Blood test can guide treatment for most aggressive prostate cancer

Heidi Fettke

School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health (SCS) researcher Heidi Fettke and A/Prof Arun Azad from Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, in collaboration with Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, have developed a simple blood test that can show which men with the most aggressive type of prostate cancer should respond to conventional therapy, and those who need other options. 

Eugene Fredericks captains Mazenod Old Collegians to take out cricket premiership in easy victory

Congratulations to our own Eugene Fredericks who captained his team to an effortless victory over St Cecilia's South Camberwell on the weekend to take out the Veterans (over-40s) Division 5 Cricket Premiership in the Eastern Cricket Association.

SCS researchers part of landmark study to treat common lung condition

Professor Diana Egerton-Warburton

Researchers from Australia and New Zealand, including from the School of Clinical Sciences, have collaborated on a landmark study to assess the appropriate level of management for treating spontaneous pneumothorax – a collapsed lung.

Using simulation to improve outcomes for babies in Myanmar

A Monash University researcher has used simulation to teach local Myanmar surgeons how to treat a common yet life-threatening condition affecting babies.

NHMRC funding success at the Monash Health Translation Precinct

Dr David Scott

Monash Health Translation Precinct (MHTP) researchers from the School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health (SCS) and Hudson Institute of Medical Research have been successful in the latest round of NHMRC grants.

Aidan Kashyap awarded the best oral presentation

Aidan Kashyap

Congratulations to PhD student Aidan Kashyap from The Ritchie Centre at Hudson Institute of Medical Research, who recently spoke at the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine's Annual Pregnancy Meeting in Las Vegas.

Monash research into ‘fat factories’ in the heart sheds light on the risk factors for heart attack

Dr Nitesh Nerlekar

MonashHeart cardiologist and Monash University PhD candidate Dr Nitesh Nerlekar has discovered that otherwise-healthy people with a low BMI may be unaware of dangerous fats on their hearts, potentially affecting their heart health.

Monash PhD students recognised at the Australia New Zealand Bone and Mineral Society’s annual meeting

Alexander Rodriguez, Dr Jasna Aleksova and
Prof Peter Ebeling at the AMZBMS scientific meeting

School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health PhD students Alexander Rodriguez and Dr Jasna Aleksova received prestigious awards from the Australia New Zealand Bone and Mineral Society (ANZBMS) in Brisbane last week.

Alexander received the 2017 Christine & T. Jack Martin Research Travel Grant, an award in memory of Christine Martin that also honours the outstanding and major scientific contributions of Professor T. Jack Martin to bone and mineral research.

Alexander will use the $15,000 grant to travel to Odense, Denmark to work with Professor Bo Abrahamsen from the University of Southern Denmark.

“My current research investigates how bone and muscle loss can effect cardiovascular risk in old age, and I plan to collaborate with Professor Abrahamsen to examine how anti-osteoporosis therapies, which we think are helping us by making our bones healthier, may actually have harmful cardiovascular side-effects,” Alexander said.

“I hope that this research will enable us to identify who is at least cardiovascular risk from these medications and thus avoid potential adverse events whilst still remaining on osteoporosis treatment.”

Alexander’s supervisor and Head, Department of Medicine Professor Peter Ebeling AO said this research comes at a critical time, as two anti-osteoporosis drugs, strontium ranelate and odanacatib, have recently been withdrawn from the market because of cardiovascular safety concerns.

“Alexander’s research will help us understand who may be better suited to the many different treatment options available and by targeting therapy to increase benefit and to reduce potential harm,” Professor Ebeling said.

Fellow PhD student in the Bone and Muscle Research Group and Monash Health Endocrinologist, Dr Jasna Aleksova, won the Professor Philip Sambrook Young Investigator Travel Award which is awarded to an outstanding early career scientist or clinical researcher.

Dr Aleksova’s research evaluates novel risk factors associated with fractures in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and those with kidney transplants.

“These patients have a high burden of fractures and associated mortality, however, the current diagnostic tools used to evaluate patients with osteoporosis are less useful in patients with CKD,” Dr Aleksova said.

“CKD now affects one in ten Australians so urgent strategies are needed to identify and treat those at highest risk of fracture.”

“My research focuses on the role of hypogonadism in CKD and post-transplantation and the validation of novel imaging techniques, including the trabecular bone score and structural hip analyses, to better predict patients who are at the greatest risk of fracture,” she said.

Dr. Aleksova will use this grant to present some of her work at the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research annual meeting in Denver later this year where she will also be meeting with potential collaborators from Columbia University.

Senior Research Fellow Dr David Scott also from the Bone and Muscle Research Group had his abstract ‘Sarcopenic obesity is associated with lower tibial cortical area and thickness and poor physical function in community-dwelling older adults’ selected for an oral presentation at the ANZBMS scientific meeting last week.

Dr Scott said his study demonstrates that important indicators of bone quality, which are usually improved in obese individuals, may be compromised if muscle quality is also poor.

“The findings highlight the need for specific assessments and interventions to target bone health in obese older adults,” Dr Scott said.

Excessive Exercise Damages the Gut

Dr Ricardo Costa

A Monash University review of published studies has found that people who exercise excessively may be prone to acute or chronic gut issues.

Lead author Dr Ricardo Costa, School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health, said the review found that with increasing intensity and duration of exercise, there was a proportional increased risk of gut damage and impaired gut function.

Specifically, the cells of the intestine are injured and the gut becomes more “leaky”, allowing pathogenic endotoxins normally present and isolated to the intestine to pass into the bloodstream.

This scenario of 'exercise-induced gastrointestinal syndrome' may lead to acute or chronic health complications of clinical relevance.

Exercise stress of two hours at 60 per cent of maximum oxygen consumption appeared to be the threshold whereby significant gut disturbances arise, irrespective of an individual’s fitness status.

Running exercise mode and exercising in hot ambient temperatures appears to exacerbate the gut disturbances. 

The Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics review also found that for patients who have irritable bowel syndrome or inflammatory bowel disease, low to moderate physical activity may be beneficial.

However, the health implications of more strenuous exercise has not been researched, but likely to be detrimental and a high risk activity for such patients.

Dr Costa said: “Despite excessive exercise being confirmed to compromise gut integrity and function, we have identified several exacerbating factors which can be controlled, and several prevention and management strategies that can attenuate and abolish the damage and compromised function.

“It is recommended that a full gut assessment during exercise should be undertaken by individuals that present gut disturbances (e.g. symptoms) during exercise, to ascertain what is causing the issue/s and developed individually tailors management strategies,” he said.

The paper is titled, Systematic review: exercise-induced gastrointestinal syndrome – implications for health and intestinal disease.

Monash Nutrition Clinic available