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Research
Look Who's Talking: Host and Pathogen Drivers of Staphylococcus epidermidis Virulence in Neonatal SepsisPreterm infants are at increased risk for invasive neonatal bacterial infections. S. epidermidis, a ubiquitous skin commensal, is a major cause of late-onset neonatal sepsis, particularly in high-resource settings. The vulnerability of preterm infants to serious bacterial infections is commonly attributed to their distinct and developing immune system.
Preterm babies have a heightened risk of infection as their immune system is not mature. The Neonatal Health Team is exploring new ways to diagnose, prevent and treat infections in WA's smallest patients .
Research
Retinopathy of prematurity and placental histopathology findings: A retrospective cohort studyRetinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a biphasic vaso-proliferative disease that has the potential to cause blindness. In addition to prematurity and hyperoxia, perinatal infection and inflammation have been reported to play a critical role in the pathogenesis of ROP. The aim of this study was to assess the association between placental inflammation and the severity of ROP.
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Assessing the Activity of Antimicrobial Peptides Against Common Marine Bacteria Located in Rotifer (Brachionus plicatilis) CulturesRotifers are used as the first feed for marine fish larvae and are grown in large cultures that have high loads of organic matter and heterotrophic bacteria; these bacteria are passed on to the developing fish larvae and can potentially lead to bacterial infections.
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Molecular Methodologies for Improved Polymicrobial Sepsis DiagnosisPolymicrobial sepsis is associated with worse patient outcomes than monomicrobial sepsis. Routinely used culture-dependent microbiological diagnostic techniques have low sensitivity, often leading to missed identification of all causative organisms.
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A systems biology approach to better understand human tick-borne diseasesTick-borne diseases are a growing global health concern. Despite extensive studies, ill-defined tick-associated pathologies remain with unknown aetiologies. Human immunological responses after tick bite, and inter-individual variations of immune-response phenotypes, are not well characterised.
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Characterising commensal and pathogenic staphylococcal interactions with neonatal and adult bloodThe abundant skin commensal, Staphylococcus epidermidis, is the leading cause of late-onset sepsis (LOS) in preterm infants but rarely causes infections in term infants and adults. Staphylococcal virulence mechanisms and the role of the preterm immune responses in driving these life-threatening infections remain poorly understood.
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Antibiotic exposure in culture-negative preterm infants: a 10-year single-centre studyAntibiotic exposure in neonatal intensive care units (NICU) is high. This study describes antibiotic use in very preterm infants and examines the association between duration of exposure and outcomes in blood culture negative (CN) infants.
Research
Wait a Minute or More (WAMM): a pragmatic stepped wedge cluster randomised implementation trial assessing the effect of a quality improvement programmeDelayed cord clamping (DCC) is an evidence-based intervention that reduces mortality, anaemia and disability in infants born <37 weeks' gestation who do not require immediate resuscitation. However, it is neither reliably recorded nor routinely implemented in Australia. The Wait a Minute or More study aims to reduce this gap between the evidence and practice by integrating timely sharing of cord clamping data with Evidence-based Practice for Improving Quality methods to increase the proportion of preterm infants receiving DCC for 60s or longer (DCC60).