The Duke Older Americans Independence Center (OAIC) is organized to promote the development of interventions to increase the independence of older Americans, to support the training of physicians and other health professionals for research careers in the study of such interventions, and to disseminate the findings from such research to other health professionals and the public. The overall theme of our center will be interventions directed towards improvement of dysmobility of the axial skeleton. Functional abilities will be the outcome measures for these interventions. The OAIC will be based in the Duke Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development, an all-university multi-disciplinary program. It will take advantage of the rich resources of the Duke University Medical Center, the Duke Aging Center, the Durham VA GRECC, the GRTC, and other affiliated programs. Examples of such programs include the Durham VA Health Services Research and Development Program, Clinical Research Center for Depression in the Elderly, Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly, Behavioral Medicine Program, and Heart Center. This rich milieu includes 96 senior fellows of the Aging Center and investigators with 13.5 million dollars of funded research in areas related to the work of this project. The long-established post-doctoral Research, and Geriatrics Training Programs serve as natural feeders for career development. The OAIC will support two major intervention studies: Disability and Osteoporosis in Life-Care Community Women, and Aerobic vs. Axial/Aerobic Training: Improvement in Function; and two intervention development studies: Exercise, Axial Mobility and Function and Axial Mobility Exercises for Parkinson's Disease Patients. A Measurement (biomechanical, physical, functional and psychosocial) and Analysis (Biostatistical, clinical trials, and economic). The Research Development program will provide mentored research experiences and didactic training where needed. Two junior faculty trainees will be supported in the first year and funding for pilot projects will be made available through competitive applications. A Demonstration and Dissemination Core will provide the capability to transmit new information about methods for enhancing function to other health professionals and the public.
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