Preparedness and training needs of a regional public mental health service to support people with intellectual disability.

Objective: To explore the preparedness and training needs of a regional public mental health workforce to support people with intellectual disability and mental ill health.

Setting And Participants: Staff from a regional public mental health service in Victoria, Australia.

Design: A mixed-methods design comprised a survey, interviews and a focus group to collect data about staff attitudes, confidence, education and professional development regarding supporting people with intellectual disability and mental ill health.

Nurse rostering: understanding the current shift work scheduling processes, benefits, limitations, and potential fatigue risks.

Background: Implementing appropriate shift work schedules can help mitigate the risk of sleep impairment and reduce fatigue of healthcare workers, reducing occupational health and safety risks. In Australia, the organisation has a responsibility to make sure all reasonable measures are taken to reduce fatigue of staff. Therefore, it is important to assess what the current rostering processes is for staff responsible for creating the rosters for nurses.

Sleep and fatigue management strategies: How nurses, midwives and paramedics cope with their shift work schedules-a qualitative study.

Aims: To understand the benefits and challenges of shift work, and the coping strategies used by nurses, midwives and paramedics to manage the impact of shift work on sleep and fatigue from shift work.

Design: A single case study with embedded units.

Methods: Twenty-seven participants were interviewed exploring their shift work experiences, coping strategies used to improve sleep, and what their recommendations are for improving shift work management.

Maternal Circadian Disruption from Shift Work and the Impact on the Concentration of Melatonin in Breast Milk.

Melatonin in breast milk exhibits a 24-hour circadian rhythm, present in nighttime breast milk but nearly undetectable in daytime breast milk. Shift work can disrupt the circadian timing of individuals, evident in changes in melatonin in saliva and urine samples. However, it is unknown whether these changes are also reflected in breast milk from a shift working mother.

Rapid Versus Slow Cooling Pasteurization of Donor Breast Milk: Does the Cooling Rate Effect Melatonin Reduction?

There is a question as to whether melatonin levels in breast milk are impacted by the cooling rate postpasteurization. Past research that has used in the Australian donor bank's breast milk Holder Pasteurization technique has reported varying findings regarding melatonin levels postpasteurization. Where breast milk was cooled slowly, a significant reduction in breast milk melatonin levels was observed.

Differences in shift and work-related patterns between metropolitan and regional/rural healthcare shift workers and the occupational health and safety risks.

Objectives: To explore if there are differences in shift patterns and work-related factors between metropolitan and regional/rural healthcare shift workers and their risk of poor sleep and mental health. Furthermore, explore whether these factors impact on medical errors, workplace and car/near car accidents.

Design: A cross-sectional study.

High-Temperature Pasteurization Used at Donor Breast Milk Banks Reduces Melatonin Levels in Breast Milk.

Donor human milk banks are used when breast milk directly from mothers is unavailable or insufficient. Breast milk contains melatonin, which exhibits a 24-hour pattern. Melatonin promotes sleep onset and is barely detected in daytime milk but rises in the evening and peaks early in the morning.

Preliminary Exploration into the Impact of Mistimed Expressed Breast Milk Feeding on Infant Sleep Outcomes, Compared to Other Feeding Patterns.

The presence and fluctuation of melatonin in breast milk during the night and day may be providing sleep timing information to infants, thereby supporting/enabling the development of their own circadian cycle. If this is the case, then it is important that infants consume breast milk according to the time of day it is produced. However, breast milk is not always consumed at the "right" time.

Collaborative team approaches to supporting inclusion of children with disability in mainstream schools: A co-design study.

Background: Collaborative consultation involving educational staff, allied health professionals and parents working towards goals for children with disability is considered best practice in inclusive education. However, challenges can hinder effective collaboration, thereby potentially limiting child outcomes.

Aims: The study aims were to (a) explore the experiences of teachers, teacher assistants, allied health professionals, and parents engaging in collaborative teamwork to support inclusion of children with disability in mainstream primary schools, and (b) identify key factors influencing effective teamwork and the design of support strategies.

Apnoea and hypopnoea scoring for people with spinal cord injury: new thresholds for sleep disordered breathing diagnosis and severity classification.

Study Design: Descriptive study.

Objectives: To determine the effect of respiratory event rule-set changes on the apnoea hypopnoea index, and diagnostic and severity thresholds in people with acute and chronic spinal cord injury.

Setting: Eleven acute spinal cord injury inpatient hospitals across Australia, New Zealand, Canada and England; community dwelling chronic spinal cord injury patients in their own homes.

Evidence against a subcortical gate preventing conscious detection of respiratory load stimuli.

Respiratory related evoked potentials (RREP) were used to examine respiratory stimulus gating. RREPs produced by consciously detected vs. undetected loads, near the detection threshold, were compared.

Light sensors for objective light measurement in ambulatory polysomnography.

Ambulatory polysomnography (PSG) does not commonly include an objective measure of light to determine the time of lights off (Loff), and thus cannot be used to calculate important indices such as sleep onset latency and sleep efficiency. This study examined the technical specifications and appropriateness of a prototype light sensor (LS) for use in ambulatory Compumedics Somte PSG.Two studies were conducted.

Neuropsychological Function in Patients With Acute Tetraplegia and Sleep Disordered Breathing.

Study Objectives: To investigate the relationship between apnea severity and neuropsychological function in patients with acute-onset tetraplegia and sleep disordered breathing.

Methods: Polysomnography and neuropsychological testing were performed on 104 participants (age M = 45.60, SD = 16.

Family and Practitioner Perspectives on Telehealth for Services to Young Children with Autism.

Telehealth offers the potential to address inequalities in autism service access for young children living in regional and rural areas with limited access to autism specialists. Our aim was to explore parent and practitioner uses of technology, and views about telehealth, including perceived barriers, for autism early intervention service delivery in a regional town in Australia. Fifteen mothers and 19 front-line autism practitioners completed surveys distributed by local autism service and support providers in the regional town; eight front-line practitioners from one service participated in interviews.

Auto-titrating continuous positive airway pressure treatment for obstructive sleep apnoea after acute quadriplegia (COSAQ): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Quadriplegia is a severe, catastrophic injury that predominantly affects people early in life, resulting in lifelong physical disability. Obstructive sleep apnoea is a direct consequence of quadriplegia and is associated with neurocognitive deficits, sleepiness and reduced quality of life. The usual treatment for sleep apnoea is nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP); however, this is poorly tolerated in quadriplegia.

Melatonin supplementation in patients with complete tetraplegia and poor sleep.

People with complete tetraplegia have interrupted melatonin production and commonly report poor sleep. Whether the two are related is unclear. This pilot study investigated whether nightly supplementation of 3 mg melatonin would improve objective and subjective sleep in tetraplegia.

Relationships between objective sleep indices and symptoms in a community sample of people with tetraplegia.

Objective: To examine the relationships between injury severity, quality of life, sleep symptoms, objectively measured sleep, and sleep disorders in chronic tetraplegia.

Design: Cross-sectional survey.

Setting: Community.

The effect of 90 day administration of a high dose vitamin B-complex on work stress.

Objective: Occupational stress is increasing in Western societies and the impact is significant at a personal, organisational and community level. The present study examined for the first time the efficacy of 3 months administration of two forms of high dose vitamin B complex on mood and psychological strain associated with chronic work stress.

Method: Sixty participants completed the 3-month, double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial in which personality, work demands, mood, anxiety and strain were assessed.

Transcutaneous measurement of carbon dioxide tension during extended monitoring: evaluation of accuracy and stability, and an algorithm for correcting calibration drift.

Background: When polysomnography is indicated in a patient with a presumed sleep disorder, continuous monitoring of arterial carbon dioxide tension (P(aCO(2))) is desirable, especially if nocturnal hypoventilation is suspected. Transcutaneous CO(2) monitors (P(tcCO(2))) provide a noninvasive correlate of P(aCO(2)), but their accuracy and stability over extended monitoring have been considered inadequate for the diagnosis of hypoventilation. We examined the stability and accuracy of P(tcCO(2)) measurements and the performance of a previously described linear interpolation technique designed to correct for calibration drift.

The contribution of fatigue and sleepiness to depression in patients attending the sleep laboratory for evaluation of obstructive sleep apnea.

Purpose: A high prevalence of depressive symptomatology has been reported amongst sufferers of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), but it remains unclear as to whether this is due to their OSA or other factors associated with the disorder. The current study aimed to assess the incidence and aetiology of depression in a community sample of individuals presenting to the sleep laboratory for diagnostic assessment of OSA.

Methods: Forty-five consecutive individuals who presented to the sleep laboratory were recruited; of those, 34 were diagnosed with OSA, and 11 were primary snorers with no clinical or laboratory features of OSA.

The feasibility of using auto-titrating continuous positive airway pressure to treat obstructive sleep apnoea after acute tetraplegia.

Study Design: A prospective cohort with acute tetraplegia.

Objectives: Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is common within weeks of tetraplegia. This study aimed at determining the feasibility of auto-titrating continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) to treat OSA after acute tetraplegia.

The effects of electro-convulsive therapy on the speed of information processing in major depression.

Background: This study investigates whether cognitive impairment is evident in inpatients diagnosed with Major Depression (MD) following electro-convulsive therapy (ECT), and if so, whether it is independent from depressive symptomatology.

Methods: Speed of information processing was measured using the inspection time (IT) task. IT was compared between twelve inpatients diagnosed with MD receiving ECT and twelve age-, gender-, verbal IQ-, and depression and anxiety severity matched control inpatients diagnosed with MD not receiving ECT, over four testing sessions (prior to ECT, following one ECT session, following the completion of an ECT block, and 4 to 6 weeks after the ECT block (follow-up)).

Neuropsychological sequelae of digital mobile phone exposure in humans.

The effect of electromagnetic fields from digital mobile phones (DMP) on cognitive functioning is an area receiving increased attention. This study compares the performance of 120 volunteers on 8 neuropsychological tests during real or sham exposure to a DMP set to maximum permissible radiofrequency power output. When results were adjusted for known covariates (gender, age, or education), several alterations at significance levels of p<0.