Understanding Influenza Mortality And The Effects Of Vaccination In The Elderly
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$446,877.00
Summary
We will analyse mortality from influenza and other causes to estimate the numbers of deaths from other causes that are triggered by influenza in elderly persons, and to test the value of vaccination in preventing those deaths. Our results will help to decide whether an expensive clinical trial is really needed to show the benefit of influenza vaccination on all-cause mortality in the elderly.
Dynamic Aspects Of Inhibitory Synaptic Transmission And Modulation By Neuroactive Drugs
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$370,500.00
Summary
Information moving through the brain is typically encoded as brief bursts of signals. These signals travel along the microscopic wiring that connect the brain's nerve cells into complex circuits. Information is encoded in the frequency of the signals within a burst, and the duration of each burst. This frequency-coded information is processed at the contact points between nerve cells (synapses). Almost all neuroactive drugs target synapses, where they alter information processing. Most of the in ....Information moving through the brain is typically encoded as brief bursts of signals. These signals travel along the microscopic wiring that connect the brain's nerve cells into complex circuits. Information is encoded in the frequency of the signals within a burst, and the duration of each burst. This frequency-coded information is processed at the contact points between nerve cells (synapses). Almost all neuroactive drugs target synapses, where they alter information processing. Most of the information about how neuroactive drugs work has been acquired from experiments performed under steady-state conditions. Typically, drugs are applied at a constant concentration and a synapse is stimulated at an unrealistically low frequency. The data obtained under these conditions are very useful, but tell only part of the story. For example, during an extended burst of signals, some neuroactive drugs may be displaced from their synaptic binding sites, reducing their effectiveness. In contrast, other drugs can only bind when synapses are active, and their effectiveness will increase during a burst of signals. For optimal drug design and delivery, it is important to understand how drugs work during bursts of activity. To date, the highly dynamic, non-equilibrium conditions encountered at central synapses have not been extensively studied. The central goal of this research proposal is to investigate the dynamic properties of synapses, and the drugs that modulate them. The results will provide insights into information processing in the brain, and will have significant implications for the development and targeting of clinically relevant neuropharmacological compounds.Read moreRead less
Extending The Australian Arm Of The International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Study
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$881,295.00
Summary
This project is to provide for the Australian arm of a large multi-national study to determine how tobacco control policies work. It is being conducted in the context of the implementation in 2005 of the World Health Organisation's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, to which Australia is a party. We will provide new knowledge on the impacts of specific policies which are being implemented in Australia, as well as ones that occur in other countries that are part of the larger study. These i ....This project is to provide for the Australian arm of a large multi-national study to determine how tobacco control policies work. It is being conducted in the context of the implementation in 2005 of the World Health Organisation's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, to which Australia is a party. We will provide new knowledge on the impacts of specific policies which are being implemented in Australia, as well as ones that occur in other countries that are part of the larger study. These include the adoption of graphic health warnings on tobacco packaging, removal of misleading constituents levels information from packs, bans of misleading descriptors such as Light and Mild, and implementation of smoke-free bars. In addition it will advance our understanding of how policy effects persist over time, their equity, and the means by which they contribute to increased cessation and reduced relapse. We do this by following smokers every year in each of the countries and asking them about their thinking and actions with regard to smoking, as well as about their awareness of the policies. By comparing the responses of smokers exposed to policies with those from other countries that are not exposed, we can work out the contribution of the policies to changes in smoking. Understanding policy effects on smokers and smoking cessation will lead to improved policies in Australia and the likelihood of improved dissemination of policies that work here to other countries. Similarly policies found to work in other countries, can be best adapted to Australia if we understand how they work. Taken in total, it should advance our efforts to reduce the burden of smoking-related harm both in Australia and the rest of the world.Read moreRead less
The Kynurenine Pathway Chemokines And MIC-1 In The Pathogenesis Of AIDS Dementia Complex.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$241,980.00
Summary
This proposal will examine the mechanisms by which HIV and other brain disorders such as encephalitis damage the brain. Further understanding of the biochemical pathway involved will lead to the possibility of novel drug therapy for these disorders.
The Comparative Health System Efficiency For Treating Chronic Physical And Mental Disorders
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$58,500.00
Summary
Mental disorders account for 15% of the burden of disease in Australia, and are the largest cause of disability. Effective treatments are available for all mental disorders, however the majority of sufferers in Australia do not receive these treatments that work. Hence the burden of disease due to mental disorders in Australia persists. Why is this so? Is there something unique about mental disorders that means little can be done with direct treatment? The feasibility and affordability of mental ....Mental disorders account for 15% of the burden of disease in Australia, and are the largest cause of disability. Effective treatments are available for all mental disorders, however the majority of sufferers in Australia do not receive these treatments that work. Hence the burden of disease due to mental disorders in Australia persists. Why is this so? Is there something unique about mental disorders that means little can be done with direct treatment? The feasibility and affordability of mental health treatment can only be truly understood in comparison with other chronic disorders. Such comparisons are particularly significant as mental health remains a stigmatised area of the health sector. Without comparative data it would be easy for critics to argue for decreased funding for people with mental disorders. Project Outcomes: For three chronic physical disorders in Australia (osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma) this project will define the cost-effectiveness of current care, the cost-effectiveness of optimal care (everyone getting treatments that work), and the amount of disease burden that can be averted with high-quality health care. These findings will be compared to similar calculations we have produced for mental disorders, to determine if it is mental disorders or chronic disorders per se that require much more effort by the health care system in Australia.Read moreRead less
The Role Of Interferon Signalling In The Regulation Of Stroke
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$620,381.00
Summary
This project focuses on the role that inflammation plays in the progression of the type of neural injury seen in stroke victims. This project targets a specific pathway that is thought to be involved in the regulation of general inflammation but has not been greatly investigated in terms of the neural injury seen in stroke. Understanding the actions of this pathway may lead to future therapies that can be used to prime the brain to react in a positive way to stroke.
Investigation Of Tobacco Industry Efforts To Counteract Tobacco Control In Australia, 1970-2000
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$333,225.00
Summary
Tobacco use continues to be both the most important preventable cause of premature death and a key determinant of health inequity in Australia. Tobacco is a legally sold product which addicts many of its consumers, mostly as adolescents, and then kills half of them when used as intended. Comprehensive policy change, product regulation and litigation is required to put a halt to the tobacco industry's decades of avoidance, delay and disruption of tobacco control. In an interview for the Wall Stre ....Tobacco use continues to be both the most important preventable cause of premature death and a key determinant of health inequity in Australia. Tobacco is a legally sold product which addicts many of its consumers, mostly as adolescents, and then kills half of them when used as intended. Comprehensive policy change, product regulation and litigation is required to put a halt to the tobacco industry's decades of avoidance, delay and disruption of tobacco control. In an interview for the Wall Street Journal in 1995, Stan Glantz, from the University of California at San Francisco, equated the tobacco industry with other disease vectors: If you want to do something about malaria, you have to study mosquitoes and if you want to do something about lung cancer, you have to study the tobacco industry. Regulatory changes can only be justified by specific local evidence of both the private plans and knowledge of the tobacco industry to attack tobacco control and their public statements and actions designed to mislead consumers and effectively prevent or delay tobacco control. This study will document the public actions and statements of the tobacco industry in Australia between 1970 and 2000. It will draw on interviews with and personal records of tobacco control experts and former state and federal health ministers; as well as tobacco retail trade publications; print media reports; material obtained via Freedom of Information from State and Federal Health Departments; Federal Cabinet papers released under the 30 year rule (ie papers are available from prior 1972); and radio and television reports. It will complement a parallel study of the tobacco industry's internal documents. The outcome will be provision of strategically vital evidence to support effective tobacco control advocacy, policy formation, regulation and litigation in Australia, in the face of continuing industry countermeasures.Read moreRead less