RECRUITINGOBSERVATIONAL

Impairments of Neuro-muscular Communication in Motor-Neuron Disease: A Bio-Marker for Early and Personalised Diagnosis

About This Trial

Motor neuron disease (MND) or ALS is a nervous system disease. ALS leads to a loss of movement ability that eventually leads to death. At the moment, there is no known treatment for ALS. Early diagnosis in individuals improves clinical care and facilitates timely entry into clinical trials. However, current methods for diagnosis are primarily clinical, and to date, no cost-effective biomarkers have been developed. Our objective is to identify a robust non-invasive neurophysiological-based system that can be used both as a biomarker of disease onset, and a measurement of progression using quantitative EEG and surface EMG (bipolar and high-density). The investigators postulate that analysing the joint recordings of EEG and EMG (bipolar or high-density) can give measures that better distinguish healthy people and ALS patient subgroups and that the findings can be developed as biomarkers of early diagnosis and disease progression.

Who May Be Eligible (Plain English)

Who May Qualify: Healthy Volunteers: - age and gender-matched to patient groups - the intact physical ability to take part in the experiment. Patients: - Diagnosis of ALS, PLS, PMA, SMA, Polio or MS - capable of providing willing to sign a consent form. Who Should NOT Join This Trial: Healthy Controls: - History of neuromuscular - neurological or active psychiatric disease disease - history of reaction or allergy to recording environments, equipment and the recording gels. Patients: - the presence of active psychiatric disease - any medical condition associated with severe neuropathy (e.g. poorly controlled diabetes). - History of reaction or allergy to recording environments, equipment and the recording gels. Always talk to your doctor about whether this trial is right for you.

Original Eligibility Criteria

View original clinical language

Inclusion Criteria: Healthy Volunteers: * age and gender-matched to patient groups * the intact physical ability to take part in the experiment. Patients: * Diagnosis of ALS, PLS, PMA, SMA, Polio or MS * capable of providing informed consent. Exclusion Criteria: Healthy Controls: * History of neuromuscular * neurological or active psychiatric disease disease * history of reaction or allergy to recording environments, equipment and the recording gels. Patients: * the presence of active psychiatric disease * any medical condition associated with severe neuropathy (e.g. poorly controlled diabetes). * History of reaction or allergy to recording environments, equipment and the recording gels.

Treatments Being Tested

PROCEDURE

128 electrode electroencephalography (EEG), Bipolar surface electromyography (sEMG), High-density electromyography (HD-EMG)

128 electrode EEG and 8 bipolar EMG or HD-EMG will be noninvasively recorded from electrodes placed in a montage over the scalp and arm muscles while the participant is resting or performing tasks designed to engage specific cortical networks of interest (cognitive, behavioural, motor and sensory)

Locations (1)

Academic Unit of Neurology, Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin

Dublin, Leinster, Ireland