A Randomised Placebo-controlled Trial Of Antibiotics To Prevent Urinary Tract Infection In Children
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$735,000.00
Summary
This study is needed to determine whether a common clinical practice long-term antibiotic treatment for children following urinary tract infection (UTI) - is safe and effective in preventing further UTI and if so, whether all appropriate children are being treated. UTI will affect about 10% of Australian children by high school age (88,000 children per year). Because UTI may damage the kidneys, the management priority for children with UTI has been prevention of further infection. Currently this ....This study is needed to determine whether a common clinical practice long-term antibiotic treatment for children following urinary tract infection (UTI) - is safe and effective in preventing further UTI and if so, whether all appropriate children are being treated. UTI will affect about 10% of Australian children by high school age (88,000 children per year). Because UTI may damage the kidneys, the management priority for children with UTI has been prevention of further infection. Currently this means the identification of children thought to be most at risk of recurrent UTI by renal tract imaging. Those found to have reflux of urine from the bladder to the kidney (present in about 30% of those with UTI) are then placed on antibiotics fro 2-5 years. Unfortunately there has never been a properly designed trial to test whether antibiotics do really prevent UTI and if so, whether children with reflux are the appropriate and only group requiring treatment. Long term antibiotics may in fact do more harm than good because of side effects like skin, bowel and blood problems and because resistant bacteria may develop. The design of this study involves the random allocation of placebo or antibiotic (cotrimoxazole, the usual antibiotic given in this case) to about 800 children after their first symptomatic UTI. These children are treated and followed for one year to determine the rate of futher UTI in both groups. Any difference in outcome between the two groups of children will be because of the antibiotic treatment. This study may prove long-term antibiotics are ineffective and therefore should not be routinely used. In this case investigation of children to detect vesicoureteric reflux would serve little purpose and should be abandoned. Alternatively antibiotic treatment may be shown as effective treatment for preventing further UTI and in this case the study will clearly identify those children who will benefit.Read moreRead less
Families and generational asset transfers: making and challenging wills in contemporary Australia. This project, in collaboration with Public Trust offices across Australia, will provide a national database on which sectors of the population fail to make wills and why. The results will inform innovative service models, law reform initiatives and public education campaigns.
The demographic consequences of migration to, from and within Australia. The long-term demographic consequences of migration to, from and within Australia, and the dynamic pathways that produced them, will be studied. This will involve the identification of the specific contributions made by international and internal migration to the age and sex population compositions of nine birthplace-specific populations from 1981 to 2011. To do this, publically available data will be collected and augmente ....The demographic consequences of migration to, from and within Australia. The long-term demographic consequences of migration to, from and within Australia, and the dynamic pathways that produced them, will be studied. This will involve the identification of the specific contributions made by international and internal migration to the age and sex population compositions of nine birthplace-specific populations from 1981 to 2011. To do this, publically available data will be collected and augmented with statistical methods to provide a complete, consistent account of population change for around 60 subnational areas. As migration and population change underpins many aspects of societal change in Australia, this research aims to provide an invaluable resource to other scientists and policy makers.Read moreRead less
Aboriginal place names and ethnobiology: enhancing interpretation of Indigenous culture and heritage. This project looks at how Indigenous people’s knowledge of place names and bush tucker can create opportunities for Indigenous communities in areas such as tourism. The project aims to do this by harnessing new advances in digital media which offer new ways of passing on this knowledge to both Indigenous and intercultural audiences.
Modelling the Causes of Regional Disparities across Australia. This project aims to explain the changing patterns of regional economic performance across Australia between 2001-2011 in the context of two developments: major structural shifts in world trade and commodity prices spawning massive mining growth and negative exchange rate impacts elsewhere (for example, manufacturing); and the financial crisis ending the credit boom leaving east coast economies struggling. The resulting regional disp ....Modelling the Causes of Regional Disparities across Australia. This project aims to explain the changing patterns of regional economic performance across Australia between 2001-2011 in the context of two developments: major structural shifts in world trade and commodity prices spawning massive mining growth and negative exchange rate impacts elsewhere (for example, manufacturing); and the financial crisis ending the credit boom leaving east coast economies struggling. The resulting regional disparities have policy implications for education and skills training, housing affordability, infrastructure provision, and community sustainability. These issues will be investigated using a new functional economic regions geography and state of art spatial modelling tools supplemented by regional case studies.Read moreRead less
Predicting the diagnostic performance of individuals and organisations. Predicting the diagnostic performance of individuals and organisations. This project aims to address diagnostic error in advanced technology systems, by providing a mechanism to assess and improve individual diagnosticians’ performance. Organisations that rely on their employees’ diagnostic skills rarely assess them once the operators become qualified, so there is no basis for interventions that might prevent diagnostic erro ....Predicting the diagnostic performance of individuals and organisations. Predicting the diagnostic performance of individuals and organisations. This project aims to address diagnostic error in advanced technology systems, by providing a mechanism to assess and improve individual diagnosticians’ performance. Organisations that rely on their employees’ diagnostic skills rarely assess them once the operators become qualified, so there is no basis for interventions that might prevent diagnostic errors affecting thousands. This research tests a new method of assessing diagnostic skills based on how skilled operators respond to cues. This project will test how employees’ diagnostic skills change and whether this change corresponds to measures of organisational performance. This research is expected to provide organisations with a tool to pre-empt diagnostic errors that could minimise costs to the economy.Read moreRead less
Closing the gap on Indigenous birth registration. This project investigates the nature and extent of problems faced by Indigenous Australians trying to access the birth registration systems within Australia. Following extensive consultation with Indigenous communities and other key stakeholders, this project will identify the causes of the problem and recommend appropriate solutions.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150100278
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$370,000.00
Summary
Automating the smart home: an investigation of automated cooling practices. Home automation technologies are expected to achieve reductions in household energy costs and consumption. However, there has been no systematic investigation of the ways in which they are being incorporated into everyday life. The project aims to address this critical gap in relation to home cooling. It will investigate how automated cooling technologies are being incorporated into household practices in Australia, and ....Automating the smart home: an investigation of automated cooling practices. Home automation technologies are expected to achieve reductions in household energy costs and consumption. However, there has been no systematic investigation of the ways in which they are being incorporated into everyday life. The project aims to address this critical gap in relation to home cooling. It will investigate how automated cooling technologies are being incorporated into household practices in Australia, and the expectations they promote, sustain and transform. The project also aims to produce important new knowledge about how to study and understand the effects of ambient and automated technologies in everyday life and their potential impact on energy consumption.Read moreRead less
Wellbeing not Winning: remote Indigenous identity and organised sport. This project examines the construction of Indigenous identity through organised sport in remote communities. Despite high profile successes of Indigenous people in elite sports, the effectiveness of relationships between remote communities and organised sport is not well understood. This project addresses the problem of how participation in organised sport affects identity and everyday life in remote Indigenous communities, b ....Wellbeing not Winning: remote Indigenous identity and organised sport. This project examines the construction of Indigenous identity through organised sport in remote communities. Despite high profile successes of Indigenous people in elite sports, the effectiveness of relationships between remote communities and organised sport is not well understood. This project addresses the problem of how participation in organised sport affects identity and everyday life in remote Indigenous communities, both positively and negatively. The project aims to provide an understanding of the role of organised sport in Indigenous identity construction in remote Australia and thus open opportunities for equitable and reconciliatory modes of participation.Read moreRead less
Cycle Aware: Driving with Bikes. This project focuses on the education and training required by drivers to interact safely with cyclists. It uses two ontologically diverse methodologies to examine how Australian drivers become cyclist aware and the education and training necessary to foster safe driver–cyclist interactions. The project aims to provide a critical knowledge base for state and territory driver education policies and a cycle-aware module for learner drivers. These outcomes are inten ....Cycle Aware: Driving with Bikes. This project focuses on the education and training required by drivers to interact safely with cyclists. It uses two ontologically diverse methodologies to examine how Australian drivers become cyclist aware and the education and training necessary to foster safe driver–cyclist interactions. The project aims to provide a critical knowledge base for state and territory driver education policies and a cycle-aware module for learner drivers. These outcomes are intended to reduce cyclist road trauma and on-road tensions between cyclists and drivers, and to improve opportunities for active travel to tackle the growing issue of inactivity.Read moreRead less