[The self-perception of their professional role of the primary care physicians of Estonia and Finland].

Objective: To find out how experienced primary care physicians working in different societies see themselves as doctors.

Design: A cross-sectional study.

Setting: Primary health care in Estonia and Finland.

How Estonian and Finnish primary care doctors rate their need for common drugs.

Objective: To compare ratings of the necessity of drugs in the daily practice of experienced primary care doctors in Estonia and Finland to find out the differences and similarities in the therapeutic traditions of the two different societies.

Methods: A questionnaire was sent to all Estonian district doctors born in the 1940s and to all Finnish specialized general practitioners born in the 1940s, who then evaluated the necessity of the listed drugs on a visual analogue scale. The ratings, from 0 to 100, were entered into a computer, using a graphic tablet and a pressure sensitive pointer.

[Prevalence of selective lactose malabsorption in Khants].

The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of selective lactose malabsorption (SLM) in Khants, a small finno-ugric nation living in West Siberia. A total of 80 Khants from the Surgut region (Tyumen territory) were studied. The diagnosis of SLM was based on the evidence obtained at a 50 g lactose and, if possible, a 25 g + 25 g galactose-glucose loads.

Lactose malabsorption in Khants in western Siberia.

Background: We wanted to estimate the prevalence of selective lactose malabsorption (SLM) in Khants, a small Finno-Ugric population living in Western Siberia who have traditionally consumed no milk in adulthood.

Methods: A total of 80 Khants, aged 8-57 years and living on the middle reaches of the River Ob, were studied. The diagnosis was based on a lactose tolerance test; general malabsorption was excluded by a glucose-galactose tolerance test whenever possible.