Investigating a cause of failure of bypass grafts and stents

Dr Anthony Dear, ACBD

Neointimal hyperplasia, an injury related vascular response, accounts for the occlusion and failure of up to 50% of bypass grafts and stents used in the treatment of coronary artery and peripheral vascular disease and constitutes a considerable health and economic burden to the community. Recent research conducted in Dr Anthony Dear's lab at the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases in collaboration with Professor Robert Widdop, Monash Department of Pharmacology, suggests that "epigenetic" mechanisms may be involved in the neointimal hyperplasia response.

Twelve-hour reanimation of a human heart following donation after circulatory death

Prof Frank Rosenfeldt
with the prototype rig

Despite increasing use of donation after cardiac death (DCD) and encouraging results for non-cardiac transplants, DCD cardiac transplantation has not been widely adopted for two reasons. The DCD heart sustains warm ischaemic injury during the death process and conventional static cold storage significantly adds to the ischaemic injury. Alfred-Monash researchers have developed a simple system for perfusion of the DCD heart with cold crystalloid solution using gravity-feed that can reduce ischaemic injury and potentially render the heart suitable for transplantation.

Gluten-free diet relieves 'brain fog' in patients with Coeliac disease

Brain fog. Image:
facingcancer.ca

People with coeliac disease often experience 'brain fog' - a feeling of cognitive impairment - in addition to intestinal problems. A new study by Monash researchers shows that following a gluten-free diet can lead to improvements in cognition that correlate with the extent of intestinal healing. Their results suggest that removing gluten from the diet can help coeliac disease sufferers to do better on attention, memory and other mental tasks.