Menzies School of Health Research

CINCINNATI, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A collaborative network led by Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center has received an $8 million grant from the Leducq Foundation to fund a project that will look to identify and validate biomarkers for acute rheumatic fever (ARF). These biomarkers will serve as a basis for the world's first sensitive and specific diagnostic test for ARF, which initiates a slow but progressive process of heart valve damage dubbed rheumatic heart disease. "Despite the high burden of rheumatic heart disease in most low and middle-income countries, rheumatic fever has been incredibly challenging to diagnose," said Andrea Beaton, MD, pediatric cardiologist at Cincinnati Children's and lead researcher for this project. "The symptoms of ARF overlap with other common childhood illnesses and lack of a single, easy-to-deploy diagnostic test further hampers diagnosis." Beaton published research in August 2021 detailing, for the first time, the incidence of ARF in sub-Saharan Africa. Her study employed a novel approach of wide-spread community and healthcare worker sensitization to increase referrals for possible ARF. The collaboration of researchers – dubbed the Acute Rheumatic Fever Diagnosis Collaborative (ARC) Network – represents experts[1] from six continents who specialize in bacterial pathogenesis, immunology, genetics, system biology, bioinformatics, and epidemiology as well as clinicians living and working in low- and middle-income countries across four continents where RHD remains endemic. These investigators have a strong track record of successful and productive collaboration, with more than 150 co-authored publications on ARF and RHD. "The ARC Network brings together an incredible group of global experts who will utilize modern scientific methods to identify a diagnostic test for rheumatic fever," said Beaton. "Our work has the potential to transform the way we diagnose rheumatic fever globally and to help uncover new targets for prevention and treatment." ARC expects their discoveries over the next five years to modernize ARF diagnosis and establish a robust platform for future research into the disease. These discoveries will ensure higher quality epidemiological surveillance, inform vaccine safety and trials, and help innovate new strategies for ARF prevention and treatment. [1] ARC members represent: Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, The Federal University of Minas Gerais, State Children's Hospital, Menzies School of Health, Charles Darwin University, Tidzewe Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children's Hospital, The Children's Hospital and Institute of Child Health Lahore, Children's National Medical Centre, The Uganda Heart Institute, Telethon Kids Institute, Perth Children's Hospital, Mulago National Referral Hospital, The University of Auckland, Imperial College London, Biotome, Sanquin, The University of British Columbia, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, The University of Queensland, The University of Cape Town, Hudson Institute of Medical Research, University of Melbourne, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, The Ryal Children's Hospital, and the Center of Disease Control. SOURCE Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

The Australian government has set aside a combined investment of AU$12.9 million ($9.78 million) in seven research projects that leverage data to enhance the primary care system in the country. WHY IT MATTERS The 2020 Primary Healthcare Research Data Infrastructure grants support projects to improve residential aged care, urban and rural general practitioner-led practices, Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations and other health professionals such as nurses, midwives, allied health, pharmacists and dentists. Among the seven projects, the South Australian Health Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), an independent research institute based in Adelaide, will receive AU$2 million ($1.5 million) for its Registry of Senior Australians (ROSA) project. According to a statement by Health Minister Greg Hunt, SAHMRI wants to expand the registry to "understand emerging issues" and continue researching on "key and currently unknown" residential aged care impacts. It will use new data gathered on immunisation, rehabilitation and social welfare to further research and "embed ROSA as the only national data solution for policy and practice change in residential aged care". ROSA's model collates diverse datasets from different organisations across Australia to form a "whole picture of the ageing pathway". Monash University is also receiving AU$2 million ($1.5 million) for its upcoming digital health solution providing "critical" information during the transfer of people living in residential aged care. In a separate statement , Nadine Andrew, an associate professor from Monash University's Peninsula Clinical School, noted the "lack of coordination" of residential aged care residents' data. The COVID-19 pandemic, in particular, hastened their movement between care institutions "with little or no accompanying information". Given that, the project aims to "transform primary care data for aged care residents in a way that can be commonly understood by a range of end-users," Andrew said. The University of Adelaide, meanwhile, will also get AU$2 million ($1.5 million) for its Imagendo project to benefit women and girls with endometriosis. Powered by AI, the project will use ultrasound and MRI imaging to create diagnostic algorithms that can estimate in real-time the likelihood of a patient having endometriosis. Other institutions receiving government grants for their research include: The University of Queensland for a project improving surveillance infrastructure for indigenous primary health care; The University of Melbourne for its Platform to Enhance Prostate Cancer Shared Care Integration; Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Services for a collaborative project that will create the Kimberley Health Evidence Data Platform; and Menzies School of Health Research for its research titled "Territory Integrated Care: Primary health data Linkage Using Software". THE LARGER TREND The Primary Healthcare Research Data Infrastructure grants are provided under the federal government's Medical Research Future Fund (MMFF), which was established in 2015. The fund provides support in four research areas: patients, researchers, research missions and research translation, under which are 20 initiatives . Earlier this month, the government reported that it has set aside AU$11.7 million in five medical research projects to help reduce medication harm . Also recently, a team of researchers from the University of Western Australia received a grant under the MMFF to develop an AI-based tool that can predict the risk of coronary heart disease from heart CT scans.