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Background Heart failure (HF) remains a condition with high morbidity and mortality. We tested a telephone support strategy to reduce major events in rural and remote Australians with HF, who have limited healthcare access. Telephone support comprised an interactive telecommunication software tool (TeleWatch) with follow-up by trained cardiac nurses. Methods Patients with a general practice (GP) diagnosis of HF were randomised to usual care (UC) or UC and telephone support intervention (UC+I) using a cluster design involving 143 GPs throughout Australia. Patients were followed for 12 months. The primary end-point was the Packer clinical composite score. Secondary end-points included hospitalisation for any cause, death or hospitalisation, as well as HF hospitalisation. Results Four hundred and five patients were randomised into CHAT. Patients were well matched at baseline for key demographic variables. The primary end-point of the Packer Score was not different between the two groups (P=0.98), although more patients improved with UC+I. There were fewer patients hospitalised for any cause (74 versus 114, adjusted HR 0.67 [95% CI 0.50-0.89], p=0.006) and who died or were hospitalised (89 versus 124, adjusted HR 0.70 [95% CI 0.53 – 0.92], p=0.011), in the UC+I vs UC group. HF hospitalisations were reduced with UC+I (23 versus 35, adjusted HR 0.81 [95% CI 0.44 – 1.38]), although this was not significant (p=0.43). There were 16 deaths in the UC group and 17 in the UC+I group (p=0.43). Conclusions Although no difference was observed in the primary end-point of CHAT (Packer composite score), UC+I significantly reduced the number of HF patients hospitalised amongst a rural and remote cohort. These data suggest that telephone support may be an efficacious approach to improve clinical outcomes in rural and remote HF patients.

The Selective Harvester supports scholarly communication and eResearch by providing a flexible and customisable mechanism to select and re-use metadata records from open access repositories. This workflow can assist subject-based repositories in the selection and addition of relevant content. The open-source Selective Harvester developed at the University Library, University of New South Wales (UNSW) integrates an existing OAI-PMH harvester and provider tool (jOAI) with a custom built Java-based application. The Selective Harvester has been implemented on the NCHSR Clearinghouse, a subject-based repository developed jointly by UNSW Library and researchers at the National Centre in HIV Social Research (NCHSR) and on Membrane Research Environment (MemRE), a component infrastructure project of the Advanced Membrane Technologies for Water Treatment Research Cluster funded by the CSIRO Water for a Healthy Country Flagship.

In this BoF [Birds of a Feather Discussion Session] we seek engagement with researchers and eResearch professionals to explore different approaches to having conversations about research data access and reuse. Rather than typifying open data as an all-or-nothing dichotomy, the discussion will be framed around the idea of a continuum of openness. Key areas to be explored include research communities expectations of reciprocity, and the changing expectations of funding agencies and publishers. Another topic for discussion is the current and future roles for libraries, data librarians and eResearch intermediaries in research data management. One of the biggest hurdles in beginning the eResearch discussion with researchers is explaining about this spectrum of open data and quelling fears that all data will have to be completely open. This discussion will look at the complexities involved with supporting researchers and informing them about all the different levels of openness.This BoF will also look at education and training as it relates to open data and building capabilities among both support professionals and researchers.

The Selective Harvester provides a flexible and customisable mechanism to select and re-use metadata records from open access repositories. The open-source Java-based application developed at the University Library, University of New South Wales (UNSW) integrates an existing OAI-PMH harvesting tool (jOAI), with an application which filters and ingests selected records into a Fedora repository. This model has applications in scholarly communication and eResearch services, especially in relation to populating subject-based repositories.

The paper outlines a model for eResearch infrastructure designed to support collaborative and problem-based research comprising partners and stakeholders from various disciplines as well as government, industry and community-based organisations. Its implementation on a Fedora-based repository system which aggregates, stores, articulates relationships between, and disseminates resources associated with Australian social science research in HIV and related diseases is demonstrated. The model has been developed to bridge the gap between eResearch infrastructure capabilities and established collaborative research practice in various disciplinary fields.Underpinning the design is the proposition that eResearch facilities will be optimally used if they fit seamlessly with existing workflows and practices of researchers, and that alignment of research with policy and practice is best achieved if collaborators are able to access and share resources in a timely and efficient manner.The open Fedora-based repository contains metadata and digital objects for research and policy publications, conference presentations, health promotion campaign resources and media reportage relating to Australian social and policy research in HIV and related diseases. The presentation provides an overview of the content model, including methods for identifying and displaying relationships and for aggregating material in the repository. The implementation outlined in the paper advances significant Australian social and policy research by providing an integrated research facility for the curation, sharing, re-use and exchange of resources required by academic, government and community-based partners throughout the research process..

The Citation Builder application enables the display of dynamic lists of publications on academic webpages, based on data from a Fedora repository. Developed at the University Library, University of New South Wales in 2008, Citation Builder was funded within the ARROW (Australian Research Repositories Online to the World) Project. Open access Institutional Repositories (IRs) are storing increasing quantities of publication metadata. By enabling the repurposing of this information, Citation Builder reduces the time and effort involved in data-entry and maintenance of publication lists. Once bibliographic details have been added to the IR, citations can be automatically created and displayed on external websites, such as an academic's personal homepage or a faculty publications webpage. The initial version of Citation Builder software was written using PHP technology. The Java-based Version 2 is Open Source and available via Google Code: http://code.google.com/p/unswlibrary/downloads/list When embedded in an external webpage, Citation Builder uses the latest data in the repository to dynamically generate formatted citations. The application can be readily implemented by web administrators, and does not require any knowledge of programming. At the client side, two files are uploaded and a few lines inserted into the HTML. Editing this HTML enables publications to be selected for display based on specific criteria, for example, all publications by a particular author, or all PhD theses completed within a particular department of the University. There are two display options: the Publications List and the Search Script. The former generates a list of matching publications. The Search Script displays query boxes which enable searches within the specified set of publications, with results displayed as formatted citations. In both display options, publication titles can be hyperlinked to matching objects in the repository. Citation Builder has been designed to be highly con

The Membrane Research Environment (MemRE) is a component research infrastructure project of the Advanced Membrane Technologies for Water Treatment Research Cluster, a research project funded by the CSIRO flagship Water for a Healthy Country. The research cluster, a nationally distributed and multidisciplinary group of researchers including computational and physical chemists, physicists, material scientists, and chemical and mechanical engineers, aims to develop novel membrane materials in order to reduce the energy associated with desalination by 40%.Common hurdles in multidisciplinary research projects include: a lack of consolidation of existing information relevant to the research from all the participating fields; an absence of information infrastructure to promote comparison of results; and the need for a common language to better enable project participants to communicate. MemRE has been designed and implemented as a solution to these hurdles, to provide an integrated research development tool and learning environment.

The paper draws on a case study of Australian social and policy research in HIV and hepatitis C. With reference to philosophical and functional considerations, it presents a research infrastructure project designed to support a national problem-based research program comprising partners and stakeholders from various health and social science disciplines, government and community-based organisations, and affected communities..

Aim: To determine whether telephone support using an evidence-based protocol for chronic heart failure (CHF) management will improve patient outcomes and will reduce hospital readmission rates in patients without access to hospital-based management programs. Methods: The rationale and protocol for a cluster-design randomised controlled trial (RCT) of a semi-automated telephone intervention for the management of CHF, the Chronic Heart-failure Assistance by Telephone (CHAT) Study is described. Care is coordinated by trained cardiac nurses located in Heartline, the national call center of the National Heart Foundation of Australia in partnership with patients’ general practitioners (GPs). Conclusions: The CHAT Study model represents a potentially cost-effective and accessible model for the Australian health system in caring for CHF patients in rural and remote areas. The system of care could also be readily adapted for a range of chronic diseases and health systems. Key words: chronic disease management; chronic heart failure; integrated health care systems; nursing care, rural health services; telemedicine; telenursing