Activated Protein C Utilises Protease Activated Receptors And Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor To Heal Wounds
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$436,882.00
Summary
Chronic leg ulcers are a major burden to the individual sufferer and to the health system. We have discovered that activated protein C (APC) potently stimulates wound healing in the laboratory and now have exciting positive results from a small pilot clinical trial showing that applying APC solution to leg ulcers also helps healing in patients. This study plans to discover how APC works at the molecular level.
Modulating Sphingolipid Signalling To Enhance Wound Healing
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$698,447.00
Summary
Impaired wound healing is a major problem for diabetics, who often suffer with chronic unresolved wounds with serious effects on their quality of life and mortality. We have recently discovered a new pathway involving sphingolipids that shows great promise to improve wound healing in diabetics. In this project we will examine the targeting of this pathway, using existing and newly developed agents, to improve wound healing in advanced pre-clinical models of diabetes.
Mechanics Of Normal And Disordered Gastric Emptying Studied Using Simultaneous Ultrasound And High Resolution Manometry
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$145,626.00
Summary
Optimal digestion and absorption relies on the stomach breaking down food and delivering it to the small intestine at an optimal rate. Abnormalities in the processes controlling the stomach's processing of food may lead to malnutrition, gastrointestinal symptoms or unpredictable drug absorption, and are commonly seen in patients with diabetes mellitus, gastrointestinal reflux disease and nonulcer dyspepsia, or following stomach surgery. Currently our understanding of the way the stomach empties ....Optimal digestion and absorption relies on the stomach breaking down food and delivering it to the small intestine at an optimal rate. Abnormalities in the processes controlling the stomach's processing of food may lead to malnutrition, gastrointestinal symptoms or unpredictable drug absorption, and are commonly seen in patients with diabetes mellitus, gastrointestinal reflux disease and nonulcer dyspepsia, or following stomach surgery. Currently our understanding of the way the stomach empties food is incomplete, and there is little information as to the mechanisms by which diseases cause abnormal stomach emptying. Recent developments in recording methods mean that we can now simultaneously measure stomach contractions, the pressures these generate and flow from the stomach. This information is synchronised and displayed for analysis using computer techniques. In this project these novel methods will be used initially to examine the normal processes by which meals with a variety of compositions and consistencies empty from the stomach. This will provide information as to which aspects of the way the stomach functions are important for breaking down food into particles, and which aspects control the flow of food from the stomach into the intestine. The mechanisms by which the rate of emptying of the stomach is controlled by feedback signals caused by the presence of foodstuffs in the small intestine will be investigated by examining the effects of infusing nutrients into the intestine on the motions of the stomach wall, pressures within the stomach and the passage of stomach contents into the small intestine. The mechanism of action of drugs and diseases which slow stomach emptying will then be examined by measuring the movements, pressures and emptying of the stomach in subjects receiving the drug, or in patients with dibetes, and comparing this information with the processes observed during normal stomach emptying.Read moreRead less
Glucose is a critical fuel for living organisms and its presence in the gut triggers nerves that slow stomach emptying. However, little is known of how glucose is actually detected in the gut. We have established that sweet taste molecules of the tongue are also present in the gut, where they may detect glucose. This research will measure the expression and function of these molecules in the gut of humans and mice, and reveal key information on their potential as targets in health and disease.
Identification Of Early Predictors Of Non-healing Venous Leg Ulcers And Development Of A Risk Assessment Tool
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$43,271.00
Summary
Venous leg ulcers make up about 70% of all chronic leg ulcers and are often debilitating. This project aims to examine the relationships between physiological and psychosocial variables in patients with chronic venous leg ulcers in relation to healing at 24 weeks thereby guiding the development of a risk assessment tool that will then be tested. Identification of risk factors for non-healing at 24 weeks would offer an opportunity for clinicians to be able to determine realistic outcomes.
Control Of Gastrointestinal Motility By Interstitial Cells And Neuronal Projections
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$845,540.00
Summary
The gastrointestinal tract moves contents along its length in an ordered manner, so allowing digestion and absorption of gut contents. These movements are controlled by the properties of the cells in the muscle layers which in part make up the wall of the gastrointestinal tract, by activity in the nerves that innervate the gut and by hormonal factors. Recently we have shown that a key part of the control system lies in a set of special cells, interstitial cells, that lie amongst the muscle cells ....The gastrointestinal tract moves contents along its length in an ordered manner, so allowing digestion and absorption of gut contents. These movements are controlled by the properties of the cells in the muscle layers which in part make up the wall of the gastrointestinal tract, by activity in the nerves that innervate the gut and by hormonal factors. Recently we have shown that a key part of the control system lies in a set of special cells, interstitial cells, that lie amongst the muscle cells. This project will determine how these cells exert their control. These cells generate large long lasting waves of voltage which flow to nearby muscle cells so causing them to contract. The first aim is to determine how the special cells generate the command signals and the second aim is to determine how the signals spread to the muscle cells. The subsequent section of the project will determine how the behavior of the cells in the gastrointestinal tract are controlled by nervous influences. Disorders of the intestine are frequent and these appear to involve disrupted muscle contraction either because the intrinsic control system is malfunctioning or because the nervous system is unable to exert its normal influence. This project will determine how the normal control system works, invariably when this has been done with other systems, disease states are easier to rectify.Read moreRead less