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Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder in the Australian Education System: Knowledge, attitudes, needs, and practicesAmy Carol Finlay-Jones Bower BPsych(Hons), MPsych(Clinical), MHealthEcon, PhD (Clin Psych) MBBS MSc PhD FAFPHM DLSHTM FPHA Head, Early
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A longitudinal examination of perinatal testosterone, estradiol and vitamin D as predictors of handedness outcomes in childhood and adolescenceThe developmental origins of handedness remain elusive, though very early emergence suggests individual differences manifesting in utero could play an important role. Prenatal testosterone and Vitamin D exposure are considered, yet findings and interpretations remain equivocal.
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A Gender Lens on User Quality Ratings From Young Teenagers Assessing the Sun Safe App: Comparing Responses From Co-researchers and Participants of Pilot Intervention StudiesWe developed the iOS smartphone app Sun Safe to support healthy sun practices in young teenagers (aged 12-13 years). The production involved co-design with young co-researchers (ie, aged 12-13 years) with a health message of using sun protection when the UV index is ≥3. Important features include real-time and location-specific weather data on the UV index and gamified educational content.
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Australian Psychologists Experiences with Digital Mental Health: a Qualitative InvestigationDigital mental health is changing the landscape of service delivery by addressing challenges associated with traditional therapy. However, practitioners’ use of these resources remains underexamined.
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Biodiesel Exhaust Toxicity with and without Diethylene Glycol Dimethyl Ether Fuel Additive in Primary Airway Epithelial Cells Grown at the Air-Liquid InterfaceBiodiesel usage is increasing steadily worldwide as the push for renewable fuel sources increases. The increased oxygen content in biodiesel fuel is believed to cause decreased particulate matter (PM) and increased nitrous oxides within its exhaust.
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The Positive Aspects of Being the Parent of a Trans Child: Findings from Trans PathwaysThe existing literature exploring the experiences of parenting a trans child tends toward reporting the challenging aspects of the parental journey. Studies also reference positive experiences such as enhanced parent-child connectedness and affirmation of personal values. Limited dedicated research focused on the positive aspects of parenting a trans child exists. We aimed to better understand positive parental experiences accordingly.
News & Events
National funding to help foster healthier food environments and fight RHDResearch teams led by The Kids Research Institute Australia have been awarded $3.75 million to support two innovative projects – one focused on pioneering a national ‘Food Atlas’ to map access to healthy and unhealthy food across the country, and the other on developing new ways to prevent Strep throat and rheuma
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Burden of drug-resistant tuberculosis among contacts of index cases: A protocol for a systematic reviewPeople having close contact with drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) patients are at increased risk of contracting and developing the disease. However, no comprehensive review has been undertaken to estimate the burden of DR-TB among contacts of DR-TB patients. Therefore, the current systematic review will quantify the prevalence and incidence of DR-TB among contacts of DR-TB patients.
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Functional validation of variants of unknown significance using CRISPR gene editing and transcriptomics: A Kleefstra syndrome case studyThere are an estimated > 400 million people living with a rare disease globally, with genetic variants the cause of approximately 80% of cases. Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) rapidly identifies genetic variants however they are often of unknown significance.
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Cancer therapies inducing DNA damageThe induction of DNA damage has been employed as an anticancer strategy for more than 100years, first starting with the use of radiation to treat stomach cancer followed by the first uses of DNA-damaging chemotherapy to treat childhood leukemia.
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Rhinoviruses A and C elicit long-lasting antibody responses with limited cross-neutralizationRhinoviruses (RVs) can cause severe wheezing illnesses in young children and patients with asthma. Vaccine development has been hampered by the multitude of RV types with little information about cross-neutralization. We previously showed that neutralizing antibody (nAb) responses to RV-C are detected twofold to threefold more often than those to RV-A throughout childhood. Based on those findings, we hypothesized that RV-C infections are more likely to induce either cross-neutralizing or longer-lasting antibody responses compared with RV-A infections.
News & Events
WA’s top health experts call for immediate action on junk food advertising on government propertyWA’s leading health agencies have joined forces to call on the State Government to immediately end junk food advertising on government property.
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Trends in sugar supply and consumption in Australia: is there an Australian Paradox?High consumption of refined carbohydrate, in particular sugar, has been identified as a possible contributory factor in greater risk of excess weight gain.
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Diet in the early years of life influences cognitive outcomes at 10 years: A prospective cohort studyThe aim of this study was to investigate the association between diet during the first 3 years of life and cognitive outcomes at 10 years of age.
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The role of nutrition in children's neurocognitive development, from pregnancy through childhoodThis review examines the current evidence for a possible connection between nutritional intake (including micronutrients and whole diet) and neurocognitive...
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Changes in dairy food and nutrient intakes in Australian adolescentsDairy nutrients, such as calcium, are particularly important in adolescence, a critical time for growth and development...
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Food variety at 2 years of age is related to duration of breastfeedingThe aim of this study was to investigate the association of breastfeeding duration and food variety at 2 years of age.
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Maternal work hours in early to middle childhood link to later adolescent diet qualityPrevious studies on maternal work hours and child diet quality have reported conflicting findings possibly due to differences in study design, lack of a...
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Maternal and umbilical cord androgen concentrations do not predict digit ratio (2D:4D) in girls:Digit ratio (2D:4D) is widely used as a marker of prenatal androgen exposure
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Hepatic iron loading in mice increases cholesterol biosynthesisIron and cholesterol are both essential metabolites in mammalian systems, and too much or too little of either can have serious clinical consequences