The current investigation uses a brain-based technique, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), which has helped to treat depression, to try to stimulate those brain regions understood to be essential to emotional experience and impaired in PTSD. In summary, the aim is to enhance emotion engagement and regulation and possibly uncover new brain-based interventions that could help ready the brain so an individual with PTSD could then fully engage and thus optimize emotion-focused psychotherapy.

Over many years, we have learnt that the brain's connections with the spinal cord change in response to injury or training. Because brain-spinal cord (i.e., corticospinal) pathways are very important in movement control, restoring function of these pathways could help to restore useful movement after spinal cord injury (SCI). In this project, we hypothesize that operant conditioning training of the muscle response to non-invasive transcranial magnetic stimulation can strengthen the functional connectivity of corticospinal pathways and thereby alleviate movement problems in people with chronic incomplete SCI. This study will require about 38 visits over the first 3 months, and another 4 visits over an additional 3 months. Each visit will take about an hour.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has shown the potential to improve symptoms in patients with motor deficits, however its effects have not been consistent in randomized studies to date, limiting widespread adoption of this technology. A critical gap in our knowledge is a detailed understanding of how tDCS affects motor areas in the brain. We propose using tDCS while recording directly from motor cortex using subdural electrocorticography (sECoG) in patients undergoing deep brain stimulation surgery. We expect this novel approach to broaden our understanding of tDCS application and possibly lead to therapeutic advances in this population.

This research is being done to find out if brain stimulation combined with a rehabilitation therapy improves arm weakness as a result of having a stroke. The stimulation technique is called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). The treatment uses direct electrical currents to stimulate specific parts of the brain. The rehabilitation therapy is called "modified Constraint Induced Movement Therapy" (mCIMT). During this rehabilitation therapy study participants will wear a mitt on the hand of the arm that was not affected by their stroke. It is designed to restrain the use of the unaffected arm, while performing therapy with impaired one.
It is not known if brain stimulation combined with rehabilitation therapy will improve arm weakness. Study participants will receive rehabilitation therapy while on this study. Study participants may or may not receive the brain stimulation therapy.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether a new medical technology can help reduce post-operative total knee or hip pain when combined with a Cognitive-Behavioral intervention (CBI).

This new medical technology, is called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), it uses a very small amount of electricity to temporarily stimulate specific areas of the brain thought to be involved in pain reduction. The electrical current passes through the skin, scalp, hair, and skull and requires no additional medication, sedation, or needles.

This study will investigate the effects of tDCS, the Cognitive-Behavioral (CB) intervention and their combination on pain among veterans following total knee arthroplasty (TKA) or total hip arthroplasty (THA). You may benefit in the form of decreased pain and opioid requirements following your knee or hip replacement surgery. However, benefit is only likely if you are randomized to one of the 3 (out of 4) groups.

This study hopes to determine the effects of these interventions and their combined effect on post-operative pain, opioid use and functioning during the 48-hour post-operative period following a total knee or hip replacement.

We are currently recruiting volunteers who are interested in participating in a brain-spinal cord-muscle response training study that aims to better understand the changes that take place in the nervous system as a result of this type of training. After spinal cord injury, brain-to-muscle connections are often interrupted. Because these connections are important in movement control, when they are not working well, movements may be disturbed. Researchers have found that people can learn to strengthen these connections through training. Strengthening these connections may be able to improve movement control and recovery after injuries.

Research participants will be asked to stand, sit, and walk during the study sessions. Electrodes are placed on the skin over leg muscles for monitoring muscle activity. For examining brain-to-muscle connections, we use transcranial magnetic stimulation. The stimulation is applied over the head and will indirectly stimulate brain cells with little or no discomfort.

Participation in this study requires approximately three sessions per week for four months, followed by two to three sessions over another three months. Each session lasts approximately 1 hour. Participants will receive a mileage reimbursement.

The study team is recruiting 20 adults with spasticity due to chronic stroke and 20 adults with no neurological injuries for a 4 day study over 1 week. In people with chronic stroke, one of the most common and disabling problems is spasticity (increased muscle tone or muscle stiffness). The purpose of this research study is to examine effects of dry needling on the nervous system (pathways between the muscle, spinal cord, and brain) in people with spasticity due to chronic stroke. Dry needling is a procedure in which a thin, stainless steel needle is inserted into your skin to produce a muscle twitch response. It is intended to release a knot in your muscle and relieve pain.

The total study duration is 4 visits over one week. The first visit will take about 1.5 hours, during which the study team will determine the best electrode placement and create a removeable cast of your arm or leg to aid in placing electrodes in the next visits. The second visit will take about 3 hours, during which dry needling will take place, and the fourth and fifth visits will take about 1.5 hour. During all visits you will be asked to participate in examinations of reflexes (muscle responses to non-invasive nerve stimulation) and arm/leg function.

The purpose of this study is to develop transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), specifically TMS at a frequency known as theta burst stimulation (TBS), to see how it affects the brain and changes the brain's response to alcohol-related pictures. TMS and TBS are stimulation techniques that use magnetic pulses to temporarily excite specific brain areas in awake people (without the need for surgery, anesthetic, or other invasive procedures). TBS, which is a form of TMS, will be applied over the medial prefrontal cortex, (MPFC), which has been shown to be involved with drinking patterns and alcohol consumption. This study will test whether TBS can be used as an alternative tool to reduce the desire to use alcohol and reducing the brain's response to alcohol-related pictures.

This is a study to find out if a device that temporarily alters brain activity (repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, rTMS) might be used to change how people with anxiety or related concerns cope with emotional situations. The study is recruiting people who recently started treatment for anxiety or a related concern. The study involves 3 visits to MUSC. At the first visit, participants do interviews and surveys asking about anxiety and related concerns, and they also do tasks where they see and react to emotional pictures while their brain activation is measured. At the next two visits, participants receive rTMS that uses a magnet placed on top of the head to alter brain activity temporarily (for about an hour). After rTMS, participants do two tasks where they see and react to emotional situations while wearing sensors on their hand, arms, face, and head.

Each visit in this study is expected to last between 2 – 3 hours. This study is not a treatment study, but it could help improve treatment in the future. Participants in this study are paid for their time.

Cigarette smoking is a significant public health concern. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive form of brain stimulation that has already displayed remarkable potential for producing novel, non-pharmacological interventions for depression and cigarette smokers. In this study, we will use brain MRI to guide TMS therapy for smoking cessation.