Meeting The Needs Of The Elderly: Implementing The Palliatve Approach For People With Declining Health In Homeandhostel
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$83,456.00
Summary
This study aims to understand the extent to which a palliative approach is being used in the organisation and provision of care to elderly people with complex needs in home and hostel settings. It will identify current practices of aged care staff in the management of elderly people whose care needs are becoming increasingly more complex and not amendable to cure. In addition this study will explore the experiences of elderly people receiving this care. A model of the provision of a palliative a ....This study aims to understand the extent to which a palliative approach is being used in the organisation and provision of care to elderly people with complex needs in home and hostel settings. It will identify current practices of aged care staff in the management of elderly people whose care needs are becoming increasingly more complex and not amendable to cure. In addition this study will explore the experiences of elderly people receiving this care. A model of the provision of a palliative approach in this group of elderly Australians will be developed.Read moreRead less
Building Public Health Capacity For Complex Questions, Complex Settings Complex Interventions
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,486,195.00
Summary
We describe a program of continuing education and development for postdoctoral staff in the transition from completing a PhD to becoming independent researchers. Their goals - and ours - are that at the end of the program they will initiate their own research programs, as part of a research team and will secure competitive funding to do so. The focus of the application is building capacity across two research groups, with the Lead Applicants (LA's) developing the formal program. Mother and Child ....We describe a program of continuing education and development for postdoctoral staff in the transition from completing a PhD to becoming independent researchers. Their goals - and ours - are that at the end of the program they will initiate their own research programs, as part of a research team and will secure competitive funding to do so. The focus of the application is building capacity across two research groups, with the Lead Applicants (LA's) developing the formal program. Mother and Child Health Research, La Trobe University and the Department of General Practice, University of Melbourne are sited in Carlton and the LA's have a more than 10 year history of successful collaboration and a strong interest in mothers' and children's health. The applicants have a record of tackling difficult research, including population groups who are often excluded - Indigenous and immigrant women - and addressing difficult questions. The program of research addresses a set of complex problems ranging from intimate partner violence to preterm birth and substance abuse. These come to light in primary care, hospitals or communities. These problems require complex interventions, developed from a broad research base, to be implemented in different settings with diverse designs, from qualitative research to community trials. Multi-level interventions to change policy or practice, and health service and health economic evaluations will also be important aspects. Individual mentoring by LA's will involve specific supervision, mentoring and support of Team Investigators (TI's). There will also be co-mentoring by TI's, personal development and skills development. The research program will build capacity through participation in multidisciplinary research. The importance of research transfer and research translation will be emphasized through lunchtime seminars on public health advocacy, with content and policy component, led by TI's and supported by LA. There will be a national conference allowance for presentation of research findings, with a prior presentation to all staff here for feedback. Workshops will be held by LA's and TI's with established skills in reviewing manuscripts for journals and in editing. The outcomes of this program will be a stronger research capacity, improved research, sound health policy, better health care and improved health.Read moreRead less
Developing And Applying Biologically Plausible Statistical Models For Normal And Non-normal Family Data
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$339,700.00
Summary
Although molecular and computing advances have enabled more detailed investigations of inherited diseases and the ability to fit realistic statistical models to these data, limitations still exist when analysing family data. Often only basic statistical analyses are performed, due to the lack of understanding of complexities within the data and-or inability of researchers to fit appropriate statistical models. These factors have hampered the search for genes and environmental factors influencing ....Although molecular and computing advances have enabled more detailed investigations of inherited diseases and the ability to fit realistic statistical models to these data, limitations still exist when analysing family data. Often only basic statistical analyses are performed, due to the lack of understanding of complexities within the data and-or inability of researchers to fit appropriate statistical models. These factors have hampered the search for genes and environmental factors influencing common diseases. This project aims to develop novel, biologically realistic statistical models for investigation of common, complex diseases, such as heart disease and cancer, in families. These models will incorporate both measured and unmeasured genetic and environmental factors, and will be applicable to both normally distributed and non-normally distributed traits. Model fitting will use computer-intensive simulation techniques. Application of the models to data from two large pre-existing studies of international renown, the Victorian Family Heart Study and the Australian Prostate Cancer Family Study, will enable a better understanding of the genetic and environmental factors influencing heart disease and cancer. The models will also be applicable to many other studies of diseases which use data from families, and allow more accurate and useful information to be obtained from data. Software will also be made freely available to other researchers. This will ultimately translate into better outcomes from familial genetic research, and eventually, better prevention, detection, and treatment of the diseases.Read moreRead less
Dynamics And Mechanisms Of Immune Complex-mediated Skin Inflammation
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$526,467.00
Summary
Type III hypersensitivity underlies a number of common autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis and lupus erythematosus. These diseases are caused by the deposition of immune complexes (IC) and the accumulation of neutrophils within small blood vessels. We will use real time imaging to dissect in space and time the recruitment of neutrophils and IC deposition during type III hypersensitivity reactions in order to better understand the pathogenesis of these conditions.
The Role Of Non-classical MHC Class I Molecules In Adaptive Immunity
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$443,834.00
Summary
Specialised proteins called MHC class Ia molecules (MHC-Ia) stimulate killer T cells to lyse virus infected cells. In contrast, the function of the closely related MHC-Ib is uncertain. Recent findings have demonstrated that MHC-Ib can also be recognised by T cells and this interaction is important in the control of viral infections. However, despite the similarity to MHC-Ia, it is unclear how this interaction occurs. This project aims to investigate how killer T cells recognise MHC-Ib molecules.