Alzheimer's Disease Paid Clinical Trials in North Carolina

The goal of this clinical trial is to test the benefits of beat-accented music stimulation (BMS) for behavioral changes of physical activity (PA) in older adults with subjective memory complaints. Specific Aims are to determine (1) whether BMS beneficially influences PA behaviors and psychological responses to PA in older adults for 6 months, and (2) whether exercising with BMS differently influences physical and cognitive functioning as well as quality of life in older adults.To test the effects of BMS on PA, participants will be randomly assigned to an exercise intervention that either includes BMS or does not include BMS. Participants will attend a supervised group strength training (ST) (30 min/day) and and aerobic exercise (AE) (30-50 min/day) session for 3 days/week for the first 2 months, 1 day/week for the next 2 months (while encouraging participants to independently perform both AE and ST on other days), and independently for the final 2 months (always with a goal of performing \>150min/week AE and 3 days/week of ST for 30 min/day). Read Less

Efforts to find treatments for AD have yielded only modest benefits, likely because longstanding AD pathological processes induce irreversible neurological compromise. These processes begin years before the onset of clinical symptoms. This possibility has been incorporated into a model describing stages of AD development, articulated by the NIA/Alzheimer's Association preclinical workgroup of which the Co-Director of the Kulynych Alzheimer's Research Center, Dr. Suzanne Craft, was a member. According to this model, the best hope for countermanding the effects of AD lies in intervening at the earliest possible point in the pathological cascade. There are several important ongoing efforts in adults with preclinical AD that directly target amyloid aggregation. Although this strategy addresses an important aspect of the AD pathological cascade, we believe that addressing metabolic dysfunction affecting glucose and insulin regulation offers a complementary approach, in that it may reduce amyloid burden and toxicity, while also directly enhancing synaptic health, brain metabolism, tau regulation and neurovascular function. The purpose of the ADCC is to identify and characterize early risk factors that predict cognitive decline and dementia in asymptomatic adults and adults with early signs of cognitive impairment. The data obtained from this study, collected at enrollment and follow-up will allow us to examine disease trajectory in individuals with and without prediabetes and other measures of glucoregulatory dysfunction in this process. The enrollees, who will be well-characterized with regard to cognitive and metabolic status through ADCC assessments, will provide an important resource for other local (institution) and national investigations. Data collected from participants enrolled in the ADCC will be stored indefinitely for future investigations. Read Less

The goal of this study is to is to focus on the genetic influences on Alzheimer's Disease (AD) risk. The investigators are looking for families and/or individuals (affected or unaffected) of any ethic background (African American, Caucasian, and Hispanics) with a family history of AD and willing to participate. Read Less

The Brain Energy for Amyloid Transformation in AD (Alzheimer's disease) or BEAT-AD study will compare the effects of a ketogenic low-carbohydrate diet and a low-fat diet in adults with mild cognitive impairment. The data collected will help determine whether diet interventions induce changes in cognitive function, cerebral blood flow, and levels of certain proteins and hormones in body fluids. The study will include volunteers who have mild cognitive impairment, who will be randomly assigned to receive either a ketogenic low-carbohydrate diet or a low-fat diet for 16-weeks, with follow-up assessment 8 weeks after diet completion. Study measures, clinic visits and phone sessions will occur at baseline and throughout the 24-week study. Group 2 will include volunteers who have mild cognitive impairment. This group will complete a 16-week low-fat diet study, with follow-up assessment 8 weeks after diet final completion. Study measures, clinic visits and phone sessions will occur throughout the 24-week study. Participant will follow either a low-carbohydrate or low-fat diet that will be individually planned with help from a study dietitian. After completing the study diet for 16 weeks, participants will resume their normal diet. The final visits will occur at week 24 (8 weeks after the completing the diet). At the end of the 24-week study, participants will be given the opportunity to meet with the study dietitian for education and assistance with planning a healthy diet. Read Less