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Biomedical subjects

T C Beard

Publications and source records attributed to T C Beard.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

Population-based survey of human sodium and potassium excretion.

1. During the 1989 National Heart Foundation Risk Factor Prevalence Survey a subsample in Hobart collected 24 h urine samples to measure electrolyte excretion. 2. The ranges were 30-344 mmol/24 h for Na+ excretion (mean 160 mmol/24 h for men, 124 mmol/24 h for women), and 25-119 mmol/24 h for K+ excretion (mean 77 mmol/24 h for men, 68 mmol/24 h for women). 3. As in other surveys, women excreted about 20-25% less Na+ and K+ than men, although there was no significant sex difference in the ratio of Na+/K+ excretion. 4. The recommended dietary intake (RDI) for Na+ and K+ was followed simultaneously by 19% of subjects, and 13% had a 24 h urinary Na+/K+ ratio less than or equal to 1.0. 5. Observance of the RDI limited the value of iodized salt for goitre prophylaxis. 6. Sodium excretion rates were outside the therapeutic range of thiazide diuretics in 22% of subjects. 7. Diet groups for long-term prospective cohort studies to test the prophylactic value of avoiding salt could apparently be recruited from existing subsamples of the population.

Adult

Iodisation of salt.

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Cultural Characteristics

Hypertension after Intersalt: prospects for prevention.

Special methods of statistical analysis of the Intersalt data permitted a better comparison between populations and between age groups than was previously possible, but these methods led to an exclusive focus on the distribution of blood pressure (BP) rather than on the prevalence of hypertension. Big changes in prevalence that accompany small changes in mean BP were implied but not illustrated. A plot of prevalence against log Na excretion from the tabulated data suggests that a Na excretion rate greater than 100 mmol/day could not be recommended under any circumstances. However, a rate less than 40 mmol/day would be expected to prevent hypertension and to prevent the BP from rising with age. From the intersalt data, an intermediate range of Na excretion of 40-100 or 50-100 mmol/day, which are public health targets in Australia and the United States, respectively, would be expected to be protective in the presence of other aspects of a healthy lifestyle, especially if the K intake preserves the natural Na/K ratio (less than or equal to 1.0).

Diet, Sodium-Restricted

A salt-hypertension hypothesis.

In urban Australia, the risk of retiring with hypertension is greater than 40%, and the basic abnormality--a rise in blood pressure (BP) with age--is almost universal. A hypothesis linking this with salt, therefore, concerns everyone. The diet of early humans was unsalted, and the Na content of breast milk (6 mmol/kg) shows how little NaCl is needed even during the most rapid period of growth. The hypothesis that the hypertonic concentration needed to preserve food causes the BP to rise with age is based partly on the normotensive status of contemporary "salt-free" societies and partly on experimental evidence. "Salt-free" populations seldom use alcohol and happen to be lean and active, with a low fat intake and largely vegetarian diet, but Westerners with similar virtues do not escape hypertension. Ideally, the prophylactic effect of avoiding salt would be ascertained in large-scale, prospective trials, but practical, ethical and, economic factors impose serious design problems. Nevertheless, a public health intervention based on this hypothesis would be incomplete without a serious attempt to measure the outcome.

Animals

Evidence that a hydatid cyst is seldom "as old as the patient".

Human hydatid disease caused by the strain of Echinococcus granulosus endemic in Australia and New Zeland has been regarded as a very lonstanding condition, and most cysts diagnosed in adults were believed to have resulted from infection in childhood. A significant drop in the number of new cases among people and 25 and over (P less than 0.05) in two hydatid-control programmes makes it necessary to revise this view. In both Tasmania (P greater than 0.50) and New Zealand (0.50 greater than P greater than 0.10) the incidence was halved without significantly altering the age-distribution. These findings indicate that adults are relatively susceptible and that the latent period between infection and diagnosis in many cases is only a few years.

Adolescent

Hospital records of hydatid disease in Victoria for 1970 to 1974.

The records of hydatid disease in 10 Melbourne hospitals and 12 rural hospitals in Victoria from 1970 to 1974 have been studied. In a total of 183 in-patients, the final diagnosis of hydatid disease had been confirmed surgically in 81 first admissions and in 56 readmissions. In 24 cases it was confirmed by necropsy, but in only one of these was hydatid disease believed to have been the cause of death. Figures are given for the age distribution and the organs involved.

Adolescent

The control of hydatid disease and ovine cysticercoses in the Australian Capital Territory and southern New South Wales.

A survey of human hydatid disease in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory over the period 1968 to 1973 was made from hospital records in Sydney and Canberra. The 162 new cases found represent an incidence, of 0-57 per 100,000 per annum, but the 20 patients living in the Central West Statistical Division of New South Wales at the time of admission to hospital represent an incidence of 12-6 per 100,000 per annum in that area. A survey of A.C.T. farms revealed dogs carrying the causative parasite Echinococcus granulosus on five out of 44 properties (11-4%). Community attitudes favoured control measures but displayed a misplaced faith in anthelmintic drugs. The high regional prevalence on the Australian mainland reveals a need to restrict availability of anthelmintics and extend the vigorous control measures employed successfully in Tasmania.

Adolescent

Mebendazole.

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Animals