OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - The University of Nebraska Medical Center is unveiling its new initiative that will use driving and vehicle simulators and black box devices to study the neurological sciences by assessing behavioral health in a realistic environment.
The Omaha World-Herald (https://bit.ly/1M6ZrtT ) reports the university and its clinical partner, Nebraska Medicine, announced the Mind and Brain Health Labs on Monday as part of the broader Mind and Brain Health Initiative.
The lab focuses on the idea that driving skills give physicians and scientists a look into behavioral health, movement disorders and neuromuscular diseases. It includes a full-sized car that simulates driving, a smaller driving simulator that fits inside an exam room, and a sensor-equipped 2014 Chevy Impala that can be driven on the street. The lab will also feature black box data recorders that can be placed in a driver’s own vehicle to test their behavior in the real world.
The initiative overall will test brain function, reflexes, range of motion, vision in healthy people and those who have neurological problems and medical and surgical conditions.
Dr. Matthew Rizzo, professor and chairman of the medical center’s department of neurological sciences, says the new lab is a complex setting that is a more realistic environment for research, and the drive simulators and vehicles are a genuine test of skills that people use in the real world. According to the chairman, “Results with these tools will shed light on our patients’ brain health and functional abilities and how they match up with people of the same age without neurological disorders.”
Rizzo brought the concept to the University of Nebraska, when he was recruited from the University of Iowa last year. Rizzo envisions several disciplines, including neurology, psychology, engineering, computer science and statistics, will be able to use the lab, which has received a $1 million grant from the Nebraska Research Initiative. The lab has also received a yearly grant from the National Institutes of Health.
Officials hope the initiative will be able to bolster education and community outreach efforts to rural and underserved populations. The initiative also aims to emphasize building hospital to home continuity of care.
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Information from: Omaha World-Herald, https://www.omaha.com
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