Photo of the week: Retinal blood flow

Retinal blood flow: Dr Devi Deliyanti

Effective preventive therapies for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) don't exist, yet globally, there are at least 50,000 children blind from ROP. Professor Jennifer Wilkinson-Berka in the Department of Immunology leads research efforts into understanding the problem. A recently published paper shows that one form of a particular enzyme complex called NADPH oxidase (NOX) is involved in the development of retinopathy. The research indicates that blocking the action of NOX1 prevents the damage from occurring. Reference: NADPH Oxidase, NOX1, Mediates Vascular Injury in Ischemic Retinopathy. Antioxidants & Redox Signaling. V 20, No 17, 2014 DOI: 10.1089/ars.2013.5357
See CCS Monash's Google+ page for more photo albums.

Events calendar

All event notices are maintained on the CCS Events calendars (including local events such as professional development and trade fairs and HDR calendars). For a consolidated view, details of events and to see all events and deadlines, see Announcements. Various Departments have their own calendars, see CCS seminar index: www.med.monash.edu.au/cecs/events/seminars.html

NOTE: Staff and Students Emergency Training and New Warden Training are held over 2 weeks starting from 11 Jun 2014.  Please see Announcements for session dates and times.

What's on for this week

Mon Jun 16	12:30 PM	►	Psychiatry Professorial Grand Round
Tue Jun 17	3:30 PM	►	PhD Mid-candidature review seminar - Ms Hannah Pearce
Wed Jun 18	12:30 PM	►	PhD Midcandidature review seminar - Mr Dean Talia
Fri Jun 20	12:30 PM	►	MIDS seminar - Dr Gillian Wood

Forthcoming events

Mon Jun 23	12:30 PM	►	Psychiatry Professorial Grand Round
Tue Jun 24	11:00 AM	►	Pre-submission seminar - Mr Tse-Chieh Teh
	11:30 AM	►	PhD Mid-candidature review - Mr James McFadyen
Fri Jun 27	12:30 PM	►	PhD Pre-submission review - Ms Nitasha Kumar
Tue Aug 12	10:00 AM	►	CCS 3MT competition

Major CCS events

10 July 2014 CCS Public lecture "Challenges of living well with HIV: Where to from here?"

Professor Jenny Hoy

CCS is holding its annual public lecture for 2014 on 10 July, on a viral infection that has changed our world, the Human immunodeficiency virus infection (HIV). Professor Jennifer Hoy has 30 years' experience in HIV clinical research and patient care, particularly on how HIV contributes to the increased likelihood of chronic illness such as cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis. She will describe how the lives of people with HIV transform, how her current research is changing the way doctors help people with HIV, and outline the challenges ahead. See web page with detail & RSVP link.

 

2014 CCS 3MT competition

2013 CCS 3MT winners:

Central Clinical School HDR students regularly compete in the "Three Minute Thesis" competition (3MT), offered in every Australian university. The CCS 3 Minute Thesis Competition is an opportunity for HDR students to convey the relevance and importance of their research in just 3 minutes.  2014 CCS 3MT will be held on Tuesday 12 August 10-11am at Lecture theatre, Level 5, Alfred Centre.  Please come along and support the participants.  All welcome.    CLICK HERE to RSVP.  Please visit the CCS 3MT competition page for participants' profiles and other information.     

Research highlights: The Rubber Hand Illusion, proprioception and Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Image: Vanderbilt
University

Evidence from past research suggests that behaviours and characteristics related to body dissatisfaction may be associated with greater instability of perceptual body image, possibly due to problems in the integration of body-related multisensory information. A MAPrc team investigated whether people with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), a condition characterised by body image disturbances, demonstrated enhanced susceptibility to the rubber hand illusion (RHI), which arises as a result of multisensory (i.e. touch and vision) integration processes when a rubber hand and the participant's hidden real hand are stimulated in synchrony.

Media mentions

09/06/2014 Professor Jayashri Kulkarni, Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre, commented that the higher doses of anti-psychotics during pregnancy increases the need for special care after birth with 43 per cent of babies placed in a Special Care Nursery or a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, almost three times the national rate.
The Bub Hub http://www.bubhub.com.au/hubbub-blog/news-fertility-and-cancer-kidnap-attempt-new-iv-iron-drugs-in-pregnancy/
10/06/2014 Same subject as above, on Radio 4BC

12/06/2014 Professor Jayashri Kulkarni discussed the psychological effect on sports team supporters when their team loses and the World Cup. She said that identification with players is also a large part of it, and that problems come up when people don't have other elements to their lives. ABC North West WA
11/06/2014 Department of Gastroenterology research has found cognitive performance significantly improved with strict adherence to a gluten-free diet and was also strongly correlated with evidence of mucosal recovery and/or healing.
Six Minutes, Gastroenterology Update

http://www.6minutes.com.au/news/latest-news/coeliac-fog-is-real-experts

Dr Michael Roche

11/06/2014 Professor Jamie Rossjohn, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Assoc. Professor Allen Cheng, Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Associate Professor Terence Haines, Department of Physiotherapy, and Dr Michael Roche, Department of Infectious Diseases, recognised with NHMRC Excellence Awards. See Michael's story. www.nhmrc.gov.au http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/media/releases/2014/top-researchers-recognised-nhmrc-excellence-awards

Participants sought: neuroscience research on enhancing memory

The Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre (MAPrc) are investigating a safe and non-invasive brain stimulation technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). TMS uses magnetic pulses to stimulate a small area on the surface of the brain. MAPrc researches are investigating whether giving a few minutes of TMS to different brain regions can enhance memory. Volunteers aged between 18 and 55 who have no history of mental or neurological illness are needed! Participation involves four visits to MAPrc in Prahran. Each visit will take two to three hours and involve some cognitive activities, non-invasive brain stimulation and an EEG recording of your brain waves. You will be compensated $30 per visit for your time and travel costs. Enquiries: Ms Ting Ting Cao on 9076 6564 or at tingting.cao@monash.edu. Study link.

Participants sought: Contraceptive experiences of women with psychosis

Every woman has individual views on and attitudes to contraception. MAPrc researchers are interested in looking at the issues faced by women with diagnosed #schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, and how these may differ from issues faced by women with no mental illness diagnosis. The study involves a one-off interview taking from between 45 to 90 minutes. We are looking for women aged between 19 and 40 years, who have either a diagnosis of schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder or no mental illness (for the control group) and have used some form of contraception in the last 12 months. If you are willing to share your experiences with contraceptive use please contact Georgia Walter for more information. Email: gawal5@student.monash.edu Ph: (03) 9076 6564 Study page link

Staff news

Welcome to the following MAPrc staff: 

Tiffany Davis is working with MAPrc as a Development Officer, in the Events and Fundraising area, with Anthony De Castella.  She has a dance and performing arts background with a degree majoring in Cinema Studies /Literature.  Tiffany is the Executive of "Baggage Productions" an independent theatre company , supporting original works and women in the arts.

Rachael Clear has joined the MAPrc team as a clinical research coordinator and is a registered nurse. She is working in the Psychopharm team.  Her study and work interests are health care,  research, community health,  disaster relief and aid work.

Faculty eNews reborn

This edition of the Faculty of Medicine Nursing and Health Sciences eBulletin is delivered as a blog as we examine new channels for delivery of this information.  

http://fmnhsebulletin.blogspot.com.au

Enquiries: Katherine Greenberg (katherine.greenberg@monash.edu)

For information published before 29 April, please see the old ebulletin