Interdisciplinary Maternal Perinatal Action On Clinical Trials Collaboration
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,140,000.00
Summary
The aims of the Interdisciplinary Maternal Perinatal Action on Clinical Trials (IMPACT) Collaboration is to promote and support high quality clinical trials addressing important research questions to improve the health and well being of women and their children. These aims will be achieved by implementing the three objectives of the Collaboration: • Provision of high level support to researchers at a national and regional level; • Provision of ongoing education and training; and • Identification ....The aims of the Interdisciplinary Maternal Perinatal Action on Clinical Trials (IMPACT) Collaboration is to promote and support high quality clinical trials addressing important research questions to improve the health and well being of women and their children. These aims will be achieved by implementing the three objectives of the Collaboration: • Provision of high level support to researchers at a national and regional level; • Provision of ongoing education and training; and • Identification of national priority research areas and encouraging methodological trials.Read moreRead less
Fluid resuscitation is widely used in the management of critically ill patients. There are a variety of different fluids available to doctors but there is little evidence regarding how effective they are. One of the most commonly used fluids, a hydroxyethyl starch was recently approved by the TGA for use in Australia. This project aims to compare how effective and safe this fluid is compared to another widely used fluid, saline, for resuscitation of critically ill patients in intensive care.
Effects Of Laterally Wedged Insoles On Symptoms And Disease Progression In Knee Osteoarthritis
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$480,850.00
Summary
Knee arthritis is a painful, disabling, costly condition particularly affecting the elderly. As there is presently no cure for knee arthritis, strategies that slow progression of the disease will reduce the personal and societal burden of arthritis. Most research has focussed on drug therapies, which are effective in reducing pain and disability but have side effects and are expensive. Insoles worn inside the shoes are a simple, cheap, self-administered intervention with the potential to slow di ....Knee arthritis is a painful, disabling, costly condition particularly affecting the elderly. As there is presently no cure for knee arthritis, strategies that slow progression of the disease will reduce the personal and societal burden of arthritis. Most research has focussed on drug therapies, which are effective in reducing pain and disability but have side effects and are expensive. Insoles worn inside the shoes are a simple, cheap, self-administered intervention with the potential to slow disease progression in certain patients, in addition to managing symptoms. However, to date there has been little quality research investigating the effectiveness of insoles in knee arthritis. This study aims to see whether 12 months of wearing insoles can lead to improvements in knee pain and function and slow disease progression in 200 people with knee arthritis. It will use state-of-the-art technology, magnetic resonance imaging, to measure changes in the amount of knee cartilage. This research is timely and the findings will be of major significance as there is increasing world-wide attention on slowing progression of knee arthritis. Insoles are one of the few non-drug therapies with the potential to influence both symptoms and disease progression. If the results show that insoles are beneficial, then this research will: 1. Better inform clinical guidelines to firmly recommend insoles to manage knee arthritis 2. Provide the basis for developing education strategies for health care practitioners and patients about the benefits of insoles 3. Provide the impetus to make insoles more readily available directly to patients 4. Ultimately lead to better patient outcomesRead moreRead less
A Randomised Controlled Trial Of Alternative Treatments To Intramuscular Penicillin For Impetigo In Aboriginal Children
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,326,182.00
Summary
We will conduct clinical trials to find an effective, simple and cheap oral alternative to injected penicillin for skin sores which could become the universal standard of care whether the patient is in Melbourne or Milingimbi. It would also likely be adopted by the World Health Organization as a standard of care for developing countries. This would lead directly to a reduced burden of skin sores and their complications. It would also open the way for studies to explore even simpler regimens.
ProbioticTreatment Of Diarrhoeal Disease And Malnutrition In Top End Aboriginal Children
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$332,036.00
Summary
Aboriginal children in the Top End of Australia have high rates of hospital admission for diarrhoea and malnutrition. We have discovered that underlying small intestinal damage in these children is an important contributor to the high complication rates and longer lengths of stay in hospital compared to non-Aboriginal children. This research proposes to continue our work on small intestinal damage by using two non-invasive tests of gut function, namely a sugar absorption test and novel breath te ....Aboriginal children in the Top End of Australia have high rates of hospital admission for diarrhoea and malnutrition. We have discovered that underlying small intestinal damage in these children is an important contributor to the high complication rates and longer lengths of stay in hospital compared to non-Aboriginal children. This research proposes to continue our work on small intestinal damage by using two non-invasive tests of gut function, namely a sugar absorption test and novel breath test. The sugar permeability test involves the children drinking a solution of the two sugars lactulose and rhamnose, and measuring their absorption into the blood 90 minutes later using a sophisticated measuring instrument called HPLC, which can measure minuscule amounts of sugars and is set up at Royal Darwin Hospital. The breath test involves children drinking another sugar solution with a special non-radioactive marker called a stable isotope of carbon, and measuring changes in the amount of this marker in carbon dioxide from the breath at timed periods after drinking the sugar solution. The breath is analysed in Adelaide using another sophisticated instrument. These tests are being used to measure abnormal sugar absorption due to intestinal damage, which is particularly common in Aboriginal children during the weaning period of 4-18 months. Our hypothesis is that treatment with 'healthy germs' (probiotics) like those in certain yoghourts will colonise the gut, stimulate immunity and reduce the presence of 'nasty germs' (pathogenic bacteria) in the intestines of Aboriginal children which contribute to the need for their hospitalisation with diarrhoea and malnutrition. If this hypothesis is correct, then this research will provide the best kind of evidence for reducing the need for hospital treatment by treating all cases of diarrhoea with these probiotics and possibly even decreasing the gut damage of children in the weaning period by including probiotics in their dietsRead moreRead less
Randomised Controlled Trials Of Laparoscopic Techniques For Antireflux Surgery
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$275,923.00
Summary
Gastro-oesophageal reflux is common, and over the last decade there has been an exponential rise in the usage of acid suppressing medication. Current trends suggest that the national cost of medical treatment of reflux will become unaffordable unless new management or preventative strategies can be developed. Presently, surgery is the only treatment which can cure reflux. Laparoscopic fundoplication has recently become an acceptable, low morbidity keyhole surgical treatment for this problem. How ....Gastro-oesophageal reflux is common, and over the last decade there has been an exponential rise in the usage of acid suppressing medication. Current trends suggest that the national cost of medical treatment of reflux will become unaffordable unless new management or preventative strategies can be developed. Presently, surgery is the only treatment which can cure reflux. Laparoscopic fundoplication has recently become an acceptable, low morbidity keyhole surgical treatment for this problem. However, research is essential to develop a procedure which optimizes the outcome for patients undergoing surgical management of reflux, and minimizes the risk of complications. This may provide a better alternative to long term management with acid suppressing medication, and could eventually achieve long term savings to the nation's health budget. Since 1994 research conducted at the Royal Adelaide Hospital has evaluated a range of different key hole operations aimed at improving the outcome for patients undergoing surgery for gastro-oesophageal reflux. Over 100 patients have been entered into each of the following clinical trials: total fundoplication with or without division of the short gastric vessels, total versus anterior partial fundoplication and posterior or anterior hiatal repair. Further trials will compare a lesser degree of anterior partial fundoplication with total fundoplication. A common research protocol has been developed and applied to all of these trials. This involves the use of double blind randomised methodology, with independent follow-up obtained by an independent investigator. These trials will determine the best surgical technique for the surgical correction of reflux, and this should lead to a more widely accepted surgical alternative to existing non-operative strategies for pathological reflux.Read moreRead less
A Randomised Trial Of Adjuvant Chemotherapies In Resectable Pancreatic Cancer: ESPAC-3
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$430,500.00
Summary
Over 1,650 Australians are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer each year. In most cases, surgery will remove the tumour but it is possible that the cancer will return as a result of undetectable disease (micrometastases). The cancer will return and be incurable in the majority of patients. More than 1600 Australians die of the disease every year. This study compares the impact of adding chemotherapy to surgery alone (the current standard of care). The study will also compare the effectiveness of tw ....Over 1,650 Australians are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer each year. In most cases, surgery will remove the tumour but it is possible that the cancer will return as a result of undetectable disease (micrometastases). The cancer will return and be incurable in the majority of patients. More than 1600 Australians die of the disease every year. This study compares the impact of adding chemotherapy to surgery alone (the current standard of care). The study will also compare the effectiveness of two different types of chemotherapy. Surgical resection of a pancreas tumour is the current standard of care for this disease. It is possible that people treated with chemotherapy after their tumour has been surgically removed may live longer before their disease returns and may liver longer overall. This has been shown to be true in other in cancers; eg. breast and bowel. The side effects of chemotherapy are important and can be severe in some people. Recent studies in advanced pancreatic cancer have suggested that the new drug gemcitabine may be more effective than other drugs. For this reason, the trial compares the outcomes in people treated with gemcitabine to those treated with an older drug 5FU, which has been shown to improve survival in an earlier study by a European group. This trial will determine if chemotherapy in addition to surgery increases the length of time before the disease comes back and survival. If it does, it should become standard practice. This study is an important international initiative that will provide unique information about effectiveness of these treatments and their impact on quality of life from the patient's perspective. This study and the previous European study are the largest of their type ever done. 900 people will take part. This study is being conducted in Australia by the Australasian Gastro-Intestinal Trials in collaboration with the Australian Hepatobilary Association and the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre.Read moreRead less