This study involves testing how useful a technology-enhanced intervention is for pregnant people prescribed buprenorphine for the management of opioid use disorder. The intervention being studied is a brief therapy protocol and a mobile application. Participation involves four 60-minute biweekly (i.e., once every other week) therapy appointments during pregnancy, and three 30-minute therapy appointments monthly during the first three months after childbirth. The mobile application will be accessible for at least the duration of the study. Participants will also be asked to complete questionnaires at enrollment and again at 1-month postpartum and 3-months postpartum, and will be contacted approximately once a month to conduct a medication count. The total duration of the study is 6 months. Compensation is provided.

The purpose of this study is to get feedback on an existing augmented reality (AR) software developed by researchers at Wayne State University (phase I) and then use the refined software, along with Prolonged Exposure (PE) therapy to treat Veterans and military personnel with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

AR involves wearing goggles through which you can see the real world, however virtual objects can be added to the environment (for example, like in the popular phone game Pokemon Go).

The technology was originally designed to help first responders, specifically police and firefighters, to overcome their avoidance of normal life situations caused by their trauma experience and PTSD. This includes a crowded party, a grocery store, a police roll call room and a fire station. This technology is now being expanded to include other common scenarios that military personnel and Veterans with PTSD may avoid.

This study will occur in 2 phases. Phase 1 will focus on getting feedback on the AR program from people who have completed PE therapy before to refine the technology. In phase 2, 40 Veterans and military personnel will be randomly selected to receive PTSD therapy + the refined AR technology or PE therapy alone.

This study is open to Veterans and active duty military personnel. All study activities will take place at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Health Care System and surrounding community-based outpatient clinics. This study is not open to civilians/non military personnel at this time.

This is a research study to find out if anxiety in patients with autism spectrum disorder are affected by a form of ear stimulation called transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation, or taVNS. Participants will learn how to self-administer ear stimulation treatments at home before starting the study. Over the course of a month, participants will self-administer ear stimulation treatments twice a day for a month. Each treatment will last up to 60 minutes (1 hour) and there will be a break of at least 30 minutes in between treatments. The study team will ask participants to complete a group of questionnaires at the beginning and end of the study. There will also be a smaller number of questionnaires completed electronically on a weekly basis. The questionnaires will ask questions about mental health symptoms that subjects may or may not be experiencing, including questions about mood, anxiety, and sleep.

Social anxiety, which broadly consists of fears related to being negatively evaluated and avoidance of social situations, is highly prevalent among Veterans. Social anxiety is associated with significant deficits in social and occupational functioning. This study aims to evaluate a brief text-based intervention for decreasing social anxiety related safety behaviors among Veterans attempting to re-integrate into the workforce. Findings from this study will examine the efficacy of the text based intervention with aims at improving functional outcomes and quality of life among Veterans. Additional data from participating Veterans will provide valuable feedback on the intervention and assist in future refinement.

Over 2400 people who have sickle cell disease and are between the ages of 15 and 45 have been enrolled into the National Registry (SCDIC-I) of patients with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD). A rich resource of natural history data, the SCDIC-I Registry has longitudinal data collected yearly since 2016 from patient surveys (e.g. self reported pain incidences, sleep, barriers to care, experiences during and after pregnancy), medical record abstraction (e.g. medications, transfusion history, co-morbidities) and laboratory results. The 150 patients (or 1200 among the 8 sites) will be selected from both MUSC adult and pediatric SCD clinics starting at 12 years of age; those not previously enrolled in the SCDIC National Registry will be offered the possibility to enroll in SCDIC-II.
We will look at the following:
1- Compare the effect of new SCD medications – crizanlizumab, voxelotor, and L-glutamine – on clinical outcomes in individuals with SCD.
2 - Identify genetic and genomic predictors of response to crizanlizumab, voxelotor, and L-glutamine
3 - Integrate study data into the CureSCi metadata catalog (MDC) to enhance future cross-study analyses.

The purpose of this study is to identify domains in which stroke suvivors may have struggled since experiencing a stroke. These include things like emotional, family and work function. This study entails an interview and questionnaires that ask about functioning in these areas.

The longer-term goal of this work is to identify areas these areas so that we can develop a psychotherapy that could be helpful for individuals recovering from and living with the aftermath of stroke.

The purpose of this research is to test out a new way of treating generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) with low intensity focused ultrasound pulsation (LIFUP). If the subject agree to participate in the research study, the participation will last approximately 10.5 hours over seven (7) days. The visits are as follows: 1- consent and MRI, 2- and 3- focused ultrasound will be delivered outside of the MRI environment, 4- MRI plus focused ultrasound, 5- assessments 1 week post focused ultrasound, and 6- one month follow-up assessments. Research studies are voluntary and include only people who agree to take part.

The purpose of this study is to explore the use of a new treatment program to improve medication adherence for people with HIV and PTSD for patients at local HIV care clinics. Participants will be assigned to one of two groups. Participants in Group A will be asked to attend 12 clinic sessions (twice a week for 6 weeks, 90-minute sessions) via telehealth or in person at a HIV care clinic. Participants in Group B will receive a one session adherence intervention (60 minutes) and get the same standard treatment that someone with a trauma history and co-occurring HIV and PTSD symptoms would receive at a local HIV care clinic. The study is provided at no-cost, and participants may learn useful information and coping skills while being in the study. It is hoped the information that we get from this study will help researchers and clinicians better design treatment programs for people living with HIV and PTSD. Participants will receive study compensation for their time.

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.

This study will examine the neural circuitry associated with craving, behavioral disinhibition, and threat-reactivity. The study will involve 2 visits. During the first visit, participants will complete questionnaires and interviews in a private room and do some tests to measure alcohol use. During the second visit, participants will complete a neuroimaging scan of their brain.