Use of glycopyrrolate and atropine in acute organophosphorus poisoning.

Two cases of organophosphorus poisoning are reported. Both were treated with a combination of atropine and glycopyrrolate as well as benzodiazepine and pralidoxime. The advantages of glycopyrrolate over atropine are discussed.

Assessment of intra-aortic balloon pumping by ocular pneumoplethysmography.

The ocular pneumoplethysmograph (OPG-Gee) has been used to screen for unsuspected carotid disease in candidates for cardiac operations. This article demonstrates that the validity of such screening is maintained, even if the patient is sustained by an intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP). An unexpected observation is the apparent reduction of ocular blood flow during IABP, which was reduced in this series of 56 patients by an average of 11.

Cigarette smoking and the age at menopause.

In a sample of 15,464 apparently healthy Australian women, the mean age at natural menopause of women who smoke ten or more cigarettes a day was 1.3 years lower than that of other women. These distributions were well described by logistic distributions with the same variances.

Maturation of cortical control over superior colliculus cells in cat.

The specialized receptive field properties of superior colliculus cells are believed to be dependent upon cortical influences. Yet despite a corticotectal projection near the time of birth and adult-like cortical cells at the beginning of the second week of life, specialized properties do not appear in many superior colliculus cells until quite late in postnatal development. We now report that this apparent conflict is due to the protracted functional maturation of the corticotectal system.

The prevalence of psychosocial problems. A study of 37,678 Sydney adults.

Australian household surveys have indicated the prevalence of emotional or psychological disturbance as about 25 per cent of the population. Among those attending general practitioners' surgeries, the prevalence is even higher - 33 to 40 per cent. Morevoer, such psychosocial problems have an important effect on people's mental and physical health.

A multivariate assessment of alcohol consumption.

Subjects attending a large, multiphasic health screening centre in Sydney, Australia estimated their alcohol consumption and specimens of their blood were analysed. The most useful univariate estimates of alcohol consumption were erythrocyte mean corpuscular volume and plasma aspartate-aminotransferase, gamma-glutamyl-transpeptidase, triglycerides and uric acid. The most statistically significant of these tests have been combined to form a multivariate predictor of alcohol intake which is more successful in identifying heavy-drinkers than single tests.

Heavy drinkers--their prevalence, attitudes and characteristics.

Heavy drinkers were defined as those admitting to drinking six or more drinks every day or most days. This pattern of alcohol consumption which is equivalent to 80 or more grams of ethanol per day, puts them at 'high risk' of physical and/or psychosocial complications. Eleven percent of 23,673 males and 1% of 19,803 females who had a Medicheck screening were heavy drinkers.

Reconstruction of binary-data-page thick holograms for an arbitrarily oriented reference beam.

The readout of a page of binary data from a holographic memory utilizing a thick recording material is treated for arbitrary angular positioning of the reference beam. The diffraction efficiency associated with each bit in the data page is calculated. Histograms showing the distribution of the diffracted powers and thus the fidelity of reconstruction for example cases are presented.

Lung function in an Australian population: 2. Spirometric performance and cigarette-smoking habits.

The FEV1, FVC and FEV1/FVC% in 12016 females and 18 359 males were related to cigarette-smoking habits. Over all, non-smokers had significantly better lung function than cigarette smokers. Ex-smokers of either sex had significantly higher FEV1 and FEV1/FVC% than cigarette smokers, but the FVC values were higher only in females.

Lung function in an Australian population: 1. Spirometric standards for non-smoking adults.

Relationships between age, height, weight and spirometry with FEV0.5, FEV1, FVC and FEV1/FVC are described for a sample of 6275 female and 6511 male non-smoking adults living in New South Wales. Prediction equations for ventilatory function tests are derived from non-smokers and compared with other standards that are available in a population sample of 31172 subjects.

Estimation of alcohol intake from laboratory results.

Subjects with abnormalities in a number of laboratory tests were shown to have higher than usual probabilities of being heavy drinkers. Quantitative estimates have been made of the probabilities of heavy drinking from the results of the following tests: gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase, mean corpuscular volume, uric acid, triglyceride, and aspartate aminotransferase. In men, but not in women, there was a clear increase in this probability with increasing test results for these five tests, which may prove useful in the detection of individuals who are at risk from their drinking habits.

Some laboratory correlates of drinking habits.

The effect of drinking habits on the frequency distributions of eight biochemical or haematological test results was studied in 7915 patients attending a multiphasic health testing centre. Increasing incidences of abnormal results with increasing alcohol intake, at levels of alcohol intake habitual for a large proportion of the population, were found for plasma gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase, triglycerides and uric acid, and for erythrocyte mean corpuscular volume. Of four frequently used liver function tests, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, bilirubin, and albumin, only aspartate aminotransferase was strongly affected by drinking habits.

Malignant teratoma of the ovary: prognostic factors and treatment.

A series of 25 patients with malignant teratoma of the ovary is presented. In 56%, diagnosis was made before the age of 20; none had bilateral tumors, and 52% were in Stage I at the time of the original diagnosis. Treatment with operation followed by irradiation or single-agent chemotherapy was ineffective; there were no survivors in eight patients treated with either of these regimens.

Drinking and drug taking patterns of 8,516 adults in Sydney.

Data on the drinking and drug taking patterns of 8,516 adults who had been through a Medicheck screening were analysed. This is the largest sample studied in Australia to date. The alcohol intake pattern of at least 29% of males and 9% of females puts them "at risk" of physical and/or psychosocial complications; 11% of males and 2% of females were considered to be at high risk.