Aerobic Exercise and Cognitive Training in Older Adults

描述 这项名为“老年人的有氧运动和认知训练”的提案是由乔·R·诺切拉博士担任首席调查员，布鲁斯·克罗森、罗恩·肖尔、马尔科·帕霍尔和迈克尔·马西斯克博士组成的指导团队重新提交的职业发展奖2级。Nocera博士于2001年在加州大学洛杉矶分校获得学士学位。他在内华达大学拉斯维加斯分校(2004年获得硕士学位)和佐治亚大学(2007年获得博士学位)获得运动学研究生学位。在完成他的最终学位后，Nocera博士在佛罗里达大学神经病学系的国家健康研究所T32培训补助金下获得了博士后奖学金。诺切拉博士随后收到了一份CDA-1，旨在研究有氧运动对老年人执行语言功能的影响。这是假设的，并在CDA-1的初步工作中证明，有氧运动对认知的强有力的有据可查的好处可以延续到更具体的执行语言功能。与此同时，CDA-1旨在增加诺切拉博士对认知神经科学的理解，从而弥合认知功能与诺切拉博士之前强调的老年人身体功能之间的差距。CDA-2申请中职业发展的一般目的是进一步和更实质性地发展Nocera博士对认知神经科学的理解，目的是设计旨在改善老年退伍军人功能和生活质量的干预措施。提案中的具体培训内容包括：认知神经科学技能，以及认知老化、测量、神经解剖学和基本成像方法方面的特定培训。此外，该提案旨在发展诺切拉博士在高质量临床试验研究所必需的临床/转化性研究方面的技能。目的 CDA-2研究将在CDA-1的基础上进行，CDA-1展示了通过有氧运动改善认知功能，增加了认知训练部分，将在有氧运动后立即进行。假设有氧运动将增强和增加认知训练的泛化能力。重要的是，这项研究将重点关注行动不便的老年退伍军人。这一领域对退伍军人制度特别重要，因为很大比例的退伍军人正进入老年，因此可能患有与年龄相关的认知能力下降和行动不便。为了回答我们的研究问题，60名老年退伍军人(年龄65-89岁)将被随机分为两个为期12周的干预组：1)单纯认知训练(CT)或2)有氧运动+认知训练(AE+CT)。这项研究的有氧运动臂将遵循在之前的研究和我们的CDA-1试点工作中显示的改善老年人广泛执行功能的相同形式。认知训练臂Will由一个广受欢迎的商业大脑健身计划组成，该计划已经证明了特定的认知改善和高度坚持。最终，这项研究将极大地推动认知障碍治疗的发展，因为这些目标探索了一种可能从认知和身体角度对患者生活质量产生普遍影响的干预措施。同时，这项提议将为诺切拉博士提供成长为一家成功的、独立的退伍军人管理局研究所所需的技能。 公共卫生相关性： 这个CDA-2的目的是为Joe Nocera博士提供一个强有力的以指导为基础的培训计划，旨在推动他作为退伍军人事务部科学家走向独立。因此，到设计的项目结束时，预计诺切拉博士将竞争独立研究资金。专门的CDA-2中描述的研究领域与退伍军人的康复需求相关，因为这是一项旨在改善退伍军人平民生活多个方面生活质量的干预措施。因此，这项研究有可能导致有效的干预措施，从认知和身体功能的角度转化为改善退伍军人的生活质量。此外，这将有助于诺切拉博士的持续发展和他对退伍军人事务部的坚定承诺。

DESCRIPTION This proposal, "Aerobic Exercise and Cognitive Training in Older Adults", is resubmission for a Career Development Award- Level 2 with Dr. Joe R. Nocera as the Principal Investigator and a mentoring team of Drs. Bruce Crosson, Ron Shorr, Marco Pahor and Michael Marsiske. Dr. Nocera received his undergraduate degree (B.A., 2001) from the University of California, Los Angeles. He completed his graduate degrees in Kinesiology from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (M.S., 2004) and the University of Georgia (Ph.D., 2007). Following completion of his terminal degree, Dr. Nocera earned a post- doctoral fellowship under a National Institute of Health T32 training grant within the Department of Neurology at the University of Florida. Dr. Nocera then received a CDA-1 aimed at studying the effects aerobic exercise on executive language function in older adults. It was hypothesized, and demonstrated in the preliminary CDA-1 work, that the robust documented benefits of aerobic exercise on cognition could carry over to more specific executive language functions. Concurrently, the CDA-1 was designed to increase Dr. Nocera's understands of cognitive neuroscience thus bridges the gap between cognitive functions and Dr. Nocera's previous education emphasis of physical function in older adults. The general purpose of the career development in this CDA-2 application is to further and more substantially develop Dr. Nocera's understanding of cognitive neuroscience for the purpose of designing interventions aimed at improving function and quality of life in older veterans. Specific training components in the proposal include; skills in cognitive neuroscience with specific training in cognitive aging, measurement, neuroanatomy, and basic imaging approaches. Additionally, the proposal is designed to develop Dr. Nocera's skills in clinical/translational research necessary for high-quality clinical trials research. The purpose of the CDA-2 study will build on the CDA-1, which demonstrating an improvement in cognitive function via aerobic exercise, by adding a cognitive training component that will be done immediately following the aerobic exercise. It is hypothesized that the aerobic exercise will potentiate and increase the generalizability of the cognitive training. Importantly, this study wil focus on older veterans at-risk for mobility disability. This area is of particular importance for he VA system, considering a large percentage of veterans are entering old age and therefore likely to suffer from age-related cognitive decline and mobility disability. To address our research question 60 older veterans (age 65-89) will be randomized to one of two 12-week intervention groups: 1) Cognitive Training alone (CT) or 2) Aerobic Exercise + Cognitive Training (AE+CT). The aerobic exercise arm of the study will follow the same format shown to improve a broad range of executive functions in older adults in previous research as well as our CDA-1 pilot work. The cognitive training arm will consists of a popular commercially-available brain fitness program that has demonstrated specific cognitive improvements and high adherence. Ultimately, this investigation will substantially advance the development of treatments for cognitive impairment because these goals explore an intervention that may potentially have pervasive effects on patient quality of life from a cognitive as well as a physical standpoint. Concurrently, this proposal will provide Dr. Nocera with the skill necessary to grow into a successful, independent VA Research. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The purpose of this CDA-2 is to provide Dr. Joe Nocera with a strong mentored-based training program designed to advance his progress towards independence as a VA-ORD scientist. As such, by the end of the designed program it is anticipated that Dr. Nocera will have competed for independent research funding. The area of research described in the purposed CDA-2 has strong implications relevant to the rehabilitative needs of Veterans as it is an intervention designed to improve quality of life in multiple facets of Veterans civilian life. Therefore, this sudy has the potential to lead to efficacious interventions that can translate into improved quality of life for Veterans from both cognitive and physical functioning standpoints. Further, it will aid th continued development of Dr. Nocera and his strong commitment to the Department of Veterans Affairs.