ANZCTR search results

To examine the effectiveness and tolerability of Intravenous Levetiracetam in the acute seizure setting

This is a pilot trial looking at the safety and feasability of running a local anaesthetic infusion to improve the post-operative pain relief of patients who have had abdominal surgery. The local anaesthetic, called ropivacaine, will be run via a transversus abdominis plane catheter. This will be placed in both sides of the abdomen between two muscle layers. The study will look at the effect of the infusion on how much morphine the patient requires after their surgery. The study will also look at the levels of ropivacaine in the blood during the infusion, which will run for three days.

The overall aim is to establish an objective, empirically and statistically valid basis for the biochemical confirmation of age-related Androgen deficiency in older Australian men. This will be based on development of an age-stratified reference panel of healthy middle-aged and older Australian men with good quality of life.

Participants will be recruited from the community via advertisements, medical practitioners and our own research database.

The trial completed recruitment and data collection in 2011. Results presented at the European Cystic Fibrosis Conference and the Australasian Cystic Fibrosis Conference in 2011. Manuscript under preparation.

The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of speech pathology treatment on chronic (persistent) cough. It is expected that the treatment will have a positive effect on cough by decreasing a person's cough sensitivity, frequency and severity and by increasing a person's cough quality of life.

The aim of the project is to design, implement and evaluate programs that use both Internet and telephone/communications technology to automate the provision of tailored smoking cessation assistance. In particular, the research is interested in the relative effectiveness of detailed advice (as provided through a web-based expert system) as compared with the capacity of modern messaging technology (SMS) to provide a set of prompts and reminders to help smokers manage a quit attempt and prevent relapse. The project is an innovative collaboration between a team with expertise in the development of mass-deliverable smoking cessation interventions, and a team with expertise in human-computer interaction (HCI), which is concerned with optimizing use of computing and communication technology. Using principles of HCI, smokers will be actively involved in the development of the programs through an interative process of review consisting of a series of user-based evaluations, design workshops and field trials. In this way, real-world use and acceptability of the interventions will be assessed and reviewed until we have developed the best possible prototypes. Following this process, a large-scale randomised controlled trial will be conducted to evaluate the relative effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of each of the interventions both individually and combined, against a control condition receiving minimal cessation assistance. It is hypothesized that all intervention programs will be more effective than minimal assistance, with the Combined program proving most effective, especially among smokers who are more addicted and/or have had no previous quit attempt lasting beyond a week.

The aim of this study is to evaluate whether a pre-operative clinical medical and educational intervention will improve outcomes after cardiac surgery (such as reduced wound infections through improved glycaemic control). This will be done by providing a rapid clinical assessment and management of patients with diabetes prior to their cardiac surgery.