Research Publications
Our primary focus at The Baird Institute is to encourage and fund research to improve the surgical outcomes and quality of life for patients facing heart or lung surgery. The funds we raise go directly to research that improves the surgical procedures associated with heart and lung surgery. Improvements can include less intrusive procedures as well as techniques that improve survival rates.
Below you will find a list of publications that our surgeons and research fellows have been involved in writing.
Association between obstructive sleep apnea and thoracic aortic diameter: a cross-sectional study in a clinical sample
Study objectives: Previous studies have suggested that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may be associated with aortic dilatation. We aimed to further characterize the association between OSA severity with thoracic aortic diameter. Methods: We evaluated 1,470 patients attending an Australian clinic during 2014-2023 and who underwent transthoracic echocardiogram followed by polysomnographic study in the following 6 months (43.7%…
Human Hearts Intrinsically Increase Cardiomyocyte Mitosis After Myocardial Infarction
Background: Myocardial infarction (MI) is a leading cause of death worldwide and can eliminate up to a third of the cardiomyocytes within the human heart. Although cardiomyocytes undergo mitosis during early development, most cardiomyocytes cease cell cycling soon after birth. In contrast, rodent MI models have shown that cardiomyocytes increase mitosis in response to ischemia; however,…
Platelet derived growth factor-AB modulates post-infarct myocardium leading to extended improvement in cardiac function
Myocardial infarction (MI) contributes to significant morbidity and mortality globally. Platelet derived growth factor-AB (PDGF-AB) is potentially a novel translational therapeutic for improving cardiac function post-MI, which we assess here using a 60 day porcine left anterior descending artery occlusion ischemia-reperfusion model. MI was induced in 10 female Landrace swine, with 5 controls, 5 receiving…
The Human Cardiac “Age-OME”: Age-Specific Changes in Myocardial Molecular Expression
Ageing is one of the most significant risk factors for heart disease; however, it is still not clear how the human heart changes with age. Taking advantage of a unique set of pre-mortem, cryopreserved, non-diseased human hearts, we performed omics analyses (transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and lipidomics), coupled with biologically informed computational modelling in younger (≤…
Endo-Aortic Balloon Occlusion versus Transthoracic Clamping in Minimally Invasive Mitral Valve Surgery.
Objectives: The present study compared the clinical outcome between endo-aortic balloon occlusion (EABO) and transthoracic clamping (TTC) in patients undergoing minimally invasive mitral valve surgery (MIMVS). Methods: All patients from the Mini-Mitral International Registry undergoing MIMVS were primarily considered for study inclusion. One-to-one nearest neighbour propensity score matching considering clinically relevant baseline covariates. The matched cohort was…
Transcriptional, proteomic and metabolic drivers of cardiac regeneration
Following injury, many organs are capable of rapid regeneration of necrotic tissue to regain normal function. In contrast, the damaged heart typically replaces tissue with a collagen-rich scar, due to the limited regenerative capacity of its functional contractile cardiomyocytes (CMs). However, this regenerative capacity varies dramatically during development and between species. Furthermore, studies have shown…
Left ventricular myocardial molecular profile of human diabetic ischaemic cardiomyopathy
Ischaemic cardiomyopathy is the most common cause of heart failure and often coexists with diabetes mellitus, which worsens patient symptom burden and outcomes. Yet, their combined effects are seldom investigated and are poorly understood. To uncover the influencing molecular signature defining ischaemic cardiomyopathy with diabetes, we performed multi-omic analyses of ischaemic and non-ischaemic cardiomyopathy with…
Sheep femoral artery occlusion is well tolerated and does not result in ischemia
Objective: Sheep are commonly used as large animal pre-clinical models for investigating cardiovascular therapies, interventions, anatomy and physiology. Further, novel small diameter vascular grafts are frequently tested via implantation into sheep carotid arteries (CAs). This is because, unlike humans, acute occlusion of one or both sheep CAs is not associated with morbidity or mortality and thus…
