ANZCTR search results

The primary purpose of the RE-DIME study is to assess the impact of a multi-component education package on GP registrars’ medicines deprescribing. We hypothesize that an appropriately targeted educational package will improve adherence to evidence-based guidelines regarding deprescribing of inappropriate medicines in patients over 65 years by GP registrars participating in a vocational training program.

This study concerns the development and testing of a mobile phone application for the audio recording of oncology consultations. Who is it for? You may be eligible for this study if you are a cancer consumer or staff member at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. Study details You may be invited to try a new consultation audio-recording app during your next consultation at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. An ‘app’ is a program that you can use on a mobile phone or tablet device. Patients who decide to take part, will be asked to audio-record their next consultation using the app. A copy of the audio-recording will also be kept and securely stored at Peter Mac. For those patients who decide to take part, any family members or friends who accompany them to your hospital consultation will be asked whether they are happy to be audio-recorded by the app during the consultation. . People who decide to take part in this study will be contacted one week after their audio-recorded consultation to complete in a telephone survey (30 minutes) to discuss what they think about the audio-recording app. We will audio-record this interview so that we can listen back over your answers and combine them with everyone else’s to get our results. The audio-recording of the telephone interview will be stored for 5 years post study completion. There are no costs associated with participating in this research project, nor will you be paid. It is hoped this research will contribute to the implementation of the audio recording app at Peter Mac. Oncology consultations contain a lot of information, and patients and their family members/friends may be very anxious while at the hospital, which makes it hard to remember everything that is discussed in the consultation. We hope that having an easy to use audio-recording app will be helpful for patients and their family members/friends by allowing them to re-listen to the consultation at their convenience. We have designed this app with help from people like you, and now we would like to try using the app in a health care setting. We are looking at how best to use the app in the hospital, and so we are seeking feedback from patients and health care professionals.

Bemfola is a recombinant follicle stimulating hormone used for ovarian stimulation during an IVF cycle. It is approved by the TGA for use in IVF procedures. Bemfola is administered via daily injections using a 12mm needle. Other medications, such as insulin, which are administered using a similar device are moving to a 4mm needle for patient comfort with no adverse effects on delivery of the drug.or complications. The purpose of this study is to compare the current needle with a smaller 4mm needle. Patient satisfaction and safety will be assessed. Subjects will be randomised into 2 groups with 51 subjects per group. One group will use the 12mm needle and the other group will use the 4mm needle. Subjects will complete a satisfaction questionnaire at each clinic visit as well as clinical assessments as per the clinics usual practice. Study duration will be one IVF treatment cycle which is approximately 28 days.

Benzodiazepines are common psychoactive medications, used treat to conditions such as anxiety and insomnia, whose therapeutic effects can be accompanied by side effects such as drowsiness and impaired judgment. Observational research suggests an increased risk of road trauma for benzodiazepine and alcohol-affected drivers; however, it is currently legal to drive after consuming legal levels of alcohol and prescribed benzodiazepines, despite the potential risk to road users. This project aims to evaluate the effect of three common benzodiazepines (Alprazolam, Temazepam and Diazepam), in combination with alcohol, on: 1. driving performance, to assess road risk; and 2. eye movements during driving, to identify objective markers of drowsiness and driving impairment. This project will provide vital information regarding the effect of combined benzodiazepine and alcohol use on several physical, cognitive and neurobehavioural indices. This will be achieved through three separate double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over trials assessing the direct effect of combined usage of legal levels of alcohol (placebo; 0.04% BAC) and ONE of the three benzodiazepines (placebo; Alprazolam [1mg] OR Temazepam [10mg] OR Diazepam [5mg]). There will be 4 experimental sessions (alcohol + benzodiazepine, alcohol + placebo, placebo + benzodiazepine, and placebo + placebo) involving questionnaires, biological sampling (saliva, blood), cognitive tests, and a driving test on a driving simulator with simultaneous eye monitoring. It is hypothesised that alcohol and benzodiazepines alone and in combination will have an adverse effect on driving performance, and will be marked by specific eye movement patterns.

Objective: To examine the effectiveness of electronic feedback, online and telephone support for reducing multiple health risk behaviours among TAFE students at 6-months follow-up. Design: A cluster randomised trial at 32 TAFE campuses in the Hunter and North Coast of New South Wales. Methods: TAFE campuses will be matched in pairs with one campus randomly allocated to the intervention and the other to the control condition. Eligible students will be enrolled in a class that runs for at least 12 months; aged 16 years or older; not meet Australian health guidelines for at least one smoking, fruit, vegetable, alcohol or physical activity health risk behaviour; and not attend any other TAFE campus. Online and telephone support condition: At 16 intervention campuses, electronic feedback and effective online programs (e.g. QuitCoach, Healthy Eating Quiz, THRIVE, 10,000 Steps) and telephone services (e.g. NSW Quitline, Get Healthy Information and Coaching Service, ADIS) that target health risk behaviours will be offered to TAFE students during class via the baseline computer tablet. Control condition: The 16 TAFE campuses in the control condition will not receive any intervention. Measures: Primary outcome measures will assess: 1) tobacco smoking; 2) serves of fruit consumed daily; 3) serves of vegetables consumed daily; 4) standard drinks of alcohol per week and 5) metabolic equivalent minutes of physical activity per week.

To review the performance in management of acute appendicitis in a metropolitan health network in Melbourne, Australia, in the past five years, focusing on the cohort of patients managed conservatively, the management decisions and follow up results

One of the important goals of resuscitation of the extremely preterm infant is protection of the lung. Inflation of the surfactant deficient lung results in lung injury. One consequence of this is chronic lung disease (bronchopulmonary dysplasia, BPD). Lung protective strategies commencing with the first breath after birth are important to prevent or minimise lung injury that leads to BPD. Currently room temperature, dry gases are standard care for resuscitation, and these are potentially damaging to the airway. Warming and humidification of inspired gases during resuscitation may protect the lung. This trial will examine if there are differences in plasma levels of biomarkers of lung injury in extremely preterm babies who receive room temperature dry or warm humidified gases during resuscitation. Levels of angiopoietin 1 and 2, the ratio of angiopoietin1/angiopoietin 2, and levels Receptor for Advanced Glycation End Products (RAGE) will be measured in cord blood and at 12 hours, 24 hours and 48 hours after birth. Angiopoietin and RAGE are proteins important to the growth and development of lung alveoli and blood vessels.

he aim of this project is to investigate patient and design-specific parameters on the efficacy of phase-step optics contact lenses and phase plates, as a solution for presbyopia. Presbyopia is an age related condition, usually initially affecting people over the age of 45, impacting the ability of the eye to focus sharply at near distances. The knowledge obtained will allow the construction of a matrix of predictors of performance to guide and optimise lens design and visual performance. Our primary hypothesis is that clinical testing will allow for measurements of varied phase-step contact lenses and phase plate designs in eyes of varied parameters. This will allow for correlations and validation with the theoretical data obtained from ray tracing analysis and in vitro physical model eye measurements.

The heart can be stimulated to change its size and shape. The heart changing size and shape is a normal adaptation; however, in certain cases this adaptation can become harmful. Change in heart structure predicts heart events (eg. congestive heart failure, abnormal heart beats). Heart size and shape varies considerably between people; it is currently unknown what accounts for most of this variability. Previous studies suggest a genetic contribution; however, no studies have yet identified the specific changes in a person’s genetic makeup which explain why one person has a bigger heart than another. This study aims to identify rare variants in specific genes that are related to abnormal changes in heart structure. This study will do so by tracking changes in heart structure related to endurance exercise training as well as normal aging. Endurance athletes with the greatest change in heart structure will have select genes compared to endurance athletes with the least change in heart structure after 2 years of training. Additionally these gene profiles will be compared to non-endurance athletes who have the greatest and least change in heart structure over a 2-year period. In this way investigators can identify which gene variants are related to highly adaptive versus less adaptive hearts. Identifying gene variants related to heart size may help identify individuals at risk of abnormalities in which the heart enlarges too much. Identifying at-risk individuals allows doctors to identify people who may benefit from advice or treatments that may prevent problems from developing.

Short title EnRICH Protocol number and date X16-0447 dated 29/03/2017 This study aims to assemble a patient cohort to describe the natural history of and patterns of care for lung cancer; identify current gaps in evidence and practice for clinical quality improvement. Who is it for? You may be eligible for this study if you are aged 18 or over and have a diagnosis of lung cancer and are attending a defined clinical site for diagnosis or treatment. Study details All participants will provide demographic information, and their medical records will be used to build a profile of the participant’s cancer, including clinical and outcome information. Participants will also provide around 3 blood samples for research taken at the time of routine collection (e.g. prior to commencement of treatment, post-treatment). Biopsied tumour samples will be used to screen for biomarkers and molecular signals of disease. This research will assemble a patient cohort for identifying current gaps in evidence and practice, creating a platform for researchers across the translational research spectrum to develop and initiate studies to address these gaps.