19-25 May 2020 Central Clinical School recent publications

L-R: Prof Karin Jandeleit-Dahm, Prof Mark Cooper
and  Dr Jakob Ostergaard are co-authors on a
review of diabetic kidney disease research targets

Recent publications as notified by PubMed during the week 19-25 May 2020 from Central Clinical School affiliated researchers in the following departments. This is not a comprehensive list:

• Allergy, Immunology and Respiratory Medicine
• Anaesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine
• Australian Centre for Blood Diseases
• Medicine - Peninsula
• Melbourne Sexual Health Centre
• Neuroscience
• Surgery

Dispelling dogma and improving global health standards for stroke and arterial disease prevention

Associate Professor Anne Abbott joined the Department of Neuroscience last year. She is a neurologist, and her clinical and research interests are, broadly, in arterial disease prevention, and more specifically, stroke and carotid stenosis prevention.

A/Prof Abbott collaborates extensively through a group with over 320 members worldwide, called the Faculty Advocating Collaborative and Thoughtful Carotid Artery Treatments (FACTCATS, see FACTCATS.org). This is a multi-national, multi-specialty, multi-disciplinary network of clinicians and scientists of all career stages who debate evidence and collaborate to improve standards of preventing stroke and other arterial disease complications.

See more about A/Prof Abbott's research and projects at

www.monash.edu/medicine/ccs/neuroscience/research/abbott-group/

Congratulations to CCS's NHMRC Investigator grant recipients!

L-R top row: Prof Helmut Butzkueven, Prof Paul Fitzgerald,
Dr Emma Halmos. L-R bottom row: Prof Anne Holland,
Dr Jason Ong, A/Prof Anneke van der Walt

NHMRC Investigator grants were announced this morning by Minister for Health, Greg Hunt, Monash receiving in total close to $47M. See Monash announcement.

Twenty-six researchers from the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences received funding for their projects. See Faculty story.

Congratulations to Central Clinical School's NHMRC Investigator grant recipients! See more about the CCS projects, below. The grant income for the school from this round totals $10M across the period 2021-2025.

Commiserations to our researchers whose grants were ranked very highly, but nonetheless missed out.

ICU research on aerosol boxes reveals problems

While a barrier box to prevent the spread of aerosolised respiratory droplets from critically ill patients during intubation might seem like a good idea at first glance, a critical analysis by intensive care unit (ICU) practitioners reveals that's not necessarily so.

ICU specialists from Monash University and Cabrini Health teamed up to assess two different types of aerosol boxes that have been rapidly developed and sold. They found that aerosol boxes may increase intubation times and therefore expose patients to the risk of hypoxia (lack of oxygen).

12-18 May 2020 Central Clinical School recent publications

Prof Andrew Spencer is co-author
on an ANZ consensus statement re
how best to manage blood cancers
during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recent publications as notified by PubMed during the week 12-18 May 2020 from Central Clinical School affiliated researchers in the following departments. This is not a comprehensive list:

• Allergy, Immunology and Respiratory Medicine
• Anaesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine
• Australian Centre for Blood Diseases
• Medicine - Peninsula
• Melbourne Sexual Health Centre
• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Surgery & National Trauma Research Institute

Study of 30,000 Victorians reveals 40% have low vitamin D levels

Veronica Voo is first author on the paper;
she is Dr Mastura Monif's PhD student.

by Tania Ewing

A study of 30,000 Victorians reveals 40% have low vitamin D levels, with serious health consequences.

Low levels of vitamin D have been linked to poor health consequences – from weaker bones to common conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure, as well as certain cancers.  In recent years a large body of literature has found links between vitamin D deficiency and autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS).

Now, a landmark study of vitamin D levels in over 30,000 Victorians attending a large Melbourne hospital between 2014 and 2017 found that only 40% of patients had levels of vitamin D that are adequate for good health. Importantly, two-thirds of men failed to have sufficient vitamin D levels.

Improving IBD patient care with virtual clinics

Dr Mark Ward, senior author on the study

Monash researchers based at The Alfred are national leaders in improved care for Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients. Their recent study published in Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics outlines the remarkable improvement in both patient outcomes and quality use of therapy using a virtual clinic, compared to standard out-patient care, for the most challenging cases of IBD.