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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences

A Comparison Of Treatment Outcomes For Individuals With Substance Use Disorder Alone And Individuals With Probable Dual Diagnosis, Elizabeth K. Cridland, Frank P. Deane, Ching-I Hsu, Peter J. Kelly Jan 2012

A Comparison Of Treatment Outcomes For Individuals With Substance Use Disorder Alone And Individuals With Probable Dual Diagnosis, Elizabeth K. Cridland, Frank P. Deane, Ching-I Hsu, Peter J. Kelly

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The co-occurrence of substance use and mental health problems, often referred to as dual diagnosis (DD), is increasingly recognised as commonplace within substance abuse treatment programs. Two-hundred and thirty-four individuals from 9 Australian Salvation Army drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs completed a 3-month post-discharge telephone follow-up. Using a cut-off score from the Psychiatric Subscale of the Addiction Severity Index (5th ed.), 66.7% were classified as likely to have DD and 33.3% as substance use disorder only (SUD). Both groups reported comparable and decreased substance use levels at follow-up, yet DD individuals perceived less improvement in substance use problems. Comparable improvements …


The Drivers Of Effectiveness Of Prescribed Fire Treatment, Owen Francis Price Jan 2012

The Drivers Of Effectiveness Of Prescribed Fire Treatment, Owen Francis Price

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Prescribed burning for fuel reduction is a major strategy for reducing the risk from unplanned fire. Although there are theoretical studies suggesting that prescribed fire has a strong negative influence on the subsequent area of unplanned fire (so-called leverage), many empirical studies find a more modest influence. Here, I develop a series of simulations to explore the landscape drivers of leverage. Leverage declines with treatment level in a nonlinear, "decay" relationship, implying diminishing effectiveness. The spatial configuration of the prescribed fire treatment has a major effect: long linear (gridded) barriers are far more effective than patch barriers, but gaps in …


Undone Science And Blind Spots In Medical Treatment Research, Tommy Cleary Jan 2012

Undone Science And Blind Spots In Medical Treatment Research, Tommy Cleary

Graduate School of Medicine - Papers (Archive)

Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is a serious eye disease. Two similar drugs, Lucentis and Avastin, are available to slow the progression of wet AMD. Research has been carried out on the highly profitable drug Lucentis, so governments have licensed it for use, whereas equivalent research and formal licensing of Avastin for treatment of eye disease has been delayed and discouraged. This is a case illustrating the problem of undone science: research in socially beneficial areas may be neglected for commercial or political reasons.


Risk Of Road Traffic Accidents In Patients Discharged Following Treatment For Psychotropic Drug Overdose: A Self-Controlled Case Series Study In Australia, Tharaka L. Dassanayake, Alison L. Jones, Patricia Michie, Gregory Carter, Patrick Mcelduff, Barrie J. Stokes, Ian Whyte Jan 2012

Risk Of Road Traffic Accidents In Patients Discharged Following Treatment For Psychotropic Drug Overdose: A Self-Controlled Case Series Study In Australia, Tharaka L. Dassanayake, Alison L. Jones, Patricia Michie, Gregory Carter, Patrick Mcelduff, Barrie J. Stokes, Ian Whyte

Graduate School of Medicine - Papers (Archive)

Background: Use of psychotropic drugs is known to impair driving and increase the risk of road traffic accidents. They are also the most common drugs taken in overdose in hospital-treated episodes of self-poisoning. Most patients who take psychotropic drug overdoses are discharged within 48 hours, while they still have possible subclinical drug effects. Objective: Using a self-controlled case series design, we aimed to determine whether patients with psychotropic drug overdose are at a higher risk of a traffic accident in the period following discharge compared with a control period not associated with hospital-treated drug overdose. Methodology: Using the New South …


Perinatal Phencyclidine Treatment Alters Neuregulin 1/Erbb4 Expression And Activation In Later Life, Teresa M. Du Bois, Kelly Anne Newell, Xu-Feng Huang Jan 2012

Perinatal Phencyclidine Treatment Alters Neuregulin 1/Erbb4 Expression And Activation In Later Life, Teresa M. Du Bois, Kelly Anne Newell, Xu-Feng Huang

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Schizophrenia is a complex and devastating mental disorder of unknown etiology. Hypofunction of N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors are implicated in the disorder, since phencyclidine (PCP) and other NMDA receptor antagonists mimic schizophrenia-like symptoms in humans and animals so well. Moreover, genetic linkage and post mortem studies strongly suggest a role for altered neuregulin 1 (Nrg1)/erbB4 signaling in schizophrenia pathology. This study investigated the relationship between the NMDA receptor and Nrg1 signaling pathways using the perinatal PCP animal model. Rats (n = 5/group) were treated with PCP (10 mg/kg) or saline on postnatal days (PN) 7, 9 and 11 and were sacrificed …


Study Protocol: A Randomized Controlled Trial Of A Computer-Based Depression And Substance Abuse Intervention For People Attending Residential Substance Abuse Treatment, Peter J. Kelly, Frances Kay-Lambkin, Amanda Baker, Frank P. Deane, Adam C. Brooks, Alexandra Mitchell, Sarah Marshall, Meredith Whittington, Genevieve A. Dingle Jan 2012

Study Protocol: A Randomized Controlled Trial Of A Computer-Based Depression And Substance Abuse Intervention For People Attending Residential Substance Abuse Treatment, Peter J. Kelly, Frances Kay-Lambkin, Amanda Baker, Frank P. Deane, Adam C. Brooks, Alexandra Mitchell, Sarah Marshall, Meredith Whittington, Genevieve A. Dingle

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

"Background: A large proportion of people attending residential alcohol and other substance abuse treatment have a co-occurring mental illness. Empirical evidence suggests that it is important to treat both the substance abuse problem and co-occurring mental illness concurrently and in an integrated fashion. However, the majority of residential alcohol and other substance abuse services do not address mental illness in a systematic way. It is likely that computer delivered interventions could improve the ability of substance abuse services to address co-occurring mental illness. This protocol describes a study in which we will assess the effectiveness of adding a computer delivered …


Predicting Dropout In The First 3 Months Of 12-Step Residential Drug And Alcohol Treatment In An Australian Sample, Frank P. Deane, David J. Wootton, Ching-I Hsu, Peter J. Kelly Jan 2012

Predicting Dropout In The First 3 Months Of 12-Step Residential Drug And Alcohol Treatment In An Australian Sample, Frank P. Deane, David J. Wootton, Ching-I Hsu, Peter J. Kelly

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Objective: Premature termination from treatment is a major factor associated with poorer drug and alcohol treatment outcomes. The present study investigated client-related baseline predictors of dropout at 3 months from a faith-based 12-step residential drug treatment program. Method: Data were collected over a period of 14 months from eight residential drug and alcohol treatment programs run by The Australian Salvation Army. The final sample consisted of 618 participants, including 524 men (84.8%) and 94 women (15.2%). Predictor variables of interest were age, gender, primary drug of concern, criminal involvement, psychological distress, drug cravings, self-efficacy to abstain, spirituality, forgiveness of self …


Prevalence Of Smoking And Other Health Risk Factors In People Attending Residential Substance Abuse Treatment, Peter J. Kelly, Amanda L. Baker, Frank P. Deane, Frances Kay-Lambkin, Billie Bonevski, Jenna Tregarthen Jan 2012

Prevalence Of Smoking And Other Health Risk Factors In People Attending Residential Substance Abuse Treatment, Peter J. Kelly, Amanda L. Baker, Frank P. Deane, Frances Kay-Lambkin, Billie Bonevski, Jenna Tregarthen

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Introduction and Aims. People attending substance abuse treatment have an elevated risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer. Consequently, there have been increasing calls for substance abuse treatment services to address smoking.The current study examined smoking behaviours of people attending residential substance abuse treatment. Additionally, the study examined rates of other potentially modifiable health risk factors for the development of CVD and cancer. Design and Methods. A cross-sectional survey was completed by participants attending Australian Salvation Army residential substance abuse treatment services (n = 228). Rates of smoking, exercise, dietary fat intake, body mass index and depression were identified …