NEUROBEHAVIORAL EVALUATION CORE

A.目标 在2001年对我们的MRDDRC申请的评论中，研究部分指出(第5页)：行为专业知识将需要 加入该中心，以便在赠款开发的早期阶段为这一领域提供更好的投入。在……里面 作为对这一建议的回应，我们建议开发神经行为评估核心(NEC)，以 为调查人员提供这方面的专业知识。NEC的主要目标是提供复杂的 为MRDDRC项目提供神经行为和神经心理学研究支持，并开发或验证 为此目的的新方法。我们对复杂神经行为理解的科学进展 我们能够可靠而准确地定义发育障碍，极大地促进了发育障碍的发生 和行为表型。 行为和认知变量的测量在疾病和发育研究中至关重要 组成了我们的MRDDRC。在过去的3-5年里，有大量的 MRDDRC项目以行为和/或心理社会为重点。这些研究的目的一直是为了 具有不同神经遗传学特征的儿童的发育、认知和行为结果 神经发育障碍，或影响认知和行为的后天障碍。除了严谨地研究 潜在的医疗状况(例如尿素循环障碍或癫痫)，这些调查的目的是描述 对儿童认知和行为发展的影响。二三十年前，这种类型的 研究可能集中在发展的广泛方面，例如这些人的智力水平 孩子们。较新的方法允许更深入地关注诸如注意力等关键发展因素， 执行功能和记忆子过程。发展神经心理学的爆炸性发展 将潜在的神经发育和障碍与行为和认知联系起来的知识库 发展进一步推动了儿科研究的需要，包括复杂的模型 神经行为和神经心理功能。 从历史上看，许多可能受益于神经心理学和 神经行为变量没有包括这种评估，因为：1)对以下方面的了解有限 可用的措施；2)研究项目预算内对专家人员和/或采购的费用限制 测试材料的缺乏；以及3)找不到熟练执行这些评估的人员。这个 国家经济共同体的主要目标是改善获得适当措施的机会，并提高 神经行为研究正在整个MRDDRC进行。 在NEC内部，我们建议：1)提供广泛的神经心理测试 服务；2)开发和管理神经成像方案的神经行为任务，包括功能磁共振成像项目 通过神经成像核心；3)向MRDDRC调查人员提供关于适当设计和 在研究研究中使用神经行为和神经心理测量；以及4)培训调查人员和 他们的工作人员在使用这些措施。随着这种复杂性的增加，调查人员将能够评估 神经行为结果的几个级别，例如，特定的神经心理过程，如记忆或 执行功能，以及生活质量功能状况。这将能够与研究相结合 探索遗传水平的致病因素(利用分子遗传学、蛋白质组学和生化 分析核心)和神经病理生理水平(使用神经成像核心)。

A. OBJECTIVES In the critique of our MRDDRC application in 2001 the study section stated (p.5): behavioral expertise will need to be added to the Center to provide better input into this area at an early stage of grant development. In response to this suggestion we propose to develop the Neurobehavioral Evaluation Core (NEC) that will provide investigators with this expertise. The primary objective of the NEC is to provide sophisticated neurobehavioral and neuropsychological research support to MRDDRC projects, and to develop or validate new methods for this purpose. Scientific advancement of our understanding of complex neurobehavioral disorders of development is facilitated greatly by our ability to reliably and precisely define the developmental and behavioral phenotype. Measurement of behavioral and cognitive variables is crucial in studies of disease and development that comprise our MRDDRC. Over the past 3-5 years, there has been a substantial increase in the number of MRDDRC projects with a behavioral and/or psychosocial focus. The aims of these studies have been on the developmental, cognitive, and behavioral outcomes in children who have a variety of neurogenetic, neurodevelopmental, or acquired disorders that affect cognition and behaivor. In addition to a rigorous study of the underlying medical condition (e.g. urea cycle disorders or epilepsy), these investigations aim to describe the impact on the child's cognitive and behavioral development. Twenty to thirty years ago, this type of research might have focused on the broad aspects of development, such as the level of intelligence of these children. Newer methods allow a far more in depth focus into such critical developmental factors as attention, executive function, and memory subprocesses. The explosion of developmental neuropsychological knowledge base linking underlying neurological development and disorder with behavioral and cognitive development has further fueled the need for pediatric research to include sophisticated models of neurobehavioral and neuropsychological function. Historically, many studies that could have potentially benefited from examination of neuropsychological and neurobehavioral variables have not included such assessments because of: 1) limited knowledge regarding available measures; 2) cost-constraints within research project budgets for expert personnel and/or purchase of testing materials; and 3) lack of access to personnel skilled in the performance of these assessments. The primary goal of the NEC is to improve access to appropriate measures and to enhance the overall quality of neurobehavioral research being conducted throughout the MRDDRC. Within the NEC, we propose to: 1) provide access to an extensive battery of neuropsychological testing services; 2) develop and administer neurobehavioral tasks for neuroimaging protocols, including fMRI projects through the Neuroimaging Core; 3) provide consultation to MRDDRC investigators on the proper design and use of neurobehavioral and neuropsychological measures in research studies; and 4) train investigators and their staff in the use of these measures. With this increased sophistication investigators will be able to assess several levels of neurobehavioral outcome, e.g., specific neuropsychological processes, such as memory or executive function, together with quality of life functional status. This will be able to be coupled with studies exploring etiologic factors at the genetic level (utilizing the Molecular Genetics, Proteomics and Biochemical Analysis Core) and neuropathophysiologic level (using the Neuroimaging Core).