The purpose of the study is to determine the effects of amiloride on the blood pressure response to walking in PAD patients and healthy controls.

In each visit, you will be asked to walk on a treadmill. You will also be asked to take capsules prior to visit 2 and 3. The capsules for one visit will be a drug called amiloride (10mg, in 2 capsules with 5mg of amiloride in each capsule), which was traditionally used to lower blood pressure. The other capsules will be a placebo (no active medication). A blood sample will be drawn at each visit.

You will receive $25 per hour for your participation in this research study

The proposed overall research aims to establish feasibility of delivering an individually-tailored, behavioral intervention to manage gestational weight gain [GWG] that adapts to the unique needs and challenges of overweight/obese pregnant women [OW/OB-PW] and will utilize control systems engineering to optimize this intervention; in other words, make this intervention manage GWG in OW/OB-PW as effectively and efficiently as possible.

You will be randomized into an intervention or attention control group from ~8 weeks gestation to ~37 weeks gestation with a BMI of 24-45 (>40 with physician consent).You will have 1 pre-intervention session that explains the study procedures and to get you ready for the study. Here you will also complete various measures of demographics, behavioral surveys, etc.Over the course of the study, you will weigh yourself each day, wear an activity monitor and complete various surveys. If you are randomized to the intervention group, you may have healthy eating demonstrations and/or physical activity sessions each week.You will have 1 post-intervention session where you will return your devices, complete a 30-60 minute interview and complete the last of the surveys.

$250

This research is being done to help us better understand the risk factors and protective factors for cognitive decline in people who are at increased risk for dementia. The goal of the study is to establish a data and biorepository for people at increased risk for dementia.

Eligible patients for the study, in addition to routine clinic visits, may undergo a series of questionnaires and blood testing.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. The loss of estrogen from menopause puts women at a greater risk of developing heart disease. The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of drinking beetroot juice on measures of blood vessel health and blood pressure. Participants will drink beetroot juice and placebo juice each for one week followed by blood pressure measurements and ultrasound imaging of an artery in the upper arm. A sub-aim of this study is to investigate the effects of estrogen status on blood vessel function between pre- and post-menopausal women.

There are a total of 6 in-person visits to the Clinical Research Center. You will be asked to drink beetroot juice (2 oz) every day for 7 days. Participants will undergo vascular assessments, blood pressure measurements, and blood draws (11 in total for 6 visits).

$120

The primary endpoint of this study is to identify the contributing factors in development of romantic relationships through an analysis of the real-life experiences of Penn state couples that we collect in our surveys. Our focus is to identify the spatial factors in different scales as they relate to two-person relationships. The results of this study informs architects, planners, and administrators of practical strategies to generate friendly spaces in college towns.

People with narrowed blood vessels in their legs can only walk a short distance before needing to sit down due to pain in their calf muscles. Most of these patients do not follow their heart doctor's advice to walk at home because it hurts. A therapy that does not involve painful walking would be ideal for these patients to begin to treat their disease so they can eventually walk with less discomfort. We will ask patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) to place both feet into inflatable ankle splints 30 minutes a day for 4 weeks to passively stretch their calf muscles. Before and after this 4-week program, we will measure the health and size of their leg blood vessels, the length, and function of their calf muscles and tendons, and how long they can walk without pain. We will also closely track their joint and foot movements and calf muscle oxygen levels while they walk down a hallway. People with and without risk factors for heart disease are also eligible for this study to compare differences in vascular and muscular health to patients with PAD. Volunteers without a PAD diagnosis or poor leg circulation will not undergo the 4-week stretch and no-stretch interventions.

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) and poor leg circulation patients:-4 visits to University Park Clinical Research Center ~3 hours per visit-1 blood draw-Wear a calf muscle stretching device for 30-min a day, 5 days a week, for 4 weeks and 4 weeks of no stretching-Several muscle and vascular ultrasound measurements-Walking performance tests on and off the treadmill-Wear a smartwatch to monitor physical activity during each 4-week stretch or no stretch interventionParticipants with and without risk factors for heart disease:-2 visits to University Park Clinical Research Center within the same week lasting ~3 hours per visit-Not diagnosed with PAD or poor leg circulation-1 blood draw-Several muscle and vascular ultrasound measurements-Walking performance tests on and off the treadmill

PAD participants can receive up to $450 in compensation. Participants with and without heart disease risk factors (non-PAD participants) will receive $50 for their participation.

The goal of this study is to understand how babies and their mothers learn to respond to stress during the early years of the baby's life. Participating women complete questionnaires and do a mildly stressful task alone (during pregnancy) or with their babies (at four different times over the first two years of the baby's life) and collect saliva samples that tell us about stress responses, either at home or at one of our lab sites. We aim to use what we learn to better support expecting parents who may be at risk for stress-related health problems and improve their children's resilience to stress throughout life.

Women are asked to participate in six sessions over Zoom and/or at the PACT Center between their 28th week of pregnancy and when their child is 2 years old. During these sessions, which last up to 2 hours each, mothers and babies will1.participate in mildly stressful tasks (like having the mother leave the room for up to 3 minutes and then return) and games to assess the baby’s emotional and cognitive development2.provide saliva samples by drooling into a tube (for the mother) or holding a cotton swab in their baby’s mouth to get it wet3.fill out questionnaires about themselves and their baby4.take part in clinical interviews that ask about mood and other markers of psychological ill-being

$220

Adolescence is a critical period during which many important healthhttps://irb.psu.edu/IRB/sd/ResourceAdministration/Project/ProjectEditor?Project=com.webridge.entity.Entity[OID[058ACDEB3E43384D816C7E390C2B83F6]]&Mode=smartform&WizardPageOID=com.webridge.entity.Entity[OID[E4552FC57E491543A6B7FD8268E23FD7]] habits form in humans. However, animal models provide mixed information about habit formation across development and there are relatively few human studies that address differences between habit formation in adolescents and adults. To address this gap, the proposed study will assess differences in habit formation in adolescents and adults as measured by the "Slips of Action" task, which seeks to discriminate between habitual and goal-directed learning of visual stimuli pairings.

There will be one in-person visit lasting about one hour. Visits will begin with informed consent. Participants will complete a computer task where they are asked to learn associations between pictures and then will be tested on the associated pairings. They will also complete questionnaires and cognitive tasks.

$20

This is a social sciences study to analyze the effect of menstrual cup introduction through the "CampusCup" free menstrual cup distribution program on the tendency of college students to perpetuate period stigma. A survey will be conducted across samples of students who participated in the CampusCup program, students who use menstrual cups independent of the CampusCup program, and students who have never used menstrual cups. The survey will address motivations behind menstrual cup usage and personal attitudes towards periods. The study seeks to investigate relationships between menstrual cup usage & CampusCup participation and impacts on community attitudes towards menstruation.

This study aims to examine the effect of pedaling a compact elliptical device at the desk on employees' work productivity. This study also aims to evaluate the effect of different types of incentives on promoting desk-based pedaling.

We are investigating how the starch from pulse crops (chickpeas, lentils and dry peas) affects the gut microbiome, particularly with regards to the production of butyrate, a microbial metabolite with a number of known health benefits. We are recruiting people from two groups, those that consume a lot of these pulses and those who rarely consume them. These participants will then track their food intake for 48 hours before collecting a fecal sample which they will return to the lab. We will then use these fecal samples to conduct laboratory fermentations with pulse starches processed in a number of different ways to see what factors are important for determining the amount of butyrate that is produced. This will serve as pilot data for designing future human clinical trials.

We wish to investigate the role of a specific gene in visceral pain sensation and perception. This gene, Nav1.8 has a known change present in 10% of the population which may affect the way we feel inflammatory pain in the gut. This is an important symptom in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Some patients feel high levels of pain we would like to control, other patients feel little to no pain in the presence of very active disease, which can lead to dangerously under-treated disease. In this study, we will use healthy volunteers as well as IBD patients, and test their sensitivity using rectal balloon dilation.Research subjects will be asked to fast, skipping solid foods and opaque liquids for 6 hours before the testing. Usually this means skipping 1 meal. At the beginning of the study visit. they will use an over the counter enema to clear their rectum of any stool. Healthy control subjects that have never had a colonoscopy before and all IBD patients will undergo a very brief proctoscopy to either verify rectal health or check for any IBD disease activity. Healthy controls that have had a prior colonoscopy within the last 5 years will skip that prior step. Then a trained physician on the research team will insert a thin, lubricated tube into the rectum, which will be inflated to specific pressures. Most of these tests will be designed to measure any change in sensation, then the need to use the toilet, followed by urgent need or discomfort, and lastly the lower threshold of pain. Test subjects will be able to stop testing at any time, should they become too uncomfortable. The testing takes between 1 and 1 and a half hours, and volunteers are compensated $200 for their time.

To simulate abdominal pain, we use a thin tube placed in the rectum that inflates a small balloon to very precise and safe pressures. Our bodies interpret these pressures (in ascending order) as the need to go to the bathroom; first just a little, then with increasing urgency and eventually discomfort and pain. During these experiments, we only measure the lower threshold of pain, and stop immediately when you tell us to stop. We have significant experience using this approach and we have found it consistently informative while causing the least amount of discomfort possible. The whole thing takes about an hour and we’re paying volunteers $200 for participating. We'll ask that you skip a meal before the study visit, and perform an over-the-counter enema at the start of the visit.

$200

This research is being done to find out the relationship between an individual’s mental state and how well they perform visual-perceptual tasks. This will allow us to understand the brain processes related to errors in image perception, to understand how mental states impact medical image interpretation. Overall, this research will help us develop training programs to reduce the amount of perceptual errors in diagnosing images

A brain-computer interface (BCI) is a device that has the potential to restore communication by direct translation of brain signals. The BCI used in this study, the P300 Speller, relies on the generation of a P300 evoked potential when a user is presented a rare and unpredictable target stimulus amidst a larger pool of non-target stimuli. This evoked potential is used to perform selections on the computer. Those with advanced ALS demonstrate decreased capacity for BCI control using the P300 speller. With this study, we aim to use a combination of eye tracking and sensory testing to quantify sensory and cognitive processes necessary for the generation of a P300 response. We will test the performance of a multisensory P300 spelling task, where brain potentials are evoked using a combination of visual, auditory, and tactile stimuli. The goal is to demonstrate the perceptual benefits of multisensory integration and generate evidence for its use in this patient group.

A brain-computer interface (BCI) is a device that has the potential to restore communication by direct translation of brain signals. The BCI used in this study, the P300 Speller, relies on the generation of a P300 evoked potential when a user is presented a rare and unpredictable target stimulus amidst a larger pool of non-target stimuli. This evoked potential is used to perform selections on the computer.With this study, we aim to use a combination of eye tracking and sensory testing to quantify sensory and cognitive processes necessary for the generation of a P300 response. We will test the performance of a multisensory P300 spelling task, where brain potentials are evoked using a combination of visual, auditory, and tactile stimuli.

$40

The purpose of this study is to understand the neural and behavioral mechanisms subserving social and non-social risky decision making.

There will be one in-person lab visit where you will play a decision-making game, while having an fMRI scan.

$31.25

The purpose of this study is to determine whether and how people's perceptions of the power in their romantic relationships shape the messages they use to seek support from their romantic partners.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the nicotine delivery, toxicant exposure, and subjective effects associated with the use of heat-not burn tobacco products, compared with electronic cigarettes.

Participants will attend 2 clinic visits at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center lasting approximately 1 ½ hours each. Participants will be asked to refrain from using any tobacco or nicotine products for at least 14 hours prior to each visit. During the visit participants will try the new tobacco products in the study center while blood samples are collected through an IV catheter placed in the arm.

120

This is dietary intervention trial that will examine the impact of consuming three different types of resistant starch on the gut microbiome and butyrate levels in normal weight and obese individuals. Participants will consume starch samples daily for 24 weeks, collecting weekly fecal samples that will be returned to the lab. Researchers will analyze the bacterial fermentation products in these samples, particularly butyrate and analyze the microbiome composition. This will allow identification of differences in resistant starch (a dietary fiber) processing between normal weight and obese individuals and will also determine if the three resistant starches tested have differing impacts on the microbiome and butyrate levels.

We will conduct a pilot study to test feasibility of an innovative light device and blue-light glasses for promoting better sleep and a novel, smart water bottle for proper hydration. We will also examine women’s sleep and hydration behaviors in relation to their perceptions of pain, and obtain feedback from the participants on the overall patient intervention content to reduce prescription opioid use and promote behavioral pain management strategies after delivery.

Currently recruiting pregnant women who are in their 2nd or 3rd trimester.Attend a pre-session (in person OR remote) to explain the use of the water bottle, lighting devices, activity monitors, and weight scaleUse the devices for 22 days and complete surveys in your own homeAttend a post-session (in person OR remote) to return devices and participate an interview about the last 22 days

$100

The objective of this research is to determine the relationship between aircraft seat width and passenger comfort. Airlines are reducing the sizes of seats and improving their ability to fly planes at or near capacity. The combined effect is to decrease the quality of the experience of passengers. This work will help us to understand the degree to which comfort has been reduced.

This is a study which examines whether priming for fear can influence affective empathy in persons high in psychopathic traits.

The purpose of this research study is 1.) to determine if Parkinson’s Disease (PD) causes changes in the way that people sense the movements of and forces produced by their bodies, and to connect any of these changes in sensation to changes in the brain, and 2.) to identify how changes in movement might come from different parts of the nervous system. This study will use a combination of electromyography, via electrodes placed on the skin, and finger force recordings to infer how PD affects patients' sense of force production, and the neural mechanisms underlying this change.

This study requires a single in-person visit. We will use adhesive skin sensors on the forearms to measure muscle activity. At the same time, we test the participant's finger strength and then ask them to press with moderate force on piano-key-like sensors. Participants will be asked to match force levels between hands and to move an on-screen cursor into a target.

$40.00

Up to 50 older adults (age 60+ years) will participate in a two-visit CRC study with blood sampling (40 ml per visit) occurring before and after a breakfast meal. Specifically, there will be four (10 ml) blood draws during each of the visits, with each blood draw timed one hour apart (T1 to T4). The two visits (short- and long-fasting) will be randomly assigned and counterbalanced for the order in which they occur and will occur at least a week apart. During the short-fasting visit, participants will arrive fasting and be given breakfast after the second blood draw (T2). During the long-fasting visit, participants will arrive fasting and be given breakfast after the fourth blood draw (T4). Aside from blood draws, and vitals obtained at the start of each visit, participants will be seated comfortably in a chair in a small room by themselves. They will be checked upon periodically to ensure they are not falling asleep, they are comfortable, etc. They will also be given a small packet of written questionnaires to complete after T1 and after T3 (i.e., after the 1st and 3rd blood draws). Each visit will be between 3.5 and 4 hours.

There will be two in-person visits both will include four blood draws.

$100 total

AWS-PSU: Active Women's Study at Penn State University This research study is being conducted to evaluate the impact of exercise and reproductive function on bone strength. Eligible young women (age 18-30) are those that are generally healthy and either a) exercising and experiencing regular or irregular menstrual cycles, or b) not exercising and experiencing regular menstrual cycles.

The overall goal of this proposal is to develop robots that can help people correctly calibrate their trust in the robot. We look at this problem within the context of robot-guided emergency evacuation. We believe that robots stationed inside of buildings can serve as instantaneous first responders helping people safely evacuate during an emergency, thus saving lives. Participants will be asked to interact with an emergency guidance robot and decide whether to follow the robot to an exit.

The purpose of this study is to find genetic causes of recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL). RPL is defined by two or more miscarriages under 20 weeks gestation and affects approximately 5% of women.The causes of RPL are not well understood. After all the currently recommended testing for RPL has been done, about half of women with RPL will still have no identifiable cause. This lack of knowledge makes it difficult to provide effective medical care for couples with RPL.This study will compare reading about 20000 genes in the entire human genetic library by whole genome sequencing in the miscarriage material and also your and your partner’s DNA from blood samples. The DNA in a person is a combination of the DNA from each of their biological parents. If you have healthy children we may ask your consent for them to give a blood sample for DNA extraction and testing. Similarly, we may ask the same for other family members such as grandparents if necessary. We may also request your permission to use stored DNA or miscarriage material from previous pregnancy loss if available. Testing of family members or previous miscarriage materials may help to understand DNA sequence variants or changes identified in the miscarriage sample.

There will be a one time collection of blood samples.

This study compares three different functional analysis methods using the same measurements to find the better method. Each participant will be assigned one method to produce a diagram using the given method and one online survey after the in-person experiment. Each participant will be given detailed instructions and information regarding the method to ensure there are no knowledge gaps. 

For the experiment, participants will be assigned to a group of four people from different engineering subfields to evaluate a product using one of three functional analysis methods. Each group will be randomly assigned a product to evaluate and a functional analysis method to use. After the experiment, each participant will be asked to complete an online survey asking for their experiences and thoughts. 

This study will examine different structural designs of stretchable, skin-like sensors on the surface of human skin for workers.

There will be one in person visit;Subjects will first be asked to sit still for 3 minutes and then move their skin by the research team for another 3 minutes.

This is a study on internet-based self-help for stress related to the COVID-19 pandemic. College and university students who screen high on perceived stress or measures of risk for anxiety, depression, or eating disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic will be invited to participate in this study. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive access to an internet-based self-help program for stress resilience and coping with the COVID-19 pandemic or care as usual. Symptoms of stress, anxiety, depression, and eating disorders, as well as secondary outcomes, will be assessed via questionnaire at baseline (pre-randomization), one month post-randomization, and three months post-randomization.

Participants will be randomly assigned to receive access to an internet-based self-help program for stress resilience and coping with the COVID-19 pandemic or care as usual. Symptoms of stress, anxiety, depression, and eating disorders, as well as secondary outcomes, will be assessed via questionnaire at baseline (pre-randomization), one month post-randomization, and three months post-randomization.

Up to $50 (raffle-based)

The main purpose of the proposed study is to examine the relationship between emotional body expression and internal emotional and psychophysiological processes among individuals with mental disorders in social interaction situations.

In this study, participants will be asked to answer structured questions. After this, participants will be asked to engage in emotional induction tasks, communicate with another person, and walk. During the interview and experimental procedures, your motion will be video recorded. 

40