Clinical trials

Hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM) is a heritable heart condition that leads to the thickening of the heart muscle and causes obstruction of blood flow, impeding it's ejection from the heart (LVOT obstruction). Often individuals with HOCM suffer from chest pain and shortness of breath due to lack of oxygen supply (ischaemia) to the heart muscle in the absence of blockages in the coronary arteries. Despite proven advances in treatment of LVOT obstruction with the novel medication Camzyos (Mavacamten), there is a limited understanding of its effect on myocardial ischaemia. This study, called the PEACH Trial, is designed to assess whether Camzyos also improves blood supply (perfusion) to the heart muscle in patients with HOCM. A specialised imaging technique called Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (PET-CT), using Rubidium-82 will be used to evaluate blood flow to the heart muscle before and after treatment. Camzyos is part of participants' regular clinical treatment and is not being supplied, administered, or influenced by the study in any way. Participants with HOCM who are starting treatment with Camzyos as part of their clinical care will undergo a baseline PET-CT scan (if not already done), and a second scan after 12 months. The follow-up scan is done solely for research purposes. The scans will allow researchers to evaluate whether the medication improves myocardial perfusion in addition to relieving outflow obstruction. The study is sponsored by the University of Manchester and funded by Bristol Myers Squibb. It will involve up to 75 participants recruited at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. The findings could help improve understanding of how Camzyos works and support personalised treatment approaches in HOCM.

Approximately 50% of cancer patients with solid tumours will be treated with radiotherapy. A significant proportion (\>25%) of patients have hypoxic tumours which respond poorly to radiotherapy. Hypoxic tumours have a poor prognosis. This can be improved with treatment intensification. Treatment intensification can be modification with CON (breathing O2-enriched air + oral administration of nicotinamide), chemoradiosensitisation, radiation dose-escalation or additional systemic treatments, significantly improving response of the tumours to radiotherapy. However, there are currently no clinically approved biomarkers to identify hypoxic tumours. Our group has developed and validated gene-expression signature-based biomarkers that identify patients with hypoxic bladder, head and neck , prostate, sarcoma and lung cancers. The bladder cancer gene-expression hypoxia signature has been shown to predict benefit from hypoxia modification using RNA from archived tumour tissue. The main purpose of this study is to demonstrate in at least two cancer types that the hypoxia biomarker predicts benefit from hypoxia modification in real-time.

The MR BIO study aims to understand the changes in the tumour and normal tissues during a course of radiotherapy. This is accomplished by studying the MR images taken during each treatment session on the MR Linear accelerator (MR Linac). The overarching hypothesis is that changes in MR imaging and biological parameters from blood, tissue, or urine biomarkers can be measured during radiotherapy and associated with clinical outcome. The MR Linac is a new radiotherapy machine with an on board MR scanner. This enables us to take images with high resolution and target the tumours more precisely and also reduce the dose to normal tissues. All patients undergoing treatment in the MR Linac at the Christie hospital will be considered for enrolment regardless of tumour site being treated. The study participants will receive the standard of care treatment for their disease condition. In addition, they will be requested to give weekly blood and urine samples during the course of radiotherapy and at first follow up. On completion of radiotherapy treatment, the participants will continue to be on standard of care follow up protocol with the treating oncologist. A small cohort of ten healthy volunteers will also be recruited to the study to develop and select some of the MR sequences only; they will not provide blood or urine samples. The healthy volunteers will be scanned for no more than one hour per session for a maximum of two sessions in total. These optimised sequences can then be used in the patient cohort.

Injury to the knee can damage the lining of the knee's bones, called cartilage. Cartilage injuries cause pain and limit movement, making activities like walking, playing sports, and working difficult. Cartilage cannot repair itself well, so surgery is often needed to repair it. People who have cartilage repair surgery want to return to normal activities after their operation. Doctors and scientists know the operation can reduce pain, but do not fully understand how it affects movement. This research will help us see if knee function gets better after cartilage repair surgery. The results will help doctors and patients understand what to expect from the surgery. It could also uncover common problems after surgery that could be fixed with physiotherapy. This research is important because untreated cartilage injuries can develop into arthritis later in life. Arthritis is a painful lifelong condition that could be prevented by effectively treating the cartilage injury. In this study, adult patients who are waiting to have a type of cartilage repair surgery called 'autologous chondrocyte implantation' (ACI) at one of 7 hospitals will be invited to take part in the study by their surgeon. Patients who decide to take part will be invited to two appointments at their own hospital, where assessments of their knee function will be performed. The tests will assess the knee's movement, and the patient's balance and walking abilities. The first research appointment will take place before the operation, and the second and final appointment will take place 6-months after surgery. The results of this study will help us understand how knee function changes after cartilage repair surgery. The study will take place across 7 ACI centres in England, and is funded by Orthopaedic Research UK and the British Association for Surgery of the Knee.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the most common inherited heart condition, affecting approximately 1 in 500 people. It causes the heart muscle to thicken, which can lead to blockages in blood flow (left ventricular outflow tract obstruction), shortness of breath, and an increased risk of heart failure or sudden cardiac arrest. While standard treatments exist and new targeted medications (cardiac myosin inhibitors) have recently been approved, doctors still need better data to predict which treatments will work best for each individual patient. This national registry based in the UK is a secure database that collects health information from HCM patients across multiple NHS hospital sites in the UK over several years. Participants in this study will have their routine health information collected from their medical records, including details from heart scans (echocardiograms and MRIs), blood tests, and genetic information. With this HCM registry, we aim to improve disease understanding and risk prediction, paving the way for more personalised treatment plans for the HCM community in the future

The main causes of death in women are conditions affecting the heart and blood vessels (cardiovascular disease, CVD). Women who have difficulties getting pregnant (infertility) may be at increased risk, but the reasons for this are not clear. Infertility itself may be linked with poorer heart and blood vessel health, or fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilisation (IVF) could increase the risk. The study aims to understand the practicalities of obtaining detailed profiling of women's pre- and post- pregnancy heart, blood vessel and metabolic health. Two groups of women in Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, will be recruited over 2 years: 1) women planning a pregnancy, either spontaneously or with IVF treatment after infertility, 2) women who previously took part in a pregnancy health study after IVF or non-IVF conception. Participants will attend a single research appointment where they will undergo a cardiometabolic health assessment. They will have their BMI calculated, body composition measured, a measurement of how well their blood vessels work using a blood pressure cuff around the arm and/or finger and blood sampling performed. A blood pressure cuff as well as a blood sugar sensor may be fitted to be worn after the appointment. Participants will be asked to complete a questionnaire(s), with follow-up for up to 13 months. The cardiometabolic health of those who conceived with or without IVF treatment and with or without a history of infertility will be compared at both time points to investigate the possibility of links between infertility, IVF processes and CVD risk and to understand any potential barriers to recruitment of individuals at either time point to guide future studies. This information could then be used in a full-scale study, including in pregnancy, to improve care and promote lifelong health for women with infertility.

This study aims to test whether a brief behavioural intervention can help healthcare professionals raise and respond to patient safety concerns in their work. Healthcare professionals are often encouraged to speak up about safety risks, but barriers such as time pressure, uncertainty, and workplace culture can make this difficult. Participants will complete an online questionnaire about their experiences of patient safety risks and how often they raise concerns. They will then be randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group will complete a short planning exercise ("if-then" plans) designed to help them act when they notice safety concerns, while the other group will not receive this exercise. Participants will be invited to complete follow-up questionnaires at approximately one month and six months to assess how often they have raised or responded to safety concerns since taking part.

The goal of this feasibility randomised control trial is to determine if a trial to evaluate perinatal bereavement counselling for parents who have experienced a perinatal death is feasible. The main question it aims to answer is: • Is a trial to evaluate access to perinatal bereavement counselling feasible? Researchers will compare the intervention group (parents who have received counselling) to the control group (parents who have not received counselling) to see if there are differences in measurements of parents' grief and psychological symptoms. * Participants allocated to the intervention and control group will receive usual bereavement care from the perinatal bereavement team at the hospital * Parents allocated to the intervention group will receive counselling * Parents will complete validated psychometric questionnaires about their levels of perinatal grief, psychological distress, depression, and quality of life * Parents in the intervention group will be asked a series of open-ended written questions about their experience of participating in the trial * Healthcare professionals who have been involved with delivery of the intervention/referrals will be interviewed about their experience of the trial.

The aim of the present research is to test the effectiveness of an implementation intention-based intervention for promoting the raising of safety concerns by patients in healthcare settings. Each participant will be randomly allocated to one of two conditions: (1) a control condition, and (2) an intervention condition, in which participants form multiple implementation intentions (i.e. "if-then" plans) using a structured online interface. The main outcome measure will be the frequency with which participants report raising safety concerns in healthcare settings over a 12-month follow-up period.

The death of a baby before or shortly after birth affects approximately 1 in every 250 pregnancies in the UK meaning that over 4,000 parents experience the death of a baby each year in the UK. The majority of women who have experienced the loss of a baby will have another pregnancy, usually within a year. Our analysis of 14 studies concluded that parents need specialist support from doctors and midwives in a future pregnancy to reduce the risk of pregnancy complications and to provide the care and support they need. The Rainbow Clinic model aims to provide specialist care and support to families who have experienced the death of a baby during pregnancy or shortly afterwards. Rainbow Clinic was initially established in St Mary's Hospital, Manchester in 2013. The Rainbow Clinic team are now working to establish Rainbow Clinics in other maternity units throughout the UK. As this is a new clinical service the investigators would like to evaluate the care provided in the Rainbow clinics across the United Kingdom, to look at women's experiences of care, their levels of anxiety and depression, to identify where care can be improved and the pregnancy outcomes of women attending Rainbow Clinic. This evaluation needs information about pregnancy outcomes and women's experiences. Participation in this research study will allow us to collect and aggregate this information. The investigators will ask all women attending participating Rainbow Clinics to complete a short questionnaire early in their pregnancy and again at the end. The study will collect information about the outcome of their pregnancy.

Allogeneic stem cell transplantation is the only potentially curative therapy for patients with high-risk Acute Myeloid Leukaemia, but relapse is common and remains the leading cause of death. Patients with certain mutations and those transplanted without first clearing their disease have very poor outcomes with most relapsing soon after transplant, and then surviving only a few months. A recent trial at the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital used cord blood stem cells alongside a type of white blood cell called 'granulocytes' and produced surprisingly good outcomes for children with very resistant leukaemia. GRACE is a clinical trial for adults (\<55 years) with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia that has not responded to chemotherapy or harbours mutations that predict a very poor response to conventional transplant. Participants will receive a transplant using umbilical cord blood and be given additional infusions of white blood cells, called granulocytes. The trial will be split into two parts:-The first will study the safety of this new approach. The experience of the investigators in children is that granulocyte infusions cause a fever, rash and expansion of another type of white blood cell called lymphocytes. Children that did not have this reaction did not respond to treatment. The investigators therefore believe that the reaction is necessary for the treatment to work, but the investigators must ensure that it is safe in adult patients. The trial design allows the investigators to determine the dose of granulocytes that is best tolerated and most likely to be effective. The aim of the second part is to demonstrate that the new treatment is more effective than conventional transplantation. The study will be conducted in three NHS transplant centres. Patients will be recruited over 36 months and followed up for a minimum of 1 year. The study is funded by Blood Cancer UK.

This project aims to identify factors linked to pregnancy losses occurring between 20 and 28 weeks of pregnancy that can be modified by changing mother's behaviour or healthcare provision. The death of a child before birth (also called stillbirth or miscarriage) has enduring psychological, social and economic effects for women, their families and wider society. In 2015, the stillbirth rate in the UK was higher than comparable countries. The UK government has committed to reduce stillbirths by 50% by 2025. Presently, stillbirths after 28 weeks of pregnancy have reduced by 16% but there has been no change in losses between 20 and 28 weeks of pregnancy with 1,600 losses estimated to occur at this stage of pregnancy each year. Identification of modifiable causes of stillbirth was identified as a research priority by the Stillbirth Priority Setting Partnership which involved over 1,000 participants, one third of whom were bereaved parents. The investigators previously completed a study of 291 women who had a late stillbirth (after 28 weeks of pregnancy) and 733 women who had a live baby in 41 maternity units in the UK. This study identified factors linked to stillbirth which can be changed including the position women go to sleep in, cigarette smoking and caffeine consumption. In addition, the investigators previously found changes in mother's perception of baby's movements, whether women had tests for diabetes or whether women were exposed to domestic violence or stressful situations. These factors can be addressed by different care in pregnancy. Information from this study has been included in national and international guidelines that aim to reduce stillbirth. The investigators will use the same study type to identify factors associated with pregnancy loss between 20 and 28 weeks of pregnancy (early stillbirth). The investigators have asked parents who have experienced the death of a baby at these stages of pregnancy about the design of the study, the questions that would be asked and how best to approach bereaved parents. This led us to include miscarriages from 20-22 weeks of pregnancy that are not usually "counted" in UK stillbirth statistics. The investigators will need 316 women with stillbirth between 20 and 28 weeks of pregnancy and 632 women with an ongoing live pregnancy to participate in the study. All women will complete a questionnaire about themselves, their diet, behaviours and sleep, their baby's movements and pregnancy care. The investigators will compare information between women who have early stillbirth and those who have a live birth to identify factors associated with stillbirth at less than 28 weeks of pregnancy. The study findings will be disseminated in collaboration with patient organisations using effective ways to reach pregnant women. The investigators anticipate the findings from this study will be included in clinical practice guidelines and rapidly translated into antenatal care.

This research study, aims to understand why a specific heart medication called mavacamten works better for some people with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) than for others. We believe the answer might be in our genes. The study focuses on two key areas: 1. The specific gene causing HCM:The study will investigate whether the type of gene causing the condition in a person influences how well mavacamten works for them. 2. Each individual carry a certain gene that helps metabolise and process medication (otherwise known as pharmacogenetics). Our research will closely examine a gene called CYP2C19 to see if a person's natural processing speed (slow, normal, or fast) affects the medicine's performance. The study will also look for rare genetic variations that standard tests might miss.

The goal of this observational study is to develop a large, deeply characterised cohort that will be a platform for collaborative clinical and translational research into cardiovascular (CV) disease (CVD) and Immune-mediated-inflammatory-diseases (IMID). The main aim is to evaluate whether existing blood cardiac biomarkers predict adverse cardiovascular outcomes. The study will capture standard of care CV and associated health data (clinical, biochemistry/pathology and investigations) in patients across the IMIDs. Optional biological and/or imaging sub-studies will provide additional data and/or samples for associated analyses.

Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the most common inherited heart condition, where the heart muscles can thicken to the point of obstructing blood flow out of the heart. This condition is associated with a chronic state of energy loss in the heart muscle. Till more recently, a new class of medication (cardiac myosin inhibitors) have been introduced to directly target the heart muscle proteins (sarcomeres) to reduce the strength of contraction and relieve obstruction of blood flow out of the heart. While clinical trials have shown this class of medication significantly improves physical capacity and patient symptoms, it is still unclear, based on small scale published studies, where this improvement is achieved by restoring the fundamental energy balance within the heart. Our research study aims to answer this question and prove mechanistic insights of the use of this class of medication in the HCM population with blood flow obstruction (otherwise known as obstructive HCM) by using a specialised non-invasive MRI technique which accurately measures the heart energy score (specifically known as the PCr/ATP ratio) in each participant. Our objective is to determine how a patient with obstructive HCM have their energy scores affected, and improve over time with this medication therapy. If positive, this finding could establish the use of PCr/ATP ratio as a crucial, objective biomarker for monitoring therapeutic response and informing personalised dosing strategies for patient in the future.

The goal of this case series study is to learn if culturally-adapted cognitive-behavioural therapy is practical, acceptable and safe among Black Sub-Saharan African and Caribbean people experiencing psychosis. The main question it aims to answer is: Is culturally-adapted CBT for psychosis feasible, acceptable to and safe for Black Sub-Saharan African and Caribbean people experiencing psychosis? Participants will be asked to: * Answer some questionnaires about how things are at the moment * Attend up to 16 sessions of therapy * Answer the same questionnaires to see what has changed, if anything * Complete a semi-structured interview about their expectations and experience of therapy

WHY ARE WE DOING THIS? When patients contact their GP practice, the first step is to work out what kind of help they need and how quickly it's needed. This is called 'triage' and is important for patient safety. Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help make triage faster. While AI is already being used in the NHS, we don't know how accurate it is or if it treats all patients fairly. WHAT WILL WE DO? We will collect anonymised data from patients that use an AI triage system called Patchs in GP practices in England. The project will last four years. We will analyse the data in four steps: 1. Look at data from GP practices using Patchs without AI triage to see how they currently triage patients and what problems they face. 2. Use data from GP practices using Patchs (both with AI on and off) to make the AI triage more accurate. 3. Check data from GP practices using Patchs with AI triage off to measure how well the updated AI system works. 4. Give the improved AI triage system to GP practices already using AI. At each step, we will check whether patients from different backgrounds are treated fairly. HOW WILL WE ANALYSE THE DATA? We will use statistical methods to compare the triage decisions made by the AI with those made by clinical staff. This analysis will also be used to check that the AI works fairly for patients from different backgrounds. WHAT DIFFERENCE WILL WE MAKE? Our research will show the problems with triage and explain how an improved AI system could help patients get the care they need more quickly.

Increased physical activity has been shown to improve outcomes for cancer patients, however the measure of activity is highly variable and understudied in cancer patients on early phase clinical trials where activity is used as a criteria for eligibility. Additionally, more than half of cancer patients experience fatigue at some point in their treatment with exercise and psychosocial interventions currently recommended as interventions. Therefore, it is important to be able to more accurately measure activity and fatigue in cancer patients to ensure adequate intervention, management and appropriate access to treatment. This proposal is a non-interventional feasibility study designed to collect activity and sleep data from patients with advanced cancer newly enrolled in early phase clinical trials. The data will be collected over a 5-6 week period using a wearable accelerometer device. This study will be conducted concurrently with the early phase trial related activities/treatment and will have no impact on a patient's clinical pathway. Data generated from the study will be used to evaluate the feasibility of collecting activity and sleep data from patients with advanced cancer on early phase clinical trials. In this study, participants in the UK will be able to opt-in to using eNutri, a web-based graphical food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), and provide feedback on its usability. The output of eNUTRI will help us understand if there is a use for eNutri in cancer care environments for a range of purposes such as providing nutritional support for cancer patients, and exploring drug-nutrient interactions on the patient outcome.

This study aims to investigate immune changes which occur before and following standard radiotherapy in a range of tumour types. We will collect tissue and blood samples before and after radiation treatment from participants across six cancer types: cervical, rectal, Head and Neck cancer, nodal non-Hodgkin lymphoma, cutaneous lymphoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma/ basal cell carcinoma.

Aim of the research: To find out why antibiotics work differently in certain patients with severe pneumonia and sepsis. Background: Individuals can become very unwell from pneumonia, sometimes requiring admission to hospital or even the intensive care unit (ICU). In some cases, pneumonia can lead to a condition called sepsis, which can be deadly if not treated quickly. In the UK, approximately 30,000 patients die from pneumonia every year. Clinicians use antibiotic injections to treat life-threatening infections such as severe pneumonia. After being injected into the bloodstream, antibiotics quickly spread throughout the body, attacking the infection. Antibiotics are eventually broken down and removed from the body by the kidneys and other organs. However, antibiotics fail to achieve the same consistent result for every patient. This may be to do with the way the antibiotics travel through and are removed from the body, leading to different antibiotic levels in the blood at any one time. Low antibiotic levels can result in worse outcomes and antibiotic resistance. Patients can be grouped based on how their immune system reacts to infections. The SIPRES Study aims to explore if these previously described groups explain the difference in antibiotic levels in patients with severe pneumonia and sepsis. Procedures: We will study how adult patients with severe pneumonia respond when treated with the most commonly used antibiotic in the ICU called piperacillin/tazobactam. Alongside information on how quickly patients get better and how long they need to stay in hospital or in ICU, we will collect blood samples to measure antibiotic levels and assess each patient's immune system at two time points during their treatment. This will allow us to measure antibiotic levels in blood at different times and group patients based on their immune system reaction to infection. We will describe the range of antibiotic levels seen in the different immune system reaction groups using mathematical and statistical models. Patient involvement: We are working closely with people who have experienced severe pneumonia and will work with two patient partners and a patient advisory group to help shape this research. Patient contributors have already shaped the development of the funding application and identified important study outcomes. Patients we have spoken to are concerned over the appropriate dosing of antibiotics and appreciate the need for improved and precise approaches to treating severe infections. Moving forward, patient partners will help finalise the protocol, develop patient and public facing materials, provide their perspective on the study results and shape plans to share the outcomes of the study more broadly. Potential impact: The SIPRES Study will help identify a group of patients at risk of low antibiotic levels in blood, who are less likely to improve with treatment and more likely to develop antibiotic resistance. Mathematical models that can help clinicians personalise antibiotic dosing for each critically ill patient with severe pneumonia will be developed. Findings have the potential to limit the development of antibiotic resistance and help patients survive and get better faster so that they can return to their normal daily lives. Individualised dosing for patients with low antibiotic levels, as opposed to 'one size fits all' prescribing, also has the potential to more efficiently allocate scarce resources to those who will benefit the most.

A multidisciplinary team of a doctor and engineers have developed a new sensor that will be able to detect mothers' and babies' heartbeat and babies movements in late pregnancy. This sensor can be placed in contact with the mothers' skin over the pregnant uterus without having to be stuck down. We anticipate that this sensor would allow us to monitor babies for longer periods of time which might help us to better identify babies who are being deprived of oxygen during pregnancy. We need to test these sensors on women in late pregnancy for two reasons. Firstly, we need to ensure they reliably measure mother and babies heart rates without interference from movement or other electrical equipment. Secondly we need to ensure that the information they provide is accurate (compared to current measurement techniques). We will carry out two related studies. The first will include up to 24 women to develop the sensors to ensure that they can obtain consistent signals from mothers' and babies' heartbeats without interference from movement and other electronic devices. We will adjust the electronics in the sensors to ensure they give the best signal. The second will include up to 45 women to see whether the information detected by the sensors is comparable to existing technologies. This information will help us to see whether these sensors can be organised into a new device for fetal monitoring which can then be tested.

A study of patients undergoing haematopoietic stem cell transplantation, a procedure in which patients are infused with stem cells from a donor, resulting in a new immune system that eliminates cancer or replaces diseased bone marrow. This study aims to develop new blood tests that predict the onset of acute graft-versus-host disease (aGvHD) and leukaemia relapse, two life-threatening complications that frequently limit the success of treatment. Predictive tests would allow doctors to individualise prophylaxis and intervene early to abort complications before they develop. The study will also create a large collection of clinically annotated blood samples from 300 transplant recipients to support future research and provide a resource to the transplant research community.

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if a pre-operative outpatient exercise programme, monitored by a smart wearable device is acceptable to live kidney donor and recipient transplant patients. It will also look at the impact of prehabilitation on post operative outcomes. The main questions it aims to answer are: Is it feasible for renal transplant patients and live kidney donors to participate in a prehabilitation programme in combination with a piece of wearable technology? Are transplant outcomes improved by prehabilitation regimens delivered by video instruction? Are there discernible perioperative digital signatures provided by the wearable that link to surgical outcomes? Is the quality of perioperative sleep linked to surgical outcomes? Participants will: Wear a wrist or ring worn wearable device for a total of 14 weeks (2 week baseline, 6 week pre op and 6 week post op) Engage in a 6 week pre operative exercise programme at home/gym Keep a diary and answer surveys on their experience of the exercise regimen and wearable device

The aim of this study is to determine whether it is feasible to deliver a 9-session compassionate-focused therapy for older people with bipolar disorder. Participants will be asked to complete baseline measures and at post-intervention follow-up (12 weeks and 24 weeks) to understand any potential clinical benefits of the therapy.

The goal of this interventional study is to optimize the excitatory brain effects of combined neuromodulatory therapies on swallowing areas of the brain. The main question it aims to answer is: Does preconditioning with 1 Hertz (Hz) repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) delivered over hemispheric pharyngeal areas enhance the activating effects of pharyngeal electrical stimulation (PES) on cortical excitability? Participants will: * Visit the department three times, with at least a one-week gap between visits. * Undergo baseline measurements for Pharyngeal motor evoked potential (PMEP) and Thenar motor evoked potential (TMEP), involving an electromyography (EMG) pharyngeal catheter inserted into the pharynx and gel electrodes to detect muscle activity. * Be randomly allocated to one of the three preconditioning-conditioning procedures during each visit : 1Hz rTMS followed by 5Hz PES, sham 1Hz rTMS followed by 5Hz PES, and 1Hz rTMS followed by sham 5Hz PES 1. Real rTMS will involve a figure-of-eight coil flat against the head delivering 1Hz stimulation at 90% of the thenar resting motor threshold. 2. Sham rTMS will involve holding the coil perpendicular to the scalp to prevent brain stimulation. 3. PES will involve a catheter delivering 0.2-ms pulses at 5Hz and 75% of the maximal tolerated intensity for 10 minutes. Sham PES will involve deactivating the current generator. * Complete PMEP and TMEP measurements at baseline before intervention and every 15 minutes from 0 - 60 minutes after the rTMS-PES procedure. * Complete a survey regarding tolerability and safety at the end of each visit.