ANZCTR search results

ICU acquired weakness, the result of catabolism, immobility and critical illness polymyoneuropathy is of significant consequence to long-stay ICU patients. Recent advances have tried to prevent ICU acquired weakness by early mobilisation of patients and optimising nutrition. The loss of lean body mass in critical illness is also associated with misalignment between catabolic and anabolic hormones. One potential treatment may be to provide anabolic support in the recovery phase from prolonged critical illness. Nandrolone is a synthetic anabolic steroid that has greater anabolic (growth) and less androgenic (masculinizing) properties than testosterone. It has previously been used successfully in patients with weight loss in HIV/AIDS, and muscle wasting in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and end stage renal failure. This is a pilot multicentre randomized placebo controlled trial that will look at the effects of nandrolone given weekly for three weeks, versus placebo, in patients who have lost significant amounts of weight or strength while in the ICU. Our primary outcome will be changes in muscle strength, but we will also be looking for changes in weight and length of stay.

The purpose of this research is to determine if there are changes in your function (for example balance and falling) after completing different aquatic (pool) or land exercises. It is also going to increase the understanding of how people feel about aquatic (pool) and land physiotherapy. One pool group will complete exercises such as stretching, cardiac and general strengthening exercises whilst the other pool group will practise core exercises such as floating, rolling and other specific exercises. The land based exercise group will complete stretching, balance, strengthening and aerobic exercises. Participants will be asked to attend a 1hr class once a week for 12 weeks and will be invited to attend a focus group 3 months after finishing the trial.

This study will prospectively assess the clinical effects of SGLT2 inhibitors in people with type 2 diabetes who attend RMH diabetes clinic. The primary aim is to determine their effect on HbA1c after 3 months of therapy. We hypothesise that people who take these drugs will on average lower their HbA1c by 0.5%.

This study aims to compare the range of movement (neck moving forward/backwards) provided by two of the most common cervical disc replacements: MOBIC, M6C artifical discs.

Healthcare associated infections (HAI) threaten the safety of patients and cause significant and life-threatening harm to patients and bring major additional costs to already stretched health budgets. Patients with kidney disease are especially susceptible to HAI, and most prominent among these is the harm associated with central venous haemodialysis catheter use. The absence of a systematic approach to the challenges arising from dialysis catheter use means one of the major patient safety challenges in this susceptible patient group remains very real, poorly measured and the subject of large variations in practice. The REDUCCTION Project Objectives: 1. To define the clinical and economic burden of dialysis catheter exposure and bacteraemia across Australia and New Zealand at a facility level 2. To reduce dialysis catheter related bacteraemia through implementation of an evidence-based and systematic intervention package 3. To establish a framework from the evidence implementation project for monitoring dialysis catheter related bacteraemia and sustaining improvements from the intervention phase

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of low-level laser therapy in the management of orthodontic pain during orthodontic therapy and to see if it affects root resorption of teeth. The findings from this study will be compared to other related studies performed previously. By applying pain-free laser therapy on one side next to a tooth we hope to examine its effect on root resorption. This will increase our quality of care and help prevent this damage to patients’ teeth during treatment.

This project is an observational prospective longitudinal cohort study with a correlational analysis to quantitatively explore the relationship between burns outcomes and domains such as injury, treatment, personal (individual) and social (environmental) factors. The objective is to identify factors that impede quality of life outcomes post-major burn in adults, in order to inform multidisciplinary clinical models of care that can target the most powerful determinants of outcome. There has been a paucity of research specifically investigating the relationship between the social factors identified to increase risk of burns and the quality of life outcomes associated with these factors. It has been found that injury severity and burns treatment factors are less predictive of injury outcome than social factors such as level of education and income. However, the reliability of this evidence has been limited due to retrospective study designs and small sample sizes. The aim of this study is to prospectively evaluate various factors that have been previously evidenced to influence aspects of recovery such as functional or mental health outcomes. It will endeavour to determine which of the variables are significantly associated with and have the greatest explanatory power to predict long term quality of life outcomes. These will be investigated in terms of individual outcomes as well as broader societal burden of injury outcomes. In this study, patients admitted to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital following a burn injury will be enrolled with consent. They will be invited to answer a researcher-led 15 minute questionnaire within the first two weeks of their burn injury or when they resume capacity to consent. For a proportion of participants there will be an initial period of incapacity due to sedation and intubation or delirium. This survey will be about life before their burn injury. They will then be phoned by the researcher at 3 months, 6 months and 12 months post-burn to answer further survey questions which are anticipated to take 45 minutes per time-point. Other injury and treatment related information will be sourced from the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital Burns Database and the medical record, with participant consent.

Lower limb pathology is the most common form of disability among sporting populations, accounting for over 50% of all sporting injuries. Kinesiology tape has been marketed as a means of altering muscle activity and improving proprioceptive function, however the research that currently exists around the ability of kinesiology tape to achieve these outcomes is both limited and inconsistent. This study has been developed with two aims. 1) Investigate the relationship between kinesiology tape and muscle activity during a dynamic task, and 2) Investigate the relationship between kinesiology tape and dynamic proprioception. The results of this study will therefore have implications for those currently using kinesiology tape to alter proprioception and muscle activity. This study will be experimental, using a cross-over design. The participants will be randomly assigned to either an intervention or a sham group initially, performing a series of movement tasks with either kinesiology tape or a sham tape applied. Following a wash-out period, each participant will then cross-over and complete the same movement tasks using the alternate taping intervention.

Phase 2, single-center, randomized, open-label, two-period, cross-over, PK study to assess the relative bioavailability of nicotine in non-treatment seeking healthy smokers following 1 day of nicotine from the drug delivery system (CQSS1) and the NicoDerm CQ Patch. Additionally, the steady-state PK profile of nicotine delivered by the CQSS1 will be determined following 3 days of nicotine delivery. Skin adhesion, application site location, taping, safety, and tolerability will be evaluated

The overall aims of this study were to examine the effectiveness of the rural ENP service model. Specific aims were to: i) Examine the safety and quality of the ENP service model in the provision of care in the rural environment, and ii) Evaluate the effectiveness of ENP service in the management of patients presenting with undifferentiated chest pain. In order to achieve the study aims we investigated several outcomes in order to address the following research questions: * What are the health service structures that influence the ENP delivery of safe, quality care for patients presenting to rural EDs with chest pain? * Are the processes of care for patients who present to rural EDs with chest pain equivalent for patients managed by an ENP service to those managed in the standard model of care? * Are the comparative outcomes for patients who present to rural EDs with chest pain equivalent for patients managed by an ENP service to those managed in the standard model of care? To address the research questions the following null hypotheses were tested: Hypothesis One – Primary outcome For patients presenting to rural emergency departments with suspected or confirmed acute coronary syndrome who are managed by the ENP service or standard medical care, there will be no difference in: (i) Use of evidence based guidelines for management of care as measured by the extent to which this is demonstrated in the clinical record and, (ii) Diagnostic accuracy as measured by accuracy of electrocardiogram (ECG) interpretation. Hypothesis Two For patients presenting to rural emergency departments with undifferentiated chest pain who are managed by an ENP or standard medical care, there will be no difference in: (i) Service indicators of a. Median waiting times b. Overall Length-of-stay in the emergency department for all patients presenting with chest pain c. Did-not-wait rates (ii) Diagnostic accuracy as measured by rates of unplanned representation within seven-days Hypothesis Three For patients presenting to rural emergency departments with undifferentiated chest pain who are managed by ENP service or standard care there will be no difference in levels of patient-reported outcomes related to: i) Satisfaction with care ii) Quality-of-Life (QoL) iii) Functional status