The purpose of this research study is to determine if an already FDA approved drug called atorvastatin can help adults, age 75 or older, live well for longer by preventing dementia, disability, or heart disease. Participants will be assigned by chance to receive either atorvastatin (study drug) or a matching placebo (a tablet that looks like atorvastatin but does not contain any medicine). Study engagement may last up to five years and involves in clinic and/or remote visits, survey questions, potential blood draws, in addition to memory and physical tests. After the first 1-2 visits performed in clinic or remote, the study team will follow-up via phone on a yearly basis to see how participants are doing. Participants will be compensated for their time and participation in this research study.
The purpose of this research study is to determine if an already FDA approved drug called atorvastatin can help adults, age 75 or older, live well for longer by preventing dementia, disability, or heart disease. Participants will be assigned by chance to receive either atorvastatin (study drug) or a matching placebo (a tablet that looks like atorvastatin but does not contain any medicine). Study engagement may last up to five years and involves in clinic and/or remote visits, survey questions, potential blood draws, in addition to memory and physical tests. After the first 1-2 visits performed in clinic or remote, the study team will follow-up via phone on a yearly basis to see how participants are doing. Participants will be compensated for their time and participation in this research study.
The purpose of this research study is to determine if an already FDA approved drug called atorvastatin can help adults, age 75 or older, live well for longer by preventing dementia, disability, or heart disease. Participants will be assigned by chance to receive either atorvastatin (study drug) or a matching placebo (a tablet that looks like atorvastatin but does not contain any medicine). Study engagement may last up to five years and involves in clinic and/or remote visits, survey questions, potential blood draws, in addition to memory and physical tests. After the first 1-2 visits performed in clinic or remote, the study team will follow-up via phone on a yearly basis to see how participants are doing. Participants will be compensated for their time and participation in this research study.
The purpose of this research study is to determine if an already FDA approved drug called atorvastatin can help adults, age 75 or older, live well for longer by preventing dementia, disability, or heart disease. Participants will be assigned by chance to receive either atorvastatin (study drug) or a matching placebo (a tablet that looks like atorvastatin but does not contain any medicine). Study engagement may last up to five years and involves in clinic and/or remote visits, survey questions, potential blood draws, in addition to memory and physical tests. After the first 1-2 visits performed in clinic or remote, the study team will follow-up via phone on a yearly basis to see how participants are doing. Participants will be compensated for their time and participation in this research study.
Newborns who are born premature or suffer brain injury at birth are at risk for motor problems that may cause weakness in reaching and grasping on one side of the body. In older children, therapists may use a hand mitt and restraint for the stronger arm, to encourage use of the weaker side, called constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT). Even with the high intensity therapy of CIMT, it typically takes between 40-120 hours total treatment time for most children to improve their motor skills. A non-invasive form of nerve stimulation, transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS), stimulates a nerve by the ear that enhances learning motor skills. taVNS stimulation will be triggered by EMG sensors which detect muscle activity. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of taVNS to improve motor skills when paired with CIMT in infants with one-sided weakness at 6-24 months of age.
This small stroke rehabilitation study will test the feasibility of a new method to personalize a home exercise program for arm/hand recovery. The research study will last ~8 weeks. Participants will be included if they are adults who have experienced a stroke that has caused one arm/hand to become weak, are able to come to the MUSC main campus 3 times for ~2hr arm movement evaluations, and are willing and able to engage in 60 minute telerehabilitation video visits with an occupational therapist 1-2 times per week for 6 weeks. We anticipate that the results of this study will enable occupational therapists and stroke survivors to, together, design home exercise programs that are meaningful, motivating and effective.
The purpose of this study is to develop and test if upper limb task practice and muscle activity training improve upper limb function in stroke survivors. Participants will be asked to come to the laboratory 3 times a week for 6 weeks to receive upper limb task practice and/or muscle activity training. Participants will also come to the laboratory for additional 3 visits for assessments of upper extremity function. The total duration of the study will be 2.5 months.
Research shows that exercising at home can improve arm and hand movement after a stroke. Unfortunately, it can be hard to exercise enough to make a difference in arm and hand movement after stroke. In this study, we will try to determine things that make it easy or hard for Veterans to exercise their arm and hand after a stroke. In this study, we will recruit Veteran stroke survivors who have difficulty using their arm and hand after a stroke. First, we will administer surveys and questionnaires to get Veteran stroke survivors' perspectives on their self-confidence, mood, sleep, and more. Then, we will ask them to track their home exercise using a wearable movement tracker (like a smart watch). Then, Veteran stroke survivors will meet with a researcher to talk about their experience doing home exercise and why they think it was easy or hard to do.
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.
Following stroke, communication between brain areas and to the lower limbs can be compromised, leading to impairments in walking ability. Paired associative stimulation (PAS), a method of non-invasive brain stimulation, is thought to be a useful tool in understanding the relationship between different parts of the brain, and functional ability. However, PAS protocols have not been optimized for use post-stroke. The purpose of this research study is to determine the reliability and effectiveness PAS. This study involve individuals >6 months after having a stroke.