ANZCTR search results

This study aimed to explore any correlation between salivary and serum ferritin in 150 women undergoing elective surgery, to evaluate the feasibility of using salivary ferritin as a non-invasive biomarker for iron deficiency. Participants provided a fasted morning saliva sample and blood sample prior to their surgery. It was hypothesised that ferritin levels in saliva would accurately reflect serum ferritin levels.

This study is evaluating a new GP-integrated model of care for children with developmental and behavioural concerns in rural Western Australia. In this model, specially trained rural general practitioners work collaboratively with paediatricians to provide earlier developmental assessment and management for children while they are awaiting specialist review. The study will assess whether this model improves access to care, reduces wait times, and is acceptable to children, families and healthcare providers. The study hypothesis is that a GP-integrated developmental clinic model will improve timely access to paediatric developmental assessment and provide an acceptable and feasible model of care for rural communities.

Postnatal depression affects around one in ten mothers and can negatively impact the mother–infant relationship, which is critical for healthy child development and mental health. Treatment for maternal depression does not always lead to improvements in this relationship, indicating a need for targeted interventions. eHUGS is an online program adapted from an evidence-based face-to-face intervention, designed to strengthen the mother–infant relationship and support infant mental health. This trial will randomise 126 mothers with infants under 12 months to either the eHUGS program or waitlist control who receive links via SMS to publicly available online parenting resources. Outcomes will be assessed at baseline, post-intervention, and 3-month follow-up. The study will evaluate effects on infant social-emotional development (primary outcome), and secondary outcomes include the mother–infant relationship, perceptions of child temperament and behaviour, parenting self-efficacy, maternal mental health and program satisfaction and usage. It is expected that infants of mothers allocated to eHUGS will show significantly greater improvements in infant social-emotional development at 3 months post-intervention than controls.

The primary aim of this trial is to determine whether the nervous systems ability to control pain will predict clinical response to a rehabilitation exercise program in individuals with patellar tendinopathy. We hypothesis that individuals with a nervous system that up-regulates pain will have a poorer response to rehabilitation.

Understanding the effect of intoxication on witnesses is important to the legal system, but key gaps remain. While research on alcohol and memory is advancing (e.g., Jores et al., 2019), little is known about other substances in an eyewitness context. There is minimal research on amphetamines and event memory, and no known research on amphetamines and face recognition in a line-up context. Further gaps remain around dosage, timing, and expectancy effects. Many crimes are distressing, yet minimal research has explored intoxication and memory in the context of a distressing event. The role of stress warrants particular attention given that stress hormones are released during amphetamine use, and it remains unclear whether alcohol attenuates the stress response, whether stress alters alcohol metabolism, and how either may interact with memory. Critically, no known research has examined the combined effects of alcohol and amphetamine intoxication on eyewitness memory, despite the relevance of polydrug use to real-world forensic contexts. Study hypotheses: alcohol is anticipated to impair memory completeness but not accuracy, while dexamfetamine may enhance memory relative to placebo. The polysubstance condition (dexamfetamine + alcohol) is expected to produce differential effects on memory relative to either substance alone. An exploratory aim is to investigate whether acute stress moderates drug response and subsequently impacts memory.

Dry eye affects 20% adults and imparts substantial economic burden, however there is a limited understanding of the complex mechanisms underlying dry eye disease, particularly immune-mediated processes, and how inflammation might be optimally modulated to achieve therapeutic control of the condition. ‘Light therapy’ has recently emerged as a potential non-invasive treatment for dry eye. In particular, low-level light therapy, using light emitting diodes (LEDs), has been developed with the rationale of modifying relevant biological processes, such as increasing cellular metabolism with production of heat within the eyelids. This is proposed to improve the flow of oil (known as meibum) into the tears, from specialised oil (meibomian) glands in the eyelids. These glands are often dysfunctional in dry eye disease, an associated condition known as meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD). While these treatments are being rapidly adopted in practice, there remains a lack of evidence on the impact of ‘light therapy’ on ocular inflammation and/or the immune cell populations at the ocular surface. The primary purpose of this study is to characterise the in vivo features of human corneal immune cells when exposed to different coloured light stimuli (red vs blue) used in low-level light therapy in the treatment of dry eye associated with MGD.

This research project is testing a new treatment. The new treatment is a vaginal ring pessary that delivers estriol to treat both pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM) at the same time. We hypothesise that, compared to the existing vaginal pessary and estrogen therapy in the market, the estriol integrated vaginal pessary is an effective treatment for symptomatic pelvic organ prolapse and genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM) without additional treatment side effects.

The aim of this study is to assess the safety and tolerability of ARG-397, an experimental new medicine being developed to help reduce the formation of blood clots. Blood clots can block blood vessels and may lead to serious medical conditions. This study will involve healthy volunteers who will receive a single dose of ARG-397. Researchers will monitor participants for any side effects, measure how long ARG-397 stays in the bloodstream, and assess whether it affects the blood’s ability to clot.

The study will test the effectiveness of a universal version of a piloted intervention to support parents to bond with and care for their baby during pregnancy and in the early postnatal period. The universal intervention combines an attachment-focused mid-trimester ultrasound with parent support delivered online using “virtual home visits”, and is designed for delivery to all parents as a part of standard care at the Women's and Children's Hospital. The intervention aims to provide support to improve: (i) parents’ emotional bond with their unborn baby and their capacity to consider their unborn baby’s experiences (mentalisation); (ii) sensitive, responsive caregiving in the antenatal and postnatal period; (iii) understanding of normal patterns of infant distress in the new-born period, including how to effectively manage infant distress, and; (iv) ability to use safety planning to manage parental frustration during periods of persistent infant distress. By improving parents’ emotional attachment to their baby during pregnancy, and providing support to manage the challenges of the postnatal period, we seek to improve the health of the relationship between parents and their babies. This in turn may provide a healthier transition to parenthood and better mental health for infants. The study will also recruit consumer advocates and clinician representatives to (i) inform the development of the above parenting program; and (ii) form a qualitative study within the project to better understand perinatal experiences across multiple perspectives.

This study will trial a new personalised support program to help individuals diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) improve adherence to their treatment. Despite the major impact OSA has on health and wellbeing, the current front-line treatment for OSA (continuous positive airway pressure; CPAP) is poorly tolerated. Co-designed with patients, this study will combine continuous monitoring and tailored support to better manage symptoms, troubleshoot treatment problems, and improve quality of life. We hypothesise that this program (SAMMA) will improve residual OSA severity, measured via the apnoea-hypopnea index (AHI), as well as health related quality of life, therapy use, and other OSA-related symptoms. This study will use a randomised controlled trial design, as well as health economics, to compare usual care to our tailored support program.