ANZCTR search results

A Multi-strategy intervention program in Geelong aims to promote healthy eating and physical activity and reduce overweight and obesity in pre-school children compared children across the rest of Victoria.

Colac's Be Active Eat Well is a community-based intervention program aimed at increasing the community's capacity to promote healthy eating and physical activity and to reduce unhealthy weight gain in primary school aged children.

The main purpose of this study is to determine whether the long term inhalation of a salt solution will decrease the number of lung infections and improve the quality of life of people with bronchiectasis.

Clinical experience has shown continued use of antiviral medication to treat hepatitis B can lead to changes or ‘mutations’ in the hepatitis B virus (or HBV). The virus, once it has ‘mutated’, might then be resistant to the particular medication previously taken, and a new hepatitis B medication is needed to mange the infection. If the infection is not managed with effective medication liver damage can occur. Early detection of hepatitis B mutations can enable doctors to manage hepatitis B treatment before further liver damage can occur. The purpose of this project is to describe the mutations in the hepatitis B virus in Australian patients with hepatitis B. Further, it aims to investigate the relationships between demographic and clinical factors to the appearance of these viral mutations.

The specific aims are to compare Gen II and Journey TKA regarding : •Patient satisfaction and functional outcome •The degree of postoperative knee flexion. •3D kinematics of the knee joints •Gait pattern •The rate of complications and difficulties •The migration pattern of the tibia trays

Chronic neck pain sufferers have been found to often suffer from trigger points in neck musculature. Trigger points are bands of hyper-irritable spots in taut muscle, which can cause tenderness, a jump sign, and radiculations of pain. Chronic pain, that greater than 3 months duration, is understood to have significant psychosocial overlay. Very few primary health care therapists have the means to treat this psychosocial overlay and hence reduce associated physical symptoms. Neuro Emotional Technique is a well-established chiropractic intervention which attempts to treat this psychosocial overlay. This study took chronic neck pain sufferers, and measured their presentations of pain on a visual analog scale, and also via a quantified pressure applied to the trigger points with a pressure gauge algometer. The treatment group then received one NET treatment, whilst the control received a SHAM treatment. They both presented 3 days later to see if their symptoms had changed in severity. The primary purpose was to see if NET consultation had a short term effect of the severity of trigger points in neck musculature. The null hypothesis was that NET would not cause a reduction in pain sensitivity in trigger points as measured by pressure algometry.

Angina is a medical term used to describe pain (usually felt in the chest) due to coronary artery disease causing reduced blood flow to the heart. We are investigating the use of G-CSF to treat chronic angina in patients who have failed standard treatment with medications and or coronary stenting/coronary artery bypass surgery. G-CSF is a man made version of a naturally occuring hormone. There is experimental evidence that G-CSF can stimulate the formation of new blood vessels in the heart and protect heart muscle cells. Through these effects, we hypothesise that patients will derive improvements in blood flow to the heart and hence angina symptoms. We will be measuring the effects of G-CSF on blood flow to the heart with cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI scan).

The aim of the study is the in vivo investigation of the plasma concentration and the renal excretion rates following Naltrexone implantation. This will allow us to determine the pharmacokinetic properties of the implants. In other words, the study assesses how quickly naltrexone is released following an implant and how quickly it is processed by the body. Blood and urine samples will be collected frequently over the 1st 72 hour and then at extended intervals to 6 months.

To determine if the addition of either topical clindamycin or a topical probiotic/oestrogen combination, reduces recurrent rates of bacterial vaginosis (BV), when added to the current recommended therapy of seven days of the oral antibiotic metronidazole. Hypotheses 1. Combination antibiotic therapy of oral metronidazole with vaginal clindamycin will be more effective than oral metronidazole alone in the treatment of bacterial vaginosis. 2. Restoring normal vaginal acidity and healthy bacteria through replacement of Lactobacillus bacteria and topical oestrogen (in addition to oral metronidazole), will achieve higher rates of cure than current recommended therapy oral metronidazole alone.

In patients with cystic fibrosis (CF), recurring infection causes inflammation and airway damage. This study focuses on the major bacterial problem, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Several studies from Australia and the UK including our own have shown that about 30-45% of patients share the same strain of P. aeruginosa within a Centre. We know that two dominant strains of P. aeruginosa are found in CF Centres on the eastern board of Australia. The emergence of these clonal strains is causing increasing anxiety in the CF community. A cross sectional study will be initially conducted among patients who attend 19 CF centres in Australia. These patients will be able to spontaneously produce sputum and are chronically infected with P. aeruginosa (approximately 1500 patients). Sputum samples will be screened for the presence of related (clonal) P. aeruginosa strains. The aim of this cross sectional study is to establish the prevalence and extent of current spread of these strains amongst adult and paediatric CF centres in Australia. Following the prevalence study, a second longitudinal (observational) study will be performed on any patients who are identified as free of infection from clonal strains. In this study each patient’s clinical course and clonal P.aeruginosa status will be monitored over a period of 4 years. The aims of this study are: i) to determine the incidence of infection with clonal strains and any associated epidemiological risk factors for their acquisition; and ii) to determine if infection with a clonal strain is associated with an adverse clinical course and whether clinical or microbiological features predispose to or potentiate this effect. This study is designed to provide vitally needed information on the clinical implications of being infected by a clonal strain of P. aeruginosa and the risk factors for the acquisition of a clonal strain. This new information will provide a rational basis for the need for changes to infection control policies and better outcome predictors for patients infected with clonal strains of P. aeruginosa.