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The “Let’s CHAT (Community Health Approaches To) Dementia in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities” project will work with Aboriginal communities and service providers to develop, implement and evaluate a model of care centred within Aboriginal Community Controlled Primary Care Services. The project aims to improve the timely detection and ongoing management of older Aboriginal people with dementia or cognitive impairment not dementia (CIND). This project will engage with community members, Aboriginal Health Professionals and local Health Practitioners to enhance the overall health outcomes and quality of life of older people who have cognitive impairment or dementia, their families and communities.

It is frustrating for families of children with chronic, non-life threatening health problems to have to wait a long time to see a paediatrician. This project tests an online program called eADVICE (electronic Advice and Diagnosis Via the Internet following Computerised Evaluation) that provides treatment advice to patients while they are waiting for an appointment. The program, which can be used repeatedly by families, asks questions about the sick child, and then gives personalised treatment advice to address the health problem (through a virtual character that talks to the child). The program is linked directly to the GP, who supervises the child’s treatment. We will conduct a randomised controlled trial to compare two groups of families: those given immediate access to eADVICE-continence at the time their GP refers the child to the specialist and those given access 6 months after their referral. We will follow up each participant for 12 months and assess whether the program can reduce the need to see the specialist. We will also look at the effect of the program on the child’s health, the families’ experience of the health system and cost implications.

The purpose of this study is to assess the effect of delivering all anti-cancer medications during initial systemic therapy on outcomes in those undergoing treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer. Who is it for? You may be eligible for this study if you are an adult who has been diagnosed with metastatic colorectal cancer. Study details Participants will be randomly allocated to receive one of two treatments: 1. Alternating schedule of 2 cycles of oxaliplatin based chemotherapy and 2 cycles of irinotecan based chemotherapy 2. Clinician’s choice of chemotherapy. Participants will receive combination chemotherapy for 4-6 months followed by a maintenance period where participants will continue to receive 'maintenance' chemotherapy until disease progression, toxicity or patient/treating clinician request. It is hoped that combining the two effective chemotherapy drugs in first line treatment, but in an alternating pattern, will be beneficial to the patient's outcome and that this alternating use of them will reduce the higher toxicity that occurs when these drugs are used together.

The antioxidants acetyl-L-carnitine (ALC), N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) and a-lipoic acid (ALA) are shown to be involved in protecting cells from oxidative damage. Recently, a study performed in the mouse model and in smaller human studies showed a clear benefit of using the combination of the three antioxidants on embryo development as well as implantation potential and foetal growth. We therefore want to study the possible advantage of using a medium containing these three known antioxidants compared with the standard medium currently being used in our IVF laboratories. Mainly we want to investigate whether the combination of these three antioxidants may favour embryo development in human IVF.

Poor inhaler technique has been a major problem in managing respiratory illness for decades ; it compromises disease control and is associated with an increase in the economic burden of disease management. When inhaler technique education is delivered to general practitioners (GPs), it can improve attitudes and facilitate implementation of inhaler education into practice. The primary purpose of this study is to assess what level of education is minimally required to master inhaler technique in general practitioners and we hypothesize that inhaler technique mastery is not an intuitive skill.

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy is a common problem in people with diabetes and may result in unsteadiness when walking. A new wearable device has been developed to improve walking in people with diabetic peripheral neuropathy by providing a vibration stimulus to the legs. The objective of this study to assess the effects of this device on walking patterns.

The prevalence of 12-month mental disorders highest in young people but service use is low, particularly among young men. Apprenticeships are a common pathway for young people making the transition from adolescent to adulthood, and offer a prime location for intervention. We have worked with young apprentices to adapt an existing app to better suit their needs and are aiming to conduct a pilot trial of this modified app to explore the acceptability, utility, and preliminary efficacy of this modified version. This involves recruiting approximately 60 apprentices who will sign-up and complete assessment online, download the app, use it for 30-days, and complete a second online set of questionnaires.

Prototype CPAP masks will be evaluated for usability (comfort, seal and stability) by participants for a 7 night period. During the process of product development, multiple user trials are conducted in order to improve CPAP masks. The purpose of this study is to identify usability issues and improve them in order to develop CPAP masks which are comfortable and easy to use.

This project will involve a FMS program that will be implemented with the parents of children enrolled at the UNSW Early Years Childcare Centres. FUN MOVES will be a randomised controlled trial in preschool aged children to be conducted over a 12-week period with fundamental motor skill testing to be completed at the beginning and end of the 12 weeks. Parents of children in the control group will be offered the videos free of charge at the end of the study. Therefore, initially the control groups will be allocated as wait list for the program. The primary outcome measure will be FMS measured using the Test of Gross Motor Development 2 (TGMD-2). Secondary outcome measures include both perceived and actual physical activity (PA) levels and anthropometric data (BMI).

Antibiotics are crucial in the fight against serious infections. There is increasing resistance of bacteria to old antibiotics and new antibiotics are not readily being released for use. To fight antibiotic resistance, we need to use older antibiotics more effectively. To do this we need to study them more intensively in our sickest patients. Microsampling is a general technique for reducing blood collection volumes. It is not readily used in bedside practise. It is not well researched in clinical practise. The researchers aim to study antibiotics in children admitted to the intensive care unit at Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital that are receiving commonly prescribed antibiotics. They aim to study the blood levels to build up a picture of the effectiveness of current dosing regimens. This will be done with a combination of standard blood volume sampling (0.5mls -2mls) and micro blood sampling (~0.02ml). This will assess weather micro sampling is able to be utilised in this way and give meaningful results. Similar pilot studies have been undertaken in adults and it seems this is possible. The overall aim is to improve the understanding of antibiotic therapy in sick children and make future studies easier.