Effectiveness and analysis of factors predictive of discharge to home in a 4-year cohort in a residential transitional care unit.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness and identify factors predictive of home discharge in a cohort of patients admitted to the residential Transitional Aged Care Program (r-TACP) after a stay in an acute hospital.

Methods: A retrospective observational cohort study of patients admitted to a single r-TACP unit between 1 January 2014 and 31 December 2017 was carried out. Baseline patient characteristics and discharge outcomes were analyzed.

Certain performance values arising from mammographic test set readings correlate well with clinical audit.

Introduction: Test sets have been increasingly utilised to augment clinical audit in breast screening programmes; however, their relationship has never been satisfactorily understood. This study examined the relationship between mammographic test set performance and clinical audit data.

Methods: Clinical audit data over a 2-year period was generated for each of 20 radiologists.

Use and perceived helpfulness of smoking cessation methods: results from a population survey of recent quitters.

Background: Increasing rates of smoking cessation is one of the most effective measures available to improve population health. To advance the goal of increasing successful cessation at the population level, it is imperative that we understand more about smokers' use of cessation methods, as well as the helpfulness of those methods in real-world experiences of quitting. In this survey of recent quitters, we simultaneously examined rates of use and perceived helpfulness of various cessation methods.

Squeezing new life out of an old Sponge: how to modernise an anti-smoking media campaign to capture a new market.

Objectives: The iconic Sponge anti-smoking television advertisement was first made in Sydney, Australia, in 1979. In 2007, it was re-made for a new generation of smokers. This paper examines the impact of the re-made Sponge advertisement.

The case for recycling and adapting anti-tobacco mass media campaigns.

Effective mass media campaigns are hard to come by. A delicate blend of art and science is required to ensure content is technically accurate as well as being creatively engaging for the target audience. However, the most expensive component of a media campaign is not its development but its placement at levels that allow smokers to see, engage and respond to its content.

Mammography image quality: model for predicting compliance with posterior nipple line criterion.

Purpose: To develop a model using measurements of pectoral muscle width and length together with the acceptability of the posterior nipple line criteria (PNL) to predict the acceptability of the presentation of the pectoral muscle in the mediolateral oblique view of the breast.

Method: A total of 400 mediolateral oblique mammogram images were randomly selected from BreastScreen NSW South West, Australia. Measurements of length and width of the pectoral muscle and the acceptability of the pectoral muscle position relative to the PNL were recorded.

Annual or biennial mammography screening for women at a higher risk with a family history of breast cancer: prognostic indicators of screen-detected cancers in New South Wales, Australia.

Objective: This study examined whether offering annual mammography screening for women with the risk factor of a family history of breast cancer resulted in more favorable prognostic indicators of diagnosed cancers than the usual approach of biennial screening.

Methods: The study involved women aged 50-69 years with a family history of breast cancer, defined as having > or = 1 first-degree relative diagnosed with breast cancer, who were diagnosed with a screen-detected invasive breast cancer between 1998 and 2004 in BreastScreen New South Wales (n = 590). The women were grouped according to whether they screened in an area offering annual screening to women with a family history, or were offered the standard biennial screening.

Anticoagulant usage for primary stroke prevention: a general practitioner survey in local areas of metropolitan Sydney.

We assessed the hypothesis that having a non-English-speaking background (NESB), being very elderly, living alone, and having cognitive impairment were contributing factors to anticoagulant under-utilisation for atrial fibrillation in our local community. A questionnaire was mailed to 532 general practitioners (GPs) in three areas of metropolitan Sydney, Australia. The questionnaire included five case scenarios, regarding either an English-speaking background (ESB) patient, or an NESB patient, each characterised by potential barrier(s) for anticoagulant usage: being (1) elderly; (2) elderly with mild dementia; (3) elderly with mild dementia and living alone; (4) elderly with severe dementia; and (5) very elderly.

Risk factor, pattern, etiology and outcome in ischemic stroke patients with cancer: a nested case-control study.

Background: Coagulation disorders are seen in cancer patients, but it is not clear whether cancer predisposes stroke patients to unique characteristics. The aim of the study was to investigate risk factors, pattern,etiology and outcome in stroke patients with cancer.

Methods: A retrospective review of all ischemic stroke (IS) patients with cancer (n = 56) admitted to Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital, Sydney, Australia, between January 1999 and December 2004 was conducted and comparison made to age- and gender-matched noncancer IS patients admitted to the same hospital during the same period.

Survey of major chronic iIlnesses and hospital admissions via the emergency department in a randomized older population in Randwick, Australia.

Objective: To find out if patients with chronic illnesses living in the community are at risk of unplanned hospital admissions through emergency departments; what types of chronic illnesses may be putative risk factors; and if an increase in the number of chronic illnesses may be associated with increased risk.

Methods: The survey included the completion of a standardized questionnaire for medical illnesses in a random sample of older people dwelling in the community and analysis of admission records to our hospital. The principal diagnoses for admissions were recorded.

The absorption of gabapentin following high dose escalation.

Gabapentins (GBP) is structurally similar to GABA yet its mode of action remains uncertain. It is water-soluble and GI tract absorption occurs via the L-amino acid transport system in the proximal small bowel. It has been suggested that this transportation is capacity limited, thus decreasing GBP bioavailability at higher doses.