Can Respiratory Hospital Admissions in Children with Cerebral Palsy Be Reduced? A Feasibility Randomized Controlled Trial (RESP-ACT).

Objective: To investigate the feasibility of implementing recommendations of the consensus statement for the Prevention and Management of Respiratory Disease in children with severe cerebral palsy (CP) via RESPiratory hospital Admissions in children with cerebral palsy: a feasibility randomized Controlled Trial (RESP-ACT).

Study Design: Twenty-two children with CP aged 0-12 years at risk of respiratory disease and receiving care through Perth Children's Hospital in Western Australia were randomized into parallel groups. The control group (n = 10) continued with their usual teams, while the intervention group (n = 12) received a comprehensive assessment followed by individualized investigations and appointments as needed.

Therapeutic potential of plant-based therapies in pediculosis capitis: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

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.

Longitudinal observational research study: establishing the Australasian Congenital Cytomegalovirus Register (ACMVR).

Purpose: Congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) is an important cause of long-term childhood disability. In Australia, the identification and treatment practices and the long-term clinical and neurodevelopmental outcomes of children with cCMV are unknown. The Australasian cCMV Register (ACMVR) is a longitudinal register and resource for research that aims to describe and explore, in Australian children with cCMV: (1) their clinical characteristics over time, (2) antiviral therapy use/prescribing up to 1 year of age and (3) risk factors and potential avenues for prevention of adverse sequelae of the virus.

Acute rheumatic fever.

Acute rheumatic fever (ARF) is an autoimmune disorder resulting from Group A Streptococcus (GAS) 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. ARF diagnosis is based on a constellation of clinical and laboratory features as defined by the 2015 Jones Criteria, although advances in molecular point-of-care testing and the ongoing search for ARF biomarkers offer the potential to revolutionise diagnostics.

'Beyond core business': A qualitative review of activities supporting environmental health within remote Western Australian schools.

Background: Aboriginal children and families contend with higher rates of preventable infectious diseases that can be attributed to their immediate living environment. The environments in which children spend most of their time are their homes and schools. We aimed to understand the opportunities in the school setting to support student skin health and wellbeing through environmental health activities, how these activities were completed, and the barriers to their implementation.

Yarning with a remote Aboriginal community about the next steps for achieving healthy skin.

Objective: Skin health is widely recognised as being important for overall good health and well-being, yet the burden of skin infections in remote Aboriginal communities remains high. This project aimed to explore if virtual support for skin health could be a strategy to reduce community barriers to skin health engagement.

Methods: This study collected qualitative data using a yarning methodology within a participatory action research design.

The need for community-controlled tools to monitor health impacts of housing and living conditions in Australia.

Despite millennia of strong and continuous culture, inadequate housing has profound consequences on the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia. For example, the excessive and inequitable burden of childhood skin infections, rheumatic fever, gastrointestinal disease and ear infections can all be linked to failures in housing policy, funding and maintenance. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and peak bodies continue to call for greater community control and investment in housing.

Healthy skin for children and young people with skin of colour starts with clinician knowledge and recognition: a narrative review.

Skin conditions most frequently encountered in paediatric practice include infections, infestations, atopic dermatitis, and acne. Skin of colour refers to skin with increased melanin and darker pigmentation, and reflects global racial and ethnic diversity. Managing skin conditions in skin of colour requires health equity nuance, which is rarely explicitly taught.

Oombarl Oombarl Joorrinygor-Slowly Slowly Moving Forward: Reflections From a Cross-Cultural Team Working Together on the See, Treat, Prevent (SToP) Trial in the Kimberley Region of Western Australia.

Introduction: Reflexivity is crucial for researchers and health professionals working within Aboriginal health. Reflexivity provides a tool for non-Aboriginal researchers to contribute to the broader intention of reframing historical academic positivist paradigms into Indigenous research methodologies (IRM) to privilege Aboriginal voices in knowledge construction and decision-making. This practice requires researchers to transition from safe and familiar research environments into unfamiliar and uncomfortable spaces.

Statistical documentation for multi-disease, multi-domain platform trials: our experience with the Staphylococcus aureus Network Adaptive Platform trial.

Platform trials have become widely adopted across multiple disease areas over recent years, however, guidelines for operationalising these trials have not kept pace. We outline a series of documents that summarise the statistical components, and implicit processes, of the Staphylococcus aureus Network Adaptive Platform (SNAP) trial to provide an informal template for other researchers and reviewers of platform trials. We briefly summarise the content and role of the core protocol, statistical appendix, domain-specific appendices, simulation report, statistical implementation guides, data safety and monitoring committee (DSMC) reports, and domain-specific statistical analysis plans and final reports, and a transparent governance structure that ensures separate blinded and unblinded statistical teams.

An Overview of the Skin Microbiome, the Potential for Pathogen Shift, and Dysbiosis in Common Skin Pathologies.

Recent interest in the diverse ecosystem of bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses that make up the skin microbiome has led to several studies investigating the microbiome in healthy skin and in a variety of dermatological conditions. An imbalance of the normal skin flora can cause some skin diseases, and current culture techniques are often unable to detect a microorganism to further our understanding of the clinical-microbiological correlates of disease and dysbiosis. Atopic dermatitis and rosacea are presentations that GPs often manage that may have an infective or microbiological component and can be challenging to treat.

The application of environmental health assessment strategies to detect Streptococcus pyogenes in Kimberley school classrooms.

Background: Children spend almost one-third of their waking hours at school. Streptococcus pyogenes (Strep A) is a common childhood bacterial infection that can progress to causing serious disease. We aimed to detect Strep A in classrooms by using environmental settle plates and swabbing of high-touch surfaces in two remote schools in the Kimberley, Western Australia.

Multi-methods process evaluation of the SToP (See, Treat, Prevent) trial: a cluster randomised, stepped wedge trial to support healthy skin.

Background: Healthy skin is important for maintaining overall physical and cultural health and wellbeing. However, remote-living Australian Aboriginal children contend with disproportionally high rates of (Strep A) infected impetigo. The SToP Trial was a large stepped-wedge cluster randomised trial of See, Treat, and Prevent (SToP) skin health activities implemented between 2019 and 2022 in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, during which a decrease in impetigo was observed.

Skin health of urban-living Aboriginal children attending a primary care Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation clinic.

Background And Objectives: Despite increasing urbanisation, little is known about skin health for urban-living Aboriginal children and young people (CYP, aged <18 years). This study aimed to investigate the primary care burden and clinical characteristics of skin conditions in this cohort.

Method: A one-year retrospective cohort study of urban-living Aboriginal CYP presenting for general practitioner (GP) consultation at an Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (ACCHO) was conducted.

Optimising detection of thrombosis in paediatric Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia: A prospective interventional sub-study protocol.

Introduction: Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (SAB) is the most common cause of sepsis, contributing to paediatric intensive care unit admission in Australia and New Zealand. While deep venous thrombosis (DVT) has been reported in children with invasive S. aureus infections, the actual frequency and possible effects of thrombosis on disease severity and outcome in paediatric SAB remain unknown.

Recovery of culturable Streptococcus pyogenes from swabs stored at different temperatures.

Improving our understanding of superficial Streptococcus pyogenes (Strep A) carriage and transmission necessitates robust sampling methods. Here, we compared the effect of storing swab samples in fridge (+4°C) and freezer (-20°C) conditions on the recovery of laboratory-cultured S. pyogenes.

Cohort profile: Understanding the influence of early life environments and health and social service system contacts over time and across generations through the Western Australian Aboriginal Child Health Survey (WAACHS) Linked Data Study.

Purpose: Despite the volume of accumulating knowledge from prospective Aboriginal cohort studies, longitudinal data describing developmental trajectories in health and well-being is limited. The linkage of child and carer cohorts from a historical cross-sectional survey with longitudinal health-service and social-service administrative data has created a unique and powerful data resource that underpins the Western Australian Aboriginal Child Health Survey (WAACHS) linked data study. This study aims to provide evidence-based information to Aboriginal communities across Western Australia, governments and non-government agencies on the heterogeneous life trajectories of Aboriginal children and families.

Skin health of Aboriginal children living in urban communities.

Background: Skin concerns are frequent among urban-living Aboriginal children, yet specialist dermatology consultations are limited with studies highlighting the need for improved cultural security. Through newly established paediatric dermatology clinics at two urban Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs), we aimed to describe clinic and patient data, including disease frequencies and associations, to inform dermatology service provision and advocacy.

Methods: A prospective cohort study of Aboriginal children and young people (CYP, 0-18 years) attending Aboriginal Health Practitioner (AHP) co-ordinated paediatric dermatology clinics at two urban ACCHOs.