Antepartum risk factors for newborn encephalopathy: the Western Australian case-control study.

Objective: To ascertain antepartum predictors of newborn encephalopathy in term infants.

Design: Population based, unmatched case-control study.

Setting: Metropolitan area of Western Australia, June 1993 to September 1995.

What constitutes cerebral palsy?

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a term of convenience applied to a group of motor disorders of central origin defined by clinical description. It is not a diagnosis in that its application infers nothing about pathology, aetiology, or prognosis. It is an umbrella term covering a wide range of cerebral disorders which result in childhood motor impairment.

The use of medication in children attending childcare in Western Australia.

Objective: This paper reports on medication use and factors affecting use in a cohort of preschool children attending long daycare in centres and family daycare in homes.

Methodology: A survey of parents representing 846 children under 6 years old in two types of childcare in Perth, Western Australia. The data were analysed using descriptive and logistic regression techniques to elucidate factors associated with use of medication.

Receptor-like protein-tyrosine phosphatase alpha specifically inhibits insulin-increased prolactin gene expression.

A physiologically relevant response to insulin, stimulation of prolactin promoter activity in GH4 pituitary cells, was used as an assay to study the specificity of protein-tyrosine phosphatase function. Receptor-like protein-tyrosine phosphatase alpha (RPTPalpha) blocks the effect of insulin to increase prolactin gene expression but potentiates the effects of epidermal growth factor and cAMP on prolactin promoter activity. RPTPalpha was the only protein-tyrosine phosphatase tested that did this.

Prenatal determinants of motor disorders.

Cerebral palsies (CP) are the commonest childhood motor disorders, originating in early childhood as a result of interference in the developing brain. Identifying prenatal factors in CP is a challenge because there is a considerable period of time (years) between the causal event(s) and diagnosis. Four fascinating "natural" situations provided a unique opportunity to identify and measure prenatal exposures in relation to motor disorders, thus establishing the unequivocal role of some factors.

The intrapartum CTG prior to neonatal encephalopathy at term: a case-control study.

Objective: To compare cardiotocograph (CTG) records during labour in cases of neonatal encephalopathy and matched controls.

Design: Case-control study.

Setting: Metropolitan area of Perth, Western Australia.

An analysis of sudden infant death syndrome in aboriginal infants.

The purpose of this case-control study was to identify antenatal and perinatal risk factors for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in Aboriginal infants in Western Australia (WA). Cases were all Aboriginal infants born in WA from 1980 to 1990 inclusive and classified as dying from SIDS in WA. Controls consisted of a matched group and a random group both selected from liveborn Aboriginal infants born from 1980 to 1990.

Sudden infant death syndrome in Australian aboriginal and non-aboriginal infants: an analytical comparison.

Our previous research has shown that the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) rate for Aboriginal infants in Western Australia (WA) is markedly higher than that for non-Aboriginal infants. The aim of this study was to identify factors that may be important in explaining this disparity. A case-control study was conducted based on routinely collected data for the population of WA singleton births from 1980 to 1990 inclusive.

GABP mediates insulin-increased prolactin gene transcription.

The insulin-response element from the prolactin gene is identical to the Ets-binding site, and dominant-negative Ets protein inhibits insulin-increased prolactin gene expression. Immunoblotting identified the Ets-related transcription factor GABP in nuclear extracts from GH cells. Expression of GABP alpha and GABP beta 1 squelches insulin-increased prolactin gene expression.

Hospital admissions for lower respiratory tract illness before the age of two years in western Australia.

In this study, hospital admissions for lower respiratory tract illness before two years of age have been documented for all children born in Western Australia in 1986. Admissions data were linked to birth and death records for individual children. Of the total cohort, 5% of non-Aboriginal and 17% of Aboriginal children were hospitalised only once for lower respiratory tract illness; 1% of non-Aboriginal and 11% of Aboriginal children had repeated admissions.

School-aged children with spina bifida in Western Australia--parental perspectives on functional outcome.

A questionnaire mailed to the parent(s) of all 86 school-aged children with spina bifida resident in Western Australia in 1992 who were attending a spinal dysfunction clinic or were members of the Spina Bifida Association was returned by 72 parents. All 72 of these children (55 with myelomeningocele, 17 with meningocele) lived at home with their parent(s). All but two children with meningocele were mobile without aids, whereas only 42% of the children with myelomeningocele were.

Circulating levels of the macrophage colony stimulating factor CSF-1 in primary and metastatic breast cancer patients. A pilot study.

Earlier results [1], suggesting an autocrine tumor cell stimulation by CSF-1, are in agreement with data by Fildermann et al. [2], showing an enhanced motility and invasiveness in the CSF-1 receptor expressing BT20 breast cancer cell line upon stimulation with recombinant CSF-1. Tumor-cell secreted CSF-1 has also been shown to cause monocyte recruitment, but not cytotoxicity [3].

A consensus insulin response element is activated by an Ets-related transcription factor.

Insulin increases expression of somatostatin-chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) constructs 10-fold and thymidine kinase-CAT constructs 5-fold in GH4 cells. These responses are similar to our previously reported data on insulin-increased prolactin-CAT expression. They are also observed in HeLa cells and are thus not cell type specific.

Predictors of neonatal encephalopathy in full-term infants.

Objective: Preliminary investigation of the contribution of adverse antepartum and intrapartum factors to neonatal encephalopathy in singleton neonates born full term.

Design: Matched case-control study based on incidence density sampling of controls.

Setting: Two major teaching hospitals (one paediatric and one obstetric) and three peripheral maternity hospitals in Perth, Western Australia (population 1.

Technology seduction: lost opportunities in child health?

This report examines the extent to which illness-based individual care and expensive, often unevaluated, technologies in paediatrics have seduced practitioners away from more cost-effective, population-based child health activities and examples of new and unevaluated technologies in perinatology and paediatrics are given. The way in which these technologies are introduced and taken up, by 'creeping incrementalism', is described and a plea is made to implement only those aspects of paediatric care that have been demonstrated to be effective. This would result in only appropriate technologies being used, avoid harm being done to children and ensure that money is available for other effective population-based activities that improve child health.

Insulin and cyclic adenosine monophosphate increase prolactin gene expression through different response pathways.

Insulin and cAMP stimulate prolactin gene transcription and prolactin-CAT expression in rat pituitary tumor GH cells. Expression of prolactin-CAT construct, pPrl(-173/+75)CAT, is stimulated 10- to 30-fold by either insulin or cAMP. Addition of both insulin and cAMP resulted in an additive 20- to 60-fold stimulation.

Singleton and twin confinements associated with infertility treatments.

A cross-sectional sample of 150 singleton and 159 twin confinements delivered in Western Australia in 1991 were randomly sampled in 1993; 63% of the women responded to a postal questionnaire. Thirteen percent of respondents with singletons and 26% of those with twins reported having problems conceiving at some stage in their life. Six percent of those who had singleton confinements and 22% of those women who had twin confinements sought fertility advice prior to the conception of the index pregnancy.