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Biomedical subjects

P F Thomas

Publications and source records attributed to P F Thomas.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

Survey of pertussis morbidity in adults in western Sydney.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate morbidity due to Bordetella pertussis infection in a representative population of Australian adults. DESIGN: Telephone survey using structured questionnaire. PARTICIPANTS: Adults (aged 20 years and over) notified with pertussis to a public health unit in western Sydney between 1 December 1997 and 31 May 1998. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Duration of cough; time to improvement; symptoms and complications; time to diagnosis; health resource use; lost work days. RESULTS: Of 90 eligible patients, 73 (81%) completed questionnaires. Cough lasted a median of 60 days, but persisted over 90 days in 20 people (27%). Presentation was within a median of seven days of symptom onset, but diagnosis of pertussis took a median of 21 days. Participants reported a mean of 3.7 general practitioner visits and 1.2 prescription drugs. Of those employed, 17 (35%) missed more than five work days (range, 0-93 days). CONCLUSIONS: B. pertussis infection in adults can result in prolonged, significant disruption to social and working life. Results suggest that, in 1998, there were more than 8000 general practitioner visits and 15,000 lost work days caused by pertussis in Australian adults.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Psychiatric morbidity and compulsory admission among UK-born Europeans, Afro-Caribbeans and Asians in central Manchester.

Psychiatric admissions in Central Manchester of Europeans, Afro-Caribbeans, and Asians (within three age-bands) were studied over four years. Among the Afro-Caribbean group there were more single or unemployed persons than in either the Asian or European groups, which suggested greater socio-economic disadvantage. Rates for first admissions and readmissions among Afro-Caribbeans were greater; among Asians they were similar except for the 16-29-year age-group, who tended to have lower rates than Europeans. A higher proportion of Afro-Caribbeans and Asians were psychotic. In the Afro-Caribbean group, the raised rates of admission were largely attributable to increased rates of schizophrenia. The highest rate occurred in second-generation (UK-born) Afro-Caribbeans and was nine times that among Europeans. The police were more frequently involved in the admissions of Afro-Caribbeans compared with Europeans or Asians. Higher proportions of Afro-Caribbeans and Asians who were readmitted were detained under the Mental Health Act 1983, when compared with Europeans.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Computer-assisted linguistic analysis of an autistic adolescent's language: implications for the diagnosis of Aspberger's syndrome and atypical psychoses.

This study illustrates the use of a computer-assisted linguistic analysis technique to compare the spoken language of an adolescent, diagnosed in childhood as autistic, with that of normal and schizophrenic individuals. A distinctive profile, in keeping with accounts in the literature of autistic speech, was noted to be radically different from that found in linguistic analysis of schizophrenic speech. This distinctive profile was mirrored by her written linguistic analysis. Changes indicative of some improvement in language function were seen on re-recording after 5 years. Implications of this technique for differential diagnosis of Aspberger's syndrome and atypical psychoses are mentioned.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Fragment D-dimer levels: an objective marker of vaso-occlusive crisis and other complications of sickle cell disease.

Although abnormalities in coagulation tests have been reported during vaso-occlusive crises in patients with sickle cell disease, objective, readily performed laboratory tests that document the occurrence of this complication have not been available. We examined the relationship between fibrin D-dimer levels and the occurrence of complications in patients with sickle cell disease, using a commercially available latex bead agglutination assay. The patients were either asymptomatic, hospitalized for vaso-occlusive crisis, or had other complications of sickle cell disease including leg ulcers, chronic cholecystitis, aseptic necrosis, joint pain and infection. Fifty-seven percent of 187 samples on 96 patients had elevated levels of fibrin D-dimer. Ninety percent of 75 samples from asymptomatic patients were negative for fibrin D-dimer (less than 1 microgram/ml) but 97% of 29 samples from patients with vaso-occlusive crisis and 85% of 83 samples from patients with other complications of sickle cell disease were positive. In serial studies, worsening or amelioration in clinical complications were reflected in increasing or decreasing levels of fibrin D-dimer, respectively. The molecular species of fibrin identified by the latex agglutination test was shown to be fragment D-dimer by successive immunoprecipitation and protein blot analysis. We conclude that the complications of sickle cell disease, including vaso-occlusive crisis, result in the production of fibrin D-dimer, and its detection may be used as a marker for the presence of the complication.

Anemia, Sickle Cell↗
PubMed1985

Postnatal depression and child development. A three-year follow-up study.

This study investigates whether three-year-old children whose mothers had been depressed after their birth showed more behaviour disturbance than children of mothers who were not depressed at that time. Ninety-one of 103 mothers who took part in an earlier prospective study of postnatal depression were reinterviewed three years later to determine their present mental state, and to assess their child's behaviour, using Richman's Behavioural Screening Questionnaire. No relationship was found between a prolonged postnatal depression and behaviour disturbance in the child, but children whose mothers had brief postnatal depressive episodes showed more behaviour disturbance than those whose mothers had not been depressed since childbirth.

Child Behavior Disorders↗