In this research study, healthy participants will receive ear stimulation during brain imaging. Ear stimulation will involve the study team applying small electrodes to the outer part of your left ear and administering small amounts of electrical stimulation that may cause you to feel a "tickling" sensation on your ear. Participants will receive four, 8-min ear stimulation sessions in the scanner, and the order of the sessions is randomly assigned to you.
Knowledge gained from this study will help us better understand how stimulation of nerves in your ear turns on different parts of the brain.
This study is attempting to understand whether 30-minutes of a new ear stimulation technology can reduce pain in healthy individuals. Participants in this trial will attend two experimental visits, during which they will receive ear stimulation during the intravenous administration (I.V.) of either saline or naloxone. During each visit, the amount of thermal pain participants can tolerate will be determined before and after ear stimulation. Brain scans will also be collected before and after ear stimulation. Each visit should last about 3 hours.
Approximately 50% of people who have had a stroke report feelings of tiredness and/or a lack of energy that is not reduced with rest and sleep. This phenomenon is known as post-stroke fatigue. Post-stroke fatigue negatively affects an individual's quality of life and participation in rehabilitation, social, and physical activities. There are currently no known effective treatment options for people with post-stroke fatigue. This study will investigate the use of a non-invasive brain stimulation technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to treat post-stroke fatigue. This method has proven useful in other conditions such as depression and we will measure the effects of TMS on reducing fatigue in individuals more than six months post-stroke.
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.
The purpose of the research is to test out a combined treatment for depression where we stimulate a nerve in the ear while at the same time stimulating the brain with magnets. These treatments are called transcutaneous (through the skin) auricular (ear) vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) and transcranial (through the skull) magnetic stimulation (TMS). For patients who already have a cervical VNS device, we will not change their treatment and will use this in place of the taVNS. We think this combined method might treat depressive symptoms better than either alone. This study is in person at the Institute of Psychiatry in downtown Charleston on the MUSC campus. First, patients will have a screening session and then will have 6 treatment days total where they will receive either VNS treatment alone, TMS treatment alone, or both at the same time. The treatment they start with will be randomized, and they will have 2 treatment days of each combination.
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.
The objective of this research study is to identify brain biomarkers using MRI scans that can predict an individual's response to Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS). A total of 55 participants with Parkinson's Disease planning to undergo DBS will be recruited from MUSCs Clinical DBS Program. Participants will undergo two visits which include a 2.5-hour pre-DBS questionnaire and MRI scanning visit, and a 3.5-hour post-DBS cognitive assessment visit.
Sometimes, it is necessary to re-learn a previously learned movement behavior, for example, a bad posture during the golf drive or while playing the piano. Unlearning or relearning an intensively trained behavior is particularly important if the behavior is hampering recovery, for example, in chronic pain or after a stroke. With this study, we experimentally test the brain mechanisms that control the change of pre-existing stable memories of a motor skill with electroencephalography (EEG). We will then use non-invasive brain stimulation to modulate these brain mechanisms and test if it is possible to change the pre-existing motor memory and the learning of a new motor skill.
This is a Phase II research study to determine dosing of non-invasive brain stimulation for patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and depression. The brain stimulation treatment used in this study is called repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). rTMS is a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved treatment for depression. The goal of the study is to see if brain stimulation can be used for MCI patients to improve memory, thinking, and mood, and what dose of stimulation works best.
The study uses a form of rTMS called intermittent theta burst rTMS (accelerated iTBS). This treatment has not been FDA-approved for MCI patients. This double-blind study requires 11 study visits over the course of six months.
The purpose of this study is to use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to take images of a participant's brain, and then apply an investigational way of processing the image, called Individualized Network-based Single-frame Coactivation Pattern Estimation ("INSCAPE") to measure participant's brain activity. This method uses a computer program to understand which parts of the brain communicate with each other and creates a map of the brain areas that are connected.
Participants being recruited in this study will include people planning to receive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ("TMS") for Major Depressive Disorder ("MDD"). Healthy participants are also being recruited. Images taken of depressed participants' brains will be compared to images of non-depressed participants' brains. Participation in this study will require three visits in which you will undergo MRI scans. The interval between each visits is about 3 weeks. Depressed participants will also complete mood assessments at several different intervals while they are receiving TMS for depression.
During each visit, MRI scans will require about 30 minutes of time in total. During the MRI scan, participants will need to stay still, relax, and keep eyes open in the scanner.