ANZCTR search results

The purpose of this project is to explore whether a clinician-guided treatment program can help to reduce anxiety symptoms in a population of mature adults (aged 60-75), when administered over the internet. A secondary purpose is to determine how acceptable people find this form of treatment. The study will inform how services can best improve future treatment programs for mature adults with anxiety.

The purpose of this project is to explore whether a clinician-guided treatment program can help to reduce depession symptoms in a population of mature adults (aged 60-75), when administered over the internet. A secondary purpose is to determine how acceptable people find this form of treatment. The study will inform how services can best improve future treatment programs for mature adults with depression.

Rejection of a transplanted heart is a serious and often fatal complication following heart transplantation. Endomyocardial biopsy is the gold standard for diagnosing heart transplant rejection. Transplanted patients undergo 9 endomyocardial biopsies for routine surveillance in the first 12 months after transplant. We know that immune cells in peripheral blood become activated during rejection. They change their gene expression and this can be detected by specific biochemical tests called microarrays. As such, it is our belief that rejection of a transplanted heart may be detected by taking a peripheral blood sample and looking at the gene expression of immune cells. The implication is that transplant rejection may be detected by simply taking blood rather than performing an endomyocardial biospy. An endomyocardial biospy is an invasive procedure performed under general anaesthesia and is therefore stressful for patients and patients' parents as well as placing a sizeable on the healthcare system. Our project will involve taking a small 5ml venous blood sample from patients immediately prior to heart transplantation and all subsequent endomyocardial biopsies for routine surveillance. The blood samples will be taken after induction of general anaesthesia. We will then be able to compare each result of the microarray of the blood sample with the result of the endomyocardial biopsy in order to assess whether peripheral blood sampling is a possible alternative to endomyocardial biospy.

We aim to define the different types of perineal body presentations in women with posterior vaginal compartment prolapse, to determine the incidence of this condition and to assess the outcome of our intervention. This observatorial study is conducted to obtain a better understanding of the pathophysiology of the posterior vaginal compartment with the focus on the perineum. The hypothesis is to identify the different perineal defects in women undergoing posterior vaginal compartment prolapse which have not clearly described and defined in current literatur. The accurately description of perineal defects will improve the surgical management of this common condition.

This study looks at the efficacy of an early and frequent nutrition intervention model, compared to usual care, for improving the quality of life in people with oesophageal or stomach cancer Who is it for? You can join this study if you have cancer of the oesophagus or stomach and will have surgery and/or chemotherapy at Southern Health in Victoria. Trial details Participants will be i n two groups. One group will receive the usual dietetic consultation at the time of surgery or chemotherapy which involves a completing a malnutrition screening questionnaire and referral to hospital dietician services if appropriate. The other group will receive early (at the time of diagnosis) and frequent dietetic assessment. This will involve an initial telephone or face-to-face interview lasting at least 30 minutes and weekly follow-up telephone calls lasting 15 minutes for 18 weeks and then at week 26. Oral nutritional supplement samples will be given to participants at the discretion of the treating dietician. The aim of the study is to compare the quality of life, nutritional status and patient satisfaction with dietetic intervention in the two groups.

Sydney Children's Hospital is doing a study to see whether haemangiomas of infancy (strawberry marks) which are no longer flat or which have continued to grow in spite of oral corticosteroids (cortisone), or present when the baby is too old for steroid treatment, will stop growing and /or shrink when treated with propranolol. A recent report of 11 cases suggests that propranolol may be helpful in shrinking haemangiomas of infancy.

It is well understood that parenting a child with a disability, such as CP, brings additional challenges e.g. increased burden of care and grief. Mothers of children with CP experience greater parental stress and anxious/depressive symptoms. In addition, children with CP are more likely to face behavioural and emotional problems which is in turn associated with further increases in parental stress. Parental stress and child behavioural problems are likely to impact on the optimising of physical, behavioural and educational outcomes in children with CP over and above the impact of the initial brain lesion on disability. Behavioural Family Interventions aim to improve child behaviour and adjustment through changes in the family environment and are well established for improving child behavioural outcomes in typically developing children. The behavioural family intervention Triple P (Positive Parenting Program) has been developed and evaluated extensively over the past 30 years and is implemented in Australia and 19 other countries. The results of three independent meta-analyses using 55 evaluation studies confirm that Triple P has significant positive effects on child behaviour and parenting style. The effect size of Triple P with high-risk groups such as parents of children with ADHD is large (mean d = 0.88). Stepping Stones Triple P (SSTP) is a new variant of Triple P that targets families of children with disabilities. SSTP has a meaningful treatment effect with families of children with developmental disabilities and is efficacious for families of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). SSTP has not yet been validated specifically with parents of children with CP. In addition, we will specifically target parenting stress with a parental stress intervention based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. ACT is a new cognitive behavioural intervention model that incorporates mindfulness (psychological contact with the present moment) and acceptance (of emotional and cognitive responses). The goal is to increase psychological flexibility- the ability to persist or change in the service of chosen values. ACT has the ability to contribute to parenting interventions by addressing the emotional context of parenting including increasing the parent’s ability to foster their child’s emotional regulation skills and to improve the parent child relationship. Mindfulness and acceptance have been found to decrease distress in parents of children with disabilities however, research has yet to focus on the additive benefit of ACT to Behavioural Family Interventions. This study aims to assess the efficacy of the Behavioural Family Intervention Stepping Stones Triple P with families of children with Cerebral Palsy. In addition, we aim to test the additive effects of an ACT-based parental stress management intervention. It is predicted that Stepping Stones Triple P will be associated with reductions in child behavioural problems. It is predicted that the addition of an ACT-based parental stress management intervention will lead to additive effects on parental adjustment.

The use of Methylnaltrexone Bromide is approved to treat adults with opioid-induced constipation, but it has not yet been test in children with opioid-induced constipation. This study will see how safe and effective Methylnaltrexone Bromide is in children with opioid-induced constipation.

When we ingest a meal a number of hormones are released from the small intestine. These hormones play an important role in regulating the motor function of the gut, the levels of sugar and fat in the blood, and the rate at which the body uses energy. The effects of these hormones on these factors may, however, be limited by the fact that they undergo rapid degradation by an enzyme in the blood. There is a new class of drugs that act by inhibiting this enzyme, and as a result, these drugs improve blood glucose levels in type 2 diabetic patients by increasing active concentrations of these hormones following glucose ingestion. It is currently unclear how these drugs will influence concentrations of these gastrointestinal peptides following fat intake, and that is what this study is designed to investigate.