Search

Research

Maternal educational attainment (MEA) shapes offspring health through multiple potential pathways. Differential DNA methylation may provide a mechanistic understanding of these long-term associations. We aimed to quantify the associations of MEA with offspring DNA methylation levels at birth, in childhood and in adolescence.

Research

Studies have shown that stunting and wasting indicators are strongly correlated among children, with the potential of concurrently affecting their physical and cognitive development. However, the identification of subpopulations of children with varying risks of stunting and wasting could be valuable for targeted intervention.

Research

The number of words children produce (expressive vocabulary) and understand (receptive vocabulary) changes rapidly during early development, partially due to genetic factors. Here, we performed a meta-genome-wide association study of vocabulary acquisition and investigated polygenic overlap with literacy, cognition, developmental phenotypes, and neurodevelopmental conditions, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. 

Research

Dental caries remains the most common chronic disease in childhood, affecting almost half of all children globally. Dental care and examination of children living in remote and rural areas is an ongoing challenge that has been compounded by COVID.

Research

The bone marrow is a specialised niche responsible for the maintenance of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells during homeostasis and inflammation. Recent studies however have extended this essential role to the extramedullary and extravascular lung microenvironment. Here, we provide further evidence for a reservoir of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells within the lung from embryonic day 18.5 until adulthood.

Research

Multiple-breath washout (MBW) is an established technique to assess functional residual capacity (FRC) and ventilation inhomogeneity in the lung. Indirect calculation of nitrogen concentration requires accurate measurement of gas concentrations.

Research

Children are more vulnerable than adults to climate-related health threats, but reviews examining how climate change affects human health have been mainly descriptive and lack an assessment of the magnitude of health effects children face. This is the first systematic review and meta-analysis that identifies which climate-health relationships pose the greatest threats to children.

Research

Using over 50 thousand time-use diaries from two cohorts of children, we document significant gender differences in time allocation in the first 16 years in life. Relative to males, females spend more time on personal care, chores and educational activities and less time on physical and media related activities. These gender gaps in time allocation appear at very young ages and widen overtime.

Research

Family-based lifestyle interventions (FBLIs) are an important method for treating childhood weight problems. Despite being recognized as an effective intervention method, the optimal structure of these interventions for children’s overweight and obesity has yet to be determined.

Research

Economic preferences may be shaped by exposure to sex hormones around birth. Prior studies of economic preferences and numerous other phenotypic characteristics use digit ratios (2D : 4D), a purported proxy for prenatal testosterone exposure, whose validity has recently been questioned. We use direct measures of neonatal sex hormones (testosterone and oestrogen), measured from umbilical cord blood (n = 200) to investigate their association with later-life economic preferences (risk preferences, competitiveness, time preferences and social preferences) in an Australian cohort (Raine Study Gen2).