ANZCTR search results

Researchers at the Australian Stuttering Research Centre have developed an online treatment program—iLidcombe—for children who stutter. iLidcombe is an online version of the Lidcombe Program, an evidence-based treatment for children who stutter. For many children, treatment with the Lidcombe Program can resolve stuttering, and for others it can minimise stuttering significantly. iLidcombe is designed to teach parents how to conduct the Lidcombe Program treatment with their child at home, without seeing a speech pathologist. The treatment involves parents learning how to identify and measure stuttering. Parents then learn how provide treatment sessions, with their child, each day. The iLidcombe program has been designed to provide individualised feedback to parents based on the child’s progress during the treatment. The purpose of this research is to assess the safety of the iLidcombe Program and to evaluate compliance rates. The iLidcombe Program has the potential to overcome problems of access to treatment for many children who stutter.

People with obstructive sleep apnea show impairments in cognition and are at risk for developing dementia. Slow wave brain waves, occuring during “deep sleep”, have been associated with cognition are less prominent in people with sleep apnea. This research study aims to understand whether low current brain stimulation applied on different areas can boost slow brain waves during sleep in people with obstructive sleep apnea. This study involves 3 in-person daytime visits to the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research where participants will undergo cognitive testing before and after a nap with low intensity brain stimulation applied during sleep.

Parents of children with autism from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds face additional challenges to parenting autistic children than their peers. While there is some evidence for the feasibility, acceptability and efficacy of parent coaching interventions, existing studies have largely focused on Western families. In this study, we will determine whether a parent-mediated intervention—More Than Words©—is feasible, acceptable and brings benefits to carers, families, and children with autism alike, over the short term.

Insomnia is a prevalent and debilitating disorder in Australia. The recommended treatment for insomnia is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for insomnia (CBTi). However, there are very few clinicians in Australia with training in CBTi. Consequently, most patients with insomnia never access CBTi. Digital CBTi programs are an effective and potentially scalable intervention to manage insomnia. There are very few evidence-based digital CBTi programs available in Australia, and currently no publicly-available digital CBTi programs that provide personalised weekly behavioural therapy recommendations. This randomised controlled implementation trial aims to investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of a digital CBTi referral pathway in Australian pharmacy settings. Patients that are referred, eligible and consent to participate will be randomised 1:1 to a digital brief cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia program, versus waitlist education control. It is hypothesised that the group who receive the brief CBTi program will report a reduced severity of insomnia, depression and fatigue symptoms, compared to the group that receive education (waitlist control). • It is hypothesised that the digital CBTi program will be adopted by at least two new pharmacists in Australia per month of the study. • It is hypothesised that at least 50% of pharmacists will refer 3 or more patients to the digital CBTi referral pathway. • It is hypothesised that the intervention group will report a reduced severity of insomnia, depression, and fatigue symptoms from 8-week follow-up, compared to the education control group. • It is hypothesised that insomnia, depression, and fatigue symptom improvements will be sustained by 16-week and 24-week follow-up in the CBTi group.

This study will assess the safety and tolerability of a novel photodynamic (light activated) ointment called INV043 in adults with non-melanoma skin cancers. Who is it for? You may be eligible for this study if you are aged 18 years or older, you have been diagnosed with cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) or superficial basal cell carcinoma (BCC) non-melanoma skin cancer. Study details Participants who are eligible for this study will be in enrolled in one of two parts. Participants who are enrolled in Part 1 will have a small dose of INV043 ointment applied to their skin cancer which will then be removed prior to the cancer being exposed to a medical light for up to 750 seconds. Participants will then be asked to return home and report any side effects they experience, including if they don't experience any. Participants who are enrolled into Part 2 will also have a small dose of INV043 ointment applied to their skin cancer which will then be removed prior to the cancer being exposed to a medical light for up to 7,200 seconds. In this study, the specific dose of light exposure will be increased or decreased between groups of participants to determine the optimum light exposure. All participants who enrol in any of these studies will be asked to attend two check up appointments at 6 and 12 months after their light exposure therapy. It is hoped this research will determine the safest and most effective dose of INV043 ointment and medical light therapy that can treat non-melanoma skin cancers.

The aim of this project is to compare a variety of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans with several key cancer biological characteristics after the cancer has been removed and inspected microscopically. This project will focus on bowel (colon and rectum) and pancreatic cancers. Who is it for? You may be eligible for this study if you are aged 18 years or older, you have been diagnosed with bowel cancer (colon or rectal) or pancreatic cancer and you will be undergoing treatment consisting of surgery with or without (chemo)radiotherapy and/or any other systemic therapies. Study details All participants who choose to enrol in this study will be asked to undergo an MRI scan before surgery. The MRI scan uses a strong magnet to take images of cancer and surrounding tissues. MRI can assess the variations in biology, such as oxygenation and metabolism, within the cancer and tissues. The scan involves lying on a bed that moves into a tunnel for images to be taken. The MRI scan will take approximately 30 to 45 minutes. Participants may be given an injection of contrast (dye) to improve the quality of the scans. After surgery to remove the cancer, the tumour sample will be processed and analysed in a more detailed manner to help us merge the images and pathology findings. This involves (i) putting the entire removed cancer surgical specimen through a further MRI scan and/or (ii) taking a small tissue sample from the tumour that has been removed by surgery. This tissue sample will only be collected if not required by the Pathologist for diagnostic purposes. The MRI images will then be aligned and correlated with the pathology. None of these procedures completed after surgery will require any additional contribution by participants. It is hoped this research will demonstrate the ability of artificial intelligence to combine high resolution MR images together with additional biological data (from pathology assessments) to accurately assess the characteristics of individual participants' cancer cells. If the technology is able to provide accurate information for an individual's specific cancer cell, this may allow doctors to better prescribe personalised treatments for each cancer patient which could improve their treatment success.

Clinical guidelines recommend 6-12 weeks of conservative care for first presentation of rotator cuff related shoulder pain prior to considering imaging or surgery. In contrast, surveys of practitioners conducted by our group identified high rates of inappropriate imaging (up to 82%), inadequate education and highly variable exercise interventions and timeframes. High-quality group interventions for RCRSP have the potential to improve quality of care, patient adherence and clinical outcomes and economic outcomes for this condition. This pilot feasibility and randomised controlled trial will compare a 12-week group exercise and education intervention to i) active control (education only), and ii) usual care.

A decentralised, single-centre, randomised, controlled, clinician, researcher and participant blinded trial with two parallel groups conducted in all states and territories in Australia to determine the effect of removing folic acid from vitamin and mineral supplements for pregnant and lactating women. The study aims to investigate and evaluate the risks and benefits of continued folic acid supplementation so that both mothers and policymakers can make informed decisions during pregnancy.

Heart disease and stroke is accelerated in people with type 2 diabetes. More recently insulin resistance, even in those without diabetes, has been identified as a major driver. People can have insulin resistance, with normal blood glucose levels, for years and be unaware they are at-risk of heart disease and stroke. It is important to identify these people because early intervention can prevent development of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke. The standard clinical assessments are not effective at identifying insulin resistance at its earliest time point. We aim to do a community screen to determine whether the mixed meal challenge (a milk drink with fat, protein and carbohydrate) can identify insulin resistance in the population that would otherwise be undetected using conventional testing. We hypothesise that the mixed meal challenge will be a new low-cost, easy to perform, diagnostic test, forming a necessary and fundamental strategy for the prevention of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke in routine practice.

The aim of the current study was to investigate the utility and efficacy of a single-session, remote, mindfulness-based virtual reality intervention for psychological wellbeing among university students. The novel intervention was compared to two other digital mental health (DMH) modes (i.e., computer and mobile phone) and an active control condition.