Promoting Upper Limb Recovery After Stroke In People With Severe Paresis.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$348,948.00
Summary
Stroke survivors with severe arm disability have poor potential for functional recovery. Yet, an incomplete understanding of indicators of good potential currently dictate clinical decisions concerning referral to rehabilitation and therapy provision. The proposed research aims to characterise the dynamic capacity of the severely damaged brain to recover. This research will provide the foundations for more personalized health care options and extend our understanding of this growing cohort.
The Efficacy Of Novel, Non-robotic Devices To Train Reaching Post Stroke
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$491,605.00
Summary
Up to 50% of stroke survivors are left with upper limb disability that limits their daily activities and their paralysis is so severe that it excludes them from training with the most effective methods. This study is a clinical trial of innovative new techniques to assist people with severe upper limb paralysis to reach following stroke. Positive results are likely to reduce disability in a large number of stroke survivors and has the potential to be used by other patients with paralysis.
Quality Of Life, Associated Psychological And Economic Family Impacts, And Trajectory Of Recovery In Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Paediatric Burns Patients.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$86,117.00
Summary
Over a third of burns injuries in Australia are paediatric, with over representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Burns are a major injury, having devastating long term consequences, connected to psychological distress, trauma, cost and disability. This research focusses on quality of life measures, economic impacts and psychological distress, investigating enabling and inhibitory factors to burns recovery in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and their family.
Evaluation Of Nitrous Oxide In The Gas Mixture For Anaesthesia: A Randomised Controlled Trial (The ENIGMA Trial)
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$490,125.00
Summary
There are about 2 million anaesthetics given each year in Australia (1:10 Australians), with more than 1 million Australians being exposed to nitrous oxide (laughing gas). Despite being around for more than 150 years, there has yet to be a large trial of the safety and benefits of nitrous oxide, particularly when compared with newer (safer?) anaesthetic drugs. Nitrous oxide is not a particularly strong anaesthetic and so it must be mixed with other drugs. Current practice in Australia and around ....There are about 2 million anaesthetics given each year in Australia (1:10 Australians), with more than 1 million Australians being exposed to nitrous oxide (laughing gas). Despite being around for more than 150 years, there has yet to be a large trial of the safety and benefits of nitrous oxide, particularly when compared with newer (safer?) anaesthetic drugs. Nitrous oxide is not a particularly strong anaesthetic and so it must be mixed with other drugs. Current practice in Australia and around the world is to give 70% nitrous oxide in oxygen along with another anaesthetic gas in order to produce a depth of anaesthesia sufficient for surgery. This is despite knowledge that nitrous oxide interferes with the production of DNA. DNA is used to programme cell division and function - it is the building block of cell and tisue growth. It is known that nitrous oxide can impair some tissue functions, such that anaemia and, possibly birth defects can occur. Such effects are rare, but recent evidence suggests that milder abnormalities may occur more commonly than previously thought. There is also good evidence that nitrous oxide increases the risk of severe nausea and vomiting after surgery. The adverse effects on DNA production raises the possibility of nitrous oxide causing immune deficiency, heart ischaemia, (angina), nerve and spinal cord damage, and increased cancer risk in hospital staff chronically exposed to low levels of nitrous oxide. The prevailing view is that nitrous oxide is a cheap, relatively safe drug that can reduce the exposure to other anaesthetic drugs. However, the development of many new anaesthetic drugs demands a re-evaluation of the role of nitrous oxide in current anaesthetic practice.Read moreRead less
Viral-mediated Modulation Of BDNF Expression In Motor Neurons To Promote The Recovery Of Hand/digits Function In A Rat Model Of Spinal Cord Injury That Impairs Normal Grasping Action.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$341,427.00
Summary
This project seeks to lure injured axons towards motor neurons, a process that is essential for the recovery of motor function. BDNF gradients will be created along the injured axons path. Axons will have to elongate to reach the first source of BDNF. They will need to elongate even more to get to the next source of BDNF, hence bringing them each time closer to their lost targets. This gene therapy scenario has the potential to bring gene therapy a step closer for human spinal cord injury.
Training-induced Restoration Of Topographic Maps And Vision During Opticnerve Regeneration
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$379,725.00
Summary
The mature brain and spinal cord, or central nervous system (CNS), are extremely complex. A consequence of such complexity is that little if any spontaneous repair or regeneration occurs after damage. Brain injury and para- or quadriplegia thus inflict extremely high costs on the individual and to society, estimated at approximately $1 billion annually in Australia. One of the greatest medical challenges therefore is to restore function following neurotrauma. One of the most exciting advances, h ....The mature brain and spinal cord, or central nervous system (CNS), are extremely complex. A consequence of such complexity is that little if any spontaneous repair or regeneration occurs after damage. Brain injury and para- or quadriplegia thus inflict extremely high costs on the individual and to society, estimated at approximately $1 billion annually in Australia. One of the greatest medical challenges therefore is to restore function following neurotrauma. One of the most exciting advances, however, over the last decade is the recognition that the adult CNS, particularly after damage, does have a capacity for repair and that appropriate neural activity, produced either via relevant experience or specific training, is essential in driving the repair process to produce useful behavioural recovery. One of the clearest examples comes from our laboratory in which we have recently shown that training animals on specific visual tasks during optic nerve regeneration allows useful vision to be restored; untrained animals are blind via the experimental eye. The advantage of the visual system is that it is a relatively simple part of the CNS with one major class of nerve cell projecting to well defined and accessible brain regions. The significance of the project is that, for the first time, we are able pinpoint specific training-induced effects within identified nerve cells and their connections, a task that is much harder within other CNS regions. In particular, we will examine molecular, anatomical and functional changes that are induced via training and explore whether intervention with blockers of inhibitory neurotransmission further improves the beneficial effects of training. Understanding the changes in nerve cells that underlie the positive effects of training after neurotrauma will have implications for the continuing development of rehabilitation strategies for improved recovery after CNS injury.Read moreRead less