Using AI to reveal the true extent & context of alcohol exposure in videos. This project aims to extend an artificial intelligence algorithm to automatically identify and quantify alcohol prevalence in videos. The project is expected to generate significant new knowledge about alcohol’s exposure in these videos’ social, emotional, and environmental contexts. The expected outcomes include a more efficient and automated method of revealing alcohol pervasiveness and its context in the 1000 most wat ....Using AI to reveal the true extent & context of alcohol exposure in videos. This project aims to extend an artificial intelligence algorithm to automatically identify and quantify alcohol prevalence in videos. The project is expected to generate significant new knowledge about alcohol’s exposure in these videos’ social, emotional, and environmental contexts. The expected outcomes include a more efficient and automated method of revealing alcohol pervasiveness and its context in the 1000 most watched videos in Australia, making costly manual coding redundant. Anticipated benefits include enabling governments to better monitor compliance to alcohol product placement guidelines and increased public awareness of the frequency and harmful effects of being exposed to alcohol in videos.Read moreRead less
Development And Clinical Evaluation Of A Depth Of Anaesthesia Monitor
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$424,785.00
Summary
Waking up during surgery (awareness under anaesthesia) is a frightening reality for some patients. Although uncommon (occurring in about 1 in 1000 operations), it remains one of the main concerns of patients before their surgery. Recent studies (including our own) have demonstrated that processed EEG monitoring using bispectral index (BIS) can markedly reduce the risk of awareness. Other EEG monitors are being developed, but each have weaknesses. As approximately two million Australians have a g ....Waking up during surgery (awareness under anaesthesia) is a frightening reality for some patients. Although uncommon (occurring in about 1 in 1000 operations), it remains one of the main concerns of patients before their surgery. Recent studies (including our own) have demonstrated that processed EEG monitoring using bispectral index (BIS) can markedly reduce the risk of awareness. Other EEG monitors are being developed, but each have weaknesses. As approximately two million Australians have a general anaesthetic each year, about 2000 will suffer an episode of awareness. More than 60 million people around the world have an anaesthetic, and so the problem is substantial. This suggests the potential benefits (health outcomes, commercial gains) are very great. In 2000 less than 5% of US hospitals used BIS monitoring; the current figure in the US is about 69% of the best-rated hospitals (US News and World Report) and 78% of teaching hospitals. A similar rapid growth is occurring in Australia and Europe. We are working with a successful Australian Company (Compumedics Ltd) to develop a better awareness monitor. We plan studies in groups of patients have surgery.Read moreRead less
A New Direction For TB Control In Highly Endemic Countries: A RCT Of Active Case Finding
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,362,910.00
Summary
Tuberculosis is the number 1 health problem in Vietnam . Many people with TB do not know they have the disease but are infectious to others. Hence, the disease continues to spread. This project will investigate the role of x-ray screening to detect and treat more people with TB, particularly those who do not have symptoms. This may be an important element of future TB control programs in Vietnam and elsewhere in our region.
Structural Characterisation Of Peptide Bound HLA-DQ2, HLA-DQ8, And Their Specific T Cell Receptors In Celiac Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$33,626.00
Summary
Celiac disease is an inflammatory condition resulting from an inappropriate immune response to dietary gluten, present in cereals such as wheat, rye and barley. In affected individuals, ingestion of gluten can result in bloating, chronic diarrhoea, and malabsorption. At present, the only treatment is strict adherence to a gluten free diet. This project will investigate the immune response to gluten on a molecular level, aiding in the development of new treatments(e.g. non-toxic wheat varieties).
The MASTER Anaesthesia Trial (or Mulcentre Australian Study of Epidural Anaesthesia) is a large clinical experiment designed to determine whether using epidural techniques to control pain during and after surgery results in fewer complications after major surgery. The Trial involves a comparison of epidural methods, in which some of the anaesthetic and pain-killing drugs are injected into the space in the spinal column surrounding the sac that encloses the spinal cord, with conventional methods, ....The MASTER Anaesthesia Trial (or Mulcentre Australian Study of Epidural Anaesthesia) is a large clinical experiment designed to determine whether using epidural techniques to control pain during and after surgery results in fewer complications after major surgery. The Trial involves a comparison of epidural methods, in which some of the anaesthetic and pain-killing drugs are injected into the space in the spinal column surrounding the sac that encloses the spinal cord, with conventional methods, where the drugs are injected into a vein or muscle. Both approaches are well accepted in clinical practice, but it remains uncertain whether one is superior to the other. At present, nineteen hospitals in Australia, Hong Kong and Malaysia are contributing patients to the project, with others in New Zealand and Asia expected to join soon. If one method of anaesthesia and pain control is found to be significantly better than the other, in terms of avoiding complications, this would have obvious benefits to patients, but would also reduce lengths of stay in hospital and improve efficiency within the health system.Read moreRead less
STudy Of Risk Assessment To Reduce Complications In Patients Following Noncardiac SurgerY (STRATIFY)
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$436,000.00
Summary
Cardiac problems account for many complications in patients undergoing major non-cardiac surgery, and even apparently minor cardiac damage is a marker of high risk for subsequent adverse events. Unfortunately, while money and effort is expended on identifying patients at risk, the appropriate response to this risk is quite unclear. The performance of bypass surgery or balloon angioplasty in order to treat the underlying coronary disease of at-risk patients is used in other situations, and reduce ....Cardiac problems account for many complications in patients undergoing major non-cardiac surgery, and even apparently minor cardiac damage is a marker of high risk for subsequent adverse events. Unfortunately, while money and effort is expended on identifying patients at risk, the appropriate response to this risk is quite unclear. The performance of bypass surgery or balloon angioplasty in order to treat the underlying coronary disease of at-risk patients is used in other situations, and reduces longterm risk. However, in many patients undergoing major noncardiac surgery, this approach may be inappropriately aggressive, as these patients are often elderly, have other diseases that make heart operations more difficult and risky than usual, and in any case may have a reduced life expectancy from the disease necessitating the operation. As the most critical issue is to ensure that patients undergo their surgery uneventfully, an alternative is the use of intensive medical therapy to protect the heart. This multicentre study, based at Brisbane hospitals that perform large numbers of major operations, will follow up patients for complications, and outcome (including quality of life) will be assessed six months after the operation. We will address two important questions about the efficacy and cost of risk reduction strategies. First, in patients at higher levels of risk and with a positive stress test, could a combination of medical therapy designed to protect the heart be as effective as current approaches, which include the performance of bypass surgery or coronary balloon angioplasty? Second, in patients identified as being at some risk - but low risk - are drugs sufficiently effective to avoid the need for further testing to quantify risk? As the population continues to age, the numbers of at risk patients undergoing major surgery will increase, and answers to these questions will provide important information to guide their management.Read moreRead less