Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an immune-mediated inflammatory disease of the central nervous system that results in demyelination of axons, inefficient signal transmission and reduced muscular mobility. Recent findings suggest that B cells play a significant role in disease development and pathology. To further explore this, B cell profiles in peripheral blood from 28 treatment-naive patients with early MS were assessed using flow cytometry and compared to 17 healthy controls. ...

• Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2022
• February 2022

While theory supports bidirectional effects between caregiver sensitivity and language use, and infant language acquisition-both caregiver-to-infant and also infant-to-caregiver effects-empirical research has chiefly explored the former unidirectional path. In the context of infants showing early signs of autism, we investigated prospective bidirectional associations with 6-min free-play interaction samples collected for 103 caregivers and their infants (mean age 12-months; and followed up 6-months later). ...

• Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2022
• December 2022

Previous research has highlighted children's frequent exposure to advertisements of unhealthy food and beverages on television. However, the food industry is increasingly utilising non-broadcast channels such as outdoor advertising (eg billboards, bus shelters, shop fronts) for product marketing. ...

• Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2022
• July 2022

Primary (or elementary) school teachers are often relied upon to provide children with opportunities for physical literacy development; however, many of these teachers feel they lack the skills to effectively promote or ‘teach’ physical literacy. ...

• Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2022
• July 2022

To describe trends, age, and sex-specific patterns of population hospital admissions with a diagnosis of craniosynostosis (CS) in Australia. Population data for hospital separations (in-patient) from public and private hospitals (July 1996-June 2018) were obtained from the publicly available Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) National Hospital Morbidity Database. ...

• Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2022
• February 2022

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have been vast and are not limited to physical health. Many adolescents have experienced disruptions to daily life, including changes in their school routine and family’s financial or emotional security, potentially impacting their emotional wellbeing. ...

• Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2022
• January 2022

Australia is the only developed country to consistently undertake a developmental census of its children nationwide. The repeated collection of the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) has provided an unprecedented opportunity to examine the prevalence of developmental vulnerability across Australia's states and territories, the socio-economic distribution of developmental vulnerability across jurisdictions, and how these distributions might have changed over time. ...

• Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2020
• November 2020

Bacterial and fungal microbiotas are increasingly recognized as important in health and disease starting early in life. However, microbiota composition has not yet been investigated in most rural, low-resource settings, and in such settings, bacterial and fungal microbiotas have not been compared. ...

• Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2021
• July 2021

Bullying varies in frequency, intensity, duration and hence severity, and contributes uniquely and directly to mental health problems, with severe and long-lasting consequences. Almost a half of school-age students report being bullied in the past year. ...

• Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2021
• December 2021

Cancer vaccination drives the generation of anti-tumor T cell immunity and can be enhanced by the inclusion of effective immune adjuvants such as type I interferons (IFNs). Whilst type I IFNs have been shown to promote cross-priming of T cells, the role of individual subtypes remains unclear. Here we systematically compared the capacity of distinct type I IFN subtypes to enhance T cell responses to a whole-cell vaccination strategy in a pre-clinical murine model. ...

• Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2021
• September 2021

Interventions to address alcohol use during pregnancy need to target underlying determinants of the behaviour. Using the theory of planned behaviour as a theoretical framework, the aim of this study was to identify behavioural, normative and control beliefs regarding alcohol use during pregnancy among a sample of women. ...

• Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2021
• October 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has overwhelmed health systems in both developed and developing nations alike. Africa has one of the weakest health systems globally, but there is limited evidence on how the region is prepared for, impacted by and responded to the pandemic. ...

• Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2021
• December 2021