Dietary patterns and markers for the metabolic syndrome in Australian adolescents.

Background And Aims: Overweight and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) as well as their clustering, are increasingly prevalent among adolescents. We examined dietary patterns, CVD risk factors, and the clustering of these risk factors in 1139 14-year-olds living in Western Australia.

Methods And Results: Usual dietary intake was assessed using a food frequency questionnaire.

Autism spectrum disorders in young children: effect of changes in diagnostic practices.

Background: It is unclear whether the increase in autism over the past two decades is a real increase or due to changes in diagnosis and ascertainment of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), which include autism, Asperger syndrome and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS). The aim of this study was to examine the trends in ASD over time in Western Australia (WA) and the possible effects and contribution of changes in diagnostic criteria, age at diagnosis, eligibility for service provision based on ASD diagnoses and changes in diagnostic practices.

Methods: A population-based study was conducted among the cohort of children born in WA between 1983 and 1999 and diagnosed with ASD between the age of 2 and 8 years up to December 31, 2004.

Elucidation of asthma phenotypes in atopic teenagers through parallel immunophenotypic and clinical profiling.

Background: Current treatment strategies for asthma in teenagers derive primarily from information on chronic disease in adults. More detailed understanding of risk factors related to teenage asthma might aid in the development of improved preventive and treatment strategies for this age group.

Objective: We sought to identify biomarkers associated with asthma phenotypes in teenagers, particularly atopic asthma, and to identify markers that aid in discriminating between atopic subjects at high versus low risk of asthma.

Bronchiectasis in infants and preschool children diagnosed with cystic fibrosis after newborn screening.

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of bronchiectasis in young children with cystic fibrosis (CF) diagnosed after newborn screening (NBS) and the relationship of bronchiectasis to pulmonary inflammation and infection.

Study Design: Children were diagnosed with CF after NBS. Computed tomography and bronchoalveolar lavage were performed with anesthesia (n = 96).

The reliability of a food frequency questionnaire for use among adolescents.

Background: Accurate measurement of dietary intake is essential for understanding the long-term effects of adolescent diet on chronic disease risk. However, adolescents may have limited food knowledge and ability to quantify portion sizes and recall dietary intake. Therefore, food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) deemed appropriate for use among adults may not be suitable for adolescents.

Fetal growth and risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia: results from an Australian case-control study.

The relation between intrauterine growth and risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia was investigated in an Australian population-based case-control study that included 347 cases and 762 controls aged <15 years recruited from 2003 to 2006. Information on proportion of optimal birth weight, a measure of the appropriateness of fetal growth, was collected from mothers by questionnaire. Data were analyzed by using logistic regression.

The association between dietary patterns and mental health in early adolescence.

Objective: To investigate the associations between dietary patterns and mental health in early adolescence.

Method: The Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study is a prospective study of 2900 pregnancies recruited from 1989-1992. At 14 years of age (2003-2006; n=1324), the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) was used to assess behaviour (characterising mental health status), with higher scores representing poorer behaviour.

Impact of scoliosis surgery on activities of daily living in females with Rett syndrome.

Background: Scoliosis is a common orthopaedic complication of Rett syndrome, and surgery is commonly used to reduce asymmetry in cases with severe scoliosis.

Methods: Data from questionnaires administered to caregivers biennially from 2000 to 2006 were used to describe functional skill levels in subjects with Rett syndrome, and within-subject change in 16 subjects with scoliosis surgery were compared with within-subject change in 186 pairs of data from 86 subjects with conservatively managed scoliosis. Postsurgical assessment was conducted after a mean of 17.

Twins born following assisted reproductive technology: perinatal outcome and admission to hospital.

Background: Compared with spontaneously conceived (SC) singletons, adverse perinatal outcome, neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admission and hospital admission in infancy are more common in those born following Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART). Similar comparisons for twins have shown conflicting results.

Methods: We investigated perinatal outcome and hospital admission during the first 3 years of life for all twin children born in Western Australia between 1994 and 2000 [700 ART, 4097 SC].

Neighbourhood socioeconomic status and maternal factors at birth as moderators of the association between birth characteristics and school attainment: a population study of children attending government schools in Western Australia.

Background: This article investigates whether reading and writing skills among children of equivalent perinatal characteristics differ by neighbourhood socioeconomic status and maternal factors.

Methods: Notifications of births for all non-Aboriginal singletons born in 1990-7 in Western Australia subsequently attending government primary schools were linked to the State literacy tests in grade three and with information on socioeconomic status of the school and the residential area. Using multilevel modelling, the associations between birth characteristics (gestational age, intrauterine growth, birth order and Apgar score at 5 minutes) and literacy attainment in grade three were examined in models that included socioeconomic and demographic factors of the child, mother and community.

The PHF11 gene is not associated with asthma or asthma phenotypes in two independent populations.

Background: Numerous areas of the human genome have previously been associated with asthma and asthma-related phenotypes, but few positive findings have been successfully replicated in independent populations. Initial studies have reported strong associations of variants in the plant homeodomain zinc finger protein 11 (PHF11) gene with serum IgE levels, asthma, airway hyper-responsiveness and childhood atopic dermatitis.

Objectives: To investigate the association of variants in the PHF11 gene with asthma and associated intermediate phenotypes in two independent Western Australian population-based samples.

Seasonality of respiratory viral identification varies with age and Aboriginality in metropolitan Western Australia.

Background: Viral respiratory infections are a major cause of pediatric illness. It is not known whether seasonality of viruses differs between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children of varying ages.

Methods: We extracted data on respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza viruses A and B, parainfluenza virus types 1, 2, and 3 and adenovirus identified through cell culture or direct immunofluorescence between 1997 and 2005 from nasopharyngeal or throat specimens at Western Australia's only pediatric hospital.

Lung disease at diagnosis in infants with cystic fibrosis detected by newborn screening.

Rationale: The promise of newborn screening (NBS) for cystic fibrosis (CF) has not been fully realized, and the extent of improvement in respiratory outcomes is unclear. We hypothesized that significant lung disease was present at diagnosis.

Objectives: To determine the extent of lung disease in a geographically defined population of infants with CF diagnosed after detection by NBS.

The common BDNF polymorphism may be a modifier of disease severity in Rett syndrome.

Background: Rett syndrome (RTT) is caused by mutations in the transcriptional repressor methyl CpG-binding protein 2 (MECP2). Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a neurotrophic factor playing a major role in neuronal survival, neurogenesis, and plasticity, and it has been shown that BDNF expression is regulated by MeCP2 through a complex interaction. A common polymorphism of BDNF (Val66Met [p.

Relationships between alumina and bauxite dust exposure and cancer, respiratory and circulatory disease.

Objectives: To examine the associations between alumina and bauxite dust exposure and cancer incidence and circulatory and respiratory disease mortality among bauxite miners and alumina refinery workers.

Methods: This cohort of 5770 males has previously been linked to national mortality and national and state cancer incidence registries (1983-2002). In this paper, Poisson regression was used to undertake internal comparisons within the cohort based on subgroups of cumulative exposure to inhalable bauxite and alumina dust.

Relationship between cardiopulmonary mortality and cancer risk and quantitative exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, fluorides, and dust in two prebake aluminum smelters.

Objectives: We examined the risk of mortality and cancer incidence with quantitative exposure to benzene-soluble fraction (BSF), benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), fluoride, and inhalable dust in two Australian prebake smelters.

Methods: A total of 4,316 male smelter workers were linked to mortality and cancer incidence registries and followed from 1983 through 2002 (mean follow-up: 15.9 years, maximum: 20 years).

Association of maternal pre-pregnancy weight with birth defects: evidence from a case-control study in Western Australia.

Background: Maternal obesity confers increased risks of poor pregnancy outcomes. There are limited Australian data on the risk of birth defects associated with maternal pre-pregnancy obesity.

Methods: Population-based case-control study of 418 controls, 111 cases with heart defects (and of these, 38 had conotruncal heart defects), 27 with neural tube defects, 86 cases with urinary tract defects, 48 cases with orofacial clefts, and 20 with limb reduction defects.

Mortality and cancer incidence in workers in two Australian prebake aluminium smelters.

Background: Exposures in the aluminium production industry have been declining and this study aimed to investigate cancer and mortality in two Australian prebake aluminium smelters.

Methods: The cohort included 4396 males who had worked in a prebake smelter for at least 3 months. They were matched against the National Death Index and the National Cancer Statistics Clearing House to obtain cause of death and type of cancer.

Adolescent dietary patterns are associated with lifestyle and family psycho-social factors.

Objective: Dietary intake during adolescence contributes to lifelong eating habits and the development of early risk factors for disease in adulthood. Few studies have examined the dietary patterns of adolescents and the social and environmental factors that may affect them during this life stage. The present study describes dietary patterns in a cohort of adolescents and examines their associations with socio-economic factors, as well as parental and adolescent risk factor behaviours.

Cross-sectional and longitudinal association of the secretoglobin 1A1 gene A38G polymorphism with asthma phenotype in the Perth Infant Asthma Follow-up cohort.

Background: Associations between Clara cell secretory protein gene variants (SCGB1A1, also known as CC16, CC10, CCSP and uteroglobin) and the asthma phenotype have been found in five out of eight studies world-wide. No study has investigated the contribution of SCGB1A1 polymorphisms to the development and/or persistence of the asthma phenotype in a birth cohort followed over time.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the role of the SCGB1A1 gene in the development of the asthma phenotype.

Overview of recent studies on childhood leukaemia, intra-uterine growth and diet.

Many studies have looked at the association between birth weight and risk of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in children, but few have been able to examine the growth by incorporating estimates of gestational age. Recent results suggest that increased growth is associated with increased risk of childhood leukaemia. Evidence is also gathering that certain dietary intakes, possibly folate, in mothers, are also related to leukaemia occurrence.

Gynecologic and breast cancers in women after exposure to blue asbestos at Wittenoom.

Introduction: Animal studies have suggested an association between asbestos and ovarian cancer, and asbestos fibers have been detected in human ovaries. Sexual intercourse may introduce asbestos fibers into the vagina and to the cervix and ovaries. Occupational cohorts have reported excess mortality from reproductive cancers, but exposure-response relationships are inconsistent.

Antibiotic use in the first year of life and risk of atopic disease in early childhood.

Background: Reduced post-natal microbial stimulation resulting from improvements in public health measures, smaller family size, and through increased antibiotic use has been postulated to account for the increasing prevalence of atopic diseases seen predominantly in developed countries.

Objective: To investigate use of antibiotics in the first year of life and subsequent development of atopic disease in early childhood.

Methods: A prospective birth cohort of 198 children at high atopic risk was recruited prenatally and followed for 5 years.

Pre- and postnatal influences on preschool mental health: a large-scale cohort study.

Background: Methodological challenges such as confounding have made the study of the early determinants of mental health morbidity problematic. This study aims to address these challenges in investigating antenatal, perinatal and postnatal risk factors for the development of mental health problems in pre-school children in a cohort of Western Australian children.

Methods: The Raine Study is a prospective cohort study of 2,868 live born children involving 2,979 pregnant women recruited at 18 weeks gestation.

Interleukin-10/interleukin-5 responses at birth predict risk for respiratory infections in children with atopic family history.

Rationale: Respiratory infections in early life are associated with risk for wheezing bronchiolitis, especially in children at high risk of atopy. The underlying mechanisms are unknown, but are suspected to involve imbalance(s) in host defense responses against pathogens stemming from functional immaturity of the immune system in this age group.

Objectives: To assess the contribution of eosinophil-trophic IL-5, and the potent antiinflammatory cytokine IL-10, to risk for infection in early life.