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The vast and growing challenges for human health and all life on Earth require urgent and deep structural changes to the way in which we live. Broken relationships with nature are at the core of both the modern health crisis and the erosion of planetary health. A declining connection to nature has been implicated in the exploitative attitudes that underpin the degradation of both physical and social environments and almost all aspects of personal physical, mental, and spiritual health. It is increasingly clear that the entwined challenges of biodiversity loss, climate change, and human health cannot be addressed without addressing selfishness, greed, apathy, and the value systems that created these global problems. Calls for a spiritual and cultural transformation recognize that “inner” development is important and necessary for meaningful “outward” transitions with a shared purpose for wiser, more sustainable societies. Many of these emotional and spiritual assets appear to be facilitated by a connection to nature, which is also strongly associated with community cohesion, prosocial attitudes, and pro-environmental actions. Restoring the human connection to nature may therefore provide a critical common pathway to promote the physical and spiritual wellbeing of individuals and communities as well as personal and social environmental responsibility. In this paper, we summarize and reflect on the discussions of the Nova Network planetary health community with respect to nature-based solutions as pathways to promote both personal and planetary health with a more mutualistic mindset. These discussions spanned biological to psychological interactions with nature—including the critical relationships with environmental microbes that influence the physical, emotional, and behavioral aspects of health. We consider the ways in which stronger relationships with nature promote “inner assets” to support “outward actions” for personal and planetary health.

Concepts of planetary health attempt to collectively address the biological, psychological, social, and cultural factors contributing to “Anthropocene Syndrome”, which encompasses the many wicked interrelated challenges of our time. It is increasingly evident that the wide array of causative factors is underpinned by attitudes, values, and worldviews. Emerging research suggests that certain dispositions or ‘traits’—observable along the continuum from individuals to large groups—may be central to the promotion of health of all systems, at all scales. Here in this viewpoint, we focus on the personality trait of narcissism in the collective context of planetary health. First described in 1852 by pioneering psychiatrist Joseph Guislain, the Mania of Narcissus refers to ‘the patient infatuated with his beauty, his charms, his wit, dress, talents, and birth’. We argue that Guislain’s observations are not restricted to the clinical setting, and that a larger-scale narcissism can interfere with the principles of planetary health. We propose that increasing narcissism, at scales ranging from the individual to the collective, is an important consideration in attitudes and behaviors that undermine health along the continuum of person, place, and planet. Despite a growing body of research directed at collective narcissism, and the role that empathy plays in healthy relationships between humans and nature, it is our contention that the role of narcissism and empathy are important but neglected aspects of the planetary health agenda.

The purpose of this brief communication is to highlight emerging evidence regarding potential benefits of supporting early rather than delayed peanut introduction during the period of complementary food introduction in infants. This document should be considered as interim guidance based on consensus among the following organizations: American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy, Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Israel Association of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Japanese Society for Allergology, Society for Pediatric Dermatology, and World Allergy Organization. More formal guidelines regarding early-life, complementary feeding practices and the risk of allergy development will follow in the next year from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases-sponsored Working Group and the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

The epidemic of allergic disease is a major public health crisis. The greatest burden of allergies is in childhood, when rapidly rising rates of disease are also most evident. General practitioners (GP) have a key role in recognising and addressing aller-gy-related problems and identifying whether a child requires referral to a paediatric allergist.This article focuses on IgE-mediated food allergies and allergic rhinitis, the most commonly seen conditions in paediatric im-munology. We will discuss prevention, diagnosis, management and treatment strategies.Currently there is no cure for food allergy. Oral tolerance induction continues to be a significant focus of research. All children with a possible food allergy should be referred to an allergist for further testing and advice. Children who develop allergic rhinitis need a regular review by their GP. Immunotherapy should be discussed early in the disease process and needs to be com-menced by an allergist.

Neonatal Innate immunity is distinct compared with later ages with some inflammatory cytokines produced in excess of adult levels in response to microbial products such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The molecular mechanisms underpinning this specific pattern of neonatal immunity are unknown. In this study, we compared gene expression and cytokine production from LPS stimulated mononuclear cell cultures from 60 individuals at birth and at 12-months. Neonatal mononuclear cell responses were characterized by high levels of IL-1β, IL-10, and IFNγ compared with mononuclear cell responses at 12 months. Microarray analysis of gene expression revealed widespread differences between the neonatal versus infant LPS response. We found expression of a subset of interleukin-1 receptor/Toll-like receptor (IL-1R/TLR) signaling genes was highly expressed in the neonatal period and rapidly down regulated by 12 months. The data suggest that IL-1R1 expression in the neonatal period provides an additional level of Myd88-dependent signaling during this period of heighted susceptibility to infection.

The study aims to examine recent childhood asthma hospitalisation rates in the Asia Pacific countries of Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore. On the background of reported decline in many countries with high asthma prevalence during late 1990s.Annual asthma hospitalisation (ICD9-CM: 493 or ICD10-AM: J45-46)* and population data from 1994 to 2008, of children aged 0-14 years old, were obtained from the Australian National Hospital Morbidity Database, from the Hospital Authority in Hong Kong and from the Ministry of Health in Singapore. Data were stratified in two age groups: 0-4 and 5-14 years old, and also in different periods of calendar years. Time-series regression analyses were used to examine temporal trends. Diagnostic transfer was addressed by examining bronchitis hospitalisations.Significant decreases of up to 6.5% per annum in childhood asthma hospitalisation rates were found over the study period. However, the latter half of the study period showed increases in hospitalisation rates in all countries studied. No evidence of diagnostic transfer was found.Although there has been a decrease in childhood asthma hospitalisation rates since the 1990s, a modest increase was observed from 2003 to 2008. Ongoing monitoring is required.

Food allergy is a substantial and evolving public health issue, recently emerging over the last 10-15 yr as a 'second wave' of the allergy epidemic. It remains unclear why this new phenomenon has lagged decades behind the 'first wave' of asthma, allergic rhinitis and inhalant sensitization. In regions like Australia, which lead the respiratory epidemic, challenge-proven IgE-mediated food allergy now affects up to 10% of infants. Although their parents were among the first generation to experience the large-scale rise in allergic diseases, disorders of oral tolerance were previously uncommon. Of further concern, this new generation appears less likely to outgrow food allergy than their predecessors with long-term implications for disease burden. Allergic disease has been linked to the modern lifestyle including changing dietary patterns, changing intestinal commensal bacteria and vehicular pollution. It is not yet known whether the rise in food allergy is a harbinger of earlier and more severe effects of these progressive environmental changes or whether additional or unrelated lifestyle factors are implicated. New studies suggest environmental factors can produce epigenetic changes in gene expression and disease risk that may be potentially heritable across generations. The rising rates of maternal allergy, a strong direct determinant of allergic risk, could also be amplifying the effect of environmental changes. Preliminary evidence that non-Caucasian populations may be even more susceptible to the adverse effects of 'westernisation' has substantial global implications with progressive urbanization of the more populous regions in the developing world. Unravelling the environmental drivers is critical to curtail a potential tsunami of allergic disease.

(1990). Teachers Perceptions of Factors that Affect Successful Implementation of Cooperative Learning. Action in Teacher Education: Vol. 11, Cought in The Middle: Teacher Education for the Middle Level, pp. 30-34.