Improving Pain And Movement Outcomes In Symptomatic Knee Osteoarthritis
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$431,000.00
Summary
People fear getting painful knee osteoarthritis (OA) more than any other disease – it is seen as progressive and incurable. It often stops people from moving and staying healthy, resulting in an enormous burden on sufferers and the health care system. This program of research aims to understand what brain & nervous system processes might underlie these pain and movement problems and whether new brain-targeting treatment helps. This will allow us to better match treatment to what patients need.
There’s recent evidence that children get leaner and fitter during the school term, but become fatter and less fit over the summer holidays. This may be because of differences in activity and diet: on holidays, children may eat more, be less active and have more screen time. We propose to track the time use, diet, fitness and fatness of 9-11 year old children across three school years. If the pattern is confirmed, we should focus more on the home environment, or perhaps encourage summer camps.
Using Online Social Technologies To Improve Health Behaviour
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$425,048.00
Summary
Physical inactivity and poor eating habits are leading causes of death and disease in Australia. Our health behaviours are influenced by our social networks. What’s more, Australians love social technologies, such as Facebook and smartphones. My research aims to harness these two factors to create socially-influential health programs. I will work with video game developers to develop fun and engaging interventions, and a viral marketer and leading organisations to spread the interventions.
Active Team – Examining An Online Social Networking Intervention To Increase Physical Activity In Controlled (RCT) And Ecological (ET) Settings
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$814,041.00
Summary
Lifestyle diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes, are key health problems facing Australia. Effective, low-cost, mass-reach physical activity interventions are urgently needed. This project uses online social networks to deliver an innovative physical activity intervention. This project will determine how effective the software is in changing people’s lifestyle over 12 months, and whether viral marketing techniques can be used to disseminate the program on a mass scale.
What Cost-effective Built Environment Interventions Would Create Healthy, Liveable And Equitable Communities In Australia, And What Would Facilitate These Being Translated Into Policy And Practice?
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,658,832.00
Summary
This CRE involves collaboration between a multi-disciplinary research team across Australia working with policy-makers covering planning, urban design, transport planning and health. It will identify the most cost-effective built environment interventions required to create healthy, liveable, and equitable communities. Factors that influence research findings being translated into urban planning policy and practice will be examined and tools to assist changes to policy and practice developed.
Development and evaulation of novel foods enriched with very long chain omega-3 fatty acids. This project is a collaborative effort between Meadow Lea Foods, Clover Corporation, and the Universities of Wollongong and Western Australia. The aims are 1) to develop a range of functional foods enriched with omega-3 from tuna oil; 2) to see whether the recommended omega-3 intake, currently nor met by most Australians, can be achieved by including these foods in the diet; 3) to evaluate sensory and he ....Development and evaulation of novel foods enriched with very long chain omega-3 fatty acids. This project is a collaborative effort between Meadow Lea Foods, Clover Corporation, and the Universities of Wollongong and Western Australia. The aims are 1) to develop a range of functional foods enriched with omega-3 from tuna oil; 2) to see whether the recommended omega-3 intake, currently nor met by most Australians, can be achieved by including these foods in the diet; 3) to evaluate sensory and health attributes and other factors that may impact on consumer acceptability hence market potential of the food range. There is little evidence of the feasibility let alone health and social benefits of utilising novel foods to meet the dietary omega-3 recommendation. We expect a) to show how consumers could benefit by using a range of such foods in their customary diet; b) to critically set this achievement within the context of current social trends in food product development. Read moreRead less
Development of novel omega-3 enriched poultry products. New Health recommendations and changes to the Food Standards Code encourage greater dietary intake of omega-3 (w-3) fatty acids. Our core research on modifying fatty acid composition of poultry tissues and preliminary studies with our industry partner's proprietary fishmeal product (PorcOmega) have indicated the feasibility of producing novel meat products and eggs with high w-3 contents, which would qualify to carry a new nutrition label. ....Development of novel omega-3 enriched poultry products. New Health recommendations and changes to the Food Standards Code encourage greater dietary intake of omega-3 (w-3) fatty acids. Our core research on modifying fatty acid composition of poultry tissues and preliminary studies with our industry partner's proprietary fishmeal product (PorcOmega) have indicated the feasibility of producing novel meat products and eggs with high w-3 contents, which would qualify to carry a new nutrition label. We now propose, in collaboration with our industry partner, to assess the viability of producing such products by conducting poultry feeding trials with PorcOmega on a commercial scale and evaluating both the levels of w-3 enrichement of chicken breast, thigh and sausages, shelf-life and consumer acceptability (sensory evaluation) of these products. We expect to establish feeding strategies for adoption by commercial producers of premium poultry and eggs for local or export markets.Read moreRead less
Effects of omega-3 fatty acids and micronutrients on learning and behaviour of Indigenous Australian children from a remote community school. Indigenous Australian children have disproportionate health problems that are largely related to malnutrition, which affects physical health and may also impact on their emotional health, learning and behaviour. Indigenous Australian children in remote rural communities are performing well below national benchmarks, and the government has earmarked improve ....Effects of omega-3 fatty acids and micronutrients on learning and behaviour of Indigenous Australian children from a remote community school. Indigenous Australian children have disproportionate health problems that are largely related to malnutrition, which affects physical health and may also impact on their emotional health, learning and behaviour. Indigenous Australian children in remote rural communities are performing well below national benchmarks, and the government has earmarked improved education in this population as a top national priority. To date research has not addressed the impact of nutrition on learning in this population. Improving the nutritional status of these children could assist them to derive greater benefit from educational opportunities, and in turn greater equality of access to occupational opportunities later in life.Read moreRead less
Omega-3 fats in vegetable oils: Improving their benefits. While authoritative health agencies in Western countries recommend increased intake of omega-3 fats, fish stocks world-wide are already under stress and could not sustain the general uptake of this advice. Nor could aquaculture expansion meet the demand for omega-3 fats with current practices of using wild fish or fish meal or fish oil for feed. This project will address the knowledge gap in how fish handle the omega-3 fatty acids from ve ....Omega-3 fats in vegetable oils: Improving their benefits. While authoritative health agencies in Western countries recommend increased intake of omega-3 fats, fish stocks world-wide are already under stress and could not sustain the general uptake of this advice. Nor could aquaculture expansion meet the demand for omega-3 fats with current practices of using wild fish or fish meal or fish oil for feed. This project will address the knowledge gap in how fish handle the omega-3 fatty acids from vegetable oils such as canola, flaxseed and echium. Australia is well placed in agriculture and aquaculture to capture the value of this research.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0347447
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$180,000.00
Summary
Human Physiology & Nutrition Research Facility for assessment of metabolic status and vascular function. A state of the art Human Physiology and Nutrition Facility will be established in South Australia to examine vascular and metabolic biomarkers. With integrated ambulatory blood pressure and arterial compliance monitoring, ultrasound evaluation of endothelial function and DEXA measurement of body composition, it will enable: 1. multi-centre evaluation of dietary and exercise strategies to impr ....Human Physiology & Nutrition Research Facility for assessment of metabolic status and vascular function. A state of the art Human Physiology and Nutrition Facility will be established in South Australia to examine vascular and metabolic biomarkers. With integrated ambulatory blood pressure and arterial compliance monitoring, ultrasound evaluation of endothelial function and DEXA measurement of body composition, it will enable: 1. multi-centre evaluation of dietary and exercise strategies to improve cardiovascular and metabolic fitness; 2. substantiation of metabolic and cardiovascular health benefits of functional foods and bioactive nutrients; 3. evaluation of biomarkers and their programming in early development; 4. further development of assessment technology. Its establishment will enhance food industry collaboration in nutrition research.Read moreRead less