Forschungszentrum Julich

The research project is an experimental study with three study visits at the study site at the University Hospital Düsseldorf (UKD) / Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) and a three-week training phase in a parallel design. Patients with movement disorders (ataxia or Parkinson's disease) can take part. The training phase includes individually adapted, targeted, video-based coordination and balance training, which should lead to an improvement in gait and balance. Two different training protocols are carried out in parallel for three weeks each: One with 20 minutes of training per day, four days per week; and one with a training duration of 40 minutes per day, only two days per week. All patients initially take part in a one-week familiarization phase without training and are then randomly assigned to one of the two training protocols or the control group without additional training. In both training phases, the total amount of weekly training time is the same, but the frequency and duration of training sessions per week differs. The patients who were assigned to the control group without additional training can complete the training after their third study visit.

1. Assessing how the rapid removal of salt and water by haemodialysis alters regional brain activity (by measurement of the brain blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal using functional MRI) during tasting of soup of differing salt concentrations.
2. Identify differences in the brain response to salt taste pre- and post-haemodialysis between haemodialysis patients who are either able or unable to control between dialysis weight gain

This is a single-center multiple-ascending-dose clinical trial assessing the safety and tolerability of oral dosing of Contraloid acetate in healthy volunteers. The study drug Contraloid (alias RD2, alias PRI-002) is an orally available all-D-peptide, which was developed to directly destroy toxic and replicating A-beta oligomer prions, by disassembling them into A-beta monomers. The study drug is specifically designed for the curative or at least disease-modifying treatment of cognition, memory and behavior deficits in Alzheimer´s disease patients. The study drug is BBB penetrable [1] and has demonstrated target engagement in vitro and in vivo [2, 3]. Treatments in three different transgenic mouse models in three different laboratories yielded improved cognition and deceleration of neurodegeneration, even under truly non-preventive treatment conditions and even when applied orally [2-5]. The hereby obtained PRI-002 plasma levels have also been achieved in humans after single oral dosing.