Brain injury from concussion in young football players causes long-term damage

Study shows subtle abnormalities in young AFL football players' brains
six months after concussion injury.

Monash Neuroscience Trauma Group researchers have published the first study to report long-term physical damage to the brains of young adult Australian rules players, even six months after their most recent concussion, raising concerns about the long term neurological health of these players. 

See:

• Monash Medicine news story
• Cerebral Cortex paper 
• Monash Trauma Group
  

8-21 June 2021 Central Clinical School recent publications

The need for solid organ transplant for people living with HIV (PLWH)
is increasing as this group, thanks to effective anti-viral treatments, live
longer. A 15 year retrospective audit found donees experienced good
outcomes.

Recent publications featuring research as notified by PubMed during 8-21 June 2021 from Central Clinical School affiliated researchers in the following departments. The below is not a comprehensive list. The 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)

Finding a therapeutic target for Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy

Professor Geoffrey Cloud

by Loretta Piccenna, PhD
Research Manager, Department of Neuroscience, Central Clinical School

 An opinion piece published in the journal Stroke proposes the re-purposing of a potent existing drug, tranexamic acid (TXA), for the treatment of cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), a devastating cause of stroke due to intracerebral haemorrhage and dementia.  

Professor Geoffrey Cloud, Director of Stroke Services, Alfred Health and Group leader, Department of Neuroscience at the Central Clinical School, said, 

‘Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) is a neurological condition that is increasingly being diagnosed in clinical practice, but sadly there is no specific treatment for patients.’ 

Congratulations to Prof Anne Holland on becoming Head of Respiratory Research@Alfred!

Professor Anne Holland, centre front row, with her group.

It is with great pleasure that we announce the appointment, after a highly competitive selection process, of  Professor Anne Holland, BAppSci (Physio), PhD, FThorSoc, to the position of Head of Respiratory Research@Alfred (formerly Allergy, Immunology and Respiratory Medicine, known as AIRMed), The Department of Immunology & Pathology, The Central Clinical School, Monash University (joint appointment with Alfred Health).

Orla Morrissey recognised as thought leader in transplant infectious diseases research

Congratulations to Professor Orla Morrissey who has been appointed as an Associate Editor of the American Journal of Transplantation. The journal is ranked 2 in transplantation and 6 in Surgery with over two million downloads per year.

Prof Morrissey has been recognised most recently by the World Health Organisation, which has provided funding for antifungal stewardship to develop the Fungal Priority Pathogen List.

See more about Prof Morrissey's research here:

https://www.monash.edu/medicine/ccs/infectious-diseases/research/groups/morrissey_group

Judges wanted for CCS's 14th graduate research symposium

The 2021 Central Clinical School Graduate Research (GR) Student Symposium is being held at 11am-5pm on Monday, 4 October 2021 at the Alfred Centre (Level 5 Lecture Theatre and Seminar Rooms). It is CCS's 14th annual GR symposium in a series which has grown in variety, interest and involvement, now becoming a high point in the school's calendar of events. The GR student committee wants to hear from CCS researchers for judging the entries - see more below.

Congratulations to Rosie Latimer & Wendy Wang on their graduate research completion!

Wendy Wang

Rosie Latimer

Congratulations to Rosie Latimer & Wendy Wang on completing respectively their PhD and Master's degrees! The awards were conferred on 17 June 2021.

Rosie Latimer's thesis is titled, "Emerging Issues In Sexual Health: Mycoplasma Genitalium And 'Stealthing'. She was supervised by Prof Catriona Bradshaw, Dr Lenka Vodstrcil and Prof Kit Fairley, all in the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre.

Wendy Wang's thesis is titled, "Detecting Cognitive Impairments in Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension using Neuropsychological and Ocular Motor Testing". She was supervised by Prof Joanne Fielding, Prof Anneke van der Walt and Dr Meaghan Clough in the Department of Neuroscience.