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Obesity, an increasing health and economic burden in Australia, is associated with lowered circulating testosterone (T) levels in men. While both dietary restriction and T treatment reduce body fat, whether a combination of these two approaches achieves a more pronounced fat mass reduction is unknown. We will conduct a randomised placebo-controlled trial (RCT) of 12 months T treatment in 100 obese men (defined as body mass index (BMI) > 30kg/m2) with a low T level (defined as serum total T < 12 nmol/L). All men will receive structured dietary intervention to induce and maintain weight loss.

Information on comfort levels and incidence of running related pain or injury with each type of footwear will provide valuable evidence on the effect of footwear design, specifically motion control footwear versus barefoot running shoes on injury rates and runner comfort.

Sedative medications are commonly used for ICU patients who require a breathing machine (ventilator). Side effects of the ventilator and sedatives include decreased muscle strength resulting in increased time in ICU and hospital, and decreased functioning on discharge. Recent studies suggest early mobilisation of patients while they are on a ventilator leads to better functioning. However, too much sedative medication makes this difficult. This study investigates the effect of protocols for mobilisation and sedatives on function at hospital discharge in intensive care patients expected to need a breathing machine for more than 2 days. Our hypothesis is that the addition of a nurse led targeted sedation protocol to a targeted mobilisation protocol in critically ill mechanically ventilated patients will lead to improvement in functional status at ICU and hospital discharge. The results will help physiotherapists and intensive care doctors improve the way that they use sedation and mobilisation and will be highly relevant internationally.

There has been a recent surge in the use of video and computer-based interactive exercises in rehabilitation populations. It has now been shown in observational studies and pilot (“phase II”) trials that exergames can increase the dose of repetitive exercise completed in rehabilitation settings. The broad aim of this project is to enhance mobility outcomes for people undergoing aged care and neurological rehabilitation. The specific hypothesis of this trial is that the addition of video and computer-based interactive exercises involving feedback to usual care will lead to better mobility outcomes than usual care alone for people admitted to aged care and neurological rehabilitation wards with mobility impairments.

Our study is to determine the reliability of the Paediatric Flatfoot Proforma assessment tool for differentiating pes planus sub types. We will be recruiting primary school children aged between 7-12. We will then determine whether they have a flat foot and then determine what sub type of flat foot they have. All of these measures will taken by 4th year podiatry students using an assessment tool titled the Paediatric Flat Foot Proforma.

Currently in Australia about one in five babies are delivered by Caesarean section. An increasing number of mothers having Caesarean section have increased body size. Body size is calculated from a person’s height and weight and is called BMI for body mass index. BMI is used to estimate if a person is underweight, ideal weight, overweight or obese. There is only limited information on how increased BMI affects the care for women having a Caesarean section and their babies. We plan to look at the relationship between a mother’s BMI, and how long her Caesarean section takes and whether her size is associated with complications for her or her baby after the Caesarean section. We hope this work will help plan for even better care for women having babies.

The aim of this study is to report the effects of a Game Centered Approach professional development program for improving Teaching quality, active learning time, fundamental movement skills, physical self perception and student perceived motivational climate. The Professional Learning for Understanding Games Education (PLUNGE) program was developed to enhance the practical PE teaching skills of primary school teachers using a Game Centered Approach in an authentic teaching environment. We hypothesized that teachers in the PLUNGE intervention, compared to those in the control group, would display higher quality teaching and greater active learning time in classes, with students displaying more favorable changes in fundamental movement skills, physical self-perception and perceived motivational climate over the study period.

To assess the safety and efficacy of providing partially HLA matched, third party donor-derived, EBV/CMV/adenovirus-specific cytotoxic t-cells, to allogeneic stem cell/marrow transplant patients who have developed post-transplant viral infections unresponsive to standard therapy. It is hypothesised that virus-specific t-cells infusions will improve or restore the virus-specific immunity of the transplant patient in a safe manner without precipitating graft versus host disease.

In a 6 month dietary intervention trial, we aim to investigate the effects of an Australianised Mediterranean Diet on cognitive functioning, cardiovascular health and wellbeing in an elderly Australian free-living population. We will assess memory, executive functioning, verbal fluency and speed and accuracy, psychological well-being, weight, changes in body composition, blood lipids, blood pressure, inflammatory markers, blood glucose and insulin, and vascular endothelial function. We expect to find that an Australianised Mediterranean diet will show greater improvements in these outcomes when compared to a habitual diet.

This study looks at the treatment of post tonsillectomy pain. The pain experienced is severe and has a tendency to get worse five to seven days after surgery. This often has an impact on the patient’s oral intake prolonging the return to normal activity. The narcotics given for pain control are often associated with side effects. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as Celecoxib (Celebrex(trademark) are superior for the control of pain minus the side effects. In this study the patient will be randomised to one of two groups and given a study pack on discharge. Both packs contain an antibiotic (Penicillin) and a “rescue” analgesic (Oxycodone - Endone(Trademark) ). One pack contains paracetamol and one contains paracetamol and Celecoxib/Celebrex. Patients will be asked to chart their recovery until their pain ceases. A data collection chart will be given to each patient on discharge. Each patient will be followed up in outpatients 5 days and 4 weeks post-surgery.