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Primary purpose of the study is to examine if a low volume bowel preparation in conjunction with a white diet will have the same cleansing effect as current bowel preparations.

Stroke is a leading cause of disability amongst Australians. After stroke, activity levels are low, with few people able to exercise at an intensity which will reduce the risk of future cardiovascular events. This project examines the feasibility and effectiveness of usual physiotherapy staff in rehabilitation implementing a combined high intensity treadmill training program with a self management approach to improve activity levels, mobility, cardiovascular risk profile in stroke survivors, increasing their independence and reducing the burden of care. In addition, this project will investigate the barriers and facilitators to physiotherapists implementing this approach to stroke management as part of their clinical practice.

There is a rising medical cost base in emergency medicine. There is a rising seniority of medical staff required to safely perform the role of physician in an emergency department. The currently accepted productivity of a FACEM is one patient per hour. Much of this time is spent writing and printing notes, faxing documents and contacting physicians. None of this work requires the skill set of an emergency physician and could be performed by a well-trained medical scribe or secretary. To date scribes have not been used in Australian Emergency Departments and offer a novel way of addressing emergency physician productivity without compromising the quality of emergency physician work. The degree that a medical scribe increases emergency physician productivity in emergency medicine in Australia has not been determined. This is a pilot trial to investigate whether a medical scribe would increase emergency physician efficiency

The proposed study is a national, retrospective cohort study, which aims to determine if the introduction of non calcium-based phosphate binders sevelamer hydrochloride and lanthanum carbonate, since their PBS listing in 2007/2008, has been associated with a change in all-cause or cardiovascular disease mortality. We hypothesize that for patients on dialysis, most of whom require the use of phosphate binding medication, the progressive displacement of traditional calcium-based phosphate binders by the non calcium-based drugs sevelamer hydrochloride (Renagel) and lanthanum carbonate (Fosrenal) will have reduced cardiovascular and/or all-cause mortality after adjustment for covariates.

Current practice in the management of CBD stones varies widely with most patients receiving either pre­ or post­ operative ERCP. This is a two-­step approach to the management of CBD stones. A one-­step approach to CBD stones exists in the form of open or laparoscopic CBD exploration (either laparoscopic trans­cystic exploration (TCE) or laparoscopic choledochotomy). We aim to assess the practice of performing a single-­step approach to CBD stones by performing either intra-­operative ERCP or LCBDE once a CBD stone is identified.

Many older patients admitted to hospital for acute medical illnesses are undernourished, which increases the number and length of hospital admissions. Unfortunately, treating malnutrition during a short hospital admission only produces modest improvements, so we are interested in redesigning the delivery of hospital nutrition care to continue into the post-discharge period to see if this can increase the benefits to patients. With the “Hospital to Home Outreach for Malnourished Elders” (HHOME) program, patients will receive individualised planning of nutrition needs after hospital discharge by their inpatient multidisciplinary team, supported by phone follow-up from their hospital dietitian to reinforce nutritional advice, co-ordinate community-based nutrition services and re-intervene after care would traditionally cease. The program also includes greater education of health care staff involved in the care of older patients, as well as patients and carers. By comparing patients cared for with usual hospital-only dietetics care, and those under the new HHOME program, we hope to measure an improvement in patient outcomes including nutritional and functional status. We will also measure hospital use, quality of life and costs of the new model of care, to inform whether these improvements might benefit the health system by saving future use of health services.

Nemaline myopathy (NM) is a form of genetic muscle disease characterised by the presence of numerous abnormal dense protein inclusions (nemaline bodies) on muscle biopsy. Children NM have varying degrees of muscle weakness with reduced functional capacity and exercise tolerance. Due to the strong association between muscle and bone (the muscle-bone unit) children with NM are also a risk of disuse osteopenia and minimal trauma fracture. To date, the optimal exercise regimen to increase muscle strength (force and power) is uncertain in NM. A training method that maintains muscle function throughout childhood and into adult life has the potential to improve the quality of life of children with NM. Whole body vibration training (WBVT) using a vibration platform is an emerging, simple and safe training method, which has been shown to improve muscle function and fitness in adults and children. In addition, WBVT has been shown to improve osteopenia in various populations. This project aims to evaluate the effect of 24 weeks WBVT on muscle and bone parameters in children with NM. Home-based Exercise Program for Children with Nemaline Myopathy: Ten children with nemaline myopathy, 4 – 18 years old will be enrolled into this study. The children will undertake a home-based WBVT program using the Galileo (trademark) vibration platform7 days a week for a 24 week (six-month) period. The WBVT period will be preceded by a 6-month observation period to establish the natural history of muscle function and bone density without intervention in each child. A series of investigations at baseline, the end of 6 months of observation and after 6 months of WBVT will evaluate at the effects of WBVT on muscle strength (force, power and efficiency), muscle size, functional mobility, bone strength and quality of life.

The purpose of this study is to explore the importance of gut sweet taste sensors in the regulation of sugar control, appetite and body weight during health, obesity and after bariatric surgery. The findings of the current study may provide further insights into the mechanisms underlying the development of obesity and diabetes mellitus, which, in turn, can have a great potential therapeutic implication. Hypothesis: We hypothesise that the number of these sweet taste receptors will be markedly reduced in the small intestine of morbidly obese patients but will be increased after bariatric surgery, leading to increased incretin responses and subsequently, better glucose control and body weight (via high GLP-1). We further hypothesise that the greater release of GLP- 1 (thus, release of insulin) after RYGB over LAGB is related to the higher expression of small intestinal sweet taste receptors, leading to better glucose control and weight loss in these patients. This study, therefore, aims to evaluate the expression of small intestinal sweet taste receptors before and after a sugar ‘meal’ and its relationship to GLP-1 concentration, glucose control and body weight in morbidly obese subjects and patients who undergo RYGB and LAGB.

A multi centre, investigator blind, study in a total of 45 subjects with mild to moderate acne vulgaris aiming to evaluate the efficacy, safety and tolerability of topical tretinoin formulated with TPM compared with a commercially available tretinoin formulation, and a vehicle.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a major cause of visual impairment in advanced countries, responsible for nearly half of all legal blindness in Australia. Due to increased life expectancy, the number of people with this progressive late onset disease will double by 2025. Aspirin could prevent or delay the onset of AMD in older persons but its bleeding risk also needs to be considered. This ASPREE-AMD project will determine whether treatment with low dose aspirin reduces incidence or progression of AMD. ASPREE-AMD study is a sub-study of the large-scale randomised controlled trial ASPREE, which is registered with the International Standardised Randomised Controlled Trials Register. Title: Aspirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE). Number: ISRCTN83772183.