Acute poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis : public health implications of recent clusters in New South Wales and epidemiology of hospital admissions

Acute poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis (APSGN) is an inflammatory kidney condition that can complicate Group A streptococcal infections. Two clusters of APSGN occurred recently in New South Wales (NSW), Australia; one in a rural town in December 1999 and the other in a Sydney suburb in January 2000. We interviewed carers of the affected children but found no common exposures except three of the Sydney cases were cousins in frequent contact. To assess the probability of these clusters occurring, we analysed hospital admissions for acute glomerulonephritis, as a proxy for APSGN in younger patients. The incidence of acute glomerulonephritis in NSW during 1989/90-1997/8 in residents aged under 20 years was 2(.)2/100000/year (95% CI 2(.)0-2(.)5). Incidence was highest in children aged 5-9 years, boys and Aboriginal children. We found no evidence for other clusters during that period. The recent clusters highlight the continued potential for unexpected future outbreaks of APSGN.

Satiety responsiveness in toddlerhood predicts energy intake and weight status at four years of age

The aim of this study was to examine whether maternal-report of child eating behaviour at two years predicted self-regulation of energy intake and weight status at four years. Using an ‘eating in the absence of hunger’ paradigm, children’s energy intake (kJ) from a semi-standardized lunch meal and a standardized selection of snacks were measured. Participants were 37 mother-child dyads (16 boys, Median child age = 4.4 years, Inter-quartile range = 3.7-4.5 years) recruited from an existing longitudinal study (NOURISH randomised controlled trial). All participants were tested in their own home. Details of maternal characteristics, child eating behaviours (at age two years) reported by mothers on a validated questionnaire, and measured child height and weight (at age 3.5-4 years) were sourced from existing NOURISH trial data. Correlation and partial correlation analyses were used to examine longitudinal relationships. Satiety responsiveness and Slowness in eating were inversely associated with energy intake of the lunch meal (partial r = -.40, p =.023, and partial r = -.40, p = .023) and the former was also negatively associated with BMI-for-age Z score (partial r = -.42, p = .015). Food responsiveness and Enjoyment of food were not related to energy intake or BMI Z score. None of the eating behaviours were significantly associated with energy intake of the snacks (i.e., eating in the absence of hunger). The small and predominantly ‘healthy weight’ sample of children may have limited the ability to detect some hypothesized effects. Nevertheless, the study provides evidence for the predictive validity of two eating behaviours and future research with a larger and more diverse sample should be able to better evaluate the predictive validity of other children’s early eating behaviour styles.

Understanding theory of mind in children who are deaf

Research on theory of mind began in the context of determining whether chimpanzees are aware that individuals experience cognitive and emotional states. More recently, this research has involved various groups of children and various tasks, including the false belief task. Based almost exclusively on that paradigm, investigators have concluded that although ``normal'' hearing children develop theory of mind by age 5, children who are autistic or deaf do not do so until much later, perhaps not until their teenage years. The present study explored theory of mind by examining stories told by children who are deaf and hearing (age 9±15 years) for statements ascribing behaviour-relevant states of mind to themselves and others. Both groups produced such attributions, although there were reliable differences between them. Results are discussed in terms of the cognitive abilities assumed to underlie false belief and narrative paradigms and the implications of attributing theory of mind solely on the basis of performance on the false belief task.

Associations of body mass index and waist circumference with: energy intake and percentage energy from macronutrients, in a cohort of Australian children

Background It is evident from previous research that the role of dietary composition in relation to the development of childhood obesity remains inconclusive. Several studies investigating the relationship between body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and/or skin fold measurements with energy intake have suggested that the macronutrient composition of the diet (protein, carbohydrate, fat) may play an important contributing role to obesity in childhood as it does in adults. This study investigated the possible relationship between BMI and WC with energy intake and percentage energy intake from macronutrients in Australian children and adolescents. Methods Height, weight and WC measurements, along with 24 h food and drink records (FDR) intake data were collected from 2460 boys and girls aged 5-17 years living in the state of Queensland, Australia. Results Statistically significant, yet weak correlations between BMI z-score and WC with total energy intake were observed in grades 1, 5 and 10, with only 55% of subjects having a physiologically plausible 24 hr FDR. Using Pearson correlations to examine the relationship between BMI and WC with energy intake and percentage macronutrient intake, no significant correlations were observed between BMI z-score or WC and percentage energy intake from protein, carbohydrate or fat. One way ANOVAs showed that although those with a higher BMI z-score or WC consumed significantly more energy than their lean counterparts. Conclusion No evidence of an association between percentage macronutrient intake and BMI or WC was found. Evidently, more robust longitudinal studies are needed to elucidate the relationship linking obesity and dietary intake.

Accuracy of weight status perception in contemporary Australian children and adolescents

Aim: To explore weight status perception and its relation to actual weight status in a contemporary cohort of 5- to 17-year-old children and adolescents. Methods: Body mass index (BMI), derived from height and weight measurements, and perception of weight status (‘too thin’, ‘about right’ and ‘too fat’) were evaluated in 3043 participants from the Healthy Kids Queensland Survey. In children less than 12 years of age, weight status perception was obtained from the parents, whereas the adolescents self-reported their perceived weight status. Results: Compared with measured weight status by established BMI cut-offs, just over 20% of parents underestimated their child's weight status and only 1% overestimated. Adolescent boys were more likely to underestimate their weight status compared with girls (26.4% vs. 10.2%, P < 0.05) whereas adolescent girls were more likely to overestimate than underestimate (11.8% vs. 3.4%, P < 0.05). Underestimation was greater by parents of overweight children compared with those of obese children, but still less than 50% of parents identified their obese child as ‘too fat’. There was greater recognition of overweight status in the adolescents, with 83% of those who were obese reporting they were ‘too fat’. Conclusion: Whilst there was a high degree of accuracy of weight status perception in those of healthy weight, there was considerable underestimation of weight status, particularly by parents of children who were overweight or obese. Strategies are required that enable parents to identify what a healthy weight looks like and help them understand when intervention is needed to prevent further weight gain as the child gets older.

Should Cyberbullying Be Criminalized?

Society’s attitudes towards all forms of bullying have changed in the last thirty years from considering it to be a normal part of childhood, a rite of passage and character building to regarding bullying as a behaviour to be prevented and condemned (Rigby, 2008; Žižek, 2008). This has been brought about by the research into the consequences of bullying during this time, revealing bullying to be detrimental not only to students who have been victimized but also to students who perpetrate the bullying and the bystanders who witness such behaviour. These consequences include increased levels of depression, anxiety and psychosomatic symptoms (Fekkes, Pijpers, Frediks, Vogels, & Verloove-Vanhorrick, 2006; Kim, Leventhal, Koh, Hubbard, & Boyce, 2006; Reijntjs, Kamphuis, Prinzie, & Telch, 2010) for those students who have been victimized. Different detrimental associations have been found for girls and boys who had been bullied in one longitudinal study (Carbone-Lopez, Esbensen, & Bick 2010); girls who had been indirectly bullied increased their drug use whereas boys did not, and while victimized girls showed lower self-esteem, this did not occur for boys.

Child sexual abuse in China : a meta-analysis of 27 studies

Objective: To examine whether Chinese studies of child sexual abuse (CSA) in the general population show lower prevalence rates than other international studies, and whether certain features of these studies may help to account for variation in estimates. Methods: A meta-analysis and meta-regression were conducted on 27 studies found in the English and Chinese language peer reviewed journals that involved general populations of students or residents, estimated CSA prior to age 18, and specified rates for males or females individually. Results: Estimates for Chinese females were lower than the international composites. For total CSA for females, the Chinese pooled estimate was 15.3% (95% CI = 12.6–18.0) based on the meta-analysis of 24 studies, lower than the international estimate (Stoltenborgh, van IJzendoorn, Euser, & Bakermans-Kranenburg, 2011) but not significantly. For contact CSA for females, the pooled estimate was 9.5% (95% CI = 7.5–11.5), based on 16 studies, significantly lower than the international prevalence. For penetrative CSA for females, the pooled estimate was 1% (95% CI = 0.7–1.3), based on 15 studies, significantly lower than the international estimate of 15.1%. Chinese men reported significantly less penetrative CSA but significantly more total CSA than international estimates; while contact CSA reported by Chinese and international males appeared to be roughly equivalent. Chinese CSA prevalence estimates were lower in studies from urban areas and non-mainland areas (Hong Kong and Taiwan), and in surveys with larger and probability samples, multiple sites, face-to-face interview method and when using less widely used instruments. Conclusions: The findings to date justify further research into possible cultural and sociological reasons for lower risk of contact and penetrative sexual abuse of girls and less penetrative abuse of boys in China. Future research should examine sociological explanations, including patterns of supervision, sexual socialization and attitudes related to male sexual prowess. Practice implications: The findings suggest that future general population studies in China should use well validated instruments, avoid face-to-face interview formats and be careful to maintain methodological standards when sampling large populations over multiple sites.

The serious and playful work of gender : talk and social order in a preschool classroom

This chapter reports some observations made of the social interactions of girls and boys, aged 3 to 5 years, in play situations in a preschool classroom of a childcare centre. It provides an alternate framework for early childhood educators to become aware of how preschool children construct their gendered social organizations. As girls and boys organise and build their social worlds of play through their talk-in-interaction, they are building their social orders. In this chapter, an analysis of one episode of children's play has, as its focus , the methods that some girls and boys use in their talk and activity to make sense of their everyday interactions. The analysis of play shows the children's real life work of constructing and maintaining gendered social orders in their lived everyday social worlds. A close reading of the transcript of an episode illustrates how two girls turn they boys' masculine practices o ritualized threats into performance. By so doing, they show that while they know masculine discourse, and can perform it themselves, they do not actually 'own' it in the same way that the boys do. In this way, gender is established not as a social density but as a shaped dynamic practice that is ongoing, build by relational encounters and shaped by the collective performances of the participants.

Strolling the coastline: criminology in everyday life : through ‘landscape’ from gaol to ‘badlands’

Part travelogue, part flight of fancy, this paper recounts a coastline stroll from Maroubra Beach to Bondi in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. The author as ‘travel guide’ points out features of potential interest to two visiting criminological colleagues as they ‘pass by’ scenery of great beauty shadowed by acts of spectacular violence. The everyday acts of walking and talking while passing through a ‘landscape’ serve to constitute a criminology of everyday life, illustrating the way in which a consciousness of crime, crime sites, analyses and theories permeates the ways a ‘tourist trail’ might be experienced and seen, myths made and histories forged. The walk starts with the unseen lines of penal force radiating from Long Bay Gaol, before skirting through surfing and its regulation; the ‘brotherhood’ of the BRA Boys; the Hines killing and the politics of self defence; the shark arm case, the Virgin Mary and the Bali bombing memorial at Coogee; zones of the beach and Jock Young’s Vertigo at Bronte and Tamarama; before finishing at the Marks Park ‘badlands’ at Bondi, scene of a series of mostly unsolved and unpunished homophobic killings, giving rise to reflections on ‘ungrievable lives’, memory, mourning and forgetting.

Getting there, being there, staying and belonging: a case study of two indigenous Australian children’s transition to school

Indigenous Australians are among the most unhealthy populations in the world and yet they reside in a country where the non-Indigenous population enjoys high standards of well-being. Education has been identified as the key mechanism for closing this equity gap. At school commencement many Indigenous children are already at risk of disengagement. This four-year longitudinal study of two Indigenous boys from a socially marginalised community examined key factors affecting transitional trajectories into school. While child characteristics affected level of achievement the critical factors in sustaining positive educational engagement were social support, school practices, inclusion of family and positive expectation.

A shared reading intervention with parents to enhance young children’s early literacy skills

Parental reading to children from an early age has been shown to enhance children’s emergent literacy skills. A pragmatic randomized controlled trial (RCT) was used to investigate the effects of two forms of shared reading interventions on children’s language and literacy skills. Parents of 80 preparatory year children from outer suburban schools of an Australian metropolitan city were trained to use shared reading strategies in an eight-week home intervention. Families were assigned to one of three groups: Dialogic Reading (DR), Dialogic Reading with the addition of Print Referencing (DR + PR), or an attention-matched control group. The sample comprised 42 boys and 38 girls ranging in age from 4.9 years to 6.3 years (M = 5.5, SD = 0.3). Data were collected at pre, post, and at three months follow-up. Measures assessed children’s oral language (receptive and expressive vocabulary), phonological awareness (rhyme, word completion), alphabet knowledge, and concepts about print. Analyses of change from pre to post showed significant effects for the DR and DR + PR groups compared to the control group on three of the six measures: expressive language, rhyme, and concepts about print. At 3-month follow-up assessment, the two intervention groups maintained significantly better performance on the measure of concepts of print only. At both time points, there were no group differences between the DR and DR+PR conditions. These findings illustrate the potential of a brief home focused intervention on promoting children’s emergent literacy.

High school students' perceptions of school science and science careers : a critical look at a critical issue

Disproportionate representation of males and females in science courses and careers continues to be of concern. This article explores gender differences in Australian high school students’ perceptions of school science and their intentions to study university science courses. Nearly 3800 15-year-old students responded to a range of 5-point Likert items relating to intentions to study science at university, perceptions of career-related instrumental issues such as remuneration and job security, self-rated science ability and enjoyment of school science. Australian boys and girls reported enjoying science to a similar extent, however boys reported enjoying it more in relation to other subjects than did girls, and rated their ability in science compared to others in their class more highly than did girls. There was no significant difference between the mean responses of girls and boys to the item “It is likely I will choose a science-related university course when I leave school” and the strongest predictors of responses to this item were items relating to students’ liking for school science and awareness from school science of new and exciting jobs, followed by their perceived self-ability. These results are discussed in relation to socio-scientific values that interact with identity and career choices, employment prospects in science, and implications for science education.

Gender differences in Australian students' relationships with school science

This paper explores issues of gender in Year 10 Australian students‘ experiences of science at school, their self-reported ability in science and their perceptions of science as a subject choice for senior secondary school. A sample of 3759 Year 10 students from across Australia responded to Likert-style questions related to these issues, with findings showing gender differences in perceptions of science, self-rated ability, and reasons for choosing not to study further science. Moreover, interesting contrasts were revealed in patterns of difference of self-rated ability for boys and girls across single-sex and co-educational schools.

Accused headmaster turned me into pedophile, says convicted cleric Peter Gilbert

A CLERGYMAN who allegedly raped boys at a north Queensland boarding school in the 1960s has claimed he was ordered to take female hormones by his headmaster, who encouraged the "romantic love" of children among staff. Former Anglican brother Peter Gilbert - sentenced to seven years' jail in 2006 for the rape and indecent assault of children in the 1980s in South Australia - has blamed St Barnabas headmaster the late Robert Waddington for turning him into a pedophile. In a statement to one of his alleged victims, Gilbert said Waddington was molesting children himself and the Anglican priest would absolve the young teacher of his abuse of children in the confessional. The account has emerged as the top ranks of the Anglican church in Australia and Britain have been rocked by allegations of the covering-up of complaints made in 1999 and 2003 about Waddington's abuse while headmaster at the boarding school in Ravenshoe, north Queensland, and later, when he was dean of Manchester. A full investigation is being demanded into the handling of the complaints by the former Archbishop of York, now Lord (David) Hope of Thornes, and Australian church officials, including the former bishop of north Queensland, Clyde Wood.

Accused cleric link to top music school probe

THE senior Anglican clergyman at the centre of an international child sex scandal was also a governor of a prestigious English music college that is under investigation for the alleged abuse of scores of its students across decades. Robert Waddington, who is alleged to have sexually assaulted students and choirboys in Britain and Australia, was a governor of the scandal-hit Chetham's School of Music for nine years. Waddington recruited students from the school for his choir at Manchester Cathedral, and allegedly abused at least three of the boys until he retired in 1993. The police investigation into the school, which began after the conviction in February of Michael Brewer, a former Chetham's music director, for the sexual abuse of female students, has not previously looked at Waddington. A victim has told The Weekend Australian that he was aware Waddington abused several boys from Chetham's who, like him, had been in the choir. The Cambridge University-educated business analyst, who has offered to give evidence under oath to police and the Church of England's inquiry into Waddington, said the clergyman had kept a collection of pictures in his house of boys he had abused.