The Clinical Core has accomplished the goals we established for the UCLA Alzheimer's Disease Center (ADC). We have enrolled 1261 subjects; since the competitive renewal of the Center, we have achieved an annualized follow-up rate of more than 90%. We provide research patients for over 70 studies and projects. The clinical sites of the Core serve as training venues for six Federally-funded training grants. The goals of the Clinical Core during this application period is to provide well- characterized patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) or related disorders for participation in research projects of investigators affiliated with the UCLA Alzheimer's Disease Center (ADC). The Core will accomplish this goal through four specific aims: 1) Perform research evaluations to promote research into AD and other dementias by performing in-depth, research caliber evaluations on patients and primary caregivers, as well as comparable control subjects, at the UCLA Medical Center, Oliver View Medical Center, and Martin Luther King Medical Center/Drew University Medical School [King/Drew] Program; (2) Retain and follow subjects: to maintain high rates of longitudinal follow-up of subjects through prompting and registering annual follow-up visits, and obtaining routine antemortem consent for autopsy studies; 3) Support research projects: to support AD research projects through computer-based identification of research subjects that meet criteria for specific projects, coordinating sharing of subjects by multiple research projects and facilitating sharing of subjects across research sites; and, 4) Enhance research on ethnic minority subjects: to expand existing efforts to recruit dementia patients and control subjects from a broad range of ethnic backgrounds. The Clinical Core will achieve these aims by continued support of investigators at three clinical sites. These teams perform comprehensive, standardized diagnostic evaluations of patients. These evaluations also will include comprehensive neuropsychological testing and assessment of the behavioral and neuropsychiatric aspects of AD, as well as caregiver evaluations. The Clinical Core enhances the efforts of the Imaging and Genetics Core by gathering in-depth clinical data assessing the major domains of cognitive function, and providing this and other clinical information relevant to the interpretation of imaging and genetic studies. The Clinical Core will collaborate with the Education and Information Transfer Core to instruct clinical staff in the use of rating instruments. The Clinical ore will continue its emphasis on recruitment of subjects from ethnic minority groups, primarily at the Olive View Medical Center and King/Drew sites.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 727 publications
