Alzheimer's Disease clinical trials at UCSD

The purpose is to evaluate the biomarker effect, safety, and tolerability of investigational study drugs in participants who are known to have an Alzheimer's disease (AD)-causing mutation. Part 1 will determine if treatment with the study drug prevents or slows the rate of amyloid beta (Aβ) pathological disease accumulation demonstrated by Aβ positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. Part 2 will evaluate the effect of early Aβ plaque reduction/prevention on disease progression by assessing downstream non-Aβ biomarkers of AD (e.g., CSF total tau, p-tau, NfL) compared to an external control group from the DIAN-OBS natural history study and the DIAN-TU-001 placebo-treated participants.

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if restricting the time of eating to allow for prolonged fasting at night may reduce sleep disturbances, cognitive decay, and pathology in patients diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) or early to moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD). It will also learn about the feasibility of practicing 14 h of nightly fasting in this group of older adults. The main questions it aims to answer are: - Does prolonged nightly fasting of 14 h can reduce markers of AD pathology and aging and reduce cognitive and sleep alterations in MCI and AD patients? - Can patients with MCI and early /moderate AD sustain time-restricted eating for 6 to 12 months? Researchers will compare participants who fast for 14 h per night during 6 months to those who fast for less than 10 h/night. Researchers will also compare participants that fast for 6 months to those who fast during 12 months, to determine the effective duration of the intervention. Finally, researchers will evaluate whether following the time-restricted eating diet alongside a partner actively following the same diet, will increase adherence to the protocol compared to subjects that fast alone. Participants will: - Fast for 14 h a night (stop eating at 8 pm and start eating the following morning at 10 am) for 6 or 12 months - Visit the clinic three times (at the beginning of the study, 6 and 12 months later) - Provide blood samples and take a cognitive test during clinic visits - Keep a diary (or use an app on a smart phone) to record time of eating - Wear an activity tracker watch

The goal of this survey study is to identify environmental, occupational and reproductive health risk factors for Lewy body dementia, which includes Parkinson's disease dementia and dementia with Lewy bodies. Participants will complete a one-time survey online or over the phone that includes questions on environmental, occupational factors they may have been exposed to and on medical history including reproductive health. Researchers will then compare the responses of people with Lewy body dementia and people without Parkinson's or memory/thinking problems to see which factors play a role in Lewy body dementia. Identifying risk factors can guide future treatment efforts and provide more insight to this dementia.