The Australian Peritoneal Dialysis Outcomes And Practice Patterns Study (PDOPPS)
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$489,749.00
Summary
Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is a form of home dialysis that is both substantially cheaper and associated with better early survival than standard hospital-based haemodialysis. Its use in Australia has been severely limited by poor outcomes compared to the rest of the world. This international study aims to identify “real world” PD centre practices that will lead to better outcomes for Australian patients, greater uptake of home dialysis and health savings of tens of millions of dollars annually.
An International Clinical Trial To Evaluate New Therapies To Improve Survival Of Children With Relapsed Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,567,500.00
Summary
Children who relapse with childhood leukaemia have only a 50% chance of being alive after 5 years. We will participate in a new international trial involving most European and all Australian and New Zealand childhood oncology centres, to test the effectiveness of promising new treatments and to perform biological studies which should enable doctors in future to pick the best treatment for each of these patients.
Benefits Of Home-based Multidisciplinary Rehabilitation In Non Small Cell Lung Cancer
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$581,039.00
Summary
Lung cancer is the third leading cause of death in Australia. People with lung cancer experience a complex mix of symptoms that can provoke significant distress and impair physical function. This study aims to develop and test a home based exercise and self-management support program to increase function and physical activity levels, reduce levels of depression and improve quality of life of people with lung cancer.
Multicentre Trial Of Calcium Channel Blocker Versus Calcium Channel Blocker Plus Cox2 Inhibitor In Preterm Labour
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$644,130.00
Summary
Preterm birth is a major problem in our society, and has enormous consequences for parents and children. It also has a major impact on scarce financial resources. When women present in preterm labor, current therapies have only limited success in stopping contractions and postponing birth. They have not been shown to reduce the rates of the serious neonatal problems associated with prematurity. This project will be coordinated in Newcastle, N.S.W., and will involve major perinatal centres throug ....Preterm birth is a major problem in our society, and has enormous consequences for parents and children. It also has a major impact on scarce financial resources. When women present in preterm labor, current therapies have only limited success in stopping contractions and postponing birth. They have not been shown to reduce the rates of the serious neonatal problems associated with prematurity. This project will be coordinated in Newcastle, N.S.W., and will involve major perinatal centres throughout Australia, along with overseas centres. It will test a new combination of drugs for their ability to postpone delivery in women presenting with preterm labour. It is postulated that the combination of drugs will be more effective than existing therapies. The drugs used in the trial are Nifedipine and Rofecoxib. Complications of prematurity include neonatal death, cerebral palsy, visual and hearing impairment, and chronic lung disease. These complications are most significant in extremely premature infants - in particular, those under 28 weeks gestation at the time of their delivery. For this reason, the study will focus only on women presenting in labour below 28 weeks. The ability to stop labour is important, but the main aim of any treatment for preterm labour is to reduce the rates of neonatal death and handicap. Babies born to women enrolled in this study will be followed for a period of one year after birth to assess their outcomes. It is our hypothesis that the combination of Rofecoxib and Nifedipine will result in lower rates of death and handicap in babies than Nifedipine alone. In addition, we will examine the rates of side effects in women receiving therapy. Currently used therapies, including intravenous ventolin, have high rates of maternal side effects. Nifedipine and Rofecoxib have both been shown to have low rates of maternal side effects.Read moreRead less
Group orbits in garmonic analysis and ergodic theory. Researchers from many areas need a type of mathematical analysis which involves the behaviour of a system - which may be a set of data points - under repeated application of some operation or group of operations. The structures arising from this kind of process are known as group orbits. The project gives information about their nature. Two major types of orbits are considered, coming from actions of discrete groups on measure spaces, and fro ....Group orbits in garmonic analysis and ergodic theory. Researchers from many areas need a type of mathematical analysis which involves the behaviour of a system - which may be a set of data points - under repeated application of some operation or group of operations. The structures arising from this kind of process are known as group orbits. The project gives information about their nature. Two major types of orbits are considered, coming from actions of discrete groups on measure spaces, and from smooth actions of Lie groups on manifolds, where powerful geometric methods are available. The project will yield new understandings of entropy, and new approaches to Fourier analysis.Read moreRead less
Ergodic theory and number theory. Recent advances in the theory of measured dynamical systems investigated by the proponents include new versions of entropy, and the study of spectral theory for non-singular systems. These will be further developed in this joint project with the French CNRS. The results are expected to have interesting applications in physics and number theory.
Entropy and maximal entropy in Markov systems. Entropy is a measure of how well-ordered a system is: chaotic systems have high entropy. Two approaches to entropy are available, via the limiting behaviour of the orbits of points, which yields topological entropy, and via the behaviour of the distributions of measures of partitions, yielding measure-theoretic entropy. The topological entropy is the least upper bound of entropies of all possible measures. We study when there is a measure which real ....Entropy and maximal entropy in Markov systems. Entropy is a measure of how well-ordered a system is: chaotic systems have high entropy. Two approaches to entropy are available, via the limiting behaviour of the orbits of points, which yields topological entropy, and via the behaviour of the distributions of measures of partitions, yielding measure-theoretic entropy. The topological entropy is the least upper bound of entropies of all possible measures. We study when there is a measure which realises this bound, describing the structure of such systems via Markov and Bratteli diagrams. Our methods will be applied to new versions of entropy for non-singular systems. This will assist in the description of chaotic behaviour.Read moreRead less
Symmetries in analysis. Technical research is like an iceberg. The 10% you see in applications is supported by 90% hidden, long-term, sometimes abstruse or theoretical-sounding work. The area of mathematical analysis has, for over 200 years, proved its worth as part of the unseen 90%, giving us such important tools as Fourier analysis, statistical mechanics and quantum mechanics. Australia is known as a world leader in mathematical analysis, and it is important for the country to maintain that e ....Symmetries in analysis. Technical research is like an iceberg. The 10% you see in applications is supported by 90% hidden, long-term, sometimes abstruse or theoretical-sounding work. The area of mathematical analysis has, for over 200 years, proved its worth as part of the unseen 90%, giving us such important tools as Fourier analysis, statistical mechanics and quantum mechanics. Australia is known as a world leader in mathematical analysis, and it is important for the country to maintain that edge in a number of key disciplines, so we can continue to participate in global technological advance. The project has an international focus which will enable that to happen. It will also provide training for the next generation of mathematicians. Read moreRead less
Dynamical systems: theory and practice. Mathematical science has proven a crucial platform for science and technology: it may have a long lead-time to application but its impacts are more profound than glamorous technical developments. Australia has an economic imperative to maintain investment in fundamental mathematics. Dynamical systems underpin a wide range of applications in physics, engineering, information science, finance and economics. This project will improve our capacity to model sy ....Dynamical systems: theory and practice. Mathematical science has proven a crucial platform for science and technology: it may have a long lead-time to application but its impacts are more profound than glamorous technical developments. Australia has an economic imperative to maintain investment in fundamental mathematics. Dynamical systems underpin a wide range of applications in physics, engineering, information science, finance and economics. This project will improve our capacity to model systems and to study their evolution, giving us better predictive power. It will keep Australia in the forefront of international research, providing a basis of expertise not otherwise available to Australian researchers and industry. Read moreRead less
Non-commutative analysis and differential calculus. This project is in an area of central mathematical importance and will lead to important scientific advances that will keep Australia at the forefront internationally in this field of research. There is an emphasis on international networking and we will collaborate with leading researchers in USA and France.