The Clinical Core has accomplished the goals we established for the first four years of the UCLA Alzheimer~s Disease Center (ADC). We have enrolled 839 patients; we have achieved a follow-up rate of 72%, and an autopsy rate of 50 studies and projects. The six clinical sites of the Core serve as training venues for six Federally-funded training grants. The goal of the Clinical Core during the renewal 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 at the UCLA Medical Center, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, West Los Angeles Veteran~s Affairs Medical Center [VAMC], Sepulveda VAMC, Oliver View Medical Center, and Drew University Medical School/Martin Luther King Medical Center [Drew/King] Satellite Program; 2) Retain and follow subjects: to improved methods for 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 six clinical sites. These teams will perform comprehensive neuropsychological testing and assessment of the behavioral and neuropsychiatric aspects of AD, as well as caregiver evaluations. The Clinical Core will enhance efforts of the Neuroimaging Core by gathering in-depth clinical data assessing the major domains of cognitive function, and providing this and other clinical information for correlation with ratings of the results of neuroimaging 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 Core will continue its emphasis on recruitment of subjects from ethnic minority groups, primarily at the Olive View Medical Center and Drew-King Satellite sites.
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