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Research

Fiona Pete Stanley Azzopardi FAA FASSA MSc MD FFPHM FAFPHM FRACP FRANZCOG HonDSc HonDUniv HonFRACGP HonMD HonFRCPCH HonLLB (honoris causa) PhD, FRACP

Research

Vitamin D research can vary geographically, as vitamin D status is influenced by latitude, season, dietary intake, body mass index, ethnicity, and public health initiatives. Over the last two decades, research on vitamin D has increased in Australia, where the potential for sun exposure (a major source of vitamin D) is high. We aimed to identify key topics and gaps in vitamin D research in Australia using a data-driven approach.

Research

While advancements in the treatment of diabetes continue to rapidly evolve, many of the newer technologies have financial barriers to care, opposing the egalitarian ethos of Banting who sold his patent on insulin for a nominal cost to allow it to be made widely available. Inequity in access to new therapies drives disparity in diabetes burden with potential for these gaps to widen in the future.

Research

Cow's milk allergy is rare in exclusively breastfed infants. To support the continuation of breastfeeding an infant after diagnosis with a cow's milk allergy, it is critical to examine the evidence for and against any form of cow's milk elimination diet for lactating mothers. In this narrative review, we highlight the lack of high-quality evidence, hence subsequent controversy, regarding whether the minuscule quantities of cow's milk proteins detectable in human milk cause infant cow's milk allergy symptoms.

Research

Following the introduction of jurisdictional maternal pertussis vaccination programs in Australia, we estimated maternal vaccine effectiveness (VE) and whether maternal pertussis vaccination modified the effectiveness of the first 3 primary doses of pertussis-containing vaccines.

Research

A mother's diet during pregnancy may influence her infant's immune development. However, as potential interactions between components of our dietary intakes can make any nutritional analysis complex, here we took a multi-component dietary analysis approach.

Research

Alcohol consumption in pregnancy can affect genome regulation in the developing offspring but results have been contradictory. We employed a physiologically relevant murine model of short-term moderate prenatal alcohol exposure resembling common patterns of alcohol consumption in pregnancy in humans. 

Research

Growing up in socioeconomic disadvantage increases risk of peer bullying at school. Both socioeconomic status and involvement in bullying are predictive of a range of adverse developmental outcomes. However, neither (a) the mechanisms whereby disadvantage increases bullying risk nor (b) the developmental outcomes for which bullying may mediate disadvantage are clear. 

Research

Sexuality- and gender-diverse (SGD) young people experience substantial health disparities relative to cisgender heterosexual peers. Little is known about SGD adolescents younger than 15 years.

Research

Meningococcal serogroup B (MenB) strains are highly diverse. Breadth of immune response for the MenB vaccine, 4CMenB, administered at 0-2, 0-6, or 0-2-6 months, was demonstrated by endogenous complement-human serum bactericidal antibody (enc-hSBA) assay against an epidemiologically relevant panel of 110 MenB strains.