We want to learn more about how stress affects appetite in Prader-Willi Syndrome and how different areas of the brain communicate with one another in adolescents. With your help, we can gain more insight into the functioning of the adolescent brain.
Study Purpose The Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT) Study will examine the effectiveness of ACT training for fathers of adolescents ages 13-18 with PWS with the goal of improving life satisfaction, reducing stress and improving family functioning. This remote study will use Zoom video conferencing to provide 4 sessions of ACT training. The study is seeking fathers who have an adolescent with PWS age 13-18 to participate in a 4-session, on-line, small group training exercise to reduce father’s perception of stress, improve parenting satisfaction and increase family involvement. Participants must reside at home with their adolescent and the adolescent’s mother, have a personal computer with a camera, microphone and internet access, and agree to privacy and confidentiality of shared information. They must be able to read and speak English. Sessions will be scheduled to accommodate 8 fathers per group. After an initial 90 minute session, three additional 60 minute training sessions will occur at a frequency of every other week. Additional “on-your-own” time will be needed to practice newly acquired skills. Both fathers and mothers will be required to participate in a brief screening interview by phone and then complete several on line questionnaires at the outset, during the study, and at the conclusion of the study. These questionnaires will assess stress, family function and behaviors unique to the adolescent with PWS.
Got Anxiety? Want to help pave the way for new medicines to treat anxiety in PWS? Levo Therapeutics and the Foundation for Prader-Willi Research are working to develop a new questionnaire for use in clinical studies of novel treatments for PWS. We want to know more about how anxiety is expressed in people with PWS.
Study Purpose Soleno Therapuetics is conducting a Phase 3 study of DCCR to measure the drugs efficacy for treating hyperphagia in PWS. The study seeks to enroll 105 patients with PWS ages 4 years and older. The study will be a 15 week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of Diazoxide Choline Controlled-Release Tablet (DCCR) and will require a once daily oral administration. The initial 15 week study will be followed by a 9-month extension during which time all patients will receive DCCR. Protocol Update: A recent amendment to the study protocol now allows patients between 20kg and 130kg to enroll in the study, provided they meet all eligibility criteria. Individual study sites will be able to enroll patients in the new weight band (20-30kg) once the appropriate tablet strengths come available, which will likely be in the September timeframe. Patients who are interested in enrolling should contact their nearest study coordinator.
FPWR is conducting a text-messaging based research study to assess weight changes in Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) over a period of six months. We’d like to learn more about the normal variation in weight, over time, in the PWS population. We hope to recruit 150-300 individuals across the US and Canada to participate, so we can get a good picture of how weight changes over time. We anticipate that this study will inform future clinical trials for hyperphagia/obesity related therapies, and provide a basis for understanding how well potential therapies are working. Patients should not be enrolled in other clinical trials for the duration of this study. The study can be done from your home, with no visit to a clinic.
Study Purpose This phase 2 randomized double blind 8-week treatment trial of intranasal oxytocin (IN-OXT) will assess IN-OXT's affect on: eating behaviors, repetitive behaviors, weight and body composition, quality of life, and salivary OXT and hormone levels. Data from the study will add to the current knowledge that OXT is an effective treatment for hyperphagia as well as other symptoms of PWS.
There is a reduction in the number of neurons that produce oxytocin in people with PWS. This, along with a range of other evidence supports the likelihood that abnormalities in the oxytocin system are key to the problems of PWS. However, studies examining the levels of oxytocin in PWS as well as clinical trials evaluating the efficacy of oxytocin on PWS symptoms has led to mixed results. We want to better understand these mixed findings. This will help to develop more effective interventions in the future.
Study Purpose The Mindfulness-Based Intervention for Temper Outbursts intends to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of a mindfulness-based intervention for managing temper outbursts in PWS. The study will also evaluate the interventions impact on anxiety. This study will be conducted remotely via phone, email and video-conference and is, therefore, open to families both within and outside of Australia. Eligible participants with PWS, their primary caregiver (parent or resident carer) and a teacher or support worker will be invited to participate in an 18-week trial. Two weeks before the start of the trial primary caregivers will be trained to use and teach the mindfulness-based intervention. The 18-weeks will be divided into three six-week periods termed baseline, intervention and follow-up. Throughout the 18-weeks, primary caregivers and a teacher support worker will be asked to monitor the person’s behaviours. During the intervention period, primary caregivers will teach the mindfulness-based intervention to the person with PWS. A webinar sharing details on this study was recorded May, 2019. You can watch the webinar below or read a transcription of the webinar on our blog.
Vanderbilt and Case Western Universities are collaborating in a new study to better understand how eye tracking technology can be used to measure how children process images of food vs. objects.
This 8-week telehealth (remote) intervention program focuses on building play skills, emotional understanding and regulation, and social skills. The study involves two in-person visits, one at the beginning and one at the end, that would be conducted in the family's local area and then the 8-week intervention, which is all done via remote videoconferencing.
