Use of a quality improvement strategy to increase drug and alcohol consultation and care opportunities for mental health inpatients in rural and remote New South Wales.

Problem: Mental health inpatients have high rates of co-morbid substance use disorders which may exceed 50% in addition to the presenting complaint(s). Treating teams may prioritise, and substance use disorders are often not addressed.

Setting: Dubbo inpatient mental health units.

Assessing the Feasibility of Providing a Real-Time Response to Seizures Detected With Continuous Long-Term Neonatal Electroencephalography Monitoring.

Purpose: Continuous video electroencephalography (cEEG) monitoring is the recommended gold standard of care for at-risk neonates but is not available in many Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs). To conduct a randomized treatment trial of levetiracetam for the first-line treatment of neonatal seizures (the NEOLEV2 trial), we developed a monitoring infrastructure at five NICUs, implementing recent technological advancements to provide continuous video EEG monitoring and real-time response to seizure detection. Here, we report on the feasibility of providing this level of care.

Earlier Menarche Is Associated with Lower Insulin Sensitivity and Increased Adiposity in Young Adult Women.

Objective: We aimed to assess whether age at menarche was associated with insulin sensitivity in young adult women.

Methods: We studied 54 healthy young women aged 20-30 years. Participants were grouped according to age at menarche: Early (≤11.

Decreasing birth weight is associated with adverse metabolic profile and lower stature in childhood and adolescence.

Objective: We aimed to evaluate the association of birth weight SDS with insulin resistance, blood pressure, and auxology in children and adolescents born 23-42 weeks of gestation.

Methods: We studied 143 singleton children and adolescents aged 9.3 ± 3.

Collaborating in healthcare delivery: exploring conceptual differences at the "bedside".

Calls for greater collaboration amongst health professionals and for programmes to support this are not new, nor are they likely to diminish. While various interventions have been adopted to improve collaboration, the literature suggests that these have neither been well-informed with a strong conceptual base nor have they accounted for the context in which the health professionals work. In this study, interviews of senior doctors and nurses in two hospital-based services explored experiences of interprofessional collaboration and the processes involved.

Factors associated with consistent contraception and condom use among Māori secondary school students in New Zealand.

Aims: The aims of this study are to provide a profile of sexual health behaviours of Māori youth and to identify factors associated with consistent condom and contraception use.

Methods: Multivariable analyses were conducted to determine relationships between consistent contraception and condom use among all 2059 sexually active Māori participants in the 2007 New Zealand youth health and well-being survey of secondary school students.

Results: Forty per cent of Māori students were currently sexually active; of these, 55.

New light through old windows: nurses, colonists and indigenous survival.

The aim of this study was to explore the influences, processes and environments that shaped the practice of European nurses for indigenous New Zealand (NZ) Māori communities who were being overwhelmed by introduced infectious diseases. Historical data were accessed from multiple archival sources and analysed through the lens of colonial theory. Through their work early last century, NZ nurses actively gained professional status and territory through their work with Māori.

Cortisol response to synacthen stimulation is attenuated following abusive head trauma.

Background: Child abuse and other early-life environmental stressors are known to affect the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. We sought to compare synacthen-stimulated cortisol responses in children who suffered inflicted or accidental traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Methods: Children with a history of early-childhood TBI were recruited from the Starship Children's Hospital database (Auckland, New Zealand, 1992-2010).

Permanent hypopituitarism is rare after structural traumatic brain injury in early childhood.

Background: We sought to determine the incidence of permanent hypopituitarism in a potentially high-risk group: young children after structural traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study with longitudinal follow-up. Dynamic tests of pituitary function (GH and ACTH) were performed in all subjects and potential abnormalities critically evaluated.

Preterm birth and the endocrine regulation of growth in childhood and adolescence.

Objective: Poor growth during childhood is a common problem associated with preterm birth, but few studies have examined the associations between linear growth, weight and body composition with the postnatal hormonal milieu in preterm children. We aimed to define the IGF-IGFBP axis in preterm children and its association with growth.

Design And Patients: A cohort of healthy 2- to 20-year-old subjects who were born prematurely (<37 weeks gestation) and experienced normal neurological development were recruited.