Search Results

In the first phase of the study, participants will be asked to complete two sets of appointments six months apart. During both sets of appointments, participants will be asked to complete interviews and questionnaires about their life experiences and mental health, and they will have an EEG and fMRI while completing computerized tasks. The second phase of the study is optional. In this phase, participants will test one of two forms of computerized cognitive training, or brain games. They will be asked to complete 10 hours of training over a 3-6 week period. After the training period is over, they will have two sets of follow up visits, one right after the training period and one five months later. At these appointments, participants will complete the same activities done in the first phase of this study, including the interviews, questionnaires, and imaging (fMRI and EEG) combined with computerized tasks. We are recruiting two groups of participants for this study. One group will include individuals who experience hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, or a psychosis disorder (i.e., schizophrenia), and the other group will be individuals who do not have a diagnosis or family history of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or autism spectrum disorder.

STEP Study - stepstudy@umn.edu

This research is being performed to examine how the spleen moves during breathing in various body positions and breathing conditions. Physical measurements of the participant's body will be recorded (weight, height, and body dimensions) and then noninvasive recordings of the spleen and breathing patterns will be recorded. The spleen motion will be measured using standard abdominal ultrasound imaging, and breathing will be measured with accelerometers (small devices about the size of a quarter that measure the movement of the chest during breathing).

Spleen Imaging Study - spleenimagingstudy@gmail.com

The proposed study is an individual three-arm randomized controlled tiled aimed at utilizing state-of-the-art intervention methods to examine whether increasing the quality and the quantity of family meals reduces childhood obesity.

Jerica Berge - jberge@umn.edu

The purpose of this study to examine the effects of cigarette smoking and drinking alcohol on the formation of DNA damage in the mouth. The overall goal is to identify DNA damage that may be important to the development of cancer.

Smoking Alcohol Study - smoking-alcohol@umn.edu

The goal of this study is to better understand how drinking alcohol may lead to oral cancers. Acetaldehyde, a chemical formed when the body breaks down alcohol, is believed to play an important role. This study will measure acetaldehyde and DNA damage levels in the mouth of participants after a low dose of alcohol. The levels will be compared between three groups, all having different degrees of risk for developing oral cancer, in order to identify DNA damage that might be crucial to cancer formation.

Alcohol Study - alcohol-study@umn.edu

This is a prospective study aimed at quantifying walking and balance in Parkinson's Disease patients in the clinical setting. To accomplish this, we will use a portable motion capture system that is widely used to study biomechanics in humans. Once quantified, we want to test the effects of deep brain stimulation (DBS) frequency in patients who already have DBS systems in place. Thus, our objectives are: 1. Develop an anonymized database of quantitative postural responses and gait of PD patients. 2. Develop software that can quantify the postural response and gait of PD participants using only standard video camera footage. 3. Test the effectiveness of bilateral high and low frequency STN-DBS on the postural responses and gait of PD patients using the portable motion capture system. 4. We will passively record thalamic LFPs from patients with Medtronic Percept DBS devices while the DBS is OFF, set to low frequency, and set to high frequency.

Thomas Lisko - tlisko@umn.edu

A single visit study with muscle and/or skin biopsy / blood draw, performed to determine whether a molecular or cellular defect can be attributed to cells of FSHD muscle. This study is recruiting both individuals with genetically confirmed FSHD as well as unaffected healthy (control) individuals.

Ana Mitanoska - mitan001@umn.edu

This is a prospective, longitudinal cohort study involving data collection regarding performance of children with ALD and typically developing (TD)children on neurocognitive testing and collection of neuroimaging data. The first goal of this study is to understand more about how ALD affects a child’s brain and development in childhood as they take part in their normal medical care and monitoring. This is important to identifying the best ways to detect and treat manifestations of ALD such as cerebral ALD. The second goal is to learn about how ALD affects caregivers, so that clinicians can offer better support to families in the future.

Brain Study - brainstudy@umn.edu

The purpose of this study is to study the evolution of early life risk factors that may lead to cancer and other conditions. This is a prospective cohort study of families who reside in Minnesota.

Clemen Wilcox - clemenw@umn.edu

This study sets out to validate a simple, inexpensive blood test to identify Diastolic dysfunction (DD). Currently, diagnosis depends on costly, time-consuming imaging procedures that are only undertaken after symptoms develop. We have shown in the heart tissues of DD animals (mice and monkeys) and humans that S-glutathionylated cardiac myosin binding protein C (cMyBP-C) is likely responsible for reduced relaxation in DD and is elevated in the blood of each species when DD is present. Specific to the heart, cMyBP-C has been developed as a blood test to predict myocardial infarction. We hypothesize that modified S-glutathionylated cMyBP-C will be a blood marker for DD. We propose to do a non-interventional human clinical study to validate our animal and preliminary human data.

Samuel Dudley - sdudley@umn.edu

The purpose of this project is to provide new knowledge of the relationship between structural and functional changes in cortico-basal ganglia pathways and the severity of motor and non-motor deficits in humans with PD.

Madison Aasen - aasen056@umn.edu

This is pilot study designed to test the hypothesis that maternal probiotic supplementation is associated with infant gut microbiome variation and improved neurodevelopmental outcomes as measured by ERP performance. The primary aim is to determine if maternal probiotic supplementation during pregnancy and lactation is associated with improved recognition memory performance in infants of diabetic mothers (IDMs). This will involve recruitment and enrollment of pregnant mothers who have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes and randomization to an intervention or control group. Women in the intervention group will receive a standardized probiotic supplement during the third trimester of pregnancy through the first month of lactation. We will compare the IDMs who are exposed to probiotics via maternal supplementation or not with respect to auditory and visual ERPs at 1 and 6 months of age to determine if probiotic supplementation is associated with improved hippocampus function in infancy. The secondary aim is to examine whether maternal probiotic supplementation during pregnancy and lactation is associated with differences in maternal milk and infant fecal microbiome signatures as well as maternal milk and infant serum inflammatory protein levels. Microbial analysis will be performed on infant stool and maternal breast milk samples at one and six months of age. Infant serum and maternal breast milk inflammatory protein levels will be measured at one and six months postpartum.

Maria Bunch - mbunch@umn.edu

Freezing of gait is a common problem in people with Parkinson's disease. Episodes of freezing can be overcome when a sensory cue is provided. This study will further develop and study the efficacy of a wireless shoe insole that can monitor walking and provide a cue (acoustic or vibrotactile) when a freezing event is detected. The experiment is designed to further test the ability of the device and algorithm to reliably detect freezing and release the episode with an external cue. This study has the potential to develop a tool that can help reduce the incidence and severity of freezing events in people with Parkinson's disease.

Madison Aasen - aasen056@umn.edu

Prospective study investigating brain activity associated with markers of suicidal behavior (SB) in adolescents.

Ab Flab Study - abflab@umn.edu

The purpose of this investigation is to identify the potentially crucial role of anticipatory reward mechanisms maintaining bulimic behavior (i.e., binge eating and purging) in bulimia nervosa (BN).

Emma Rasmussen - rasmu960@umn.edu

This is a prospective study aimed at quantifying walking and balance in patients with parkinsonism in the clinical setting in addition to a living environment setting. To accomplish this, we will use a portable motion capture system that is widely used to study biomechanics in humans. Once quantified, we want to test the effects of deep brain stimulation (DBS) frequency in patients who already have DBS systems in place. Thus, our objectives are: 1. Demonstrate that parkinsonism patient-specific kinematics can be used to detect postural instability in the clinic using wearable IMUs. 2. Demonstrate that individualized, home-based postural response curves can detect postural instability and prospectively predict fall risk in patients with parkinsonism.

Thomas Lisko - tlisko@umn.edu

We are studying the brain patterns of people who have anorexia nervosa and those who don't have anorexia nervosa. We will look at MRIs, behavioral measures, and questionnaires to see if we can identify the brain activity associated with disgust. There will be a follow-up at 6 and 12 months.

Maya Day - day00186@umn.edu

The purpose of this research project is to develop a registry and database of families with neurodevelopmental disorders.

Shelby Wren - flana064@umn.edu