The overall goal of the Michigan ADRC is to promote research and education on Alzheimer's disease and related dementias and to assure the dissemination amongst scientists, physicians and caregivers in Michigan of state-of-the art methods of evaluation and care by its educational activities. The ADRC will provide core resources for both clinical and fundamental scientific research. It will serve as a focus for interactions between investigators examining various aspects of cognitive dysfunction in aging. It will promote new research on dementia by funding pilot projects by young investigators or established investigators with new interests in cognitive disorders. Finally, it will educate health professionals and caregivers throughout the state in the optimal techniques for making a correct diagnosis and for managing and treating persons with dementia. The Michigan ADRC will maintain four core facilities. The resources of each of the cores will be accessible to scientists, health professionals, caregivers and patients throughout the state. The Clinical Core will consist of a clinical evaluation unit, a neuropsychology unit, and a data management/biostatistics unit that will maintain, among other things, a patient registry. The Neuropathology Core will serve to acquire postmortem material, give a detailed neuropathologic assessment of each case and provide documented postmortem material for investigators. The Administrative Core will coordinate the functions of all the ADRc research projects, the core facilities and the pilot projects. The Research Training and Information Transfer Core will attempt to unify methods of patient assessment and evaluation throughout the State of Michigan in the secondary care centers. The initial scientific efforts of the ADRC will capitalize on the scientific expertise already available at the University of Michigan in studies of Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease with dementia, Huntington's disease and olivopontocerebellar atrophy using PET scanning, detailed clinical evaluations and postmortem autoradiographic and immunocytochemical studies. Four projects will focus on studies of the relationship of dysfunction in the cholinergic, glutamaterigic and dopaminergic systems to the cognitive and motor manifestations of the primary dementias. Two clinical projects will related directly to two basic science projects. The projects will also relate to research on cognitive disorders funded through other sources. Although the research projects have clear thematic relationship, research in more diverse areas will be promoted by inclusion of five pilot projects form investigators with various backgrounds and interests.
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