Retinal vessel calibre can be viewed non-invasively in children, and has been linked to heart disease in adulthood. There is new evidence that genetic factors may influence retinal calibre. This study will examine retinal vessel calibre in a population of twin children and compare the correlation of the retinal calibre between identical and non-identical twins. Findings from the study will provide important insights into the genetic determinants of retinal vessel calibre and the development of vascular diseases in early life.

Young people with developmental problems suffer from significantly high levels of behaviour and emotional problems. Difficulties present from an early age, persisting over time. To understand how these problems begin and develop treatments, we need to examine these difficulties in young children with developmental delay. This study aims to evaluate a measure to assess behaviour problems in young children with developmental delay, determine how many young children have behaviour problems, and how this impacts their families.

Despite the increasing amount of research into childhood obesity, there is no co-ordinated approach to research in this area, either nationally of internationally. The Australian Child and Adolescent Obesity Research Network (ACAORN) aims to address this problem with an innovative proposal to set up databases of (1) Australian paediatric longitudinal studies related to obesity, (2) treatment trials in childhood obesity for a prospective meta-analysis and (3) measurement tools for diet, physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and measures related to community-based interventions.

This study aims to develop a quality of life questionnaire for adolescents with cerebral palsy. This questionnaire is essential to evaluate the effectiveness of a range of interventions and to aid in service planning and delivery. This questionnaire is based on our recently developed cerebral palsy quality of life questionnaire for children (CP QOL-Child), which has been extremely successful and is currently being translated into five different languages and used in several clinical trials.

We will evaluate the role and function of an Indigenous Reference Group (IRG) as a model for conducting research in Indigenous communities. The evaluation will incorporate: direct observation of IRG meetings; semi-structured focus group discussions and interviews involving community representatives and other stakeholders, study participants, IRG members and researchers. Thematic analysis will be used to analyse the qualitative data.

The aim of the Loozit- study is to determine the effect of extended therapeutic contact over a 2 year period in overweight and obese adolescents attending a community-based weight management group program. We propose that extended therapeutic contact, by phone coaching and a combination of SMS text messages and/or email, will help obese adolescents to achieve and maintain the goals they set and will improve the outcomes of a high quality group weight management program.

We don't understand how chronic disease develops but evidence is mounting for an origin before birth. It's possible that that a fetus can be 'reprogrammed' in the womb by maternal diet, stress, etc, predisposing it to chronic disease later. A possible mechanism behind this is epigenetics, which involves molecules binding to our DNA and turning our genes on or off. Once identified, epigenetic marks can be changed by diet or drugs, opening up possible new avenues for prevention and therapy.

Today's challenge is to cure childhood leukaemia without compromising quality of life. We will perform an eighteen-month pilot study to investigate if measurement of chromosome (telomere) biology in leukaemia cells can predict what treatment a child should receive, the response to treatment and whether the child is likely to survive. These findings may allow us to better determine the intensity of therapy required for the treatment of childhood leukaemia, thereby improving patient survival and enhancing long-term quality of life.