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Removal of the laryngeal mask airway can be performed while children are still deeply anesthetized or when they are awake (as defined by eye opening, grimacing, coughing, and purposeful movements). Each technique has its own advantages and disadvantages. In healthy children, it has been shown that there are no clinical differences between removal of the laryngeal mask airway in the awake state vs anesthetized state. In patients with a high risk of developing a postoperative respiratory problems (e.g. coughing) such as those with asthma, it may be preferable to remove the laryngeal mask airway while the patients are still anesthetized to avoid airway stimulation and consecutively bucking, coughing and bronchospasm. The results of a recent large prospective cohort study at our institution with over 9000 children allow to identify children with a high risk for developping postoperative respiratory complications. The aim of this present randomized controlled trial is to assess whether children at a high risk for respiratory problems benefit from anethetized removal of the laryngeal mask airway as compared to awake removal of the laryngeal mask airway following adenoidectomy. We hypothesize that children with a high risk for respiratory problems defined by the presence of either airway susceptibility, eczema or a positive family history who have their laryngeal mask airway removed deeply anaesthetised will demonstrate less respiratory problems compared with high risk children who have it removed awake.

We will recruit ACS patients who exhibit signs of depression from six hospitals, randomise them to MOOD-CARE or usual care (UC), and follow them for up to 2 years. MOOD-CARE is a state-of-the-art telephone counselling program which has the potential to improve psychological, physical, social and vocational functioning; reduce demands on the health system; and potentially, to extend survival for the growing number of Coronary Heart Disease patients in Australia.

The prevalence of overweight and obese individuals has significantly increased in Australia over the past 20-30 years. Associated with high body mass is the increased the risks of type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, certain cancers, sleep apnoea, osteoarthritis, psychological disorders and social problems.Overall, the aim of this study is to examine the gene changes during weight loss and identify the potential gene targets of a high-protein diet that may be important for preservation of muscle mass. Different protein preparations could then be tested looking specifically at these gene changes. Those protein preparations identified as important for preservation of muscle mass will be reported as a beneficial inclusion in high-protein weight loss and may ‘aid’ in the maintenance of long-term weight reduction.

This study looks at the effectiveness of additional psychological support for people receiving radiotherapy for head and neck cancer in helping with depression and malnutrition. Participants will receive: - psycho-education for depression - cognitive behaviour therapy for depression - motivational interviewing for improving nutrition. These are 10 minute sessions, twice weekly, following radiotherapy treatments. Participants are assessed for depression and malnutrition during the first week of treatment, last week of treatment and four weeks after treatment. Depression and malnutrition are both measured using validated assessment tools. The study aims to see whether depression and malnutrition can be effectively addressed by providing additional psychological support.

Point of Care (POC)technology as the potential to expediate decision making and therefore benedit patient care and flow throught the Emergency Department. POC International Normalised Ratio (INR) is in common use in the community for monitoring warfarin therapy use. If found to be accurate as a marker of coagulopathy for emergency patients would potentially be a useful addition to tests available to the Emergency Physician

The aim is to carry out a case-control study to demonstrate abnormalities in postprandial lipoprotein metabolism, in men with the metabolic syndrome (MetS) compared with lean men. A further aim is to demonstrate that postprandial lipoprotein metabolism is improved, but not normalized, in men with MetS treated with a statin.

Chronic hepatitis B virus infection(HBV) affects 400 million people worldwide. It leads to 1.2 million deaths annually. An individual's prognosis when affected by the disease is related to it's severity.Patients who have cirrhosis as a result of HBV have high rates of complications such as liver cancer and gastrointestinal bleeding.Patients with advancing disease therefore have a more compelling need for treatment ,thus accurate evaluation is essential. Liver biopsy up until now has been the gold standard for evaluation but it has many complications(incuding bleeding and death),contraindications and error .It is not suitable for serial assessment. A new device that has been developed in this regard is fibroscan.Fibroscan measures liver stiffness which equates to liver fibrosis(disease). It does this by transmitting a wave impulse through the liver.The faster the wave travels the more fibrosed the liver is.It is a non-invasive and painless procedure much like an ultrasound. Blood markers to assess liver fibrosis are also available but have not been well evaluated in patients with HBV. We propose to recruit 250 participants with chronic HBV from several Melbourne hopitals who are undergoing liver biopsy as part of their routine care.Participants will be required to fill in a detailed questionnaire in order to evaluate further their liver disease .Within 4 weeks of the biopsy a fibroscan will be performed along with blood tests helping to assess the degree of liver fibrosis. We willl compare the results of these non-invasive tests with liver biopsy results to review the diagnostic accuracy of fibroscan and blood fibrosis markers. We will also follow the participants for 2 years with annual fibroscans and blood tests to estimate progression of fibrosis and the affects of anti-viral medication on fibrosis.We also hope to assess the role of insensitivity to the body's natural insulin production to progression of liver fibrosis in patients with HBV by simply measuring fasting blood insulin and glucose levels and comparing these to the liver biopsy results.Insulin insensitivity has been confimed as an independent risk factor for liver fibrosis in a previous study of Hepatitis C patients,this has not yet been shown in a Hepatitis B population.

This study aims to determine whether exposure to simulated solar ultraviolet radiation at levels relevant to normal daily activities can suppress the immune response to vaccination.

Main Objective: To determine the effectiveness of video feedback in improving on-line awareness and adjustment in persons with traumatic brain injury compared to verbal feedback and experiential feedback only. Hypothesis: 1. Treatment Group A (video & verbal feedback) & Treatment Group B (verbal feedback) will demonstrate greater improvement in on-line awareness compared to the control (experiential feedback) group. 2. Treatment Group A (video & verbal feedback) will demonstrate greater improvement in on-line awareness than Treatment Group B (verbal feedback). 3. Gains in on-line awareness will be maintained for Treatment Group A (video & verbal feedback) at four-week follow-up. 4. No hypotheses have been generated about the impact of the treatment on measures of intellectual awareness (AQ) or emotional status (DASS), as these are exploratory variables.