Researchers urge greater hospital security to curb patient violence

Security personnel needed in EDs. 
Image: Daily Telegraph

by Anne Crawford

Australian hospital emergency departments should employ security personnel to counter the increasing number of violent incidents occurring there, a Monash University and Alfred Hospital study recommends.

Researchers from The Alfred’s Emergency and Trauma Centre have also called for a register to be established to alert emergency department (ED) staff across hospitals about repeat perpetrators of workplace violence to try to prevent future incidents.

Harm risk tool for older patients of limited value: study

Identifying patients at risk from falling not a perfect process.
Image: Expert Institute

by Anne Crawford

Older people admitted to hospital face the risk of several adverse events such as falls, pressure injuries and malnutrition, which can cause substantial harm to them, distress to family and carers, and increased burden on inpatient services.

Significant drop in genital warts in young people thanks to national HPV vaccination program

Human papillomavirus (HPV) under the microscope

Text adapted courtesy Alfred Health

New research data show cases of genital warts in young Australians have dropped 90 per cent in the last decade.

Dr Eric Chow from the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, who presented the data at the 32nd International Papillomavirus Conference in Sydney and is currently presenting a poster of the research in New Zealand at the 2018 IUSTI Asia Pacific Sexual Health Congress, said the reduction is thanks to Australia's highly successful National HPV (Human Papillomavirus) Vaccination Program. 

More research needed for treatment of primary progressive Multiple Sclerosis

Left, Anneke van der Walt; right, Helmut Butzkueven
at the annual "Kiss Goodbye to MS" awareness event

The MSBase Foundation is the largest international online registry in the world for neurologists studying multiple sclerosis and other neuro-immunological diseases. Central Clinical School's Professor Helmut Butzkueven is managing director of MSBase, and he and Associate Professor Anneke van der Walt, the Head of MS services at Alfred Health, recently co-authored a publication on a cohort study involving 1284 patients with primary progressive Multiple Sclerosis (PPMS) from MSBase's large, international, observational database.

They found that therapies, effective for other forms of MS, have no substantial effect on short- to medium-term disability outcomes in PPMS.

CCS Monash PhD students win competitive travel grants

Paul Gill (left) & Matt Snelson (right)

Congratulations to our PhD students, Matthew Snelson and Paul Gill, who have received Nutrition Society of Australia student travel grants to present at the NSA meeting in November.

Congratulations to Pin Shie Quah, Dragana Dragoljevic and Soumya Majumdar on their PhD completions!

Dragana Dragoljevic presenting

Congratulations to Pin Shie Quah, Dragana Dragoljevic and Soumya Majumdar, who have completed their PhDs!

Pin Shie's thesis is titled, "The roles of BAFF, B , NK and NKT cells in solid tumours". She was supervised by Professor Fabienne Mackay (University of Melbourne), Dr Kirsten Fairfax (WEHI) and Dr Dan Andrews (Department of Immunology and Pathology).

Dragana's thesis is titled, "Mechanisms of accelerated atherogenesis in rheumatoid arthritis". She was supervised by Professors Andrew Murphy (Baker Institute), Jaye Chin-Dusting and Mark Febbraio.

Soumya's thesis is titled, "Clinical outcomes and predictors in cirrhosis and portal hypertension". He was supervised by Professor Stuart Roberts in the Department of Gastroenterology.

Congratulations to Maria Selvadurai on THANZ medal win!

Maria Selvadurai presenting at a CCS information night

Congratulations to Maria Selvadurai, winner of the 2018 Thrombosis and Haemostasis society of Australia and New Zealand (THANZ) medal! Maria earned the medal for the best presentation at the #blood18 meeting in the THANZ stream. A fantastic reward for some great work well presented! Her presentation title was "Targeting the platelet internal membrane reveals a novel approach for improved anti-platelet therapies". Maria is a PhD student in Associate Professor Justin Hamilton's lab.

You can follow the Hamilton lab on Twitter at @lab_hamilton
Photo https://t.co/4UFjtAtKKJ
Tweet https://twitter.com/lab_hamilton/status/1054958875919740928?s=03