Funding Awarded

Towards Personalised Clinical Management of Suicide Risk through Data-Driven Clinical Decision Support using Transnational Electronic Registry Data "PERMANENS"

Two longstanding limitations hamper effective suicide risk management in clinical practice. First, unassisted clinical judgement is not sufficient to accurately assess suicide risk, leading to ineffective clinical decision-making and poor patient experience; and second, the need for adequate mental health treatment is often unmet among...

Prevention in prediabetic patients of infection’s morbidity following a high fibre and vegetal protein diet "PreVegDiet"

Obesity is a risk factor for both susceptibility to infections including postoperative infections and other nosocomial infections and the occurrence of a more severe disease course. The main cause of obesity is energetic imbalance due to increased caloric intake and little expenditure. This induces metabolic and hormonal changes that...

Early Detection and Intervention for Cerebral Palsy (EDI4CP).

Public and Patient Involvement (PPI) in research is a key focus of our active award, the HRB Irish Network for Children’s Clinical Trials (In4kids). We are now seeking KTA funding for a 0.6FTE PPI coordinator dedicated to our Cerebral Palsy (CP) Research programme in the network. This is a new national programme that will be rolled out...

Art4Knowledge – Art Therapy for Knowledge Exchange between UCC CTG patients with cancer, their families, and clinical trials teams.

Art4Knowledge expands on efforts of the HRB-funded UCC Cancer Trials Group (UCC CTG), which provides access via clinical trials to cutting edge treatments and supportive care for patients with cancer in the South of Ireland. UCC CTG connects UCC research teams with clinical trials units in Cork University Hospital, University Hospital...

Developing an online platform to promote oral health among the Cystic Fibrosis community.

This KTA will be used in order to disseminate findings from our research into the oral health of people with Cystic Fibrosis (PWCF). We seek to provide information and education to two groups of people: 1. PWCF and parents/guardians of PWCF, and 2. Oral Healthcare Professionals. 

We will engage with patient advocates from...

Translating the tailoring process to improve the implementation of diabetes care.

Our application supports the CUSTOMISE project funded by a HRB Research Leader Award. Our project which is looking at how to implement effective programmes in the health service in a way that is acceptable and practical for health professionals and service users. One such programme is the DAFNE self-management programme for adults with...

CURRENT-KTA | Recurrent Miscarriage: evaluating CURRENT services-Knowledge Translation Acceleration.

Through this RE:CURRENT-KTA application we aim to work with knowledge users to raise awareness, share knowledge, and facilitate practice change to maximise the impact of the RE:CURRENT (Recurrent miscarriage: evaluating CURRENT services) Project and provide more effective healthcare services for people with recurrent miscarriage. We...

Enhancing Testicular Awareness and Self-Examination Among Gay Men: Campaign Co-Design and Delivery Using the World Café Methodology.

Purpose 

To design and deliver a community-based campaign to promote testicular awareness and self-examination among gay men.

Importance 

In comparison to straight men, gay men are more likely to report a cancer diagnosis including testicular cancer, the most common...

Defining how innate immune function is impacted long term in people who have had active Tuberculosis

The Problem:

Tuberculosis (TB) is a complex disease caused by a bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) and claims the lives of 1.4 million people annually. When a person is exposed to Mtb, their immune response may clear the infection asymptomatically, contain it in a dormant state (called latent TB)...

Developing the IL-36 receptor antagonist as a therapy for colon cancer

The immune system is rapidly emerging as a key player in the development and progression of cancer. Whilst the body’s immune system is designed to detect and destroy cancer cells, tumours are known to produce proteins that suppress the immune response. A better understanding of the relationship between tumours and the immune system...

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...

A probiotic strategy for antipsychotic-induced metabolic dysfunction

Schizophrenia is a mental illness associated with psychosis and is treated with antipsychotic medication. These medications are very effective; however, they cause side-effects that impact people’s physical health. Substantial body weight gain occurs in up to half of people during long-term antipsychotic treatment. Antipsychotics can...

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...

Stromal cell subtypes define distinct pathogenesis in RA and PsA

Arthritis is a leading cause of disability affecting up to 15% of the Irish population. 2% suffer from inflammatory arthritis (IA) such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA). The cost of treating patients with IA in Ireland is ~€20,000/patient/year.

Activation of our immune cells is a key mechanism by which...

Altered histone protein acetylation is associated with dysregulated NK cell metabolism in different cancer types

Fixing broken immune cells in a range of cancers.

Finding a way to stop cancer spreading (known as metastasis) remains a holy grail of scientific research. We know that we can use the immune system in anti-cancer therapies and this has opened up the possibility that patients can be cured using combinations of...

Hepato-Flame: Studying the interaction of diet, obesity, microbial translocation and inflammatory pathways in hepatobiliary cancer development: A European prospective cohort study

In many world regions including Ireland, the incidence of liver cancer and nearby cancers of the biliary tract (together termed hepatobiliary cancers) is rising steadily, and these deadly cancers have limited available treatments. Increasing rates may be linked to obesity and other components of unhealthy lifestyles which cause...

Analyzing the therapeutic potential of anti-inflammatory drugs in brain development, neuronal activity and long-term outcomes after birth asphyxia

Birth asphyxia or neonatal hypoxia is a medical condition resulting from deprivation of oxygen to a newborn infant that lasts long enough to cause harm, usually to the brain. It remains a serious condition which causes significant mortality and morbidity. Neonatal hypoxia is a global insult, which can damage all organs, but the brain...

Neutrophil Plasticity in Infection and Inflammation

Neutrophils make up 40-60% of all white blood cells. They arrive as the first cell type wherever viral, bacterial, or fungal infections occur, or when tissue damage and injury happen. In severe and longer lasting incidents neutrophil numbers go up due to increased release from the bone marrow. Neutrophils detect, swallow up and destroy...

Identifying gut microbiome-responsive brain biomarkers of cognitive impairments relevant to schizophrenia: A next-generation functional CNS circuit mapping approach

Ireland has among the highest rates of mental illness in Europe. Schizophrenia is the leading psychiatric diagnosis nationally. Schizophrenia patients have problems remembering their past, are unable for social interactions and cannot hold on to information long enough to use it. Scientists have found that gut microbes can affect our...

A translational investigation of the anti-inflammatory and antidepressant effects of Psychedelics in Depression

There has been a renewed interest in the therapeutic potential of psychedelics. These substances (e.g. psilocybin, D-lysergic acid diethylamide, dimethyltryptamine) when given under psychiatric supervision and with psychological support have been shown to have therapeutic benefits for a range of disorders with restricted or maladaptive...

Addressing the economic and human cost of hospital acquired and nurse-sensitive adverse events in older patients through optimal use of routine discharge data and measurement of missed nursing care

Older patients make up the largest patient group in acute hospitals in Ireland. Common hospital acquired complications in this group contribute to higher healthcare costs, lower quality care, and less satisfactory patient experiences overall. Pneumonia, delirium, urinary tract infections and pressure injuries are four commonly acquired...

Interrogating Steroid Non-responsiveness in the Irish Eosinophilic Oesophagitis Population

Eosinophilic oesophagitis (EoE) is a rare, increasingly recognised disease where an immune cell (eosinophil) builds up in the oesophagus in response to allergens including foods. This damage can lead to vomiting, abdominal pain, difficulty swallowing, blockage, and with time scaring which may need surgery. EoE is a serious affliction...

A Standardised Approach to Measuring Infant Feeding Outcomes to Prevent Childhood Obesity

Approximately one in five children currently experience obesity worldwide, making it a major public health challenge. What, how and when children are fed in the first year of life (“infant-feeding”) contributes to childhood obesity risk. However, strategies, including interventions to prevent childhood obesity by targeting...

IMPRINT: Defining pathogen-specific IMmune PRedictors of bloodstream INfecTion outcomes

The past 20 months has provided a front row seat to the ravaging effects of a virus on the global population. During this time, scientists have responded with a momentous research effort, which has yielded unprecedented levels of understanding of how SARS-CoV-2 causes COVID-19 disease and importantly how our immune system responds to...

STARFISH: Sustained inflammaTion in preterm infAnts and multioRgan dysFunctIon correlateS witH long term outcomes

Preterm birth describes babies born before 37 weeks an is the world's leading cause of death in children less than 5 years old. Babies born before 32 weeks have higher risks of injury to their brain, kidneys, lungs, heart and more infections. Although clinical care of these issues in the neonatal period is well defined there are few...

Effective Subsets of Fine-Grained Network-based Neurophysiological Biomarkers for Early Stratification in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Motor Neurone Disease (MND)/Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a terminal neurological condition in which the neurons (neural cells) that control movement degenerate. The exiting drugs have very limited effects on the disease progression and those affected only survive for about 3-4 years after the symptoms begin.

More than...

Mental Health and Wellbeing during the Transition from Childhood to Young Adulthood

While positive mental health and wellbeing is important for children and young people in its own right, mental ill-health in early life can also have lasting impacts on later-life outcomes. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the prevalence of mental health difficulties was increasing among children and young people in Ireland, and there...

Identifying and Addressing the Barriers to Home Haemodialysis (DREAM)

Kidney disease is becoming more common. This means that more people require kidney transplants and haemodialysis. Haemodialysis is a way of replacing the functions of failing kidneys by using an external machine to clean the blood. Haemodialysis is usually carried out in a hospital. However, after training, many patients and their...

A realist process evaluation of an intervention to promote competencies in interprofessional collaboration among interdisciplinary integrated care teams for older people

Government policy in Ireland recognises the importance for older people to live well in their homes and their communities. This means that the right healthcare is available for older people and their family carers in their communities as and when they need it. The government have a plan to develop healthcare teams called Integrated...

SocialPaths: Sex-specific socioeconomic pathways to cardiovascular disease risk across the life course

Heart disease is the leading cause of death globally in both females and males. After decades of research, we know what causes heart disease but prevention remains challenging. Much of what we know about heart disease and how we go about preventing it today is based on research in males. Future prevention strategies require research...

Development of a Health Impact Assessment (HIA) Implementation Model: Enhancing Intersectoral Approaches in Tackling Health Inequalities

Public health research has shown that our health and wellbeing are affected by the circumstances into which we are born, grow, live, work and age. These circumstances are generally described as the social determinants of health. We know that incorporating a health focus drawing on the social determinants of health across all publicly...

Planning and design for quality of life and resilience in residential long-term care settings for older people in Ireland: Research and Universal Design Guidelines for new-build, adaption and retrofit

In Ireland, the provision of Residential Care Settings (RCS) for Older People is currently inadequate; putting pressure on the health system and undermining the care of many older people. As the population increases and ages, the number of people requiring RCS will increase. This is recognised by the Irish government in health...

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...

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...

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 development of an intervention to improve the use of point-of-care diagnostics in the management of respiratory tract infections in primary care: a mixed methods study

Using antimicrobial medicines (e.g. antibiotics) too often, especially when they are not needed, is associated with increased antimicrobial resistance (AmR). AmR can weaken the effects of antimicrobials, which threatens our already vulnerable health systems. Sometimes, antibiotics (which kill bacteria) are used to treat viral...

Development, validation and dissemination of the PRECIS-3 tool to support the design of pragmatic randomised controlled trials: Towards making clinical trials part of routine clinical care

Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) have been proven to be the best means of acquiring clinical data for the provision of a wide variety of healthcare solutions. Conventional (explanatory) RCTs, however, are normally performed under ideal conditions in a scenario that is divorced from the clinical care of the participants. They are...

Comprehensive characterisation of resistance mechanisms for the accurate detection of Helicobacter pylori antimicrobial resistance

Helicobacter pylori (H. 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. Despite significant work resulting in a better understanding of this bacterium (germ) and how it...

PRedicting Onset, Variation and Effect of treatment in Rheumatoid Arthritis (PROVE-RA)

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common, autoimmune disease affecting synovial joints that may result in cartilage damage, joint destruction, and disability. Treatments available for patients with RA have improved a lot over the last two decades with the result that many patients will go into remission. However, a significant number of...

Investigation of hospital sanitary ware as reservoirs of persistent antimicrobial resistant pathogens and links to bloodstream infections: Implications for infection prevention and control

Infections caused by bacteria lengthen patient stays in hospital and increase the complexity of treating the patient. These bacteria are frequently antibiotic resistant superbugs, like MRSA or CPE. Once the bacteria is in a patient it is a danger to the patients' health. These bacteria can survive and live outside the human body in...

Discovering and modulating mechanisms by which Peptidylglycine alpha-Amidating Monooxygenase (PAM) influences the risk of genetically inherited tissue damage in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a disease in which the immune system attacks the body and affects around 50,000 people in Ireland. This results in swollen and painful joints, which can be severely debilitating. The underlying cause is a mixture of nature (genetics) and nurture (environment). The genetic site rs26232 has been found to be...

UCC Symposium on Cutting Edge Computed Tomography (CT)

Computed tomography, commonly known as a CT scan, is a diagnostic test that combines X-rays with computer technology to produce detailed images of the inside of the body. Unlike standard X-rays, CT scans can create 3D images demonstrating almost all organs and tissues. CT scans have become an essential element of modern medicine for...

HRB NCTO International Clinical Trials Day Conference 2023 - "Clinical Research in Ireland 2023"

The NCTO International Clinical Trials Day (ICTD) event on May 11th 2023 will be a one day conference, celebrating International Clinical Trials Day, launching the calendar of ICTD events which will take place in the CRF/Cs across the network over subsequent weeks and showcase clinical research activities across the HRB funded...

Best practice for Caring for Patients with Cystic Fibrosis in Primary Dental Care

Ireland has the highest global incidence of Cystic Fibrosis and future trends predict that the adult Cystic Fibrosis population in Europe will increase by 75% by 2025, therefore it is timely and necessary to equip dental professionals with the most current information and guidance surrounding the management of Cystic...

Early Identification of Suicide and Self-Harm Risk and Comorbid Mental and PHysical Disorders: An INterdisciplinary TrAining, Research and InterventioN Programme (MHAINTAIN)

MHAINTAIN will create a research-through-training network addressing the need for doctoral training and career paths, to improving early identification and intervention of suicide and self-harm risk. The aim of this interdisciplinary consortium is to improve capacity building in the assessment of risk of suicide and self-harm...

PSychosis Ireland Structured Training and Research programme (PSI-STAR)

Psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder,  occur in about 3 in a hundred people and usually start in adolescence or young adulthood, greatly disrupting a young person's life in terms of education, social relationships and career outcomes. Because of the early age of onset and...

MIRANDA- Multidisciplinary Innovation and Research Advancing Neurological care in a Digital Age

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or Motor Neurone Disease (MND) is a degenerative disease of the nervous system, which affects one in 300 people in Ireland. Those affected lose their ability to use their arms, legs and voice, and eventually their ability to breathe. Some people also experience changes in thinking.

There...

HRB Trials Methodology Research Network (HRB-TMRN) 2021 - 2026

No summary available

Clinical Trial Feasibility Award - University of Limerick

No summary available

Clinical Trial Feasibility Award - Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland

No summary available

UCD Clinical Research Centre

No summary available

HRB Clinical Research Facility - UCC (HRB CRF-UCC)

No summary available

Wellcome HRB Clinical Research Facility at St. James's Hospital

No summary available

Children's Health Ireland

No summary available

HRB Clinical Research Facility Galway

No summary available

National Clinical Trials Office 2021 - 2024

No summary available

Social Circumstances and Epigenomics: Promoting Health in Three Countries

This project proposes an integrated set of aims and analyses of existing social and epigenetic data from three national studies of aging in the family of Health and Retirement studies (the US Health and Retirement Study (HRS), the Northern Ireland Cohort for the Longitudinal Study of Ageing (NICOLA), and the Irish Longitudinal Study of...

Uncovering the neural architecture underlying decisions abstracted from movements

Decision making is a core component of normal and abnormal cognitive function. Understanding the neural mechanisms of decision-making will lead to advances in the diagnosis, classification and future treatments of disorders affecting thought and control. Mathematical models of the decision process, based on bounded 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....

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...

WHO Solidarity Trial Ireland

WHO Solidarity Trial Ireland

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Evidence for Policies to Prevent Chronic Conditions (EPICC)

Chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes are the most common causes of death in Ireland and Europe. These diseases are becoming more common and they are extremely costly for governments. The costs will continue to increase unless governments can find better way to prevent and treat these diseases.

Moreover, these chronic...

Development and validation of a risk stratification tool for assessment of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality using data from the National Maternal and Newborn Clinical Management System

Many women and their unborn babies experience problems during pregnancy. Occasionally mothers or babies die. These outcomes vary across hospitals. Currently, there is no accepted method of comparing outcomes between hospitals. Therefore, we do not know if all hospitals are performing to standard, or whether there are worse or better...

Mapping Parkinson's Disease needs and services in Ireland to inform service planning

There is evidence that Parkinson's disease (PD) is on the rise. The number of people living with Parkinson's in the world is set to double between 2015 and 2040. Despite this, there has not been enough investment made in healthcare services to improve care for people with Parkinson's in Ireland. Also, under-staffing can be a problem in...

Examining the interplay of the immune system with brain cells in Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson's disease occurs when nerve cells that produce the chemical dopamine are lost from the brain. This causes a person to have many symptoms including a tremor of their hands and slowness of movement. There have been a lot of studies trying to determine why these dopamine nerve cells die.

There is growing evidence that the...

The Test of Complex Syntax: final development phase, standardization and diagnostic accuracy with respect to children with developmental language disorder (DLD) and those at risk of language disorder.

This project aims to develop an online interactive tool which will allow us to identify children who find it more difficult to understand language than their peers and to individually tailor support to help them to overcome these difficulties. Difficulties understanding spoken language are often hidden and children's problems may go...

Implementation of a Frailty Care Bundle for older adults in acute care

During hospital admission, older patients often reduce their walking activity and nutrition intake due to illness. However, research suggests that inflexible hospital routines, lack of patient awareness and limited nursing attention are also factors. Long periods of inactivity combined with suboptimal nutrition cause leg muscle...

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...

An investigation of the prevalence and molecular epidemiology of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium in Irish hospitals using whole-genome sequencing

Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VREfm) is an antibiotic-resistant bacterium that causes serious infections among patients in hospitals. Ireland has the highest level of VREfm causing life-threatening bloodstream infections (BSIs) in Europe but little is known about how it has emerged and spread here or the genetic...

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...

To identify molecular signatures that can predict disease onset in 'at-risk ACPA+' individuals and disease progression in RA patients

Inflammation is a critical process in fighting infection. However, if uncontrolled, it can contribute to the development of autoimmune disease, including inflammatory forms of arthritis such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), which causes joint destruction and disability. Targeted therapies have advanced the treatment of RA, however a...

Evaluation of the clinical, psychological and economic effects of the Cystic Fibrosis Newborn Screening Programme: the Irish Comparative Outcomes Study of CF (ICOS) Part 2

This is a national programme of research which addresses key outcomes in the recently established Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Newborn Screening programme (NBS). Ireland has the highest prevalence of CF worldwide. NBS for CF was introduced in 2011. The Irish Comparative Outcome Study (ICOS) Part I was conducted in 2013-2017 and studied...

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...

Switching on the light: Reprogramming T cell metabolism for novel HIV Cure interventions

With 37 millions people currently living with HIV and 2.6 million people newly infected worldwide, the AIDS pandemic is a global health crisis. In Ireland, the HSE and the HSPC have made HIV/AIDS "a notifiable disease and a major public health importance". 30 years of intense HIV/AIDS research have provided efficient antiretroviral...

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...

Immunometabolic manipulation of pulmonary immunity - towards TB host directed therapy

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major global health emergency, with over one and a half million people dying per year, despite being a curable disease. Drug-resistant TB is a new aspect of the epidemic meaning this disease has now become more difficult to treat with antibiotics. Consequently there is urgent need to generate better treatments,...

Prediction of radiation toxicity in prostate cancer patients using Raman spectroscopy

There are no tests currently available to predict an individual patient's response to radiotherapy. Some patients experience severe long term side effects months and even years after their treatment has finished and these effects can be permanent. For example, some prostate cancer patients develop life-changing bowel and urinary...

FIREFLY: Followup of Inflammatory Responses and multiorgan outcomes FoLlowing neonatal brain injurY

Babies who have brain injury also frequently have involvement of their kideys, lung and heart. Although clinical care in the neonatal period is well defined there are few guidelines and evidence for developmental, heart and kidney followup in childhood. We aim to develop and implement guidelines for health care workers and families on...

Analysis of the oral metagenome for markers of malignant transformation of oral leukoplakia

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) accounts for 90% of oral cancers. According to the National Cancer Registry, the rate of OSCC in Ireland is increasing annually by 3.3% and early diagnosis and treatment is crucial if patients are to survive beyond 5 years. OSCCs can arise de novo or from preneoplasis such as Oral Leukoplakia (OLK)....

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...

Study of the impact of dedicated recurrent miscarriage clinics in the Republic of Ireland

Spontaneous miscarriage is the most common complication of pregnancy. While improvements in the quality of care provided during pregnancy have led to substantial reductions in many adverse pregnancy outcomes, there has been little effect on miscarriage which still occurs in between 20% to 30% of pregnancies, in the first trimester....

Bile Acids as a host trigger of Chronic infecting Pathogens in Respiratory Disease

This study will investigate the unexplained link between bile aspiration and the chronic infection/inflammation characteristic of severe respiratory disease in patients. Despite advances in the clinical management of respiratory disease, patients continue to develop lung damage even from an early age. We know that harmful bacteria...

Using guanine to re-sensitise MRSA to methicillin: Is purine nucleotide homeostasis the Achilles' heel of MRSA antibiotic resistance?

The threat of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections to hospital patients and the wider society continues to escalate. The discovery of antibiotics in the 1940's and 1950's represented one of the most important scientific breakthroughs in history. However since then the spread of antibiotic-resistant pathogens has gradually erooded...

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...

NK cell RESTORE - Can GLP-1 therapy restore tumour immunity in severely obese patients?

Obesity has recently over taken smoking as the number one cause of preventable deaths worldwide. This is because obesity causes many serious diseases such as heart disease and cancer. Recent reports suggest that up to 50% of all cancers are now due to obesity. Obesity is linked to cancer through many avenues from inflammation, hormonal...

Optimizing 40 Hz sensory stimulation protocols for Alzheimer's disease treatment

Clinical dementia, the majority of cases being caused by Alzheimer's disease, seriously impairs the lives of over 50 million people worldwide currently. There are approximately 55,000 people with dementia and as many dementia carers in Ireland. At present the lifetime risk of developing dementia is about 10% but this is increasing...

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...

PRoviding Improved care for Self-harM: a mixed-methods study of intervention, economic and implementation outcomes from a national clinical programme

Suicide is a societal concern in Ireland and is associated with both personal and economic costs. People who self-harm are at particular risk of suicide, and so developing services and interventions for this population can help prevent deaths. Under Ireland's national strategy to reduce suicide, a programme to help people who present...

Engineering RNA-based therapeutics for treatment of sepsis and sepsis induced multiple organ dysfunction syndrome

Sepsis is a life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to infection. Worldwide it affects over 30 million people of all ages and results in 5.3 million deaths annually. In Ireland sepsis contributes to 25% of in-hospital deaths and one in five patients diagnosed with sepsis will die from this disease. To...

SCaRLeT: Sex differences in Cardiovascular Risk across Life course Transitions

Heart disease is still the leading cause of death around the world. Preventing heart disease, by focusing on risk factors like smoking is essential for improving population health. Females and males do not experience heart disease equally. In adults, research suggests risk factors that can be changed like smoking do not have the same...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Preventing transmission of MRSA from livestock to humans through competitive exclusion (EXCLUDE MRSA)

Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance (JPIAMR)

Pig farms act as reservoir of Livestock-Associated Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (LA-MRSA). Through occupational exposure to farm dust and contact with pigs, farm workers are at risk for acquiring LA-MRSA. Although health care institutions can cope...

The implementation of National Clinical Effectiveness Committee clinical guidelines relating to health care associated infections in Irish healthcare organisations: multiple perspectives

Background: Healthcare associated infections (HCAI) create a major burden on individuals, their families, and the health services. They lead to longer stays in hospital, higher risk of death, and increased frequency of other health problems such as heart failure, and pneumonia. All of this also contributes to greatly increased...

Evidence to Support Prevention Implementation and Translation - Knowledge Translation (ESPRIT-KT)

This application adds to a larger HRB Research Leader Award about improving care for people with diabetes in Ireland. The goal of the KEDS project is to connect people who do research with people who make decisions about our national health policy so they can learn from each other and work together to improve the health of the...

Developing a website for public awareness about computer use in aphasia rehabilitation

Aphasia is a language disorder which occurs in 1 in 3 people after stroke. It can impact on a person's ability to produce and understand spoken and written language. People with aphasia have had limited opportunities to have their voices heard within Irish stroke research.



This research project has already engaged...

Overweight & obesity in Ireland: Translating policy into action

The launch in 2016 of "A healthy weight for Ireland", the Government's National Obesity Policy and Action Plan, 2016-2025 represents an important milestone in Ireland's response to ongoing epidemic of overweight and obesity in children and adults. Researchers in the HRB Centre for Health & Diet (CHDR) generated key evidence which...

Listening to the newborn brain

This outreach programme will provide dedicated public information and education resources on the neonatal brain stethoscope device, which aims to facilitate interrogation of the neonatal brain and improve the quality and accuracy of the diagnosis brain injuries, reduce the stress of parents with babies in the NICU and establish the...

Supporting individuals and organisations involved in implementation of community water fluoridation

The Fluoride And Caring for Children's Teeth (FACCT) study was initiated to determine the effect of the change in water fluoridation policy (2007) on dental caries (tooth decay) and enamel fluorosis (marks on tooth enamel which are associated with fluoride) in Irish children, while also considering the change in policy on the use of...

Biomarker discovery and validation in autism spectrum disorder: A study of neonatal cord blood in international birth cohorts

What is Autism? Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex disorder of brain development. ASD is characterized by difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviours. ASD begins in infancy and persists into adolescence and adulthood. ASD imposes significant emotional and economic burdens on...

Investigating mitochondrial dysfunction and meta-inflammation as a shared pathogenic network in pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes mellitus

Pre-eclampsia (PE) and gestational diabetes (GDM) are two common complications of pregnancy. PE is characterised by high blood pressure and increased protein in the urine. GDM develops because the mother's body is not able to produce the extra insulin needed for pregnancy. Together, these pregnancy complications affect 15% of first...

Using genetics and CRISPR to personalise new targeted treatments for patients with familial breast cancer

This research project is focused on the genetics of breast cancer. We know that cancer can be caused by errors in certain genes, called mutations. We also know that these mutations run in some families, and therefore some women unfortunately inherit a risk of developing breast cancer. Landmark studies on these families led to the...

Exercising control over runaway kynurenine pathway metabolism: Towards improved treatment outcomes in major depression

We all know someone who suffers from depression, the difficulties they experience before being diagnosed and the hardship endured before an effective medication that improves their symptoms is finally found. Often, despite multiple trials of different medications, the symptoms of depression persist. In addition to the personal and...

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...

The impact of stress on maternal gastrointestinal permeability during pregnancy: Implications for maternal immunology and infant neurodevelopment

Pregnancy can be a stressful time during which many expectant mothers experience understandable worries and concerns. Unusually high levels of prenatal maternal stress are associated with a number of behavioural and cognitive problems for the child in later life. Normal development of the central nervous system is also at risk during...

Alpha melanocyte stimulatory hormone and improvements in glucose tolerance in humans: Role of enhanced skeletal muscle glucose uptake and utilisation

Patients with diabetes show significant impairements in the control of blood levels of nutrients such as sugars and fats after eating. This causes excessive levels of nutrient to circulate (e.g. high blood sugar-hyperglycaemia) and over time this phenomenon can injure cells and tissues of the body resulting in complications such as...

The heme oxygenase system as a therapeutic intervention for inflammatory bowel disease

Ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn disease (CD) are major chronic inflammatory bowel diseases affecting approximately 20,000 people in Ireland and an estimated 2.2 million individuals in Europe. Treatment with infliximab, corticosteroids and aminosalicylate-based compounds has been shown to suppress the generation of pathogenic immune...

Assessment of the predictive value of immune and histological parameters in oesophageal adenocarcinoma using digital pathology

Cancer of the oesophagus, or food pipe, is an aggressive type of cancer, with poor survival rates. The number of people affected is increasing and is set to double in Ireland within the next 20 years. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are used to treat patients with oesophageal cancer, but these therapies only work for a small number of...

HRB Clinical Research Facility University College Cork 2018-2021

No summary available

Phenotypic and functional characterisation of immune cell populations in ACPA+ vs ACPA- RA patients: Implications for treatment strategies

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the most common inflammatory arthritis affecting 1-2% of the population, with potentially debilitating effects impacting on quality of life and function. Targeted therapies inhibiting TNF have advanced RA treatment, however these treatments are expensive, placing further strain on an already overstretched...

Targeting HIV persistent reservoirs: Evaluation of new classes of latency reversing agent as part of novel strategies for HIV cure approaches

With 37 millions people currently living with HIV and 2.6 million people newly infected worldwide, the AIDS pandemic is a global health crisis. In Ireland, the HSE and the HSPC have made HIV/AIDS "a notifiable disease and a major public health importance". 30 years of intense HIV/AIDS research have provided efficient antiretroviral...

IRISH-1: A retrospective cohort study of PD-L1 by RNA ISH (RISH) as a potentially superior companion biomarker for immune checkpoint inhibitors in NSCLC

The role of the immune system to fight illness is well known, but it can in fact also fight cancer. Indeed, most potential cancer causing cells are detected and removed from our bodies by our immune system in process called "immune surveillance". However, at some point, tumors manage to evade our immune system by producing molecules...

Gastric cancer risk: The influence of selenium status and selenoprotein genetic variation

Dietary and lifestyle factors and infection with the bacterium Helicobacter pylori play important roles in the development of different types of stomach (gastric) cancer (GC), one of the top ten most serious cancers in Europe. Selenium is a micronutrient needed in small amounts for important proteins, called selenoproteins, countering...

Do we die as we live? Age, socioeconomic status, healthcare utilisation and pathways to death in Ireland

It has long been understood that illness and healthcare needs increase as a person approaches the end of life, and that much of what appears to be higher costs with ageing is mainly the costs of dying. Age at death is closely linked to socioeconomic status, but little is known about how patterns of illness and use of services vary...

Prospective validation of the complement system as a novel treatment stratification tool in oesophageal adenocarcinoma patients

Cancer of the oesophagus (food-pipe) is rapidly increasing in incidence in Ireland and worldwide and has one of the worst survival rates of all cancers. In Ireland, oesophageal cancer patients are currently treated with chemoradiation therapy (CRT), which is a combination of drugs (chemotherapy) and radiation (radiation therapy),...

Skin in Parkinson's disease - a potential biomarker?

Parkinsonism is characterized by slowness, stiffness, tremor and poor balance. Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive, incurable neurological disease and the most common cause of Parkinsonism. PD is caused by a reduced level of a chemical (dopamine) in an area of the brain responsible for automatic movement control. Current...

Elucidating the pathological role of obesity, inflammation and immunity in cancer related sarcopenia in upper gastrointestinal cancers

Cancer is a devastating disease affecting the majority of us at some point in our lives. Cachexia is a common debilitating consequence of cancer, which is responsible for the deaths of nearly 20% of all cancer patients. It is thought to be driven by inflammation and leads to an involuntary loss of muscle (sarcopenia) and fat. This has...

CERVIVA-Vax: Monitoring the impact of HPV vaccination in Ireland

Infection with Human Papillomavirus (HPV) can lead to development of cervical cancer. For this reason HPV now plays an important role in cervical cancer prevention. For example, HPV vaccination programmes are established in several countries worldwide, including Ireland, where a national school based HPV vaccination programme began in...

A population-based, longitudinal investigation of changes in multisensory integration with ageing and its causal role in the incidence of falls and cognitive decline in older adults

Our sensory systems are constantly bombarded by information, yet we are able to maintain a coherent perception that allows us to efficiently interact with our world. Recent research in neuroscience has led to important breakthroughs in our understanding of how multisensory interactions occur in the brain. However, the ageing process...

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...

Sex matters! Identification of novel therapeutic targets to mitigate the increased prevalence of depression in women versus men.

Stress, particularly early life, is a major risk factor for several psychiatric disorders including depression. The prevalence of depression is twice as high in women compared with men. Thus in addition to stress, biological sex is an important contributor of depression susceptibility. The neurobiology underlying increased...

Monoclonal xIL-6R antibodies as a treatment for memory dysfunction in the mdx mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is a genetic disorder that affects ~ 1 in every 3,600 live male births. This disease is characterised by progressive muscle weakness, disability, immobility and premature death, often due to respiratory failure. Symptom manifestation is due to a genetic mutation in the dystrophin gene, which protects...

Development of a nebulised cell based therapy for acute respiratory distress syndrome

Acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) constitute a spectrum of severe acute respiratory failure. Mortality rates over 60% have been reported and ARDS is the leading cause of death in the critically ill. ARDS develops most commonly in the context of severe sepsis, particularly infection with gram-negative...

The microbiome as a risk factor and biomarker of oesophageal cancer

Oesophageal cancer is the eighth most common cancer worldwide (19th most common in Europe) with nearly 456,000 new cases diagnosed in 2012. It is well established that microbes can cause cancer. For example, H. pylori infection can lead to stomach cancer. For other cancers, such as colon cancer, there is a change in the population of...

Multimodal cardiovascular modelling for predicting and preventing disability in TILDA

Increasing proportions of older adults will lead to an increased prevalence of age-related health problems, and long-term care systems. The issues are numerous and complex. In response to these challenges, 'ageing' has become a research priority both nationally and internationally. TILDA aims to improve population health by providing...

A mixed methods research study to develop an acceptable, evidence and practice based model for palliative care for people with dementia in the community

People are living longer, which means that more of us will get age-related illnesses such as dementia. Palliative Care aims to improve the quality of life of patients and their families who are facing an incurable, life-limiting illness, such as dementia. Palliative care involves actively looking for symptoms of any kind- physical,...

Epigenetics in the pathogenesis of pseudoexfoliation glaucoma

Glaucoma is a common cause of blindness, which affects approximately 60 million people worldwide. There are many causes and risk factors for developing this disease but pseudoexfoliation (PXF) syndrome is currently the single most important identifiable risk factor for developing glaucoma (PXFG). A build up of certain proteins...

Alternative approaches to achieving universal healthcare -potential costs, outcomes and challenges

For the first time in Ireland there is cross-party political interest in achieving universal healthcare (UHC); however there is little clarity about the meaning of universality or how best to transition from the current Irish system to one of universality. In Ireland, most people currently pay relatively high fees to visit general...

Research Programme - Taskforce on staffing and skill-mix for nursing

The Department of Health recently published a document entitled a Framework for Safe Nurse Staffing and Skill Mix in Ireland. In this report a number of recommendations were made to ensure that the staffing of hospitals was safe and effective; that is to ensure the right number of nurses are in the right place at the right time and...

Enhancing doctors' engagement with regulation of professional competence

In the field of medicine, information about how best to care for patients is constantly changing. Since 2011, medical doctors in Ireland are required by law to demonstrate that they are taking part in educational activities to keep them up to date. The aim of this requirement is to reassure the public that their doctors are competent...

Feasibility of an intervention to improve attendance for diabetic retinopathy screening

Retinopathy is a serious and common condition affecting the sight of people with diabetes and it can cause blindness. It is preventable through screening and can be treated if found in time. However, the success of screening is dependent on people attending when invited. Studies show that a number of people with diabetes do not attend...

Interventions for supporting pregnant women's decisions about first caesarean delivery

This cochrane review will collate the best available evidence about interventions for supporting pregnant women's decision-making for first caesarean delivery thereby influencing current clinical practice, local and national guidelines. More evidence is needed to support the promotion of informed choice, involving the woman as a...

Bacteria in human tumours

It is becoming apparent that the relationship between humans and bacteria can influence various diseases. Deeper understanding of the bacteria that live in our body is enabling identification of i) potential causes of and ii) potential treatments for disease. The Tangney lab at the Cork Cancer Research Centre has recently discovered...

Evaluation of the 'pilot implementation of the framework for safe nurse staffing and skill-mix'

Earlier this year, the Department of Health published a document entitled Framework for Safe Nurse Staffing and Skill Mix in General and Specialist Medical and Surgical Care Settings in Adult Hospitals in Ireland. In this report the Department made a number of recommendations to ensure that the staffing of hospital wards was safe and...

Use of software and computer technology in aphasia rehabilitation; investigating issues of efficacy, usability and cost effectiveness

Technology can provide an answer for over-stretched health care provision but will service users, particular older adults, actively engage with it? This research will investigate the benefits of a computer programme on language comprehension abilities (i.e. ability to understand spoken sentences) and explore the user experience of...

Development and validation of metric-based training to proficiency for dental implant placement

Common dental diseases such as dental decay (caries) and gum (periodontal) disease can lead to the loss of teeth, which has detrimental effects on patients chewing ability, speech and smile. While retaining teeth for patients is a primary goal for the dental profession, the replacement of teeth when they are lost is an important role...

Living with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) and Dysphagia -the personal experiences of individuals with MND and their caregivers

Motor Neurone Disease (MND) is one of the most progressive diseases of the nervous system, for which there is no cure. It often leads to weakness in the arms, hands and legs, posing difficulties with daily life activities. Throat muscles can also be affected leading to speech and swallowing problems (dysphagia). Dysphagia can be life...

Sound-based observation of neonatal brain growth and status

WT Scheme: Seed Award in Science

Neurological problems are more likely to happen in the early neonatal period than at any other time of life. 85% of neonatal deaths worldwide occurred in developing countries with neonatal encephalopathy due to the birth asphyxia being one of the major causes of high child mortality. The lack...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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....

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...

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...

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...

Exploring clinical learning environments for postgraduate medical education and training

After graduation from medical school, doctors continue to train under the supervision, for several years, until they are ready to practice independently. These trainee doctors learn while they work, providing care to patients. Their working environments, therefore, need to support learning. It is difficult for those charged with the...

Can implementation of an emergency department monitoring and escalation protocol of adult patients in a large teaching hospital reduce the number of critical incidents and improve timely intervention in patients requiring a high level of care and improve

The HIQA Report on the investigation into the quality, safety and governance of the care provided by Tallaght Hospital for patients requiring acute admission has recommended that an Emergency Department-specific system of physiological monitoring and triggered responses comparable to the National Early Warning Score (NEWS) should be...

A prospective assessment of the biological burden of stress in caregivers: Impact on cognitive performance, mood and the benefits of mindfulness

The age structure of the population in Ireland is changing rapidly and the HSE predicts that the 65+ year old age group will contribute 20% of the population by the year 2036. Already, nearly 5% of the population are engaged as caregivers for ill elderly relatives and this is particularly stressful for those whose spouses or parents...

The STRIDER Trial: A randomised controlled trial of sildenafil therapy In dismal prognosis early-onset intrauterine growth restriction

Severe early-onset in utero growth restriction (IUGR) affects babies in womb and is caused by reduced blood flow through the placenta. There is no treatment or cure for IUGR and the current clinical management involves intensive fetal surveillance with elective delivery performed when there is evidence of fetal distress and before the...

Evaluating the impact of the systematic implementation of advance care directives and palliative care education on quality of care at end of life in long term care settings

It is essential that nursing home staff are equipped to provide high-quality end-of-life care, while it is also essential that the wishes of the older person about their care are taken into account. Many nursing home residents develop dementia, which can interfere with their ability to make healthcare decisions and to communicate...

HRB Centre for Health and Diet Research

The vision for the Centre for the next five years:
The overall vision for the CHDR over the next five years is to contribute to the promotion of the health and wellbeing of the population through the development of a sustainable and internationally competitive National Research Centre for Public Health Nutrition which will:
...

Interventions for breast cancer awareness amongst women of all ages

Review objective: To assess the effects of interventions to develop breast cancer awareness amongst women. Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer death in females globally (Jemal et al., 2011). Early diagnosis of breast cancer is linked to more favourable outcomes and longer survival...

The efficacy and effectiveness of capnogaphy monitoring during intravenous conscious sedation with midazolam for oral surgery

Dentists use sedation to help patients accept difficult procedures and to relieve anxiety. During sedation, the well-being of the patient is monitored by the dental team. When carried out according to recognised guidelines, intravenous dental sedation is considered to be very safe. For some patients, dental sedation is a useful...

A randomised controlled trial to measure the effects of an augmented prescribed exercise program on mobility, quality of life and healthcare utilisation for frail hospilised older medical in-patients

Older people can become less physically independent following a hospital stay. Up to one third become newly dependant on walking aids and others remain more dependent in the long-term, affecting physical and psychological health and increasing the burden on carers and healthcare. Although many factors can influence this deterioration,...

Improving care for people with diabetes: A population approach to prevention and control

Diabetes is a common, disabling and deadly condition. In Ireland it is estimated that nearly 1 in 10 adults have diabetes, many of whom are undiagnosed. Currently diabetes costs the state approx. €580 million per annum and this will rise significantly in coming decades. Major changes are underway with a move to providing more care of...