Study in Parkinson Disease of Exercise Phase 3 Clinical Trial: SPARX3
SPARX3 is a Phase 3 multi-site study of endurance treadmill exercise for recently diagnosed people with Parkinson’s disease (PD). The study objective is to establish the efficacy of high-intensity endurance exercise as first-line therapy for recently diagnosed people with PD. The key question is whether there is an additional benefit of exercising at high-intensity, in terms of slowing the progression of the signs of the disease, beyond the well documented benefit of treadmill training on general parameters of fitness, gait and functional mobility. Click to learn more.
Neuroimaging Biomarkers in Parkinsonism: Differentiating Subtypes and Tracking Disease Progression
There is currently a large gap in linking changes in the brain in people with Parkinsonism with the signs and symptoms of the disease. This study is investigating how degeneration in the brain is related to motor and cognitive deficits in Parkinsonism and other movement disorders, how those changes evolve over time, and how normal physician prescribed medications for these movement disorders change brain structure, function, and motor and cognitive behaviors. We utilize structural MRI, functional MRI, blood draws, and behavioral, motor, and cognitive assessments to track differences between Parkinson’s disease (PD), Progressive SurpranuclearPalsy (PSP),Multiple Systems Atrophy Parkinsonian variant(MSA-p) and healthy individuals. This research is funded by the NIH.