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An abscess is a localised collection of bacteria, dead tissue, and pus. There are no human studies demonstrating a link between increasing abscess pressures and the spread of infection. The current management is surgical incision and drainage of the abscess cavity. Once the abscess spreads it is associated with a prolonged stay in hospital and a longer recovery time. We propose to measure the abscess pressure in patients presenting to the Royal Darwin Hospital Emergency Department, and correlate the pressure with clinical indices of local and systemic inflammatory reaction.

The goal of this study is to examine the effect of Oxytocin (OT) in facilitating eye gaze during a speaking task in adults who stutter. Participants who stutter will be randomized to receive 24UI intranasal OT or placebo before giving a speech to a pre-recorded audience. The aim of the procedure is to assess whether participants who receive OT before delivering the speech show a difference in eye gaze than the placebo group. It is predicted that the experimental participants who receive OT will demonstrate increased gaze towards audience members compared with the participants in the placebo group and thus increase access to important social information from the interaction. Secondly the experimental group is hypothesized to report less fear and anxiety following the procedure than the placebo group.

Arthroscopic shoulder surgery may produce severe pain that is a challenge to control. Interscalene nerve blocks have been shown to be an excellent method of analgesia. It is not clear what concentration of local anaesthetic should be used for interscalene blocks to maximise pain relief and minimise side-effects. We aim to determine if lower compared to higher concentrations of ropivacaine (a local anaesthetic) can produce comparable pain relief duration with less side-effects.

Several evidence support the notion that increase in total plasma cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDLC), and decreased high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) are risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Epidemiological studies have reported that high concentrations of HDL-C or "good" cholesterol (>1.5mMol/L) may also be protective against Alzheimer’s disease (AD). “AmlamaxTM” developed by the R&D lab of Arjuna Natural Extracts Limited (Kerala, India) is a dry extract from fresh fruits of Amla, which has shown remarkable results in increasing HDL-C levels. Therefore, the objectives of this proposed study will be to explore the effectiveness of the herbal extract AmlamaxTM on raising HDL cholesterol levels in population of subjects with low HDL-C levels drawn from the Perth memory cohort study, as well as to determine whether directly raising HDL-C levels can result in a decrease in plasma beta amyloid levels.

People with lung cancer often feel short of breath and lack energy. Not surprisingly, people diagnosed with lung cancer tend to decrease the amount of activity and exercise they do. However promising new research shows that doing just the opposite can result in improved quality of life and fitness (which can contribute to survival). One way of increasing activity levels in a safe way is taking part in an exercise rehabilitation program, a 8-week program of group exercises led by a physiotherapist. This project is an initial, small scale trial of lung cancer patients participating in exercise rehabilitation after surgery to determine whether a larger scale trial is safe and feasible.

A 3-month intervention using encapsulated red orange (Citrus sinensis) juice extract in combination with nutritional intervention to investigate whether or not red orange juice extract decreases the risk factors of metabolic syndrome

This population-based study has two broad aims. The first is to derive speech, language, psycho-social and functional norms for children aided with hearing aids and/or cochlear implants. The second is to determine the effects of multiple factors, including age of intervention, on developmental outcomes of children with hearing loss. It is hypothesized that: 1. Compared to children who received later intervention, children who received early intervention will score better on measures of language, speech, functional performance and quality of life. 2. Compared to children who received later intervention, children who received early intervention will develop at a rate closer to that of normal hearing children over the first 10 years of life.

Obesity and asthma are two of the most common conditions affecting Australian children and adolescents. Obesity is higher in children with asthma compared to children without asthma. We propose that children with asthma may have a higher prevalence of risk factors for obesity, namely increased sleep disturbance, poor dietary and physical activity patterns and altered resting energy expenditure.

This trial seeks to discover whether giving patients arriving for consultations at general practices a summary of their preventive care status, that encourages them to discuss this with the GP or nurse that they are about to see, results in increased performance of preventive activities that are recommended and due to be performed for that patient. The study is aimed at improving the performance of a wide range of preventive activities, including all routine child and adult immunisations, screening for common chronic conditions including high blood pressure (hypertension), high cholesterol (hyperlipidaemia), diabetes and kidney disease, and prevention and early detection of a range of cancers. Who is it for? All patients attending a participating practice during the trial will be enrolled automatically in this study. Trial Details: The intervention will consist of a sheet of paper, generated and printed automatically, given to you when you arrive for a consultation at a general practice. You will receive no more than two information sheets, one every six months, over the one year trial period. The sheet will contain information about preventive activities that are recommended for you based on your age, gender and known medical history, why they are important, when each activity has last been performed, the result, finding or action at that time, and when the activity was or is due to be performed next. The sheet will encourage you to discuss the information on the sheet with your doctor or nurse in the imminent consultation. You will not be required to re-attend the practice for the purposes of this study, but can attend as and when you feel it is necessary or as agreed between you and your GP or nurse. If your general practice is randomly allocated to be in the ‘usual care’ control group, all care will occur as it normally would.

The interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) are characterised by shortness of breath, progressive deterioration in exercise tolerance, poor quality of life and reduced life expectancy. To date there are few treatments which have demonstrated improvements in this patient group. Exercise training (ET) is one of few treatments to improve symptoms and QoL in ILD. However the response to ET is variable and dependent on disease type and severity. The aim of this study is to establish the effect of ET in ILD and to identify whether there is optimal timing for maximal benefit to be obtained. improvements in this patient group.