Clinical Research Directory

Olfactory Cell Transplantation and Intensive Rehabilitation to Repair Chronic Spinal Cord Injury

This is a randomised, blinded and controlled Phase I trial to measure the safety, feasibility and efficacy of a combined cell transplantation and intensive rehabilitation intervention to treat spinal cord injury. The trial aims to examine whether transplantation of olfactory cell nerve bridges combined with intensive rehabilitation is safe and feasible for people living with chronic spinal cord injury in Australia, and whether the intervention improves structural integrity of the spinal cord, functional recovery, overall health, and social wellbeing. For the olfactory cell nerve bridge transplant, cells from inside the patient's own nose will be purified and engrafted as 3D cellular nerve bridges. Participants will receive a dose that is dependent on the size of the accessible space within the injury site of the spinal cord with up to 60 million cells being engrafted. The surgery for the transplantation will be performed by a neurosurgeon in which the spinal cord will be exposed to enable the nerve bridges to be placed into the injury site. The duration of the procedure will be 3-4 hours. Surgical notes will be used to monitor adherence to the protocol. For intensive exercise rehabilitation, the intervention will be supervised and provided by physiotherapists and exercise physiologists at a for-purpose neurorehabilitation facility. The mode of administration will be one-on-one sessions. The 12- and 32-week rehabilitation programs will consist of up to 3 hours per day at the rehabilitation service providers, for 5 days per week. Participants will attend the provider that is within their geographical area. Over each week, sessions will involve a range and mix of activities which could include, but are not limited to, standing, gait training, upper limb strength, trunk stability/core strength, and aerobic training. Throughout the trial, logs of exercise activities will be completed by the participants and staff at the neurorehabilitation gyms. Rehabilitation will start from day 1 of the priming rehabilitation (PR) program and go for 12 weeks, then surgery and cell transplantation will occur at week 1 of the cell transplantation surgery and recover program which is 2 weeks post conclusion of Priming Rehabilitation (PR), followed by 5 weeks of recovery. Rehabilitation is for 32 weeks starting 6 weeks post transplant surgery. Regenerative rehabilitation program is from weeks 1-32 of the regenerative rehabilitation (RR) program. If nerve bridge production fails for whatever reason in the weeks prior to surgery, this will start an extension/contingency/alternative timeline, where a new nasal biopsy will need to be taken from the participant (along with accompanying tests). The cells will be grown up over the next 4 weeks with an additional week of nerve bridge production, while the participant engages in a further five weeks of priming rehabilitation.

IAMABLE: Implementation and Evaluation of an App for Evidence-Based Self-Management Rehabilitation Strategies

Background: As the population gets older, a rise in chronic conditions has resulted in increased demand for rehabilitation. We developed a web-based app called IAMABLE (I am able), to share evidence-based rehabilitation strategies with people with chronic conditions. Our project will guide us to test this app's effectiveness and explore the ways that people use it. Goals, Methods, Approach: This pilot randomized controlled trial will offer people receiving the intervention access and use of the IAMABLE app for 4 months. People in the comparison group will have access to general web-based health information. We will recruit 50 people, 45 to 75 years, with at least one chronic condition; we will advertise in five communities (Hamilton, Kingston, London, Halifax, Winnipeg) to evaluate feasibility of the study design. Patients, therapists and app experts will be an expert group to study how the app encourages people to start and continue to use it. We will use patient-reported measures to determine if the people in the IAMABLE group experience better function; quality of life, mobility, participation, self management, pain, health service use, and falls are secondary outcomes. We will measure outcomes at baseline, 4 and 8 months. Research Team: Our team is led by researchers with experience in rehabilitation and chronic disease management, including testing technology innovations. Patient advisors will support the project, along with co-investigators with expertise in statistics, technology, and rehabilitation research. Expected Outcomes: This research has the potential to prove how a web-based app can deliver occupational therapy and physiotherapy to support health and well being for people with chronic conditions. After this study, we plan a larger trial that will focus on effectiveness and address sustained use. IAMABLE will become a resource for people with chronic illnesses to support their independent self-management with rehabilitation strategies.

Neurosciences Research Repository

In order to expand neuroscience research and move laboratory advances to patients, there is a need to integrate reliable clinical data with biologic information from patient tissue specimens. The Neuroscience Research Repository (NRR) seeks to meet this need. The NRR is a prospective database and sample bank created to collect information and samples for current and future neuroscience research. The objective of this NRR is to develop a data and sample repository for study of neurological conditions. A repository utilizing standardized electronic health data and samples collected in a uniform manner serves to foster the ability to perform research on current and future projects. Samples and data for clinical, genomic and proteomic analysis will be provided to optimize their value for neuroscience research. The NRR will enroll patients and collect clinically recorded longitudinal data for as long as they are followed by the Neurosurgery service and up to an additional 5 years after being released from care. Patients will be enrolled on admission to the service and samples will be taken at three time points: Time One, within 24 hours of event (preferably first blood draw); Time Two, within 48 hours of event; and Time Three, time of any residual tissue availability. Family members of select groups of patients will also be approached for enrollment. Samples and data will be labeled with a study code to maintain confidentiality. Samples and data will be maintained in secure, limited access environments with back-up/redundancy procedures in place. Sample inventory will be maintained with a bar-coding system. A duty to warn clause will be included in the consent as will the determination of willingness to be re-contacted for future research. Time of sample acquisition to time of sample processing will be documented for quality control purposes. Freezers will be monitored for temperature stability. Recipient investigators will be requested to provide feedback on sample quality. Samples will be distributed to neuroscience investigators after approval from the Neurosurgery Scientific Review Committee - Dissemination Review Committee and the Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects (CPHS).

Impact of WBC on Patients With Metabolic or Neurological Diseases or Fibromyalgia (WBC-MeNeFi)

The purpose of this clinical trial is to investigate on different types of patients the effects of 10 sessions of whole-body cryostimulation (WBC): 1) in patients with obesity (BMI \> 30), we want to investigate whether WBC increases thermogenesis, basal metabolic rate (BMR), respiratory quotient (which indirectly provides an estimate of energy substrate oxidation), reduces chronic inflammatory status, fatigue and pain, and improves functional abilities and general physical and psychological capacities; 2) in patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia and/or osteoarthrytis, we want to investigate the reduction of pain, inflammatory status, increase in functional capacity and general physical and psychological abilities, and improvement in mood; 3) in neurological patients diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, Multiple Sclerosis, and Disimmune Polyneuropathies, the effects of WBC on pain, fatigue, and sleep quality are to be investigated; 4) in normal/overweight (BMI\<30 kg/m2) subjects, the effects of WBC on all parameters described previously for the other protocols are to be investigated. Specifically, for all enrolled subjects, we want to assess blood catecholamine levels, investigate the effects of sympathetic response on body composition, blood pressure, heart rate, lipid profile, and physical performance. Three hundred patients admitted for a rehabilitation program (diet + physiotherapy + exercise) will be non-randomly assigned to either a group following the program (R) or a group additionally receiving ten 2-3 minute WBC sessions at -110°C over two weeks (RWBC).

Apple Health Study

The Apple Health Study aims to build a diverse and inclusive group of participants to help researchers advance our understanding of how signals and information collected from apps and devices relate to health and may be used to predict, detect, monitor, and manage changes in health. To enroll, US residents who have an iPhone can download the Apple Research app from the App Store and go through the introduction and informed consent for the Apple Health Study. This study is fully remote, and all are invited to enroll if the eligibility criteria are met. Participants will be asked to complete tasks and surveys, using their iPhone and Apple Research app which include: * Selecting the types of data they would like to share with the study such as health and sensor data * Completing tasks and surveys including areas such as personal demographic information, personal medical history, family history, and social determinants of health

DELirium, Incidence, preVEntion and pRogression During Acute Intensive Neurological -Neurosurgical Rehabilitation

In this longitudinal cohort study the incidence of delirium is assessed for all patients being admitted to the acute intensive neurological-neurosurgical rehabilitation over 3 years. Delirium assessment will be performed daily from admission to discharge. Patients will be divided into 3 groups, according to the presentation of delirium on admission, during the course or not any during the stay in acute rehabilitation and compared regarding the treatment and outcome.

NEO-REEDUC - Mixed Reality for Motor Rehabilitation: a Prospective, Multicenter, Controlled, Randomized, Open Study.

This study aims to assess the effectiveness of a motor rehabilitation protocol that includes mixed reality activities, compared to conventional rehabilitation, on postural stability in children and adult patients with neurological impairments.