We do not understand why childhood diabetes is increasing rapidly among Australian children. The increase is likely to be due to environment. This project aims to investigate the role of the modern child's early life environment so that possible adverse risk factors for T1DM (e.g. sun avoidance, adequate exposure to minor infections, diet and child obesity) can be identified and then better advice can be provided to new parents on the optimal child environment required to reduce the risk of type 1 diabetes.

Aboriginal Australians have 2 to 10 times the rate of chronic kidney disease and premature death from cardiovascular disease compared with non-Aboriginal Australians. Our 6 year follow-up of Aboriginal children from diverse NSW areas has shown no increase in risk for these diseases when compared with non-Aboriginal children. The Aboriginal Health Worker for whom funding is requested will work with the ARDAC Second Phase Study and follow the participants for another 6 years to determine whether these health disparities start to manifest in young Aboriginal adults.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects up to 7.5% of Australian children. Between 50 and 70% of parents also report that their ADHD child has a sleep problem. Sleep problems are associated with poorer child behaviour, concentration, and school attendance. We want to know if managing sleep problems in ADHD children can improve these outcomes. This pilot will determine the best way to manage sleep problems in ADHD children and results will inform a larger effectiveness trial of this approach.

Thirty children aged 2.5 - 15 years with upper limb impairment from cerebral palsy or an acquired brain injury will be administered the Melbourne Assessment on three occasions. Twenty of these children will be receiving intervention to their upper limb and ten children will be in the first six months of recovering from an acquired brain injury. Analysis of assessment scores across the three time points will determine if the scale is sensitive to detecting changes in upper limb abilities.

Protection from infection during early life is based on placental transfer of IgG (passive immunity). It is reported that many Australian indigenous infants succumb to ear infections caused by S. Pneumoniae in the first 6 weeks of life. Why does maternal transfer of IgG not protect these infants?

We aim to investigate passive immunity in this group and an indigenous group with similar socio-economic conditions but with no associated problems of ear infection.

The aim of the Loozit study is to determine the effect of extended contact with a group leader over a 2 year period in overweight and obese adolescents attending a community-based weight management group program. We propose that extended contact with a group leader, 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.

Otitis media is the most prevalent paediatric disease presenting to general practitioners and often requires repeated antibiotic treatment. This project unifies clinical expertise in the treatment of otitis media, molecular virology and microbiology with immunology research expertise and equipment. Using state of the art detection methods, examination of bacterial and viral carriage and immune response within children with otitis media will address fundamental gaps in knowledge that will facilitate development of more effective treatment regimes and prevention strategies.

Children of preschool age and older show severe problems in many areas after a head injury. What effect a head injury has on young children (before 3 years) is currently unknown but is thought that these children have more problems than older children do. This study will look at how young children recover after a head injury and the findings will be used to form programs to help these children before they develop long-lasting social, behavioural and learning difficulties.

Use of UCB for transplantation is limited in older children, adolescents and adults because of the low engraftable stem cell dose and can result in high rejection rates, slow recovery of blood cells following transplantation potentially leading to increased rates of life threatening infections or bleeding. A potential solution to this is to develop a strategy to expand engraftable UCB cells prior to transplantation allowing for greater use of UCB for all kids in need of a life saving transplant.

Preschool children who fail to understand and regulate their emotions are at risk for mental health and antisocial behaviour problems throughout their lives. Parents play a central role in helping children develop these abilities. The Tuning in to Kids programme teaches parents' skills that help children learn about and regulate their emotions. The program has already been shown effective when delivered by a research team – the proposed study will evaluate whether Tuning in to Kids is effective in a real-world setting when delivered by staff from community agencies rather than the program developers.