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Once upon a time it was infectious diseases like polio, measles or tuberculosis that most worried parents. With these threats now largely under control, parents face a new challenge – sky-rocketing rates of non-infectious diseases such as asthma, allergies and autism.
Despite education about the risks of excessive sun exposure, teenagers in Australia are sun-seeking, with sunburn common in summer. Conversely, some regular (time-limited) exposure to sunlight (that avoids sunburn) is necessary for vitamin D and healthy bones and other molecules important for immune and metabolic health. New interventions are thus required to better support teenagers to make healthy and balanced decisions about their sun behaviors.
Multiple sclerosis is associated with Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) infection, B-cell dysfunction, gut dysbiosis, and environmental and genetic risk factors, including female sex.
Matt Prue Stephanie Cooper Hart Trend BCA Marketing, BSc Statistics and Applied Statistics, PhD BSc (Hons) MSc PhD BSc PhD Manager, Biostatistics
Liz Prue Davis Hart MBBS FRACP PhD BSc (Hons) MSc PhD Co-director of Children’s Diabetes Centre Honorary Research Fellow prue.hart@thekids.org.au
Neutrophils are the most abundant immune cell in circulation. However, due to a number of technical challenges for researchers, including the neutrophil's short lifespan and difficulties with preservation, they are often discarded during blood processing and thus ignored in cohort studies. As such, the contribution of neutrophils to disease and their involvement in disease mechanisms is less explored compared with other immune cell types.
Researchers at The Kids Research Institute Australia have found children with vitamin D deficiency are more likely to develop asthma.
People at risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS) have been offered a beacon of hope thanks to research into UV exposure.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an immune-mediated inflammatory disease of the central nervous system that results in demyelination of axons, inefficient signal transmission and reduced muscular mobility. Recent findings suggest that B cells play a significant role in disease development and pathology. To further explore this, B cell profiles in peripheral blood from 28 treatment-naive patients with early MS were assessed using flow cytometry and compared to 17 healthy controls.
The immunological mechanisms that contribute to multiple sclerosis (MS) differ between males and females. Females are 2-3 times more likely to develop MS compared to males, however the reason for this discrepancy is unknown. Once MS is established, there is a more inflammatory yet milder form of disease in females whereas males generally suffer from more severe disease and faster progression, neural degradation, and disability.