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Biomedical subjects

C S Farkas

Publications and source records attributed to C S Farkas.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

The health of Indians in Canadian cities: a challenge to the health care system.

It is well known that Canadian native people living on reserves have high morbidity and mortality rates, but less is known about the health of those who migrated to urban centres. Several studies have shown that these people have high rates of mental health problems, specific diseases, injuries, infant death and hospital admission. In addition, there is evidence that cultural differences create barriers to their use of health care facilities. The low socioeconomic status, cultural differences and discrimination that they find in cities are identified as the primary blocks to good health and adequate health care. More epidemiologic studies need to be done to identify health problems, needs and barriers to health care. Federal, provincial and civic governments along with the appropriate departments of faculties of medicine should begin working with native organizations to improve the health of native people living in Canada's cities.

Adult

Caffeine intake and potential effect on health of a segment of northern Canadian indigenous people.

There are strong indications that the caffeine intake of Canadian Northern Indigenous People is very substantial. Tea is the main contributor. Preliminary calculations show that daily ingestion of caffeine among these groups is much higher than ingestion levels known to have adverse medical and behavioral effects. Of particular concern is the interaction of caffeine and carbohydrate metabolism, already known to be under stress due to increases in sugar and carbohydrate intake. Symptoms characteristic of unduly high intake of caffeine are also found to a large extent in hypoglycemia, mercury intoxication, and various nutritional deficiencies. There is a need for a substantial research effort to further delineate the caffeine problem and to develop alternate beverages containing reduced amounts of caffeine.

Adult

Importance of interactions between nutrients and environmental contaminants as a factor in experimental design in toxicological research: with emphasis on selenium and ascorbic acid.

Interactions between dietary components and environmental contaminants may influence the outcome of toxicological testing. A comparison was made between the vitamin and mineral content of laboratory animal basal diets as supplied by two major feed companies. Striking differences in nutrient content of Guinea pig, rat, and primate diets, as supplied by these companies are cited. Attention is drawn to the lack of data on selenium content of these feeds. The importance of Vitamin C in regards to ameliorating toxic effects of heavy metals is discussed.

Animal Feed

Impact of HIV infection/AIDS on social service agencies serving children and youth in Toronto.

There are few data on how HIV infection/AIDS affects social service agencies serving children and youth. We conducted a survey of 24 provincially funded agencies in the Metro Toronto area and discovered that 36 clients and 9 staff members were HIV-infected. Our data strongly suggest that these agencies were ill equipped to cope with issues surrounding HIV infection/AIDS. Inadequacy or absence of policy and procedures resulted in confusion regarding issues such as HIV testing, need to know, confidentiality, duty to warn, staff and client education, and universal precautions for infection control. In order to effectively deal with the psychosocial, legal, ethical and education needs of clients and staff, agencies must be pro-active in developing policy and procedure.

AIDS Serodiagnosis