Funding Awarded

Medication without harm: Building a network and knowledge exchange programme.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has a Global Patient Safety Challenge: ‘Medication Without Harm’ which aims to reduce worldwide harm associated with medications by half over 5 years. Medication-related harm includes medication incidents, errors, adverse drug reactions (ADRs; harmful responses to medicine) and adverse drug events...

Psychosis in the Theatre

This project is about enhancing our public patient involvement (PPI) activities within our Clinical Doctoral Award (CDA) programme by using the Arts to give voice to and tell the story of the collective of people who are affected by psychosis. Our CDA, PSI-STAR (Psychosis Ireland Structured Training and Research Programme) includes...

Taking a World Cafe approach to improving understanding of psychosis and establishing a psychosis research PPI network

The primary aim of this project is to establish a psychosis research PPI network in Ireland. This will be done via a process of meaningful engagement and dialogue with people with lived experience of psychosis and other individuals and organisations with an interest in psychosis.

Specifically, we propose to host a series of...

Better Osteoarthritis Care: Delivering education and training for primary care health professionals in Ireland.

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis in Ireland. It is a condition of the joints that can cause pain, reduce mobility and result in poorer quality of life. It is more common in people over the age of 50 and often affects the knee and hip joints. To ensure that people with osteoarthritis receive ideal care, it is...

Tip of the iceberg: highlighting the long term health consequences of polycystic ovary syndrome.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a chronic health condition that affects up to 15% of all women. It is characterised by increased blood levels of hormones called androgens (such as testosterone), alongside irregular periods and multiple follicles on the ovaries on ultrasound. PCOS has traditionally been perceived as a purely...

The Ignition study: Sharing stories to improve the experience of transition for young people with cerebral palsy

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a common cause of disability among children. All people with CP have a physical impairment. About 30% use a wheelchair and some children also have difficulties hearing, seeing and speaking. Children with CP are transferred from children’s health services to adult services at age 18. This can be challenging as...

Surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, but now what? Exploring the rehabilitation needs of people with brain tumours in Ireland

In Ireland, about 480 people are diagnosed with primary brain tumours every year. Many more people develop secondary brain tumours arising from other cancers. Brain tumours can shorten life span and cause many problems including muscle weakness, speech difficulties, loss of mobility and independence, difficulties thinking and...

Interrogation of novel Glioblastoma Subtypes towards an improved Precision Medicine Approach for Brain Tumour Patients

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most frequent and aggressive adult brain tumour. Sadly, 85% of patients die within two years, despite surgery and chemo/radiotherapy. Treatment resistance is related to cell types that make up the tumour (“tumour microenvironment” or “TME”). Specifically, the behaviour of TME cells such as blood vessel and...

Exploring the risk factors and consequences of cannabis use in adolescence using population-based data: the "CANNARISK" study

Over the past decade there has been an increase in the number of adolescents using cannabis worldwide. This is concerning because cannabis is increasing in strength with more serious long term effects on health such as psychosis and depression. The adverse effects of using cannabis are particularly pronounced in those who start to use...

‘Investigating the relationship between the Complement Pathway and outcomes in Psychosis; from Clinical High Risk to First Episode Psychosis’

Schizophrenia is amongst the most expensive disorders in terms of quality of life and societal cost. Based on current treatments more than 30% of schizophrenia subjects do not respond to treatments, including antipsychotic medications. While early intervention is known to be associated with improved outcome, we cannot tell in advance...

Study of rolE of PlateletS In Sepsis (SEPSIS)

Sepsis is a severe illness caused by a bloodstream infection and is the primary cause of death in-hospital. While antibiotics are the primary treatment for sepsis the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria along with the inability to culture bacteria from blood in many cases makes treating sepsis challenging. The...

ExamIning the diagnostic and functional role of a novel DNA meThylation signaturE in predicting ColoRectAl Cancer meTastasis - “INTERACT”

Ongoing scientific/clinical efforts have drastically improved survival rates (60-80%) of patients with early stage bowel (Colorectal) cancer. However, only 14% of advanced (stage 4) bowel cancer patients survive post-5 years of diagnosis. Currently, there are no effective approaches that can predict if a patient’s bowel cancer will...

Predicting and monitoring outcomes in Autoimmune Encephalitis (POTA)

Epilepsy is a disorder of the brain in which people have repeated seizures. 

Autoimmune encephalitis (AE) is a rare cause of epilepsy. It is an inflammatory disease of the brain. This means that the body’s own immune system attacks healthy brain tissue, just like it would if it were infected by a virus or a bacteria, by...

Participation in physical activity: what really matters to adolescents with physical disability?

Being physically active is hugely important for health. It improves physical and mental wellbeing and reduces the risk of health problems in adulthood. Young people with physical disability, especially adolescents, do less physical activity than their peers. We want to learn more about how we can support adolescents with physical...

Sustaining activity with arthritis (SAWA) following an Arthritis Ireland Be active with arthritis (BAWA) exercise programme

Best practice guidelines across the world always recommend those living with arthritis to be physically active. Research shows that being active can help people living with arthritis to do the things that they want to do for longer, reduce pain, improve quality of life and protect against getting other health conditions such as heart...

Increased Thrombotic Risk in Patients with Myeloproliferative Neoplasms: Linking Inflammation, Metabolism and Hypercoagulability - the CLIMB study

Blood clotting is an important defence mechanism that prevents blood loss after injury, but when this process is not controlled, it can block blood vessels and cause life-threatening thrombosis. Individuals with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) generate excessive numbers of all blood cells, including white cells, which predisposes...

An investigation into the prevalence and experience of psychopathology and mental disorders among children and adolescents with cerebral palsy

Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common cause of physical disability in childhood. Most people with CP live well into adulthood. Although CP primarily affects a person’s ability to sit or move, many people with CP report experiencing mental health problems. Children and adolescents with CP who experience mental health problems are more...

Development of a gene activated construct targeting proinflammatory signalling to promote zonal regeneration of osteoarthritic cartilage

Cartilage is a specialised, layered tissue that coats the end of bones, facilitating low friction movement of the joints and providing cushioning from impacts. When cartilage is injured or degenerates, due to diseases such as osteoarthritis, these functions are impaired, causing inflammation, pain and significantly impacting quality of...

Interrogating the role of miRNA in predicting responses to novel modulator therapies in children with Cystic Fibrosis

Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a hereditary condition effecting over 80.000 people worldwide with the highest incidence occurring amongst the Irish population. There is no cure for CF however the arrival of a new era of medication that can correct Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator gene (CFTR) mutations, the basic defect that...

Enhancing existing formal home support to improve and maintain functional status in older adults.

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...

Early Pregnancy Information Day 2022

The first trimester of pregnancy is a particularly important time not only for baby’s development, but also for the family that is adjusting to this big change. The woman is usually first seen by her GP to confirm the pregnancy, and discuss the options available to her for antenatal or maternity care. Often the mum-to-be will engage...

Structured Population Health, Policy and Health Services Research Education

The SPHeRE programme is the leading doctoral programme in Ireland for training the next generation of research leaders in Population Health and Health Services Research. Since 2007, the programme has provided a comprehensive integrated training model that produces graduates with a common understanding of population health and health...

Clinical Trial Feasibility Award - Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland

No summary available

Children's Health Ireland

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,...

Randomised controlled trial of reduced versus standard volume platelet transfusion in preterm babies with thrombocytopenia (with add-on studies to explore mechanisms of harm)

Platelets are cells which help blood clot but they also have other effects such as directing pathways of inflammation.  Premature babies often have low platelets, particularly if they have an infection or bowel inflammation. Doctors give platelet transfusions because they think that this prevents bleeding but there is no evidence...

Safeguarding the Brain Of Our Smallest Children- an open-label phase-III randomsied trial of cerebral oximetry combined with a treatment guideline versus treatment as usual in premature infants

Approximately 25,000 preterm infants are born more than 12 weeks early every year in Europe. For these preterm infants, the consequences of such an early birth include a high risk of death and brain injury. About one in five will die and almost one quarter of all survivors will be at risk of longer-term developmental problems....

Emerge-2: placebo-controlled RCT of the Effectiveness of MEtformin in addition to usual care in the Reduction of Gestational diabetes mellitus Effects

Diabetes (high blood sugars) developing 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 including delivery by Caesarean section and more blood pressure problems. Women with GDM have a 7-fold...

An Education and eXercise intervention (EDX-Ireland) for gluteal tendinopathy in an Irish setting: a feasibility randomised controlled trial (LEAP-Ireland trial)

Gluteal tendinopathy is a chronic condition which affects tendons of the gluteal (buttock) muscles of the hip. This condition is also known as Greater Trochanteric Pain Syndrome (GTPS). It can result in significant pain that can last for months or years. It can disturb sleep and affect everyday activities such as...

The StrokeCog-R study: a randomised pilot study of a novel cognitive rehabilitation intervention in stroke

Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability in Ireland and worldwide. Many people are aware of the physical disabilities that occur following stroke, but are less aware of the cognitive problems that people experience. Cognitive problems, or cognitive impairment, include difficulties with thinking, memory, and concentration. They...

European Blood Pressure Intensive Control after Stroke-Pilot trial (EPICS-Pilot)

Stroke is the second leading cause of death, the leading cause of new disability and a major contributing cause of dementia and healthcare costs in the world. About one-third of recovered stroke survivors will have second stroke or heart attack by 5 years. High blood pressure (hypertension) is the leading treatable condition...

SENSE-Cog Care: A feasibility study of hearing and vision support to improve quality of life in care home residents with dementia

What is the need?  Of the 55,000 people with dementia in Ireland, nearly 17,000 live in nursing homes. Over 90% of these residents have significant hearing and vision problems that are frequently undetected or under-corrected. Also, the sensory environment (noise, bad lighting) in many nursing homes may contribute to poor...

Randomised Placebo-Controlled Trial of Early Targeted Treatment of Patent Ductus Arteriosus with Paracetamol in Extremely Low Birth Weight Infants

Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA) is common in newborn infants, especially premature infants. During pregnancy, the Ductus Arteriosus is an open channel between the two main blood vessels coming from the baby's heart. After birth it usually closes during the first few days. For very premature babies it may take longer to close, or may not...

Maximising medication adherence and minimising physician interia: Lowering to target the blood pressure of older patients with hypertension-A cluster randomised feasibility study in general practice

High blood pressure can lead to strokes and heart disease. Despite treatment, many patients continue to have uncontrolled blood pressure. In Ireland, we do very badly in this area - the worst of sixteen high income countries worldwide. For example, the proportion of Irish male patients with controlled blood pressure is 17% - in Canada,...

OPTimization of Medication by transdisciplinary Assessment of drug Treatment in Elderly hospitizalised patients (OPTIMATE): application of a definitive intervention by physicians or clinical pharmacists

Older people commonly experience multimorbid illness i.e. several chronic medical conditions occurring in the same patient simultaneously. Each of these conditions is usually treated with one or more medications, such that multimorbid illness usually results in several medications being simultaneously prescribed long-term; this is...

Enhancing Men’s Awareness of Testicular Disease (E-Mat): A Feasibility Study and Study Within A Trial (SWAT)

Testicular cancer is the most common cancer in European men younger than 50 years. In Ireland, 176 men are diagnosed with testicular cancer each year. Testicular cancer treatments, especially in late stages, can cause infertility, heart, and neurological diseases. Other testicular diseases can also cause lumps and bumps. These are...

HRCI Support Award

Award supporting HRCI activities.

IPPOSI Support Award

Award supporting IPPOSI activities.

WHO Solidarity Trial Ireland

WHO Solidarity Trial Ireland

Building research capacity, harnessing data and strengthening health systems to improve outcomes in community emergency & unscheduled care in Ireland

This research project aims to improve systems of community emergency care by focusing on a condition called Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA). OHCA is an emergency where a person’s heart suddenly stops pumping blood around the body. It happens without warning, often because of an abnormal heart rhythm. In Ireland 2500 people suffer...

An analysis of nurse-led COVID-19 interventions among homeless populations – a mixed methods study

This research project will study the effectiveness of nursing care given to prevent, identify or treat COVID-19 among people who are homeless. Research shows that homeless populations are more at risk of infections because of existing health issues and diseases, poor nutrition, addictions and mental health problems. People who are...

Sustaining increased and improved access to opioid substitution treatment (OST) in Ireland: a mixed-methods study to evaluate the impact of national contingency OST guidelines on process and client outcomes, and identify quality indicators for the continued and safe delivery of OST throughout and beyond COVID-19.

People who use heroin have a risk of death six times higher than the general population. The most effective treatment for heroin use is the prescription of legal, substitution medicine, most commonly methadone. This is called opioid substitution treatment or OST. Most people in OST attend a specialist outpatient addiction service,...

Understanding and Enhancing Medication Safety During COVID-19: The CONNECTS (COVID-Nineteen Medication Safety) Toolkit

Medicines are the most common treatment used to maintain and improve health. Due to COVID19, the way in which people access and use medication in their communities has changed rapidly and in an unprecedented way. Many are using technology to avoid potential exposure to COVID19 and we do not yet understand the impact on medicines safety...

Manipulating macrophage bioenergetics to improve patient outcomes in TB infection

Tuberculosis (TB) is the most lethal infectious disease worldwide, causing 1.8 million deaths annually. For the last 4 years in Ireland, we have seen a doubling of TB cases after the use of immuno-suppressants called TNF blockers, and the emergence of drug resistant TB in Irish people for the first time in this regard. Targeting and...

Oral health in adults with Cystic Fibrosis

Approximately 1 in 19 Irish people are said to 'carry' one copy of the altered gene that causes Cystic Fibrosis (CF). Half of people born with cystic fibrosis in 2017 will live to at least 47. This is a remarkable medical advance, however this means that we now have a shortage of evidence for the healthcare management of adults...

Progressing Sláintecare delivery from proposal to implementation: Insights from palliative care in Ireland

Sláintecare, Ireland’s national ten-year reform plan recommends universal healthcare. This represents the biggest Irish health system reform since its inception. Using palliative care as an example this project examines the development universal palliative care internationally and applies these learnings to Ireland.

Through a...

Measures of wellbeing for use in economic evaluation: valuing and assessing health outcomes in Ireland

In Ireland, healthcare decisions primarily concentrate on maximising health gain. However, with more integrated social care, there is growing recognition that this perspective is too narrow. Health maximisation is unlikely to be a relevant objective, particularly where demand for social care is high (e.g. in chronic diseases,...

Iron deficiency assessment for protection of the newborn brain

Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency in the world. About 1 in 4 people do not have enough iron to stay healthy. Pregnant women, infants and young children are at high risk of iron deficiency, as they need more iron than other population groups to support growth and development. Maternal health, including body...

Food industry corporate political activity and its potential influence on public health policy, research and practice in Ireland

In Ireland, non-communicable diseases (NCD), which include diabetes, cardio-vascular diseases and cancers, contribute to premature death and increased suffering and disability. Unhealthy diets, particularly those high in ultra-processed food products, and obesity, are one of the primary risks factors for NCD. Internationally...

Blood-based biomarkers for early detection of preclinical neurocognitive disorders

With more people now living longer lives, dementia is becoming an increasingly important problem in society. One of the biggest challenges in designing studies of potential new treatments for dementia, is accurately predicting which people are most likely to develop dementia in the future, prior to them showing signs of the disease....

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...

Scenario and intervention modelling in Ireland for stroke: Evaluating the effect of alternative policy scenarios and interventions for stroke in Ireland on outcomes and costs

One in every four people in Ireland will have a stroke in their lifetime. People are less likely to die if they have a stroke than in previous decades, partly due to new treatments that prevent further strokes and improve outcomes.  For every three people who survive their stroke, two acquire some type of disability such as...

Using knowledge translation to enhance the use of evidence in public health decision-making by policymakers and healthcare managers in Ireland

Health policy refers to decisions, plans, and actions that are undertaken to achieve specific health care goals within a society. Using high-quality evidence to inform how health policies are made is crucial to ensure safe and effective healthcare and to optimise patient and public health outcomes. Despite this, international research...

Hip fracture outcome recording and geographic equality

Hip fracture is a serious event in the lives of older people with around one in five individuals dying in the first year after their injury and many more losing their independence. Currently in Ireland, little is known about how people recover in the longer-term after hip fracture and many do not receive routine follow-up. In the last...

COVID-19 and the role and impact of the built environment on resident, family, and staff experiences in residential long-term care settings: Key findings and recommendations for building adaptation and retrofit.

Supporting the Sustainability of Long-Term Residential Care in a COVID-19 Environment and in the Future.

Long-term residential care (LTRC) homes have been at the centre of the COVID-19 pandemic, with high infection rates among staff and residents. A significant proportion of COVID-19 deaths have occurred in LTRC residents....

Plasma-based therapies for bone infection

Orthopaedic infection is life-threatening and current treatments are only sparingly successful. Despite aggressive peri-operative antibiotic treatments, 1.5% of knee revisions, 0.7 to 11.9%, of spinal infections (depending on the complexity of the procedure) and up to 27% of open fractures become infected. Moreover, the complexity of...

Development of a rapid, highly sensitive, handheld Raman-based device for detection of SARS-CoV-2 and serological responses against SARS-CoV-2

Serological assays to detect antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 are critical to study immune responses to the virus, determine precise rates of infection, track progression of infections, and identify immune individuals in order to limit exposure of susceptible groups or as potential sources of convalescent serum therapeutics. The...

Treating Primary aldosteronism-induced hypertension via microwave thermal therapy

In this tripartite US-Ireland R&D partnership program R01 research plan, we propose the development, optimization, and evaluation of a minimally-invasive microwave thermal therapy (MWT) system for definitive treatment of primary aldosteronism. Primary aldosteronism (PA) accounts for 5 - 12% of all hypertension and confers a higher...

Enhancing healthcare transition and longitudinal care for adolescents and adults with spina bifida and/or hydrocephalus in Ireland

Spina Bifida (SB) and hydrocephalus are lifelong conditions. Many people who have SB will also have hydrocephalus. While there are a number of supports and care plans for children with SB and/or hydrocephalus in Ireland, transitioning into adult care may pose problems. This project will investigate the experiences of those affected by...

Maximising the quality of stroke care in Ireland – Development of a National Stroke Audit

Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability. In recent years, improvements in stroke treatment have led to more people surviving stroke and to lower levels of disability. However, outcomes for stroke patients vary depending on the quality of care received. This indicates a need for a National Stroke Audit, involving regular...

Practice Enhancement for Exclusive Breastfeeding (PEEB)

Breastmilk makes the world healthier, smarter, and more equal as reported by The Lancet Series on
breastfeeding in 2016. There is substantial scientific international evidence that demonstrates the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding for infants, in the short, medium and long term. Such benefits include fewer infections ,increased...

Meeting the challenge of childhood obesity treatment in Irish Healthcare: Generating Data to Facilitate Action.

Obesity is caused by the storage of too much fat tissue in the body. When children become obese they can have difficulties with their physical and mental health including:

• high blood pressure;
• painful joints;
• breathing difficulties;
• anxiety and early development of other diseases.
...

• The effect of after action review in enhancing safety culture and second victim experience and its implementation in an Irish hospital

  After Action Review is a discussion of an event with the team involved in the event. Four questions are asked:

  1. what did we expect to happen?
  2. what actually happened?
  3. why was there a difference?
  4. and what have we learnt?

  An independent person guides the process. The purpose is to...

• National Helicobacter pylori antibiotic resistance surveillance to guide clinical practice

  Helicobacter pylori infection is a public health issue. It remains one of the most common infections in adults in Ireland and is associated with significant disease as the main cause of stomach ulcers and stomach cancers. Infection is more common in lower socioeconomic groups and increases with age.

  Despite significant work...

• Expanding the lung donor pool: interventions to improve donor management, expand ex vivo lung perfusion and repair injured donor lungs

  When people sustain injury to the brain after a fall, road traffic accident, or major brain bleed, they require care in an Intensive Care Unit. After major brain injury, a patient’s lungs also often fail – this is termed "Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome" (ARDS).

  ARDS after brain injury is common and contributes significantly...

• Improving psychosocial supports for youth mental health

  This research program will focus on improving the mental health of young people with serious mental health disorders. Serious mental health disorders (including schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders) are ranked among the top causes of years lived with disability.

  My research will build on what is currently known about...

• 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...

• Precision diagnosis and care for families with pulmonary fibrosis in Ireland

  diopathic-Pulmonary-Fibrosis (IPF) is a devastating fatal lung disease leading to death at an average of 3 years after diagnosis and while new drugs offer hope of slowing the disease, lung transplant is the only effective cure. Genetic factors contribute significantly to the risk of developing IPF. In Ireland our results from the IPF...

• Identifying children at risk of schizophrenia

  Five of the ten leading causes of disability in young people are mental illnesses, of which psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia, are the most severe and disabling.

  The Health Service Executive recently launched a National Clinical Programme for Early Intervention in Psychosis, which emphasizes the importance of...

• Health Services Research Centre for UnderStanding TailOred iMplementation Involving Stakeholders, Evidence and skills Development (CUSTOMISED) for policy and practice

  I will find ways to answer one of the most pressing and difficult questions facing health systems around the world- how do we implement effective changes in everyday healthcare in a way that is acceptable and practical for health professionals and service users?

  We know from research that there are many things that health...

• Linking 11-oxygenated androgens, skeletal muscle glucose metabolism and diabetes risk in polycystic ovary syndrome

  Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) affects up to 10% of all women. It is characterised by increased blood levels of hormones called androgens, as well as irregular menstrual cycles and multiple small cysts on the ovaries. Traditionally PCOS has been predominantly perceived as a reproductive disorder impacting on fertility. However...

• Towards dynamic resilience in health system performance and reform

  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...

• Collaboration to reduce antimicrobial use and resistance and identify opportunities for improvement and awareness

  Infections are often treated with antibiotics, even though antibiotics are not always the best option. Only infections that are caused by bacteria can be treated with antibiotics, infections caused by viruses do not respond to antibiotic treatment. An additional problem is that bacteria are becoming more and more resistant to...

• Characterising problematic polypharmacy in older community-dwelling people attending general practice

  As people grow older they are more likely to live with multiple chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and arthritis. As a result these people are prescribed multiple medications by their doctors. In Ireland, for example, 6 in 10 people aged over 65 years are prescribed five or more medications and 2 in 10 are prescribed 10...

• Targeting the compromised brain endothelial barrier function during cerebral malaria with AT2 receptor agonists.

  Strengthening of inter-cellular junctions of endothelial cells would facilitate important translational applications for a variety of diseases where endothelial integrity is compromised. As a first model, we have chosen cerebral malaria (CM), which remains the deadliest manifestation of malaria. It is caused by Plasmodium falciparum...

• iPASTAR-Improving Pathways for Acute STroke And Rehabilitation

  Stroke is a disease of enormous global significance. It is a major cause of death and the commonest form of acquired physical disability in adults. Fragmentation of care results in inadequate coordination of the fundamental components of acute stroke care and fails to provide an effective integrated system for acute and rehabilitative...

• Improving transition from child to adult health services for young people with cerebral palsy living in Ireland.

  In Ireland, people with cerebral palsy (CP) receive healthcare from children's services up to the age of 18, after which they transfer to adult services. Poor management of the transition from child to adult health services can lead to poor health and increased hospital admissions. While there are practices that health professionals...

• Evidence-based guidance in general practice: exploring general practitioner preferences, content prioritisation and dissemination

  General practitioners (GPs) need resources to support their use of the most up to date information in their clinical practice. This is to make sure that patients are receiving the best care possible from their GP.Th e Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) produces research update guides for GPs to support their management of...

• A new cell free DNA liquid biopsy assay to predict bevacizumab outcome in metastatic colorectal cancer patients

  Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer in Europe with an estimated 420,000 new cases diagnosed and 230,000 related deaths anticipated in 2018. CRC is the 2nd most common and 2nd most fatal cancer in Ireland. Currently standard chemotherapy (FOLFOX) and bevacizumab [(BVZ); avastin] a drug which inhibits tumour blood...

• Tracking Trajectories of Psychopathology from Infancy to Young Adulthood: an Irish national longitudinal cohort study

  Approximately 30-50% of people will experience a mental disorder over the course of their life and the majority of mental disorders begin in adolescence. Despite a shift toward 'early intervention' strategies in many medical specialities, psychiatry lags behind in this regard. There is a pressing need to identify the early life...

• The identification of plasma protein markers of antipsychotic drug treatment response in first episode psychosis; a proteomic analysis of baseline plasma samples from the OPTiMiSE and PSYSCAN studies.

  Schizophrenia is amongst the most expensive disorders in terms of quality of life and societal cost. While early intervention is known to be associated with improved outcome there is little information on predictors of patient outcome following antipsychotic drug (APD) treatment. We seek to identify, for the first time, discriminative...

• 3D collagen-based scaffolds as gene delivery platforms for the treatment of human breast cancer

  Gene therapy has recently become a potential method for the targeted treatment of cancer but successful delivery remains a real problem that hinders its use in the clinic. The aim of this study is to create and define three-dimensional (3D) lab-based models of breast cancer to mimic primary and secondary tumours, and to assess the...

• Development of a Model of Care for Osteoarthritis in Primary Care in Ireland- A mixed methods study

  Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis in Ireland. It is a condition of the joints that can cause pain and reduced mobility. It is more common in people over the age of 50 and often affects the knee and hip joints. This project aims to improve the care of people with osteoarthritis who attend their general practitioner...

• Molecular evolution of metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer

  Approximately 20% of all breast cancers (BCs) are HER2-positive and this type of BC is particularly aggressive. Drugs that target HER2, such as trastuzumab (Herceptin), have improved our ability to treat HER2-positive BC. However, many women with HER2-positive BC are not cured following treatment, and more than 25% of women go on to...

• Sláintemedicines - a roadmap to essential medicines entitlement for universal health coverage

  According to the World Health Organisation, universal health coverage is an important goal for health systems. Ireland does not currently have universal coverage as some individual have to pay for services such as visiting their GP. Sláintecare is a plan to implement universal coverage in Ireland over a 10 year period. However, this...

• Wound infections: biofilms and the search for novel antimicrobial agents

  Wound infections are one of the most common bacterial infections that are seen both in the community and in the healthcare setting. Wounds may occur acutely or if they fail to heal within a timely reparative process of three months are considered to be chronic wounds. The most common bacteria that cause wound infections is...

• Evidence synthesis and translation of findings for national clinical guideline development: addressing the needs and preferences of guideline development groups

  National clinical guidelines aim to help healthcare providers and patients' make decisions about appropriate healthcare. These guidelines use the best available evidence, gathered from national and international research, to develop recommendations on a wide range of topics. These include preventing and managing specific conditions to...

• Investigating breast cancer risk factors to understand breast cancer epidemiological outcomes

  This proposal aims to expand cancer prevention research in Ireland through the assessment of breast cancer risk factors and their influence on clinically relevant characteristics of aggressive breast cancers.Prior research has identified factors associated with increased risk of breast cancer development. One such known factor includes...

• 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...

• 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...

• 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"...

• 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...

• 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...

• 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...

• 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...

• 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...

• 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...

• "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....

• 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...

• Communicating and promoting SAFE medicines use in Ireland

  The likelihood of side effects of medicines, drug interactions and potentially inappropriate prescribing increase with the increasing number of medicines people take. Taking multiple medicines at the same time is common in people age 65 year olds or older with six in every ten in this age group. Also, around one in ten of those aged 65...

• The youth mental health animation creation project

  This KEDS award will be used to create animations about young people's mental health that will be embedded into the youth mental health website, ReachOut.com.
  
  
  
  This project will involve crafting key messages from this study into short narratives using direct quotes from the research interviews conducted for this...

• The StrokeCog partnership: effective intervention through collaboration

  Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide and will increase considerably in coming decades as people live for longer. Many people are aware of physical disabilities after stroke, but are less aware of cognitive problems. These include difficulties with memory, concentration and abstract thinking, often experienced as...

• The Art of Pregnancy

  The Art of Pregnancy is an exciting and ambitious public outreach exhibition and programme supported by the HRB Mother and Baby CTN togther with the Science Gallery Dublin as a key partner.
  
  For this project we want to commission (via an open call process) a group of artists to create works inspired by the wide ranging areas of...

• Brain, mind and psychosis: Engaging young people in learning about research

  Great progress has been made over the past few years in "destigmatising" mental illness and this has been particularly successful for conditions such as depression and anxiety. However there still remains a great lack of knowledge about psychosis. This lack of knowledge can lead to stigma and fear and can prevent young people coming...

• The relationship of medication adherence and environmental factors to exacerbations in patients with severe asthma

  Some patients with asthma suffer attacks, termed exacerbations, these periods of loss of control and heightened symptoms both significantly reduce quality of life and increase healthcare costs, as they are a cause of disability, hospitalisation and death. Predicting when an exacerbation may occur involves knowledge of the person's...

• Biomarker discovery in ultra high risk for psychosis: Towards prediction of psychotic disorder, non-psychotic mental disorders and recovery

  Mental disorders such as schizophrenia and major depression are among the most expensive disorders in terms of quality of life and societal cost. Early identification and intervention is associated with improved outcome and is facilitated by targeting those at ultra-high-risk-for-psychosis (UHR) as up to 25-30% subsequently develop...

• Advanced scaffold-based therapeutics for regeneration of large volume, vascularised bone defects

  Although bone has a natural capacity to repair itself following fracture, problems arise when large critical-size bone defects do not spontaneously heal and therefore require surgical intervention to repair completely. As many drawbacks exist with traditional repair approaches, the field of bone tissue engineering - which combines...

• The Low Von Willebrand factor Ireland Cohort of Kids (LoVIC-K) study

  Von Willebrand factor (VWF) is a large plasma protein essential for maintaining normal blood coagulation. Approximately 1% of the children and adults inherit low levels of his blood clotting protein, and consequently have a lifelong bleeding disorder known as von Willebrand disease (or VWD). Children with VWD often demonstrate easy...

• Systems modelling of tumor heterogeneity & therapy response in colorectal cancer

  Colorectal cancer (CRC) has one of the highest worldwide incidences (>1.3 million new cases) and mortality rates (~610,000 deaths per year). Genotoxic chemotherapy in stage II and III confers minimal treatment benefit (improved survival in 3-4% stage II and 15-20% of stage III patients), and predictive markers to select...

• Longitudinal assessment of cardiac function in infants with Downs Syndrome using novel echocardiography techniques

  Down syndrome is a condition where there is an extra chromosome 21. Babies with Down syndrome have well recognised features. Some babies with Down syndrome have an abnormal heart and need surgery to correct the defect. For this study we are interested in the proportion of babies who have a normal heart structure. Those babies can have...

• A randomised placebo-controlled trial of low-dose aspirin initiated in the first trimester for optimising pregnancy outcome in pregestational diabetes

  Pre-existing diabetes confers a high risk for adverse pregnancy outcome. High blood pressure disorders in pregnancy, including preeclampsia, are particularly common in this population and the combination of pre-existing diabetes and preeclampsia represents a notable high risk for poor pregnancy outcome, including stillbirth....

• Low molecular weight heparin to prevent recurrent venous thromboembolism in pregnancy: a randomised trial of two doses: the HIGHLOW study

  Women who are pregnant have an increased chance of developing blood clots. These clots can cause serious ill-health and can even be fatal. The death of a young mother is a tragic event with wide-reaching effects on the woman's family.
  
  Women with a previous blood clot have a higher recurrence risk in pregnancy. In fact, the...

• Longitudinal profiling of adverse events in Irish hospitals and provision of a standardised assessment tool to the Irish healthcare system: the INAES-2 study

  Adverse events (AEs) are unintended injuries or complications that are caused by healthcare management, rather than a patient's underlying disease, which lead to death, disability at the time of hospital discharge, prolonged hospital stay or subsequent hospitalisation. The first Irish National Adverse Events Study (INAES) determined...