External Therapeutic Device To Support Rehabilitation Of The Hand Following Trauma Or Surgery
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$175,000.00
Summary
The loss of hand function will affect every aspect of an individual’s life. This includes the ability to feed and care for themselves and the ability to work and participate in family life. For people recovering from problems such as trauma, burns or surgery affecting the hand, careful management of hand rehabilitation can influence the outcome for the patient significantly. In order to reduce the possibility of mobility difficulties occurring, including loss of joint range of motion, muscle and ....The loss of hand function will affect every aspect of an individual’s life. This includes the ability to feed and care for themselves and the ability to work and participate in family life. For people recovering from problems such as trauma, burns or surgery affecting the hand, careful management of hand rehabilitation can influence the outcome for the patient significantly. In order to reduce the possibility of mobility difficulties occurring, including loss of joint range of motion, muscle and tendon sheath adhesions or non-functional scar tissue formation, continuous passive motion (CPM) is often indicated. Additionally, for people with reduced mobility of the hand due to upper limb paralysis, such as those with cervical spinal cord injury, stroke, cerebral palsy or peripheral nerve injury, disregard for management of the maintenance of the joint range of motion of the effected hand will result in contracture and limited joint range of motion. Such syndromes will reduce hand function, which is already limited by paralysis, and will negatively affect potential outcomes for aggressive rehabilitation techniques, such as tendon transfer surgery and functional neuromuscular stimulation. Therefore, in such cases, CPM is also indicated. Current devices applying CPM have shown to be effective in minimising the syndromes indicated above and these results are summarised in the Background and Research Plan attached to this proposal. Unfortunately, the use of such devices is not always prescribed by clinicians. This is due, mainly, to the limitations of these devices that are in the marketplace. These limitations include lack of secure finger placement, lack of portability, the inability to provide specialised therapy to specific joints and inflexible programming. This proposal introduces an improved device to be developed and these improvements form the proposal aims below. Given such an improved device, which can overcome many of the problems with current CPM machines, it is likely that that the clinical application of CPM will achieve the greater degree of prescription and application in hand rehabilitation. These improvements should overcome the clinical reticence to use these devices and restore a balance by increasing their use to the level that the scientific literature indicates they should have. The overall aim of the proposal is to take the device to a stage where it is ready for clinical trial.Read moreRead less
Understanding and reversing the habitat shifts that have endangered the broad-headed snake. Extinction rates for vertebrate species are higher in southern Australia than almost anywhere else in the world, and saving endangered taxa is critical to biodiversity conservation. To do this effectively, researchers need to understand the processes that threaten wild populations, and to develop novel solutions to those problems in close collaboration with wildlife management authorities and other stake ....Understanding and reversing the habitat shifts that have endangered the broad-headed snake. Extinction rates for vertebrate species are higher in southern Australia than almost anywhere else in the world, and saving endangered taxa is critical to biodiversity conservation. To do this effectively, researchers need to understand the processes that threaten wild populations, and to develop novel solutions to those problems in close collaboration with wildlife management authorities and other stakeholders. This project will build such an understanding and collaboration, focusing on an endangered snake species. We propose ambitious landscape-scale field experiments that will simultaneously test hypotheses on threatening processes, and restore habitat quality to reverse population declines.Read moreRead less
Regulation Of Secretion Of The Fungal Virulence Determinant, Phospholipase B
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$487,500.00
Summary
Serious systemic infections due to fungi have increased dramatically in the past few years, especially in people with poorly functioning immune systems. Treatment of these conditions is problematic because the few drugs which are available are not highly effective, and-or cause significant side-effects. Little is understood of how fungi cause disease, and this problem must be addressed if these infections are to be contained. We have discovered that the enzyme, phospholipase B (PLB), is secreted ....Serious systemic infections due to fungi have increased dramatically in the past few years, especially in people with poorly functioning immune systems. Treatment of these conditions is problematic because the few drugs which are available are not highly effective, and-or cause significant side-effects. Little is understood of how fungi cause disease, and this problem must be addressed if these infections are to be contained. We have discovered that the enzyme, phospholipase B (PLB), is secreted by the disease-causing fungus, Cryptococcus neoformans, and that it is important in enabling the fungus to invade the host's cells and spread around the body from the lungs to the brain, where it can cause meningoencephalitis. PLB is also produced by other disease-causing fungi. The mechanism of PLB secretion is completely unknown. In this project we aim to determine the pathways involved in PLB secretion with the intention of exploiting steps unique to pathogenic fungi, for the future design of new anti-fungal drugs.Read moreRead less
Heparin Induced Thrombocytopenia (HIT): Further Characterization Of Disease Mechanism Will Improve Patient Treatment
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$456,484.00
Summary
Thrombus formation occurs as a side effect of heparin treatment in many patients. This condition is called Heparin Induced Thrombocytopenia (HIT). The clots may be stabilised by secretions from cells called neutrophils. In this project we will study this possibility using a mouse model of HIT and will explore therapeutic approaches to inhibit clot stabilisation.
Predicting Biodiversity from Population Dynamics. This research aims to deepen our understanding of how changes to the environment, including those attributable to human activities, influence the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms that generate and maintain biodiversity. This understanding is of urgent importance, in light of the predicted changes in climate and habitat over the next century, because biodiversity is critical to the proper functioning of ecosystems that human societies depend ....Predicting Biodiversity from Population Dynamics. This research aims to deepen our understanding of how changes to the environment, including those attributable to human activities, influence the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms that generate and maintain biodiversity. This understanding is of urgent importance, in light of the predicted changes in climate and habitat over the next century, because biodiversity is critical to the proper functioning of ecosystems that human societies depend upon. The graduate student involved in this research will have the opportunity to receive in-depth training as part of a cross-disciplinary collaboration that combines mathematics, ecology, evolution, and paleontology.
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Testing indicators of genetic exchange and adaptation of populations, essential for biodiversity assessment and management. There will be diverse benefits from our testing and improvement of genetic indicators for exchange between populations and adaptive differentiation of populations. Managers and population biologists will have confidence in choice and use of these vital tools in sustainable use of our terrestrial and aquatic bioresources, as recommended by the federal State of Environment s ....Testing indicators of genetic exchange and adaptation of populations, essential for biodiversity assessment and management. There will be diverse benefits from our testing and improvement of genetic indicators for exchange between populations and adaptive differentiation of populations. Managers and population biologists will have confidence in choice and use of these vital tools in sustainable use of our terrestrial and aquatic bioresources, as recommended by the federal State of Environment system. Also, the use of these tools to identify differential genetic adaptations is the first step in bioprospecting, as well as revealing the raw material for natural and artificial populations to adapt to changes: soil loss, salinity, acidity, climate change. Forensic genetics will benefit from the improved tools for defining subpopulations.Read moreRead less