Monthly Archives: September 2016

The early life origins of everything

The modern environment is associated with an increasing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Mounting evidence implicates environmental exposures, experienced early in life (including in utero), in the aetiology of many NCDs, though the cellular/molecular mechanism(s) underlying this elevated risk across the life course remain unclear. The Barwon Infant Study (BIS) is a population-derived birth cohort study (n = 1,074 infants) with antenatal recruitment, designed to facilitate a detailed mechanistic investigation of development within an epidemiological framework.

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Chronic wet cough and bronchiectasis in children: a clinical spectrum

Chronic wet cough (>4 weeks) is common in children and often considered benign and self-limiting. However, there is increasing evidence to suggest that it may have greater significance, particularly if left untreated. Chronic wet cough, protracted bacterial bronchitis and bronchiectasis share many clinical and pathological features and are postulated to represent a clinical spectrum. With increased access to CT scans, non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis diagnoses are rising.

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Gene Editing is a Moral Imperative

In today’s industrialised, globalised world, we live to extreme old age. But this extended life span comes with a trade-off: our DNA is now out of sync with our environment. We can live for eight, nine, even ten decades, while the use-by date on our DNA is closer to 40-50 years. That means people spend their later years living with the diseases of ageing. If our DNA is lettering us down, why shouldn’t we alter it to suit our environment?

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