Center for Translational Research on Aging and Mobility

本申请建议更新阿拉巴马大学伯明翰分校的NIA Edward R. Roybal中心。该中心的主题是“老龄化和流动性的转化研究”。随着年龄的增长，行动受限变得更加普遍，并且归因于身体认知和视觉功能的损害。除了行动受限之外，诸如跌倒、驾驶时发生碰撞和受伤等不良后果也与潜在的损伤以及驾驶能力的丧失有关，驾驶能力的丧失往往导致抑郁和与健康相关的生活质量下降。这一研究领域的重要性被这样一个事实所强调，即持续的流动性促进了独立性，皇家中心的最终目标是通过改善老年人的身体、认知和视觉功能来改善老年人的生活，从而提高生活质量，提高生产力，并最大限度地减少对护理的需求。此外，流动性下降导致对家庭成员和整个社会的社会和经济依赖。中心延续申请提出了两个核心，每个核心都旨在加强实现中心目标所需的研究基础设施，并支持和促进许多附属中心项目的转化研究。拟议中的中心将由一个管理核心组成，该核心将提供数据管理和生物统计服务、技术支持、访问州事故报告和碰撞数据库、访问招聘数据库、访问用于中心研究的评估工具、访问驾驶模拟器设施和驾驶评估诊所。管理核心还将促进学术研究人员和商业利益之间的合作，并确保将中心的新发现传达给科学界、卫生保健专业人员、政府决策者和广大公众。这些活动都将由我们的咨询委员会促进，该委员会将监督核心和附属项目的运作。试点补助金核心将用于促进对老年人有益的新想法和干预措施的发展，这将帮助研究人员寻求额外的资金，以进一步发展、测试和实施试点的想法。

This application proposes the renewal of an NIA Edward R. Roybal Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The theme of the proposed Center is "Translational Research on Aging and Mobility." Mobility restrictions become more prevalent with advancing age, and have been attributed to impairments in physical cognitive and visual function. In additional to mobility restrictions, adverse outcomes such as falls, crash involvement while driving, and injuries are also associated with the underlying impairments, as well as loss of driving ability which frequently results in depression and poorer health-related quality of life. The significance of this area of research is underscored by the fact that continued mobility fosters independence and the ultimate goal of the Roybal Centers is to benefit the lives of older people by improving physical, cognitive and visual function in order to enhance quality of life, increased productivity, and minimize the need for care. Furthermore, decreased mobility leads to both social and economic dependence on family members and society at large. The Center continuation application proposes two cores, each designed to enhance the research infrastructure necessary to accomplish the objectives of the Center, and to support and promote translational research in the many affiliated Center projects. The proposed Center will consist of a management core, which will provide data management and biostatistical services, technical support, access to State accident reports and a crash database, access to a recruitment database, access to assessment tools for use in Center research, access to a driving simulator facility, and a driving assessment clinic. The Management Core will also facilitate collaborations among academic researchers and commercial interests, and insure that new findings of the Center are communicated to the scientific community, health care professionals, government policy makers, and the public at large. These activities will all be facilitated by our Advisory Board, which will oversee the functioning of the cores and the affiliated projects. A pilot grant core will be used to foster the development of new ideas and interventions of benefit to the elderly, and which will help researchers pursue additional funding to further develop, test and implement the ideas piloted.