ANZCTR search results

This study aims to prospectively evaluate the palliative benefit of a split course of pelvic radiotherapy in patients with prostate cancer whose disease is no longer responding to hormone therapy. Who is it for? You may be eligible to join this study if you are a male aged 18 years or above who has been diagnosed with castrate resistant prostate cancer, and are able to commence radiotherapy within 6 weeks of trial registration. Study details All participants in this study will undergo split-course pelvic radiotherapy, which consists of 10 treatment sessions over 2 weeks, followed by a planned 1 week treatment break, followed by a further 12 treatment sessions administered over 2.5 weeks. Participants will be asked to complete a questionnaire at 6 months post treatment to assess bowel and bladder related quality of life. They will also be monitored for up to 3 years in order to evaluate acute and late side effects of treatment, local symptom response rate, rates of catheter removal, blood transfusions, trans-urethral prostate resections, and overall survival.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia, occurring in 1-2% of the population. Many patients remain asymptomatic, likely leading to an underestimation of the true prevalence of AF. Of particular importance is the similar risk of stroke and adverse health outcomes in the asymptomatic cohort. Catheter ablation has emerged as an effective treatment for symptomatic AF. However, the risk to benefit ratio of an ablation procedure in asymptomatic AF is less established. (i) Examine whether the restoration of sinus rhythm by cardioversion in asymptomatic patients improves exercise capacity to a similar degree as patients with symptomatic AF. (ii) Compare baseline and post-exercise parameters of the prothrombotic state between symptomatic and asymptomatic patients both before after cardioversion (1) We hypothesize that exercise capacity will be similarly impaired in symptomatic and asymptomatic patients and improve following restoration of sinus rhythm following cardioversion. (2) We further hypothesise that: a. acute exercise will elevate the prothrombotic state in both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients and; b. inflammation and endothelial dysfunction will be observed in both patient cohorts and similarly improved following the return of sinus rhythm.

The aim of this study is to measure the impact of the coordination of leg muscles on walking parameters in people following stroke. A quantitative observational study will be carried out. Thirty stroke survivors will be recruited from past or present patients referred for physiotherapy after stroke at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. Thirty healthy control participants will also be recruited from spouses of the stroke survivors or from the community. Inclusion criteria for the Stroke participants includes a history of stroke for 6 months or more; aged between 18-85 year olds; able to walk independently prior to the stroke; muscle strength equal or stronger than 4/5 on manual muscle test for the hip flexors and extensors, knee flexors and extensors, and the ankle plantarflexors and dorsiflexors; and able to walk unaided over 10 metres at a speed equal or greater than 0.6m/s (which is the minimal speed for community ambulation). The inclusion criteria for the Healthy control participants includes no history of stroke; age between 18-85 year olds;, able to walk unaided over 10 meters at a speed greater than 1.2m/s; and no weakness in the hip, knee and ankle muscles. Each participant will attend a 2 hour measurement session over 1-2 visits at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. The measurement session will involve clinical tests of walking speed and capacity (10 metre walk test and six minute walk test respectively); ; a clinical test of lower limb coordination (Lower Extremity Motor Coordination Test - LEMOCOT) and a laboratory measure of lower limb coordination (raw acceleration of hip flexion/extension, knee flexion/extension and ankle plantarflexion/dorsiflexion using an Actigraph GT3X accelerometer). In addition, standard clinical measures will be used to measure the impairments of contracture, spasticity and sensory loss in the stroke participants.The relationship between walking (speed and capacity) and coordination (total scores of LEMOCOT; the amplitude and jerk of lower limb movement) will be analysed and compared between groups. Their usual physiotherapy intervention and rehab program will not be influenced by participating in this project.

Speech pathology students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds who are at-risk of failure or have failed clinical placements are often identified with communication difficulties. This is an exploratory study that aims to investigate the effectiveness of an intensive pronunciation program on overall speech intelligibility and acceptability of students’ communication skills. It involves comprehensive assessments and an intensive 3-week intervention program focussing on speech sound articulation and prosody. This phase I pilot study will use a single-case experimental design. Treatment outcomes will be measured.

This pilot study assesses the feasablity and safety of inhaled methoxyflurane in ambulatory plastic surgery procedures as an alternative to intravenous sedation.

Working memory (WM) training programs have received considerable empirical attention in recent years. Evidence for the efficacy of these programs in improving WM capacity is mixed (Gibson et al., 2011; Gibson, Gondoli, Johnson, Steeger, & Morrissey, 2012; Rapport, Orban, Kofler, & Friedman, 2013; Shipstead, Hicks, & Engle, 2012). Current literature has explored whether WM training may be used to improve symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD, for a review of treatment effiacy see Chacko, Feirsen, et al., 2013; Rapport et al., 2013), and academic performance (for review of efficacy see Titz & Karbach, 2014). Although findings suggest some positive impact of training, the strength and clinical significance of the effect is uncertain. In light of the differing results, the need to explore the mechanisms through which WM training impacts outcomes has been highlighted (Jaeggi, Buschkuehl, Jonides, & Shah, 2012). Indeed, supporters (e.g., Gathercole, Dunning, & Holmes, 2012) and critics (e.g., Shipstead et al., 2012) of WM training alike acknowledge that further understanding of the fundamental mechanisms underpinning WM training is needed. We sought to close this important gap in the literature by exploring potential mechanisms through which WM training may improve academic skills, specifically, reading comprehension and mathematics.

The Vigilance with Vital Signs Study aims to establish a system for early identification of high-risk patients through the continuous electronic monitoring of vital signs (respiratory rate, heart rate, blood pressure, skin temperature, ECG and oxygen saturation) to trigger a response and prevent adverse events in general wards. Our hypothesis is that a continuous monitoring system including clinical training, the mobile device and pre-defined alarm thresholds can reduce adverse events,deaths and unplanned admissions to intensive care by detecting earlier deterioration and prompting earlier intervention by ward staff.

Ageing is associated with a physiological reduction of appetite and energy intake, which has been called the “anorexia of ageing”. Dietary supplementation with liquid protein preparations is now used frequently to increase energy and protein intake in older adults in both institutionalized and community-dwelling populations. Although the latter would appear a logical approach, evidence for success of increased energy intake in older individuals is limited. It is well established that the ingestion of nutrients induce a number of changes in gastrointestinal (GI) function, which are associated with the modulation of appetite and energy intake. These changes include the slowing of gastric emptying, which sustains gastric distension and is associated with proximal gastric relaxation. Urgent investigation is warranted to determine the optimal load of protein that can be incorporated into their diet to assist in sparing muscle mass without reducing their appetite. The study aims to characterise in healthy older individuals, absolute and in comparison to young individuals, the effect of different oral protein-rich loads on energy intake, appetite, antral area, gastric emptying, plasma concentrations of amino acids, hormones (i.e. CCK, PYY, ghrelin, GLP-1, GIP, glucagon and insulin) and glucose, and studies the relationship between the suppression of appetite and energy intake by protein with ‘intragastric’ mechanisms.

The hypotheses were that the provision of culturally accessible cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation would increase participation and improve health outcomes for Aborigines with established disease, and would reduce risk factors such as obesity and physical inactivity for people with risk factors.

The aim of the research is to determine the effect of pork consumption on serum irisin levels in people with type 2 diabetes. Study participants will be adults (aged 18 to 60 yrs) with type 2 diabetes from the Hunter Region, NSW. Participants will be asked to consume diets containing pork meat for a period of 4 weeks. Blood samples will be collected at baseline and 4 weeks and analysed for irisin, blood glucose and insulin levels. Data will be assessed for a possible role of pork meat consumption on glucose homeostasis.