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Jenny Downs BApplSci (physio) MSc PhD Head, Child Disability 08 6319 1763 Jenny.Downs@thekids.org.au Head, Child Disability Areas of research
Environmental pollution has a detrimental effect on human health. Short and long-term exposure to harmful pollutants can lead to serious ailments and incurable diseases. Consequently, it is necessary to manage the environmental contaminants to mitigate or even eliminate the deleterious effects to living beings.
Nutrition is a modifiable lifestyle factor that may play a role in allergic disease prevention. This article summarizes current evidence on the antenatal diet as a consideration for strategies to prevent child food allergy. As eczema in early infancy substantially increases the risk of food allergy development, the effects of maternal dietary intakes during pregnancy on infant eczema outcomes will also be discussed.
Hospital-treated self-harm is common, costly and associated with repeated self-harm and suicide. Providing a comprehensive psychosocial assessment following self-harm is recommended by professional bodies and may improve outcomes.
Pelvic health conditions among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and men are under-recognised and under-reported despite indication of the significant burden of these conditions. Access to effective management provided in a culturally safe manner appears lacking.
Siblings of individuals with neurodevelopmental conditions (NDCs) are a minority population at higher genetic and environmental risk of poorer neurocognitive and psychosocial outcomes compared to siblings of individuals without NDCs.
Evidence suggests that children who had received an initial priming dose of whole-cell pertussis (wP) vaccine, rather than acellular pertussis (aP) vaccine, had a lower risk of developing IgE-mediated food allergy, the most common cause of anaphylaxis-related hospital presentations of childhood.
Complementary feeding induces dramatic ecological shifts in the infant gut microbiota toward more diverse compositions and functional metabolic capacities, with potential implications for immune and metabolic health. The aim of this study was to examine whether the age at which solid foods are introduced differentially affects the microbiota in predominantly breastfed infants compared with predominantly formula-fed infants.
Partial replacement of resident Aedes aegypti mosquitoes with introduced mosquitoes carrying certain strains of inherited Wolbachia symbionts can result in transmission blocking of dengue and other viruses of public health importance. Wolbachia strain wAlbB is an effective transmission blocker and stable at high temperatures, making it particularly suitable for hot tropical climates.
Multimodal modeling that combines biological and clinical data shows promise in predicting transition to psychosis in individuals who are at ultra-high risk. Individuals who transition to psychosis are known to have deficits at baseline in cognitive function and reductions in gray matter volume in multiple brain regions identified by magnetic resonance imaging.