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The Australian Placental Transfusion Study (APTS) and other studies provide strong evidence that deferring umbilical cord clamping at birth for up to a minute is a simple, safe procedure that reduces the proportion of preterm infants who need a blood transfusion by 10%. The mechanism is not fully understood – but one potential mechanism is an increased volume of transfusion of blood from the placenta to the baby after birth. Alternatively, deferred cord clamping may reduce severity of illness in the first weeks after birth. This could lead to fewer blood tests, greater tolerance of anaemia, and better opportunities for babies to make their own red cells. The Transfusions In The APTS Newborns Study (TITANS) is designed is to obtain and analyse more data about the babies in APTS to investigate the mechanism behind the reduced need for red cell transfusions, and to explore whether there are other changes in clinical care that could reduce the need for transfusion.

The overall goal of this study is to see whether we can improve the knowledge patients have about their hospital stay, their satisfaction with their hospitalisation, and their ability to complete the visits and testing that are recommended for when the patient goes home. The reason it is important to conduct our study is that patients may have more complications if they don’t fully understand hospital events and future recommendations at the time of discharge from hospital. An earlier small study showed that a patient’s understanding and satisfaction of their hospital admission improves when they are provided with a personalised one-page Patient Directed Discharge Letter (abbreviated as PADDLE) discussed with them by the doctor at the bedside. The purpose of this study is to see whether a newer and more uniform version of the PADDLE letter will be beneficial for patients compared to those who receive the standard hospital discharge letter. The individualised PADDLE will be explained by the treating doctor at the time of hospital discharge and the letter will include the reason for the hospital admission, the tests and treatments received as well as the recommendations for future management.

Patients can develop strictures (narrowings) of the oesophagus (gullet) following therapy for head and neck cancers. These strictures can impair swallowing. They are treated by dilatation (stretching open) during endoscopy, but in some patients can recur frequently and lead to need for frequent and repeated procedures. We are examining the effect of patients self-dilating their strictures at home on the recurrence rate of such strictures. Our study hypothesis is that patients treated with self-dilatation have reduced clinically significant re-stricturing necessitating endoscopic dilatation, compared to those treated with endoscopic dilatation on-demand.

TFF Pharmaceuticals Australia Pty Limited is developing the study drug TFF tacrolimus as a potential new treatment to lower the risk of rejection for lung transplantations. Tacrolimus is an immunosuppressive drug used mainly after an organ transplant to lower the risk of organ rejection. Immunosuppression has been a key factor for the success of organ transplants. Tacrolimus as inhalation therapy (TFF tacrolimus) is being investigated specifically to lower the risk of rejection for lung transplantations. Tacrolimus is available as oral capsules and as intravenous injections (into the vein). The purpose of this study is to determine safe and tolerable inhaled doses that will be investigated further in future human studies.

Adequate physical activity and a healthy diet are important in reducing the risk of having a stroke. Stroke recurrence is common and medical management alone is not sufficient to manage the risk of stroke recurrence. This study aims to test the safety and feasibility of a diet and/or exercise program for stroke survivors aimed at reducing their risk of having another stroke. The programs run for 6 months duration. Both the diet and the exercise programs will be delivered via telehealth using teleconferencing technology, and this should make the program accessible to people who have had a stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA) all over Australia. We will be assessing how feasible the programs are by measuring the rate we can recruit people to the study, participants’ adherence to the programs and the completion rate by participants. We will also be asking participants about their experience to identify if improvements can be made. We will also be measuring each participants’ risk of having another stroke by measuring the amount of physical activity they do, their diet, and their blood pressure. If successful this study will be used to support further research in the area.

Historically, the management of knee OA has been variable, and often limited to pharmaceutical management and total joint replacement. Recently, evidence-based recommendations for the management of knee OA have been developed by scientific societies and health organisations. Best-practice guidelines for the treatment of knee OA focus on conservative (non-operative) multidisciplinary management that encompasses education, exercise, lifestyle modification and weight-loss where relevant, while promoting self-management. This body of evidence demonstrates that multidisciplinary conservative management of knee OA is efficacious. This observational study aims to discover how knee osteoarthritis patients are currently been managed by community physiotherapists, and if this aligns with recommended guidelines.

Oxidative stress occurs within a cell when there is an imbalance between highly reactive molecules and neutralising antioxidants. Oxidative stress can cause damage to healthy cells that lead to the development of numerous conditions including cancer, type 2 diabetes, neurodegenerative and cardiovascular disease, and contributes to the age-associated loss in tissue and organ function. On the other hand, oxidative stress plays a beneficial role in maintaining and improving cell function and overall human health. Research has yet to elucidate the mechanisms behind how the same reactive molecules can lead to completely opposing health outcomes. We will explore how oxidative stress, antioxidant treatment, and cell signalling can lead to opposing health outcomes by transiently eliciting both favourable and unfavourable oxidative stress and antioxidant treatment conditions in humans.

This study is aiming to investigate participants thoughts and feedback on new virtual reality technologies to assist with skin cancer eduation. Who is it for? You may be eligible for this study if you are aged 18 years or over and can attend the Queensland University of Technology for a once-off focus group. Study details All participants will complete a 45 minute audio-recorded focus group at the Queensland University of Technology. Discussion includes the concept of sun safety and new virtual reality technologies to assist with skin cancer prevention. This research will be used to influence future design and implementation of products that educate about skin cancer prevention.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how safe and tolerable BTX 1702 (either as a solution or a gel) is compared to a placebo (either a solution or a gel) when it is applied two times a day for a planned period of 42 days on the face of participants with papulopustular rosacea. The study will also look at whether BTX 1702 (either solution or gel) improves or worsens papulopustular rosacea compared to a placebo (gel or solution) and whether there are differences in the effectiveness of the BTX 1702 solution compared to the BTX 1702 gel. Participants will be monitored for any reactions or signs of irritation that may be caused by BTX 1702.

The primary purpose of this study is to analyse and report on outcomes following treatment for patients presenting to a single orthopaedic surgeon, Mr Timothy Lording, for management of conditions affecting the knee. This clinical registry will collate and store patient outcomes collected routinely as part of the standard clinical pathway for knee treatments. Outcomes will include objective joint function, patient reported outcomes (pain, satisfaction, quality of life), radiological findings and rates of revision surgery or complications. The main hypothesis arising from the registry is that specific factors present before treatment will predict the likelihood of a patient experiencing a positive, or negative outcome (whether clinically indicated or patient-reported) following surgery.