The Clinical Assessment Core operates as a unit of ORCCAMIND with primary responsibility for characterization of subjects for the clinical projects. Some of the Core assessments reflect the initial ORCCAMIND theme of oxidative injury, namely the assessment of dietary intake of natural antioxidants, serum vitamin C and E, and serum measures of lipid, protein and DNA oxidative injury. The current projects also use cognitive measures as outcome measures and these are included in the Core as well. Neuroimaging is important for clinical studies of many neurological disorders. In particular, quantitative MRI is a standard outcome measure in multiple sclerosis clinical trials and is important for many studies in aging and dementia. The Core proposes to use validated and standard techniques and will not be developing new methodologies. Within this framework, some methodologic research is proposed. The Block food frequency questionnaire has not been validated in the over age 84 group and there will be a small validation study proposed since it impacts on the clinical assessment data collected for project 2. In addition to the clinical assessments, the Core will assist in the identification and recruitment of subjects, with particular emphasis on inclusion of women and minorities. All Core services are available to all Principal Investigators on ORCCAMIND Projects, Developmental Research Projects and Career Development Projects. The Core will also assist in the determination of accurate neurological diagnoses for these new projects. The Core will maintain a list of investigators with expertise in clinical research studies. The Core will expand this list as newer assessment tools are added to the Core. It will also be integrated into the education programs of the Education and Information Transfer Core.
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