The Medical journal of Australia
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To provide up-to-date practical information, relevant to Australian conditions and practice, on stabilising the condition of critically ill children who need transport to a paediatric hospital. ⋯ A recent study found that 47% of 100 children who needed emergency interhospital transfer experienced problems which should have been preventable by greater availability to referring doctors of information on pretransport stabilisation of critically ill children. Hypoventilation, hypoxaemia and hypotension are commonly found in critically ill children before transport, as are difficulties with endotracheal tube care, sedation and analgesia. Mild physiological disturbances are likely to become severe and life-threatening during transfer unless they are corrected before departure. Early discussion of the child's problems and the transfer plan with senior staff at the nearest paediatric intensive care unit may be helpful in planning the pre-transfer resuscitation.
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To report on the endemicity of Isospora belli in Queensland. ⋯ Isosporiasis is endemic in the Queensland Aboriginal population. It is likely to be more common than indicated, because the infection is difficult to diagnose, and the techniques used to identify the organism were not particularly sensitive. It is predicted that isosporiasis will be recognised with increasing frequency as a cause of diarrhoea in Aboriginal and white Australians who develop AIDS.
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The study tested the hypotheses that (i) the rate of suicide by firearms among youth (aged 10-19 years) is increasing at a greater rate than rates of suicide by other methods; (ii) the rate of youth suicide in rural New South Wales is significantly higher than those in urban areas; and (iii) the increase in youth suicide by means of firearms is occurring at a greater rate in rural males aged 15-19 years than in other groups. ⋯ Each hypothesis was confirmed. An increase of this magnitude is not an artefact of coroners' verdicts. The findings are believed to be due to ready access to firearms, the use of alcohol and drugs (particularly in firearms suicides) and increasing socioeconomic, health, and identity problems for rural youth, especially males.
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To examine the rates of suicide by firearms in the five larger Australian States during 1968-1989, and to relate them to differences between those States. We hypothesised that (i) restrictive gun legislation will have reduced the firearms suicide rate in South Australia after 1980, and (ii) firearms suicides would be shown to be more common in States with larger rural:urban population ratios. ⋯ Further reductions in the Australian firearms suicide rate might be achieved by tightening gun laws and by a media campaign aimed at reducing easy access by males to guns in rural households.