Volume 198 Issue 7

Vaccination remains the single best option for controlling influenza, but it is important not to overstate the effectiveness of current inactivated vaccines.

Heath A Kelly MB BS, MPH · Nicholas Kelley PhD

Recent evidence and new guidelines provide impetus to shop for whole foods rather than bad foods fortified with a few selected beneficial nutrients.

Rosemary A Stanton OAM, BSc, PhD(Hon), APD

The full content of this article is available by downloading the PDF.

The full content of this article is available by downloading the PDF.

Patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis will inevitably reach the Torres Strait or Australia’s mainland. To defend against this threat, all those who present to health services in Australia should have free and equal access to tuberculosis care.

Tony Kirby BSc(Biological Chemistry)

When critically appraising trials of new drugs, clinicians need to keep in mind generalisability, patient selection, and the politics of drug marketing.

John R Attia MD, PhD, FRACP · Robert Pearce BPharm

We have a continued responsibility to ensure that the benefits of new drugs demonstrated in randomised controlled trials are translated into clinical practice.

John W Eikelboom MB BS, MSc · Graeme J Hankey MD, FRACP, FRCP

Learning from past experience to improve paediatric vaccine safety.

Paul V Effler MD, MPH, FAFPHM · Heath A Kelly MB BS, MPH

A national survey found that many respondents were under the false impression that solariums are safer since regulations were introduced to ban their use by certain vulnerable groups of people, backing calls for a complete nationwide ban on solariums.

Suzanne J Dobbinson · Angela Volkov · Melanie A Wakefield

To the Editor: We would like to add a cautionary note to O’Neil’s support for the inclusion of “depression and other psychosocial factors” in the updated National Vascular Disease Prevention Alliance guidelines for assessing cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Her statement “it is now clear that depression is also an important risk factor for CVD” is premature.1 Different authors have challenged the suggested relationship and, given ...

Hans G Stampfer · Dana A Hince · Simon B Dimmitt

In reply: I thank Stampfer, Hince and Dimmitt for their response. While I acknowledge that there are aspects of the relationship between cardiovascular disease (CVD) and depression that remain undetermined, recent evidence clearly supports the role of depression as an independent risk factor for CVD and is indeed convincing.1-3 This is especially true in studies that assess depression using diagnostic criteria.4 We know that the ...

Adrienne E O’Neil

Given the link between high sodium intake and hypertension, gathering information on salt consumption among Indigenous Australians should be a public health priority.

Christopher G Lawrence*

Improved education and support for patients and general practitioners and, preferably, active follow-up by health departments of all notifications is needed in place of the current haphazard approach to contact tracing for hepatitis B notifications.

Karin Leder

To the Editor: I share Mahar’s concern regarding any future screening of prospective medical students for signs that they are likely to develop mental or physical impairment.1 Although Wilson and colleagues do acknowledge that screening may not be ethical, the separate issue of their seeming conflation of likelihood of illness with impaired ability to practise in the long term is problematic.2 Mental illness, and particularly ...

Dev A Kevat

Clinical errors may occur if a result in one unit is interpreted using information expressed in a different unit. The working party recommends using mass units for reporting therapeutic drug concentrations, with the litre (L) as the denominator.

Graham R D Jones MB BS, DPhil, FRCPA · Stewart Bryant MB BS, FRCPA, FAMM · Robert Fullinfaw MSc · Ken Ilett BPharm, PhD · John O Miners PhD, DSc · Raymond G Morris PhD, FFSc(RCPA) · Matthew P Doogue MB ChB, FRACP

Although only a small proportion of cases of influenza in hospitalised patients in 2010–2011 were nosocomial, the outcomes could be severe. All nosocomial cases occurred in patients with chronic comorbidities for whom influenza vaccination is recommended, but two-thirds of patients had not been vaccinated.

on behalf of the FluCAN investigators

A NSW study found low rates of self-reported influenza vaccine uptake in pregnant women. Women who had received a recommendation to have the vaccine were 20 times more likely to have been vaccinated, but less than half recalled receiving such a recommendation. Most of the women who expressed safety concerns about the vaccine indicated they would have the vaccine if their doctor recommended it.

Kerrie E Wiley MScMed(ClinEpid) · Peter D Massey DrPH, GCPH, RN · Spring C Cooper BS, PhD · Nicholas J Wood MB BS, FRACP, PhD · Jane Ho BMed, FRACP, MPH · Helen E Quinn BSc(Hons), MAppEpid, PhD · Julie Leask PhD, MPH

The custodial environment poses challenges for infectious disease management. This study examines the prevalence of susceptibility to measles, mumps, rubella, varicella and hepatitis B virus among people entering prisons in NSW.

Sarah Larney BA, BSc(Hons), PhD · Denise L Monkley BNSc(Hons), MPH · Devon Indig PhD, MPH, BSc · Stephen E Hampton MB BS, MPH, FRACGP

The results of this 12-month assessment provide a compelling rationale that more needs to be done to improve diet and nutrition in remote communities.

Julie K Brimblecombe GradDipNut · Megan M Ferguson BSc, GradDipNut · Selma C Liberato GradDipNut · Kerin O’Dea BSc, PhD

A young doctor, co-opted as a surgical assistant, learns a valuable lesson about life, death and generosity.

Nancy L Merridew BA, BSc, MB BS

CorrectionIncorrect author name: In a letter responding to “Risks of complaints and adverse disciplinary findings against international medical graduates in Victoria and Western Australia” in the Matters Arising section of the 18 March 2013 issue of the Journal (Med J Aust 2013; 198: 256), an error occurred in the second author’s name. The name should have been Tuan V Nguyen. ...

Nguyen D Nguyen · Tuan V Nguyen

GPs often talk of wanting to know more about business. But what are the best options available?

Annabel McGilvray

Melbourne-based paediatric radiologist Dr Murray Bartlett trained as a paediatric physician before making a career switch to radiology. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the discipline and to those he mentors, and enjoys the variety in his rewarding career

Karen Burge

Dr Gregory Compton recently completed his term as a radiology registrar at the Austin Hospital in Melbourne, having undertaken an advanced training position in neuroradiology. He has also worked at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne as a part-time radiology fellow. His mentor is Dr Murray Bartlett.

Cate Swannell