Natural history of dental caries in very young Australian children.

Background: Whilst the global burden of caries is increasing, the trajectory of decay in young children and the point at which prevention should occur has not been well established.

Aim: To identify the 'natural history' of dental caries in early childhood.

Design: A birth cohort study was established with 467 mother/child dyads followed at 1, 6, 12, 18, and 36 months of age.

Parental self-efficacy and oral health-related knowledge are associated with parent and child oral health behaviors and self-reported oral health status.

Objectives: This study sought to advance understanding of the influence of psychosocial factors on oral health by examining how parental self-efficacy (with regard to acting on their child's oral health needs) and oral health knowledge relate to parental and child oral health behaviors and self-rated oral health.

Methods: Parents of children in grades 0/1 and 5/6 (n = 804) and children in grades 5/6 (n = 377, mean age 11.5 ± 1.

Increasing school playground physical activity: a mixed methods study combining environmental measures and children's perspectives.

Schools are integral settings in which children can participate in moderate and vigorous physical activity. This study reports on the relationship between playground characteristics and child activity levels using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. The aim of the study is to increase understanding of how children respond to their school playground environments.

Double disadvantage: the influence of ethnicity over socioeconomic position on childhood overweight and obesity: findings from an inner urban population of primary school children.

Objective: To examine the relationship between overweight/obesity in children, socioeconomic status and ethnicity/cultural background.

Design: Cross-sectional survey of children aged 4-13 years.

Setting: A total of 23 primary (elementary) schools in an inner urban municipality of Melbourne, Australia.

Low-level fluoroquinolone resistance among Campylobacter jejuni isolates in Australia.

Background: Ciprofloxacin-resistant Campylobacter jejuni isolates obtained from infected patients in Australia have not been detected in studies of isolates from specific geographic areas. The Australian government has prohibited the use of fluoroquinolone in food-producing animals. To assess the impact of this policy, we have examined the antimicrobial susceptibility of isolates from 5 Australian states.

A multi-jurisdictional outbreak of hepatitis A related to a youth camp--implications for catering operations and mass gatherings.

In June 2003, Australian state and territory health departments were notified of an outbreak of Hepatitis A in people who had attended a five-day youth camp. Approximately 350 people attended the event in Central Australia between 24 and 28 April 2003. The public health investigation comprised of case identification, food handler interviews, an environmental health investigation of the campground and associated food premises, laboratory analysis of blood specimens and food/water samples, and an epidemiological study.

Does the addition of information on genotype improve prediction of the risk of melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancer beyond that obtained from skin phenotype?

The authors quantified improvement in predicting cutaneous malignant melanoma, basal cell carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma of the skin made possible by information on common variants of the melanocortin-1 receptor gene (MC1R) in a 1998-1999 population-based case-control study of subjects aged 20-59 years of northern European ancestry in Tasmania, Australia. Melanin density at the upper inner arm was estimated by spectrophotometry. DNA samples were genotyped for five MC1R variants: Val60Leu, Asp84Glu, Arg151Cys, Arg160Trp, and Asp294His.

An outbreak of cryptosporidiosis associated with an animal nursery at a regional fair.

Cryptosporidiosis is a common gastrointestinal illness that is transmitted from infected persons, animals, or contaminated water or food. This article reports on an outbreak of cryptosporidiosis associated with an animal nursery at an agricultural show held in northern Tasmania during October 2001. Eighty-one per cent of cases (38/47) notified to the Tasmanian Department of Health and Human Services over a 35 day period were interviewed to determine potential sources of infection.

Enhancing foodborne disease surveillance across Australia in 2001: the OzFoodNet Working Group.

In 2000, the OzFoodNet network was established to enhance surveillance of foodborne diseases across Australia. OzFoodNet consists of 7 sites and covers 68 per cent of Australia's population. During 2001, sites reported 15,815 cases of campylobacteriosis, 6,607 cases of salmonellosis, 326 cases of shigellosis, 71 cases of yersiniosis, 61 cases of listeriosis, 47 cases of shiga-toxin producing E.

Quantifying the change of melanoma incidence by Breslow thickness.

Melanoma incidence has increased throughout the world over the past 25 years. A surrogate for the severity of melanoma is the Breslow thickness of the lesions. Data on melanoma, including Breslow thickness, were collected in 1978-1980 and 1988-1990 from the Tasmania Tumor Registry.