(adapted from the application) DESCRIPTION: The specific aims of this OAIC are to: 1) conduct intervention development studies (IDS) designed to improve the function and independence of older Americans recovering from stroke; 2) integrate studies of clinical outcomes with studies of underlying physiologic, biomechanical, and psychosocial mechanisms of stroke recovery; 3) foster multidisciplinary research and research training related to independence in older Americans, with a special focus on geriatric rehabilitation; and 4) disseminate information about stroke, disability and rehabilitation to the lay and professional public. The three IDS include 1) "Improving Recovery After Stroke", which is a randomized clinical trial of a physiologically based, twelve-week program of therapeutic exercise in 180 stroke survivors. The study is designed to improve key impairments, functional limitations and disabilities; 2) "Attention and Motor Learning After Stroke", which is a cross-sectional and cohort study of attentional deficits and their influence on motor learning in stroke survivors and healthy older adults; and 3) "Neural Bases for Recovery of Function After Stroke", which is a study of the relationship between motor recovery and functional reorganization in the motor cortex of adult nonhuman primates following vascular infarcts. The two research resources cores include a stroke registry and recruitment core and a design and analysis core. The latter core provides data management, communications, biostatistical and economic-analysis services. This OAIC will use project leaders (PL) from four schools and faculty from 12 departments. The long-term goals of the center are to: 1) establish effective, multidisciplinary interventions for stroke rehabilitation that can be implemented in clinical practice; 2) improve recovery in older adults with disabilities by fostering mechanistic and outcomes research in geriatric rehabilitation; and 3) encourage multidisciplinary collaboration by integrating basic and applied research and research training of diverse disciplines.

P60AG014635

1998-02-01

2003-12-31