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Dr Katherine Alexander Landwehr Larcombe BSc(Hons) BScEnv (Hons) PhD Senior Research Officer Honorary Research Fellow Katherine.landwehr@
Western societal norms have long been constrained by binary and exclusionary perspectives on matters such as infertility, contraception, sexual health, sexuality, and gender. These viewpoints have shaped research and knowledge frameworks for decades and led to an inaccurate and incomplete reproductive biology curriculum. To combat these deficiencies in reproductive systems-related education, our teaching team undertook a gradual transformation of unit content from 2018 to 2023, aiming to better reflect real diversity in human reproductive biology.
There is no clear clinical guidance on the use of alcohol pharmacotherapies in pregnancy due to insufficient safety information. Contraception should therefore be considered for reproductive-aged females receiving alcohol pharmacotherapies not wishing to become pregnant. This study evaluated the concurrent use of alcohol pharmacotherapies with prescription contraception and other medications in Australian females of reproductive age compared to those not receiving an alcohol pharmacotherapy.
Alexander Larcombe BScEnv (Hons) PhD Honorary Research Fellow Honorary Research Fellow Associate Professor Alexander Larcombe began work at The Kids
Emerging data suggest that air pollution is a persistent source of neuroinflammation, reactive oxygen species, and neuropathology that contributes to central nervous system disorders. Previous research using animal models has shown that exposure to diesel exhaust causes considerable disruption of the blood-brain barrier, leading to marked neuroinflammation.
Despite the teratogenic effects of alcohol, little is known about the safety of pharmacotherapies such as acamprosate for the treatment of alcohol use disorders in pregnancy. The aims of this study were to investigate, in a mouse model, the effects of maternally administered acamprosate on maternal and neonatal health, offspring neurodevelopment and behaviour, as well as examine whether acamprosate reduces the neurological harm associated with alcohol consumption in pregnancy.
Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are often perceived to be a less harmful alternative to tobacco cigarettes. Potentially due to this perception, they are used by people with pre-existing respiratory conditions, such as asthma, who otherwise would not smoke. Despite this, there are few studies exploring the health effects of e-cigarette use on pre-existing asthma.
Adverse prenatal conditions can induce intrauterine growth restriction and increase the risk of adulthood metabolic disease. Mechanisms underlying developmentally programmed metabolic disease remain unclear but may involve disrupted postnatal circadian rhythms and kisspeptin signalling.
In obstructive airway diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the extracellular matrix (ECM) protein amount and composition of the airway smooth muscle (ASM) is often remodelled, likely altering tissue stiffness. The underlying mechanism of how human ASM cell (hASMC) mechanosenses the aberrant microenvironment is not well understood.
Mucopolysaccharidosis type IIIA (MPS IIIA) is characterized by neurological and skeletal pathologies caused by reduced activity of the lysosomal hydrolase, sulfamidase, and the subsequent primary accumulation of undegraded heparan sulfate (HS). Respiratory pathology is considered secondary in MPS IIIA and the mechanisms are not well understood.