There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) remains a major public health problem. It is the fourth leading cause of chronic morbidity and mortality in the United States, and is projected to rank fifth in 2020 in burden of disease worldwide, according to a study published by the World Bank/World Health Organization. Yet, COPD remains relatively unknown or ignored by the public as well as public health and government officials. In 1998, in an effort to bring more attention to COPD, its management, and its prevention, a committed group of scientists encouraged the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the World Health Organization to form the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD). Among the important objectives of GOLD are to increase awareness of COPD and to help the millions of people who suffer from this disease and die prematurely of it or its complications. The first step in the GOLD program was to prepare a consensus report, Global Strategy for the Diagnosis, Management, and Prevention of COPD, published in 2001. The present, newly revised document follows the same format as the original consensus report, but has been updated to reflect the many publications on COPD that have appeared. GOLD national leaders, a network of international experts, have initiated investigations of the causes and prevalence of COPD in their countries, and developed innovative approaches for the dissemination and implementation of COPD management guidelines. We appreciate the enormous amount of work the GOLD national leaders have done on behalf of their patients with COPD. Despite the achievements in the 5 years since the GOLD report was originally published, considerable additional work is ahead of us if we are to control this major public health problem. The GOLD initiative will continue to bring COPD to the attention of governments, public health officials, health care workers, and the general public, but a concerted effort by all involved in health care will be necessary.

https://www.who.int/respiratory/copd/GOLD_WR_06.pdf

Global strategy for the diagnosis, management, and prevention of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: GOLD executive summary.

Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques

https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(12)61728-0.pdf

Global and regional mortality from 235 causes of death for 20 age groups in 1990 and 2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010

https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(12)61766-8.pdf

A comparative risk assessment of burden of disease and injury attributable to 67 risk factors and risk factor clusters in 21 regions, 1990-2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010

The potential role of snus in tobacco harm reduction.

Objective To describe the prevalence and pattern of cocaine use among young Sydney adults interviewed during a study of the "market position" of cocaine. Design A telephone survey of young Sydney adults. Participants A total of 499 young Sydney men and women aged between 14 and 35 were selected to ensure a sample of 300 persons who used alcohol and tobacco at least weekly, and who had been offered or had tried at least one illicit drug. Main outcome measures These were the prevalence of having ever used cocaine, the frequency of cocaine use, the prevalence of daily alcohol and tobacco use, and of ever having tried marijuana, sedatives, designer drugs, amphetamines and heroin. Results Thirteen per cent of the sample (95% confidence interval [CI], 10%-16%) had ever tried cocaine, of whom only 20% (CI, 15%-25%) were current users. Cocaine users were distinguished from non-users by being more likely to be daily users of tobacco (odds ratio, 2.1; CI, 1.3-3.6) and alcohol (odds ratio, 3.0; CI, 1.7-5.6), and to have tried marijuana (odds ratio, 7.1; CI, 3.2-15.9), sedatives (odds ratio, 11.4; CI, 6.4-20.7), designer drugs (odds ratio, 17.2; CI, 9.2-32.2), amphetamines (odds ratio, 27.1; CI, 14.3-51.3), and heroin (odds ratio, 36.5; CI, 14.0-94.9). The odds of having tried cocaine increased with the number of different types of illicit drugs that the person had tried. Conclusions The prevalence of ever having tried cocaine was low among a sample of young adults selected to ensure an over-representation of illicit drug users. Cocaine users were more likely to have experimented with a variety of different types of illicit drugs. Only a minority of those who had ever tried cocaine were current users.

The characteristics of cocaine users among young adults in Sydney.

https://ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au/sites/default/files/ndarc/resources/T.R%20028.pdf

The demand for methadone maintenance treatment in Australia

The 1980s and 1990s have witnessed a worldwide epidemic of heroin addiction, and countries around the world have moved to put in place opiate replacement therapy programs to deal with this problem. While most of these programs use methadone as a substitute drug of choice, most recently, buprenorphine, LAAM (levo acetyl methadol), and heroin have been employed for this purpose. A comprehensive guide to the use of drug substitution in the treatment of opiate dependence, this handbook provides an up-to-date account of treatment research and practice in this growing area. As well as answering questions about the status of this class of interventions in terms of their demonstrated effectiveness, it also includes detailed discussions of assessment issues, appropriate dosage regimes, the role of ancillary social and psychosocial services, the use of opiate replacement therapy in prisons, optimal treatment during pregnancy, and the cost-effectiveness of this form of treatment. This book will be of int

Wayne Hall

Papers

The potential role of snus in tobacco harm reduction.

The characteristics of cocaine users among young adults in Sydney.

The demand for methadone maintenance treatment in Australia

The provision of methadone within prison settings

Regulating opioid prescribing to provide access to effective treatment while minimizing diversion: an overdue topic for research