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Research

As both mechanistic and geospatial malaria modeling methods become more integrated into malaria policy decisions, there is increasing demand for strategies that combine these two methods. This paper introduces a novel archetypes-based methodology for generating high-resolution intervention impact maps based on mechanistic model simulations. An example configuration of the framework is described and explored.

Research

Group A Streptococcus (GAS) causes pharyngitis (sore throat) and impetigo (skin sores) GAS pharyngitis triggers rheumatic fever (RF) with epidemiological evidence supporting that GAS impetigo may also trigger RF in Australian Aboriginal children. Understanding the concurrent burden of these superficial GAS infections is critical to RF prevention. This pilot study aimed to trial tools for concurrent surveillance of sore throats and skins sore for contemporary studies of RF pathogenesis including development of a sore throat checklist for Aboriginal families and pharynx photography.

Research

Pneumonia remains a leading cause of hospitalization and death among young children worldwide, and the diagnostic challenge of differentiating bacterial from non-bacterial pneumonia is the main driver of antibiotic use for treating pneumonia in children. Causal Bayesian networks (BNs) serve as powerful tools for this problem as they provide clear maps of probabilistic relationships between variables and produce results in an explainable way by incorporating both domain expert knowledge and numerical data.

Research

COVID-19 is a new multi-organ disease causing considerable worldwide morbidity and mortality. While many recognized pathophysiological mechanisms are involved, their exact causal relationships remain opaque. Better understanding is needed for predicting their progression, targeting therapeutic approaches, and improving patient outcomes. While many mathematical causal models describe COVID-19 epidemiology, none have described its pathophysiology.

Research

Biodiesel, which can be made from a variety of natural oils, is currently promoted as a sustainable, healthier replacement for commercial mineral diesel despite little experimental data supporting this. The aim of our research was to investigate the health impacts of exposure to exhaust generated by the combustion of diesel and two different biodiesels.

Research

The assessment of sleep biomechanics (comprising movement and position during sleep) is of interest in a wide variety of clinical and research settings. However, there is no standard method by which sleep biomechanics are measured. This study aimed to (1) compare the intra- and inter-rater reliability of the current clinical standard, manually coded overnight videography, and (2) compare sleep position recorded using overnight videography to sleep position recorded using the XSENS DOT wearable sensor platform.

Research

For children with cerebral palsy (CP), who are marginally ambulant, gross motor capacity peaks between 6 and 7 years of age with a subsequent clinical decline, impacting their ability to engage in physical activity. Active Strides-CP is a novel package of physiotherapy targeting body functions, activity and participation outcomes for children with bilateral CP. This study will compare Active Strides-CP to usual care in a multisite randomised waitlist-controlled trial.

Research

Despite their increasing popularity, and Australia's unique regulatory environment, how and why Australian adults use e-cigarettes and their perceptions of their safety, efficacy and regulation have not been extensively reported before. In this study, we screened 2217 adult Australians with the aim of assessing these questions in a sample of current or former e-cigarette users.

Research

We investigated the effects of cause of death and the presence of prolonged grief disorder on eliciting public stigma toward the bereaved.

Research

In Australia, gonococcal isolates are monitored for antimicrobial susceptibilities. In Western Australia, gonorrhoea notification rates increased by 63 % between 2013 and 2016, with the steepest increase occurring between 2015 and 2016, before stabilizing at this higher baseline between 2017 and 2020. This increased prevalence was associated with antimicrobial-susceptible lineages.