ANZCTR search results

Major depressive disorder is a severe illness of high prevalence. A significant percentage of patients fail to respond to standard treatments and continue to experience marked disability and high morbidity. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has been subject to intensive evaluation as an antidepressant strategy especially in patients with treatment resistant depression (TRD). Previous research conducted by our group and others clearly indicates that rTMS has antidepressant activity and that the response to rTMS is clinically meaningful. It is now being increasingly used in clinical practice in the US and more recently in Australia. A major barrier to the utilisation of rTMS is a relatively slow rate of response to treatment, often requiring daily treatments over a four to six week period. Therefore rTMS, as it currently stands, requires a considerable time commitment from both patients and clinicians. In addition, it is not considered appropriate for acutely suicidal patients, with these patients currently requiring treatment with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) as this is clearly the most rapidly acting antidepressant treatment. If the time to response to rTMS could be substantially compressed, the treatment would be cheaper to administer and more acceptable to patients. In addition, it would also become a viable alternative strategy for the treatment of patients with acute suicidal ideation and other acute depression related risks, for example patients who have stopped eating and drinking and require intervention with a rapidly acting treatment. Therefore, the primary goal of this study is to investigate whether response to rTMS can be substantially enhanced through the use of an accelerated treatment protocol. We will compare antidepressant response between a standard and an accelerated rTMS protocol.

This is a randomised trial of a multifactorial interdisciplinary intervention for pre frailty. The intervention has previously been shown to be effective in frailty older people (see ACTRN12608000250336, https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=82814).

The aim of this study is to compare, using a randomised, placebo-controlled double-blind design over two years, the effect of an annual infusion of zoledronic acid to placebo on knee structural change assessed on MRI and knee pain in patients with knee osteoarthritis, significant knee pain and an MRI detected knee bone marrow lesion. We will recruit 264 subjects in Hobart, Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide. Eligible subjects will receive an annual identical intravenous infusion of zoledronic acid (5mg in normal saline) or placebo (normal saline), over two years. Outcome measures include cartilage loss over 24 months, knee pain at 3, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months, and bone marrow lesion size over 6 and 24 months.

Exhaled breath contains disease-dependent volatile organic compounds VOCs, which may serve as biomarkers distinguishing clinical phenotypes in asthma. Their measurement may be particularly beneficial in relation to treatment response. Our aim is to compare the performance of electronic nose (eNose) breath analysis with previously investigated techniques (sputum eosinophils, exhaled nitric oxide (FENO) and airway hyper-responsiveness) to discriminate asthma from controls and identify steroid responsiveness in steroid free patients.

It is thought that any type of exercise is sufficient for the treatment of chronic low back pain. There is a paucity of evidence examining a rigorous individualization approach to exercise prescription for low back pain patients. This study will compare changes in pain and disability between individualized or general exercise advice for patients with chronic low back pain. The hypothesis of this research is that individualized programming will elicit greater reductions in pain and disability. Data from this study will be used for power calculations in a larger scale trial that will explore the 'why' of observed results.

spinal-induced hypotension results primarily from decreased vascular resistance secondary to a relative parasympathetic dominance, increased baroreceptor activity, or induction of the Bezold Jarisch Reflex (BJR). several animal studies suggest that 5-HT (serotonin) may be an important factor associated inducing the BJR. We hypothesized that spinal-induced hypotension and bradycardia could be minimized with the use of intravenous ondansetron, a 5-HT3 receptor antagonist, in obstetric patients undergoing caesarean section.

We want to examine whether children are able to self-control their impulsivity and whether food advertisements increase the need for this self-control. Our hypothesis is that children that have a hight impulsivity have more problems with controlling their food intake after a food commercial than children who have low impulsivity

In this study we propose to identify a cohort of 200 men who have a higher than normal PiB in the brain, who are experiencing Subjective Memory Complaints but are not symptomatic for Alzheimer's disease. These men will be treated with testosterone (intramuscular injection), with and without DHA (oral administration) over 56 weeks. The study will evaluate the ability of testosterone & DHA to reduce the levels of LH, beta amyloid levels and subsequent impact on amyloid PIB load in the brain. This study will look at the effects of study treatment on brain images (MRI, PET scans), participants’ scores on psychometric tasks, neuropsychological questionnaires (measurement of memory loss and thinking ability) tests and the effect of treatment on different blood biomarkers.

The primary aim of the study is to evaluate the DEAL Project program, a brief, Internet-based intervention specifically designed for people aged 18 to 25 years with depression and co-occurring problematic alcohol use. This will be the first RCT of an Internet-delivered treatment for comorbid depression and problematic alcohol use in any age group.

The primary purpose of the study is to ascertain whether giving high doses of a cholesterol lowering drug (statin) can reduce the amount of damage caused to the heart by having a lack of oxygen and then having blood restored to the heart quickly when the blocked artery is opened by the insertion of a stent. Tissue damage may be caused when the supply of oxygen is restored to the heart. There are sound biological reasons but limited data that shows that by giving a high dose of a statin drug it is believed that the injury to the heart may be lessened and that incidences of heart failure caused by the heart attack may be lessened.