Sick leave -- Cushion or entitlement? A study of age cohorts' attitudes and practices in two Australian workplaces.

Stereotypes of older people suggest that they may experience more sickness and injury therefore may not be as productive as younger employees. The present paper attempts to test these stereotypes and reports research into patterns of sick leave in different age cohorts and attitudes towards the use of sick leave. The research was carried out at two case study sites.

The balance of benefit: a review of intergenerational transfers in Australia.

Purpose: This article reviews the financial and nonfinancial transfers taking place intergenerationally and between older people and the community.

Design And Method: Secondary data were used in the analysis and discussion to provide an overview of the Australian context.

Results: Within the public arena, governments provide major financial contributions through money transfers and the provision of residential support.

Endothelial function and common carotid artery wall thickening in patients with essential hypertension.

Intimal-medial thickening of the carotid wall is considered an early marker of atherosclerosis. Endothelial function is impaired in the presence of various cardiovascular risk factors that are implicated in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. To evaluate the relationship between vascular reactivity and carotid intimal-medial thickening, in 44 (mean+/-SD age, 45.

Membership of the University of the Third Age (U3A) and perceived well-being.

To study the perceived well-being of members of the University of the Third Age (U3A) a sample of 975 members with a mean age of 67.9 +/- 6.98 years (range 50-94) was obtained from within the Greater Sydney Metropolitan Region and administered the Medical Outcomes Study (MOS) Short Form 36-item (SF-36) health survey.

Cardiovascular characteristics in normotensive subjects with or without family history of hypertension.

The aim of our study was to evaluate whether initial changes of cardiovascular structure and/or function can be detected in young normotensive subjects with (F+) and without (F-) family history of hypertension. Thirty-two subjects (19 F+, 10 males and 9 females, age range 17-32 years; 13 F-, 6 males and 7 females, age range 19-33 years) were studied. In each subject 24 hours ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, a M-mode, 2d guided and pulsed doppler echocardiogram and postischemic forearm strain gauge plethysmography were performed.