ANZCTR search results

Acute Lung Injury (ALI) is caused by damage to the blood vessels in the lung as a result of the body’s response to a significant insult. The initial insult can occur within the lung or outside the lung. Acute Lung Injury is characterised by fluid which leaks into the lungs causing severe hypoxaemia. Patients diagnosed with ALI are critically ill and require an admission to intensive care. Preliminary data suggest that patients who survive ALI go on to experience marked limitations to everyday functioning and impaired quality of life (well being). This research aims to evaluate a program of supervised training on the exercise capacity and physical activity of people who survive ALI. We hypothesise that compared with usual care, a supervised high intensity exercise training program will be effective at improving exercise capacity and daily physical activity in ALI survivors

not recruiting

This study will compare temperature measurements of an adult and small infant population in the emergency department to determine which technique provides the best indicator for detection of fever. The aim is to evaluate the accuracy and effectiveness of tympanic and infrared skin thermometers compared to rectal temperature in infants and oral temperature in adults in the emergency department. The findings will aid in the development of a consistent, evidence based approach to temperature measurement in Frankston Hospital Emergency patients.

By 2010 T2DM is expected to affect in excess of 1.1 million Australians. This is clearly an epidemic that threatens to overwhelm the resources of our health system. Evidence-based strategies that engage patients to make lifestyle choices that result in better glucose control are urgently needed. Better glucose control has the potential to significantly decrease complications and health care costs, and halt or reverse disease progression. The proposed research offers an opportunity to manage chronic illness through sustained lifestyle change facilitated by delivery in a residential setting. The research aims to determine the feasibility and efficacy of a residential lifestyle intervention plus standard care compared to standard care alone in patients with newly established type 2 diabetes in (1) stabilising average blood glucose (as assessed using HbA1c); and (2) achieving normal glucose control assessed by fasting blood sugar level. A randomised controlled trial will be conducted for adult patients with newly diagnosed diabetes. Patients will be allocated to receive either standard care only (i.e, standard diabetes management by a healthcare provider) or standard care plus a 1-week intensive residential lifestyle program with booster sessions held over 14 weeks. The multimodal lifestyle intervention will be held at The Gawler Foundation. This intervention will be delivered by a team of multidisciplinary health professionals and will consist of daily group sessions educating participants about diabetes pathophysiology, risks, stress management, and lifestyle factors (diet and exercise) and behaviour likely to better control T2DM. The minimum dietary change advocated to participants will be in line with recommendations of the American Diabetes Association. During the residential program a plant-based high-fibre wholefood diet will be available to participants and healthy eating behaviour will be encouraged. This will encompass the use of mindfulness when eating, awareness of hunger and satiety signals, and enjoyment of food through paced food consumption. Participants in the lifestyle group will also receive counselling and group interaction designed to improve their compliance with lifestyle change. The intervention will draw upon the ESSENCE framework for health. This is a model of wellbeing suitable for the layperson and is taught to medical graduates of Monash University. It is based on the tenet that there are seven factors that are essential to well being: Education, Stress management, Spirituality, Exercise, Nutrition, Connectedness, and Environment. Patients will be followed up at 12 months. Outcome measures will include glycaemic control as measured using glycated haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c; primary outcome) and fasting capillary blood sugar. Secondary outcome measure will include lipid status (low density and high density lipoprotein, triglyceride levels), Vitamin D, bodyweight, body mass index, waist girth, waist-to-hip ratio, blood pressure, pulse, number of co-morbidities, diabetes symptoms and diabetes specific health-related quality of life, and compliance with lifestyle change. An economic analysis will be undertaken at the conclusion of the study to determine the cost-benefit of the program. Among other endpoints this will consider costs associated with medication use and health service utilisation.This research will add to the literature regarding strategies for controlling the diabetes epidemic by assessing whether intensive lifestyle interventions prevent the progression to diabetes in patients with pre-diabetes, or improved glycemic control in patients with diabetes. This may ultimately revolutionise treatment approaches to pre-diabetes and diabetes and decrease the costs borne by individuals and the health system. This research investigates an inexpensive approach with the capacity for widespread adoption that is likely to be highly cost-effective and sustainable.

The brain chemical serotonin is involved in both anxiety and the regulation of the autonomic nervous system (the main system involved in regulating blood pressure). A dysfunction relating to serotonin may explain why anxiety and hypertension often co-occur. Individuals with both a clinical anxiety disorder (Panic Disorder) and Hypertension will be offered a routine course of the serotonergic medication Sertraline – which is a licensed treatment of anxiety disorders in Australia. Participants continue to take their usual medications throughout the study, including antihypertensives. Blood pressure is studied over a one-month period This work may result in an improved understanding of the mechanisms by which hypertension and anxiety are linked, and may provide evidence to support targeted future therapies.

For people with chronic lung disease, breathlessness is common, distressing and difficult to relieve. Pulmonary rehabilitation programs have been demonstrated to improve exercise capacity and quality of life. This study will determine whether changing the way people think about the sensation of breathlessness while completing pulmonary rehabilitation, further reduces distress/anxiety and health service use and improve exercise capacity, disability related to breathlessness and quality of life.

This is a prospective randomized controlled trial looking to compare two groups of patients having total knee replacements. One group will follow a standard rehabilitation protocol following the operation and the other will have a supplementary program of exercises using the Wii-Fit from week 6 to week 18. We will compare a number of outcomes including self-reported functional scores, strength and balance at 18 weeks and 1 year after the operation.

This study aims to determine whether patients of Asian ethnicity undergoing total knee replacement will benefit from a knee prosthesis with dimensions modified to suit Asian knees.

This pilot study looks at the role of acupuncture as an adjunct therapy to restore weight, improve eating behaviours and reduce anxiety and depression in those suffering from Anorexia Nervosa. You can join this study if you are receiving treatment at the Hills Private Hospital and you are medically stable. Participants who consent to be randomised will receive acupuncture plus usual care or light massage plus usual care. Those participants who declined to be randomised will be invited to participate in the study as usual care only group. Both the acupuncture and light massage groups receive three weeks of twice weekly treatment followed by three weeks of once weekly treatment. Effective management of Anorexia Nervosa is important to achieve positive ling term physical and mental health outcomes. Preliminary reports suggest that acupuncture may help improve quality of life and anxiety. The results of this study will be used in the design of a larger trial on the use of acupuncture as an adjunct therapy for the treatment of Anorexia Nervosa.

The purpose of this study is to conduct an economic analysis involving a cost-effectiveness analysis of a previous randomised controlled trial of weight loss for type 2 diabetics with LapBand placement, involving an estimation of costs associated with both groups.