Understanding influences on physical activity and sedentary behaviour from preschool to preadolescence. While promotion of optimal levels of physical activity and sedentary behaviours during childhood is important for health, much remains unknown in this field. This study will extend an existing cohort of children, recruited at ages three to five years and followed up at six to eight years by reassessing these children at nine to eleven years. Novel additions to the cohort include long term foll ....Understanding influences on physical activity and sedentary behaviour from preschool to preadolescence. While promotion of optimal levels of physical activity and sedentary behaviours during childhood is important for health, much remains unknown in this field. This study will extend an existing cohort of children, recruited at ages three to five years and followed up at six to eight years by reassessing these children at nine to eleven years. Novel additions to the cohort include long term follow-up spanning preschool to preadolescence, application of an ecological framework, and collection of objective neighbourhood data using a Geographical Information System. Findings will provide important information for policy and interventions focused at the individual, family and neighbourhood level, to improve physical activity and sedentary behaviour levels across childhood.Read moreRead less
Providing children with a healthy start to life: promoting physical activity and reducing sedentary behaviours during early childhood. Early childhood (0-5 yrs), when health behaviours develop and may track into later life, represents promise as a time to positively impact physical activity and sedentary behaviour. Yet study of these behaviours in 3-5 yr olds is only emerging, and is almost non-existent in younger children. This project aims to understand predictors of these behaviours using a s ....Providing children with a healthy start to life: promoting physical activity and reducing sedentary behaviours during early childhood. Early childhood (0-5 yrs), when health behaviours develop and may track into later life, represents promise as a time to positively impact physical activity and sedentary behaviour. Yet study of these behaviours in 3-5 yr olds is only emerging, and is almost non-existent in younger children. This project aims to understand predictors of these behaviours using a suite of longitudinal studies, including objective measures, and will commence as early as 3-mths of age. It will study strategies for promoting physical activity and reducing sedentary behaviours during early childhood, by investigating mechanisms of behaviour change in existing interventions to inform new strategies with potential to provide children with a healthy start to life.Read moreRead less
Motor Functioning In Autism And Asperger's Disorder: Furthering Current Neurobehavioural And Clinical Definitions
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$354,932.00
Summary
While it is well known that autism and Asperger's disorder are associated with social, communicative, and behavioural symptoms, it is less well known that affected individuals also have considerable movement and coordination difficulties. For example, these children often have problems with hand writing, walking, hopping, skipping, catching, and running. These skills are very important for success at school; for example, if children are unable to participate in school sports they often feel isol ....While it is well known that autism and Asperger's disorder are associated with social, communicative, and behavioural symptoms, it is less well known that affected individuals also have considerable movement and coordination difficulties. For example, these children often have problems with hand writing, walking, hopping, skipping, catching, and running. These skills are very important for success at school; for example, if children are unable to participate in school sports they often feel isolated and rejected from the peer group. Also, hand writing problems have a significant impact on children's academic performance. Our previous research has suggested that there may be particular patterns of motor problems that characterise individuals with autism and Asperger's disorder. Our proposed research aims to use the kinds of 3D motion analysis technology used in the movie industry to capture exactly how people affected by these conditions move and respond to the environment. This study will enable us to highlight particular parts of the brain-motor circuitry that are affected by these disorders and will also enable us to more clearly distinguish how autism is different from Asperger's disorder. Ultimately, it is hoped that our motor investigations will lead to improved assessment and interventions for these disorders.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE180100803
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$365,094.00
Summary
Impact of screen time on preschoolers’ social skills and cognitive function. This project aims to determine how the quantity and nature of screen time interacts with parental co-participation to affect pre-schoolers’ social skills and cognitive functioning. Seventy per cent of pre-schoolers exceed current screen time guidelines and this causes considerable concern among Australian parents. This project will assist in evaluating how much, and which types, of screen time have benefits for social ....Impact of screen time on preschoolers’ social skills and cognitive function. This project aims to determine how the quantity and nature of screen time interacts with parental co-participation to affect pre-schoolers’ social skills and cognitive functioning. Seventy per cent of pre-schoolers exceed current screen time guidelines and this causes considerable concern among Australian parents. This project will assist in evaluating how much, and which types, of screen time have benefits for social skills and cognitive functioning. It will also provide insights into the ways parents may best support these outcomes. Findings are expected to provide evidence for policy development and inform programs to support healthy behaviours to give young children the best start in life.Read moreRead less
Improving determinants of Australian sports talent identification and development: a multi-disciplinary approach. Sport is important to many Australians. Our sport successes enhance our national identity, generate community pride and attract mega sport events. Currently our sport talent identification and development (TID) systems have been surpassed by our international rivals who borrowed from and improved our knowledge. This project will help regain Australia's international advantage and aga ....Improving determinants of Australian sports talent identification and development: a multi-disciplinary approach. Sport is important to many Australians. Our sport successes enhance our national identity, generate community pride and attract mega sport events. Currently our sport talent identification and development (TID) systems have been surpassed by our international rivals who borrowed from and improved our knowledge. This project will help regain Australia's international advantage and again make Australian TID the international benchmark. Results will highlight the role of TID practices in improving recreational participation and maximising, attracting, developing and retaining sport talent. This will result in improved use of sports limited TID funding by providing greater understanding of factors that influence elite selection and sport development.Read moreRead less
Biological Role of Contraction-Induced Heat Shock Protein Expression. It is well known that mammalian skeletal muscle increases its expression of a group of highly conserved proteins, the heat shock proteins (HSP) in response to repeated contraction. However, the biological role of this expression is unclear. The aim of this project is to determine the biological role of contraction-induced HSP expression. We expect to show that HSP synthesis in response to exercise has three major roles; 1) to ....Biological Role of Contraction-Induced Heat Shock Protein Expression. It is well known that mammalian skeletal muscle increases its expression of a group of highly conserved proteins, the heat shock proteins (HSP) in response to repeated contraction. However, the biological role of this expression is unclear. The aim of this project is to determine the biological role of contraction-induced HSP expression. We expect to show that HSP synthesis in response to exercise has three major roles; 1) to act to repair damaged proteins in recovery from muscle injury 2) to act as a "molecular motor" to translocate proteins from one region of a muscle cell to another and 3) to be released into the circulation in order to act as a central signal to activate immune cells. Such a project will be significant because it will allow for a fundamental understanding as to why these proteins are produced in response to exercise. We expect to enhance our understanding of fundamental cell biology.Read moreRead less
Discovering the role of pH in regulating mitochondrial biogenesis, so as to improve the design of preventative programs aimed at healthy ageing. Mitochondria are essential for life, and maintaining mitochondrial function plays an important role in preventing the progression of many age-related diseases. It has previously been shown that minimising the decrease in muscle pH that occurs during physical activity promotes greater improvements in mitochondrial function. The next step is to discover t ....Discovering the role of pH in regulating mitochondrial biogenesis, so as to improve the design of preventative programs aimed at healthy ageing. Mitochondria are essential for life, and maintaining mitochondrial function plays an important role in preventing the progression of many age-related diseases. It has previously been shown that minimising the decrease in muscle pH that occurs during physical activity promotes greater improvements in mitochondrial function. The next step is to discover the effects of altering pH on acute and chronic activity-induced changes in signalling proteins and genes that are involved in the regulation of skeletal muscle mitochondrial biogenesis. These experiments will significantly advance the knowledge base concerning factors regulating mitochondrial biogenesis, and will contribute to optimising the design of preventative programs aimed at healthy aging.Read moreRead less
An autonomously controlled ankle exoskeleton for gait rehabilitation. This project addresses a critical problem in gait rehabilitation; predicting unstable locomotion and designing interventions to augment limb-joint function. The project will develop an autonomous ankle-foot assistive device to actively increase ground clearance when high-risk foot trajectory is detected. Using wearable sensor data, machine learning algorithms will predict high-risk gait and compute an actuator-induced ankle to ....An autonomously controlled ankle exoskeleton for gait rehabilitation. This project addresses a critical problem in gait rehabilitation; predicting unstable locomotion and designing interventions to augment limb-joint function. The project will develop an autonomous ankle-foot assistive device to actively increase ground clearance when high-risk foot trajectory is detected. Using wearable sensor data, machine learning algorithms will predict high-risk gait and compute an actuator-induced ankle torque to maintain safe foot-ground clearance. A wearable autonomous joint-actuation system will contribute significantly to rehabilitation across a range of gait-impaired populations. The project's scientific and technological innovations will provide the opportunity for future developments in assistive technologies. Read moreRead less
Evaluating the impact of obesity on knee load over time in those who have undergone optimal surgical re-alignment after total knee replacement . This project investigates the impact of obesity on alignment and knee load over time in those who have undergone total knee replacement. This information is critical for understanding whether obesity results in increasing knee load after surgery which can lead to more rapid wearing of the knee surfaces and an earlier need for revision surgery.
An Examination Of Motor Functioning In Autism And Asperger's Disorder: An Analysis Of Gait & Cortical Brain Activity.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$120,220.00
Summary
Autism is a developmental disorder characterised by a triad of deficits: delayed and atypical language development, impaired development of social skills, and ritualistic and stereotypic behaviour. Although not part of the standard diagnosis, movement disorders and gait abnormalities have been clinically observed in autism similar to those seen in Parkinson's disease. In addition, individuals with Asperger's disorder may appear more clumsy, have a stiff or awkward way of walking, and exhibit poo ....Autism is a developmental disorder characterised by a triad of deficits: delayed and atypical language development, impaired development of social skills, and ritualistic and stereotypic behaviour. Although not part of the standard diagnosis, movement disorders and gait abnormalities have been clinically observed in autism similar to those seen in Parkinson's disease. In addition, individuals with Asperger's disorder may appear more clumsy, have a stiff or awkward way of walking, and exhibit poor coordination in posture and gesture. It has been suggested that there is disruption within the basal-ganglia-thalamocortical circuitry (the region connecting the frontal and sub-cortical structures), which may cause the motor dysfunction seen in autism and Asperger's disorder. Few studies have attempted to isolate particular stages of motor functioning which may account for the coordination and motor delay observed clinically in autism and Asperger's disorder. A recent study of ours found evidence to suggest that motor planning deficiencies may account for the 'clumsy' movement patterns frequently reported in the autism - Asperger's disorder literature. Therefore, the aim of this research is to provide a comprehensive neurobehavioural and neurophysiological analysis of motor functioning in young people with autism and Asperger's disorder to further examine the exact stages of motor processing which are deficient in these disorder groups. Recent retrospective studies have shown that even as infants children with autism exhibit clear features of motor disturbance, which, if detected and clearly defined, could advance early diagnosis. In addition to advancing the clinical definition of autism and Asperger's disorder, a careful examination of motor disturbance may also illuminate the neurobiological underpinnings of these disorders.Read moreRead less