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Research

Vaccination to prevent infectious disease is one of the most successful public health interventions ever developed. And yet, variability in individual vaccine effectiveness suggests that a better mechanistic understanding of vaccine-induced immune responses could improve vaccine design and efficacy.

Research

Neutrophils are key cells of the innate immune system. It is now understood that this leukocyte population is diverse in both the basal composition and functional plasticity. Underlying this plasticity is a post-translational framework for rapidly achieving early activation states, but also a transcriptional capacity that is becoming increasingly recognized by immunologists.

Research

Group A β-haemolytic Streptococcus (GAS), a Gram-positive bacterium, causes skin, mucosal and systemic infections. Repeated GAS infections can lead to autoimmune diseases acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia have the highest rates of ARF and RHD in the world.

Research

The bone marrow microenvironment plays a key role in leukemia progression, but its molecular complexity in pre-B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL), the most common cancer in children, remains poorly understood. To gain further insight, we used single-cell RNA sequencing to characterize the kinetics of the murine BMM during B-ALL progression.

Research

Convalescent plasma has been widely used to treat COVID-19 and is under investigation in numerous randomized clinical trials, but results are publicly available only for a small number of trials. The objective of this study was to assess the benefits of convalescent plasma treatment compared to placebo or no treatment and all-cause mortality in patients with COVID-19.

Research

Embryonal tumours with multi-layered rosettes (ETMRs) are a newly recognised, rare paediatric brain tumour with alterations of the C19MC microRNA locus. Due to varied diagnostic practices and scarce clinical data, disease features and determinants of outcomes for these tumours are poorly defined. We did an integrated clinicopathological and molecular analysis of primary ETMRs to define clinical phenotypes, and to identify prognostic factors of survival and key treatment modalities for this orphan disease.

Research

Patients with haematological malignancies, haemopoietic stem cell transplant recipients and patients requiring admission to intensive care settings are at high risk for invasive candidiasis (IC). Over the past decade, there has been increased reporting of non-albicans species and fluconazole resistance in Australia. These guidelines provide updated evidence-based recommendations for the diagnosis and management of IC in adult and paediatric haematology, oncology and intensive care settings.

Research

The concept of planetary health blurs the artificial lines between health at scales of person, place, and planet. It emphasizes the interconnected grand challenges of our time, and underscores the need for integration of biological, psychological, social, and cultural aspects of health in the modern environment. Here, in our Viewpoint article, we revisit vaccine pioneer Jonas Salk’s contention that wisdom is central to the concept of planetary health.

Research

Britta Regli-von Ungern-Sternberg AM FAHMS MD, PhD, DEAA, FANZA Chair of Paediatric anaesthesia, University of Western Australia; Consultant

Research

Current strategies to reduce cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in young adults are largely limited to those at extremes of risk. In cohort studies we have shown cluster analysis identified a large sub-group of adolescents with multiple risk factors.