Early Life Stress, Adolescent Brain Development And Risk For Adverse Cognitive And Psychosocial Outcomes
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$640,595.00
Summary
This project aims to study pre and postnatal childhood factors and examine their association with HPA-functioning, cognition, and mental health during adolescence in the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort Study (Raine Study). Childhood exposures include not only trajectories of stressful life events, family functioning and mental health status during childhood, but also effects of intrauterine and postnatal growth patterns, and a comprehensive range of psychosocial, familial and environmental f ....This project aims to study pre and postnatal childhood factors and examine their association with HPA-functioning, cognition, and mental health during adolescence in the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort Study (Raine Study). Childhood exposures include not only trajectories of stressful life events, family functioning and mental health status during childhood, but also effects of intrauterine and postnatal growth patterns, and a comprehensive range of psychosocial, familial and environmental factors. It is our objective to characterise functional polymorphisms for genes related to stress regulation and examine their interactions with early life exposures and their neurobiological consequences. We will also test 16 year old Raine subjects for cognitive ability, and in some we will image their brain activity while performing these tests. We anticipate to enhance the already comprehensive phenotypic Raine Study data base with neurobiological information for future neuroscience studies as the Raine cohort matures. We hypothesise that increased and sustained trajectories of early life stress, family dysfunction or poor mental health during childhood will increase the risk of Raine Study adolescents experiencing: (i) - increased stress sensitivity with higher baseline cortisol levels during adolescence; (ii) - increased adolescent stress sensitivity, if they are carriers of specific haplotypes of the glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid receptor genes.;(iii) - depression during adolescence, if they are homozygous or heterozygous for the short allele of the serotonin transporter (5-HTT) gene; (iv) - poorer cognitive performance and increased atypical non-prefrontal cortex (PFC) brain activity during cognitive testing as measured by fMRI; and (v) -more mental health problems during adolescence.Read moreRead less
Graves’ disease is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism. It leads to long-term impairments in quality of life and has a 40% higher mortality rate compared with the general population. We know surprisingly little about the causes of Graves’ disease. One possible trigger is stressful life events; however, the relationship is yet to be proven. This study will assess whether stressful life events, specifically military deployment, are associated with Graves’ disease.
AusDiab 3: Emerging Risk Factors For And Long-term Incidence Of Cardio-metabolic Diseases
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,616,397.00
Summary
This study will track 11,000 Australian adults over 12 years to determine how many develop diabetes, obesity, kidney and heart disease. The study will develop ways to best predict those who are going to develop these conditions before they have arisen, and will explore a range of novel risk factors to better understand these conditions.
Optimising Large-scale Public Health Interventions To Control Neglected Tropical Diseases
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$318,768.00
Summary
Neglected tropical diseases (NTD) are a group of health conditions that affect the poorest of the poor, particularly in remote and rural areas. They affect the most vulnerable communities and cause substantial, chronic health harms impairing personal and social development. Several debilitating NTD are common in remote indigenous communities and Pacific islands. I propose a series of studies to investigate new strategies to control NTD in large populations where these diseases are endemic.
Development Of Early Warning Systems For Dengue Fever Based On Socio-ecological Factors
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$327,402.00
Summary
Global climate change has potentially serious effects on the transmission of dengue. An early warning system (EWS) based on socio-ecological factors will be developed to examine where and when outbreaks of dengue are likely to occur and how the future dengue control strategies and prevention efforts need to be applied and strengthened in Australia. This project will provide a platform for future research on developing and implementing an EWS for dengue in the Asia-Pacific region.
Exploiting Existing Data Sources To Improve The Prevention And Treatment Of Cardiovascular Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$772,490.00
Summary
My program of research exploits several large databases to answer important issues in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease (CVD), which makes a huge contribution to the burden of illness and premature mortality in Australia. An underlying aim is to provide the evidence base to facilitate improvement of the existing CVD risk assessment guidelines in Australia, for better targeting of clinical advice and treatment.
Although the major risk factors for cardiovascular diseases have been known for decades, and modern-day treatment is much advanced, the importance of these diseases persists, such that they remain the number one killer in Australia. This suggests that more can be done to correctly identify those at high and moderate risk of future disease, so as to optimize advice and medical treatment. This project will use the best evidence available to develop new methods of risk prediction and prevention.
Predicting The Impact Of Current Obesity And Diabetes Trends On Future Prevalence Of Cardiovascular Disease In Australia
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$222,762.00
Summary
Obesity and diabetes are both strong risk factors for cardiovascular disease. As their prevalence has more than doubled over the past decades we need to know the likely effect on future rates of cardiovascular disease. Here we propose to create projection models for cardiovascular disease in Australia to estimate the future impact of trends in obesity and diabetes.
The proportion of the population over 65 years of age is increasing, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of disability and death in this group of people. Angina, heart failure and stroke in elderly people often result in considerable disability and in many instances in a need for changed living circumstances such as admission to nursing homes. Consequently there is an important need to understand how to prevent and manage cardiovascular diseases in elderly people. Although CVD oc ....The proportion of the population over 65 years of age is increasing, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of disability and death in this group of people. Angina, heart failure and stroke in elderly people often result in considerable disability and in many instances in a need for changed living circumstances such as admission to nursing homes. Consequently there is an important need to understand how to prevent and manage cardiovascular diseases in elderly people. Although CVD occurs much more frequently in older persons, much of the epidemiological information on CVD risk factors and risk estimation comes from studies of middle-aged populations. Recently there has been an increased focus on whether the established relationships hold or differ in the elderly. This has generated debate about the relative value and effectiveness of treating risk factors in elderly people. This study, which is based on comprehensive and long-term risk factor, mortality and morbidity data from the Busselton Health Study and Health in Men Study, will lead to a better understanding of classic and new CVD risk factors in older persons and will contribute positively to the debate about the relative value and effectiveness of attempting to modify risk factors in the elderly. Further, it will facilitate improved methods for CVD risk assessment in older people and hence assist in determining whether which preventive actions to implement in the elderly.Read moreRead less