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News and Announcements Archive

group of older people   Inside NIA Blog  12/20/18

The Gateway to Global Aging Data is an NIA-funded website at the University of Southern California that enables longitudinal and cross-national comparisons of the health, social, and economic status of older people. Read NIA Blog post, Open the door to a world of data by Dr. Partha Bhattacharyya Partha.
Ken Ottenbacher, PhD, OTR The Rheumatologist  12/12/18

In 2013, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) launched Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K), an initiative to facilitate the use of large biomedical data sets for research, the design of new research tools and methodologies, and training researchers. The initiative promotes discovery in this new landscape, said Kenneth J. Ottenbacher, PhD, OTR, Russell Shearn Moody Distinguished Chair in Neurological Rehabilitation at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston.

Accessible, Shareable Data
“Data need to be findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. That means the data are out there and can be used again,” said Dr. Ottenbacher. “This [approach] is a new concept of data science within the NIH. There are so many new, different ways we can use these new, different types of data. We should be trying to take advantage of that.” Read the article.

older african american couple  SCoA Press Release  11/11/18
For patients who need rehabilitation before they can leave the hospital, does the hospital make a difference in whether they go home at discharge?

That was the question Kenneth Ottenbacher, PhD, OTR and colleagues attempted to answer in their new paper published in JAMA Network Open on November 9th,  “Facility and Geographic Variation in Rates of SuccessfulCommunity Discharge after Inpatient Rehabilitation amongMedicare Fee-for-Service Beneficiaries." The article looks at the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation (IMPACT) Act of 2014. Dr. Addie Middleton, an assistant professor at the Medical University of South Carolina and a former faculty member at UTMB, is the lead author on the study. She is also a scholar in the Rehabilitation Sciences Career Development Program. Dr. Janet Bettger, another author on this study, is a former pilot project awardee of the Center for Large Data Research and Data Sharing in Rehabilitation.

Currently, more than 3 million of the approximately 9 million Veterans enrolled in VA care are over the age 65 and receive some care from the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). The VA Office of Geriatrics and Extended Care (GEC) offers a comprehensive array of programs and services with a unique responsibility for programs in all care settings. In addition, GEC has programs that support the transition of Veterans between each of these settings.

Join us on November 8 from 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. ET for a free webinar, Data and Analyses for VA Geriatrics & Extended Care and "Choose Home," to address the question of how the VA can better serve Veterans at home as they age and how data is used to guide the GEC in its development of a maintainable balance of services and needs?

The Stroke Dataset is a result of a study describing the cause/effect relationship between neural output and the biomechanical functions being executed in walking post-stroke patients. The dataset includes kinematic, kinetic, and electromyography (EMG) data collected from 27 post-stroke subjects and from 17 healthy control subjects.

Learn more about Medical University of South Carolina Stroke Data (ARRA).

Visit the Archive of Data on Disability to Enable Policy and research (ADDEP) to learn more on how to access these and other archived datasets.

The EI-CO study database was generated in collaboration with a large, urban EI program in Colorado, a community partner for an NIH/NCMRR R03 study. This academic-community research partnership provided researchers with access to an urban EI program's electronic administrative database. The dataset included as part of this collection includes 2045 cases for 44 variables; demographic variables include: race, ethnicity, language, sex, age, and developmental condition type.

Learn more about Early Intervention Colorado (EI-CO) Participant Characteristics, Service Use, and Outcomes, Colorado, 2014-2016.

Visit the Archive of Data on Disability to Enable Policy and research (ADDEP) to learn more on how to access these and other archived datasets.

NIH releases strategic plan for data science - June 4, 2018

Storing, managing, standardizing and publishing the vast amounts of data produced by biomedical research is a critical mission for the National Institutes of Health. In support of this effort, NIH today released its first Strategic Plan for Data Science that provides a roadmap for modernizing the NIH-funded biomedical data science ecosystem.  Over the course of the next year, NIH will begin implementing its strategy, with some elements of the plan already underway. NIH will continue to seek community input during the implementation phase. Learn more at the NIH website.

ICPSR Summer Program in Quantitative Methods of Social Research The ICPSR Summer Program in Quantitative Methods of Social Research is recognized throughout the world as a leading source of basic and advanced instruction in a wide range of methodologies and techniques for research across the social, behavioral, and medical sciences.

Data Analysis Training Institute of Connecticut Professional development summer workshops in a variety of modern data analytic techniques geared toward researchers who wish to utilize these techniques in their own work.

University of Texas at Austin Summer Statistics Institute The Department of Statistics and Data Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin is proud to host the annual UT Summer Statistics Institute (SSI).

Health and Retirement Study: Biomarkers Data (Part 3 of 3) April 24, 2018

This webinar provides an overview of the data resources on physical measures and biomarkers in the Health and Retirement Study. The first part of the webinar provides information on the design of the physical measures and biomarkers data collection (through dried blood spot) and the measures collected. It also describes the Venous Blood Study with guidance on accessing these sensitive health data and relevant documentation.

Presented by Amanda Sonnega, associate research scientist in the Survey Research Center of the Institute for Social Research (ISR) at the University of Michigan (UM), where she is responsible for integrating communication, outreach, and education efforts for the Health and Retirement Study; and Jessica Faul, associate research scientist in the Survey Research Center and a co–principal investigator of the Health and Retirement Study, and affiliated with the Michigan Center on the Demography of Aging, the Population Studies Center, and the University of Michigan BioSocial Methods Collaborative.

This webinar was developed and presented by the University of Michigan with funds from the National Institute on Aging and hosted by GSA.

GSA Webinars

Health and Retirement Study: Data on Cognition (Part 2 of 3) March 27, 2018

This webinar presents an overview of the data resources on cognition in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). The first part of the webinar identifies and provides guidance on the measures that have been included in the core survey along with where to find them. It also describes the supplementary clinical study of dementia — the Aging, Demographics, and Memory Study (ADAMS) — and offers guidance on accessing these sensitive health data. The last part of the formal presentation provides an initial glimpse into a new data resource — the Healthy Cognitive Aging Project (HCAP) — that provided valid data on the presence of cognitive impairment and dementia in the U.S. population.

Presented by Amanda Sonnega, Associate Research Scientist in the Survey Research Center of the Institute for Social Research (ISR) at the University of Michigan (UM), where she is responsible for integrating communication, outreach, and education efforts for the Health and Retirement Study.

This webinar was developed and presented by the University of Michigan with funds from the National Institute on Aging and hosted by GSA.

GSA Webinars

photoFebruary, 2018
The UTMB Office of Biostatistics, Clinical & Translational Science Awards (CTSA) and CLDR sponsored this TRCC (Texas Regional CTSA Consortium) Quantitative Seminar: The Hope, Hype and Reality of EHR for Research, presented by Gulshan Sharma, MD, MPH, Vice President, Chief Medical & Clinical Innovation Officer.

photoFebruary, 2018

Dr. Sook-Lei Liew is the lead author of recent publication about ATLAS, "A large, open source dataset of stroke anatomical brain images and manual lesion segmentations." She is a pilot project recipient at CLDR and a phase 2 scholar at the Rehabilitation Research Career Development (RRCD) program.

brainThe Anatomical Tracings of Lesions after Stroke (ATLAS) dataset is now available for download through the Archive of Data on Disability to Enable Policy and research (ADDEP), supported by CLDR. Researchers globally are using the scans to develop and test algorithms that can automatically process MRI images from stroke patients. In the long run, scientists hope to identify biological markers that forecast which patients will respond to various rehabilitation therapies and personalize treatment plans.

Read More: MRI stroke data set released - Science Daily | USC releases MRI stroke dataset to spur AI research - Health Data Management | Researchers hope to use MRI for stroke treatment, recovery - HSC News
photoFebruary, 2018
Nancy Baker, ScD, OTR/L is lead author on a new publication, What Types of Treatment Are Provided for Patients With Carpal Tunnel Syndrome? A Retrospective Analysis of Commercial Insurance in the journal of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Dr. Baker is a CLDR Visiting Scholar.

Introduction to the Health and Retirement Study (Part 1 of 3) January 9, 2018

This introduction familiarizes new users with the study including previewing available data, how to access it, and some tips on getting started with analysis. An overview of the study can be found in PubMed: Cohort Profile: the Health and Retirement Study (HRS).

This webinar was developed and presented by the University of Michigan with funds from the National Institute on Aging and hosted by GSA.

GSA Webinars

https://acrm.org/meetings/2017-annual-conference/register-2017/CLDR- Sponsored Young Investigators Panel: Secondary Analysis of Archived Datasets

Four early career researchers presented their work as part of a CLDR sponsored symposium. This multidisciplinary session highlighted the importance of archiving and sharing data as well as show how new knowledge that can be generated through secondary data analysis. Read more about CLDR events at the ACRM Conference October 25-28, 2017.

Follow @UTMB_RehabSci on Twitter to find out more about CLDR activities.

AHRQ MEPS-HC Data Users’ Workshop September 19, 2017 - Rockville, MD

This workshop will provide a general overview of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), with lectures on MEPS-HC survey design, health care utilization, expenditures, medical conditions; and statistical issues and challenges researchers face while analyzing MEPS-HC data.
- MEPS workshops & events
- Program information & registration
The Anatomical Tracings of Lesions after Stroke (ATLAS) Dataset
Now Available on ADDEP - September 12, 2017


The CLDR is pleased to present the Anatomical Tracings of Lesions after Stroke (ATLAS) dataset, now available through the Archive of Data on Disability to Enable Policy and research (ADDEP). ATLAS is a manually traced lesion dataset comprised of deidentified, raw T1-weighted MRI images of individuals after stroke and manually traced lesion masks. ATLAS provides the largest known, open source collection of manually traced lesion masks for researchers to use for testing and validation of new automated lesion segmentation algorithms and has the potential to be used in the development of powerful new tools for stroke neurorehabilitation and research. 

- Research Group Video

- Additional information can be found here: http://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/08/26/179614

Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) Database Overview Webinar
- Wednesday, September 6 from 2:00-3:00 PM ET

Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) Overview of HCUP Products and Tools Webinar
- Wednesday, September 13 from 2:00-3:00 PM ET

HCUP Data Users' Workshop: Using HCUP's State Ambulatory Surgery and Services Databases (SASD)
- Tuesday, September 19 from 9:00 AM-4:00 PM ET
Location: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Pavilion, Rockville, MD

Sponsored by AHRQ, the workshop is a one-day course for health services researchers on the use of HCUP databases and software tools. This year, there will be a specific focus on using the State Ambulatory Surgery and Services Databases (SASD) and how they differ from the State Inpatient Databases (SID) and State Emergency Department Databases (SEDD). Faculty will present instruction on working with the HCUP databases to conduct cross sectional analyses, with a specific hands-on comparison of the HCUP SASD and SID databases and how to use HCUP-US documentation to their advantage when developing analyses. Participants will use their own computers loaded with text editing software and will walk through SAS programs on the databases. It is highly recommended that attendees review the HCUP Online Overview Course prior to the workshop.

Learn more & register for these events
Small Grants for Secondary Analyses of Existing Data Sets and Stored Biospecimens (R03) (PA-17-299)

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) encourages applications that propose to conduct secondary analyses of publicly available NICHD-funded data sets or stored biospecimens. The goal of this program is to facilitate innovative yet cost-effective research utilizing data and biospecimens collected with NICHD resources.  

Posted Date - May 26, 2017
Open Date (Earliest Submission Date) - September 16, 2017

Standard dates apply, by 5:00 PM local time of applicant organization.

Approximately 53 million Americans live with a disability. For decades, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has been conducting and supporting research to discover new ways to minimize disability and enhance the quality of life of people with disabilities. After the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act, the NIH established the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research with the goal of developing and implementing a rehabilitation research agenda.

The NIH recently organized a conference under the title "Rehabilitation Research at NIH: Moving the Field Forward." This report is a summary of the discussions and proposals that will help guide rehabilitation research at NIH in the near future.

Recently the NIH, in collaboration with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, announced new requirements for the sharing and dissemination of data resulting from clinical trials. Read Drs. Collins and Hudson's joint statement on the new policy and initiative: Clinical Trials: Sharing of Data and Living Up to Our End of the Bargain at the NIH Director's Blog.

Archiving and sharing data is one of the key focus areas of the Center for Large Data Research & Data Sharing in Rehabilitation (CLDR). Visit the Data Sharing & Archiving page for additional resources and information on our collaborative archival repository for disability- and rehabilitation-related datasets housed in the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social research (ICPSR) at the University of Michigan. We also have pilot grant opportunities for archiving data from completed rehabilitation studies.

The National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research (NCMRR), part of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the NIH, led the development of this ambitious plan, aimed at energizing and advancing the research field.  The plan benefited from the support and partnership of 17 institutes and centers within the NIH, and extensive input from rehabilitation experts across the country.  It carries out many of the recommendations made by the Blue Ribbon Panel convened by NICHD in 2011. 

The comprehensive plan outlines six priority areas. It includes investigating new approaches to assistive technology in the home, expanding resources to recruit scientists and innovators to the field and analyzing the biology, chemistry and genetic components of recovery to better understand why some people are better able to recover after injury, while others require more rigorous rehabilitation.

The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to invite R03 applications to support archiving and documenting existing data sets in order to enable secondary analysis of these data by the scientific community. The priority of this program is to archive data sets within the scientific mission of the NICHD; highest priority is to archive data collected with NICHD support. More information is available at the NIH website.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a new dataset, the Home Health Agency Utilization and Payment Public Use File (Home Health Agency PUF). This data set, which is part of CMS's Medicare Provider Utilization and Payment Data set, details information on services provided to Medicare beneficiaries by home health agencies. These new data include information on 11,062 home health agencies, over 6 million claims, and over $18 billion in Medicare payments for 2013.
Chronic Conditions Overview from CMS.gov

These public data resources provide researchers and policymakers a better understanding of the burden of chronic conditions among beneficiaries and the implications for our health care system. This information can be used to improve care coordination and health outcomes for Medicare beneficiaries living with chronic conditions.

The public data are available from the CMS website.

Researchers may now add data from NICHD-funded studies directly to the NICHD Data and Specimen Hub (DASH). Launched in August 2015, NICHD DASH is a centralized online resource that makes de-identified data available to researchers for secondary analyses, in accordance with the NIH Data Sharing Policy and the NIH Genomic Data Sharing Policy.

Read more: NICHD Invites Researchers to Share Their Data through Online Resource

New Department of Veteran Affairs Open Data Portal

Data, APIs, tools and resources that can be used to develop web and mobile applications, design data visualizations, and create stories directly from VA resources.

The mission of the NIH Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) initiative is to enable biomedical scientists to capitalize more fully on the Big Data being generated by those research communities. Read more at the BD2K website.

The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, which began in 1996, is a set of large-scale surveys of families and individuals, their medical providers (doctors, hospitals, pharmacies, etc.), and employers across the United States. MEPS collects data on the specific health services that Americans use, how frequently they use them, the cost of these services, and how they are paid for, as well as data on the cost, scope, and breadth of health insurance held by and available to U.S. workers.

More information is available at the AHRQ MEPS website.

In response to growth of large biomedical datasets, the NIH formed the Working Group on Data and Informatics, charged with examining issues related to data.


The CLDR is funded by the National Institutes of Health (grant# P2CHD065702). See About Us for more details.

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