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Asthma is the most common chronic lung disease in childhood. There has been a significant worldwide effort to develop tools/methods to identify children's risk for asthma as early as possible for preventative and early management strategies. Unfortunately, most childhood asthma prediction tools using conventional statistical models have modest accuracy, sensitivity, and positive predictive value.
Surfactant, which was first identified in the 1920s, is pivotal to lower the surface tension in alveoli of the lungs and helps to lower the work of breathing and prevents atelectasis. Surfactant proteins, such as surfactant protein B and surfactant protein C, contribute to function and stability of surfactant film.
Our team aims to optimise lung health early in life to ensure the best possible health outcomes later in life.
André Schultz MBChB, PhD, FRACP Head, BREATH Team Head, BREATH Team Prof André Schultz is the Head, BREATH Team at The Kids Research Institute
As both bronchiolitis and bronchiectasis are diseases of the airway surface, we will comprehensively study the airway surface and factors affecting the airway surface in infants hospitalised with bronchiolitis.
Childhood asthma begins as wheeze (a whistling sound produced by the airways during breathing) during preschool age.
Wheezing and asthma exacerbations are leading causes of pediatric hospital admissions. Predicting which children will experience persistent exacerbations remains challenging. Prior research has identified immune endotypes in the nasal epithelium of children with acute asthma and wheezing, characterized by varying balances of interferons and inflammatory markers. Notably, children exhibiting low interferon responses coupled with high inflammation are at an increased risk for recurrent respiratory exacerbations.
Positive expiratory pressure devices are frequently used for airway clearance in children with cystic fibrosis and tracheobronchomalacia. This study aimed to establish if electrical impedance tomography is a feasible measure to titrate pressures in non-sedated children.
To assess the prevalence, clinical features and treatment of otitis media (OM) among Aboriginal children in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, and to determine if a correlation exists between OM and protracted bacterial bronchitis.
Tracheobronchomalacia (TBM) is characterised by abnormal collapsibility of the trachea and bronchi, often seen in children with cystic fibrosis (CF). This study aims to determine the impact of TBM on hospital admissions in young children with CF.