Clinical And Psychosocial Changes Over Late Childhood And Adolescence And Early Life Determinants Of Long Term Clinical Outcomes In Cystic Fibrosis
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,135,570.00
Summary
Cystic fibrosis is the most common life shortening inherited disease in Caucasians. Lung damage starts in infancy and lung function falls most rapidly in adolescence although why and how this happens and early life determinants are not known. This study takes advantage of a previous study that monitored young children from 3 months to 5 years of life and follows them closely through early adolescence to investigate the protective and risk factors for falling lung function.
ADding Negative PRESSure To Improve HealING (the DRESSING Trial)
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,380,446.00
Summary
The aim of this 5-year randomised comtrolled trial is to test the clinical and cost effectiveness of vacuum dressings in reducing the incidence of surgical site infection in obese women undergoing elective and semi-urgent caesarian section. The trial will be conducted at 4 hospitals in south east Queensland. 2,100 women undergoing caesarian section will either receive a vacuum or standard surgical dressing and will be followed for 1 month after surgery.
The reliability of corporate reporting of greenhouse gas estimates: Determinants, consequences, training for accountants and policy Initiatives. Fundamental to the successful re-allocation of resources to address climate change is that greenhouse gas estimates reported by firms are reliable. The first outcome from this research is the development of tools to assist and train the Australian accountancy profession in the estimation of reliable emissions. The second outcome is identification of fac ....The reliability of corporate reporting of greenhouse gas estimates: Determinants, consequences, training for accountants and policy Initiatives. Fundamental to the successful re-allocation of resources to address climate change is that greenhouse gas estimates reported by firms are reliable. The first outcome from this research is the development of tools to assist and train the Australian accountancy profession in the estimation of reliable emissions. The second outcome is identification of factors associated with the inaccuracy and bias of greenhouse gas emissions reported by companies and the consequences of the inaccuracies for the share market's valuation of emission liabilities. These research findings will identify issues that need to be addressed by regulators to ensure that the greenhouse gas estimates reported by companies are reliable.Read moreRead less
Assessing the adaptive capacity of hospital facilities to cope with climate-related extreme weather events: A risk management approach. Given Australia's and New Zealand's relatively high exposure to climate extremes, the social, economic and health benefits of better managed hospital facilities are significant. Floods, bushfires, heatwaves and cyclones cost Australia over $1.4bn/year and New Zealand over NZ$43m/yr in disruption to communities, business productivity and damage to infrastructure. ....Assessing the adaptive capacity of hospital facilities to cope with climate-related extreme weather events: A risk management approach. Given Australia's and New Zealand's relatively high exposure to climate extremes, the social, economic and health benefits of better managed hospital facilities are significant. Floods, bushfires, heatwaves and cyclones cost Australia over $1.4bn/year and New Zealand over NZ$43m/yr in disruption to communities, business productivity and damage to infrastructure. This research will help to mitigate these costs by protecting populations from the health risks associated with such events. The potential benefits will be most significant for those vulnerable communities at high risk such as the aged, the obese, the ill and those geographically exposed to more extreme weather events.Read moreRead less
Understanding (and responding to) scepticism about science. Many people hold beliefs that defy scientific consensus. A standard response when a scientist faces resistance to an evidence-based message is to keep explaining the evidence as clearly and thoroughly as possible (explication). It is argued that explication often fails because people are motivated to hold on to non-scientific beliefs for reasons other than the motivation to find the truth. It is proposed that qualitative and quantitativ ....Understanding (and responding to) scepticism about science. Many people hold beliefs that defy scientific consensus. A standard response when a scientist faces resistance to an evidence-based message is to keep explaining the evidence as clearly and thoroughly as possible (explication). It is argued that explication often fails because people are motivated to hold on to non-scientific beliefs for reasons other than the motivation to find the truth. It is proposed that qualitative and quantitative techniques to identify these hidden motivations. These insights will be used to test psychologically tailored interventions designed to interrupt or circumnavigate these underlying motives, with the goal of promoting environmental responsibility and population health.Read moreRead less
Drought, El Niño and Climate Change in Queensland over the last 200,000 years: the Lynch's Crater lake record. Lynch's Crater (Queensland) provides the longest, most sensitive terrestrial record of vegetation and climate change in the low altitude tropics. A multidisciplinary approach will exploit the potential of a core collected in 2003 through high-resolution multiproxy (sedimentology, geochemistry, stable and radiogenic isotopes, pollen, charcoal and diatoms) studies. The results will contri ....Drought, El Niño and Climate Change in Queensland over the last 200,000 years: the Lynch's Crater lake record. Lynch's Crater (Queensland) provides the longest, most sensitive terrestrial record of vegetation and climate change in the low altitude tropics. A multidisciplinary approach will exploit the potential of a core collected in 2003 through high-resolution multiproxy (sedimentology, geochemistry, stable and radiogenic isotopes, pollen, charcoal and diatoms) studies. The results will contribute substantially to the resolution of current debates on the role of the tropics in global climate forcing at a variety of temporal scales, including that of the El Niño phenomenon. The reconstruction of temperature and precipitation over the past 200,000 years will improve global climate databases and prediction models.Read moreRead less
Development Of Quality Indicators For The Frail Elderly In Acute Care
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$372,311.00
Summary
Frail older people are particularly vulnerable to a range of mishaps while in hospital. Good care can reduce the frequency and extent of these problems. Quality indicators (QIs) assist hospitals, and clinical service units within them, to appraise their performance, and to compare it to other hospitals. QIs for the measurement of outcomes for the frail aged in the acute care setting do not exist in Australia or overseas. We aim to develop these indicators during this study.
Are humans responsible for recent changes in the behaviour of tropical cyclones? Decoupling natural variability from human influence using isotopes. An increase in the frequency of intense landfalling tropical cyclones will have a major impact upon Australia's economy and the safety of its citizens and visitors. There is little doubt that global climate change will cause this increase. Understanding when this might occur and the extent of this change over and above that which could also occur na ....Are humans responsible for recent changes in the behaviour of tropical cyclones? Decoupling natural variability from human influence using isotopes. An increase in the frequency of intense landfalling tropical cyclones will have a major impact upon Australia's economy and the safety of its citizens and visitors. There is little doubt that global climate change will cause this increase. Understanding when this might occur and the extent of this change over and above that which could also occur naturally will help reduce economic loss and save peoples' lives. Using isotope records of tropical cyclones and global climate models we will differentiate natural from human induced changes and ascertain the likely future impact of this hazard on Australia and its near neighbours.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0454055
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$379,719.00
Summary
Mass spectrometry facility for inorganic and organic analysis. The aim of the proposal is to increase the ability for JCU researchers to access high-level mass spectrometry analysis for inorganic (Inductively-Coupled Plasma Mass Sepctrometry, ICP-MS) and organic (Gas-Chromatography-Mass Spectrometer, GC-MS and High-Performance Liquid Chromatography HPLC-MS) chemical analysis. The proposal is significant in that it will simultaneously improve the existing highly-productive capabilities in inorgan ....Mass spectrometry facility for inorganic and organic analysis. The aim of the proposal is to increase the ability for JCU researchers to access high-level mass spectrometry analysis for inorganic (Inductively-Coupled Plasma Mass Sepctrometry, ICP-MS) and organic (Gas-Chromatography-Mass Spectrometer, GC-MS and High-Performance Liquid Chromatography HPLC-MS) chemical analysis. The proposal is significant in that it will simultaneously improve the existing highly-productive capabilities in inorganic analysis, whilst providing, for the first time, organic chemical analysis capabilities. This equipment will improve the capacity to undertake more incisive analytical research in the areas of research strength at JCU, that is, in Earth Science, Biological, Chemical, Engineering and Medicine.Read moreRead less
ARC Australia-New Zealand Research Network for Vegetation Function. Plant species vary widely in quantitative functional traits, and in their relations to climate, soils and geography. Global generalizations are emerging. Vegetation Function network will reach from plant function into genomics and crop breeding, into palaeoecology and vegetation history, into landscape management for carbon, water and salinity outcomes, into forecasting future ecosystems under global change, and into phylogeny, ....ARC Australia-New Zealand Research Network for Vegetation Function. Plant species vary widely in quantitative functional traits, and in their relations to climate, soils and geography. Global generalizations are emerging. Vegetation Function network will reach from plant function into genomics and crop breeding, into palaeoecology and vegetation history, into landscape management for carbon, water and salinity outcomes, into forecasting future ecosystems under global change, and into phylogeny, ecoinformatics and evolutionary theory. Across this span, working groups will target nine identified opportunities for breakthrough research. Each research target needs input from two or more disciplines. Together, the nine targets link across disciplines, as a network that spans from genomic to planetary scales.Read moreRead less