Research Roundup:
June 2020
Welcome Message
Welcome to this exciting update of the Research Roundup.
Many of you would have experienced the success of our first virtual Ann Woolcock Award presentation session. I congratulate all the finalists for adapting so well to this new format and to the audience who quickly settled into the Zoom Q&A system and challenged the speakers with stimulating questions.
The RSC members are having a well-earned break from their arduous but rewarding grant review duties, and both I and the Society sincerely thank these members for all their hard work. Their break will be short as awards will open again in the coming months.
Please feel free to get in touch with the office if there is anything we can do to support your research needs during this time.
Enjoy the June edition of your Research Roundup.
Prof Sandra Hodge
Chair, Research Sub-Committee
2020 Respiratory Research Excellence Awards
TSANZ congratulates the following award winners!!!
Ann Woolcock New Investigator Award Winner: Kurtis Budden
Ann Woolcock New Investigator Award Finalists: Kak-Ming Ling, Rebecca Stockwell, Steven Taylor, Pamela Laird, Razia Zakarya
TSANZ and National Asthma Council Australia Asthma and Airways Career Development Fellowship: Simon Craig
TSANZ/AstraZeneca Respiratory Research Mid-Career Fellowship: Hayley Scott
TSANZ/AstraZeneca Respiratory Research Early Career Fellowship: Steven Taylor
Australian Cystic Fibrosis Research Trust 2020 Innovation Grant: Abdullah Tarique, Peter Sly, Emmanuelle Fantino, Clair Wainwright, and Scott Bell
Vertex Adult Cystic Fibrosis Research Award: Sandra Hodge, Peter Zalewski, David Parsons, Andrew Tai, Sally Chapman, Judith Morton, and Emily Hopkins
Vertex Paediatric Cystic Fibrosis Research Award: Shafagh Waters and Adam Jaffe
Maurice Blackburn Grant-in-Aid for Occupational Lung Disease: Mariane T Turner, Samuel Sameh, Robert A Cohen, and Deborah H Yates
TSANZ Rob Pierce Grant-In-Aid for Indigenous Lung Health: Kristin Carson-Chahhoud
TSANZ Peter Phelan Paediatric Research Award: Shivanthan Shanthikumar
TSANZ / Boehringer Ingelheim Australia COPD Travel Award: Katrina Tonga
TSANZ / Boehringer Ingelheim New Zealand COPD Travel Award: Hajar Ali
TSANZ/JRS Early Career Development Award: Saleela Ruwanpura
Janet Elder International Mid-Career Travel Award: David G Chapman
Janet Elder International Early Career Travel Award Recipient 1: Steven Taylor
Janet Elder International Early Career Travel Award Recipient 2: Tony Zhang
TSANZ Respiratory Nurses Career Development Award for Indigenous Research:Kobi Schutz
TSANZ would like to thank our partners and sponsors for their support of excellent respiratory research and researchers!
2020 TSANZ Awards by Nomination
At TSANZ 2020 AGM we recognised seven leaders in their field of lung health.
TSANZ 50th Anniversary Medal for Education and Training – Associate Professor David Fielding.
The 50th Anniversary Medal is awarded each year in recognition of outstanding contributions to respiratory education and training in Australia or New Zealand.
TSANZ Research Medal – Professor Shyamali Dharmage, Professor Alan James
This award acknowledges the recipient’s outstanding contribution to the advancement of the practice of thoracic medicine in Australia and New Zealand. This year, due to the calibre of nominations, the TSANZ Board has chosen two recipients for the TSANZ Research Medal.
TSANZ Society Medal – Associate Professor Tara Mackenzie
This award acknowledges the recipient’s outstanding contribution to the advancement of the practice of thoracic medicine in Australia and New Zealand.
Fellowships
- Professor Richard Beasley
- Professor Margaret Wilsher
- Professor Ross Vlahos
Each year the TSANZ board considers peer nominations for Fellow status of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand (TSANZ). Fellow status is awarded to members who have demonstrated exceptional contributions to the field of respiratory health in Australia or New Zealand.
Congratulations to all!
The following articles will take you to thelimbic.com
Updated COPD-X guide reflects stronger evidence for triple therapy
Consensus statement on severe asthma amid COVID-19
Lung function testing can resume: TSANZ
Too early to use thermoplasty before biologics in severe asthma: expert
Asthma biomarkers not yet fully adopted in daily practice: TSANZ survey
CPAP helps with sleep but not dysfunctional breathing
COPD practice gaps seen for pulmonary rehab and spirometry
Keep calm and carry on with steroids: living guidelines for COVID-19
Huge numbers of patients with PAH miss out on combination therapy
Webcast: what respiratory physicians need to know about treating COVID-19
Prof Grant Waterer: Don’t panic in a pandemic, stick to EBM
Profile: Prof Alan James TSANZ Research Medal for airway smooth muscle work
TSANZ Research Medal winner Prof Shyamali Dharmage on COPD trajectories
Respirology – Editor’s Choice
Respirology Issue 25.5 May 2020
Na Wu, Changjiang Xue, Shiwen Yu and Qiao Ye
Chest HRCT of 2 peatients with natural stone-associated findings (top) and 2 patients with artificial stone-associated silicosis (Bottom)
DOI: 10.1111/resp.13744
Acute exacerbations of fibrotic interstitial lung diseases
Atsushi Suzuki, Yasuhiro Kondoh, Kevin K. Brown, Takeshi Johkoh, Kensuke Kataoka, Junya Fukuoka, Tomoki Kimura, Toshiaki Matsuda, Toshiki Yokoyama, Jun Fukihara, Masahiko Ando, Tomonori Tanaka, Naozumi Hashimoto, Koji Sakamoto and Yoshinori Hasegawa
Researchers from the ILD collaborative team from Japan and US. From left to right: (front) Dr. Yasuhiro Kondoh, Dr. Kevin K. Brown, Dr. Yoshinori Hasegawa; (back) Dr. Atsushi Suzuki, Dr. Koji Sakamoto, Dr. Naozumi Hashimoto, Dr. Kensuke Kataoka, Dr. Yuji Saito.
DOI: 10.1111/resp.13682
Respirology Issue 25.6 June 2020
Miranda P. Ween, Rhys Hamon, Matthew G, Macowan, Leigh Thredgold, Paul R. Reynolds and Sandra J. Hodge
A collection of e-cigarettes and e-liquids for sale to vapers
DOI: 10.1111/resp.13696
Corticosteroid use is not associated with improved outcomes in acute exacerbation of IPF
Erica Farrand, Eric Vittinghoff, Brett Ley, Atul J. Butte and Harold R. Collard
The research team from the University of California San Francisco in the United States (c269928 represents Brett Ley)
DOI: 10.1111/resp.13753
TSANZSRS 2020 Abstracts
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the TSANZSRS 2020 ASM has been postponed until 30 April – 4 May 2021. This supplement contains Abstracts that were accepted for presentation at the 2020 meeting.
Invitations and surveys
CYSTIC FIBROSIS RESEARCH AND ADVOCACY PRIORITY SETTING SURVEY 2020 AND BEYOND
Dear Members of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand,
Cystic Fibrosis Australia (CFA) is inviting the TSANZ members to take part in their Research and Advocacy Priority Setting survey. If you are a CF stakeholder, living with the condition or looking after someone who lives with the condition, then your survey responses are greatly needed and encouraged.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/F38Q8K2
We want all our community members, patients, carers, clinicians and researchers to be involved in every step and we thank you for agreeing to take part.
To speak to us about this questionnaire or for any further enquires, contact us at (02) 9889 5171 or email nickim@cfa.org.au. Alternatively, you can join the conversation over at the Cystic Fibrosis Australia page on Facebook.
INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE IN AN ERS STUDY AIMING TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF CLINICAL TRIALS EVALUATING THE MANAGEMENT OF COPD EXACERBATIONS
Dear colleagues,
Clinical trials evaluating the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations evaluate heterogeneous outcomes (endpoints), often omitting those that are clinically important and relevant to patients. This limits their usability and comparability.
To remedy this issue, the European Respiratory Society (ERS) set-up a Task Force aiming to develop a core outcome set (COS). A COS is a consensus-based minimum set of clinically important outcomes that should be evaluated in all future clinical trials on the management of COPD exacerbations.
We have identified around 50 outcomes of COPD exacerbations and we need your help to prioritize a small number of the most important outcomes, to be included in the core outcome set and to be evaluated in all future clinical trials on the management of COPD exacerbations. To help us prioritize the outcomes, we will be grateful if you could complete a survey that has two stages, 4-8 weeks apart. Each survey takes about 20 minutes to complete.
In the first survey, you will be asked to rate the importance of 50 outcomes between 1-9:
- 1-3: Outcomes of limited importance.
- 4-6: Outcomes that are important but not critical.
- 7-9: Critical outcomes.
We welcome responses from health professionals, researchers, patients with COPD and any other stakeholders with interest in COPD exacerbations.
In the second survey, you will see a graph summarizing the responses of all participants in the first survey and you will be asked to reconsider your ratings, taking into consideration the views of the other responders. While the aim of this survey will be to reach consensus, you will not have to change your ratings if you do not want to.
Your opinion in both surveys is extremely important in developing the core outcome set.
It is crucial that you complete both surveys and we would be very grateful if you can do this.
Please, take the survey in one of the following languages:
English: https://delphimanager.liv.ac.uk/COPD/
Portuguese: https://delphimanager.liv.ac.uk/COPD-PO/
German: https://delphimanager.liv.ac.uk/COPD-GE/
Hungarian: https://delphimanager.liv.ac.uk/COPD-HU/
Mandarin: https://delphimanager.liv.ac.uk/COPD-CN/
Spanish: https://delphimanager.liv.ac.uk/COPD-ES/
Russian: https://delphimanager.liv.ac.uk/COPD-RU/
Greek: https://delphimanager.liv.ac.uk/COPD-GR/
Danish: https://delphimanager.liv.ac.uk/COPD-DK/
Italian: https://delphimanager.liv.ac.uk/COPD-IT/
We appreciate this is a difficult time for patients and professionals in the respiratory community. While all efforts should rightly be focused on caring for those affected by the novel coronavirus and COVID-19, we believe that research to improve care and outcomes for respiratory patients is needed now more than ever. We are sensitive to the enormous pressures faced by patients and professionals in our community and will review the timelines for this survey and subsequent work in response to the ongoing global pandemic.
Thank you very much in advance,
Kind regards,
Associate Prof. Jens-Ulrik Jensen,
Dr. Alexander Mathioudakis,
Prof. Jørgen Vestbo,
On behalf of the study team.
NURSES’ ATTITUDES TO CARING FOR PEOPLE WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY: AN AUSTRALIAN SURVEY
Dear Colleagues,
We invite you to consider participating in our online survey focused on nurses’ attitudes to caring for people with intellectual disability. This survey, led by researchers from Western Sydney and Central Queensland Universities, is a replication of a previous US study by Dr Melissa Desroches from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth.
People with intellectual disability have lower levels of general health than other members of our community. They also have higher incidence of hospitalisation and, of major concern, higher incidence of preventable death than members of the general population.
By learning about nurses’ attitudes to caring for people with intellectual disability, we anticipate being able to develop models of care and supportive resources for nurses to enhance the care that they provide to people with intellectual disability.
Please read the attached participant information sheet and consider completing this short survey by accessing the link below:
Caring for People with Intellectual Disability survey
Thank you for considering our invitation
A/Prof Nathan Wilson, Western Sydney University
Dr Peter Lewis, Western Sydney University
Ms Virginia Howie, Central Queensland University
Dr Melissa Desroches, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
Kind regards,
Virginia
GLOBAL CURRENT PRACTICES OF MECHANICAL VENTILATION MANAGEMENT IN COVID-19 PATIENTS
Dear Colleague,
You are invited to partake in the current study, “Global Current Practices of Mechanical Ventilation Management in COVID-19 Patients.” The goal of this study is to explore the current practices of mechanical ventilation support in adult COVID-19 patients worldwide.
We are carrying out this online survey for frontline clinicians involved in the care of patients with COVID-19, with the aim to examine which ventilation techniques healthcare providers’ used to manage adult COVID-19 patients. It would be helpful if you could complete this survey, the estimated time is 5-10 minutes. While there is limited information available on ventilatory support practices in COVID-19 patients, this international survey will provide further insights into current strengths and limitations of global practices.
Rest assured that your answers will be kept confidential, and no information will be used to identify you or your response. This research project was approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB), AFHER-IRB-2020-012.
If you have any concern or question regarding this study, please do not hesitate to contact me at Jaber.alqahtani.18@ucl.ac.uk.
THANK YOU!
Jaber Alqahtani
On behalf of the whole international team
INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE IN A STUDY ON SELF MANAGEMENT FOR PULMONARY FIBROSIS: WHAT DOES IT MEAN AND HOW MIGHT IT HELP?
Dear Members of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand,
Alfred Health and the Centre of Research Excellence in Pulmonary Fibrosis are inviting health professionals involved with pulmonary fibrosis (PF) to take part in a study on self-management for pulmonary fibrosis: what does it mean and how might it help?
Participation is voluntary and involves you sharing your views, opinions and experiences on the patients’ management of PF through a confidential telephone interview of about 30 minutes in duration.
Your perspective is important to help us identify and develop resources that will provide patients with the knowledge and tools to manage their own wellbeing. In turn, this will help health professionals to be better equipped to provide support to people with PF and their families.
The study has been approved by the Alfred Health Human Ethics Committee (Project number: 144/20).
If you are interested in participating or would like further information on this study, please contact:
Professor Anne Holland (Chief Investigator)
Professor of Physiotherapy,
Monash University and Alfred Health
Email: Anne.Holland@monash.edu
Telephone: (03) 9903 0214
Ms Joanna Lee (PhD candidate)
Monash University and Alfred Health
Email: joanna.lee2@monash.edu
Mobile: 0431 689 361
Thank you for your time and consideration of our study.
IDENTIFYING BARRIERS AND FACILITATORS TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF BEST PRACTICE FOR PULMONARY FIBROSIS IN AUSTRALIA
What are the barriers and facilitators to implementing best practice?
Dear Members of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand,
The Centre of Research Excellence in Pulmonary Fibrosis (CRE-PF) is inviting physicians involved in the management of people with pulmonary fibrosis (PF) to take part in our study aimed at identifying the barriers and facilitators to the implementation of best practice for the diagnosis, treatment and management of the disease.
Participation is voluntary and involves providing your views, opinions and experiences on the management of PF through confidential, in person interviews of about 30 minutes in duration.
Your perspective is important to help us understand the barriers that may be impeding the implementation of best practice in clinical settings. The findings have the potential to guide the development of behaviour change strategies aimed at improving implementation and in turn, optimise the prognosis and management pathways for people with this insidious disease.
Like more information or interested in participating? Click here
The study has been approved by the Monash University Human Ethics Committee (Number 22350) and the Sydney Local Health District Human Ethics Committee (Number 2019/ETH13556).
If you would like to speak to us about any aspect of this study, please contact:
Professor Anne Holland
Professor of Physiotherapy, Monash University and Alfred Health
Department of Allergy, Clinical Immunology and Respiratory Medicine, Monash University
Anne.Holland@monash.edu or (03) 9903 0214
Thank you for your time and consideration of our study.
ASCOT trial
ASCOT is a clinical trial that will generate clinical evidence about treatment for COVID-19 that can be applied during the pandemic to reduce mortality or the need for mechanical ventilation in hospitalised but not yet critically ill patients with COVID-19.
The trial is conducted on an adaptive platform, results will be continually analysed, so that ineffective therapies can be stopped and new therapies can be evaluated as part of the trial. The trial will be conducted across more than 60 sites in Australia, New Zealand and Asia. The trial is registered at: ACTRN12620000445976, Ethics approval granted through Melbourne Health Human Research Ethics Committee HREC/62646/MH-2020.097
Potential Treatments for COVID-19
There are currently no specific therapies for COVID-19. The two main strategies are to limit the virus replicating (antiviral therapies) or to modulate the immune response (in some severe cases, there is a damaging over exuberant immune response).
ASCOT intends to randomise patients to different therapies to understand their impact on clinical outcomes. We will do this for existing therapies, but also be set-up to test new and emerging therapies as they become available.
ASCOT Trial Intervention
Initially, an open label trial of two existing treatments in a 2×2 factorial design with usual care arm will be conducted.
- Lopinavir/ritonavir (kaletra), a combination medicine that is used to treat human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) infection
- Hydroxychloroquine, a medicine used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory conditions and to prevent and treat malaria.
Protocol documents and further details are available at www.ascot-trial.edu.au
Can you help TSANZ make a difference?
Your support makes a difference, and helps us continue to provide funding for research and our TSANZ awards. If you would like to support our work, you can leave a tax deductible donation of your choice in our areas of need.
1. Making a donation to our Benevolent Fund
The Benevolent Fund supports projects aimed at improving the respiratory health care of individuals who are in a setting where health care resources and delivery are poor.
CLICK HERE to make a donation or by filling out the Support TSANZ form. Once you have completed the form, please email TSANZOffice@thoracic.org.au.
2. Making a donation to support research
With your support, we can continue to support Australia and New Zealand’s most significant and cutting edge respiratory health research, and benefit Australians and New Zealanders suffering from lung disease.
Please CLICK HERE to make a donation or by filling out the Support TSANZ form. Once you have completed the form, please email TSANZOffice@thoracic.org.au.
3. Establishing a named award
For significant donations of above $10,000 AUD, a TSANZ award can be established in your name. Please call the TSANZ office on +61 2 9222 6200.
4. Leave TSANZ a gift in your will
If you are interested in supporting TSANZ in the future, one way to do so is to leave TSANZ a gift in your will. Any support is greatly appreciated and will leave a lasting legacy.
If interested, please notify us by ticking the box on the Support TSANZ form. Once you have completed the form, please email TSANZOffice@thoracic.org.au. Alternatively, please call the TSANZ Office on +61 2 9222 6200.
5. TSANZ New Zealand Branch Incorporated
New Zealand members are reminded that you are also able to make a tax deductible donation directly to the NZ branch. You can assist the NZ branch to provide services to members across NZ. If you make a payment via electronic funds transfer (EFT), please notify the TSANZ office so that we can arrange a receipt.
CLICK HERE to make a donation.
Thank you for your continued support of TSANZ.
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