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‘Can you sleep tonight knowing that child is going to be safe?’: Australian community organisation risk work in child protection practiceRisk averse practice has dominated the child protection field for decades, with high-profile child deaths, ever-tightening surveillance, and regulation of families. In this context, the practice of social work as ‘risk work’ including the use of risk assessment tools has been subject to substantial scholarly investigation. Less attention has been paid to the community organisations that play a central role in supporting child protection-involved parents. Based on interviews with Australian community workers, we examine their negotiation of the parent support/parent risk dichotomy.
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Rheumatic heart disease in Indigenous young peoplesIndigenous children and young peoples live with an inequitable burden of acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease. In this Review, we focus on the epidemiological burden and lived experience of these conditions for Indigenous young peoples in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. We outline the direct and indirect drivers of rheumatic heart disease risk and their mitigation.
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OPTIMUM study protocol: an adaptive randomised controlled trial of a mixed whole-cell/acellular pertussis vaccine scheduleCombination vaccines containing whole-cell pertussis antigens were phased out from the Australian national immunisation programme between 1997 and 1999 and replaced by the less reactogenic acellular pertussis (aP) antigens. In a large case-control study of Australian children born during the transition period, those with allergist diagnosed IgE-mediated food allergy were less likely to have received whole-cell vaccine in early infancy than matched population controls (OR: 0.77 (95% CI, 0.62 to 0.95)). We hypothesise that a single dose of whole-cell vaccine in early infancy is protective against IgE-mediated food allergy.
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Lower Cord Blood IL-17 and IL-25, but Not Other Epithelial Cell-Derived Cytokines Are Associated with Atopic Dermatitis in InfancyThere is a growing need for early biomarkers that may predict the development of atopic dermatitis (AD). As alterations in skin barrier may be a primary event in disease pathogenesis, epithelial cell (EC) cytokines expression patterns may be a potential biomarker in early life to target allergy preventive strategies towards "at-risk" infants. The aim of this longitudinal investigation was to examine from birth over the course of infancy levels of the EC cytokines: thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP), interleukin (IL)-33, IL-25, and IL-17 in infants at high-risk of AD due to maternal atopy.
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Do sex hormones at birth predict later-life economic preferences? Evidence from a pregnancy birth cohort study: Hormones at birth and preferencesEconomic preferences may be shaped by exposure to sex hormones around birth. Prior studies of economic preferences and numerous other phenotypic characteristics use digit ratios (2D : 4D), a purported proxy for prenatal testosterone exposure, whose validity has recently been questioned. We use direct measures of neonatal sex hormones (testosterone and oestrogen), measured from umbilical cord blood (n = 200) to investigate their association with later-life economic preferences (risk preferences, competitiveness, time preferences and social preferences) in an Australian cohort (Raine Study Gen2).
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A surveillance clinic for children and adolescents with, or at risk of, hereditary cancer predisposition syndromesHereditary cancer predisposition syndromes (HCPS) account for at least 10% of paediatric cancers.1 Li‐Fraumeni syndrome (LFS) is a dominant HCPS caused by mutations in the TP53 gene and is associated with an 80–90% lifetime risk of cancer, commencing in infancy.2 Children of affected individuals are at 50% risk of inheriting the family mutation.
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A comparison of videolaryngoscopy using standard blades or non-standard blades in children in the Paediatric Difficult Intubation RegistryThe design of a videolaryngoscope blade may affect its efficacy. We classified videolaryngoscope blades as standard and non-standard shapes to compare their efficacy performing tracheal intubation in children enrolled in the Paediatric Difficult Intubation Registry.
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Transplacental Innate Immune Training via Maternal Microbial Exposure: Role of XBP1-ERN1 Axis in Dendritic Cell Precursor ProgrammingWe recently reported that offspring of mice treated during pregnancy with the microbial-derived immunomodulator OM-85 manifest striking resistance to allergic airways inflammation, and localized the potential treatment target to fetal conventional dendritic cell (cDC) progenitors. Here, we profile maternal OM-85 treatment-associated transcriptomic signatures in fetal bone marrow, and identify a series of immunometabolic pathways which provide essential metabolites for accelerated myelopoiesis.
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Genetics, Transcriptomics and Meta-Taxonomics in Visceral LeishmaniasisVisceral leishmaniasis (VL) caused by parasites of the Leishmania donovani complex can be fatal in susceptible individuals. Understanding the interactions between host and pathogen is one way to obtain leads to develop better drugs and for vaccine development. In recent years multiple omics-based approaches have assisted researchers to gain a more global picture of this interaction in leishmaniasis. Here we review results from studies using three omics-based approaches to study VL caused by L. donovani in India.
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Type 2 diabetes in children and adolescents across Australia and New Zealand: A 6‐year audit from The Australasian Diabetes Data Network (ADDN)To assess the clinical and demographic characteristics of children and adolescents across Australia and New Zealand (NZ) with type 2 diabetes.