The Methods and Analysis Core will have three functions: 1. to supply, operate and maintain the specialized equipment used in individual Research Projects for monitoring a variety of overt circadian rhythms in rodents and humans and to implement standard procedures for their computer storage. 2. to provide investigators in the individual Research Projects with standard methods for reporting and analyzing temporal profiles of activity, temperature, sleep stages, hormonal levels, and behavioral variables. In particular, the Core will provide novel methods for statistical analysis that are specially designed for studies with multiple outcome measures, as are all studies proposed in the four individual Projects. 3. to organize and operate a centralized data bank in order to allow for comparisons between standardized recordings of sleep, body temperature, wrist activity and performance tests among subject groups in individual Projects #1 and #2 as well as for comparisons between standardized recordings of activity and other behavioral measures in rodents in individual Projects #3 and #4. The services provided by this Core Facility will be used by all four individual Research Projects. The availability of a centralized pool of monitoring equipment will prevent unnecessary equipment duplication and provide the individual investigators with expert assistance for optimal operation and trouble-shooting of the equipment. The availability of standardized procedures for data reporting and analysis will enable each investigator to extract as much information as possible from the collected data and facilitate the integration of individual projects as well as communication between investigators in the various Research Projects. The operations of a centralized data bank will permit to perform additional comparisons of various study groups across Projects and thus derive more information from the Program Project as a whole than from the sum of each of its components.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 206 publications
