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Research

Rheumatic heart disease is the largest contributor to cardiac-related mortality in children worldwide. Outcomes in endemic settings after its antecedent illness, acute rheumatic fever, are not well understood. We aimed to describe 3-5 year mortality, acute rheumatic fever recurrence, changes in carditis, and correlates of mortality after acute rheumatic fever. 

Research

Dissociative symptoms are linked to experiences of trauma, often originating in childhood and adolescence. Dissociative disorders are associated with a high burden of illness and a poor quality of life. Despite evidence suggesting that early intervention can improve outcomes, little research exists on the treatment of dissociative disorders in childhood and adolescence.

Research

We tested the potential for Gazefinder eye-tracking to support early autism identification, including feasible use with infants, and preliminary concurrent validity of trial-level gaze data against clinical assessment scores. We embedded the ~ 2-min 'Scene 1S4' protocol within a comprehensive clinical assessment for 54 consecutively-referred, clinically-indicated infants (prematurity-corrected age 9-14 months).

Research

Aneuploidies, and in particular, trisomies represent the most common genetic aberrations observed in human genetics today. To explore the presence of trisomies in historic and prehistoric populations we screen nearly 10,000 ancient human individuals for the presence of three copies of any of the target autosomes. We find clear genetic evidence for six cases of trisomy 21 (Down syndrome) and one case of trisomy 18 (Edwards syndrome), and all cases are present in infant or perinatal burials.

Research

Consistent with the principles of differential privacy protection, the Australian Bureau of Statistics artificially perturbs all count data from the Australian Census prior to its release to researchers through the TableBuilder platform. This perturbation involves the addition of random noise to every non-zero cell count followed by the suppression of small values to zero.

Research

Cough is the most common symptom leading to medical consultation. Chronic cough results in significant health care costs, impairs quality of life, and may indicate the presence of a serious underlying condition. Here, we present a summary of an updated position statement on cough management in the clinical consultation. 

Research

Previous research has focused on identifying the association between moral dimension and bullying behavior, with an emphasis on better understanding the complex processes that children and adolescents trigger during decision-making in immoral situations. However, advances in research on morality and bullying have not been paralleled by the design of intervention programs that promote moral competence. The aim of this chapter is to analyze the moral dimension as a key intervention in the design of holistic models for preventing bullying and promoting defending.

Research

Whānau Pakari is a healthy lifestyle assessment and intervention programme for children and adolescents with obesity in Taranaki (Aotearoa/New Zealand), which, in this region, replaced the nationally funded Green Prescription Active Families (GRxAF) programme. 

Research

The usual output following health consultations from paediatric services is a clinical letter to the referring professional or primary care provider, with a copy sent to the patient's caregiver. There is little research on how patients and caregivers perceive the letter content.

Research

Despite vaccination, influenza and otitis media (OM) remain leading causes of illness. We previously found that the human respiratory commensal Haemophilus haemolyticus prevents bacterial infection in vitro and that the related murine commensal Muribacter muris delays OM development in mice. The observation that M muris pretreatment reduced lung influenza titer and inflammation suggests that these bacteria could be exploited for protection against influenza/OM.