ANZCTR search results

This study will characterize the development of the small blood vessels in the outermost layer of the kidney after very preterm birth (as early as 24 of 40 weeks of pregnancy) to term and to one year of age, using a new ultrasound mode with the ability to demonstrate blood flow in very small blood vessels (SMI ultrasound). The study will also compare the findings of the blood vessel development with measurements traditionally used to measure the function of the kidneys.

Background Patients who arrive at the emergency department are triaged by a trained triage nurse, but then may wait hours before being seen by an emergency doctor who decides if they need to be admitted to hospital. Early identification of patients requiring admission from the emergency department may help improve hospital efficiency. Previous research has suggested that machine learning may be able to be applied to triage data to predict if a patient will be admitted to hospital, however no research has been conducted in Western Australia. Objective Use machine learning to predict disposition for patients presenting to the emergency department based on data available at the time of triage. Project plan We will develop our dataset using retrospective triage data from Western Australian Emergency Departments. We will then use a portion of this dataset to train a machine learning model to predict emergency department disposition (such as admitted to ward, intensive care, or discharged). We will test the performance of our machine learning model on the remainder of the dataset and compare the prediction of the best performing machine learning model to the predictions of emergency doctors.

The purpose of this study is to see if a tracheostomy tube that has a window (called a fenestration) can increase airflow through the upper airway and improve speech when compared to tubes that don't have the window, in patients having surgery. Who is it for? You may be eligible to join this study if you are aged 18 years or above, and have been diagnosed with a head and neck cancer, and as part of your surgical management have an uncuffed fenestrated tracheostomy in-situ. Study details Patients will be first randomised to either the intervention (fenestrated inner tube) or the control (non-fenestrated inner tube), however all participants will experience both the intervention and the control at some point in time. The interventions will involve changing the inner tubes and seeing an effect on upper airflow. The study will involve several tests, including directly looking at where the fenestration (or, window) sits in the trachea. It is hoped this research will demonstrate that fenestrated tubes can improve airflow and therefore make it easier for patients to speak.

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is an atherosclerotic disease characterised by blocked arteries and impaired blood supply to the legs, which causes muscle pain and limits waking capacity and the ability to undertake daily activities. This randomised placebo-controlled trial will test the effect of a novel treatment where patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) will undertake daily periods of neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) using the Revitive® Medic Coach footplate device. This is a class IIa medical device that is commercially available and approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) for use in Australia. Patients use the device by sitting comfortably and placing their bare feet on the rubber foot pads of the device, which deliver the stimulation to the muscles of the feet and legs. If successful, this simple treatment strategy will reduce symptoms (pain, claudication) and improve exercise tolerance (walking capacity) and quality of life, enabling patients to be more physically active.

Despite enormous personal and economic cost, chronic (i.e. persistent) pain is too often overlooked. One feature of pain we particularly do not understand is its spread. We hypothesise that the spread of pain reflects an impairment in the way the brain processes incoming sensory information. We will trial a non-invasive tactile (touch) training program, to reduce pain spread in adults with chronic back pain. Crucially - in one of the only longitudinal brain imaging investigations to date - we will scan with electroencephalography (EEG), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) before and after training so we can better understand the mechanisms of the training and thus more fully harness the potential of this novel idea. We anticipate that the tactile training program, which involves discriminating non-painful two-point stimuli, with feedback, will reduce the spread of pain and will improve tactile function (often poor in chronic pain disorders). Further, we hypothesise that the tactile outcomes will be associated with the EEG and MRI/S outcomes.

The Ahead of the Game program uses sport to teach athletes, parents, and coaches to talk about mental health, encourage help-seeking, and build resilience. The overall aim of the study is to test the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the Ahead of the Game program among a sample of adolescent male sport participants, their parents, and their coaches. In this study we also aim to answer questions pertaining to limits, conditions and mechanisms of program effectiveness – for whom does the program work, under what conditions, and through what mechanisms? Through this study we also aim to replicate and extend a previous controlled trial (ACTRN12617000709347) by using: (i) a stronger research design (i.e., a randomised controlled design); (ii) a longer follow-up period to test the duration of any benefits; and (iii) utilising a more active control group.

This research aims to support parents for whom parenting has become difficult by investigating the effect of Holding Hands on child social, emotional and behavioural outcomes. The secondary objective is to investigate the effect of Holding Hands on parent depression, anxiety and stress. Holding Hands combines sessional engagement of parents on their own and direct coaching of parents and their children. As a result of inclusion in this study, it is hypothesised that: Participants will show a reduction in parent-report levels of child behavioural social, emotional and behavioural difficulties from baseline to follow up Participants will show a decrease in self-reported levels of parental depression, anxiety and stress from baseline to follow up.

This is a feasibility study aiming to evaluate the usefulness of a weight bearing monitoring sensor in the rehabilitation of patients who have undergone surgical fixation of an ankle fracture. Rehabilitation of such a fracture involves gradual loading of the foot, as the fracture heals. However it is difficult to quantify the amount of loading that actually goes through the foot during the gait cycle. The proposed study is testing the feasibility of using a sensor (Magnes device) to record the weight bearing load during the gait cycle, and can be monitored by the physiotherapist. It is envisaged that the therapist will be able to tailor make a programme of rehabilitation for each patient with accurate load data and monitor patient adherence to the rehabilitation regime. Advances in technology may even allow for the monitoring to be remote through the use of smartphones thus reducing the patient contact time and need to visit the clinic. This being a feasibility study, it will test this technology on 12 patients recruited via the Royal Brisbane Women's Hospital Orthopaedic department. The observations from this feasibility study are going to inform a larger randomised controlled trial testing the clinical and cost efficacy of this technology in the rehabilitation of ankle fractures post-operatively.

Psilocybin is quickly becoming a promising treatment for mental illness and is being studied widely due to its profound consciousness-altering properties. We want to better understand (1) how the consciousness-altering properties of psilocybin affect the brain and, (2) how contextual factors, such as mindset and environmental setting can impact the psilocybin experience. Healthy adults ages between 18-55 years who are residing in Victoria, Australia are recruited. Eligible adults will be asked to attend our research facilities in Clayton on two occasions to undergo a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Electroencephalography (EEG). On the second visit, participants will be administered a moderate dose of psilocybin before undergoing the MRI and EEG. Throughout the study, participants will also be asked to complete an interview and online questionnaires, where they will be asked about their health and wellbeing. All participants will also be asked to attend one or more sessions designed to prepare participants for the psilocybin experience in a research setting. The main aim of this study is to improve our understanding of the neural mechanisms of psilocybin by applying computational modelling to (structural, functional and diffusion) MRI and EEG data collected from healthy adults while they are experiencing the acute effects of psilocybin. We will also investigate the influence of contextual factors to enhance the comfort of participants, such as the use of music and meditation during administration and meditation training prior to administration of psilocybin.

The primary aim of the current study is to evaluate the clinical usefulness of CNSDose, a pharmacogenetic test, in the treatment of patients with severe mood disorders. This will be a 24-week, single-blinded, randomised control trial. Participants will be randomised to one of two study groups 1) CNSDose-guided group and 2) Standard treatment (unguided) control group. It is hypothesised that a significantly higher proportion of patients in the CNSDose-guided group (Group 1) whose doctors used the CNSDose report will have achieved remission compared to the Unguided group (Group 2).