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AIMS: The aim is to test whether a 10-week progressive resistance training (PRT) program for depressed people aged 65 and over from the general practice setting will result in a reduced prevalence of depression at ten weeks and six months and a concomitant improvement in physical and psychological health, functional and quality of life status. The hypothesis to be tested is that the PRT program will produce a 60% reduction in depression rates amongst older people (akin to standard active therapies), compared to a 40% reduction in those receiving usual care. BACKGROUND: The prevalence of depression in older people ranges from 5 to 30%. Depressive illness results in reduced activity levels, functional disability and decreased quality of life, and can occur concurrently with other illnesses (e.g., cardiovascular disease) and impact adversely on these conditions. Depressed older people have much to gain from being physically active, with benefits reported in both physical and mental health. Physical activity offers an alternative to drug management for some older people, reducing iatrogenic and polypharmacy problems. PRT is one form of physical activity with a growing evidence base in depression management. It is both timely and critical that we test the effectiveness of PRT in improving mental and physical health of older people with depression when applied in the Australian primary health care context. RESEARCH PLAN: Older people will be recruited from primary and community care settings, via mailed invitations and referrals. Eligibility will be established via completion of the GDS-30 and medical clearance against proscribed criteria. Following baseline assessment, participants will be randomly allocated to a community-based, supervised PRT exercise program or usual care (comparison group). The PRT group will attend a local ‘Living Longer, Living Stronger’™ facility three times/week for 10 weeks. We will repeat baseline assessments at ten weeks and six months to determine whether the intervention’s impact is sustained. Sustainability is vital if the model is to be transferred into routine service delivery. Our approach will optimize the generalisability of study findings and the interventions’ subsequent adoption and implementation. Given the nature of the intervention, participants and exercise facilitators are not blinded to group allocation, but the data analyst is. OUTCOMES & SIGNIFICANCE: The primary endpoint is a clinically significant reduction in depressive symptoms. The secondary endpoint is a significant improvement in health and wellbeing status, measured using the Human Activities Profile, the Philadelphia Geriatric Morale Scale and the WHOQOL-Bref.

The goal of the trial was to determine whether Dose Administration Aids improve veteran outcomes and to characterise which veterans will benefit most from using a DAA. A randomised controlled trial with one year's follow-up was conducted involving Australian war veterans and war widow/ers from selected rural and urban areas of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania. Veterans were randomly allocated to have thier medication packed in a DAA by thier community pharmacy (intervention arm) or to recieve thier medication in the original packaging (control). Due to the nature of the intervention it was not possible to blind participants to the study conditions. The main outcomes were change in severity of illness and adherence.

Five to ten percent of primary school children fail to learn to read at the standard expected from their intelligence and educational and cultural background. This condition is known as dyslexia. In 2005-2006, a dyslexia project is being conducted in participating Southern Tasmanian schools. Past work has shown that some children with normal intelligence have reading problems because of problems with coordinating both eyes to read visual images. The project aims to screen for vision coordination problems among children with low literacy. It is not currently known what proportion of children who have difficulty reading have vision problems in relation to scanning text with both eyes working together. The main aim of the Literacy Pathways Project is: To assess how children may benefit from different programs to assist them with reading. Each program contains a mixture of activities that are based on past work indicating that they have benefited some children with reading problems. The relative importance of the different components within or between the programs is currently not known and is the subject of the educational trial. Participants are unaware of the intervention status and commercial names of the reading programs in the study. The programs are referred to as the orange, yellow or green program. Participants are not aware of the content of the other programs. The people conducting the assessments are blind to intervention status. Analysis - The true group allocation will be removed for the analysis and only added back in at the end. That is, the analyst will only analyse the data being aware of the orange, yellow or green categories but not the intervention status associated with each.

This study will investigate the effectiveness of Travelan, given alongside a patient's current medications, to reduce inflammation in ulcerative colitis. Travelan is a hyper-immune bovine colostrum extract from cows that have been vaccinated against the agents which commonly cause travellers diarrhoea. (ie a variety of E.Coli's). Travelan is currently sold as an over-the-counter medication in Australia to reduce the risk of traveller's diarrhoea. Medical Practitioners report that patients with a variety of chronic diarrhoea syndromes have a reduction in symptoms when taking Travelan to avoid traveller's diarrhoea. The 4 month pilot-study will review symptoms, blood and stool samples to evaluate if 2 months intervention with Travelan has an effect on bowel inflammation in ulcerative colitis.

The hypothesis is that fatty acids consumed in flaxseed oil are converted in the body to novel fatty acid oxidation products. The purpose of the study is to determine whether these fatty acid oxidation products can be measured in the blood and urine of men following supplementation with flaxseed oil for 4 weeks. The study subjects, the investigators and the statistical analyst are blinded to the treatment allocation.

In the three local government areas of Maribyrnong, Brimbank, and Melton, “home care” is available for people who are impaired in their ability to self care (cooking, dressing, bathing) or undertake domestic cleaning. Home care services are provided in clients’ homes by home care workers employed by the local government. People who request home care have their domestic care requirements determined by home care assessors, also employed by local government. Home care assessors also monitor clients’ home care needs through routine follow up checks. Home care workers and home care assessors practice a passive care model in which home care is delivered to clients without any requirement for client involvement. A drawback of this passive care model is that already functionally limited clients may have their physical capacity further reduced through dependence on other people. Three municipal councils, the Dept of Health and Ageing, and Victorian University Exercise Rehabilitation Unit will combine resources to develop an active service model of home care. Home care assessors and home care workers will be trained to identify physical activity need, and plan, implement and support physical activity with home care clients. Once home care workers and assessors have completed this training, home care clients will be invited to volunteer to participate in the active service model of home care. The active service model pilot will run for 6 months. During the active service model of home care, home care assessors and home care workers will interact with clients with the same frequency as in the current passive care model. As well as assessing home care requirements, home care assessors will identify physical activity needs and opportunities. Clients will participate in identifying physical activity needs, and planning physical activities that they a) want to undertake, and b) feel they can undertake with the supervision or assistance of their home care workers. An accredited exercise physiologist will be available throughout the project to support clients, home care workers, and home care assessors in constructing exercise / physical activity plans. Clients who volunteer to receive home care under this model will be asked to complete a battery of pencil and paper questionnaires at the beginning, middle, and end of 6 months. Using these questionnaires, the researchers will seek information about clients’ motivations toward physical activity, physical activity uptake, the continuation of physical activity over time (adherance), and any health effects (physical function, mental well-being, social function) of physical activity.

The study is being conducted as the second study (Phase 1) in the clinical development of NV-52 as a new drug for inflammatory bowel disease. It is important to know that patients who are entered onto Phase I studies generally start with one dose of the drug(s) to be tested, then take doses of the drug over the following days. The purpose of the study is to determine the “bio-availability”, that is, can the drug be detected in blood or urine of NV-52 when administered orally (pill form). Also, to see if the drug is well tolerated in patients, without side effects.

The study aims to prevent the development of child externalizing behaviour problems (eg aggression, oppositional defiance) by offering parents anticipatory guidance on how to effectively manage toddler behaviour. Up to 20% of Australian children aged 4 to 16 years experience significant behaviour problems and only ¼ of these receive professional help. Treating established problems is time and cost intensive and so a prevention approach is required. This community-based study will assess the effectiveness of a parenting program designed to promote warm and appropriate parenting, and to offer alternatives to harsh, punitive parenting (known to contribute to externalising problems). MCH nurses deliver the program. It is the first study of its kind in the world to offer a universal, primary health care preventive program for externalising behaviour problems.

The purpose of this study is to test the feasibility and safety of intravenous erythropoietin (EPO) injections in patients with recent acute myocardial infarction to improve cardiac remodelling and cardiac function

This research proposes to pilot the methods for a planned randomised controlled trial (RCT) which will test the hypothesis that in-patients aged 65 years and over who are randomly allocated to be screened for nutritional status and to receive appropriate nutritional support will have fewer negative health outcomes, compared to those who receive usual practice. The pilot study will test the feasibility of a multi-disciplinary nutritional support intervention for the population of older people who are at high risk of malnutrition and associated adverse health outcomes, while optimising the activities of a range of existing health services and patient support approaches. This study will implement a simple and efficient form of nutrition screening for men and women aged 65 years and over, who are admitted to the John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle, NSW. Consenting patients will be screened for under-nutrition using the Malnutrition Screening Tool by a Research Assistant who will remain blind to patient study status. Patients will then be randomly allocated, by a data manager, to either the control group, who will receive usual care for their presenting problem, or to the intervention. Patients within the intervention component of the study will be reviewed by a dedicated Nutrition Support Person employed by the study. “Best practice” nutritional care for these patients will be based on the recent Clinical Standards for Food, Fluid and Nutritional Care in Hospitals from Scotland. It is expected that patients will not know which condition they are randomized to, as the intervention is designed to fit seamlessly within normal hospital practice and routines. Follow-up data collection will occur at 6 months post-discharge, and will be conducted by the same Research Assistant as conducted baseline data collection, who will remain blind to patient study status. The main outcomes measures for the pilot will be a change in nutrition status from recruitment to follow-up using the Patient Generated SGA (PG-SGA), and Lean Body Mass. The findings from this study will provide a test of the feasibility of the RCT, which it is hoped will provide a much needed basis for targeting nutritional assessment and services in a growing population of older people, and would be expected to have a major impact on enhancing recovery and quality of life, and reducing length of stay and readmission for those people involved in the intervention component.