ANZCTR search results

Emerging evidence of preclinical studies suggests that bitter substances in the gut can reduce appetite and slow the emptying of meals from the stomach, by stimulating GI hormone release. The purpose of this study is to determine whether stimulation of intestinal bitter taste receptors (BTRs) by non-caloric BTR agonists induces GI hormone secretion in humans and, if so, whether probenecid acts as an effective BTR antagonist. In this trial, we wish to investigate whether rectal infusion of a BTR agonist, denatonium benzoate (DB), stimulates the secretion of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and peptide YY (PYY) and antagonism of BTR signalling by probenecid attenuates the GLP-1 and PYY responses induced by rectal administration of bitter tastants (i.e. DB and taurocholic acid (TCA, which is known to stimulate GLP-1 and PYY secretion humans and therefore will serve as a positive control).

The purpose of this study is to compare two types of infant formula fed to late-preterm babies; ‘routine formula’ and ‘nutrient enriched formula’. The outcomes of the formula fed late-preterm infants will also be compared to a group of term breastfed infants.

The aim of the study is to investigate the effects of an intensive home practice program of Expiratory Muscle Strength Training (EMST) versus the Effortful Swallow, a traditional dysphagia rehabilitation exercise, in a population of people with dysphagia secondary to Parkinson's disease (PD). The aims of this research are: 1. Does completion of an intensive home practice program using EMST or traditional dysphagia therapy improve swallow function in individuals with Parkinson's disease in the community setting? 2. Does EMST and traditional dysphagia rehabilitation change the force generation of the sub mental muscle group involved in swallowing for people with PD and dysphagia? 3. Are EMST and traditional dysphagia rehabilitation exercises practical swallowing intervention options in the community setting for clients with Parkinson’s disease? 4. Does participating in a rehabilitation program for dysphagia due to Parkinson’s disease improve quality of life?

To test the hypothesis that addition of nitric oxide, a gas with anti-inflammatory properties, to the CPB circuit could improve post-operative outcome for children with transposition of the great arteries undergoing the arterial switch operation.

Women in high risk labour have their babies monitored by electronic fetal monitoring. This detects unborn babies not coping during labour, but may lead to unnecessary caesarean sections by incorrectly indicating that the baby is at risk. We will compare CTG to STan monitoring, which may give fewer false readings. We will show if STan reduces emergency caesarean section, and will investigate the impact on the baby, assess psychological aspects such as mental health and wellbeing, and costs.

This pilot study will randomise young people admitted to Banksia ward following a suicide attempt or self-harm to either standard care or structured care. Comparisons will be made in terms of attendance and engagement with community mental health services, parental protective factors in supporting the young person in crisis, self-rated suicide resilience, satisfaction with inpatient services, and readmission rates within 1 and 3 months. Measures will be taken at baseline, discharge from Banksia ward, and 1 and 3 months follow-up. Between-group differences will be analysed using chi square, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and t tests.

We believe that AVAPS mode of ventilation is tolerated better by patients than standard therapy. We aim to demonstrate that AVAPS is not inferior to standard pressure support ventilation when looking at clinical outcomes.

This project looks to provide additional physiotherapy sessions to older adults aged 65 and over who are recovering from a broken hip. Extra physiotherapy sessions will be offered during their hospital stay. Participants will be encouraged to undertaken a series of seated or standing exercises plus walking, depending on their ability. The safety and practicality of providing physiotherapy three times per day will be measured. Acceptability of the program will be examined by interviewing participants and their families, as well as therapists.

As pain is a disturbing problem for people living with dementia, pharmacological approaches are necessary for pain management, but medications may bring undesirable side effects; however, non-pharmacological interventions have been recommended to manage pain without obvious side effects. Among them, social robot intervention such as PARO is promising to reduce pain and it is convenient for both health care providers and patients, especially for people with dementia. Findings from this study may provide an evidence-based intervention to improve pain management thus improving the quality of life for people with dementia and decreasing the care burden for nursing staff as well as family carers.

One in 100 children is diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Up to 70% of children and adolescents with Autism also experience mental illnesses including anxiety and depression. In addition to the impact of Autism on individuals, the mental illnesses they suffer from are of at least the same severity as that of their disability. However, unlike Autism, mental health problems are reversible and preventable. While approximately 40-50% of adolescents with Autism also have an Intellectual Disability (ID), there is very little research or evidence based programs aimed at this vulnerable population that aim to promote mental health, emotional development and social skills. For adolescents with Autism and an intellectual disability there is no intervention promoting mental well-being. The Westmead Feelings Program (WFP) is an innovative autism specific program developed and researched by psychologists at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead. It is a group based program consisting of 3 modules and a booster session (16 sessions in total). Previous implementation research on the WFP has established the effectiveness of emotion-based learning for primary school-aged children on the autism spectrum, with and without an intellectual disability, and adolescents without an intellectual disability, both in school and clinical settings, in improving emotions competence and reducing symptoms of mental disorder. The aim of this study is to address a current gap in intervention, by developing an adaptation of the Westmead Feelings Program for adolescents with autism and mild intellectual disability, to be piloted in a clinic and school based setting. This study is divided into three parts: Part A: Literature review and development of WFP adapted for adolescents with autism and mild intellectual disability. Part B: Explore and co-design the content in the adapted WFP in focus groups with target population participants (adolescents, parents, educations and other professionals) and explore the adapted WFP feasibility. Part C: Adapted intervention pilot across two settings (clinic setting and a school based setting) – to assess the participant experience, feasibility, barriers to successful implementation and explore whether there are improvements in adolescent well-being, social skills and emotions competence over time, concurrent with using adapted WFP. It is expected that the study will confirm adequate positive experience, feasibility and improvements over time concurrent with using the WFP adapted for adolescents, which may warrant further feasibility and acceptability testing of the adapted WFP in a larger study.