Stephen Stick Practitioner Fellowship In Paediatric Respiratory Medicine
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$542,272.00
Summary
Fellowship will facilitate the further study of mechanisms of chronic childhood respiratory disease and strategies for intervention to reduce morbidity and improve quality of life for patients and families.
Structural And Functional Imaging In Paediatric Lung Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$318,768.00
Summary
Lung imaging is an important part of the clinical care of young patients with respiratory disease. However, the most used method at the moment is computed tomography (CT), which exposes the patient to radiation. One potential radiation-free alternative to CT is lung magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This project will investigate how well lung MRI performs clinically in two important childhood diseases: cystic fibrosis, and preterm birth.
A POPULATION-BASED COHORT INVESTIGATION OF LUNG FUNCTION IN RELATION TO EARLY LIFE LOWER RESPIRATORY TRACT ILLNESS AND AEROALLERGN SENSITISATION
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$456,013.00
Summary
Infancy appears to be the critical developmental window during which important alterations in lung structure and function develop. In this study we will assess how early lung function evolves in relation to potential insults such as lower respiratory tract infections and allergic inflammation. These are the mechanisms by which asthma is thought to develop. We will use exciting new lung function tests to evaluate lung function abnormalities associated with peripheral dysfunction characteristic of ....Infancy appears to be the critical developmental window during which important alterations in lung structure and function develop. In this study we will assess how early lung function evolves in relation to potential insults such as lower respiratory tract infections and allergic inflammation. These are the mechanisms by which asthma is thought to develop. We will use exciting new lung function tests to evaluate lung function abnormalities associated with peripheral dysfunction characteristic of chronic airway disease such as asthma.Read moreRead less
The Centre For Research In Childhood Early Respiratory Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,621,023.00
Summary
The Centre for Research in Childhood Early Respiratory Disease is dedicated to the prevention of lung disease in young children with chronic respiratory disease. We aim to better understand the process of lung disease to identify predictors of disease and to treat it better. We will investigate the psychosocial effects of early interventions to better manage families. We will facilitate collaborations to provide best practice guidance and will train the next generation of doctors and researchers
The Clinical Utility Of Small Airway Function Tests In Paediatric Respiratory Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$64,631.00
Summary
Respiratory disease is an important child health issue with long term implications into adulthood. The evaluation of small airways involvement in disease processes, using an accurate sensitive measures of function, such as forced oscillation technique and multiple breath washout, potentially facilitates not only early detection of disease, but instigation of earlier treatment, better assessment of response to treatment, and ultimately better outcome.
Postviral Wheezing In Childhood: Disregulation Of Airway Tone?
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$577,040.00
Summary
Asthma is a very common childhood condition that is becoming increasingly more common. Wheezing is common in infants and young children following viral infections and is often thought of as the first manifestation of asthma. However, many children and infants who wheeze with viral infections appear to grow out of asthma in their teenage years. Asthma that persists into adult life is usually associated with allergies to common environmental allergens, such as house dust mite and grass pollens. Ho ....Asthma is a very common childhood condition that is becoming increasingly more common. Wheezing is common in infants and young children following viral infections and is often thought of as the first manifestation of asthma. However, many children and infants who wheeze with viral infections appear to grow out of asthma in their teenage years. Asthma that persists into adult life is usually associated with allergies to common environmental allergens, such as house dust mite and grass pollens. However, many infants who wheeze with viral infections, especially in the first year of life, do not develop allergies in later life, raising the possibility that they did not have the same type of asthma as those whose symptoms persist. This project will study the effects of viral infections on lung function to determine whether particular types of virus can have detrimental effects of lung function lasting for years. We will also examine whether the age at which the infection occurs and the severity of the infection influence the long-term outcome. The project involves studying infants during the recovery phase of respiratory viral infections, older children years after documented infections and experimental animal models that have been infected under controlled conditions. By determining whether respiratory viral infections can have long-term effects on lung function that can mimic asthma, we will advance our understanding of how asthma develops. In addition, specific treatment and preventative strategies could then be developed to prevent these long-term abnormalities, instead of relying on asthma medication (especially inhaled corticosteroids) as is the current practice. Preventative strategies could include encouraging the development of specific vaccines.Read moreRead less
Risk Assessment And Prevention Of Respiratory Complications In Paediatric Anaesthesia
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$494,253.00
Summary
Respiratory problems account for more than three quarters of all critical incidents and a third of all cardiac arrests in healthy children undergoing anaesthesia for surgical procedures. It is therefore vital to identify high risk children early to be able to adapt the anaesthesia regimen accordingly. This series of studies will study new prediction and prevention strategies to minimise respiratory problems and therefore improve the safety for our children when undergoing anaesthesia.
A Multi-centre, Double-blind, Randomised Controlled Trial To Evaluate The Efficacy Of 10 Valent-pneumococcal-Protein D Conjugate Vaccine In Reducing Respiratory Exacerbations In Children Aged ? 18 Months With Suppurative Lung Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,160,660.00
Summary
Chronic suppurative (ie infected) lung diseases in children are major causes of poor health and deaths worldwide. Repeated childhood infections contribute to poor lung health in adults. The most common organism causing infection is non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi). This study aims to determine whether a vaccine against NTHi can reduce repeated respiratory infections in children. If so, vaccination may lead to substantial improvements in current/ future lung health, and considerable dir ....Chronic suppurative (ie infected) lung diseases in children are major causes of poor health and deaths worldwide. Repeated childhood infections contribute to poor lung health in adults. The most common organism causing infection is non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi). This study aims to determine whether a vaccine against NTHi can reduce repeated respiratory infections in children. If so, vaccination may lead to substantial improvements in current/ future lung health, and considerable direct and indirect cost of disease savings.Read moreRead less
Mechanical Mobility Of The Thorax For Continuous Determination Of Lung Gas Volume
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$165,000.00
Summary
Percussion is a valuable clinical method for physical examination of parts of the body. A sharp tap (impulsive force) is applied to the body wall and the sound radiated in response is observed. This sound may be dull (over liver) or stony dull (pleural effusion), or resonant (over normal lung) or hyper-resonant (over bowel). While the variation in radiated sound is not fully understood, it is apparent that the presence of gas, which is highly compliant, increases mobility of the overlying tissue ....Percussion is a valuable clinical method for physical examination of parts of the body. A sharp tap (impulsive force) is applied to the body wall and the sound radiated in response is observed. This sound may be dull (over liver) or stony dull (pleural effusion), or resonant (over normal lung) or hyper-resonant (over bowel). While the variation in radiated sound is not fully understood, it is apparent that the presence of gas, which is highly compliant, increases mobility of the overlying tissue and allows it to resonate; where the sub-tissue is largely fluid, tissue mobility is low and the percussive sound is dull. Percussion is useful for examining the adult chest and lung, but cannot for example be applied in infant intensive care as only limited impulsive force can be used, and the adult finger, which is both a coupling device and sounding board, is too large. As well, percussion requires skill and quiet conditions. Accordingly, we developed a device to measure mobility of the chest and other tissues in real time. The VibroPulse applies a known low-level force to the body surface and records the resultant velocity induced in the surface. The force is generated by a vibrating mass set in motion by an electromagnetic motor driven by pseudo-random noise. Tissue mobility, defined as velocity-force, is derived simultaneously across the frequency range, providing an easily interpreted quantitative output unaffected by ambient noise. This proposal has two aims we can achieve in 1 year: (1) to continue evaluating VibroPulse sensitivity to tissue composition, using symmetrical percussive sites on the human chest and abdomen that are dull on one side and resonant on the other, and the chest of anaesthetised animals with experimentally induced pneumothorax and lung collapse, two life-threatening conditions for which percussion is a key diagnostic method, and (2) to engineer a small device from our bulky prototype that is suitable for clinical use, in infants and adults.Read moreRead less
Circulatory Biomarkers For Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: Improving Patient Outcomes
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$841,625.00
Summary
We are going to find molecules in the blood that would improve the diagnosis and treatment of a lung condition called Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). The project brings together well characterized patients from the Australian IPF registry, blood samples we have collected from them and cutting edge technologies to complete this project.