Hypertonic Saline (HTS) In Head Injured Patients - A Multicentre, Prehospital, Prospective Randomised Clinical Trial
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$247,269.00
Summary
Head injury is common in patients with major trauma, many of whom are young adults. The extent of head injury has a major influence on patient outcome. Low blood pressure after trauma worsens the extent of brain injury by decreasing its blood supply at a critical stage. Much of this secondary brain injury occurs before the patient reaches hospital. Hypertonic saline (HTS) is an intravenous salt solution which has been used in intensive care patients for many years to decrease brain swelling in h ....Head injury is common in patients with major trauma, many of whom are young adults. The extent of head injury has a major influence on patient outcome. Low blood pressure after trauma worsens the extent of brain injury by decreasing its blood supply at a critical stage. Much of this secondary brain injury occurs before the patient reaches hospital. Hypertonic saline (HTS) is an intravenous salt solution which has been used in intensive care patients for many years to decrease brain swelling in head injured patients. We know that HTS can be given to patients before they reach hospital, is safe, and acts by rapidly increasing blood pressure and decreasing brain swelling. Accordingly HTS may minimise secondary brain injury and lead to increased survival. Importantly, HTS is likely to dramatically improve neurological function of survivors without any significant risk of side effects. This study is designed to determine the effectiveness of prehospital HTS in head injured trauma patients with traumatic coma and low blood pressure.Read moreRead less
Randomised Comparison Of Fluid Resuscitation With Human Albumin Solution Or Normal Saline Among Critically Ill Patients
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$611,728.00
Summary
Human albumin solution is widely used for the emergency treatment of severely ill patients requiring fluid replacement, both in Australia and worldwide. However, a recent report suggests that compared to the other standard treatment (salt solution), the use of human albumin solution may be associated with a higher death rate (about six additional deaths among every one hundred patients treated). But, this report was based on data from a relatively small number of patients among whom there was a ....Human albumin solution is widely used for the emergency treatment of severely ill patients requiring fluid replacement, both in Australia and worldwide. However, a recent report suggests that compared to the other standard treatment (salt solution), the use of human albumin solution may be associated with a higher death rate (about six additional deaths among every one hundred patients treated). But, this report was based on data from a relatively small number of patients among whom there was a relatively small number of deaths, and there is widespread uncertainty among doctors about the reliability of the evidence and the implications for patient care. This is reflected in the large difference between intensive care units in the use of human albumin solution (in Australia, its use ranges from 10-90% of all patients needing fluid). Human albumin solution costs, about thirty times more than salt solution, and during 1998 more than 200,000 bottles of human albumin solution were administered to patients in Australia, at a cost of about A$35 million. In an effort to provide definitive evidence about the effects (and cost-effectiveness) of fluid replacement with human albumin solution, the Australia and New Zealand Intensive Care Society, in collaboration with the Australian Red Cross Blood Services and the Institute for International Health, has proposed the conduct of new large-scale study (SAFE - Saline vs Albumin Fluid Evaluation). This study will involve 7,000 patients from 15 intensive care units in Australia and New Zealand. These patients (all of whom require fluid replacement) will be randomly assigned to receive either human albumin solution or salt solution and outcome in terms of deaths and other serious events will be monitored over 28 days. Results will be available within 2 years of starting the study, and these are likely to influence the care of the majority of seriously ill patients admitted to intensive care units worldwide.Read moreRead less
Novel Interventions For The Diverse Population Of Australians With Bronchiectasis
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$726,822.00
Summary
Bronchiectasis is a chronic lung condition in which infection causes wheeze, breathlessness, fatigue and sputum production - markedly reducing quality of life and requiring repeated hospital admissions. Risk of hospitalisation due to the disease is up to 9-fold higher in Indigenous vs other Australians. This research will examine two new, low-cost therapies with excellent potential to treat bronchiectasis: a new antibiotic, Azithromycin, and a mucus-clearance agent, hypertonic saline.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130100333
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$315,640.00
Summary
A new class of fast and reliable spectral methods for partial differential equations. The project will develop novel fast and reliable spectral methods for computing solutions to general partial differential equations. These methods will be applied to solve important equations that arise in mathematical physics and other areas where high accuracy is essential.
Novel mathematics and numerical methods for ferromagnetic problems. This project aims to develop novel mathematical theories and numerical methods for ferromagnetic problems. These problems arise from many real-life applications, for example in storage devices and magnetic sensors, which are often affected by random (thermal) noise. Since thermal noise limits the data-retention time of the devices, analysing the effect of noise is highly significant. Expected outcomes will be novel computational ....Novel mathematics and numerical methods for ferromagnetic problems. This project aims to develop novel mathematical theories and numerical methods for ferromagnetic problems. These problems arise from many real-life applications, for example in storage devices and magnetic sensors, which are often affected by random (thermal) noise. Since thermal noise limits the data-retention time of the devices, analysing the effect of noise is highly significant. Expected outcomes will be novel computational techniques to solve the underlying equations and deal with randomness. The project aims to put Australia in the forefront of international research in numerical methods in micromagnetism. The new computational methods are expected to be used to advance technology in magnetic memory devices.Read moreRead less
Interface-aware numerical methods for stochastic inverse problems. This project aims to design novel high-performance numerical tools for solving large-scale forward and inverse problems dominated by stochastic interfaces and quantifying associated uncertainties. In real-world applications such as groundwater, these tools are instrumental for assimilating big datasets into mathematical models for providing reliable predictions. By advancing and integrating high-order polytopal schemes, multileve ....Interface-aware numerical methods for stochastic inverse problems. This project aims to design novel high-performance numerical tools for solving large-scale forward and inverse problems dominated by stochastic interfaces and quantifying associated uncertainties. In real-world applications such as groundwater, these tools are instrumental for assimilating big datasets into mathematical models for providing reliable predictions. By advancing and integrating high-order polytopal schemes, multilevel methods, transport maps, and dimension reduction, this project's anticipated outcomes are highly accurate and cost-efficient numerical schemes, certified by rigorous mathematical analysis. This should provide data-centric simulation tools with enhanced reliability, for engineering and scientific applications.Read moreRead less
Towards predictive 4D computational models for the heart. This project aims to develop novel high-performance numerical algorithms for multiscale and multiphysics PDEs with dynamic interfaces, the development and analysis of a novel PDE system modelling the electromechanics of heart and torso, and the combination of these numerical techniques and models to deliver predictive tools for patient-specific simulations of the cardiac function. It involves the design and mathematical analysis of space- ....Towards predictive 4D computational models for the heart. This project aims to develop novel high-performance numerical algorithms for multiscale and multiphysics PDEs with dynamic interfaces, the development and analysis of a novel PDE system modelling the electromechanics of heart and torso, and the combination of these numerical techniques and models to deliver predictive tools for patient-specific simulations of the cardiac function. It involves the design and mathematical analysis of space-time variational discretisations on embedded meshes, 4D computational geometry algorithms for numerical integration and multilevel solvers. By combining scientific computing and machine learning, one anticipated outcome of this research is a new generation of nonlinear PDE approximations and solvers.Read moreRead less
New Approaches to Modelling and Analysing Long-Memory Random Processes. The project aims to develop new approaches using infinite-dimensional Markov processes to solving important long-standing problems from the theory of long memory random processes and their applications. It aims to: construct a class of new representations of random processes; derive inequalities for the key numerical characteristics; and, devise and investigate numerical methods for computing the characteristics and for perf ....New Approaches to Modelling and Analysing Long-Memory Random Processes. The project aims to develop new approaches using infinite-dimensional Markov processes to solving important long-standing problems from the theory of long memory random processes and their applications. It aims to: construct a class of new representations of random processes; derive inequalities for the key numerical characteristics; and, devise and investigate numerical methods for computing the characteristics and for performing statistical inference on the long memory models. The accuracy of numerical approximations will be analysed using simulations on supercomputers. Expected outcomes include models and results of practical importance with applications such as intrusion detection problems, cell motility for biological data and telecommunication.Read moreRead less