Parisa Alizadeh

CaPRI is an observational study over a five-year period. The purpose of this study is to create a Registry and Database that furthers our understanding about Parkinson’s disease (PD) and related movement disorders. 

The information collected will help doctors, researchers, and patients better understand how PD affects patients over time and also enable researchers to develop tests to diagnose and improve treatments for people with PD. 

CaPRI also aims to facilitate contact between ongoing research studies and participants who wish to contribute to the development and improvement of treatments for PD. Recently, CaPRI has partnered with the Canadian Open Parkinson Network (C-OPN) to expand its research potential Canada wide.

This study investigates the role of the small intestine microbiome in Parkinson’s Disease (PD) using the SIMBA capsule. 

It aims to analyze microbiome and metabolic profiles in PD patients compared to healthy controls, correlating these with levodopa treatment effects. 

The study involves PD patients and healthy subjects ingesting SIMBA capsules for sample collection, followed by clinical assessments and blood sampling.

Our main goal is to use the Connect Care system to create a new way of caring for people with Parkinson's Disease while they're in the hospital. 

We will observe care delivery in the movement disorder clinic at three main Hospitals, while testing strategies to improve care in PD. We want to make sure that the care they receive is based on what research says works best. 

By doing this, we hope to make the hospital experience safer and better for them. We want to turn recommendations from experts into a tool that doctors and nurses can use across Alberta Health Services (AHS). This way, everyone can benefit from it!

The purpose of this research study is to find a model that helps patients to self-manage their disease, improve their quality of life, and lessen the burden of their care on the health system.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common disease that causes degeneration of neurons (neurodegenerative), characterized both by the motor (e.g., changes in walking patterns) and non-motor symptoms (e.g., sleep disturbances); among the non-motor symptoms, pain is frequently reported. 

A necessary step prior to designing treatment for PD patients with pain is understanding the origin of the symptom. Currently, the knowledge surrounding PD-related pain mechanisms is scarce, due to a lack of an acceptable model for PD-related pain. 

Through this pilot study, we aim to identify an optimal animal model for the study of pain in PD. 

This is a study to understand how vibro-tactile stimulation can improve dystonia symptoms of people with cervical dystonia. 

Many studies have been done using small vibratory motors on the neck to stimulate the muscles. Previous studies believe that vibro-tactile stimulation may improve dystonia. 

Cures for dystonia are not yet available. Yet, providing symptom release and voice quality improvement could improve the quality of life.
 

Cannabis use among older adults in Canada is increasing. Our goal is to examine the current prevalence and pattern of cannabis use in patients with Parkinson’s disease.

Pain is a frequent symptom in Parkinson's disease. Pain is even present when medication is in effect. We hypothesize that apomorphine may be a safe, and useful treatment for patients with different pain subtypes in Parkinson's disease during off-times.

Decision-making is the process of making choices. This occurs by selecting a decision, gathering information, and assessing alternative resolutions. Decision-making is an essential part of life. Neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s disease are known to impair the decision-making process.

We want to know the connection between decision-making and the different PD non-motor symptoms. This will help us to learn the nature of decision-making challenges in Parkinson’s disease.

Understanding this connection could influence new strategies to help people with this condition. It could provide information about the right treatments for each patient.

Pain is a frequent symptom in Parkinson's disease. Pain has a huge effect on quality of life. Yet, this problem is usually underestimated.

Our main goal is to assess the effect of pain on quality of life in Parkinson's disease. This study aims to understand the characteristics of pain in Parkinson's disease. It also explores the relationship between pain, other symptoms of the disease and caregiver burden.