Scientists expose the lethal link between irregular heartbeats and epilepsy

How it works: an implanted cardiac monitor records continuous ECG data, which is transmitted during follow-up visits at the cardiology clinic. The data are reviewed together with patient-reported seizures, giving a detailed clinical picture for tailoring preventive treatment. Schematic image: Dr Shobi Sivathamboo

Visit from Professor Tomasz Guzik to Diabetes Department

L-R: Dr Zhong-Lin Chai, Dr Chris Tikellis, Professor Karin Jandeleit-Dahm, Dr Anna Watson, Professor Tomasz Guzik, Professor Mark Cooper, Dr Jay Jha

The Department of Diabetes recently hosted a visit from a distinguished researcher and collaborator, Professor Tomasz Guzik. Prof Guzik is a cardiologist and physiologist and the Regius Professor of Physiology at the University of Glasgow. He is also Chief Editor of the journal Cardiovascular Research. He recently presented at the Department of Diabetes Meeting and is an active collaborator of Prof Karin Jandeleit-Dahm's group on her work of NOX (NDAPH oxidase family enzymes) in cardiovascular disease. NOXs are implicated in the pathophysiology of many cardiovascular diseases.

Congratulations to our recently completed PhD students!

Congratulations Timothy (pictured)
and Annas!

Congratulations to our recently completed PhD students, Mr Timothy Gottschalk and Mr Annas Al-Sharea! We wish them well for their future scientific careers.

Monash scientists join race to reveal diet’s secrets

Monash researchers are checking 
out ingredients of the Mediterranean 
diet.

by Anne Crawford

The Mediterranean diet is one of the most researched, published and consumed diets on the planet. It’s been associated with health benefits that include delaying Alzheimer’s disease, better heart health, helping to fight certain cancers and reducing our risk of developing type 2 diabetes. But no one is completely sure why.

Mounting epidemiological, clinical and experimental evidence have all pointed to the biological benefits of the diet but the chemical compounds responsible for them remain elusive. Monash scientists are investigating.

Monash study points to new blood test for cardiovascular risk

Dr Prahlad Ho presenting at ASH15
meeting. Image: @marrow

by Anne Crawford

It has long been a conundrum for clinicians and researchers pondering cardiovascular disease; a 90-year-old overweight man who has been smoking heavily all his life is admitted to hospital with an unrelated condition and is found to have a healthy heart while a fit 25-year-old athlete elsewhere inexplicably dies of a massive heart attack.

Now, scientists from the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases, Monash University, Northern Health and the University of Melbourne are collaboratively evaluating a new blood test that could add to the surrogate measures currently used clinically as an assessment of cardiovascular risk. Currently no such blood test exists, they say.

New book chapter on sleep disorders and cardiovascular disease

Prof Matthew Naughton (Department of AIRmed) has a chapter, "Sleep Disorders and Cardiovascular Disease" published in the new Handbook of Psychocardiology (2016), edited by Don Byrne and Marlies Alvarenga.

The handbook brings together comprehensive evidence bearing on what is now commonly termed "psycho-cardiology". It focuses on the role of psycho-social factors in the genesis and clinical management of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The book is a critically reviewed compendium of current knowledge in the area, coupled with guides to evidence-based best practice in the field of psycho-cardiology.

See link: www.fishpond.com.au/Books/Handbook-of-Psychocardiology-Don-Byrne-Edited-by-Marlies-Alvarenga-Edited-by/9789812872050

Anti-AIDS drug can affect platelet activation

By Dr Jodie Abramovitch

Abacavir is an anti-retroviral medication that is commonly used to treat HIV infection to prevent or control the development of AIDS. Abacavir use has been associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, it is unknown how abacavir leads to this increased risk of CVD.

Dr Janine Trevillyan - HIV researcher and
lead author of this study

Monash researchers from the Department of Infectious Diseases and the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases (ACBD) theorised that abacavir could be affecting platelet activation thus leading to the development of CVD. Therefore the aim of their study was to determine if platelet reactivity was altered with abacavir administration.

Patients with well controlled HIV infection on non-abacavir treatments were recruited from the Infectious Diseases clinic at the Alfred Hospital. Twenty selected patients were given abacavir alongside their non-abacavir treatments for 15 days and had blood samples taken at day 0, 15 (treatment ceased) and 28. Platelet reactivity (as measured by VASP-index) was significantly decreased during abacavir treatment (at day 15 compared to day 0). A measurable decrease in soluble glycoprotein VI levels (sGPVI) was also indicative of lower platelet reactivity. Platelet surface protein integrin-β3 was also observed to be lower which may suggest a change in platelet structure. At day 28 following clearance of abacavir from the body, measurements were similar to those taken at day 0.

The findings in this study show that abacavir does have an effect on platelet reactivity, though this is reversible following cessation of treatment. The link between platelets and CVD needs to be explored further and the clinical implications of these results requires more research in a larger group of patients. This study has identified possible markers of disease in sGPVI and integrin- β3.

Reference: Trevillyan JM, Arthur JF, Jing J, Andrews RK, Gardiner EE, Hoy JF. Effects of abacavir administration on structural and functional markers of platelet activation. AIDS. 2015 Nov: 29;2309-13. 

doi: 10.1097/QAD.0000000000000848