Clinical Research Directory

Evaluation and Treatment of Neurosurgical Disorders

Objective: This protocol is designed to allow evaluation of participants neurosurgical disorders that receive care within the Surgical Neurology Branch. The participants will receive standard-of-clinical-care evaluation and treatment. The clinical data and samples generated during standard of care treatment will be collected as a part of this study. Study Population: Participants 4 years of age and older with neurosurgical-related conditions seeking care from, or referred to the Surgical Neurology Branch for evaluation are eligible for this protocol. Study Design: This is an observational study. Participants will receive standard-of- clinical-care evaluation and treatment for their neurosurgical condition. Clinical evaluation may include laboratory and radiological studies designed to aid in diagnosis or differential diagnosis of the participant s condition or to facilitate treatment. The evaluations may take place in the outpatient clinic areas or in the inpatient units. Some participants will receive standard-of-care medical or surgical treatment for their disorder. Clinical data, tissue samples or body fluids obtained during standard of care treatment, may be used for research. Additional genetic testing may be performed on subjects and their blood relatives if a genetic mechanism underlying the neurological disorder is suspected. Patients in this study may choose to consent to skin biopsies for research purposes, in which case they will sign an additional consent document for thesethis research procedure. Outcome Measures: No additional research outcome measures will be tracked in this study, as this study is collecting data for potential future use. All outcomes will be those of standard clinical evaluation and treatment. A clinical and research database will be kept of patient s diagnosis, progression, and treatment. Clinical database information may be reported or be used in other studies....

The Neurodevelopmental and Behavioral Phenotyping Screening Protocol

The purpose of this protocol is to allow for the careful evaluation of healthy volunteers and individuals with risk for psychiatric disorders or neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder for specific protocols at NIH....

The Impact of Environmental Controls on Mental Health

Within the UK there are over 15 million people who live with at least one long term condition. Of these people, over 4 million suffer from mental health problems. Environmental control systems are a type of assistive technology that can be controlled by a wide variety of different access methods (e.g. switches) and can assist people with physical disabilities usually with a neurological condition to control various electronic devices in the home environment. The systems are designed to provide independence, removing the requirement to be reliant on other people (for the operation of the controlled devices) and potentially could have a positive effect on mental health and quality of life. The research question for this study is to determine impact of environmental controls on mental health. It is hypothesised that there will be a positive impact on mental health of the participants. The question above will be answered by collecting questionnaire data pre and post intervention. Participants will be identified by Clinical Scientists working in NHS Lothian's Environmental Control Service (ECS). Participants will be recruited from NHS Lothian and so will be living in the Lothian area. The patient will be contacted following the normal protocol for arranging an environmental control assessment, at which point they will be approached to join the study. Participants will answer questions in their home environment both in person and over the phone. The end point of the study will be 14 months from the start date (allowing for follow up data to be collected for anyone recruited towards the end of the 12-month recruitment period.

Real World Outcomes of Intranasal MuSE Exosomes and Stem Cells in Neurological Regenerative Therapy

This prospective observational study collects real world data on participants receiving regenerative therapies administered internationally and delivered intranasally via the Kurve Therapeutics ViaNase device. The study does not assign treatment. Participants are enrolled after receiving, or electing to receive, therapy as part of routine clinical care outside the study. Participants are observed in one of three cohorts based on the therapy received: MuSE cell derived exosomes, MuSE stem cells, or combination therapy. The objective is to evaluate safety, tolerability, and changes in inflammatory biomarkers and clinical outcomes over time in a real world setting. The study also evaluates changes in inflammatory biomarkers, including serum tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), to better understand the biological effects of these therapies.

Reliability and Validity of the PReFS

This study is testing the psychometric properties of a new tool to determine recommendations for pressure relief frequency in wheelchair users.

Characterization of High-Level Cognitive Impairments in Patients With Neuropsychiatric Disorders

Neuropsychiatric disorders are extremely common, severe, and disabling conditions. In the field of psychiatry, they notably include schizophrenia, mood disorders (depressive and bipolar disorders), autism spectrum or neurodevelopmental disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorders, and personality disorders. In the field of neurology, one can cite neurodegenerative diseases (such as Alzheimer's disease, but also frontotemporal dementia or Parkinson's disease, which often represent frequent and challenging differential diagnoses of psychiatric disorders), focal neurological lesions (notably strokes and tumors), or epilepsy. Cognitive impairments are present in nearly all neuropsychiatric disorders and contribute significantly to disability. While impairments in working memory and attention, executive functions, and social cognition have been relatively well studied, other cognitive domains remain largely unexplored in these populations. This is particularly the case for various aspects of motivation, metacognition, conscious access, or causal (Bayesian) inference. Although these domains likely play an important role in prognosis, no consensus currently exists regarding the methods for evaluating these functions. The main objective of this study is to define a multidimensional, transdiagnostic atlas of high-level cognitive impairments-both specific and shared-across severe psychiatric disorders (notably schizophrenia, depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, autism spectrum or neurodevelopmental disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorder) and neurological disorders (notably neurodegenerative diseases, focal neurological lesions, and epilepsy), by comparing them to healthy volunteers. The investigators also aim to investigate the progression of cognitive impairments over time, across different phases of illness (symptom stabilization or exacerbation) or therapeutic intervention, through longitudinal follow-up of patients being monitored within the recruiting center. Finally, in a more exploratory manner, the investigators aim to investigate the neural correlates of the identified cognitive impairments.

Epidemiology of Sleep-Disordered Breathing in Adults

To characterize the natural history and biologic spectrum of sleep disordered breathing (SDB) and other sleep problems and disorders, and test hypotheses regarding the causes and consequences of SDB and other sleep problems and disorders.

Neurologic Stem Cell Treatment Study

This is a human clinical study involving the isolation of autologous bone marrow derived stem cells (BMSC) and transfer to the vascular system and inferior 1/3 of the nasal passages in order to determine if such a treatment will provide improvement in neurologic function for patients with certain neurologic conditions. http://mdstemcells.com/nest/

Mesenchymal Stem Cells for the Treatment of Various Chronic and Acute Conditions

This multi-arm, multi-site study investigates the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of stem cell therapy for the treatment of various acute and chronic conditions. Clinically observed initial findings and an extensive body of research indicate regenerative treatments are both safe and effective for the treatment of multiple conditions.