Proactive Specialist Diabetes Inpatient Team To Improve Outcomes In Hospitalised Patients With Diabetes
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$124,761.00
Summary
Diabetes is a major epidemic in Australia. Current care of hospitalised patients with diabetes is complex, suboptimal and contributes to longer hospital stay, poor outcomes and strain on healthcare resources. This research aims to improve diabetes care in hospitalised patients by implementing a proactive specialist diabetes team that will autonomously identify and provide specialist care for these patients. The expected findings have potential to shape a new approach to hospital diabetes care.
Evaluation Of Nitrous Oxide In The Gas Mixture For Anaesthesia: A Randomised Controlled Trial (The ENIGMA Trial)
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$490,125.00
Summary
There are about 2 million anaesthetics given each year in Australia (1:10 Australians), with more than 1 million Australians being exposed to nitrous oxide (laughing gas). Despite being around for more than 150 years, there has yet to be a large trial of the safety and benefits of nitrous oxide, particularly when compared with newer (safer?) anaesthetic drugs. Nitrous oxide is not a particularly strong anaesthetic and so it must be mixed with other drugs. Current practice in Australia and around ....There are about 2 million anaesthetics given each year in Australia (1:10 Australians), with more than 1 million Australians being exposed to nitrous oxide (laughing gas). Despite being around for more than 150 years, there has yet to be a large trial of the safety and benefits of nitrous oxide, particularly when compared with newer (safer?) anaesthetic drugs. Nitrous oxide is not a particularly strong anaesthetic and so it must be mixed with other drugs. Current practice in Australia and around the world is to give 70% nitrous oxide in oxygen along with another anaesthetic gas in order to produce a depth of anaesthesia sufficient for surgery. This is despite knowledge that nitrous oxide interferes with the production of DNA. DNA is used to programme cell division and function - it is the building block of cell and tisue growth. It is known that nitrous oxide can impair some tissue functions, such that anaemia and, possibly birth defects can occur. Such effects are rare, but recent evidence suggests that milder abnormalities may occur more commonly than previously thought. There is also good evidence that nitrous oxide increases the risk of severe nausea and vomiting after surgery. The adverse effects on DNA production raises the possibility of nitrous oxide causing immune deficiency, heart ischaemia, (angina), nerve and spinal cord damage, and increased cancer risk in hospital staff chronically exposed to low levels of nitrous oxide. The prevailing view is that nitrous oxide is a cheap, relatively safe drug that can reduce the exposure to other anaesthetic drugs. However, the development of many new anaesthetic drugs demands a re-evaluation of the role of nitrous oxide in current anaesthetic practice.Read moreRead less
Prediction Of Clinical Radiosensitivity Caused By Ionising Radiation During Radiotherapy.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$447,750.00
Summary
Around one to five percent of cancer patients suffer from significant side effects in normal tissue exposed to ionizing radiation during radiotherapy. Although radiotherapy is an effective therapy for cancer treatment, the amount of radiation is generally restricted to minimize the incidence of these severe side effects (radiosensitivity). This means that individuals who don't have radiosensitivity are not getting the dose of radiation that would be most beneficial. A major goal of radiation bio ....Around one to five percent of cancer patients suffer from significant side effects in normal tissue exposed to ionizing radiation during radiotherapy. Although radiotherapy is an effective therapy for cancer treatment, the amount of radiation is generally restricted to minimize the incidence of these severe side effects (radiosensitivity). This means that individuals who don't have radiosensitivity are not getting the dose of radiation that would be most beneficial. A major goal of radiation biology research is to develop efficient predictive measures that could identify radiosensitive individuals prior to treatment. This predictive ability would enable the individualisation of radiotherapy radiation doses, which should result in improvement of tumour control rates and a reduction in the incidence of side effects associated with radiotherapy. We aim to understand radiosensitivity at the molecular level using the powerful technology of microarrays. Using microarray technology, thousands of genes can be tested for expression activity simultaneously. We have a unique tissue bank established from many radiosensitive and non-sensitive control radiotherapy patients. The use of microarray technology on samples from this unique tissue bank may enable the gene expression pattern of individuals that display radiosensitivity to be distinguished from the rest of the population. In conjunction, two additional tests will be used to determine who is susceptible to radiosensitive reactions which include assessment of a DNA repair pathway and assessment of the length of the telomeres (Caps on the ends of the chromosomes), both of which have been shown to be involved with radiosensitivy. This experimentation will hopefully lead to the development of a predictive assay for use in the clinic for cancer patients prior to receiving radiotherapy.Read moreRead less
Dynamic Prediction Of Hospital Length Of Stay, Readmission, And Death
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$322,821.00
Summary
Healthcare systems are under increasing pressure to improve the appropriateness and effectiveness of current patterns of care. The aim of this project is to develop a dynamic predictive method that, at any time during hospitalisation, calculates days expected to be in hospital, days expected to live and days expected until next hospitalisation. Rapidly identifying patients at most risk has great potential to improve the quality of care and reduce avoidable harm and costs associated with admissio ....Healthcare systems are under increasing pressure to improve the appropriateness and effectiveness of current patterns of care. The aim of this project is to develop a dynamic predictive method that, at any time during hospitalisation, calculates days expected to be in hospital, days expected to live and days expected until next hospitalisation. Rapidly identifying patients at most risk has great potential to improve the quality of care and reduce avoidable harm and costs associated with admission.Read moreRead less
Towards a climate theory of tropical cyclone formation. In Earth's current climate, about 80 to 90 tropical cyclones form every year around the globe, but the reasons why cyclones form at this rate are unknown. This project will use a combination of theoretical techniques and numerical simulation to elucidate the links between large-scale climate and the rate of tropical cyclone formation. A series of climate model experiments will be performed that also have the potential to improve confidence ....Towards a climate theory of tropical cyclone formation. In Earth's current climate, about 80 to 90 tropical cyclones form every year around the globe, but the reasons why cyclones form at this rate are unknown. This project will use a combination of theoretical techniques and numerical simulation to elucidate the links between large-scale climate and the rate of tropical cyclone formation. A series of climate model experiments will be performed that also have the potential to improve confidence in our predictions of tropical cyclone incidence in a future, changed climate.Read moreRead less
Climate model validation and generation of probabilistic climate projections using data from Phase 5 of the Climate Model Intercomparison Project. New climate model results will be compared with observations to test model skill. Probabilistic projections of regional-scale climate change will be developed and used to investigate a number of ecosystem impact case studies.
Are proposed land-based sinks for greenhouse gases resilient to climate change and natural variability? One strategy to reduce the scale of future climate change is to enhance the storage of carbon in vegetation and soils. Evidence suggests carbon stored in vegetation and soils is itself vulnerable to climate change, placing this stored carbon at risk; this project will assess this risk to advise on the reliability of using terrestrial systems as carbon sinks.