ANZCTR search results

Home visiting programs comprising intensive and sustained nurse home visits over the entire first two years of life (SNHV) show promise as interventions to promote child health and family functioning, and ameliorate disadvantage. This study is the first Australian randomised trial to determine the impact of a comprehensive SNHV program commencing antenatally in a population group living in an area of known disadvantage. As such this trial is a best-practice demonstration model for professional home visiting in Australia, with significant implications for the development of early childhood policy and strategy throughout Australia.

Severe and enduring mental illness (SEMI) impacts detrimentally on the ability to work and form relationships, thus reducing quality of life. People with SEMI living in the community are particularly vulnerable. The importance of psychosocial interventions, in conjunction with medication, to improve quality of life or people with SEMI is increasingly being acknowledged. Music therapy is a recognised psychosocial intervention that can promote social support through musical and personal interaction. A recent Cochrane review analysed four outcome studies of music therapy and mental illness (Gold, Heldal, Dahle & Wigram, 2005). Methods included active music making (mostly improvisation), and listening to music with discussion. A meta-analysis of results concluded that music therapy, when compared with standard care, improved global state, mental state and social functioning. The Songs for Life project aims to extend current knowledge about the benefits of music therapy for chronic psychiatric illness. The study will examine the effect of a music therapy intervention (involving singing, percussive improvisation and writing and recording an original song) on quality of life, self-esteem, social support, and sense of meaning and purpose in people with SEMI living in the community.

Patients undergoing surgery usually experience some sort of pain post operatively. There are many drugs which can be taken to reduce or take away the pain. There are also different types of Anaesthetic procedures to help a patient who is in pain (such as an epidural for pain relief in childbirth). There have been recent advances in medicine which show that using several different types of pain medication is more effective used together and has fewer side effects such as nausea and vomiting, constipation and drowsiness. Also at this time, there is a theory that receiving pain relief just before an operation can help reduce the pain afterwards. Unfortunately for some patients the pain can be hard to control and it may bother them for some time (months or years) after the operation. We call this chronic pain and it is a common and difficult problem to manage. Previous experience has shown that using various pain medications is a useful approach to treating pain as there are many factors that can cause pain. It makes sense to use different medications to target the different pain pathways which are aggravated after surgery. Some pain relieving drugs have been found to have some unacceptable side effects. It has reduced the choice of medication that we can use to treat pain. We are proposing to use a drug that is commonly used for the treatment of chronic pain, Gabapentin. Gabapentin was first used for the treatment of seizures but it was quickly found to be useful in treating chronic pain. Gabapentin is licensed in Australia for treating pain and seizures. There have been some studies recently that have shown that it is helpful in treating immediate post operative pain (acute pain). As well as studying the effects of Gabapentin on post operative pain, we would also like to investigate whether continuing Gabapentin for 3 weeks after a thoracotomy helps prevent or reduces chronic pain.

This is a multi-centre, blinded placebo-controlled randomised trial of long-term antibiotics in children. Patients will be randomly allocated to either low dose cotrimoxazole or placebo and followed for 12 months. Randomisation will be performed centrally by the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre with dynamic balancing of important confounders and stratified by vesicoureteric reflux. Treatment allocation will be concealed. A total of 780 participants will be drawn from children routinely given long-term antibiotics, either because of their age (infants), what is thought to be a predisposing abnormality (vesicoureteric reflux), or because of recurrent infections. Children will be monitored at 3, 6, 9 and 12 month clinics. The primary outcome is repeat symptomatic microbiologically proven urinary tract infection

The provision of information is recognised as a key component of post-stroke management for clients, their carers and their families and can improve client and carer knowledge, reduce client depression and increase some aspects of client satisfaction. Clients with stroke and their families need, and want, information about stroke, across a broad content range and there is evidence that their education and support needs are not met by current practice. Current recommendations for effective information provision include providing a combining verbal and written information, using an interactive teaching style and repetition or reinforcement of information. Preliminary research conducted by this team sought stroke clients’ and carers’ content, format, teaching style and timing preferences regarding stroke educational support. Although this data is as yet unpublished, it confirms support for the aforementioned recommendations (combination of written and verbal information, an interactive style and reinforcement). It was further established that a combination of face-to-face and telephone contact is acceptable to clients with stroke and their carers. As a result, an education and support package was developed, consisting of a previously trialled Australian tailored written education booklet, supplemented by verbal reinforcement and repetition of the information contained therein. This study will evaluate the impact of this education and support package through a single-blind randomised control trial, by comparing the health and psychosocial outcomes of participants in the intervention group with those of participants in the control group, who will receive usual care. Outcome measures will be administered prior to hospital discharge and again at three months post discharge.

The aim of the study is to investigate the efficacy of a Chinese herbal medicine in treating symptoms of osteoarthritis of the knee. The study hypothesis is that the Chinese herbal medicine will be effective in treatment of symptoms and signs associated with osteoarthitis of the knee.

Alcohol consumption is known to affect blood pressure regulation but the mechanism by which it does this is not known This project examines the role of certain fatty acid metabolites called cytochrome P450 metabolites of arachidonic acid (CYP450AA-M) acutely after drinking red wine de-alcohlised red wine or water. These fatty acid metabolites act on blood vessels causing them to constrict or dilate. In doing this they affect blood pressure regulation. The results of this study will determine how important CYP450AA-M are in regulating blood pressure acutely after consuming alcohol. We will study CYP450AA-M in cells as in plasma and urine in relation to blood pressure levels over 24hours.This project will help scientists decide how important these metabolites are for blood presssure regulation. If these metabolites are found to be important then it should be possible to alter their levels either by diet or drug treatment.

This is a trial of thrombolytic (clot-dissolving) treatment for acute stroke comparing the standard medication alteplase to a newer agent, tenecteplase

This project is part of a research program examining the efficacy of Internet based education and treatment programs for people with social phobia. This project compares the effectiveness of different types of reminders at encouraging people with social phobia to complete the 6 lessons in the Program. We expect that people who receive telephone reminders (in addition to weekly emails and fortnightly smss) will complete more lessons and report more benefit from the program than participants who do not receive the weekly phone call (but who do receive the email and sms reminders).

The aim of this single blind randomized controlled trial is to determine the effectiveness of an intensive training program directed at improving the ability of people with spinal cord injury to sit unsupported. Subjects from Sydney's two spinal injury units will be randomly allocated to an experimental or control condition. Experimental subjects will receive an intensive training program specifically directed at improving their ability to sit unsupported. Control subjects will receive usual care. Subjects’ ability to sit unsupported will be assessed by a blinded therapist at the beginning and end of the study with a standardized battery of tests. In addition, subjects’ and therapists’ impressions about the effectiveness of therapy will be assessed using rating scales designed for this purpose.