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Rheumatic heart disease, a major cause of morbidity and mortality in low- and middle-income countries, results from acute rheumatic fever (ARF), for which no diagnostic test currently exists. The ARF Diagnosis Collaborative Network (ARC Network) was established to address this gap by recruiting a rigorously phenotyped, globally representative cohort of children and adolescents with ARF and controls to support biomarker discovery.
Intramuscular (IM) injection of benzathine benzylpenicillin G (BPG) forms the cornerstone of acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD) secondary prophylaxis. BPG is available as either a low-cost powdered formulation or a costlier pre-filled suspension. Most of the global RHD burden lies in low- and middle-income countries, which rely on the powdered formulation.
During winter months of temperate regions, concurrent epidemics of multiple respiratory pathogens can occur, causing periods of increased clinical burden. Case time series, which are predominantly used to monitor infection levels, can exhibit substantial noise and day-of-the-week effects, limiting the visual interpretation of trends in raw data.
B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) is the most common pediatric cancer. Current therapeutic regimens have improved 5-year event-free survival rates to 90%, however clinical outcomes for high-risk subgroups, such as BCR-ABL1+ B-ALL and relapsed ALL, remain poor. In addition, 16% of newly diagnosed children with ALL present with vertebral compression fractures. Moreover, 16% of children with ALL undergoing glucocorticoid therapy also experience a high incidence of vertebral fractures, indicating that bone health may be compromised by both leukemia progression and osteotoxicity of chemotherapy.
The transition to formal schooling is a critical milestone in a child’s development. For Aboriginal children, early experiences are shaped by both cultural strengths and enduring impacts of colonisation. This study explored factors influencing Aboriginal families’ transition-to-school experiences in an urban Western Australian community.
Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major public health challenge in Ethiopia, despite being a preventable disease. TB preventive treatment (TPT) is a critical intervention to prevent the progression from latent TB infection to active disease, particularly among household contacts of TB patients and people living with HIV due to weakened immunity. However, the initiation and completion rates of TPT at subnational and local levels have not been thoroughly investigated. This study aims to map facility-based TPT initiation and completion rates among household contacts of TB across Ethiopia.
The social determinants of health, as described by the World Health Organisation (WHO), are 'the non-medical factors' that influence health outcomes. They are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life. According to the WHO, social determinants of health account for between 30-55% of health outcomes, and children can be particularly vulnerable to their impacts.
Emotional labour has long been associated with personal and organizational outcomes such as burnout. However, theoretically dichotomising regulation into surface and deep acting may constrain the ecological validity of research as iterative and person-centered approaches to emotion regulation are not considered. Furthermore, recent research suggests self-compassion and experience may predict emotional labour regulation in psychologists, but specific mechanisms accounting for this relationship are unknown.
Asha Jacinta Bernadette Bowen Walton Ricciardo BA MBBS DCH FRACP PhD GAICD FAHMS OAM MBBS (hon) DCH FACD Head, Healthy Skin and ARF Prevention
Physical activity can support physical and mental health among children living with chronic health conditions; however, programmes must be tailored to their specific needs to support participation.