INTERGRATIVE HEALTH SCIENCES CORE

University Of Southern California, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

The Integrative Health Sciences Core (IHSC) is central to the successful completion of the program of[unreadable] research proposed in this renewal. IHSC activities expand the previous scope of work of the Field Operations[unreadable] Core in the original P01 by maximizing project coordination and efficiency. This will be accomplished by[unreadable] centralizing all aspects of school and community relations, subject contact, health data collections and cohort[unreadable] maintenance. The complementary nature of the proposed projects and the synergy achieved from utilizing the[unreadable] same volunteer subject population and community air pollution sampling locations for all three projects provide[unreadable] a common basis for consolidation of complementary field support efforts. The integrative coordination[unreadable] provided by the IHSC will reduce the need for repetitive subject contacts required to accomplish the aims of the[unreadable] three projects in the renewal P01, establish a unified and efficient updating system for subject tracking and[unreadable] facilitate streamlined and coordinated interactions with study subjects, all of which are required for successful[unreadable] cohort studies.[unreadable] Subject recruitment for various programmatic sub-studies will be overseen by the IHSC to balance scientific[unreadable] requirements and research needs with subject access and necessary research documentation. The IHSC will[unreadable] collect health information needed in the study projects (including individual personal computerized interview,[unreadable] maximal exhaled spirometry, self-administered questionnaires and additional genetic material for[unreadable] gene/environmental array analyses). The IHSC will coordinate efforts with complementary data collection[unreadable] activities being performed on the same study subjects for other ongoing projects, such as the off-line or realtime[unreadable] collection of exhaled nitric oxide and the non-invasive measurement of carotid artery thickness. This will[unreadable] permit timely subject interactions, make better use of limited field staff and reduce subject and school[unreadable] inconveniences. The core will also facilitate coordinated interactions with the Biostatistics and Data[unreadable] Management Core in managing data and providing prompt feedback on study performance and quality[unreadable] assurance activities. Additionally, the IHSC will provide a centralized contact point for each of the projects and[unreadable] facility cores such as the Molecular Biology Core in the SCEHSC. Finally, a centralized approach to providing[unreadable] for project data collection under the oversight of a single core led by one investigator with over-arching[unreadable] coverage of, commitments to and relationships with each of the projects will improve overall P01 efficiency.