Alzheimer's disease (AD) remains a diagnosis of exclusion. However, research criteria have been developed to allow for pre-mortem diagnosis with relatively high validity, reliability and sensitivity. The Clinical Core is responsible for recruiting, evaluating and maintaining a population of subjects with AD and healthy age-matched controls who are available for investigation, and for facilitating analyses of data from these activities. There are 4 components to the Clinical Core: 1. Patient Registry Component; 2. Neuropsychology Component; 3. Psychopathology Component; 4. Data Management and Analysis Component (DMAC). The functions of the Patient Registry Component are to recruit, characterize, and re-evaluate cases and controls; and to coordinate research activities of subjects and caregivers, including CERAD activities and autopsy. The Neuropsychology Component tests subjects to provide quantitative measures of disease effects, using a standardized evaluation. The Psychopathology Component provides assessments of current psychopathology, as well as personal and family history of psychopathology. The functions of DMAC are to facilitate the collection and computerization of data, maintain the database, to assist investigators in the design and execution of data analysis plans, and to support the information management needs of cores and projects.
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