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Research

Households are known to be high-risk locations for the transmission of communicable diseases. Numerous modelling studies have demonstrated the important role of households in sustaining both communicable diseases outbreaks and endemic transmission, and as the focus for control efforts. However, these studies typically assume that households are associated with a single dwelling and have static membership.

Research

Peanut allergy is the the most common cause of life-threatening food-induced anaphylaxis. There is currently no effective long-term treatment. There is a pressing need for definitive treatments that improve the quality of life and prevent fatalities. Allergen oral immunotherapy (OIT) is a promising approach, which is effective at inducing desensitisation; however, OIT has a limited ability to induce sustained unresponsiveness (SU).

Research

Australia is the only developed country to consistently undertake a developmental census of its children nationwide. The repeated collection of the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) has provided an unprecedented opportunity to examine the prevalence of developmental vulnerability across Australia's states and territories, the socio-economic distribution of developmental vulnerability across jurisdictions, and how these distributions might have changed over time.

Research

Aminoglycosides are commonly prescribed to children with febrile neutropenia (FN) but their impact on clinical outcomes is uncertain and extent of guideline compliance is unknown. We aimed to review aminoglycoside prescription and additional antibiotic prescribing, guideline compliance and outcomes for children with FN.

Research

Fetal exposure to maternal smoking during pregnancy is associated with the development of noncommunicable diseases in the offspring. Maternal smoking may induce such long-term effects through persistent changes in the DNA methylome, which therefore hold the potential to be used as a biomarker of this early life exposure. With declining costs for measuring DNA methylation, we aimed to develop a DNA methylation score that can be used on adolescent DNA methylation data and thereby generate a score for in utero cigarette smoke exposure.

Research

The cloning of herpesviruses as bacterial artificial chromosomes (BAC) has revolutionized the study of herpesvirus biology, allowing rapid and precise manipulation of viral genomes. Several clinical strains of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) have been cloned as BACs; however, no low-passage strains of murine CMV, which provide a model mimicking these isolates, have been cloned. Here, the low-passage G4 strain of was BAC cloned. G4 carries an m157 gene that does not ligate the natural killer cell-activating receptor, Ly49H, meaning that unlike laboratory strains of MCMV, this virus replicates well in C57BL/6 mice.

Research

Prenatal exposure to ambient air pollution and extreme temperatures are among the major risk factors of adverse birth outcomes and with potential long-term effects during the life course. Although low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are most vulnerable, there is limited synthesis of evidence in such settings. This document describes a protocol for both an umbrella review (Systematic Review 1) and a focused systematic review and meta-analysis of studies from LMICs (Systematic Review 2).

Research

Many children with intellectual disability live with medical comorbidities. This study examined the impacts of comorbidities on quality of life (QOL) of children with intellectual disabilities and whether impacts varied with caregiver perceptions that medical needs had been met.

Research

High risk for virus-induced asthma exacerbations in children is associated with an IRF7lo immunophenotype, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. Here, we applied a Systems Biology approach to an animal model comprising rat strains manifesting high versus low susceptibility to experimental asthma, induced by virus/allergen coexposure, to elucidate the mechanism(s)-of-action of the high-risk asthma immunophenotype.

Research

There is no consensus on how best to measure responses to interventions among children and adults with cystic fibrosis (CF). We have systematically reviewed and summarised the characteristics and measurement properties of tests and tools that have been used to capture outcomes in studies among people with CF, including their reliability, validity and responsiveness. This review is intended to guide researchers when selecting tests or tools for measuring treatment effects in CF trials. A consensus set of these tests and tools could improve consistency in how outcomes are captured and thereby facilitate comparisons and synthesis of evidence across studies.