School-based intervention to address self-regulation and executive functioning in children attending primary schools in remote Australian Aboriginal communities.

Executive functioning and self-regulation influence a range of outcomes across the life course including physical and mental health, educational success, and employment. Children prenatally exposed to alcohol or early life trauma (ELT) are at higher risk of impairment of these skills and may require intervention to address self-regulation deficits. Researchers partnered with the local Aboriginal health organization and schools to develop and pilot a manualized version of the Alert Program® in the Fitzroy Valley, north Western Australia, a region with documented high rates of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and ELT.

Nutrition Justice: Uncovering Invisible Pathways to Malnutrition.

We propose the use of the analytic frame of "nutrition justice" to reconcile the separate imperatives of Global Health for nutritional sufficiency for all, the requirement to eradicate childhood malnutrition, and the need for strategies to check the emerging pandemic of the double burden of malnutrition in the Global South. Malnutrition and its consequences of growth stunting are the result of disruption to the nutritional ecology of childhood from structural violence. This is mediated through loss of food security and perturbation to the cultural status of food, and on the prerequisites for nurture during infancy and early childhood.

Review of Aboriginal child health services in remote Western Australia identifies challenges and informs solutions.

Background: Despite a national focus on closing the gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal child health outcomes in Australia, there remain significant challenges, including provision of health services in very remote communities. We aimed to identify and map child health services in the very remote Fitzroy Valley, West Kimberley, and document barriers to effective service delivery.

Methods: Identification and review of all regional child health services and staffing in 2013.

The Marulu Strategy 2008-2012: overcoming Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) in the Fitzroy Valley.

Objective: Aboriginal leaders concerned about high rates of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) in the Fitzroy Valley, remote north-western Australia, introduced restrictions on access to take-away full-strength alcohol. Following this, Aboriginal leaders engaged strategic partners in a broader strategy to address FASD in the region. The aim of this study was to develop and implement a community-led, researcher-supported, FASD strategy.

Prevalence and profile of Neurodevelopment and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) amongst Australian Aboriginal children living in remote communities.

Background: Despite multiple risk factors for neurodevelopmental vulnerability, few studies have assessed neurodevelopmental performance of Australian Aboriginal children. An important risk factor for neurodevelopmental vulnerability is prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE), which places children at risk for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).

Aims: This study assesses neurodevelopment outcomes in a population of Australian Aboriginal children with and without PAE.

Prolonged Stay of Stroke Patients in the Emergency Department May Lead to an Increased Risk of Complications, Poor Recovery, and Increased Mortality.

Background And Aim: Following an acute stroke (AS), patients are at an increased risk of developing complications that may affect prognosis. With overcrowding in the emergency department (ED), patients stay longer hours to days before transfer to a proper stroke ward. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of increasing length of stay (LOS) in the ED on the risk of stroke-related complications.

Prevalence of fetal alcohol syndrome in a population-based sample of children living in remote Australia: the Lililwan Project.

Aim: Aboriginal leaders concerned about high rates of alcohol use in pregnancy invited researchers to determine the prevalence of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and partial fetal alcohol syndrome (pFAS) in their communities.

Methods: Population-based prevalence study using active case ascertainment in children born in 2002/2003 and living in the Fitzroy Valley, in Western Australia (April 2010-November 2011) (n = 134). Socio-demographic and antenatal data, including alcohol use in pregnancy, were collected by interview with 127/134 (95%) consenting parents/care givers.

Nutrition in early life: somatic growth and serum lipids.

This paper addresses the questions of whether early nutritional experience affects later somatic growth, the growth of the adipose tissue, or the levels of scrum lipids among well-nourished children. The analyses are based on data from three prospective studies. Postnatal nutrition and growth: there were differences in growth between breast-fed and formula-fed children.

Causes of concern in nursing homes.

I think the reasons for the upsurge in complaints about nurses in nursing homes (UKCC warns of 'immense' crisis in nursing home sector, News, February 23) are threefold: the increase in the number of homes; the fact that we now deal with social workers more, who have a different philosophy of care; and the fact that we are inspected at least twice a year by health board inspection teams.