The Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA), the NIA's major research program on human aging, has been conducted at the Gerontology Research Center since 1958. The study represents a consortium of scientists who work to characterize normal and pathological aging. The BLSA consists of a series of longitudinal and cross-sectional studies of varying degrees of interrelationships oriented toward description, identification of mechanism, prediction and intervention in human aging processes. The scientific goals include identifying age differences among individuals and changes in individuals over time; to characterize transitions from normal to pathological aging; to determine the relative contribution of aging, disease processes, cohort effects and secular effects; to expand scientific understanding about predictors and risk factors for specific diseases and for other end points related to successes and failures of adaptation to aging processes; and where possible to explore mechanisms for normal and/or pathological changes. Scientists working with BLSA are assigned to 11 sections of 7 laboratories in addition to the LSB. The Chief, LSB, is the Associate Scientific Director, NIA for the BLSA and LSB staff administer and manage the BLSA as well as conduct research with it. The BLSA Steering Committee, an internally comprised committee of GRC scientists and the ASD, is responsible for determining the direction of the study. Three working subcommittees (Scientific Directions, Progress Review, and Resource Management) report to the Steering Committee on routine basis. Progress has been made in upgrading procedures for data acquisition, storage and retrieval in the BLSA. Procedures have been adopted to increase the work efficiency of the staff, and to be able to manage the increasing number of BLSA participants.
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