Comparative Effectiveness Of Ultrasound-guided Injection With Either Autologous Platelet Rich Plasma Or Glucocorticoid For Ultrasound-proven Lateral Epicondylitis: A Three-arm Randomised Placebo-controlled Trial
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$518,631.00
Summary
Tennis elbow is a common condition affecting both men and women. It causes pain, disability, often inability to work and high health costs. The best treatment is uncertain but injection of a small quantity of a person’s own platelet rich plasma (PRP) appears to be a promising new treatment that has not yet been properly tested. We will perform a randomised, controlled trial to determine the efficacy, safety and cost-effectiveness of PRP injection to see if it is better than either placebo or cor ....Tennis elbow is a common condition affecting both men and women. It causes pain, disability, often inability to work and high health costs. The best treatment is uncertain but injection of a small quantity of a person’s own platelet rich plasma (PRP) appears to be a promising new treatment that has not yet been properly tested. We will perform a randomised, controlled trial to determine the efficacy, safety and cost-effectiveness of PRP injection to see if it is better than either placebo or corticosteroid injection.Read moreRead less
Optimising Corticosteroid Injection For Lateral Epicondylalgia With Physiotherapy: A Randomised Placebo Control Trial.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$373,393.00
Summary
Tennis elbow affects just under 1% of patients seeing a doctor and on average 10-30% need to take 12 weeks off work. Two popular treatments are physiotherapy and corticosteroid injections. We have recently shown that whilst injection is superior in the short term (3 weeks) compared to physiotherapy, it is responsible for 9 times more recurrences. We seek a solution for the downside to steroid injections, by studying the effects of adding physiotherapy; as such it will address a major problem.
A Randomised Control Trial Of Physiotherapy And Corticosteroid Injections Of Lateral Epicondylalgia In Primary Care.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$193,775.00
Summary
Musculoskeletal conditions account for the third leading cause of health systems expenditure in Australia. Lateral epicondylalgia (tennis elbow) is such a condition and is often treated in primary care. Both the individual and community are affected by this condition: 7 per 1000 patients seeing their medical doctor have this condition. Most are not tennis related. On average 10-30% of sufferers take 12 weeks off work. The condition may last 6-48 months and it tends to become stubborn to treatmen ....Musculoskeletal conditions account for the third leading cause of health systems expenditure in Australia. Lateral epicondylalgia (tennis elbow) is such a condition and is often treated in primary care. Both the individual and community are affected by this condition: 7 per 1000 patients seeing their medical doctor have this condition. Most are not tennis related. On average 10-30% of sufferers take 12 weeks off work. The condition may last 6-48 months and it tends to become stubborn to treatment and recurs often. Two popular treatment options that are commonly prescribed for the management of lateral epicondylalgia are physiotherapy and corticosteroid injections. To date there is little evidence supporting physiotherapy, especially current best practice methods such as manual therapy and therapeutic exercise. The lack of evidence is largely due to a small number of studies of physiotherapy, most of which are of poor quality and of treatments that are currently deemed to be less than optimal. A larger number of studies of corticosteroid injections have shown that corticosteroid injections are beneficial in the short term (3-6 weeks), but not over 12 months where they are associated with greater recurrence rates. Manual therapy has been shown to have short term pain relieving effects and therapeutic exercise exerts long standing improvements in this condition. It is proposed that the addition of manual therapy to therapeutic exercise will have superior short- and long-term effects. This project will conduct a randomised clinical trial to evaluate this proposition and also the factors associated with success, failure or recurrence rates. A cost-benefit analysis will also be conducted to calculate the relative economic merits of the treatments. A tangible outcome of this project will be the development of clinical guidelines for the most effective method of treating lateral epicondylalgia in primary health care.Read moreRead less
The Signals Of Nerve Cells That Provide The Capacity For Sight
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$385,115.00
Summary
Sight relies on the signals of nerve cells in the brain, but we know little about the way in which nerve cells support this, or why in some people sight is diminished. In this work we will measure the signals of nerve cells in the visual pathway to gain knowledge of these processes: we will make measurements in normal animals and in those that suffer from brain disorders. Our work will provide a scientific basis for the diagnosis and treatment of these disorders.
The Identification Of Novel Genetic Loci And Pathways Associated With ALS Through Interrogation Of Multiple Integrated Genomics Data Sets
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$318,768.00
Summary
In 85% of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) cases the causative mutation is not known. Here, we will use novel genomics and molecular methods to improve diagnosis and enhance the understanding of severe neuronal degeneration. This includes the characterisation of patient neurons to fast-track genetic discovery with patient-specific treatment assays. We envisage an expanded diagnostic and treatment suite that will provide answers for all ALS patients for whom there is no known genetic cause.
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a progressively fatal neurodegenerative disease characterized by aggregates of a protein called TDP-43. ALS also features the presence of several inflammatory cytokines in the central nervous system. In this project, we will study how TDP-43 abnormally mislocalizes within cells, releasing mitochondrial DNA and triggering a novel pathway of inflammation. We propose that targeting this pathway could lead to new treatments for ALS.
Characterisation Of Eating Behaviour And Metabolic Phenotypes Across Neurodegenerative Diseases: Insights For Survival And Progression
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$340,891.00
Summary
It has been suggested that metabolic changes and eating behavior could modify the progression of neurodegeneration. This research aims using brain imaging, pathological examination and novel techniques from obesity research to examine if there are characteristic metabolic changes in patients with frontotemporal dementia, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease; how these changes relate to eating behavior, and how they may affect disease progression and survival.
Unravelling The Molecular Basis Of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$342,325.00
Summary
The only known causes of ALS are gene mutations. State-of-the-art technologies will be used to find genetic causes of ALS to add to existing diagnostic testing and facilitate investigation into disease mechanism. ALS patients experience different disease courses, with variable age of onset, progression and duration of disease even among those with identical gene mutations. We will examine a well-characterised ALS patient cohort with differing disease manifestations to identify disease modifiers.
Pathophysiology Of ALS: Evidence To Support The Dying Foward Hypothesis
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$49,471.00
Summary
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a rapidly progressive, uniformly fatal, neurodegenerative disorder with peak age of onset for the common sporadic variant of the disease being in the middle productive period of 50-60 years. The current research project aims at clarifying the site of onset of disease within the motor system, specifically, the primacy of the corticomotorneuron in pathogenesis. This knowledge would be valuable in targeting interventions which modify disease progression.
Targeting Autophagy To Improve Protein Metabolism In ALS
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$586,001.00
Summary
One common feature of MND is the accumulation of protein deposits inside nerve cells which leads to their death. We have identified a potent drug which enhances autophagy, a protective process which breaks down protein deposits inside cells. We have shown that this autophagy enhancer efficiently clears protein deposits linked to MND in the Petri dish. We propose to treat MND mice with this autophagy enhancer and predict that it will slow disease signs, preserve lifespan and protect nerve cells.