Biomedical subjects

H G Peach

Publications and source records attributed to H G Peach.

21 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed1997

Predictive value of MCV for hazardous drinking in the community.

A recent study suggested that general practitioners (GPs) do not see the necessity of investigating MCVs which unexpectedly and only slightly exceed the reference limit, despite the association between MCV and alcohol abuse. Because a literature search could not find a study of the predictive value of the MCV for hazardous drinking in the community, such a study was undertaken among a random sample of 338 adults living in a regional Australian city. Twenty-nine of the adults admitted drinking hazardously. The MCV with the optimum sensitivity and specificity for identifying the hazardous drinkers was determined. An MCV of > 94 fl identified as many as 35% of the hazardous drinkers whilst misclassifying only 6% of the non-hazardous drinkers. The predictive value was even greater among males, 67%. We conclude that inquiring into MCVs > 94 fl will lead to GPs identifying a significant proportion of adults in the community admitting to hazardous drinking.

Alcohol Drinking↗

PubMed1996

Helicobacter pylori antibody titres in serum, plasma and successively thawed specimens: implications for epidemiological and clinical studies.

Agreement between Helicobacter pylori IgG antibodies measured using the Pylori-set EIA-G kit in serum, plasma and successively thawed specimens was studied and the implications for epidemiological and clinical studies assessed. Plasma titres may differ from serum titres by -6% to +8% and therefore may be substituted for serum. The change in titre around the cut off value was -0.31 (se = 5.7, p = 0.96) per thaw. The estimated maximum drop after three thawings, 34.5, would result in only a small decrease in sensitivity (1.3%). For qualitative epidemiological studies, this additional misclassification rate is relatively small. However, positive titres did reduce over successive thawings, with the estimated maximum drop being 11.4% per thaw. Therefore, thawing does need to be considered as a contributing factor when interpreting titre drops in eradication trials. Baseline and follow up specimens from clinical studies should be thawed once only and tested concurrently.

Antibodies, Bacterial↗

PubMed1989

Trachoma in the Northern Territory of Australia, 1940-1986.

All known surveys of the prevalence of trachoma in the Northern Territory from 1940 to the present were reviewed. The crude (overall) prevalence rates for trachoma were calculated from the results of those surveys which involved whole Aboriginal communities. When three-or-more surveys had been conducted in a community over a period of 10 years or more, the results were plotted against the year of the survey. In most communities in the north of the Northern Territory (the "Top End"), the prevalence of trachoma appeared to have increased dramatically between 1950 and 1955 and then to have declined substantially at a rate of 2% per annum. This fall occurred before the mass-treatment programmes of the late 1970s and its most likely explanation is the improvement in living conditions. In five- to 10-years' time, trachoma may have disappeared completely from these communities. In most Central Australian communities, the prevalence of trachoma appears to have been constant or even to have increased. If social conditions were to begin to improve in Central Australian communities this year, and if those communities were to show the same response rates as in the Top End communities, then it could be well into the next century before the prevalence of trachoma there falls to the low rates of the Top End. This should be an impetus for social change in Central Australia; however, there might be a case for medically based control programmes in Central Australia, at least in the short term.

Australia↗