The needs of stroke survivors and primary care physicians in rural communities.

Supervisors: Dr. Jacques Joubert and Prof. David Ames

Location: National Ageing Research Institute, 34-54 Poplar Road, Parkville, Vic 3052

Contact: Tel: +61 3 8387 2305 or +61 419 780 448

Email: Dr. Jacques Joubert

Stroke is the second leading cause of death in developing countries and the leading cause of disability. Rural and remote populations are disadvantaged in access to high quality, timely evidence based healthcare. With a rapidly increasing ageing population worldwide, finding strategies to reduce the burden of stroke on society, are increasingly important. NARI currently supports a large clinical research project  in secondary stroke prevention aimed at the primary care level and based in designated metropolitan divisions of general practice. The investigators have performed pilot research in rural Victoria to better  understand the needs of stroke survivors and primary care physicians in rural divisions and to potentially advise on effective translation of evidence based models of care into the rural sector.

Using the data from the pilot ‘ NEEDS’ study, this study seeks to determine the feasibility of conducting a large multi center randomized controlled research study across multiple practice divisions and amongst culturally diverse populations in both rural and remote regions of Australia.               

Students will have the opportunity to develop skills including, conceptualization, generation of research questions and hypotheses, literature review, both quantitative and qualitative data analysis, and reporting and interview techniques.

AVAILABLE PROJECTS FOR HONOURS/MASTERS DEGREE IN MEDICAL
WOMEN’S HEALTHY AGEING PROJECT (W.H.A.P)
NATIONAL AGEING RESEARCH INSTITUTE (NARI) 

Vitamin D is made in the skin, a process that requires sun exposure, ingestion in the diet or being taken as a nutritional supplement.  Adequate levels of vitamin D are essential for healthy bones and muscle function, and are important for other aspects of health.  Severe vitamin D deficiency causes obvious and serious bone and muscle disease. The effects of mild to moderate deficiency are less clear-cut, but may include bone fragility, muscle weakness and a propensity to fall over.  In Australia, mild to moderate vitamin D deficiency is relatively common in the adult population, but the health consequences of this deficiency in apparently health adults are poorly understood.  It is also not clear below which blood vitamin D level health problems may arise.  The purpose of this project is to investigate the consequences of mild to moderate vitamin D deficiency (blood already collected) examining Bone Mineral densities (BMD) (already collected) and Balance data (already collected) in healthy women from the internationally re-known Melbourne Women’s Healthy Ageing Project (&MWMHP). 

Opportunities:-

• Internationally re-known cohort and Research Team each with international recognition. (Prof, J Wark, Prof L Dennerstein, Prof D Ames, Dr C Szoeke)
• Already have measures collected (no hard yards and thesis easily achievable in time frame)
• Publication within one year
• Treatment potential with commercial opportunities – candidate with experience in media and interest in commercialisation preferred.

Osteoarthritis is a signific and disabling condition which predominantly affects those over the age of 50.  This demographic is rapidly increasing but the current treatment options for osteoarthritis are limited.  Studies on quality of life and economics demonstrate the enormous burden which osteoarthritis places on individuals and our community.  There is a new blood test CTX11, which has been reported as a late breaking abstract at an international meeting.  It is said to be able to predict (20:1) progression of osteoarthritis in a small cohort.  This assay has the potential therefore to predict (at 20 times power) those patients at risk of osteoarthritis progression.  We have 224 women with X-Rays of hand and knees scored for evidence of radiological osteoarthritis using a validated scale from an international cohort of women.  With funding to obtain CTX11 assay and analysis between the levels and XR measures we could test the potential of this novel assay to identify those with osteoarthritis.

Major benefits from this study are:-

• Internationally re-known cohort of the Melbourne Women’s Midlife Health Project (MWMHP).
• Research Team each with international recognition. (Prof. F Cicuttini, Prof L Dennerstein, Prof D Ames, Dr C Szoeke)
• X-Rays already conducted. Blood available for assay at same time as X-Rays
• Publication within one year
• A test to identify people with this condition early. This is important area of study as we only have prevention treatments and treatment for symptoms available for osteoarthritis.

Dementia and cognitive impairment cause significant disability, morbidity and mortality within our ageing community and current therapies are inadequate.  The emerging therapies, even if successful, will be limited by both cost and side effect profiles.  Population-based prevention strategies are required now more than ever to reduce the burden of disease in our community.  DHEAS is a hormone produced by the adrenal gland and a precursor for both androgens and estrogens.  A recent study published this year showed that high DHEAS levels were associated with better performance on cognitive studies.  This study is criticized for having no mood measures and the DHEAS levels were done 2 years before the cognitive measures not at the same time.  We have data available on 257 women with a full battery of cognitive tests and serum taken at the same time as well as validated mood scales.  We need funding to perform DHEAS levels on this serum and analyse the results.  DHEAS has the potential to be used for therapy. 

Major benefits from this study are:-

• Internationally re-known cohort of the Melbourne Women’s Midlife Health Project (MWMHP).
• Research Team each with international recognition.
• Publication within one year
• Treatment potential for a condition currently without good therapy options

Contact: Dr Cassandra Szoeke:      
Women’s Healthy Ageing Project (WHAP)
National Ageing Research Insititute (NARI)
Gate 4, 34 – 54 Poplar Rd
Parkville VIC  3052
Telephone: 03 8387 2305

Postal Address:
P.O. Box 2127
Royal Melbourne Hospital
Victoria  3050