The primary purposes of this study are to:
•Provide access to cord blood units for recipients whose best choice for a cord blood unit(s) do not meet all FDA standards, but do meet standards set by the NMDP on this study.
•Assess how well and how quickly blood counts return to normal after transplant in recipients on this study.

This study if for patients that have a blood disease and it's been determined that the best option for treating that blood disease is a cord blood transplant. Cord blood (CB) is blood that is taken from the umbilical cord and placenta of healthy newborn babies after childbirth. The cord blood collected from a newborn baby is called a cord blood unit. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considers cord blood to be a biological drug. These are considered “investigational” products. This study will evaluate the safety of administration of the investigational cord blood units by carefully documenting all infusion-related problems.

The goal of this project is to address the issue of reduced access to healthcare among elderly, African American populations in rural communities. Specifically the goal is to improve access to Alzheimer ’s disease diagnosis within elderly, African American populations living in rural areas. The Medical University of South Carolina research team will partner with a rural South Carolina clinical practice where elderly, African American patients receive all other aspects of their care. Through the use of telemedicine it is our intent to develop a new methodology for diagnosing Alzheimer ’s disease in rural African American populations.

The main purpose of this study is to find out what effects, good and/or bad, MEHD7945A has on you and your cancer. In this study there will be two treatment arms. You will be treated with either MEHD7945A or cetuximab, a drug that is commonly used for your type of cancer. You will not be treated with both drugs at the same time.

This study is for patients suspected of having Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS). MCAS is a state in which some portion of the body’s mast cells – which ordinarily produce many different signals influencing other cells to alter their behavior so as to maintain a state of health – produce signals which are abnormal in their intensity, duration, and/or location in the body, potentially causing a wide variety of acute and chronic symptoms and complications.
This research study seeks to understand how many mast cells are circulating in the blood of MCAS patients and whether there are increased blood levels in MCAS patients of certain signals which cause increases in certain types of white blood cells which commonly are seen in excess in MCAS patients.

African American (AA) men have the highest rate of prostate cancer death in the U.S. The proposed study will test whether giving AA men information that is tailored to their prostate cancer risk factors helps them to make informed decisions about receiving prostate cancer screening. If it is effective, the intervention could be widely used in clinical settings.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (lupus; SLE) and Systemic Sclerosis (scleroderma; SSc) are relatively rare rheumatic diseases that disproportionately impact the African American community, and particularly African American women. The causes of lupus and scleroderma are unknown, but thought to include both genetic and environmental factors. We are enrolling lupus and scleroderma patients, and healthy control subjects. This is not a drug study. The purpose of this study is to better understand the factors that predispose people to develop lupus and scleroderma. Information about medical, social and family history, medications, physical exam findings, and laboratory tests will be collected for analysis. This study will involve approximately 910 volunteers.

This study will help to understand the roles of the immune system in controlling colon cancer. It may advance science, leading to future development of an effective treatment of colon cancer.

This novel prospective study will involve 120 adult participants (20 years and older) with no previous or current complaint/diagnosis of swallowing problems (dysphagia), as well as no history of any neurologic, otolaryngologic, or gastroenterologic diagnoses potentially causing dysphagia. Each participant will undergo a Modified Barium Swallow Study (MBSS) using the standardized MBSImP™© protocol, which will be digitally recorded for later scoring using the MBSImP™© scoring form and penetration-aspiration scale (PAS). Measurements include 17 physiologic components of swallowing performance, PAS, kinematic (relative distance), termporal (timing) measures of structural movements across 12 swallows of standardized viscosities, and respiratory-swallow coordination patterns during MBSS. Appropriate statistical analyses will be performed and reported.

The purpose of the research study is for patients who have Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) or Philadelphia Positive Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (Ph+ ALL) to receive an experimental treatment and other standard treatments haven’t worked or are no longer working for your Leukemia. The purpose of the expanded access program is to provide patients the opportunity to receive the experimental drug ponatinib (also known as AP24534) for treatment of this condition. Ponatinib is being studied as a possible cancer treatment for CML and Ph+ ALL. Experimental means that ponatinib has not yet been approved by any governmental health authority including the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).