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Equitable Access To Stuttering Treatments: Developing Distance And Self Managed Treatment Models
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$4,321,062.00
Summary
The development of normal verbal communication is of the utmost importance to human health. Stuttering is a prevalent disorder that severely interferes with communication. It can be disfiguring and typically causes speech related social anxiety. Social phobia is present in around half of adults affected. It prevents attainment of occupational potential and children who stutter are typically teased and bullied at school. For the past decade NHMRC Project funding has enabled the present team to co ....The development of normal verbal communication is of the utmost importance to human health. Stuttering is a prevalent disorder that severely interferes with communication. It can be disfiguring and typically causes speech related social anxiety. Social phobia is present in around half of adults affected. It prevents attainment of occupational potential and children who stutter are typically teased and bullied at school. For the past decade NHMRC Project funding has enabled the present team to conduct world class basic research and clinical trials in stuttering. Significant gains have resulted from that research, in particular the development of treatments across the age groups that have a significant evidence base. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that there are serious barriers to the implementation of these evidence based treatments, and innovative treatment developments are needed to address this. In particular, speech pathology services for rural and remotely located patients and their families are incompletely funded, and even in urban settings workplace restrictions have resulted in speech pathologists delivering incomplete and piecemeal treatments. The program of research will develop the following innovative treatment models to solve this problem: �Distance intervention models for the delivery of speech pathology services to rural patients and their families and others who are isolated from treatment services. �Self-managed treatment models for children and adults who stutter, including procedures to minimise the ubiquitous problem of relapse in adults. It is widely understood that social anxiety is a significant problem for many stutterers and research is urgently needed to establish the extent of social anxiety in stutterers across the age groups and its negative effects on treatment effectiveness. Thus, a further aim of this program of research is to: �Identify those patients for whom social anxiety is likely to constitute a barrier to successful treatment. �Develop supplementary interventions to meet the needs of those socially anxious patients. The cause of stuttering is unknown. Understanding the mechanisms underpinning effective behavioural treatments would contribute to understanding causal factors in stuttering. Thus, this program of research also aims to: �Establish why behavioural treatments work, thereby generating new knowledge about causal factors.Read moreRead less
New Evidence To Guide Decisions About The Prevention And Treatment Of Common Cardiovascular Diseases.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$7,309,675.00
Summary
The Program brings together clinicians, epidemiologists and statisticians in a unique endeavour designed to improve the prevention and treatment of heart attack and stroke. For the foreseeable future, these conditions will remain leading causes of death and disease in Australia and most other countries in the region. While there are many established treatment and prevention strategies for these conditions there remains great potential for further advances to be made, which might avert very large ....The Program brings together clinicians, epidemiologists and statisticians in a unique endeavour designed to improve the prevention and treatment of heart attack and stroke. For the foreseeable future, these conditions will remain leading causes of death and disease in Australia and most other countries in the region. While there are many established treatment and prevention strategies for these conditions there remains great potential for further advances to be made, which might avert very large numbers of premature deaths and serious disabling outcomes. This Program of research seeks to provide new information that will give patients, doctors and policy makers innovative options for the treatment and prevention of heart attack and stroke. The Program will incorporate two main elements: observational studies and randomised controlled trials. The observational studies will establish the precise importance of each of the main causes of cardiovascular diseases (such as diabetes, blood pressure, smoking and cholesterol) at different ages, in different ethnic groups and in different geographic regions. Furthermore, these studies will also define the relative importance of established and novel risk factors for cardiovascular disease, providing important new information about how resources for prevention should be directed. The large-scale trials will provide evidence about the effectiveness and safety of a range of new cardiovascular disease prevention and treatment strategies. The work will build on the team�s very successful approach of evaluating the effects of established interventions in high-risk groups for whom those particular treatments are not currently indicated.The Program will also include studies that address the critical issue of translating health research findings into practice _ in terms of health policy, clinical practice and consumer behaviour. A particular focus involves the application and evaluation of novel Internet technologies for promoting best practice. The methodologies used by the team will ensure that the evidence generated by the Program is as precise and reliable as possible, in order to provide a sound base to guide decisions about changes in health care policy and practice. The research findings will have direct relevance to the healthcare needs of millions of Australians within the next five years, and the impact of the work will be assured by the development of implementation and dissemination plans for each major component of the Program.Read moreRead less
Identifying Determinants Of Both The Origins And The Progression Of The Depressive And Bipolar (mood) Disorders.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$6,235,352.00
Summary
Currently, mood disorders are classified by severity, largely ignoring causes and leading to limited treatments. The Team will clarify how differing depressive and bipolar (mood) disorders are best modelled and pursue their differing causes, so assisting identification of specific treatments relating to their underlying causes. Our studies employ a range of sophisticated technologies, including molecular biology, brain imaging techniques, and mathematical modeling. The capacity of such research ....Currently, mood disorders are classified by severity, largely ignoring causes and leading to limited treatments. The Team will clarify how differing depressive and bipolar (mood) disorders are best modelled and pursue their differing causes, so assisting identification of specific treatments relating to their underlying causes. Our studies employ a range of sophisticated technologies, including molecular biology, brain imaging techniques, and mathematical modeling. The capacity of such research to advance the management of mood disorders address a pressing clinical need.Read moreRead less
Emerging Severe Mental Illness In Young People: Clinical Staging, Neurobiology, Prediction & Intervention From Vulnerabi
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$6,229,421.00
Summary
Mental disorders, such as psychotic and severe mood disorders, are the largest cause of disability in Australia. However, there is still little known about illness onset, relapse and progression. We have developed a clinical staging model with transition points from symptomfree to subthreshold status, to threshold disorder to chronic disability. We will investigate neurobiological and psychosocial factors which increase the risk of progression through these stages and use this model as a basis f ....Mental disorders, such as psychotic and severe mood disorders, are the largest cause of disability in Australia. However, there is still little known about illness onset, relapse and progression. We have developed a clinical staging model with transition points from symptomfree to subthreshold status, to threshold disorder to chronic disability. We will investigate neurobiological and psychosocial factors which increase the risk of progression through these stages and use this model as a basis for examining the effectiveness of interventions, for example to prevent, delay or ameliorate onset and relapse, and promote vocational recovery. Thus major clinical and public health benefits and an understanding of factors that contribute to the onset and progression of illness will result.Read moreRead less
Neourobiology Of Human Epilepsy: Genes, Cellular Mechanisms,network And Whole Brain
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$17,652,824.00
Summary
The team is comprised of neurologists, molecular geneticists, physiologists and brain imaging specialists and leads the world in the discovery of the genetic causes of epilepsy. They will continue to identify genes underlying epilepsy and study how genetic variations result in development of seizures. Advanced brain imaging will be used to understand the effects of genetic variation on brain structure and function. This study may lead to new diagnostic methods and treatments for epilepsy.
Determinants Of Child Health And Development: Populations, Partnerships, Pathways And Prevention
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$8,214,333.00
Summary
There are considerable challenges to the study of complex health and developmental problems in children and young people. Despite increasing prosperity in Australia, many of these problems are not abating and some appear to be increasing. These include low birthweight, behavioural and mental health problems, autism, obesity and, in Indigenous children, infections. This Program proposes investigating these problems with a view to prevention, thus meeting the national research priority of Promotin ....There are considerable challenges to the study of complex health and developmental problems in children and young people. Despite increasing prosperity in Australia, many of these problems are not abating and some appear to be increasing. These include low birthweight, behavioural and mental health problems, autism, obesity and, in Indigenous children, infections. This Program proposes investigating these problems with a view to prevention, thus meeting the national research priority of Promoting and Maintaining Good Health, particularly _a healthy start to life� and _preventive health care�. The Program is unique in that it brings together a multi-disciplinary team of researchers of international repute to investigate these complex issues. The research team comprises epidemiologists, clinicians, developmental psychologists, biostatisticians, sociologists and other social scientists. This team has a proven track record in producing research outcomes that have translated into innovative health policy and practice in areas as diverse as: - the use of folic acid in spina bifida prevention - understanding cerebral palsies - suicide prevention and mental health in children and young people - Aboriginal child health and development - intellectual disabilities including Rett syndrome and autism - in vitro fertilisation and birth defects. The factors influencing how children develop into young adults include genetic inheritance, nutrition and growth, and family, socioeconomic and environmental conditions. This work demands new ways of measuring and analysing these factors in populations of children and their families. Western Australia is one of only three sites in the world to have comprehensive linked health data on the whole of its population of children and their families. This Program comprises five overlapping themes of research planned around these unique population databases. The five themes are: - social, economic and psychological influences on child health and development - many paths to poor health are linked to social disadvantage. Examining these issues may explain why some childhood conditions are worsening or not improving - pathways to wellbeing, resilience and developmental disorders, including intellectual disability, autism, birth defects and cerebral palsy - nutrition and growth, particularly as it relates to low birthweight, childhood obesity and mental health - infectious disease, its causes and its influence on lifelong health problems and disabilities - Aboriginal health _ whilst spanning each of the research themes above, it presents its own unique challenges and requires it�s own unique solutions. This Program will investigate how children develop into young adults and will examine the influence of their families, nutrition and growth and socioeconomic and environmental conditions. It will develop new ways of measuring and analysRead moreRead less
Infertility affects one in six couples and is an extremely distressing, expensive and frustrating experience for those that it afflicts. Through gaining a better understanding of the molecular and cellular processes governing ovulation and early embryo development, this team will devise new therapeutic strategies to improve the reproductive health of Australian women.
Antibodies are made by B-cells and are essential for a functional immune system. B cells circulate in the body, and, when they encounter an invader, they mature into antibody-producing cells (ASC). A small proportion of the cells become “memory” cells with the potential to become ASC should the same infection occur in the future. This is the basis of vaccination. This program aims to understand how a B cell changes into an ASC. We aim eventually to be able to improve vaccines and understand dise ....Antibodies are made by B-cells and are essential for a functional immune system. B cells circulate in the body, and, when they encounter an invader, they mature into antibody-producing cells (ASC). A small proportion of the cells become “memory” cells with the potential to become ASC should the same infection occur in the future. This is the basis of vaccination. This program aims to understand how a B cell changes into an ASC. We aim eventually to be able to improve vaccines and understand diseases such as allergy, lupus, arthritis and leukaemia to develop novel therapies.Read moreRead less
The Prevention, Early Detection, & Effective Management Of Neurocognitive Disorders In The Elderly
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$4,929,014.00
Summary
The unprecedented greying of the world population is posing a major challenge to health care in meeting the needs of older individuals with cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer�s disease. At the same time, drugs are being developed to prevent these disorders, or to treat them effectively. Our proposal is a comprehensive attempt at dealing with the neuropsychiatric aspects of these neurocognitive disorders. Our group is endeavouring to better define the early stages of these disorders, and study ....The unprecedented greying of the world population is posing a major challenge to health care in meeting the needs of older individuals with cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer�s disease. At the same time, drugs are being developed to prevent these disorders, or to treat them effectively. Our proposal is a comprehensive attempt at dealing with the neuropsychiatric aspects of these neurocognitive disorders. Our group is endeavouring to better define the early stages of these disorders, and studying methods of detecting them at an early stage, using the latest neuropsychological and neuroimaging techniques. We wish to investigate new drugs for the prevention of dementia. Much of dementia is not treated early because of lack of training of primary care physicians in identifying dementia, and we are developing methods to deal with this problem. We are also examining the role of cognitive disorders in accidents and suicides in the elderly, and the development of depression. We are determining the role of psychiatric disorders in the care of these patients, and the methods of alleviating the burden of disease. We expect that this research will make a major impact on health policy for these disorders in Australia. We also hope to make our Program the premier centre for training in geriatric neuropsychiatry.Read moreRead less
Prevention, Early Detection And Effective Management Of Neurocognitive Disorders In The Elderly
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$6,547,975.00
Summary
The Program comprises a number of longitudinal studies of ageing individuals to develop methods of diagnosing dementia before symptoms become prominent. We are also examining factors that increase the risk of developing dementia. We wish to translate this research into early and better diagnosis, and the development of new treatments and strategies for dementia care. We expect that this research will make a major impact on health policy in Australia for cognitive disorders in the elderly.