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Biomedical subjects

D Christie

Publications and source records attributed to D Christie.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1986

Smoking in an industrial population. An analysis by birth cohort.

Between 1981 and 1984, 10,923 male and 624 female employees of the Australian petroleum industry were interviewed and the information that was collected included a detailed life-time smoking history. Comparison with another survey suggested that, in terms of smoking habits at least, this industrial population did not differ substantially from the general population. On the assumption that reasons for entering and leaving the industry are unconnected with smoking habit, the data were analysed by birth cohorts. In men, each successive generation has contained fewer smokers at every age over 20 years and this is due both to a reduction in the rate of starting to smoke, and to an increase in the cessation rates. In the case of women, the situation is reversed, and successive generations show an increasing prevalence and increasing starting rates.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Visuomotor strategies in pattern discrimination learning in rats.

Normal rats were trained on a series of visual tilt discriminations ordered from simple to difficult to measure their angular difference thresholds. The stereotyped visuomotor running pattern which the animal made was recorded for all angular differences binocularly and whilst the animal was monocularly patched. The results show that the running pattern does not reflect visual guidance strategies and can produce a visual field bias for the field ipsilateral to the preferred approach side.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

"Health Watch": the Australian petroleum industry health study surveillance programme.

A surveillance system, capable of linking experience in specific jobs with certain health outcomes, has been established within the Australian petroleum industry. A defined population of 11 596 employees has been assembled, after personal interviews. Events recorded are death and its cause, and diagnosis of cancer. Members of the study population are followed up after leaving the industry. By the end of 1983, 33 deaths had occurred, fewer than would be expected from the prevailing rates in the general Australian population. With progressive accumulation of follow-up data, questions of greater complexity will be addressed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Risks of smoking and hypertension in an Australian community: a cohort study.

A prevalence study of smoking behaviour and blood pressure was carried out in Queenscliff, Victoria, in 1975. At the end of 1981, of the 1124 subjects who attended the survey and were aged 40 years or more, all but 12 could be positively identified as being alive or dead. In the case of the latter, the date of death was ascertained. Using a proportional hazards analysis, the relative risks were calculated for hypertension and for smoking; these were similar to those reported from the bench-mark studies carried out over 20 years ago. The risks appear to be additive, with no evidence of interaction.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

A record-linkage study of mortality and general hospital discharge in patients diagnosed as schizophrenic.

Six hundred people diagnosed as schizophrenic by the specialist psychiatric services in Oxfordshire, between 1971 and 1973, were identified from the Oxford Psychiatric Case Register (OPCR). The person records of deaths and hospital discharges held by the Oxford Record Linkage Study (ORLS) wee used to examine the following items of information for members of this group: details of discharges from an surgical operations performed in Oxfordshire non-psychiatric hospitals in a 6-year period before and a 4-year period after the date of first inclusion in the OPCR, and details of deaths in a 4-year period after the date of first inclusion in the OPCR. The numbers of deaths, discharges and operations so observed in the study group were compared in age, sex and major diagnostic groups with the expected numbers derived from rates prevailing in the Oxfordshire population over the same periods. Observed deaths were twice as numerous as expected in both sexes, and the numbers of general hospital discharges were also higher than expected. Ischaemic heart disease was the commonest cause of death in both sexes, but did not account for the excessive numbers of hospital discharges. Trauma and poisoning accounted for the excess both of deaths in younger members of the study group and of general hospital discharges overall. Social and environmental difficulties associated with the diagnosis schizophrenia are likely to have contributed more than any inherent biological disadvantage to this excess.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Queenscliff revisited: evaluation of a community screening campaign for hypertension.

A screening campaign for high blood pressure was carried out in the Victorian township of Queenscliff in 1975. In late 1981, 99% of the population screened was identified as being alive or dead and, in the latter case, the date of death was ascertained. Survival curve analysis showed a significantly worse prognosis for those subjects diagnosed as hypertensive, despite a high prevalence of treatment and a specific screening programme. It is suggested that the results of controlled trials do not translate easily to uncontrolled situations and that mass-screening campaigns may not be an effective way of intervening in countries with more open medical systems.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Localization of enkephalin-like immunoreactivity in the cat carotid and aortic body chemoreceptors.

The purpose of this study was to determine if enkephalin-like immunoreactivity was present in the glomus cells of the carotid and aortic body peripheral arterial chemoreceptors. Cat carotid and aortic bodies were reacted with antisera to met- and leu-enkephalin using the indirect peroxidase-antiperoxidase immunocytochemical method of Sternberger (1979). Both the carotid and aortic bodies demonstrated clusters of immunoreactive cells for both met- and leu-enkephalin. Additionally, met-enkephalin-like immunoreactivity was observed in many of the dense-core vesicles of the glomus cells of the carotid body. The glomus cells of these chemoreceptors are known to contain catecholamines which may modulate chemoreceptor activity. The presence of opioid peptide-like substances co-existing with the glomus cell catecholamines, perhaps in the same vesicles, may have important implications for a trophic influence of these peptides on glomus cell chemoreceptor modulation.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Aftermath of stroke: an epidemiological study in Melbourne, Australia.

A population-based study of the incidence of stroke was carried out in an urban area of Melbourne, Australia. The 508 cases were followed up and the survivors interviewed briefly at three months and in more depth six months after the onset of stroke. Fifty-eight per cent of all subjects had survived to six months, and the strongest prognostic indicator was level of consciousness at time of maximum impairment. By six months, 25% of all cases were independent in self-care and mobile outside the home; of those patients aged under 75 years, suffering a first stroke and retaining full consciousness at the time of maximum impairment, the proportion was 50%. A very imperfect correlation was present between residual physical impairment and return to the full range of prestroke activities.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

Prevalence of stroke and its sequelae.

A population-based stroke incidence study was carried out in a defined urban area of Melbourne in 1978-1979. From the incidence data, and survival curves to two years, estimates have been made of the prevalence of stroke, the prevalence of stroke survivors in different places of care, and the prevalence of stroke-related disability in an Australian community.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1981

Some aspects of the natural history of subarachnoid haemorrhage.

In a population-based stroke incidence study, 27 cases of subarachnoid haemorrhage were identified, an incidence rate of 26.4/10(5) person years at risk. Subarachnoid haemorrhage comprises but a small part of the burden of cerebrovascular disease, but all appear to be admitted to general hospitals. The overall survival rate was 44% to six months, in those cases treated surgically the survival rate was 63%. Of more importance, by six months only 19% were free of residual handicap; in terms of this endpoint, those cases treated surgically were at no advantage as compared with those treated conservatively.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Emergency care in Melbourne: a study of help-seeking behaviour.

Between March, 1978, and September, 1979, a population-based stroke incidence study was carried out in Melbourne. Of the 508 cases of stroke that occurred in the area, 426 were in patients living at home or independently; of these, 300 sought help from a general practitioner and the remainder either called an ambulance directly or went straight to hospital by private transport. In well over 70% of instances the call to the general practitioner was responded to by a home visit; in all but four cases arrangements for care were made. There were thus four cases in which a doctor allegedly refused to attend or make other arrangement for care. Whilst severity influenced the decision to seek a general practitioner, the more severely affected patients tending to be taken directly to hospital, other major influences were age and country of birth. Younger people tended to go straight to hospital, and this suggests that, with the passage of time, the role of the casualty department may increase in importance. Patients born in non-English-speaking countries were more likely to go directly to hospital, and it is suggested that this is likely to reflect the shortage of doctors in the community who understand other cultures and speak other languages.

Age Factors↗