Age In Great Britain Research Articles

Personal and social resources as correlates of coping behaviour among the aged.

A questionnaire was administered to a national sample of 1,841 people over 60 years of age in Great Britain. Coping behaviour was influenced by the availability of personal and social resources, the correlations being .52 and .25, respectively.

Recent advances in the treatment of diabetic retinopathy.

The lesions which may be present in diabetic retinopathy are diverse, and the research, both clinical and histopathological, which has been necessary to elucidate their formation and evolution, has had to be laborious and prolonged. These studies have, however, led to the use of some well-defined therapeutic measures which are undoubtedly of value in this condition which is now the leading cause of blindness in patients under 65 years of age in Great Britain (Sorsby, I973). A patient with diabetic retinopathy may lose vision in one of two conditions which often co-exist: (i) Because of bleeding from new vessel formations or later from vitreous opacities and secondary traction effects on the retina (Proliferative diabetic retinopathy). or (2) Retinal oedema, deposition of lipoid, pre-retinal fibrosis, or capillary closure in the macular area (Simple or exudative diabetic retinopathy or, better, diabetic maculopathy).

Incidence of mongolism and its diagnosis in the newborn.

An accurate estimate of the incidence in the general population of mongolism at birth is required for the genetic study of the disease. Penrose (1949) has esti mated the frequency of the condition among children of school age in Great Britain from the records of local authorities; the incidence among children aged 10 to 14 is probably about 1 in 2,000. He stresses, however, that the high infant mortality of mongols implies that the incidence at birth is considerably higher than this. The only figure available for the incidence at birth in Great Britain is that given by Malpas (1937) for a maternity hospital; he found eighteen cases in 13,964 births, that is 1 in 776; but with such small numbers the random error may

Accidents among children under two years of age in Great Britain

1. In the spring of 1948 the health visitors of 422 authorities in Britain obtained information from 4683 mothers on accidental injuries sustained by their young children during the first 2 years of life. This study formed part of a questionnaire inquiry into the health and development of these young children, who had all been born in one week, 3–9 March 1946.2. The mothers seem to have remembered accurately the more serious accidents which received professional treatment during the 2 years under review. It is possible that some of the minor injuries which had not been treated were not recalled or entered on the questionnaires.3. The rate for all serious injuries which received professional care was 79·6 per 1000 children in the sample. Treated cuts were almost as frequent as treated burns or scalds, each being sustained by about 37 per 1000 children. There were only 7·5 fractures per 1000 children. The sum of the rates for each type of injury (81·3 per 1000) slightly exceeds the combined rate for all children injured (79·6 per 1000). This is due to the fact that in calculating the former rates eight children who were each involved in two serious accidents of different types were counted twice, i.e. once under each type of injury sustained.4. In 1946–8 treatment of young children for burns or scalds and for serious cuts was most frequently given by general practitioners. Children under 2 years of age were admitted to accident wards of hospitals chiefly for the treatment of serious burns or scalds. Fractures were usually treated at out-patients’ departments.5. Although almost all accidents occurred at home, variations in housing conditions, as measured by crowding and the domestic facilities available, had little effect on the incidence of accidents among children under 2 years of age. Accidents happened most frequently when the children were beginning to walk and becoming inquisitive, and most injuries occurred either because they were not steady on their feet or because they had not developed ‘heat-sense’.6. Since domestic help was rare, most children had to play in the kitchen or living room while their mothers were doing the housework, cooking and laundry. In these circumstances, they were often exposed to the risk of injury.

II.—Observations on the Genus Porambonites

In 1830 Pander proposed the genus Porambonites for a remarkable group of Lower Silurian Brachiopoda, which abound in the neighbourhood of St. Petersburg, in Esthonia, and other parts of Russia; as well as in rocks of a similar geological age in Great Britain, Portugal, and other countries.