ANZCTR search results

Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a leading cause of pain and disability around the world. OA involves the breakdown of joint cartilage, but it also appears to include the proliferation of blood vessels and nerves about the joint. It is suggested that these blood vessels and nerves contribute to the experience of pain. One pilot study found that embolising abnormal vessels about the knee substantially improved individual's pain. Prior to a full randomised trial, 10 participants will be recruited to this non-randomised pilot study. The purpose of the pilot study is to test the protocol for feasibility and assess for effects on pain and function and any unexpected effects due to the intervention in the first month post procedure. All pilot study participants will unblinded and will receive the intervention. Participants will be reassessed the day following the intervention and then once a week for the first month. At each assessment, participants will complete an abbreviated assessment (KOOS, Global Assessment of Change, Six Minute Walk Test and 30-second Chair Stand Test). Participants will then complete full assessments (using all assessment tools) at 1, 6, 12, and 24 months following the procedure.

Around 3-6% of newborn infants require positive pressure ventilation (PPV) in the delivery room (DR). However, delivering effective mask ventilation can be challenging, because of large leak around the mask. The presence of a large leak may lead to ineffective ventilation and an unsuccessful resuscitation. A new face mask called Resusi-sure (LSR Health care, NSW, Australia) uses suction to create a seal between the mask and the infant’s face. Primary objective is to test (in a randomised trial) the hypothesis that there will be less leak during intermittent positive pressure ventilation of term and near term infants (newly born infants greater than or equal to 34 weeks) in the delivery room if performed with the suction mask compared with the conventional mask.

Active minds, happy kids is a centre-based intervention feasibility study which aims to increase physical activity, decrease sedentary behaviour, and decrease screen time. The centre-based components will be implementing in 2016. It is a 10 week pre- and post-intervention feasibility study to develop, implement and evaluate centre-based behaviour change strategies. Four preschools and/or childcare centres (hereafter collectively referred to as centres), and five families per centre, will be recruited. This research is being conducted by Dr Trina Hinkley, Prof Jo Salmon, Prof Anna Timperio, and Dr Kylie Hesketh. We anticipate benefits of this research may include gains in knowledge, insight, understanding of child behaviours and strategies to support healthy levels of physical activity and sedentary behaviours. The collection of this data will inform the development of a larger intervention in this population. Once effective strategies are identified, these can be disseminated to a larger segment of the population.

Malabsorption of fructose occurs in 40% of healthy Australians but may be a major problem for individuals with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. The addition of glucose has been shown to assist in free fructose absorption in test solutions and juices however this effect has never been investigated using whole foods. The aim was to investigate the effect on fructose absorption when glucose was added to foods with naturally high levels of free fructose in a randomised, single-blinded, crossover intervention trial.

This study will utilise a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover design to investigate the following aims. 1. Determine if consumption of sweet cherries attenuates exercise-induced inflammation. 2. Determine if consumption of sweet cherries improves post-exercise recovery. 3. Determine if consumption of sweet cherries improves exercise performance. Inclusion criteria: competitive cyclists training for a minimum of 7 hours per week; an endurance training history of at least 3 years; Exclusion criteria: cardiovascular history; history of fainting; diabetes; history of allergy/reaction to stone fruit. Participants will be asked to refrain from ingesting dietary anthocyanins or flavonoids and will be provided with a food and exercise plan and diary to complete in the week prior to both the familiarisation and trial sessions. Participants will undergo an initial familiarisation session, at which time baseline blood samples will be taken. Participants will undertake a ramp incremental VO2max test to ascertain their level of cardiovascular fitness. Lactate and blood glucose measurements will be taken every 2 minutes via finger prick. Participants with a VO2max of between 4.5 and 5.0L/min will be included in the supplementation and trial sessions. Participants will be randomly assigned to the cherry or placebo group. Participants will be given blended cherry drinks containing cherries, water and lemon juice (at a ratio of 10:5:1) with an anthocyanin content of 540mg/drink or carbohydrate-matched, blended pear drinks containing 0% anthocyanin (placebo). Participants will be asked to consume one drink at 8pm for the 3 days prior to the cycling trial, and one drink 1 hour immediately prior to the commencement of the trial. To assess the efficacy of the blinding process, participants will be asked if they believe they have received the blended cherry drink or the placebo. The cycling trial will consist of 60second intervals of cycling on a cycle ergometer at a workload equivalent to 100%VO2max followed by 75 seconds of active recovery at 50%VO2max, until the 100%VO2max workload is unable to be maintained. A 10 minute warm-up and cool-down at 50%VO2max will be undertaken prior to and following the trial. Lactate and blood glucose measurements will be taken in each active recovery phase via finger prick. Venous blood samples will be collected immediately following exercise and at 24 hours post exercise. At 24 hours post exercise, participants will indicate perceived muscle soreness via a 10 cm visual analog scale. Following a washout period of at least two weeks, participant groups will crossover and the supplementation and cycling trial will be repeated. Blood samples will be tested for levels of the circulating inflammatory mediators IL-6, IL-10, TNFalpha, IL-1beta, CRP and MCP-1 using ELISA kits, and LOOH levels and creatine kinase levels will be monitored.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is an age-related incurable disorder observed in 3% of persons aged 65 years old and over, and 10% of those aged over 80 years old, making it one of the more common neurological disorders of later life. In Australia, 1 in every 340 people lives with this condition. The prevalence of anxiety in PD exceeds 50%, and it is a major contributor to a poor quality of life of patients and caregivers. However, anxiety is poorly identified in PD. There is a paucity of clinical trials primarily focussed on treating anxiety, and there are no evidence based effective and safe pharmacological treatment for anxiety in PD. To complicate matters further, anxiety in PD presents with unique and complex symptomatology which must be understood and addressed if intervention is to be effective. There is an urgent need for empirically validated interventions targeting PD-specific anxiety symptoms for successful treatment. The present study will be the first to provide empirical evidence for Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) for anxiety by conducting a waitlist-controlled tailored and dyadic CBT trial including PD patients and caregivers. The study also focuses on caregiver well-being and the relationship quality and satisfaction for PD and caregivers. The ultimate goal of the present proposal is to improve diagnosis and treatment of anxiety in PD; thus improve quality of life of patients and their caregivers. METHODS PD patients will be recruited from neurology outpatient clinics in Brisbane. Their carers will also be invited to participate in the study. Apart from neurology outpatient clinics, PD patients and their carers who express interest to participate in PD research through other PD studies, support groups and advertisements will also be recruited. Research design: This study is a randomised wait-list controlled intervention design. PD patients with anxiety will be randomly allocated to either the Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) intervention group (group 1) or control group. The wait-list control group will receive clinical monitoring and educational material about PD. The wait-list group will receive the intervention after group 1 completes the intervention.

The objective of this study is to provide supporting clinical evidence in particular with regard to the efficacy and safety of the AlCath Force ablation catheter and the Qubic Force device. It might reveal indicators for hidden risks and trigger further dedicated investigations or tests.

Recruitment of parturients will occur at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH). There is increasing use of ROTEM(TM) for point-of-care coagulation monitoring in patients with massive haemorrhage, but there still remains limited data on reference ranges in normal pregnancies and subsequently limited understanding of the effects of complicated pregnancies on ROTEM(TM) interpretation. With the recent implementation of ROTEM(TM) within the RBWH, reference ranges for the obstetric population need to be established to optimise interpretation of derived values.

Recruitment of parturients will occur at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH). There is increasing use of ROTEM(TM) for point-of-care coagulation monitoring in patients with massive haemorrhage, but there still remains limited data on reference ranges in normal pregnancies and subsequently limited understanding of the effects of complicated pregnancies on ROTEM(TM) interpretation. With the recent implementation of ROTEM(TM) within the RBWH, reference ranges for the obstetric population need to be established to optimise interpretation of derived values.

The objective of this trial is to assess the effectiveness and safety of L-theanine (an amino acid constituent of green tea [Camellia sinensis]) as an adjunctive therapy to treat GAD by conducting a phase II double-blind randomised controlled trial. It is hypothesised that L-theanine will be superior to placebo in reducing anxiety in participants with GAD.