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.
Defining The Role Of Genomic Structural Variations In Hypertension And Cardiovascular Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$379,597.00
Summary
High blood pressure is caused by a variety of inherited alterations (mutations) in the letters our DNA and lifestyle. The aim of this project is to investigate gains and losses of large portions of DNA sequences consisting of between ten thousand and over a million letters (known as Copy Number Variation). We will compare the DNA of subjects who have high blood pressure with subjects who are normal. This discovery of changes may help diagnosis, prevention and treatment.
Being Born Small Is Not Good For The Heart:early Detection Of Cardiovascular Risk
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$486,757.00
Summary
Intra uterine growth restriction(IUGR) is linked to adult onset of cardiovascular disease. However, little is known about the mechanism(s) which underlie this link or which babies are most at risk. This study aims to assess cardiovascular function in infants and children who were growth restricted. Early identification of cardiovascular dysfunction may aid in new opportunities for monitoring and therapeutic targets to ultimately reduce later onset of cardiovascular morbidity in this population.
Pulmonary hypertension is a disease affecting the blood vessels in the lungs that causes severe shortness of breath and early death. Genetic mutations are known to cause this disease but the precise link between these mutations and the changes in the lungs are poorly understood. If we could understand this process better, we could design better treatments. This project will look at how the cells in the lungs communicate with each other and how this process is disturbed in pulmonary hypertension.
Quadruple UltrA-low-dose TReamenT For HypErTension - QUARTET
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,242,865.00
Summary
High blood pressure is common and a major cause of heart disease and stroke. While many people with hypertension are on some treatment, in over half blood pressure targets are not reached and their high blood pressure is hence uncontrolled. In this research we investigate whether an approach that combines 4 types of blood pressure lowering medications at quarter doses into one pill, may be a more effective way of controlling blood pressure and doing this with few side effects.
Defining The Central Role Of Podocyte Depletion In The Development, Progression And Management Of Glomerular Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$690,855.00
Summary
Podocytes are key cellular components of the kidney’s filtration barrier. Podocyte depletion (cell loss or injury) is a key event in most forms of kidney disease. We will investigate interactions between podocyte depletion and two major risk factors for kidney disease (diabetes and hypertension), assess whether podocyte depletion influences therapeutic outcomes, and commence efforts to develop podocyte-specific therapies.
Relaxin Therapy Reverses Large Artery Remodelling And Stiffening In Aged And Hypertensive Models
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$444,973.00
Summary
Hypertension and/or ageing result in morphological changes in large arteries with increased stiffness, which impacts negatively to cardiac function and increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. Currently there is no drug that can specifically and rapidly reverse the changes in large arteries. We will study a peptide hormone relaxin as a promising candidate drug in this setting. Our recent study strongly indicate the effectiveness of relaxin in softening stiffened large arteries.
Cardiac Fibrosis In Hypertensive Heart Disease: Cellular And Molecular Mechanism
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$631,979.00
Summary
Cardiac fibrosis due to excess collagen accumulation in the heart is a major cause of heart failure associated with high blood pressure and greatly increases the risk of sudden death. At present there are no effective therapies to prevent cardiac fibrosis. Understanding how fibrosis develops and identifying the cells and factors responsible will lead to development of novel therapies for cardiac fibrosis.
M2 Macrophage Polarization As A Cause Of Vascular Fibrosis And Stiffening In Hypertension
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$657,028.00
Summary
Blood vessel stiffening is a hallmark of hypertension (A.K.A. high blood pressure) and is thought to be a major contributor to the clinical complications of the condition, which include heart failure, stroke and renal impairment. Here we will test the novel concept that this stiffening process is caused by certain types of white blood cells (macrophages), which enter the walls of blood vessels and signal the surrounding cells to produce a rigid scaffolding protein called collagen.
Targeting Renal And Vascular Inflammation In Hypertension
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$781,589.00
Summary
Inflammation is a hallmark of high blood pressure (A.K.A. hypertension) and underlies clinical complications of the condition such as kidney failure and blood vessel disease. This project will investigate whether a recently described signaling complex termed the 'inflammasome' is a trigger of inflammation in hypertension in the hope of identifying it as a target for new drugs that are more effective in the treatment of hypertension and its complications.