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Britta Regli-von Ungern-Sternberg AM FAHMS MD, PhD, DEAA, FANZA Chair of Paediatric anaesthesia, University of Western Australia; Consultant
We compared early vocal development in children "at risk" for cerebral palsy (CP) with typically developing (TD) infants aged 6 to 15 months using the SAEVD-R, investigating potential pre-linguistic markers of communication impairment. Additionally, we sought to examine the agreement between the SAEVD-R and IMP, which uses parent report, in identifying departure from typical vocal development in at-risk infants.
Fidgety movements occur in infants between the age of 9 to 20 weeks post-term, and their absence are a strong indicator that an infant has cerebral palsy. Prechtl's General Movement Assessment method evaluates whether an infant has fidgety movements, but requires a trained expert to conduct it. Timely evaluation facilitates early interventions, and thus computer-based methods have been developed to aid domain experts.
In the last decade, reduction in adolescent fertility rates in Indonesia has slowed despite national programmes and policies focused on addressing child marriage. Indonesia currently has the highest number of births to adolescent girls aged 15-19 years in Southeast Asia. There is a need to develop a more nuanced understanding of the drivers of adolescent pregnancy in Indonesia to inform programmes and policies tailored to young people's needs and priorities.
Half of all pregnancies at risk of malaria worldwide occur in the Asia-Pacific region, where Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax co-exist. Despite substantial reductions in transmission, malaria remains an important cause of adverse health outcomes for mothers and offspring, including pre-eclampsia. Malaria transmission is heterogeneous, and infections are commonly subpatent and asymptomatic.
The European Respiratory Society Oscillometry Taskforce identified that clinical correlates of bronchodilator responses are needed to advance oscillometry in clinical practice. The understanding of bronchodilator-induced oscillometry changes in preterm lung disease is poor. Here we describe a comparison of bronchodilator assessments performed using oscillometry and spirometry in a population born very preterm and explore the relationship between bronchodilator-induced changes in respiratory function and clinical outcomes.
The impact of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) on pneumonia in children is well-documented but data on 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV23) are lacking. Between 2001 and 2011, Indigenous children in Western Australia (WA) were recommended to receive PPV23 at 18-24 months of age following 3 doses of 7-valent PCV. We evaluated the incremental effectiveness of PPV23 against pneumonia hospitalisation.
Influenza and COVID-19 infections during pregnancy may have serious adverse consequences for women as well as their infants. However, uptake of influenza and COVID-19 vaccines during pregnancy remains suboptimal. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of a multi-component nudge intervention to improve influenza and COVID-19 vaccine uptake among pregnant women.
Fasting for surgery is a routine step in the preoperative preparation for surgery. There have however been increasing concerns with regard to the high incidence of prolonged fasting in children, and the subsequent psycho-social distress and physiological consequences that this poses.
Young people who have had contact with the criminal justice system are at increased risk of early death, especially from injuries. However, deaths due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in this population remain poorly described. We aimed to estimate mortality due to NCDs in people with a history of involvement with the youth justice system, compare NCD mortality rates in this population with those in the general population, and characterise demographic and justice-related factors associated with deaths caused by NCDs in people with a history of contact with the youth justice system.