Evaluation Of The Efficacy And Safety Of Health Service Dialysate Sodium Practice On Clinical Outcomes
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,958,205.00
Summary
Concerns the delivery of haemodialysis may be contributing to sodium retention and poor outcomes has led many health services to modify practice. However this modification is occurring in an unmeasured and haphazard manner leaving the impact unknown. This simple, pragmatic research will generate definitive evidence on the effect of health service dialysate sodium practices on the key clinical outcomes of death and cardiovascular events as well as health service utilisation.
Inhibition Of Cellcell Actin-based Motility During Poxvirus Infection By The Kinase Inhibitor Glivec
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$92,950.00
Summary
Although smallpox, one of the deadliest human pathogens, was eradicated in 1980, the current global climate has resulted in fears that smallpox may be used as a biological weapon. Unfortunately the smallpox vaccine poses a serious health hazard to certain people. We have shown that Glivec, a drug used to treat cancer, has potent anti-viral affects on poxvirus replication. This project will test the effectiveness of Glivec in treating smallpox in an animal model and study how it acts.
Defining The Mechanism Of Assembly Of Herpes Simplex Virus In The Neuronal Growth Cone And Its Subsequent Exit To Epithelial Cells
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$774,624.00
Summary
Herpes simplex virus (HSV) causes dormant infection of nerve cell bodies near the spine. It periodically reactivates to be transported along nerves to the skin where it causes oral, genital or neonatal herpes and mediates HIV superinfection. HSV assembles into its final form in the terminal part of the axon just prior to crossing into skin. Elucidating the mechanism of HSV assembly and exit will facilitate new strategies for antiviral agents and immune treatment for HSV and similar viruses.
EPITHELIAL ION TRANSPORT DEFECTS IN CYSTIC FIBROSIS: PATHOPHYSIOLOGY AND TREATMENT
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$290,440.00
Summary
The thin layer of fluid covering the surface of the air passages acts to protect the airway surface from drying. This fluid also allows the hair-like projections, or cilia, on the top of the airway cells to beat more effectively. The volume and composition of this fluid is determined by the movement of salt and water across the mucous membranes of the air passages. The importance of this fluid is shown by the problems that occur in Cystic Fibrosis (CF), the most common lethal inherited disease a ....The thin layer of fluid covering the surface of the air passages acts to protect the airway surface from drying. This fluid also allows the hair-like projections, or cilia, on the top of the airway cells to beat more effectively. The volume and composition of this fluid is determined by the movement of salt and water across the mucous membranes of the air passages. The importance of this fluid is shown by the problems that occur in Cystic Fibrosis (CF), the most common lethal inherited disease affecting Australians. In CF, altered salt transport causes drying of the airway surface which impairs the working of the cilia. This leads to retention of mucous in the airway with repeated bacterial infections damaging the lungs. Simple tests have been designed to directly measure the movement of salt across the surface of the nasal passage using a fine soft rubber tube. Movement of mucous in the nose is measured using other simple techniques that are currently used diagnostically. Together, these tests in the nose provide vital information about how the surface of normal human airway moves salt, water and mucous. Any differences found in CF patients will then give us a good idea of the problems found in the CF lung. We will study the interactions between calcium, sodium and chloride in the fluid lining the airways, measuring changes in salt and mucous movement. A range of testing procedures will be used in human volunteers, anaesthetised mice and isolated tissues from sheep. We have already demonstrated important links between the fluid lining the airways and salt movement, and we expect that this may lead to the development of new treatments for Cystic Fibrosis. This therapy will focus on treating the lung problems of CF patients, the major cause of disability. We anticipate that this preventative therapy may offer real benefits in the fight to cure CF.Read moreRead less
Much of the death and suffering caused by cancer is associated with secondary tumours, but alot remains to be learned about how cancer spreads through the patient's body. This project will determine how genes that enable the growth of tumours work with other genes that enable cancer cells to detach from the tumour, enabling them to enter the bloodstream and form secondary tumours in other organs.