Ageing
See full list of projectsNational Aging Research Institute (NARI)
NARI is an independent, NHMRC accredited, Medical Research Institute located in Parkville. The central mission of the organisation is to be a centre of excellence in Australia for medical, psychological and social research into all aspects of ageing and thereby improve the health and quality of life for older people. The Institute conducts a full array of research activity, from the basic biology of ageing through clinical research programs and public health/service evaluation research. Within the Clinical Research laboratory there are existing programs examining dementia and memory function, painful diseases common in older persons (e.g. osteoarthritis), falls and balance, depression and disability as well as the study of better measurement techniques (psychometric and physiological) for use in older adults. We have a number of Honours, Masters, PhD and DPsych students working in these areas of research and are currently seeking new students to study within the broad areas of neurophysiology and psychophysiology of pain. Scholarships may be available to a limited number of applicants. Some examples of current and available projects are listed below:
Exploring nutrition needs of older people with chronic illness and their carers
Supervisors: Dr Irene Blackberry and Dr Briony Dow
Location: National Ageing Research Institute (NARI), 34-54 Poplar Rd., Parkville, 3052.
Contact:
Dr Irene Blackberry T: 8344 3373 E: i.blackberry@unimelb.edu.au Dr Briony Dow T: 8387 2639 E: b.dow@nari.unimelb.edu.au
Nutrition plays a major role in health outcomes among older people particularly those with chronic illness. There are many older people with chronic illness who currently live at home with and being dependent on their carers to provide adequate nutritional needs for them. Few studies overseas suggested that malnutrition is quite common among both older people with chronic illness and their carers at home. Additionally, studies on carers identified that carers had lack of nutrition support and information. This project aims to explore nutritional status, needs and knowledge among older people with chronic illness and their carers at home. Carers and care recipients will be interviewed regarding their nutrition knowledge and needs, as well as completing two nutrition questionnaires to assess their risk of malnutrition. Findings will be used to develop strategies to meet nutritional needs and provide nutritional support for this group of older people.
The project offers students an opportunity to develop communication skills with research participants, as well as research skills including literature review, quantitative and qualitative data analysis, and epidemiological study skills.
Implementation of ‘Nintendo Wii’ amongst older people in aged care facilities
Supervisors: Dr Liz Cyarto and Dr Irene Blackberry
Location: National Ageing Research Institute (NARI), 34-54 Poplar Rd., Parkville, 3052.
Contact: Dr Liz Cyarto T: 8387 2614 E: e.cyarto@nari.unimelb.edu.au Dr Irene Blackberry T: 8344 3373 E: i.blackberry@unimelb.edu.au
Nintendo Wii is a technology that provides a new opportunity for older people to engage in physical activity. Anyone of any age or level of skill can pick up and play games on the Wii console. Using the motion-sensitive remote, the player actually swings the golf club or tennis racquet. Given that many residents of aged care facilities may no longer be able to participate in these activities due to physical limitations (e.g. lacking the strength to lift and throw a bowling ball), the exercise intensity of playing Wii Sports may be sufficient to provide health benefits. Anecdotal evidence from aged care facilities indicates that using Nintendo Wii has improved the health of residents.
The overall aim of the project is to determine the feasibility, acceptability and sustainability of implementing ‘Nintendo Wii’ in improving health for older people in aged care facilities. This project will provide older people with structured group sessions using the Nintendo Wii system. Pre and post study design will be used for outcomes including cardiovascular endurance, CVD risk factors, depressive symptoms, social, loneliness and quality of life. A focus group will be conducted after the follow-up period has been completed to explore barriers and enablers of such implementation in residential care setting.
Training will be available for using all equipment associated with the project. The project offers students an opportunity to develop quantitative and qualitative research skills including literature review, quantitative data analysis, qualitative data analysis, interview skills, and working with residents of residential care.
Note: this project is subject to successful funding application.
Vitamin D to help with Bone and Muscle Health
Supervisors: Dr Cassandra Szoeke
Location: National Ageing Research Institute, 34-54 Poplar Road, Parkville, Vic 3052.
Contact: Dr Cassandra Szoeke T:61 3 8387 2224 F : 61 3 9387 9384 E: cszoeke@unimelb.edu.au / Cassandra.szoeke@mh.org.au Women’s Healthy Ageing Project (WHAP),National Ageing Research Institute (NARI), 34-54 Poplar Rd., Parkville, 3052.
Vitamin D is made in the skin, a process that requires sun exposure, ingestion in the diet or being taken as a nutritional supplement. Adequate levels of vitamin D are essential for healthy bones and muscle function, and are important for other aspects of health. Severe vitamin D deficiency causes obvious and serious bone and muscle disease. The effects of mild to moderate deficiency are less clear-cut, but may include bone fragility, muscle weakness and a propensity to fall over. In Australia, mild to moderate vitamin D deficiency is relatively common in the adult population, but the health consequences of this deficiency in apparently health adults are poorly understood. It is also not clear below which blood vitamin D level health problems may arise. The purpose of this project is to investigate the consequences of mild to moderate vitamin D deficiency (blood already collected) examining Bone Mineral densities (BMD) (already collected) and Balance data (already collected) in healthy women from the internationally re-known Melbourne Women’s Healthy Ageing Project (&MWMHP).
Opportunities:-
- Internationally re-known cohort and Research Team each with international recognition. (Prof, J Wark, Prof L Dennerstein, Prof D Ames, Dr C Szoeke)
- Already have measures collected (no hard yards and thesis easily achievable in time frame) Publication within one year
- Treatment potential with commercial opportunities – candidate with experience in media and interest in commercialisation preferred.
Supervisors: Dr Cassandra Szoeke
Location: National Ageing Research Institute, 34-54 Poplar Road, Parkville, Vic 3052.
Contact: Dr Cassandra Szoeke T:61 3 8387 2224 F : 61 3 9387 9384 E: cszoeke@unimelb.edu.au / Cassandra.szoeke@mh.org.au Women’s Healthy Ageing Project (WHAP), National Ageing Research Institute (NARI), 34-54 Poplar Rd., Parkville, 3052.
Osteoarthritis is a signific and disabling condition which predominantly affects those over the age of 50. This demographic is rapidly increasing but the current treatment options for osteoarthritis are limited. Studies on quality of life and economics demonstrate the enormous burden which osteoarthritis places on individuals and our community. There is a new blood test CTX11, which has been reported as a late breaking abstract at an international meeting. It is said to be able to predict (20:1) progression of osteoarthritis in a small cohort. This assay has the potential therefore to predict (at 20 times power) those patients at risk of osteoarthritis progression. We have 224 women with X-Rays of hand and knees scored for evidence of radiological osteoarthritis using a validated scale from an international cohort of women. With funding to obtain CTX11 assay and analysis between the levels and XR measures we could test the potential of this novel assay to identify those with osteoarthritis.
Major benefits from this study are:-
- Internationally re-known cohort of the Melbourne Women’s Midlife Health Project (MWMHP)
- Research Team each with international recognition. (Prof. F Cicuttini, Prof L Dennerstein, Prof D Ames, Dr C Szoeke)
- X-Rays already conducted. Blood available for assay at same time as X-Rays
- Publication within one year
- A test to identify people with this condition early. This is important area of study as we only have prevention treatments and treatment for symptoms available for osteoarthritis.
Supervisor:
Dr Cassandra Szoeke
Location:
National Ageing Research Institute, 34-54 Poplar Road, Parkville, Vic 3052.
Contact: Dr Cassandra Szoeke T:61 3 8387 2224 F : 61 3 9387 9384 E: cszoeke@unimelb.edu.au / Cassandra.szoeke@mh.org.au Women’s Healthy Ageing Project (WHAP), National Ageing Research Institute (NARI), 34-54 Poplar Rd., Parkville, 3052.
Dementia and cognitive impairment cause significant disability, morbidity and mortality within our ageing community and current therapies are inadequate. The emerging therapies, even if successful, will be limited by both cost and side effect profiles. Population-based prevention strategies are required now more than ever to reduce the burden of disease in our community. DHEAS is a hormone produced by the adrenal gland and a precursor for both androgens and estrogens. A recent study published this year showed that high DHEAS levels were associated with better performance on cognitive studies. This study is criticized for having no mood measures and the DHEAS levels were done 2 years before the cognitive measures not at the same time. We have data available on 257 women with a full battery of cognitive tests and serum taken at the same time as well as validated mood scales. We need funding to perform DHEAS levels on this serum and analyse the results. DHEAS has the potential to be used for therapy.
Major benefits from this study are:-
- Internationally re-known cohort of the Melbourne Women’s Midlife Health Project (MWMHP).
- Research Team each with international recognition.
- Publication within one year
- Treatment potential for a condition currently without good therapy options
Comparison of event-related potentials (ERP) responses using two different auditory stimulus models in healthy young adults and healthy elderly adults
Supervisor: Dr Bruce Barber
Location: National Ageing Research Institute (NARI), 34-54 Poplar Rd., Parkville, 3052.
Contact: Dr Bruce Barber T: 8387 2618/0423 292 792 E: b.barber@nari.unimelb.edu.au
Event-related potentials (ERP) have a role in evaluating aspects of brain function underlying perception, attention and cognition. The ERP P300 is a response that occurs approximately 300 milliseconds after a stimulus has been presented. It is regarded as an index of short term memory processing. Typically the P300 response is elicited using the standard tone/oddball stimulus paradigm. A different stimulus model recommended for cognitively impaired populations uses just a single tone stimulus. It is used in such populations because it is a simpler, more accessible task that elicits ERP wave forms even in the absence of an overt response to stimuli such as a button press. However, the ERP response to the single tone stimulus has some, as yet, unquantitated differences to that of the standard tone/oddball stimulus model.
This study will make a direct comparison of the ERP responses to the standard tone/oddball and the single tone stimulus models to in a group of healthy young adults and a group of cognitively intact, healthy elderly persons. The study will provide quantitative evaluation of the amplitude, latency and topographic distribution of the ERP sequence in response to the two stimulus models.
The results will contribute to the on-going development of ERP as an objective measure of treatment-related changes in cognitive processing – an essential tool for use in the evaluation of a range of interventions with potential use in the management of symptoms of dementia..
The student will gain expertise in ethics applications, recruiting healthy participants, study design and electroencephalographic recording and analysis methods.
The needs of stroke survivors and primary care physicians in rural communites
Supervisors: Dr Jacques Joubert and Professor David Ames
Location: National Ageing Research Institute (NARI), 34-54 Poplar Rd., Parkville, 3052.
Contact: Tel: +61 3 8387 2305 or +61 0419 780 448
Email: jacquesjoubert@bigpond.com.au
Stroke is the second leading cause of death in developing countries and the leading cause of disability. Rural and remote populations are disadvantaged in access to high quality, timely evidence based healthcare. With a rapidly increasing ageing population worldwide, finding strategies to reduce the burden of stroke on society, are increasingly important. NARI currently supports a large clinical research project in secondary stroke prevention aimed at the primary care level and based in designated metropolitan divisions of general practice. The investigators have performed pilot research in rural Victoria to better understand the needs of stroke survivors and primary care physicians in rural divisions and to potentially advise on effective translation of evidence based models of care into the rural sector.
Using the data from the pilot ‘ NEEDS’ study, this study seeks to determine the feasibility of conducting a large multi center randomized controlled research study across multiple practice divisions and amongst culturally diverse populations in both rural and remote regions of Australia.
Students will have the opportunity to develop skills including, conceptualization, generation of research questions and hypotheses, literature review, both quantitative and qualitative data analysis, and reporting and interview techniques.