Clinical trials

The goal of this clinical trials is to learn if healthy young African American (AA) adults have a larger change in their kidney blood flow during exercise compared to White (W) adults. The main questions that this study aims to answer are: * Do healthy young AA adults have a larger decrease in kidney blood flow during exercise compared to W adults? * Do healthy young AA adults have a larger decrease in kidney blood flow during other types of stress compared to W adults? During two visits in the research lab, participants will: * Perform a fitness test * Perform cycling exercise while lying down * Undergo a cold hand test * Perform a mental math test Completing this clinical trial will help researchers to understand more about why many AA adults have heart and kidney problems, so future research can study ways to reduce the number of AA adults who have these health issues.

Accumulating evidence supports that more pain, whether measured by number of pain sites or pain severity, is associated with poorer cognitive function and mobility, and fall risk in older persons. Tai Chi which holistically integrates physical and cognitive functions offers the possibility not only of alleviating pain but also improving attention and mobility in the many older adults who have chronic multisite pain. This proposed full-size randomized controlled Tai Chi trial is a direct extension of the investigators' previous work examining chronic pain, attention demands, mobility and falls in the older population, and is built on the investigators' National Institute on Aging-supported Tai Chi feasibility and acceptability pilot studies among older adults with multisite pain and risk for falls. The goal of this single-blinded randomized controlled trial is to examine the effects of a 24-week Tai Chi intervention on chronic pain, cognition, mobility, fear of falling, and fall rate in older adults with multisite pain and at risk for falls. The results of this study will provide a foundation to establish the clinical significance of Tai Chi in the management of chronic multisite pain and to explore the mechanisms through which Tai Chi improves chronic pain symptoms and lowers fall rate in at-risk older adults.

The primary goal of this study is to see if photodynamic therapy (PDT) is effective for treatment of lesions in the oral cavity which have high risk of becoming oral cancer. PDT treatment uses a drug, called a photosensitizer, which makes the diseased cells become light-sensitive such that they are destroyed when laser light is delivered to the target lesion. In this study a new handheld device, called SITOS (a "Screen, Image and Treat Optical System), is used. The ability of this device to simultaneously visualize the inside of the mouth and deliver laser light to the target site will be evaluated. The main questions this study seeks to answer are: * Can this treatment completely cure oral potentially malignant lesions (OPML) without need for surgery? * Do lesions recur after PDT treatment? * Is the SITOS device easy to use for the doctor and comfortable for the patient, both as an oral imaging device and as a treatment device?

The goal of this preliminary study is to learn if healthy older African American (AA) adults have a larger change in their kidney blood flow during exercise compared to White (W) adults. The main questions that this study aims to answer are: * Do healthy older AA adults have a larger decrease in kidney blood flow during exercise compared to W adults? * Do healthy older AA adults have a larger decrease in kidney blood flow during other types of stress compared to W adults? During one visit in the research lab, participants will: * Perform cycling exercise while lying down * Undergo a cold hand test * Perform a mental math test Completing this preliminary study will help researchers to understand more about why many AA adults have heart and kidney problems, so future research can study ways to reduce the number of AA adults who have these health issues.

The goal of this study is to determine if 12 weeks of cycling exercise training at home will improve three parameters: 1) blood pressure, 2) cognition, and 3) walking ability among persons with multiple sclerosis who have high blood pressure, when compared to a group that engages in a 12-week home-based stretching program. The main questions this study aims to answer are: 1. Can home-based cycling exercise training improve blood pressure by increasing blood vessel dilation in people with multiple sclerosis? 2. Can cycling exercise training improve cognition and walking mobility in people with multiple sclerosis by improving blood pressure? The investigators will compare home-based cycling training to stretching to see if cycling training improves cognition, walking mobility, blood pressure, and fitness in people with multiple sclerosis. Participation in this study will take 13-14 weeks, with participants being randomized (like flipping a coin, a 50-50 chance of being in either group) to the home-based cycling training or the stretching group. All participants will be asked to * Visit the laboratory two times, one before the beginning of the intervention (home-base training and stretching group) and one at the end of the intervention. * During visits, participants will complete tests related to cognition, walking mobility, blood pressure and fitness.