Funding Awarded

Identification of drugs that can safely and effectively maintain visual function in models of inherited retinal degeneration

Inherited Retinal Degenerations (IRD) are a diverse group of conditions resulting in blindness. This is often traumatic to the affected patient and families, and can cause significant socio-economic impact. Gene or stem-cell therapy show promise as treatments for IRD. However, these approaches are hampered by high costs and treatment...

Inherited retinal degenerations: All Ireland Retinal Degenerations Partnership (AIRDP)

Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) is the most common inherited disorder of the retina affecting approximately one in 4000 people. The symptoms of RP are night blindness, tunnel vision and reduction of central vision. Although the symptoms of RP are broadly similar in most people, the genetic causes are complex with over 50 genes being...

Enhancing the antimicrobial efficacy of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) for eliminating sepsis induced acute lung injury (ALI) using a novel combination of immune-stimulants

Despite advances in medicine, pneumonia is still a common disease accounting for 5% of deaths in Ireland and is the most common cause of acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome where there currently remains no specific therapy. Studies carried out by this and other research groups have recently shown that bone-marrow...

Cancer Prevention Fellowship 2013

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

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

Antiviral agents for infectious mononucleosis

Review objective: To assess the effectiveness of antiviral therapy in improving outcomes for patients with Infectious Mononucleosis (IM). IM is a clinical syndrome that is usually associated with EBV infection. Although generally not considered a serious illness, IM can lead to significant loss of time from school or work due to...

Institutional smoking bans for reducing smoking prevalence and tobacco consumption

Review objective: The objectives of this new review are twofold. The proposed new review will explore evidence specifically focusing on the impact of institutional smoking bans in workplaces, health care facilities and in other public places, so-called meso-level data. The update of the original review will assess the evidence since...

Aspirin and anti-inflammatory drugs for the prevention of dementia

Review objective: To evaluate the effects of aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in the prevention of dementia. In view of the perceived association between inflammation and Alzheimer's disease and stroke or multiple strokes arising from multiple infarcts in vascular dementia, research has focused on assessing...

Wound cleansing for treating venous leg ulcers

Review objective: To explore the impact of wound cleansing on the healing rate of venous leg ulcers. Leg ulcers are a major health care problem, in terms of treatment, cost, recurrence and chronicity (Posnett and Franks, 2008). Indeed, for venous leg ulcers, with a prevalence of 49,000-1.3 million in the EU 27, the annual associated...

Interventions to improve end-of-life care in dementia

Review objective: To determine the effectiveness of interventions to improve end-of-life care for people with dementia. For the purposes of this review, end-of-life care is defined as the care required when death is imminent for those with advanced dementia and for those with dementia of any severity who are in the terminal phase of an...

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...

Patient Education for the prevention of venous leg ulceration

Review objective: To determine the impact of patient educational interventions on the prevention of venous leg ulceration. The population for this review will include people over 18 years with a history of venous leg ulceration in any healthcare setting. Venous leg ulceration occurs as a result of impaired return of venous blood from...

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) for perineal pain in the early postpartum period

Review objective: To determine the efficacy and safety of Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in relieving perineal pain in the early postpartum period. Perineal pain is commonly experienced by women after childbirth, particularly, although not exclusively, following episiotomy, spontaneous tears or bruising (Lawn and...

Irish Platform for Patients Organisations Science and Industry

IPPOSI brings together patient groups, scientists, clinicians, industry and other key decision makers to discuss and build consensus on issues relevant to delivering treatments to people with unmet medical needs. On behalf of the DOH, the HRB has been co-funding IPPOSI with between 40-50% of their annual income since 2007. The...

ER stress induced microRNAs in insulin resistance

The obesity epidemic has caused in a substantial increase in the incidence of type two diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Approximately 2.4 million people in Ireland are overweight/obese. Diabetes and its complications take a significant portion of the healthcare budget annually. T2DM results from the inability of the beta-cells of the pancreas...

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...

Direct acting antivirals in Hepatitis C: developing a personalised model of care

Hepatitis C virus infection, which affects 170 million people worldwide, is a major global health problem, and is a leading cause of chronic liver disease, liver cancer and cirrhosis. The current treatment options for Hepatitis C infection fail to clear the virus in about 50% of patients. Two new antiviral drugs have just been licensed...

Multimodal characterisation of the benign prostate

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

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,...

Concealed pregnancy in 21st century Ireland. Concealing and revealing by explaining: the care study

There are many reasons why women choose to hide their pregnancy from friends and family and this study is trying to out why. Women who conceal a pregnancy are particularly vulnerable and may conceal right until, or even after, birth and as such represent an important issue for society. Risks of concealment are huge in terms of maternal...

Nervous system sensitisation in people with osteoarthritis of the knee: A prospective cohort study

Osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease commoningly affecting the large joints such as the hip or knee. Ostheoarthritis is one of the ten most disabling diseases in developed countries according to the World Health Organisation. Pain and loss of function are the main symptoms. Current treatments including anti-inflammatory drugs,...

Maternal health And Maternal Morbidity in Ireland (MAMMI) - Sexual Health Strand

The aim of this study is to identify if, and how women having their first baby in Ireland experience sexual health problems (SHPs) while pregnant and up to 12 months after childbirth. Within this aim are several objectives: a) To correctly estimate the number of women experiencing SHP while pregnant and up to 12 months after childbirth...

Functional capacity and thought disorder in first episode psychosis: an investigation of their clinical correlates and predictors over the first year of illness

Psychosis is an illness that affects up to 3% of the population and it can often impact severely on an individual's mental health, quality of life and productivity. It is characterised by symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations in addition to lack of motivation and general withdrawal. If identified and treated at an early stage,...

The ability of urinary albumin excretion and estimated kidney function to predict short term all cause and cardiovascular mortality in community dwelling individuals

Cardiovascular (CV) events such as stroke, heart attack and heart failure are the most common causes of death and adult disability. A priority in population-health is to accurately identify patients who are at increased risk of CV events, so that we can introduce effective preventative therapies in appropriate populations. Kidney...

Natural honey to eradicate nasal MRSA - a randomised control trial

Staphylococcus aureus (S.aureus) is a frequent coloniser of normal skin and a common cause of blood stream infection "sepsis". The widespread use of antibiotics has led to the emergence of bacterial resistance to antibiotics. Meticillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is the term used to describe S.aureus bacteria...

Does early detection and treatment of psychosis improve employment outcomes?

A recent development within the mental health services is the focus on early detection and treatment, referred to as early intervention. This change in approach is most advanced in the treatment of psychotic conditions like schizophrenia. Evaluation of early intervention for psychosis services have shown that they are superior to...

Role of extra-oesophageal reflux in the development and severity of non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis

Bronchiectasis is a chronic debilitating respiratory disease characterised by severe, recurrent chest infections with resultant high rates of morbidity and mortality, escalating public health costs and profound reductions in productivity and quality of life. In approximately 50% of cases, the cause of bronchiectasis is unknown...

Probing the metabolic response to vasculitic injury: towards a tool for non-invasive monitoring of immune activation in ANCA vasculitis

A major unmet need in the care of patients with glomerulonephritis (GN) is a sensitive and specific means of identifying both the presence and absence of active vasculitic injury. I propose to undertake an in-depth PhD programme involving research that will incorporate pre-clinical and clinical tools to study the urinary metabolomic...

Structured Population and Health-services Research Education (SPHERE) Programme I

The SPHeRE Programme was established to respond to an identified need to strengthen population health and health services research (PHHSR) capacity in Ireland in order to lessen the gap between research findings, health policy and health outcomes. The HRB-funded SPHeRE Programme is driven by three core institutions (RCSI, TCD and UCC)...

Designing and implementing effective behaviour change interventions to improve population health and health services in Ireland

Priority issue: To improve population health by developing, using and advocating use of scientific methods for studying behaviour change.

Key objectives of the proposal:

1. To establish the Health Behaviour Change Research Cluster/Centre (HBCRC) at NUI Galway. 
2. To establish expert working groups in 3...

3. Economics of Personalised Heath

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

4. 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...

5. Psychological therapies for chronic pain and adjustment difficulties in multimorbid health conditions

   A significant number of people have chronic (long-term) health problems and some of these have so-called 'multimorbidities' this means a number of physical symptoms or diseases occurring at the same time, for example arthritis and depression or high blood pressure, diabetes and chronic pain. In the first part of this study, we will...

6. Health Economics: the development and analysis of the health technology assessment infrastructure in Ireland and an analysis of the quality

   The overall vision is to create conditions that will allow for a sea change in the quantity and quality of health services research in Ireland, addressing specific needs articulated in the policy documents of various stakeholder and; secure NUI Galway's role as a national resource supporting the application of economic methods to...

7. Development of a Bayesian Unit for Health Decision Sciences

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