The Medical journal of Australia
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This report describes the experience of a social work student placement of 10 weeks' duration in a two-man general practice in Perth, Western Australia. The student was completing the final year of the degree of Master of Social Work at the University of Western Australia, and this was the student's third and final practical assignment. In particular, the report describes the means of referral, the nature and size of the social work service on the doctor-patient relationship.
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The efficacy and safety of prazosin, a new vasodilator antihypertensive agent, used mainly in combination with other hypotensive medication, was evaluated in 50 hypertensive patients, 28 of whom had left ventricular hypertrophy and 28 of whom had renal impairment. In 44 cases this agent was introduced because of an inadequate response to, or side effects from other agents. In 38 cases (76%) there was a satisfactory response, the diastolic blood pressure being reduced to 100 mm Hg or less. ⋯ The mean duration of therapy was 6-6 months. Side effects necessitating withdrawal of prazosin occurred in only three cases. Plasma renin activity was reduced to 25% of the control value in a group treated with prazosin alone.
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A giant smooth muscle tumour of the stomach was excised in a 58-year-old man. Although small leiomyomas are not rare, the giant gastric leiomyoma is not common, and may present diagnostic and operative difficulties. It is an essentially benign tumour, unlike the "bizarre" leiomyoma or leiomyoblastoma.
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Survival figures and other epidemiological features are described for 29 patients with myelofibrosis living in Western Australia during the period 1959 to 1963. These patients form part of a larger series of 509 patients with leukaemia and allied disorders. The diagnostic incidence rate was found to be 0.5 per 100,000 population, the mortality rate was 0.4 per 100,000 and the prevalence 1.8 per 100,000. ⋯ The sex ratio indicates a small male preponderance and the age distribution is similar to that in other descriptions. Survival times for all patients accord with those reported in the literature, but this series showed a marked female advantage in survival. Findings in other series are described.