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Nearly 170 years ago a British doctor applied geospatial mapping to identify the source of a cholera outbreak in central London.

At The Kids Research Institute Australia, we've been thinking of the kids for 35 years. We are finding the answers to some of the biggest problems facing the health and wellbeing of children and families. Our Research Themes host defined programs of work where the Institute has clear strengths and capacity. Our overarching commitment to First Nations Health and Equity is embedded across all our work and features as a core consideration in each Research Theme. The Institute is committed to ending the disparity in health and wellbeing outcomes between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal kids and families.

Research

Language is significant for communicating knowledge across cultures and generations and has the power to attribute meanings and alter our worldviews.

Research

Acute rheumatic fever is an autoimmune disorder resulting from Group A Streptococcus pharyngitis or impetigo in children and adolescents, which may evolve to rheumatic heart disease (RHD) with persistent cardiac valve damage. RHD causes substantial mortality and morbidity globally, predominantly among socioeconomically disadvantaged populations, with an interplay of social determinants of health and genetic factors determining overall risk.

Research

Pediculosis capitis is a worldwide prevalent public health issue, mostly involving children. Resistance has been increasingly identified with conventional treatments such as permethrin or malathion. We aimed to evaluate the therapeutic potential of plant-based therapies for pediculosis capitis. PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase, EmCare, Web of Science, Cochrane, and ScienceDirect were searched for studies.

Research

Influenza and COVID-19 vaccine uptake among pregnant women is sub-optimal. We assessed the effectiveness of a multi-component behavioural nudge intervention to improve COVID-19 and influenza vaccine uptake among pregnant women. 

Research

Eye-tracking could expedite autism identification/diagnosis through standardisation and objectivity. We tested whether Gazefinder autism assessment, with Classification Algorithm derived from gaze fixation durations, would have good accuracy (area under the curve [AUC] ≥ 0.80) to differentiate 2-4-year-old autistic from non-autistic children.

Research

Most outdoor food advertising (e.g. billboards and bus stops) features foods that are considered unhealthy. The most important technical challenge when designing policies to restrict unhealthy outdoor food advertising is defining 'unhealthy food'. To date, most restriction policies have used nutrient profiling models (i.e. foods are classified according to their nutritional composition) to determine which foods and beverages may be advertised. In Australia, state governments have endorsed a food category-based classification system, with no prescribed nutrient limits, which may create ambiguity when multiple users are identifying food advertisements to be restricted. 

Research

When investigating whether a variant identified by diagnostic genetic testing is causal for disease, applied genetics professionals evaluate all available evidence to assign a clinical classification. Functional assays of higher and higher throughput are increasingly being generated and, when appropriate, can provide strong functional evidence for or against pathogenicity in variant classification. Despite functional assay data representing unprecedented value for genomic diagnostics, challenges remain around the application of functional evidence in variant curation.

Research

The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that exercise in cool water results in a greater decrease in blood glucose concentration than in thermoneutral water or on land in individuals with type 1 diabetes.