Biomechanics Core

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Abstract The Biomechanics Research Core, henceforth called the “Biomechanics Core,” (BC) will enable its personnel to devote time to assist and train investigators in the conduct of new and expanded research on how metabolic disease and inflammation interact with age-related disease to determine key health outcomes related to mobility and functional status, the biomechanics of aging, and to the training of geriatric physicians and other clinicians in the biomechanics relevant to impaired mobility, falls and fall-related injuries, urinary incontinence and prolapse in the elderly. They also will enable substantial use by Core-supported investigators of the equipment and facilities that exist in the Biomechanics Research Laboratory of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, as well as facilities in the Mobility Research Laboratory at the Geriatrics Center. The present request seeks to accomplish several unmet goals, integrate new ideas, and to broaden the Core activities into new areas. These include the energetics of walking in frail elderly, losses of balance and falls in the elderly, urinary incontinence, prolapse and fecal incontinence in older women. Economic efficiencies are gained in terms of equipment and service through this core structure rather than duplicating separate biomechanics components to each. Since its inception, the Core has served as a consulting service to faculty performing multidisciplinary research into geriatric mobility problems. It has thus provided advice which might otherwise be harder to obtain if it did not exist. This consistency in turn impacts in a positive sense the quality of the research conducted at the Institution as witnessed by the record of peer-reviewed publications, successful young investigators, and the K12, K23, R21, R01, and SCOR (P50) grants awarded.