The aim of this study is to gather information about veterans at the Ralph H. Johnson Veterans Medical Center (RHJ-VAMC) who've experienced a stroke and are interested in participating in rehabilitation research.

VA principal investigators at the Center for Rehabilitation Research in Neurologic Conditions (CRRNC) conduct stroke rehabilitation research for individuals. CRRNC include laboratories that investigate and assess upper extremity motor function, neuro-stimulation, communication and swallowing, locomotor energetics, locomotor and rehabilitation, and motor performance functions.

Participants will be asked to come to the CRRNC located at the Medical University of South Carolina (77 President Street, Charleston, South Carolina) and fill out a simple screening form with study personnel. Participants may be contacted in the future for qualifying studies.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) obtained from umbilical cords for the treatment of adults with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The goal of this study is to determine if patients receiving an MSC infusion plus standard of care respond better than patients receiving a placebo infusion plus standard of care.

CREST-2 is two parallel multi-center randomized, observer-blinded endpoint clinical trials. One trial will assess treatment differences between intensive medical management alone compared to carotid endarterectomy procedure plus intensive medical management. The parallel trial will assess treatment differences between intensive medical management alone compared to carotid artery stenting plus intensive medical management. Intensive medical management will involve control of blood pressure, LDL cholesterol, cigarette smoking, and other vascular risk factors.

Infants born early who are in the neonatal intensive care unit will be included if they meet national guidelines for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) screening exams. Informed consent will be given to the parent(s) or legal guardians. 1.5-2 ml of blood will be drawn from a vein when the child is enrolled in the study and may be drawn again if the child requires treatment of eye disease. A cheek swab will also be obtained. These biologic samples will be shipped overnight to the University of Utah for genetic analysis. Analysis will determine if a change in gene expression causes retinopathy of prematurity. Infants enrolled in the study will be followed clinically per established ROP screening guidelines. They will not require additional study exams.

Reflexes are important parts of our movements. When reflexes are not working well, movements are clumsy or even impossible. Researchers have found that people can learn to increase or decrease a reflex response with training. Recently, we have found that rats with spinal cord injuries can walk better after they are trained to change a spinal cord reflex. Thus, learning to change a reflex response may help people recover after a nervous system injury. We are currently studying effects of spinal cord reflex training (e.g., a knee jerk reflex) in people in early adulthood. We hope that the results of this study will help us develop spinal reflex training as a new treatment to help people in early adulthood recover better after spinal cord injury or other damage to the nervous system.

This is a study comparing two methods of dressing a post operative wound that are currently in practice. One method is a traditional dry gauze dressing. The other method is using a negative pressure dressing that provides gentle suction on the wound.

We will attempt to determine how well the use of post-operative negative pressure dressing reduces wound healing problems in patients who have surgery after radiation for a sarcoma in the thigh or leg.

The primary objective of Enroll-HD is to develop a comprehensive repository of prospective and systematically collected clinical research data (demography, clinical features, family history, genetic characteristics) and biological specimens (blood) from individuals with manifest HD, unaffected individuals known to carry the HD mutation or at risk of carrying the HD mutation, and control research participants (e.g., spouses, siblings or offspring of HD mutation carriers known not to carry the HD mutation). Enroll-HD is conceived as a broad-based and long-term project to maximize the efficiencies of non-clinical research and participation in clinical research while ensuring privacy and protections for consenting research participants.

The purpose of this study is to look at the how the use of products that contain a certain chemical compound Docusate, commonly referred to as DOSS, may have on pregnant women and their babies. DOSS is used in many commercially available products, such as pesticides, personal care products, and laxatives. This study will focus on DOSS and the use of Colace which is a commonly prescribed stool softener used in pregnancy. This study will involve pregnant women who are being admitted into MUSC's Labor and Delivery unit.

With this research study, we want to learn if methylphenidate (Ritalin® and others) helps people with Alzheimer's disease and apathy (lack of interest or concern for things that others find moving or exciting).

Reflexes are important parts of our movements. When reflexes are not working well, movements are clumsy or even impossible. After stroke, reflex responses may change. Researchers have found that people can learn to increase or decrease a reflex response with training. Recently, we have found that rats and people with partial spinal cord injuries can walk better after they are trained to change a spinal cord reflex. Thus, learning to change a reflex response may help people recover after a nervous system injury. In this study, we aim to examine whether learning to change a spinal reflex through operant conditioning training can improve movement function recovery in people after stroke or other damage to the nervous system.