Funding Awarded

Co-design and co-adaptation of a trustworthy online resource for healthcare professionals and people with chronic hip and knee pain in Ireland

Long-term, painful conditions of the hip and knee joint are common in Ireland. Yet, many patients sit on waiting lists for months or years, even when specialist opinions are not needed. In the meantime, pain gets worse, affecting ability to live, work and be fully active. Expert knowledge on how to exercise with these conditions and...

Combining HDAC6 inhibitors with KRAS inhibitors for the treatment of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC)

In Europe lung cancer is the second most common cancer in men and the third most common cancer in women. Globally, lung cancer contributes to more cancer deaths than any other type of cancer. While we have witnessed some improvements for lung cancer patients, the outcomes and treatment options for the majority remains poor. One...

The design and psychometric evaluation of a health-related quality-of-life outcome measure (QoLTEN) for adults with Stevens-Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis (SJS/TEN)

Stevens-Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis (SJS/TEN) are devastating conditions with a sudden onset. Patients are catapulted into a rapid and unexpected form of acute skin failure with a significant risk to their life. They become critically ill within a short period of time and are treated as a medical emergency with the...

Development of a Core Outcome Set for research studies with older adults in the Emergency Department

The number of people over the age of 65 is increasing. This change in the population will continue to put pressure on healthcare services including Emergency Services into the coming decades as older adults are most frequent Emergency Department (ED) attendees.

Older adults are at risk of health decline and functional decline...

The Past, Present and Future of our Emergency Medical Services: Consultation on the Implementation of a National Research Strategy for Paramedicine in Ireland

Context:

Pre-hospital care traditionally refers to emergency medical care administered to ill or injured patients by paramedics, prior to transportation by ambulance to a medical facility. Internationally, Emergency Medical Services (EMS) have evolved to treat and referral models and paramedicine is moving towards a future of...

Migrant health research networking and knowledge exchange seminar: An arts based event

People have always migrated for a variety of reasons, to seek work, education and to seek protection from conflict, natural disasters and persecution. While Ireland has a long history of emigration, since the early 2000s the trend has changed and there are more migrants coming into Ireland than before. Therefore gaining greater...

7th Annual Public & Patient Involvement Summer School

Enhancing Public, Patient and Carer involvement (PPI) in health research was identified as a priority area within the HRB's Strategy 2016-2020 and reiterated in the Strategy 2021-2025. This includes a defined commitment to develop and promote PPI within the HRB and HRB-supported projects and programmes, as well as within the community...

Moving policy evaluation forward: A workshop on how to identify the ‘best buys’ in public policy for the promotion of physical activity and healthy nutrition.

Over the last 3 years, researchers and policy-makers in food and physical activity have been working together to establish the Policy Evaluation Network (PEN). PEN aims to evaluate policy measures to promote a healthy diet and physical activity of the population in terms of their content, implementation and effectiveness.

By...

Clinical Trial Feasibility Award - University of Limerick

No summary available

MinDful: Music aNd Dance For Older adULts: The Feasibility of an Arts-Based Health Intervention for Health and Wellbeing

Ireland has an ageing population. Many older adults in Ireland have a chronic condition, low levels of physical activity and experience loneliness and social isolation. Additionally, approximately a third of adults over 65 years of age fall each year. Additionally, the unprecedented consequences of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic,...

Exercise therapy for degenerative meniscal tears in the primary care - a feasibility cluster randomised controlled trial

Knee pain due to a degenerative meniscal tear is a common joint condition seen in Irish orthopaedic clinics. Changes to the knee joint and meniscus (cartilage within the knee that helps cushion the joint) occur normally with age but can become painful in some middle-aged adults. Exercise is recommended as the main treatment to aid...

Towards an integrated model of care for older adults transitioning from the Emergency Department to the community

Worldwide increases in life expectancy are leading to the rapid ageing of populations. By 2031, it is forecasted that there will be more than one million older adults in Ireland, representing 20% of our overall population. It is widely accepted that older adults frequently avail of health services in the community and in the hospital...

Disparities in Heath Outcomes of Chronic Kidney Disease between Men and Women in the Irish Health System

It is increasingly recognised that there are differences between men and women in regard to chronic kidney disease (CKD). It appears to be more common in women and they have a shorter survival compared to women in the general population. It is unclear 1) whether these differences are due to biological factors like hormones or due to...

Transitions of Care in Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease

Patients who suffer from advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) are at risk of progressing to kidney failure which is associated with a shortened life span and significant disability. The transition from advanced CKD to kidney failure requiring renal replacement therapy (RRT) [dialysis, kidney transplantation or conservative therapy] is...

IMPlementation of osteoArthritis Clinical guidelines Together

Osteoarthritis is a disease of the joints, affecting 1 in 8 Irish people as they get older. Due to the growth of our ageing population amongst other reasons, this figure is expected to double within one generation. Most people with the disease in their hips or knees are likely to experience some level of pain as well as difficulty...

Development and evaluation of an adaptive mobile health physical activity intervention post-stroke: a Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomised Trial

Despite recent advances in acute stroke intervention, strategies to prevent recurrent stroke are lacking. This is of urgent importance for people with stroke who are at risk of having another stroke. Physical activity (PA) is the second-largest predictor of stroke and the cornerstone of secondary prevention therapies. Interventions...

A Physiotherapist led intervention to Promote Physical Activity in Rheumatoid Arthritis- a pilot study

As a long-term chronic condition, Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) can have a significant long-term impact. Typically presenting as a disease that causes joint pain and swelling, excessive tiredness and difficulty doing everyday activities RA occurs usually in people over 40 and is three times more likely in women than men. There has been...

Computational evaluation of morphologic tumour tissue features as diagnostic and prognostic predictors of lung cancer

Co-funded with Irish Cancer Society

Intensive Care Airway and Lung Microbiome Network ICALM Network

Hospital acquired pneumonia (HAP) is the most frequent infection acquired in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). ICU-related respiratory infections arise as a consequence of the processes of ICU care. Mechanical ventilation (MV) is potentially lifesaving, but also carries microorganisms into the lower airways, changing the native flora, and...

National intellectual Disability Supplement to The Irish Longitudinal Study of Ageing-Wave 4

IDS-TILDA is a longitudinal study researching ageing in Ireland among people with an intellectual disability (ID) aged 40 and over. This study is the first of its kind in Europe, and the only study able to directly compare the ageing of people with intellectual disability with the general ageing population through its linkage to The...

Vaccination: Knowledge is power

Over 3 million global deaths are avoided annually due to the existence of vaccines. In Ireland the state funded immunization program protects against 14 infectious diseases including HPV. However, we face a number of challenges with immunization. Alarmingly, in recent years uptake of vaccines has been waning. Perhaps due to complacency...

Health and social inequalities in the Mid-West

As there are many disadvantaged areas in the Mid-West, health and social inequalities are important issues locally. This is because deprivation is linked with poor health and poor access to healthcare. Under the Healthy Ireland Framework, taking actions to address health inequalities is a key priority. In the Mid-West, many...

Self-Harm and Suicide AwaREness ? SHARE

SHARE is based on outcomes of the HRB funded research programme: Improving Prediction and Risk Assessment of Suicide and Self-Harm (IMPRESS). The IMPRESS study aims to improve the knowledge base on predictive risk factors associated with repeated self-harm and suicide among high-risk groups of self-harm patients in Ireland. During the...

Postnatal Mental Health PARTNERship

It is estimated that 10-25% of mothers will experience a mental health problem following the birth of their baby. With approximately 63,900 births in Ireland each year (6), conservative figures would suggest that over 6390 mothers will experience a mental health problem in the postnatal period. For many mothers, their partner plays a...

Towards Recovery After Childbirth, through Knowledge: (ON TRACK)

The Maternal health And Maternal Morbidity in Ireland (MAMMI) study identified problems women had postpartum. We have provided information for women on physical problems, such as incontinence, and will now address other important issues. For example, 15% of women have anxiety during pregnancy, and 44% have pain during sex at 3 months...

Developing an on-line course for first-time mothers: ?Pathway to Birth?

Concern has been expressed globally at rising caesarean section (CS) rates with no evidence of any decrease in associated health problems for mothers and babies, indicating that many CSs are unnecessary, and can be harmful. We are at present running a pilot trial called "REDUCE"to see if a new intervention, based on research evidence,...

The Breakfast Club

The Breakfast Club is the story of diabetes in pregnancy in Ireland. In a weekly, serialized, online graphic novel, we will follow the lives of women attending a Breakfast Club for women who have received a diagnosis of diabetes during their pregnancy. We will explore their experiences, from having a Glucose Tolerance Test, to meeting...

Medtrack KEDS

"Health professionals are the lifeblood of the health system"(President M Robinson), yet our junior doctors (NCHD-trainees) continue to report that responses for improving their working conditions have had "little tangible change or impact on their day-to-day working lives and training experience?. The RCSI research team has...

Development of a Teaching Programme for the Junior Cycle Mental health and Mental Ill-Health Module

Great progress has been made nationally on destigmatising mental health but it has not yet become a topic that people are universally comfortable with. A major change in the Junior Cycle in 2018 is the introduction of Wellbeing which directly addresses youth mental health through Strand 4 in the new Social Personal and Health Education...

Development of Book About Mental Health Problems For Children and Adolescents

There has been steady improvements in the quality of information available to people about mental health issues but a challenge remains to communicate this fully to children and adolescents. Much of the existing information is text heavy and can be off-putting for this age group. Presenting this information so that it is accessible...

Citizen Science: The People's Trial

Randomised trials are instrumental in providing reliable and robust evidence on the benefits, harms and costs of health care, so that people can make informed choices. However, the general public?s understanding of randomised trials can be limited and ensuring public support for and participation in trials remains challenging. The...

Delivering a Reduction in the Development of Maternal Prenatal Stress: DIRECTMAPS

Pregnancy can be a stressful time during which many expectant mothers experience understandable worries and concerns. High levels of prenatal maternal stress are linked to several unfavourable conditions which can affect the health of the child at birth. Normal development of the central nervous system is also at risk during the early...

Piloting the Community Engaged Scholars Program in Ireland

Public and patient involvement in health research is not embedded in Irish Universities. As part of the PPI Ignite Awards scheme the HRB have funded 5 Irish Universities to demonstrate the value of PPI and champion this approach in Ireland. PPI involves public/patients working in partnership with researchers in setting research...

The GENIE fellowship: Gauging the Effectiveness of Novel computer-support technologies for Implementing Evidence in healthcare

Healthcare professionals must keep pace with a rapidly growing knowledge base. By 2020, the quantity of medical evidence is expected to double every 73 days. Typically, healthcare professionals leverage 'systematic review' articles to tackle this issue. A systematic review is a consolidated summary of evidence that healthcare...

Exploring the immunome of oesophageal adenocarcinoma using bioinformatics to assess and predict responses to neoadjuvant therapy (Immune-AEGIS)

The immune system is made up of cells that are designed to protect the body from infection and disease, like cancer. However, in patients with cancer, the immune system often does not do this well. Recently, a new treatment for cancer has been tested - called immunotherapy, which uses the patient?s own immune system to fight the...

Promoting Education and Research Knowledge (PERK)

THE PROBLEM Cancer of the oesophagus (food pipe) is an aggressive type of cancer, and has a low survival rate. It is usually diagnosed at a late stage, often due to a lack of knowledge of underlying symptoms which can be mild, including heartburn, bloating and problems swallowing. Oesophageal cancer is not as well known as some other...

Rheumatoid Arthritis Patient Awareness INitiative (RA-PAIN)

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a common autoimmune condition that causes disability for patient's day-to-day tasks. New medications that target bad molecules or cells improve outcomes, however responses may be limited or side effects may occur. Who will develop RA, get severe disease or respond to current treatments is not known. Studies...

Using photovoice to enhance knowledge exchange and dissemination

The EOLAS programmes are information and learning programmes for people with experience of psychosis and their family members. The programmes have been co-produced and are co-delivered by peer and clinician facilitators in partnership with mental health clinicians. Such service user and family member involvement in the design and...

CHErIsH- KEDS

This CHErIsH-KEDS application has two aims: to increase capacity in translation of research into practice in Ireland and to develop a knowledge exchange strategy for the future roll out of CHErIsH across different settings in primary care. This application builds on the existing study, the CHErIsH study. The CHErIsH study is funded...

How to Use TILDA Data - Webinar, Seminar and Workshop Series

The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) was established in 2006 with baseline data collection commencing in 2009. TILDA collects data in a series of data collection waves. The data is collected through a computer-assisted personal interview and a self-completion questionnaire once every two years with a comprehensive health...

Co-Designing, Pre-Testing and Refining an Intervention Programme to Support Parent-Adolescent Communication about Shared Self-Management Responsibilities in Type I Diabetes

This knowledge exchange activity aims to work together with young people with Type 1 Diabetes (TID), parents of young people with TID, professionals (from a range of disciplines e.g. diabetes nurse specialists, psychologists, consultant paediatric endocrinologists) and community advocates (e.g. Diabetes Ireland) to codesign, pre-test...

Collecting and using data about ethnicity in healthcare -a drama

Ireland has a long history of emigration. More recently, we have inward migration. Census 2016 found that 17% of the population were born outside Ireland. This means that there are different minority ethnic groups in our country, in addition the Irish Travellers. The Health Service Executive wants to gather information on the ethnic...

The APART Study Public Participation Initiative for Knowledge Exchange

The APART Study is exploring an important, low-cost intervention that may limit bone loss associated with initiation of antiretroviral therapy to treat HIV. Results from this trial may have significant implications for how HIV is managed both in Ireland and internationally. We will use this KEDS award to develop a research partnership...

Real Talk with Real Mums

?Real Talk with Real Mums? is a 10-episode podcast series looking at the issues of everyday pregnancy with medical professionals and the real women who have gone through the pregnancy journey. Each episode of c.30 minutes will tackle a different topic, from exercise in pregnancy (with a Physiotherapist), to mental health issues in...

Reducing Maternal Stress in Ireland

Stress experienced by women during pregnancy and up to two years after the baby is born can have negative consequences for the mother and the child. Strategies and guidelines to reduce stress experienced during pregnancy and early parenthood is lacking in Ireland. In this project the research team will develop an intervention...

Economics of palliative care: from international evidence to Irish policy

Palliative care is specialised care for people with serious and complex illness. Its goal is to improve quality of life for patients and families, and studies show that it generally achieves this goal. Palliative care access is strong in Ireland by international standards but there are still significant gaps in services and...

Investigating the iceberg model of self-harm and suicide in children, adolescents and young adults: a multi-methods study of predictors of onset, escalation and premature mortality

Rates of self-harm among children, adolescents and young adults in Ireland have increased sharply in the past decade and rates of youth suicide remain high. Self-harm and suicide have been described as an "iceberg", with the rare event of suicide as the tip of the iceberg. Beneath this are higher rates of self-harm resulting in...

TeamTalk: Interactive Resource Hub for Healthcare Teams

Healthcare teams who are interested in improving how they work together to deliver better patient care often struggle to find the time to learn and implement new practices. Teams rarely have the opportunity to attend training courses or other learning events together. This makes it difficult to transfer their newly acquired knowledge...

Working with the Research Community: Training and a Toolkit for Patients & Members of the Public

The PPI Ignite Programme at Trinity College Dublin is focused on building capacity for public and patient involvement in health research, with a particular emphasis on improving the quality of approaches. One of 10 Ignite Partners, the Medical Research Charities Group (MRCG), hosts a Public Patient Involvement (PPI) Shared Learning...

Disseminating, Engaging, and Sharing Knowledge (DESK):patient informed resource for understanding our research

Based on the findings of the research conducted during our HRB Research Leader's Award, the aim of the proposed KEDS project is to effectively disseminate the finding of our research to chronic pain patients and the general public. Sharing research findings with the general public is very important but can be difficult to get right; we...

A Patient Education Programme in Health Research & Innovation

Well informed patients and carers have a key role to play in the design and implementation of person-centered healthcare and research. Whilst patients are eager to have better and safer health products and innovations, they are often unaware of the complex nature of how new health innovations are researched, developed and made...

The patient is part of the answer - don't leave us out in the cold!

This application aims to produce a documentary that explains public and patient involvement in health research to the general public and encourages more people to become involved with researchers. Known as PPI, public and patient involvement means that people who are likely to be affected by research results are directly involved in...

Promoting National Awareness of Thrombosis in Pregnancy.

Women who are pregnant have a higher chance of developing blood clots (thrombosis) that can cause serious ill-health and can be fatal. Therefore, it is incredibly important that women who are pregnant, women of childbearing age and their families are aware of their risk factors for thrombosis in pregnancy. In the HRB-funded "HIGHLOW"...

Access to primary and emergency care for children with intellectual disabilities: utilisation, decision making, parental preferences and disparities

The aim of this research is to learn about the inequalities faced by children with intellectual disabilities (ID) in Ireland in relation to healthcare and to find out the reasons why these inequalities occur. In many other countries around the world, children with ID do not receive the same standard of healthcare as children without...

Maximising collaboration to expedite positive change in the assessment process that determines physiotherapy students' readiness for independent practice

Assessment of student physiotherapists in the clinical environment is a critical part of their education which determines their readiness for independent clinical practice once qualified. Therefore it has significant implications for patient safety and quality of service delivery. Yet, research and experience highlight many challenges...

LoVIC-Kids: Improving public awareness of abnormal bleeding symptoms

Congenital bleeding disorders (CBD) may result in increased bleeding at times of injury, surgery, childbirth or with periods (menstrual bleeding). Although an estimated 1-2% of the population are affected by CBD, most people are unaware that their bleeding symptoms are abnormal. In addition, there is limited awareness amongst many...

"Let's Talk About" Series

Researchers in dementia at NUI Galway are producing important research insights into many aspects of dementia care in Ireland, specifically: resource allocation decision-making; support structures for family carers; and how people with dementia are treated within the care system. The focus is now turning to sharing the results...

Using visual media to communicate complex information

Services in Ireland for people with dementia are poorly developed. The main partnership award aims to (i) describe current dementia services across all sectors and (ii) ask people with dementia, carers, health workers and managers about the ideal level and type of service provision for people with dementia who have different needs and...

Factors influencing decision-making for caesarean section

The rising rate of caesarean section (CS) has become a growing concern worldwide, with limited justification of the rising trend. Understanding the factors that influence the rise in CS is important because obstetricians and midwives are directly involved in the decision to perform a CS and are the key drivers to achieving the remedial...

The Frail Brain and the Frail Body: Impact of FRAILty and COGnitive impairment on trajectories, patterns and costs in care in old age

Informing Chronic Kidney Disease health policy in Ireland: Linkage of large datasets to study the interaction between ageing and kidney

The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) is a remarkable study undertaken in Ireland, which invited over 8,500 people aged 50 and over to participate at wave 1 between 2009 and 2011. Individuals who agreed to take part were subsequently invited to present for a comprehensive health assessment. This study is invaluable to the...

Enhancing ?The Model for Dementia Palliative Care Project? by targeting potential model users with innovative Knowledge, Transfer and Exchange activities.

This KEDS application will further enhance Knowledge, Transfer and Exchange (KTE) activities arising from 'The Model for Dementia Palliative Care Project', by supporting new connections with key groups, through novel activities and outputs. The active project will develop a new service delivery model for palliative care for people...

What the Researcher and the Dentist want to share, supporting knowledge dissemination

Research is ongoing to monitor the oral health of the Irish population, the uptake of dental services, and targeting of services to specific groups most in need. Results of such research inform policy makers in the Department of Health with respect to issues such as community water fluoridation and recommendations on the use of...

HPV associated disease: shaping the future prevention and management pathway

Infection with HPV is the most important cause of cervical cancer. As such, HPV testing is now being introduced as part of cervical cancer screening. HPV is also involved in the development of other anogenital cancers, which include: vulvar, vaginal, anal and penile cancers. HPV vaccination will help reduce the burden of HPV-associated...

Scaling up the Family Carer Decision Support Intervention: A transnational effectiveness-implementation evaluation

The Family Carer Decision Support (FCDS) intervention has been designed to inform family carers about end of life care options available to a person living with advanced dementia. The effect of the FCDS was demonstrated through a study that employed a cluster randomized control trial involving 24 care homes located in the United...

European eHealth care model for rare neurodegenerative diseases

Rare neurodegenerative disorders (RND) like Huntington?s Disease (HD) require multidisciplinary care teams which are in short supply. Given the devastating consequences of RNDs for the individual patient and their families there is an urgent need to develop innovative ways to ensure access to best practices and established care...

Multi-Domain Lifestyle Targets for Improving ProgNOsis in Huntington?s Disease

Huntington?s Disease (HD) is a progressive, life-limiting neurodegenerative disease. It has devastating consequences for the individual and their families. No current treatment to modify the course of the disease exists. Improved evidence-based symptom assessment is crucial to optimising disease management. This project aims to...

Control of neuronal proteostasis by stress-induced transfer RNA fragments (?tiRNA?) as a common stress pathway across neurodegenerative disorders.

This application is for supplemental funding through PA-18-591 for the recently funded grant (1R01AG058476-01), entitled ?Dysfunction of the autophagy-lysosomal pathway as a common mechanism of neurodegeneration,? and the JPND project to support collaborative studies between Dr. Finkbeiner?s lab (Gladstone) and the JPND RNA NEURO...

Autophagy induction as a novel therapeutic strategy for MSD

The lysosomal degradation pathway of autophagy has a crucial role in different pathophysiological conditions, such as infection, neurodegenerative disorders, cancer and ageing. In particular, autophagy plays an important role in the pathophysiology of a family of inborn errors of metabolism due to defect in the activity of lysosomal...

The microbiome as an environmental trigger for autoimmune epilepsy (MICA)

Autoimmune epilepsy is a rare form of drug-resistant epilepsy characterised by frequent seizures in later life. Patients may respond to immune therapy, but causation of disease is poorly understood, and more targeted treatments are required. This gap in knowledge is the major priority for epilepsy specialists, and the area of greatest...

Elucidation of the role of SARM1 in retinal homeostasis and oxidative stress induced retinal degeneration

Photoreceptor cells found in the back of our eyes convert light into signals that allow us to see. Death of these cells and the cells that nourish them, called RPE cells, is termed retinal degeneration and is characteristic of blinding diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and retinitis pigmentosa. Millions of people...

Towards novel anti-infective with enhanced wound-healing for diabetic foot infections : Co2 releasing star shaped micro biocidal polymers

It is estimated that 422 million people worldwide are living with diabetes and among them, a common and serious problem is the development of diabetic foot infection. One in five patients with diabetes are hospitalised with a diabetic foot wound (DFW) at least once in their lives. Infected DFWs are treated by removal of infected tissue...

Combining Electrochemotherapy with a Toll Like receptor agonist for the treatment of lung cancer

Successful cancer treatment aims to totally eliminate the entire tumour and the risk of recurrence. Treatment currently relies on removal of the primary tumour by surgery or radiotherapy followed by control of the remaining dispersed cancer cells in the whole body usually by chemotherapy. At the Cork Cancer Research Centre (CCRC) we...

Preoperative Exercise to Improve Fitness in Patients Undergoing Complex Surgery for Cancer of the Lung or Oesophagus

Treatment for people with cancer of the lung or the oesophagus (food-pipe) often involves surgery. This surgery is complex and there is a high risk that patients will develop severe complications afterwards, mainly lung or heart problems, leading to a longer hospital stay and higher hospital costs, and impacting greatly on recovery and...

Evaluation of the role of MxA and ISGylation in chemosensitivity in oesophageal cancer

Many oesophageal cancers develop resistance to the drugs currently used to treat this disease. This allows the cancer cells to survive and the cancer can come back again at variable times after the initial treatment. Research already performed by this group has identified genetic differences between cancer cells that respond well to...

Incorporation of sensor technology to provide clinical meaningfulness for existing standardised measurement scales in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) also known as Motor Neurone Disease (MND) is a progressive and ultimately fatal neurodegenerative disease for which there is no cure. People with ALS experience loss of mobility and arm function, breathlessness and chest infections, loss of speech and swallow and in 30-50%, cognitive and behavioural...

Novel Neurophysical Biomarkers of Heterogeneous Network Degeneration in Motor Neuron Disease for Quantifying the Progression and Outcome in Clinical Trials

Motor Neurone Disease (MND)/Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a terminal neurological condition in which the neurones (neural cells) that control movement degenerate. Despite encouraging results from studies in animals, translation of new treatments to humans has been disappointing. The aim of this study is to provide scientific...

Evaluating a novel macrolide based early intervention in the clinical management of chronic infections and inflammation in Cystic Fibrosis

Chronic persistent respiratory disease is a leading cause of death worldwide. Despite years of global research, the clinical management of respiratory disease, including the life-limiting genetic disease cystic fibrosis (CF), remains a significant challenge. Treatment options are extremely limited, due in part to the increased pathogen...

Gold-drug: Targeting a novel dual inhibitor drug with gold nanoparticles for improving radiation response in oesophageal cancer

Oesophageal cancer (cancer of the food pipe) has low survival rates and a very poor response to treatment. Sadly, this cancer type is on the rise in Ireland and is linked with increasing obesity rates. Unlike many other cancer types, we are still only using treatments that have existed for decades - chemotherapy drugs with radiation...

The role of sialylated-alpha-1 antitrypsin in resolution of acute and chronic inflammation

Alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency (AATD) is a hereditary disorder that results in the rapid progression of lung disease, especially in smokers. Specific treatment for this disorder is available in the form of weekly intravenous injections of AAT. This is referred to as augmentation therapy and studies have shown that augmentation...

Compound library screening in a zebrafish model of MSD to identify novel therapeutic compounds

Multiple Sulfatase Deficiency (MSD) is currently an untreatable disease and while we know some of the processes inside cells that cause or influence the disease, there is still much to be understood. While progress has been made from studying simple cell culture systems, this does not tell us about how different disease changes may...

Evidence Synthesis Ireland

Health care decisions should be based on the combination of the full amount of information that is available rather than relying on the convenient selection of one or more individual pieces of information, or studies. Evidence synthesis methods seek to establish the overall balance of information on a given topic, and are based on...

Good vigilance practice in pregnancy: A multistakeholder approach to optimising the effectiveness of risk minimisation measures to prevent harms from teratogenic medicines

When new medicines are approved for use in the general population the drug company responsible for the medicine has to make sure that certain measures are in place to avoid unnecessary harm. These are known as risk minimisation measures (RMMs). This is particularly important when the medicine may cause harmful effects to an unborn...

Co-producing health and well-being in partnership with patients, families and communities: the role of the epilepsy patient portal

Claire a 35 year old teacher with a 10 year history of epilepsy attends the Galway University Hospital (GUH) where an electronic patient record (EPR) is used by the epilepsy service. Recently on a weekend trip to Waterford, Claire had a seizure resulting in a fall in the street and a minor injury. She was taken to the emergency...

Enhancing existing formal home support to improve and maintain functional status in older adults: A feasibility study on the implementation of the Care to Move (CTM) programme

Ireland has an increasing ageing population and this has created the need for better and more integrated health and social care services. The benefits of physical activity for all ages are widely known. Physical activity programmes have been shown to improve older adults’ health and well-being and reduce falls, enabling the older adult...

Loneliness and health: the moderating role of befriending services.

Befriending services deliver companionship to older adults through regular volunteer visits. ALONE is a charitable organisation providing befriending services to older adults in Ireland. It is the mission statement of ALONE to use befriending to reduce the negative impact loneliness has on health, but evidence for this use of...

Premature Ageing in long-Term Homeless adults (PATH)

The number of homeless adults in Ireland is rising. Homeless people have more chronic illnesses and a shorter
life-expectancy than people who have somewhere secure to live. We have carried out a pilot study showing that
homeless people have dementia, frailty and other diseases associated with ageing at a much younger age...

Unlocking the potential of healthcare complaints to improve hospital care (UP-CIC)

Most assessments of quality of care in Irish healthcare services are focused on healthcare workers’ opinions, statistics (e.g., how many patients got infections), or investigating large errors. However, these assessments fail to consider patients’ unique insights into quality of care and support improvement in services. For example,...

I-PARC (Ireland’s Physical Activity Research Collaboration): Bridging the research to action gap to support the implementation of the National Physical Activity Plan

The purpose of this research is to develop a bespoke research collaboration ‘I-PARC’ (Irish – Physical Activity Research Collaboration) to support Get Ireland Active! the National Physical Activity Plan (NPAP)1. I-PARC will bring together researchers, policy makers and practitioners from physical activity (PA) to establish how best to...

How can a multi-disciplinary prescribing strategy support appropriate prescribing of oral nutritional supplements (ONS) by Irish general practitioners (GPs)?

Malnutrition is a major burden to the Irish health service as malnourished patients have poorer health and are more expensive to treat than patients who are well-nourished. The annual cost of healthcare associated with malnutrition is approximately €1.4 billion in Ireland (10% of our total healthcare budget). Oral nutritional...

Doctoral program in youth mental health leadership (The YouLead Program)

This doctoral training program focuses on youth mental health research. Mental health difficulties (including depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia) account for approximately half of all causes of disability in individuals under the age of 35. Despite the fact that access to treatment is strongly associated with reduced risk...

"Right Care": a programme of research to enhance safe and appropriate care for older patients in Ireland

We propose a structured PhD training programme for multi-disciplinary health researchers on the topic of “Right Care” for older people. This research programme will examine how right care can be given at the right time and in the right setting, so that older people get the greatest benefit and the lowest harm from health interventions....

Neonatal Brain Injury Consortium Ireland

Neonatal brain injury has serious consequences including problems with development and cerebral palsy. Cooling or Hypothermia therapy is the only treatment available but half of all babies still have brain injury. All babies have detailed tests of their brain function using brain imaging and brainwave monitoring. They also have...

Managing complex multimorbidity in primary care: a multidisciplnary doctoral training programme

This application outlines a Structured Doctoral Training Programme for four PhD students with clinical and research backgrounds. The focus is on primary care delivery for patients who are referred to as having complex multimorbidity, which means that they have multiple long term conditions and are often on ten or more regular...

Cancer Prevention Fellowship 2018

Research Programme for mid-career researchers working in Republic of Ireland (RoI) to become NCI Cancer Prevention Fellows at the prestigious National Cancer Institute (NCI) in the USA.
This programme provides training at post-doctorate level from the health professions, biomedical, and behavioural sciences to become leaders in the...

Manganese enhanced MRI as an early technique for lung cancer

The objective of the project is to prove that the manganese enhanced MRI (MEMRI) technique could help to detect early-stage cancers and metastases in lungs which could be treated rapidly with a good prognosis. This patient friendly and inexpensive diagnostic technique will be tested in preclinical models and presented to clinicians to...

Label free monitoring of fibrinogen levels in human blood plasma using asymmetric imides

The project aims to develop new methodologies for analysis of blood plasma samples using vibration spectroscopy (infrared and Raman spectroscopy) as alternative to the time consuming, costly and poorly reliable Clauss assay, commonly used in hospitals. Two different aspects will be addressed, (i) requirement for optimisation of...

Implementing evidence based guidance for dementia palliative care through participatory action research

Dementia is a progressive illness and as the condition progresses into the later stages, the person will have difficulty communicating their needs particularly in relation to thirst, hunger, pain or discomfort.  In Ireland persons with dementia are often cared for in Long Term Care (LTC) settings. Carers of persons with dementia...

Implementing evidence based guidance for dementia palliative care through participatory action research

Dementia is a progressive illness and as the condition progresses into the later stages, the person will have difficulty communicating their needs particularly in relation to thirst, hunger, pain or discomfort. In Ireland persons with dementia are often cared for in Long Term Care (LTC) settings. Carers of persons with dementia can...

OPTI-MEND: Optimising early assessment and intervention by health and social care professionals in the emergency department (ED)

Emergency Departments (ED) face significant challenges in delivering high quality and timely patient care against a background of increasing patient numbers and limited hospital resources. A mismatch between patient demand and the hospital's capacity often leads to poor patient flow and ED crowding, resulting in a reduction in the...

PPI Ignite Award - University of Limerick

PPI Ignite at the University of Limerick will serve as a rallying point within the university and the wider community it serves, to build capacity for research conducted  "with" or "by" patients and members of the public rather than "to", "about" or "for" them. PPI Ignite UL will accomplish this among a coalition of academic,...

Cancer Prevention Fellowship 2017

Research Programme for mid-career researchers working in Republic of Ireland (RoI) to become NCI Cancer Prevention Fellows at the prestigious National Cancer Institute (NCI) in the USA.

This programme provides training at post-doctorate level from the health professions, biomedical, and behavioural sciences to become...

The utility of high-tech drug analysis to the decision maker

The Health (Pricing and Supply) Act 2013 stipulates that the payer must consider the cost-effectiveness (the likelihood that the drug will offer value for money) and the likely cost impact of a new drug prior to deciding if it should be reimbursed. It also states that, after a 3-5 year period, continued reimbursement must be reviewed....

Unwrapping the layers of complexity of clinical performance assessment of physiotherapy students and identifying key stakeholders' preferences towards enhancing the process

Clinical performance assessment of health professional students is imperative as it provides a measure of a students readiness to practice within their profession. However, it is widely acknowledged as being inherently problematic. Difficulties reported by clinicians in medicine, nursing, psychology and social work include the...

Patient preferences for health

In Ireland we ask society or the general public to state their preferences for descriptions of health. We then use these valuations or preferences to calculate the impact of technologies on quality of life and this informs how decision makers decide what to fund. This is known as the QALY framework and is used in most jurisdictions to...

Psychosocial, psychiatric and work-related risk factors associated with suicide in Ireland: Enhancing dissemination and impact of research

The SSIS-ACE study examines how psychosocial, psychiatric and work-related factors relate to suicide. The study involves liaising with family members bereaved by suicide, family members of those who survived a high-risk self-harm act, general practitioners (GPs), emergency department staff, mental health staff and coroners. During the...

Taking the stress out of dementia caregiving

The existing award examines how the caring experience can impact the health of dementia spouse carers. Using this emerging research evidence we will develop two animated films and a dedicated online resource providing easy-to-understand practical advice to carers to improve their quality of life and reduce stress.
FreeDem Films are...

Synthesising and disseminating key lessons from the AIIHPC Palliative Care Research Network

This application for KEDS funding proposes to further enhance knowledge transfer and exchange activities across the SRN/PCRN by conducting a higher level analysis of the dissemination products arising from each individual work project during the final year of the active grant. It is expected that dissemination products will include...

Capnography monitoring for conscious sedation in oral surgery

Capnography has the potential to enhance patients safety in the dental setting. Procedural sedation techniques are specific to each area of medicine where sedation is practiced. Conscious sedation in an out of hospital setting by a non anaesthetist requires robust monitoring. The most important negative side effect of sedation is...

Doctor Emigration Knowledge Exchange Project (DEP-KEDS)

The Doctor Emigration Project (DEP) aims to analyse doctor emigration from Ireland and to inform national health workforce policy about the factors influencing their emigration. The ultimate aim of the project is to assist national workforce planners to develop evidence-informed policies to promote the retention of doctors in, and the...

Irish medical career tracking study (The MedTrack Study)

Hardly a week goes by without a national media report on the medical staffing crisis in the Irish health services, which is perhaps the biggest current threat to the delivery of quality health services to the population of Ireland. With 6- and 12-monthly staff turnovers, employers are forced to recruit staff from abroad to fill posts...

Blood brain barrier dysfunction in Schizophrenia; A molecular genetics based approach to prognosis

Schizophrenia has been estimated to affect up to 1 in 100 people in Ireland. Given its prevalence, the underlying causes of the condition are still far from clear. Intriguingly, there exists a chromosomal abnormality termed 22q11 deletion syndrome (22q11DS), where schizophrenia can manifest 20 times more frequently than in the general...

Early life stress and the etiopathogenesis of auditory hallucinations in young people

This research project aims to look at the relationship between experiencing stressful life events during childhood and experiencing psychotic-like symptoms (like hearing voices that other people can't hear, for example) in adolescence. Researchers have already shown that there is a relationship between these two experiences but, up...

Creating awareness of research in caregiving (CARING)

An increasing number of people in Ireland are providing care for a relative with dementia. This important unpaid work comes with an underappreciated cost to the health of the caregiver. Evidence suggests that dementia caregiving is associated with heightened psychological stress, as well as problems such as depression.
Our...

The effects of maternal and foetal stress during pregnancy on adult mental health

The causes of both common mental illnesses like anxiety and depression and more severe mental illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are still unclear. We know that these illnesses are most likely a complex mix of environmental factors working in conjunction with underlying genetic vulnerability. The genetic input to these...

Development of a national severe asthma registry and comprehensive care program

There has been a drive to deliver new asthma treatments through new biological agents. However, age old issues including poor adherence and poor inhaler use still apply and mean that it is difficult to tell if a patient has difficult to manage asthma or therapy refractory asthma. The proposal is to build a registry for patients with...

Creation of a young adult colouring book illustrating biological research on mental illness

We plan to create an innovative educational activity to promote our research on biological investigations in mental illness. Our idea is to publish a young adult colouring book that will introduce young people to the complex world of the human brain, how scientists perform neuroscience research and how the findings relate to...

Development and upgrading of the HMDB Schizophrenia Metabocard

The Human Metabolome Database (HMDB) is a freely available database that contains detailed information about small molecules found in the human body. It is the first and foremost reference site for metabolite data worldwide. It provides scientists, clinicians, educators and the public with the most current and comprehensive coverage of...

An inflammatory biomarker study of psychosis: a longitudinal study in an at risk population

Schizophrenia is among the most expensive disorders in terms of quality of life and societal cost. While treatments are inadequate, early intervention has been shown to be clinically effective. Consequently, there is an urgent need to improve our understanding of the pathophysiology of this disorder so that we can identify and treat...

Brain superheros return

Making new drugs is long, costly and complex, and is often a mystery to many people. Our laboratory is involved in the development of new drugs for brain related illnesses, including illnesses such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Multiple Sclerosis. Alongside our research, we conduct a number of outreach projects in the hope of...

Priority setting in uncertainties in trial methodology

Challenges in how clinical trials are designed and conducted are commonly experienced by researchers at different stages of the research process. For example, difficulty in recruiting people to a trial often results in a delay in completing the trial, or difficulty in using the trial results to make informed decisions about clinical...

Thinking outside the box: towards a novel approach to care delivery for young adults with type 1 diabetes

Many young people living with type 1 diabetes struggle with the burden of day-to-day self-management. As a result they often have poor outcomes including the development of life-changing complications. We have formed a partnership between existing diabetes service providers (in Galway University Hospitals), academics in National...

Evaluating the role of TLR3 L412F in disease progression in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a lung disease of unknown cause which leads to excessive scarring of the lungs, resulting in loss of lung function, respiratory failure and ultimately, death. IPF is believed to be caused by abnormal repair of the lung after a chronic injury by an unknown agent to the lining of the lung (the...

Immunotherapy for the treatment of AMD: a preclinical evaluation

Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of central retinal vision loss worldwide. Estimated prevalence of AMD in Ireland is 7% with an annual cost

High quality pre-pregnancy care is essential for women with diabetes

Women with diabetes have an increased risk of pregnancy complications. Many of these complications are due to high glucose levels in the first ten weeks of pregnancy. This means that pregnancy planning and tight glucose control is essential. Pre-pregnancy care is additional clinical care offered to women planning pregnancy. As part of...

EMERGE: A randomised placebo controlled trial of the Effectiveness of MEtformin in addition to usual care in the Reduction of GEstational diabetes mellitus effects

Diabetes (high blood sugars) that develops during pregnancy is called Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM). GDM is increasing, affecting one-in-eight pregnant women in Ireland. Women with GDM have an increased risk of complications at the time of delivery, including Caesarean section. Women with GDM have a 7-fold increased risk of...

Development of prognostic screening tools to predict patient response to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy treatment for oesophageal adenocarcinoma

Cancer of the oesophagus, or food pipe, is an aggressive type of cancer with poor outlook and is affecting a growing number of people. The main types of treatments are surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, which may be given alone or in combination. Although chemoradiotherapy treatments work well for some, the majority of patients...

Blood adenosine levels as a novel diagnostic of seizures in humans

Epilepsy is the most common life-long brain disease and its diagnosis remains challenging needing the application of multiple criteria including patient history, seizure type and electroencephalography (EEG) recordings. The most reliable method is long periods under video surveillance during continuous EEG monitoring which is costly...

Disease gene independent generic suppression-based therapies for retinal disorders

Multiple mutations in over 200 genes can cause retinal degeneration, a group of diseases that result in the death of light detecting photoreceptor cells in the retina. Mutations in more than 30 genes can also cause optic neuropathies, a group of disorders that affect retinal ganglion cells, causing the optic nerve to be less capable of...

PAPRICA: Protein biomarker assays for psoriatic arthritis - Clinical evaluation and validation of multiplexed panels for diagnosis and prognosis

During the treatment and management of disease important clinical decisions are made, including deciding whether a patient has a particular illness and whether they may benefit from a specific treatment. These decisions are often made with the assistance of information from different measurements including patient details, scans,...

Targeting dysregulated bioenergetics in the inflamed RA joint

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a form of inflammatory arthritis that affects approximately 45,000 people in Ireland and bears a high personal, social and economic cost. It is estimated that the cost of treating patients with RA in Ireland is approximately

Building a self-management programme for living well with and beyond head and neck cancer

We propose to develop a new programme that empowers survivors of head and neck cancer (HNC) to better manage problems associated with their illness and live well with and beyond HNC. This is important because HNC survivors have many documented unmet care needs and can face significant challenges associated with their condition and its...

Targeting NK cells to improve HCV vaccine immunogenicity

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infects over 170 million people in the world. Most individuals go on to develop a chronic lifetime infection that is associated with progressive liver disease. While new drugs have recently been developed, they are very expensive and are not a treatment option for developing countries. In addition, there are...

Behavioural changes in ALS : What families and healthcare professionals need to know

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS ) (or Motor Neuron Disease (MND)) is a rapidly progressive neurodegeneration associated with loss of muscle power. Until recently, thinking and behaviour were considered unaffected, but we have shown that up to 50% of people with ALS/MND experience changes in their ability to plan complex tasks, and...

Evidence based oral healthcare for older adults

The World Health Organisation has highlighted the paucity of research into the oral health needs of older adults. The Health Research Board has recognised this and have funded a number of studies in recent years addressing this topic. Unfortunately there is a delay between the completion of studies and the publication of results in...

Cracking cancer with science; an educational outreach campaign for primary schoolchildren

Breast cancer remains a significant disease in Ireland. Our laboratory is investigating novel therapies to target a sub-group of aggressive breast tumours. This work feeds into two larger efforts. The first is to help personalize cancer therapies for patients. The second is to provide new insight into how specific tumours develop, in...

Breast cancer risk: The influence of blood selenium status and interactions between selenium supply biomarkers and genetic variations in the selenoprotein gene pathway

Hormonal, reproductive, and dietary factors play an important role in the aetiology of breast cancer (BC). Selenium (Se) is an essential micronutrient thought to aid cancer prevention via its incorporation into selenoproteins which help counter oxidative damage to DNA, proteins, and lipids. Such DNA damage also appears to play a...

Cold air plasma to enhance hospital hygiene leading to reduced surface bacterial counts and patient acquisition of vancomycin-resistant enterococci and Clostridium difficile infection

Healthcare-associated infections (HCAI) affect 5-10% of patients admitted to an acute hospital but it is about three times higher in intensive care units (ICUs). Prevention involves many strategies but environmental hygiene is important as many bacterial causes persist on horizontal surfaces, e.g. methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus...

SOLAS.net: Development and pilot implementation of an e-learning physiotherapist training programme for self-management of chronic musculoskeletal pain in primary care

As part of the original award, an evidence-supported group treatment approach for clients with persistent musculoskeletal pain termed SOLAS: Self-management of Osteoarthritis and Low back pain through Activity and Skills was developed. Also, a two day face-to-face physiotherapist training programme was developed and delivered to HSE...

Applying health: Using healthcare technology to enhance the delivery of rehabilitation programmes in cancer survivors

Recovery following oesophageal cancer (cancer of the food pipe) can be challenging. Cancer rehabilitation, which may involve exercise, advice from a dietitian, education or other therapeutic interventions, can help patients make an optimal recovery. The research team is currently investigating the effect of a 12 week rehabilitation...

Irish Dystonia Research Group: Innovation through collaboration

Our research group of Irish consultant neurologists (with an interest in movement disorders) and laboratory based scientists (engineers in the Department of Neural Engineering in Trinity College Dublin) have been involved in finding the cause(s) of a movement disorder which affects about 600-800 individuals in Ireland. This...

Defining host and microbe-derived immune targets for development of improved host-directed therapies and vaccines for TB

Almost one third of the world's population is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) with almost 2 million deaths to tuberculosis (TB) annually. Over 400 patients are treated for active TB annually in Ireland, with an increasing number of drug-resistant cases emerging. Currently treatment involves a multi-drug course for 6...

Enhancing awareness of the socio-economic impact of inherited blindness

In Ireland, many devastating diseases have an inherited cause and are passed onto further generations. Blindness due to inherited degeneration of the retina at the back of the eye is an excellent case-study with which to explain the basis of inherited disease, the socio-economic impact and the research required to generate new...

Enhancing awareness of blindness resulting from diabetes. Understanding treatments & preventative interventions

In Ireland, Diabetic Retinopathy is a leading cause of blindness. The number of people becoming blind due to diabetes is set to rapidly increase as the "diabetes epidemic" unfolds. In general, there is a lack of awareness as to the social, economic and health impact of diabetic blindness.
Here, we generate short 3D-animations that...

Baby steps towards STRIDER: support, website, information, dissemination, exchange

This outreach programme will provide a dedicated public information and education resources on intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and the STRIDER clinical trial, which aims to improve outcomes of pregnancies affected by IUGR with sildenafil citrate (Viagra). It will provide support to women and their partners experiencing IUGR by...

Dysfunctional mItochondria proVokes Inflammation iN prEeclampsia; a novel medical interventional target to improve maternal and foetal diagnosis in preeclampsia. Short title: DIVINE

Pre-eclampsia, a serious condition of late pregnancy, characterised by high blood pressure and proteinuria in the second-half of pregnancy, affects 5% of first time mothers and is associated with significant maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. A quarter of babies born to women with pre-eclampsia do not grow properly, and a...

Promoting positive mental health messages for the older population: The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) films

The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) offers unique data on the challenges associated with ageing and how these can affect mood as we age: grief, retirement, poorer physical health. We have demonstrated that mood may be affected by loss of support networks such as adult children moving abroad. Over 10% of the older Irish...

The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) hypertension seminars for health professionals in primary and community care practice

In April 2015 the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) published research, funded through the active award, which indicates that approximately two thirds of older Irish adults have high blood pressure and close to half of them are unaware of their condition. High blood pressure is an important risk factor for heart disease and...

A web-based resource and community of practice (CoP) to transform practices around 'talking about epilepsy'

This knowledge exchange and dissemination (KED) initiative proposes to develop a variety of educational and informative resources using different technological media (audio, video and e-authoring tools) which will be delivered online in a designated website to support the translation of research evidence on childhood epilepsy...

Parent-adolescent communication and negotiation of self-management responsibilities for adolescents' with Type 1 Diabetes

Poor Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) self-care results in poor metabolic control and is particularly challenging during adolescent years. Good metabolic control of T1D is important to prevent long-term negative outcomes. With parents holding a central role in creating a safe learning environment and motivating adolescents to monitor food intake,...

Profiling receptive and expressive prosodic skills in children with spina bifida and hydrocephalus

This project will advance current knowledge about communication difficulties in children with spina bifida and hydrocephalus (SBH). This condition affects the normal development of the spinal cord and brain and is particularly relevant to the Irish context because of the high incidence in the country - currently at least 500 children...

Urine soluble CD163 as a biomarker of crescentic glomerulonephritis

Crescentic glomerulonephritis (CGN) is a severe form of kidney failure that leaves about one third of sufferers dependent on dialysis or needing a kidney transplant. It is currently difficult to assess the condition without performing a kidney biopsy, which is uncomfortable, expensive and occasionally dangerous to the patient. We have...

Ethnic Minority Health in Ireland - Building the evidence base to address health inequities

International evidence shows that minority ethnic groups have poorer health and more difficulties accessing healthcare than majority ethnic groups. Analysis of existing health datasets and the use of ethnic identifiers in health care systems are promoted internationally as valuable ways to address these differences. It is not possible...

Healthy pregnancy in Ireland

The HRB Ireland Perinatal CTN is an all-island of Ireland clinical trial network for mothers and babies representing a new and exciting collaboration between two established research groups; the Irish centre for Foetal and Neonatal Translational Research (INFANT) and Perinatal Ireland. The 'Healthy Pregnancy in Ireland' initiative is a...

Innovative dissemination of IDS-TILDA Wave 2 - Advancing years, different challenges

The IDS-TILDA study is designed to better understand experiences and challenges for adults with an intellectual disability (ID) as they age. 753 persons aged 40+ started in the study. There have been two waves of data collection, with waves three years apart and 94% of people who answered at Wave one participated again at Wave two. We...

Development of The STOP-HF network for community based prevention of Heart Failure

STOPHFnet will create a virtual community of practice which will utilize the results of research from our HRB funded Natural History of Diabetic Cardiomyopathy grant to allow rapid dissemination to general practitioners in the community. This is particularly timely as diabetes will for the first time be nationally managed by GPs under...

Understand my pain: Educational tools for chronic pain

Based on the findings of the research during our HRB ICE award, we will develop two educational tools.
Activity A will involve the creation of a free video that explains how chronic pain impacts on children and their families. This activity is vital based on our new understanding of the numbers of primary school children who live...

Development and launch of Irish guidelines on the management of Helicobacter pylori Infection

Helicobacter pylori infection is a public health issue. It remains one of the most common infections in adults in Ireland and is the primary cause of stomach ulcers and stomach cancers. Our recent findings have indicated that the eradication rate for standard first-line triple therapy for H. pylorihas fallen to unacceptable levels....

Spectroscopic imaging for prognostic applications in breast and oesophageal cancer treatment (SPECPREDICT)

Each cancer patient has a unique response to cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy. An individual patients response to cancer treatment is to a significant degree determined by their own biology (genetic profile) and other environmental factors such as diet and lifestyle. With the evolution of technologies such as...

Towards a survivorship care plan for breast cancer for post-menopausal women in rural settings

There are increasing numbers of breast cancer survivors in Ireland and worldwide due to improvements in screening and advances in adjuvant treatment. There is a growing recognition of cancer survivorship as a distinct phase in the cancer trajectory. The development of a comprehensive approach to survivorship care that meets the needs...

NIMBUS group: Neonatal Inflammation and Multiorgan dysfunction and Brain injUry reSearch group

Neonatal brain injury has a many causes and may result in cerebral palsy. Cooling therapy is the only established treatment but 50% of babies treated will die or have disability and so new therapies to reduce brain injury are urgently needed. New-borns who are severely affected also have problems with their heart, liver, lung and...

ICORG communications manager

2016 will mark the 20th anniversary of ICORG's formation. There are a range of public engagement activities on the agenda but in order to co-ordinate them ICORG will need an in-house communications function.
Activities will include;
1. Short documentary-style videos on patient experience, innovative research activities and new...

Development of an online training and accreditation resource for a novel outcome assessment tool in high risk infants: the Babyscreen app

The HRB funded BiHiVE2 study has focused on predicting long term learning disability in children following birth related brain injury. Unfortunately there are, currently, no reliable methods of assessing learning ability in children at a young age. Current developmental assessments focus on developmental milestones. They are not true...

Thrombosis risk in pregnancy: what you need to know

Venous thromboembolism (VTE; deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism) remains a leading cause of death in pregnant and recently delivered women. Surviving mothers may have long-term disability. If VTE risk factors are identified, then preventative measures may be put in place . These interventions can be potentially life-saving....

Translating critical care research into clinical practice

We are currently funded by the HRB to conduct clinical trials to determine which treatments may help patients who are critically ill. We have recently completed important research and the results will be published in a highly regarded medical journal in October. However it can take a long time between publication and improvements in...

INCA: interaction analytics for automatic assessment of communication quality in primary care

Communication between physician and patient is crucial to the overall quality of primary care. An important element of this interaction is the physician-patient interview. While there are various opinions on what constitutes effective communication in a medical interview, sometimes supported by formal (qualitative and quantitative)...

Towards increased awareness and understanding of the risk of thrombosis in gynaecological cancers

All cancers are associated with an increased risk of clots to the legs and lungs however gynaecological cancers have a particularly high risk. Clots can occur after surgery or during chemotherapy and can be life threatening if they are not treated in time. A recent survey of patients who suffered a clot during their cancer journey...

Viral hepatitis C associated neurocognitive dysfunction in Ireland in the DAA era

Approximately 30,000-50,000 people in Ireland have hepatitis C. Although the virus mainly affects the liver, in up to 30% of infected people the virus also affects the brain causing poor concentration, difficulties in concentrating, poor memory. Patients often describe this as a "brain fog". These symptoms may lead to forgetting...

What is Alpha-1?

Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (Alpha-1) is a genetic disorder that affects the lungs. Typically people with Alpha-1 present with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or severe asthma. Ireland has one of the highest rates of AATD in the world. 1 in 25 Irish people are carriers for the condition and are at risk of lung disease,...

A moment for hand hygiene in the Intensive Care Unit: How Can Compliance be Improved?

Healthcare Associated Infections (HCAIs) such as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) represent the most frequent complications experienced by hospital patients. Effective hand hygiene practices are considered to be the most important strategy for preventing HCAIs. However, compliance with good hand hygiene practices has...

Cancer immunology research saves lives: Find Out

The treatment of cancer is being revolutionised by cancer immunology. However cancer immunology is poorly understood by healthcare workers, patients and the general public. Here, in collaboration with the Irish Cancer Society (ICS), we aim to use the expertise and discoveries generated by HRB and ICS funded research projects to...

DEDIPAC Ireland: National one day symposium on determinants of diet and physical activity

DEDIPAC (Determinants of Diet and Physical Activity; Knowledge Hub to integrate and develop infrastructure for research across Europe) is a collaborative European project, where Irish researchers play a major role in defining and understanding dietary and activity factors that influence health.
The aim of this application is to...

Happy mothers...happy babies

Pregnancy is the highest risk period in a woman's life for developing clinical depression. Depression and anxiety during pregnancy are common experiences. Women are usually anxious about the pregnancy and the delivery, about how they will cope with motherhood and the impact of the changes that having a baby will make on their lives. We...

Research in depression: endocrinology, epigenetics and neuroiMaging: the REDEEM study

Depression is the most common psychiatric disorder in the world, accounting for approximately 90% of deaths by suicide. Rates of depression are rising alarmingly in the OECD countries. Although depression is considered to be a single clinical disorder, it has many underlying causes ranging from childhood abuse through to purely genetic...

CERVIVA: Making connections and creating impact

The goal of CERVIVA's education and outreach programme is to create awareness, inform and effectively engage the public, health care professionals and healthcare providers on public health issues related to HPV associated diseases and on the specific research programmes underway within CERVIVA, which are addressing some of these...

Medically licensed mesenchymal stem cells for the treatment of systemic sepsis

Systemic sepsis is a severe condition arising from a bacterial or fungal infection of the blood or lymph. It commonly leads to overwhelming inflammation and multiple organ failure and can kill up to 50% of sufferers. Toxins produced by bacteria are the major trigger for these responses in the patient. There are currently no specific...

Diet, health and sustainability - narrowing the gap between what we know and what we do

Knowledge translation in the area of diet and health is challenging due to the range of vested interests in the food sector and the contested discourse on food, diet and health among policy makers, practitioners, media and the general public. There is considerable agreement on key food policy measures open to government with potential...

Prevention of postoperative persistent bowel symptoms in patients with Hirschsprung's Disease

Hirschsprung's disease (HD) is a relatively common cause of intestinal obstruction in the new-born, occurring in 1 in 4,000 live births. It is characterised by abnormal development of the nerve supply to varying lengths of the large bowel prior to birth. The gold standard treatment for HD is an operation to remove the diseased bowel...

A translational systems biological study to identify molecular predictors for responsiveness to TRAIL-receptor agonists in colorectal cancer

Many patients that suffer from cancer of the colon require chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is supposed to induce the death of cancer cells by a molecularly controlled death process called apoptosis. Apoptosis in response to chemotherapy requires the activation of cell death genes, but colon cancer cells often can prevent these genes from...

Evaluating metabotropic glutamate 5 receptor-selective drugs as a novel therapeutic strategy for Alzheimer's disease

Clinical dementia, the majority of cases being caused by Alzheimer's disease, seriously impairs the lives of over 50 million people worldwide currently (costing ~1% of the aggregated global gross domestic product). There are approximately 48,000 people with dementia and 50,000 dementia carers in Ireland. At present the lifetime...

A user-friendly database of genetic dependencies in cancer

A major challenge in cancer therapeutics is to kill tumour cells without harming other cells in the body. One means to achieve this is to exploit the genetic changes that distinguish cancer cells from normal cells and that may leave them vulnerable to targeted treatments.
A promising approach to developing such targeted treatments...

Traumatic spinal cord injury in Ireland: service planning for changing epidemiology

This project will examine several aspects of traumatic spinal cord injury in the Irish population. The project will look backwards (retrospective) and forwards (prospective). For the years 2010 - 2014 inclusive, the medical records of all patients with traumatic spinal cord injury discharged from the National Rehabilitation Hospital...

Together against HIV: raising awareness and knowledge through documented real-life experiences and research discovery

There were approximately 2 million new HIV infections and 1.5 million HIV-related deaths worldwide in 2013, demonstrating the need for educational campaigns that raise awareness and prevent its spread. Current treatments suppress HIV, but do not totally clear it; however, a significant proportion of society believe these drugs cure...

Progressing universal health care: informing citizens by pooling and disseminating research and generating debate

There is little informed public discussion and debate around Universal Healthcare (UHC) in Ireland. There is also much confusion in political discourse between UHC and universal health insurance notwithstanding a recent policy shift towards UHC. This KEDS project aims to build on the Pathways to UHC research by educating the public...

Preclinical characterization of fingolimod as a potential therapeutic agent for stroke

Stroke is usually caused by the occlusion of a brain artery with a clot. It is the third most common cause of death and the most common cause of acquired physical disability in Ireland. The only available drug is only used in ~5% of patients (because most patients are either too far, or arrive too late to a specialized treatment...

Oral flucloxacillin alone versus flucloxacillin and phenoxymethylpenicillin for the emergency department outpatient treatment of cellulitis: a non-inferiority randomised controlled trial

Acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSIs) are commonly encountered in Emergency Departments (EDs). In Ireland, the most common ABSSSI is cellulitis, which is a spreading bacterial infection of the skin and tissues beneath the skin. Approximately 12 in every 1,000 ED patient attendances in Ireland is due to...

Preclinical evaluation of a novel therapeutic strategy for Ulcerative Colitis

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is a chronic relapsing intestinal inflammatory condition comprising of separate disease manifestations known as ulcerative colitis (UC) and crohns disease (CD). Despite significant advances in our understanding of the basic mechanisms which promote these diseases, current treatment strategies usually...

Development of a health promotion programme for breast cancer awareness for women with mild cognitive impairment

Recent studies of the population suggest trends that the number of people with an intellectual disability (ID) is increasing with a corresponding increase in the elderly demographic. Consequently this minority of society have been found to be naive to personal health care management and are at risk of failing to detect problems early....

Towards treatment stratification for successful smoking cessation: Harnessing predictive neurocognitive models

Smoking is the single biggest preventable cause of death in Ireland. There are many reasons why someone might remain addicted to nicotine and many factors affecting each individual's response to withdrawal. For example, socioeconomic status, gender or life stress can all play a role. Ultimately, nicotine has its effects by altering...

Telephone interventions, delivered by healthcare professionals, for informal caregivers of adults with diagnosed medical illnesses

Many people with diagnosed medical conditions are dependent upon family members and informal/lay caregivers to provide support and care. The care provided varies according to the individual's care needs, however, in many instances, people unexpectedly find themselves in a caring role for which they are ill prepared (Corry, 2015)....

Cancer Prevention Fellowship 2015

Research Programme for mid-career researchers working in Republic of Ireland (RoI) to become NCI Cancer Prevention Fellows at the prestigious National Cancer Institute (NCI) in the USA.

This programme provides training at post-doctorate level from the health professions, biomedical, and behavioural sciences to become...

Interventions for preventing falls in Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is one of the most prevalent diseases of the central nervous system (CNS) and directly affects an estimated 2.5 million people worldwide (MS International Federation 2013) including approximately 8,000 people in Ireland (MS Ireland 2014). It is the most common disabling neurological disorder among young people...

Methods to influence the completeness of response to self administered questionnaires

Questionnaires are one of the most widely used means of collecting data. Self-administered questionnaires are used widely in research as they offer an efficient and cost effective means of collecting data in large target groups. Problems with rates of questionnaire return can pose serious problems for researchers. The issue of overall...

Left atrial appendage closure for the prevention of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation

The review will assess the effectiveness of left atrial appendage closure (LAAC) for the prevention of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation (AFib) compared to oral anticoagulation. The review question was chosen because AFib is a common and serious condition. It is the most common arrhythmia seen in clinical practice and is...

Interventions targeted outside of workplace settings for reducing sedentary behaviour in adults under 60 years

Research into sedentary behaviour (SB) in adults is growing rapidly, both in volume and sophistication. SB is defined as waking activity characterised by an energy expenditure ? 1.5 metabolic equivalents and a sitting or reclining posture. A recent overview of systematic reviews concluded that there is strong evidence for a positive...

Professional interventions to improve the detection of depression among adolescents in primary care

Depression is common in adolescence - studies show that 3% - 8% of adolescents suffer from depression at any one time, and that there is a lifetime prevalence of approximately 20% by the end of adolescence, which is similar to that of adulthood. Adolescent depression is associated with considerable impairment in social, academic and...

Validation of FcgRlla as a potential drug target in sepsis

WT Scheme: Seed Award in Science.

Sepsis is characterised by a severe coagulopathy which is responsible for the high mortality in this disease. This coagulopathy is due to extensive platelet activation and consumption which leads to bleeding due to the subsequent thrombocytopenia and thrombosis due to the platelet...

Electrophysiological investigations on the molecular mechanisms underlying gut-to-brain signalling evoked by colonic microbiota

WT Scheme: Seed Award in Science.

The concept of the 'microbiota-gut-brain' signalling axis has been proposed recently, with headline-grabbing studies demonstrating how altering the intestinal microbiome with commensal probiotics has beneficial effects both on gut function but more intriguingly, on central nervous system (CNS)...

Individual and Area Level Determinants of Self-Harm and Suicide in Ireland: Enhancing Prediction, Risk Assessment and Management of Self-Harm by Health Services

In Ireland, the National Registry of Deliberate Self-Harm (Registry) has identified significant variation across hospitals in the assessment and management of patients presenting to hospital for self-harm with a significant number of patients leaving without a care plan. Prof Arensman intends to improve the care provided in Irish...

Statistical epidemiology in population health and health services research: Quality and patient safety in medicines

The Irish population is getting older and this is leading to an increase in the use of medications. The number of elderly people on 5 or more regular medicines increased greatly from 1997 to 2012. It is known that an increase in the number of prescription medications leads to potential problems of drug interactions, problems taking...

The StrokeCog study: modelling and modifying the consequences of stroke-related cognitive impairment through intervention

Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and disability in Ireland. Many people are aware of the physical disabilities caused by stroke, but are far less aware of the cognitive and mood problems that people experience following an attack. Cognitive problems include difficulties with memory, concentration and abstract thinking. Mood...

Designing, evaluating and implementing a pilot complex intervention in childhood obesity

Childhood obesity is a serious problem in Ireland as well as internationally. Early infant feeding practices (aged 0-2 years), including when and how parents introduce solid foods to infants, can impact overweight and obesity in childhood and later life. 
In this project, a team of researchers from UCC, National University of...

Collective leadership and safety cultures (CO-LEAD)

There is a growing body of evidence of how poor leadership has contributed to system failures that have resulted in a range of errors from misdiagnoses to failure to recognise and respond to patient deterioration. A key challenge for healthcare organisations is to develop and support cultures that ensure the delivery of continuously...

The Intellectual disability supplement to the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) Waves 3 and 4

Similar to the general population, marked changes in the life expectancy of persons with intellectual disability (ID) have occurred among all age cohorts but in particular, among those aged 55 years and over. Almost half of people with a moderate, severe, or profound intellectual disability are aged 35 years or over. However, their...

Provision of statistics and data management services to Irish Clinical Oncology Research Group Limited by National University of Ireland, Galway

In order to fulfil the regulatory and quality control requirements for high-quality statistics and data management for cancer clinical trials activities ICROG and the HRB have contracted National University of Ireland, Galway to provide this service. Initial data management activities including protocol input, development of a Case...

From episodic care to disease prevention and management: Developing analytical skills and interdisciplinary learning from the case of HPV related cancers

This study will develop analysis techniques and interdisciplinary learning from cases of Human Papilloma Virus [HPV]-related cancers, specifically cervical pre-cancer/cancer and head and neck cancer. During this proposal the team of research fellows will be able to further develop and help to build the future research leaders in this...

National Centre for Social Research on Dementia (NCSRD)

The research programme at the National Centre for Social Research on Dementia (NCSRD) is concerned with strengthening social research on dementia in Ireland. It will focus on identifying the most appropriate mix of biopsychosocial services for people with dementia, from diagnosis to end of life, taken from the patients point of view or...

Connected HEalth Supporting home Stay with dementia (CHESS)

Dementia is an umbrella term for a condition in older people where memory loss, deterioration in mental function and ability to make decisions or carry out activities of daily life independently and safely occurs. When dementia progresses, care in a nursing home may be necessary, but most people with dementia and their caregivers want...

A comprehensive resilience-building psychosocial intervention (CREST) to improve the quality of life of people with dementia and their carers

In Ireland almost 48,000 people have dementia; of these, more than 26,000 live in the community being cared for by family and friends. Current health care strategies are insufficient to cope with this. The Irish dementia strategy identifies better understanding of dementia in society, reducing the stigma associated with dementia as...

Towards resilience in family caregiving for people with dementia

Dementia affects almost 47,000 adults in Ireland. Dementia affects a person's mental and social abilities, including the ability to think clearly, remember, form lasting relationships and has a subsequent decline in physical health. Most people with dementia are cared for at home by a family member. Caring for someone with dementia can...

The Irish Network for Research in Dementia and Neurodegeneration (INRDND) and the Structured Population and Health-Services

The Irish Network for Research in Dementia and Neurodegeneration (INRDND) and the Structured Population and Health Services Research Education (SPHeRE) propose a partnership approach to enhancing research cooperation and coordination across the island of Ireland in the area of dementia and neurodegeneration (ND) research. With enhanced...

Dementia friendly Irish hospitals: Opportunities, barriers, costs and solutions

Hospitals can be very complex and confusing environments for people with dementia, and may add to their distress, disorientation and suffering. To date, academic and pragmatic discourse on dementia-friendly design of Irish hospitals has been lacking in expertise from the perspective of design and architecture, and in particular the...

Validation of the Profile for Communication Abilities in Dementia (P-CAD)

Communication difficulties are associated with dementia. These communication difficulties cause frustration, anger and anxiety not only for the person with dementia, but also for caregivers, friends and family. Communication difficulties increase as dementia progresses. The person with dementia can lose confidence, withdraw from social...

The genomic architecture of human nucleolar organizer regions and its role in nucleolar biology

WT Scheme: Investigator Award in Science.

The nucleolus is the largest functional domain in the nucleus of all human cells. Its primary role is the biogenesis of ribosomes, the complex machines that translate the language of nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) in to proteins. Nucleoli form around arrays of genes that encode the...

HRB Clinical Research Coordination Ireland

Clinical Research Facilities and Centres (CRF/Cs) have been developed in each of the five applicant universities, providing the infrastructure and specialist staff to facilitate collaborative research but they lack an overarching support structure with which to coordinate multicentre clinical trial activities. One key exception is...

Making the patient a member of the healthcare team in chronic disease management: An ethnographic and participant action research analysis of living with epilepsy in Ireland (E-PIC: Epilepsy Partnership in Care)

Patient-centeredness is a core value of current and emerging health service reforms.  Patient-centred care (PCC) recognises people within the full context of their lives, not just their health condition. Its principles include: informing and involving patients, encouraging self-management and informed decision making, eliciting...

What are the clinical effectiveness and cost effectiveness of different models of community specialist palliative care (CSPC) provision in Ireland?

Changing demographic trends including an ageing population, increased life expectancy for individuals with life limiting conditions, and the impact of illness on an individual's physical, psychological and social wellbeing means that the demand for high quality palliative care services is increasing. Palliative care is defined by WHO...

Irish Platform for Patients Organisations Science and Industry

The Irish Platform for Patients' Organisations, Science and Industry (IPPOSI) is a unique organisation in Ireland and abroad. The platform brings together patient groups, scientists, clinicians, industry and other key decision makers to discuss and build consensus on issues relevant to all involved in delivering treatments to people...

Acute kidney injury (AKI) in the Irish health system; Incidence, severity and clinical consequences

Acute Kidney Injury (AKI), previously called acute renal failure, occurs when kidney function deteriorates rapidly over hours or days and elevated levels of waste products accumulate in the blood. AKI is most common in people who are hospitalized, particularly in critically ill people who need intensive care. AKI may occur in multiple...

Multimodal characterisation of the benign prostate

Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) is a condition that will affect most men as they age, resulting in swelling of the prostate and causing problems when they try to pass urine. It is rare in men less than 40 but can be found in over 70% of men over the age of 70. Current treatment for BPH involves either tablet medication or surgery....

Economics of Personalised Heath

Advances in science have increased the prospect of diagnosing, treating and preventing illness in a more personal way. Improved understanding of how individuals may benefit from tailored therapies will permit a better match and more informed choice by users and health care professionals. However, the discovery of personalised health...

Development of a Bayesian Unit for Health Decision Sciences

This proposal will develop a Bayesian unit for health decision making. A Bayesian approach formalises the bringing together of data from structured sources/trials with existing knowledge and uses formal decision criteria to identify optimal courses of action for a given health related problem/question. The centre will prioritise three...