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Biomedical subjects

I M Montgomery

Publications and source records attributed to I M Montgomery.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

One for the road: on the utility of citation data for identifying problem hotels.

Drink drivers arrested in Tasmania are routinely asked by police where they had last been drinking, and these data were examined for 716 drivers arrested in Southern Tasmania during a 4-month period in 1992. Nearly half (43%) of arrested drink drivers cited individual hotels as the place where they had last been drinking. This enabled a citation score to be assigned to each of the 82 hotels in metropolitan Hobart. The distribution of citation scores was highly skewed, with eight hotels accounting for 45% of hotel citations, and two accounting for 20%. The hotels' citation scores were compared in relation to the rank order of their licence fees, since better measures of patronage proved unobtainable. Some hotels with small total alcohol sales did appear to have an unexpectedly large number of citations, suggesting less than responsible serving practices. Hoteliers' comments were sought on the interpretation of citation scores, and incorporated into a discussion of the limitations of the data in determining the extent of individual hotel responsibility for drink drivers. Important questions remaining include (1) what is the validity of citations made by drink drivers at the time of arrest; (2) what appropriate and quantifiable denominator can be used to adjust the number of citations to the level of patronage; and (3) what level of citations is too high and requires action?

Journal Article↗

Trends in hotel patronage and drink driving in Hobart, Tasmania.

From 1990 to 1991 in the Hobart region there was a marked fall in both hotel patronage and the proportion of patrons subsequently driving with their blood alcohol concentration above the legal limit. This was associated with smaller falls in the number of drink drivers charged and alcohol-related road accidents, which continued in the following year. It appears that the pattern of drinking and driving is changing, presumably in response to random breath testing and tougher penalties for offences.

Journal Article↗

Promotion of responsible drinking in hotels.

This study reports on an intervention programme to promote responsible drinking in hotels. The licensees of eight hotels agreed to participate in a trial of measures designed to assist patrons to avoid drink-driving, and seven other hotels were used as controls. The interventions acceptable to licensees comprised commercial-quality promotional material with the theme "0.05 Know Your Limits", and a breath analysis machine and poster on its use. Patrons leaving the hotels on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights were interviewed and breath-tested. Although the intervention material had been seen by one-third of patrons in the intervention hotels, there was no significant difference between them and control hotel patrons in either median BAC or the proportion who were going to drive with BAC over the legal limit. There was poor compliance by hotels with the intervention procedures, indicating that a major impediment to the implementation and evaluation of programmes to promote responsible drinking is a lack of motivation by many licensees, despite support by some licensees and the Australian Hotels Association.

Journal Article↗

Alcohol consumption and driving intentions amongst hotel patrons.

To examine the extent to which hotel patrons drink in excess of current health recommendations, and to identify risk factors for excessive drinking, hotel patrons were invited to participate in a survey of social drinking, which included a free breath test. Patrons were approached at 15 min. intervals, and 1000 subjects were studied. Amongst this group of hotel patrons interviewed, 1 in 2 had consumed alcohol in excess of the daily limit recommended by the National Health & Medical Research Council. One in 10 intending drivers had a BAC over the legal limit. Excessive drinking and drink driving appear to be prevalent amongst hotel patrons, and hotels should be targets for interventions designed to reduce these problems. For example, the National Guidelines for the Responsible Serving of Alcohol should be more widely practised.

Journal Article↗

Spicy meal disturbs sleep: an effect of thermoregulation?

Tabasco sauce and mustard taken with the evening meal markedly disturbed sleep of six, young, healthy male subjects; reducing slow wave and stage 2 sleep, increasing total time awake and tending to increase sleep onset latency. Whilst post meal effects on temperature and oxygen consumption were not significantly different from control meals the spicy food condition elevated body temperature during the first sleep cycle. The possibility that the spice principle capsaicin affects sleep via changes in body temperature is discussed.

Adult↗

Comparison of the amnesic effects of midazolam and diazepam.

Thirty patients undergoing gastroscopy received intravenous premedication with either midazolam or diazepam in a randomised double blind study. Mean dosages were similar for the midazolam (6.13 mg) and diazepam (6.4 mg) groups. Neuropsychological testing pre- and post-medication comprised the Wechsler Memory Scale, Complex Figure Test, Word Association Test, and a Tactile Memory Test. There was a significant impairment on post-medication tests requiring delayed recall of verbal, visual and tactile stimuli. Midazolam produced significantly greater anterograde amnesia than diazepam at similar mean dosages. With the exception of Digit Span and Associate Learning, cognitive tasks which do not require delayed recall were not affected. It is concluded that the amnesic deficit is discrete and not secondary to sedative effects.

Amnesia↗

Computer-delivered modeling of exposure for spider phobia: relevant versus irrelevant exposure.

Spider phobic subjects (n = 45) completed 3 x 40 minute computer-delivered treatment sessions. Questionnaire ratings of phobic severity were completed pre- and posttreatment (n = 45) and 6-12 month follow-up (n = 38). The program used interactive animations to model self-exposure treatment methods. Subjects were randomized to one of three treatment groups (n = 15), each receiving a different version of the program. These treatment conditions were relevant exposure with feedback (REF), relevant exposure with no feedback (RENoF), or irrelevant exposure with feedback (IEF). Relevant exposure modeled exposure to spiders, irrelevant exposure to elevators. All groups showed significant phobic improvement following the treatment, as measured on a variety of instruments. Learning on the programs was demonstrated by a significantly increased performance (time taken to reach a target score) within each group across the three computer treatment sessions. Outcome was not significantly affected either relevance of exposure or the manipulation of the onscreen feedback. Subjects' report of exposure treatment undertaken at home correlated positively with phobic improvement.

Adult↗