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Biomedical subjects

G B Goldstein

Publications and source records attributed to G B Goldstein.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

Time to lower cholesterol: the potential effect of cholesterol reduction on the incidence of cardiovascular disease.

Cardiovascular disease imposes a major burden on our community through its high morbidity, mortality and health-care costs. Elevated cholesterol levels have been recognized increasingly as an important and modifiable risk factor for this disease. We assessed the impact of a reduction in cholesterol levels in our community and compared its importance with the reduction of another major risk factor for this disease, namely, smoking. Results from this analysis indicate that a greater proportion of cardiovascular disease can be attributed to elevated cholesterol levels compared with smoking in our population. This difference is due largely to the prevalence of elevated cholesterol levels in the community. Evidence from international studies indicates that a 5% reduction in the cholesterol level of Australians is a realistic health target for the population and that this reduction would lead to a major reduction in the burden of cardiovascular disease and to substantial economic savings. This paper provides further evidence to support the National Heart Foundation of Australia's recommendations for a reduction of cholesterol levels in the Australian population.

Adult↗

A review of refugee medical screening in New South Wales.

Public health concern in relation to refugees arriving in New South Wales is due to the high prevalence of tuberculosis, syphilis and hepatitis B infection in some refugee groups. Other infectious diseases (with the exception of malaria in the Northern Territory and Queensland) do not pose a significant threat to public health owing to their low prevalence (which may result from overseas screening and treatment) and/or low infectivity in Australian conditions. Because of overseas screening by the Commonwealth Government before the departure of the refugees, it was uncommon in 1984 for previously undetected tuberculosis to be detected when refugees were screened on arrival in Sydney (found in only one in 800 refugees who underwent screening). However, of the refugees in Sydney who had positive results of serological tests for syphilis, a substantial proportion (at times in excess of 50%) had had a negative result at the overseas screening; subsequent follow-up of those with positive serological results indicated inactive disease in almost all cases. There is a need to monitor the infectious disease prevalence and the effectiveness of overseas screening of refugees by on-arrival screening; decisions about screening procedures and the selection of particular incoming refugee groups for screening should be based on sound epidemiological and clinical analysis.

Australia↗

The determination of the incidence of acute myocardial infarction from hospital morbidity records.

A method for estimating the incidence of acute myocardial infarctions (AMI) from routinely collected hospital morbidity records is presented. The method is based on a review of a sample of routinely collected statistics on hospital diagnoses and the subsequent estimation of the "sensitivity" and "positive predictive value" of hospital diagnoses of AMI. The incidence estimate of AMI is a function of the total number of hospital diagnoses of AMI, the "sensitivity", the "positive predictive value", the proportion of cases of AMI treated at home, and the proportion dying prior to hospital admission. Such estimates may be a practical alternative to community registers for monitoring the incidence of AMI.

Adult↗

Anaphylactic reaction after ingestion of local bee pollen.

A patient is presented who experienced an anaphylactic reaction after ingesting locally produced bee pollen to treat his spring hay fever. Evaluation revealed the patient to be extremely sensitive to mesquite pollen, a major component of the bee pollen he ingested. Passive transfer skin testing and neutralization techniques suggested that the mesquite pollen was the allergen which caused his anaphylactic reaction. Four other allergic patients were known to have systemic reactions after taking bee pollen. The patients received no warning that the bee pollen was potentially dangerous to an allergic person. It is recommended that vendors of bee pollen be required to alert allergic patients about possible risks.

Administration, Oral↗