Reports and Findings

Research

Early motor impairments have been reported in children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD), but it is not clear if early detection of motor impairments can identify children at risk for NDD or how early such impairments might be detected. Our aim was to characterize early motor function in children later diagnosed with NDD relative to typically developing children or normative data.

Research

Adult pertussis vaccination is increasingly recommended to control pertussis in the community. However, there is little data on the duration and kinetics of immunity to pertussis boosters in adults. We compared IgG responses to vaccination with a tetanus, low-dose diphtheria, low-dose acellular pertussis (Tdap) booster at 1 week, 1 month and 1 year post-vaccination in whole-cell (wP)-primed Australian paediatric healthcare workers who had received an adult Tdap booster 5-12 years previously, to those who received their first Tdap booster. Tdap vaccination was well tolerated in both groups.

Research

SPARX is a computerized cognitive behavioral therapy self-help program for adolescent depression that is freely available in New Zealand. At registration, users identify themselves as either male, female, intersex, or transgender. We aimed to describe the mental health of adolescent intersex users. A secondary analysis of SPARX usage data over 5 years.

Research

Risk-based recommendations are common for pneumococcal vaccines but little is known about their uptake. In Australia, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) was funded only for Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) children and those with underlying medical conditions in 2001, and then there were different booster dose recommendations depending on risk after the introduction of universal PCV vaccination in 2005.

Research

Seizures, whether febrile or afebrile, occurring within 14 days following vaccination can be considered as vaccine proximate seizures (VPSs). While the attributable risk and clinical severity of first febrile VPS is well known, the risk and clinical outcomes of VPS recurrence is less well defined. We conducted a retrospective review of revaccination management and outcomes in children who experienced a VPS as their first seizure seen in Australian Specialist Immunisation Clinics between 2013 and 2017. Vaccination outcomes were compared between children who had a VPS as their only seizure (VPS only) and children who had further non-vaccine proximate seizures following their initial VPS (VPS+) prior to review at the clinic.

Research

Mounting epidemiological evidence suggests an association between prenatal tobacco exposure and an increased risk of tobacco smoking in offspring. However, it is uncertain whether the association is due to the intrauterine or shared environmental exposures. Study participants were from the Raine Study, a prospective birth cohort study based in Perth, Western Australia (N = 2730). Tobacco smoking in adolescents, at age 17 years, was measured using a self-reported questionnaire. Log-binomial regression was used to estimate the relative risks (RRs) of tobacco smoking in offspring exposed to maternal prenatal tobacco use during the first and third trimesters of pregnancy. We have also calculated the E-values to investigate the potential effect of unmeasured confounding. Paternal smoking during pregnancy was used as a negative control for comparison.

Research

The use of three-dimensional printing in chemistry education has expanded greatly in the past 10 years. The technique has been used to demonstrate a range of concepts including molecular structure, orbitals, and point groups; to produce chemical equipment such as cuvettes and columns; and even to print out mathematical shapes and functions. Here, 3D printing is used to create physical models of two-dimensional NMR spectra and HPLC chromatograms to facilitate student understanding of these challenging concepts.

Research

In this cohort, as compared with the AREST CF cohort, the authors highlight the limited correlation between infection and inflammation with lung function and structural impairment, and that this was mainly explained by the mild changes identified in lung function and on chest CT scan.

Research

The marine transaminase, P-ω-TA, can be employed for the transamination from 1-aminotetralins and 1-aminoindanes with differentiation of stereochemistry at both the site of reaction and at a remote stereocentre resulting in formation of ketone products with up to 93% ee. While 4-substituents are tolerated on the tetralin core, the presence of 3- or 8-substituents is not tolerated by the transaminase.

Research

At the end of 2019 and into 2020, catastrophic fires in Australia consumed homes, lives, wildlife, and land. Just as the fires subsided, Australia, like the rest of the world, faced another emergency—the COVID-19 pandemic. It is instructive to reflect on lessons from the health disasters of the past year. Following publication of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change, the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA)–Lancet Australian Countdown was published in December, 2020. This annual report on health and climate change in Australia is in its third year and comprises the efforts of five Australian institutions, in collaboration with University College London, UK, facilitated by a partnership between The Lancet and the MJA.