We are recruiting healthy volunteers, age 18-65, for a 4-visit study designed to test whether brief non-invasive brain stimulation, called transcranial focused ultrasound (tFUS), changes how adults process pictures and odors. In addition to 3 tFUS sessions, the study procedures also include one 30-minute magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) session and four 1-hour encephalography (EEG) sessions during which we will measure brain structure and function. Each of the 4 visits last about 2-3 hours and should occur over a 2-4-week time period. Compensation is available to those that qualify.

This research study is being conducted at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). The purpose of this study is to better understand injury to the small nerves that run between the ribs following rib fractures, and to learn what normal sensation and muscle appearance of the abdominal wall (muscles of the stomach area) look like in healthy adults. This information will help doctors better recognize and diagnose nerve injuries in patients who have had trauma, surgery, or other conditions affecting the abdominal wall.

Researchers will use simple sensory testing of the skin of the abdomen and ultrasound imaging to measure abdominal muscle structure. The sensory testing, called two-point discrimination, measures how well participants can tell the difference between two nearby points touching the skin using a small measuring tool that lightly touches the skin of the abdomen. Ultrasound imaging uses sound waves to create images of the inside of the body and will be used to measure the thickness and appearance of the abdominal muscles. This study includes two groups of participants: healthy volunteers and individuals with rib fractures.

Healthy volunteers will complete a single study visit lasting about 45 minutes, during which participants will undergo sensory testing, ultrasound imaging, and a short questionnaire. Participants with rib fractures will complete research procedures during their scheduled clinical follow-up visits, which include a baseline visit and three follow-up visits over approximately 12 weeks; research activities, including ultrasound imaging, will add about 30 minutes to each visit.

This study will examine the factors that contribute to changes in swallowing as people age. Over the next ten years, researchers will follow healthy adults (age 18 and older) to see if swallowing becomes more difficult with age. They will also look at whether changes in the brain, thinking skills, and body chemistry are connected to swallowing problems. The information from this study may help doctors find ways to address problems such as choking or aspiration pneumonia in older adults.

Participants can change their mind and stop participating at any time, for any reason. Leaving the study will not affect any benefits or care they are entitled to.

If you would like to learn more, please contact the study team.

This study aims to improve cancer survivorship care work by refining how primary care providers and cancer specialists share responsibilities. Researchers want to understand how technology can help these teams communicate more clearly and effectively to coordinate care for survivors. The study team will use surveys, conduct interviews and organize focus groups for interested and eligible participants as methods of data collection to inform the research. Oncologists, Primary Care Physicians, administrative leads and colon or rectal cancer survivors that meet the eligibility criteria will complete surveys, engage in interviews and group discussions from each perspective to learn strategies to improve care, including who should handle which parts of survivorship care. Using this information, the team will create an intervention plan called PRIMES that outlines strategies to overcome common barriers. The ultimate goal is to help survivors receive better and more coordinated follow‑up care.

To improve the diagnosis of metabolic dysfunction-steatotic liver disease (MASLD) in primary care, this study will develop, test, and internally validate a predictive model for MASLD in a cross-sectional sample of patients with no known chronic liver disease. Patient metabolic variables, like weight, blood pressure, and blood sugar will be considered for inclusion in the model, and ultrasound-based vibration-controlled elastography will be used for determining the outcome. This work will dramatically enhance MASLD diagnosis and management in primary care.

This cross-sectional study aims to examine the impact of visual cues on listeners' perception of speaker age. Eligible speaking participants include adult males and females between the ages of 18–90 years old without voice or hearing disorders. Eligibility will be determined by research coordinators via patient demographic forms and validated voice and hearing assessments. Speaking participants will have two audio recordings taken: (1) sustained vowel sound and (2) reading of the Consensus Auditory-Perceptual Evaluation of Voice (CAPE-V), a standardized tool employed to evaluate the perceptual characteristics of voice quality across a wide age range. To develop the materials for the listening participants, CAPE-V audio recordings obtained from the speaking participants will be systematically paired with race and age-matched photographs obtained from a publicly available database. The finalized materials will encompass three experimental conditions: (1) audio only, (2) audio presented with a standardized photograph of an individual matched to the speaker's gender and age, and (3) audio presented with a standardized photograph of an individual matched for gender but differing in age. Naïve listening participants, blinded to the experimental conditions, will then be presented with these materials in a randomized order and asked to estimate the perceived ages of the speakers. Additionally, basic acoustic analyses of each sustained vowel sound recording (e.g., jitter, shimmer) will be conducted by a trained professional using the speech analysis software PRAAT.

Cancer caregivers in emerging and young adulthood (ages 18-35) are an underresearched and unsupported group of caregivers, and yet they are not uncommon. To address this critical support gap, the goal of this study is to develop and pilot test a caregiving support intervention specifically tailored for emerging and young adults caring for a parent with cancer. This phase of the study is intended to capture feedback on the intervention via focus groups with emerging and young adult caregivers of a parent with cancer.

Quitting smoking is hard, and many Veterans struggle even with current treatments. This study is testing a safe, non-invasive brain stimulation called repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), which is already FDA-approved to help people stop smoking. We're comparing two types—standard and personalized—to see which works better. We aim to find the best option to help Veterans quit for good.

Children ages 3-4.5 years of age will watch videos designed to teach them made-up verbs. Then, they will be tested on whether they were able to learn the made-up verbs that were presented to them. Findings from this study will help researchers better understand how children learn language and what word-learning situations are easy or difficult for toddlers. This study will be conducted virtually using video conferencing software.

The purpose of this study is to better understand how practicing a new skill builds a stable memory and how this memory is maintained over time as one gets older. A better understanding how memories are controlled in healthy aging may help to develop better treatments for memory problems.
The study's main question is how the different brain regions communicate with each other when one is retrieving memories of a well-practiced skill. Specifically, when and where the brain waves that are related to skill memory are produced. The brief changes in the brain will be recorded with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a medical technology that looks at blood flow in the brain. To assess electrical changes in the brain, the brain waves, electroencephalography (EEG) will be used. Combining EEG and fMRI will allow the precise detection of the exact location where the brain is active at any moment in time.
This study is conducted at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). The study will take about one to two weeks and involves two visits to MUSC including an interview and combined brain recording and brain scan during task practice (EEG-fMRI) and up to 7 days of online skill practice at home. Volunteers in this research study must be free of any brain disease or brain injuries and have to be in good health status. Approximately 40 volunteers will take part in this study.