ANZCTR search results

Classroom activity breaks have gained traction as an effective strategy for increasing student on task behaviour and academic achievement. Despite these promising results, there remains a gap in the research regarding the effectiveness of activity breaks in secondary school environments. Strength in Numbers is an innovative educational pedagogy that integrates muscle strengthening activities into mathematics lessons. The intervention consists of a series of 5-minute videos that presents numeracy questions aligned with the NSW mathematics syllabus. Students indicate their answer by performing a corresponding muscle-strengthening activity. These activities are designed to be simple, quick, and effective and require no additional equipment or space. It is hypothesised that by combining movement and syllabus outcomes students will find learning less stressful and may improve on task behaviour for up to 30 minutes following the intervention.

This study aims to evaluate gyrocardiography (GCG) as a diagnostic screening tool that detects the presence of aortic stenosis. GCG data will be obtained from 300 participants with either normal aortic valves or mild, moderate or severe aortic stenosis. The results of the GCG data will be compared to that obtained by echocardiography, the gold standard. We hypothesise that GCG will accurately identify aortic stenosis with high sensitivity and specificity - it will be able to detect patients who truly have the disease, and exclude those that do not. This will benefit patients by improving doctors’ ability to diagnose aortic stenosis and more quickly refer onwards for treatment that may be needed.

This study will compare the effects of simplified sleep study testing (with fewer monitoring channels than usual) versus full sleep studies for the diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), by investigating the accuracy of 3 different simplified sleep study devices, their impacts on physician decision-making and important patient outcomes (including symptoms of daytime sleepiness) and whether the use of simplified testing devices in the management of OSA is associated with significant cost savings. The study hypothesis is that limited-channel sleep study testing is accurate, effective and cost-effective compared to full sleep study testing in the diagnosis and management of patients with suspected OSA.

People living with rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease are often recommended to have antibiotic injections at least every 28-days over five years to reduce their risk of permanent heart damage. Our team has developed a new, less painful, way to deliver the antibiotic, called ‘SCIP’, which provides 10-weeks of protection. By partnering with the Ord Valley Aboriginal Health Service, we will offer SCIP to people in need of regular BPG in Kununurra, Western Australia, and evaluate how well it works for them, with the ultimate goal of using SCIP to reduce rheumatic heart disease morbidity. We hypothesize that SCIP will provide an acceptable alternative way for people to get their regular BPG.

The aim of this research is to investigate how a potential treatment works for the cognitive and mood symptoms experienced during menopause through a form of non-invasive brain stimulation. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a technique that can alter activation in certain areas of the brain by using magnetic stimulation. This stimulation is non-invasive, which means it is applied to the top of your scalp. The stimulation then travels through the scalp and into the brain. Specific forms of TMS, like intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS) are promising treatments for depression, memory, and thinking. We hypothesise that this may be a promising treatment option that can improve cognition and mood in females going through the late menopause transition. This research will address this evidence-practice gap by testing whether the treatment works.

The proposed study will be a prospective, observational, non-intervention study that will collect clinical ocular measurements from a range of participants including those with healthy and diseased retinas to allow comparison of the Cylite Hyperparallel Optical Coherence Tomographer (HP-OCT) with the Heidelberg Spectralis Spectral-Domain Optical Coherence Tomographer (SD-OCT). The main objective of this study is to evaluate the validity and repeatability of the retinal layer segmentation of images acquired with the HP-OCT.

As the most common indication for seeking medical eye care in developed countries, tear dysfunction is a major public health issue. The most common form of tear dysfunction is dry eye disease. At present, major barriers to optimal dry eye medical care are difficulties in reliably diagnosing and assessing the severity of the condition. There is therefore a need for new, rapid, cost-effective methods for detecting and staging dry eye, and tear dysfunction more generally, in clinical practice. This study seeks to evaluate a new method for analysing tear health, based upon quantifying biophysical attributes related to tear viscoelasticity, using a novel acoustically-driven microfluidic extensional rheometry platform. This study seeks to assess the therapeutic responsivity of the new method by examining correlations between the changes to dry eye clinical signs and ADMiER-derived tear rheology attributes, in response to established interventions for dry eye. We hypothesise that the viscoelastic properties of the tears will correlate to changes in the clinical signs and symptoms of dry eye disease.

The sickest patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) receive prolonged, invasive mechanical support for their breathing, which may be lifesaving. But after this, it is common for the breathing muscles to be weak, which makes it difficult to get back to normal breathing, with an increased risk of death or poor recovery. We have found that 2 weeks of breathing muscle training, started in the ICU, is safe, improves breathing muscle strength, and may improve quality of life after ICU. This study tests whether 6 weeks of training improves quality of life after ICU in a larger group of up to 300 patients. We do not know whether the longer period of training will result in significantly better outcomes for patients, and the results of this study will help physiotherapists know whether this is a useful approach for future ICU survivors.

In this study, we want to learn about how and when glucose levels measured using continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) in Australian children change over time so that we can better understand how T1D develops. By monitoring changes in glucose levels and patterns with CGM, this study will also provide useful additional information on whether these children are progressing towards a clinical diagnosis of T1D, and treatment with insulin. The CGM will be worn “blinded” meaning no glucose readings will be visible to participants whilst wearing the CGM. Participants will be asked to wear at least 2 sensors, each lasting up-to 10 days to obtain at least 14 days of glucose data. These CGM sensors will be worn at a minimum every 6 months until either the participant no longer wishes to participate, turns 18 years old, develops clinical T1D or the study finishes. This study hypothesises that CGM can be used as a tool in children with islet autoantibodies to identify those who are more likely to progress or closer to clinical diagnosis and prevent the likelihood to DKA at diagnosis.

Hypothesis: There is no difference between computer automated designed and computer automated manufactured (CAD-CAM) based fixed bonded metal orthodontic retainers used to hold tooth positions after active orthodontic treatment and conventional, non-customised bonded fixed retainers. At the completion of orthodontic treatment, patients are provided with orthodontic retainers to keep their teeth and bite stable, and to prevent relapse of teeth back into their pre-treatment positions. Fixed retainers are advantageous due to their lack of reliance on patient compliance; however they do suffer a high rate of failure. The popularity of chairside CAD/CAM wire bending robot machines is increasing due to their ease of use and fast turnaround time. The aim of the study is to compare computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) custom robot bent fixed orthodontic retainers to conventional Ortho FlexTech direct bonded fixed retainers in terms of orthodontic treatment stability by means of a prospective, randomised clinical trial. Additionally, secondary objectives are to assess and compare patient satisfaction, survivability, cleansibility and periodontal health with each type of bonded retainer.