been investigated.

The purpose of this study is to examine if a correlation exists between findings from brain imaging studies of the status of the dopamine system in the brain using DaTscan and SPECT imaging, clinical symptoms of Parkinson's disease, and changes in the structure of the retina as detected by optical coherence tomography (OCT) in recently diagnosed and more advanced Parkinson's disease patients.

Cardiovascular (CV) disease is a common comorbidity of Parkinson's disease (PD). The background incidence rate of CV events in a levodopa-treated PD population was assessed to better understand these comorbidities in the PD population. One objective of the study is to identify a population of prevalent PD patients with incident levodopa use within the years 2004-2010 on the Integrated Health Care Information Services (IHCIS) database. The second objective is to report the incidence of CV events overall and during intervals 0-6, 6-12 and 12-18 months after first prescription of levodopa among all new levodopa users.