Study reveals the reason why processed foods trigger chronic kidney disease

Donuts are don'tnuts, being high in pro-inflammatory compounds.
A Monash led team has published research on not only how diet leads
to chronic kidney disease, but also how diet can reverse the damage.
A/Prof Melinda Coughlan explains: see video

A recent study led by Monash University diabetes researchers has shown that a diet high in processed foods brings on leaky gut syndrome, which in turn increases the risk of kidney disease.

In particular, the findings revealed that certain harmful chemical compounds called Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs), triggered by a process called the Maillard reaction, switch on the body's danger signals leading to an inflammatory response and chronic kidney disease, but by introducing foods containing a specialised fibre, the effects can be improved.

23-29 March 2021 Central Clinical School recent publications

COVID-19 transmission model. The study concludes that
"The degree to which the US population can relax social
distancing restrictions and face mask use will depend
greatly on the effectiveness and coverage of a potential
COVID-19 vaccine if future epidemics are to be prevented.
Only a highly effective vaccine will enable the US
population to return to life as it was before the pandemic."
Or presumably any population.

Recent publications featuring research as notified by PubMed during 23-29 March 2021 from Central Clinical School affiliated researchers in the following departments. The below is not a comprehensive list. Most recent validated publications for the school and departments can be seen on their publications pages, linked to from the headings below. Otherwise, read down the entry for recent notifications.

• Anaesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine
• Gastroenterology
• Immunology and Pathology
• Infectious Diseases
• Medicine (including Alfred and Peninsula)
• Melbourne Sexual Health Centre
• Psychiatry
• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
  
• Surgery (including National Trauma Research Institute)

Dispelling the furphies in stroke prevention treatments

A/Prof Anne Abbott busts medical myths
around stroke treatment in her Nature
Reviews Cardiology paper

Associate Professor Anne Abbott has published a provocative, concise analysis outlining important misunderstandings about how to best prevent stroke in Nature Reviews Cardiology. 

A/Prof Abbott has an adjunct appointment in the Central Clinical School's Department of Neuroscience. She says misconceptions, or ‘furphies’, remain widespread, and their continued acceptance by medical practitioners is damaging people’s health and wasting billions of healthcare dollars around the world every year.

Congratulations to Vilija Jokubaitis on being in JAMA Neurology's 2020 top 3 for altmetrics

Dr Vilija Jokubaitis's paper in her Monash University
researcher profile displaying the altmetric 'donut' which
gives granular detail about readers' demographics

Congratulations to Dr Vilija Jokubaitis (senior author) and Dr Ai-Lan Nguyen (first author) on their paper on pregnancy and onset of MS for being listed in the top 3 Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Neurology publications for 2020, based on Altmetric scores!

So what does 'altmetric' mean?  The Altmetric website says, "Altmetrics are metrics and qualitative data that are complementary to traditional, citation-based metrics. They can include (but are not limited to) peer reviews on Faculty of 1000, citations on Wikipedia and in public policy documents, discussions on research blogs, mainstream media coverage, bookmarks on reference managers like Mendeley, and mentions on social networks such as Twitter."

Syphilis prevention priority for NHMRC Partnership funding

Associate Professor Marcus Chen

Ten new medical research projects are being funded $11.3 million through the National Health and Medical Research Council’s Partnership Project scheme. This funding has helped to secure an additional $15.6 million co-investment in cash and in kind support from 80 partner agencies including hospitals, state governments, services and patient representative bodies.

Associate Professor Marcus Chen, of the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre within Central Clinical School, has been awarded $1.2M for his Partnership project, “Novel strategies for improving syphilis testing and control”. He is the only Monash University researcher to have been awarded a grant in this round.

Aftershock: Meet researcher Meng Law

See full story at The Aftershock (7 min read)

The Aftershock series features Professor Meng Law, radiologist and much more besides. It's easy to find out about Prof Law's extensive professional commitments and achievements, but not so easy to understand how the non-medical aspects of his life influence his research directions and insights. Prof Law shares with The Aftershock his background, influences and current sources of creative thinking.

See more: www.theaftershock.org/news/meet-our-researchers-meng-law/