Active clinical trials for "Depressive Disorder"

This is an open-label dosing pilot study of 15 patients aged 18-50 years of age with diagnoses of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) randomized to 1 of 3 treatment arms. The study will consist of a screening evaluation performed within the course of 2 weeks, followed by an active treatment period of 28 days where treatment arm 1 will take a supervised dose of 300mg DXM every 14 days for 28 days, treatment arm 2 will take the FDA approved maximum daily ingestion for cough (60mg DXM) daily for 28 days, and treatment arm 3 will take 1 supervised dose of 300mg DXM and 60mg for the remaining 28 days. After the active treatment period, subjects will be followed for 65 days with safety and psychiatric assessments at designated timepoints.

Deficits in cognitive control are core features of late-life depression, contributing both to emotion dysregulation and problems with inhibiting irrelevant information, conflict detection, and working memory. Clinically characterized as executive dysfunction, these deficits are associated with poor response to antidepressants and higher levels of disability. Improvement of cognitive control network (CCN) dysfunction may benefit both mood and cognitive performance, however no current pharmacotherapy improves CCN deficits in LLD. Supported by pilot data, Investigators propose that nicotine acetylcholine receptor agonists enhance CCN function and resultantly improve mood and cognitive performance in late-life depression. The objective of this initial R61-phase trial is to first determine whether transdermal nicotine enhances CCN neural activity in an exposure-dependent fashion during an emotional response inhibition task (the emotional Stroop task). Investigator's approach for the R61 phase is to examine in 36 older adults with Major Depressive Disorder whether transdermal nicotine patches enhance CCN activity over 12 weeks as measured during fMRI with the emotional Stroop task while measuring nicotine and nicotine metabolite levels. Transdermal nicotine has a mechanism of action that is distinct from current antidepressants, potentially making it a potentially important antidepressant augmentation agent. If hypotheses are correct, as patches are commercially available, this approach could be rapidly moved into definitive studies and may have applicability to other psychiatric disorders characterized by CCN dysfunction.

This study will investigate whether seven days administration of the serotonin receptor subtype 4 (5-HT4) partial agonist prucalopride has effects on emotional processing and neural activity in healthy volunteers, compared to placebo administration. Using an experimental medicine approach, the effects of prucalopride on cognitive biomarkers of antidepressant action will be characterised. In a double-blind design, participants will be randomised to receive seven days administration of either prucalopride (1mg daily) or placebo. All participants will come for a Screening visit, Research Visit One (including an MRI scan) and Research Visit Two (including measures of emotional processing and non-emotional cognition). The primary study hypothesis is that seven-day prucalopride administration will have positive effects on emotional processing and reward sensitivity. A secondary hypothesis is that seven-day prucalopride administration will alter non-emotional cognition. Finally, the study will test the hypothesis that seven day prucalopride administration will alter neural activity during an emotional faces task and a memory task.

Pregnenolone, an over-the-counter supplement, is a naturally occurring neurosteroid made in the adrenal glands and brain. Preclinical research suggests pregnenolone has antidepressant, cognitive enhancing, and neuroprotective properties, particularly in women. The following hypothesis will be tested in this trial: pregnenolone is associated with improvement in depressive symptom severity in women that is associated with changes in the resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) and GABA.

This study carried out in the HD unit of a large-scale training and research hospital, and at a dialysis center associated with this hospital located in Ankara, Turkey. Participants will be randomized to one of two study arms. Arm 1: Intervention group Arm 2: Control group Hypothesis 1. The HD patients in the 8-week intervention of BRT combined with music therapy will report lower fatigue scores than those in the control group. Hypothesis 2. The HD patients in the 8-week intervention of BRT combined with music therapy will perceive lower anxiety and depression than those in the control group.

This study will test whether seven days adjunctive administration of a serotonin receptor subtype 4 (5HT4) agonist called PF-04995274 has positive effects on emotional processing and non-emotional cognition in medicated, treatment-resistant depressed patients compared to placebo.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is an investigational and therapeutic modality that impacts the connection strength between neurons by delivering patterned energy. In response to this patterned energy neurons fire and adapt by changing their connection strengths. This change in connection strengths is believed to be the underlying mechanism whereby this intervention has therapeutic benefit for this intervention in conditions such as depression. The purpose of this study is to test a means of enhancing the effect of rTMS using a medication (cycloserine) that has been shown to augment and stabilize activity dependent neuronal changes. The investigators wish to use the motor system, where the associated muscle response to brain stimulation can be measured, to probe activity dependent changes in connection strength between neurons.

Background: Caesarean delivery rates are quite high, especially in primipara, in Turkey. Fear of birth, low childbirth self-efficacy, and psychological factors may be among the primary causes. Since antenatal educations are not universal and there are differences in educational contents, there is not sufficient evidence on this topic in international studies. Objective: To investigate the effects of antenatal education on birth fear, depression, anxiety, stress, childbirth self-efficacy, and mode of delivery in primiparous pregnant women.

Attaining goals or rewards commonly entails response costs. In light of cost and benefits, how do participants decide what effort should be put in to give it a shot? Figuratively, you may "go with your gut", but the literal contribution of the gut-brain axis in allocating effort is poorly understood to date. Here, the investigators propose to investigate non-invasive transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation (tVNS) as a potential modulator of energy metabolism and response vigor. Since the neural mechanisms causing the diverse cognitive and behavioral effects of the stimulation remain largely elusive, the investigators will use computational modeling of instrumental behavior and determine the primary metabolic effects of the stimulation. The investigators hypothesize that tVNS will lead to activation of afferent targets in the brain. In turn, the elicited brain activation is expected to mediate the cognitive effects of the stimulation. This may affect both sides of the utility equation because anti-depressive effects may correspond to boosting the benefit of effort whereas anti-nociceptive effects may reduce perceived costs of effort. Collectively, dissecting the cognitive effects of non-invasive tVNS in healthy individuals may facilitate the more widespread use as a treatment in mental disorders that are characterized by metabolic alterations such as depression.

This study will evaluate the short term effects of respiratory-gated transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation on the regulation of cardiovagal activity, depressive symptomatology and immune function in subjects with major depression and determine the optimal stimulation frequency for this population.