ANZCTR search results

To observe the effects of intravenous fish oil on the electrophysiological properties of the human atria

The aim of this study is to understand if using the Flinders Program of care planning helps people to manage their own chronic conditions better, or if the care that is usually delivered helps just as much.

The trial is aimed at families where a young person aged 16-25 has mental health (depression / anxiety) and/or substance use problems. We intend to test the relative benefits for reducing parent and youth depressive symptoms, by comparing two psychological treatments. These include a family substance abuse education program (BEST), and a one-on-one youth intervention (SHADEY). A third group of families will receive both of these treatments, to determine if they are more effective when they are combined. We predict that all treatments will produce reductions in: (1) the youth self-reported rate of depressive and anxiety symptoms; (2) the level of youth substance use and risk of substance abuse; and (3) that the combined therapy will be more effective than either in isolation. We further predict (4) that the family program will result in greater reductions in parent and sibling mental health symptoms, and reduced youth substance use, than the one-on-one cognitive therapy (SHADEY), while (5) the SHADEY cognitive therapy will produce greater reductions in youth depressive symptoms.

Sports anti-doping study. The aim of this study is to see what effect injections of a synthetic hormone called a GnRH analog have on testosterone levels as measured in blood and urine samples. GnRH analogs are banned in elite sports as they are considered to enhance an athletes performance by increasing the body's production of testosterone. In this study blood and urine samples will be collected from healthy male volunteers before and after several injections of Lucrin (GnRH anaolg). Half of the volunteers (8) will be randomly assigned to also receive 2 injections of a drug called nandrolone decanoate. It is thought that nandrolone and GnRH analogs may be used in combination for ilicit sports doping.

This research aims to improve adherence to guideline recommendations for surveillance for people with colorectal cancer and screening of their first degree relatives using an educational intervention. People with colorectal cancer and their first degree relatives will be randomly assigned to receive tailored educational materials on screeening (intervention group) or standard pamphlets (minimal ethical care group). It is expected that those in the intervention group will have 10%, 12% and 15% higher levels of adherence to screening/surveillance recommendations at 1, 2, and 3 years post recruitment respectively, when compared with those in the minimal ethical care group.

To investigate the interest of persons in attempting to quit cigarette smoking while hospital inpatients and to identify activities to assist them to do this. The study uses a longitudinal prospective design to collect survey data from two cohorts of hospital inpatients: those recruited from a mental health ward and those from orthopaedic, plastic surgery & neurosurgery wards (The orthopaedic, plastic and neurosurgery patients are collected from the orthopaedics wards G51 & G53 at Sir Charlie Gairdner Hospital only). In addition, two sub-sets of participants (those who are not interested in quitting smoking and those that want to quit) from the mental health cohort will be allocated (randomised) to a “normal contact” or “intervention” group with 100 people per group. As part of hospital management, all patients who are smokers and are admitted as inpatients will, at the time of admission, be informed of a strict smoking ban within the hospital and its grounds and be offered nicotine replacement. All participants complete a consent form and receive the patient information sheet; they then complete the baseline questionnaire. Those that are allocated to the ‘normal group’ are then interviewed 4 days and 6 months post discharge from the hospital. Those allocated to the ‘intervention group’ are followed up every 3 days whilst in hospital, offered additional ‘Quit Smoking’ resources and access to an online an ‘Quit’ program. On discharge they are given ‘one months’ supply of nicotine replacement therapy (see patient information sheet for NRT offered) and also followed up at 4, 14 days and 3, 6 months post discharge. Furthermore the ‘intervention group’ receive a series of encouragement, relapse prevention and handy tips via SMS messages up until 6 months post discharge plus additional counseling and aid via telephone. At 6 months a subset of participants will be invited to take part in focus groups to provide a detailed investigation of the needs of patients to aid cessation both pre and post-discharge. This study will look a few hypotheses: ? Patients will find it easier to reduce tobacco intake in a ‘Non Smoking’ Hospital environment with the aid of longer term health promotion intervention? ? Mental Health Patients will find reducing smoking patterns more difficult compared to ‘normal’ group o Due to the environment ie: high level of smokers will increase uptake of smoking whilst in ‘adult mental health units’ o Patients are dealing with a number of ‘mental health’ issues, therefore increased stress levels may increase tobacco intake.

Currently knee replacement surgery is performed using external jigs or a computer navigation system to guide bone cuts necessary to implant the metal and plastic prosthesis. The computer navigation system is considered the "gold standard" for guiding and evaluating the cuts. However, new technology as been developed that allows patient-specific instruments to be manufactured based on a pre-operative MRI scan and x-rays of the affected knee. These instruments should allow bone cuts and thus implants to be positioned more accurately. The current study will include 10 patients that have met the criteria for total knee replacement. The patients will require a pre-operative MRI and full-leg x-rays. Their surgery will be performed with the custom instrumentation. All bone cuts will be evaluated intra-operatively, using the computer navigation system. Any cut that is inappropriate will be revised using the standard, computer navigated instruments. The surgery will require approximately 2 hours. The patients will require a post-operative computer tomography [CT] scan and full-leg x-rays to evaluate the limb and implant alignment. These studies will be performed 6 weeks post-operatively. Otherwise, the recovery and post-operative follow-up will be unchanged from that expected for routine knee replacement surgery. Our hypothesis is that the patient-matched instrumentation will align the bone cuts, implants, and the mechanical axis of the limb at least as well as would be expected using external jigs or computer assisted surgery.

The purpose of this study is to determine how three different medications influence brain activity whilst healthy participants are performing cognitive tasks. The three medications are methylphenidate, atomoxetine and citalopram. The first two medications are commonly used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in both children and adults, whereas citalopram is used to treat depression in adults. Importantly, we know that these medications act on different chemical systems in the brain. What we do not know, however, is whether these medications can influence underlying brain activity when people are performing cognitive tasks. This project will help us to understand which chemicals in the brain modulate our ability as humans to inhibit and control our behaviour. Studying these effects in healthy people will provide important clues to the underlying biology of a range of mental disorders where problems of inhibition and control of behaviour are common.

The primary purpose of this study is to find out if high salt intake contributes to the severity of obstructive sleep apnoea. Our hypothesis is that reduction of salt intake in people with moderate to severe sleep apnoea will reduce the symptoms of the sleep apnoea.