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Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is a complex disease that involves collapse of the upper airway during sleep, subsequent abnormal reduction or complete cessation of airflow. OSA is one of the most common medical disorders in the general population. Adult prevalence ranges from 9% to 38%, higher in men and the older population. Sleep disorders cost the Australian economy $45.21 billion. OSA is underdiagnosed and undertreated in Australia. Evaluate health practitioners and general public's knowledge of OSA risk factors, screening, clinical signs, treatment– surgical vs non-surgical including maxillomandibular advancement (MMA) compared to uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP). Secondary aims - increase knowledge of participants and stimulate referral, multidisciplinary (MD) assessment and management. This 28-question quantitative online survey evaluated the knowledge of adult and paediatric OSA amongst health professionals and members of the general public across Australia. There were 420 participants, 80% (n=335) registered health practitioners 33% (n=138) involved in the assessment or treatment of OSA practitioners. 70% of dentists and dental specialists were aware of MMA. 78% of critical care physicians were aware of UPPP compared to 50% aware of MMA. Most groups performed well in sign and symptom recognition of individuals with OSA. Most participants are uncertain regarding surgical interventions efficacy. Critical-care and physician's favour UPPP over MMA. Less than 46% of all participants believe retrognathism is associated with OSA – either due to believing in no association or unawareness on how to diagnose retrognathism. OSA knowledge deficits exist and it continues to require MD assessment and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is commonly managed by a variety of specialists. Current guidelines differ in their recommendations leading to uncertainty regarding important clinical decisions. We sought to document practice pattern variation among cardiologists, emergency physicians (EP) and hospitalists at a single academic, tertiary-care center., Methods: A survey was created containing seven clinical scenarios of patients presenting with AF. We analyzed respondent choices regarding rate vs rhythm control, thromboembolic treatment and hospitalization strategies. Finally, we contrasted our findings with a comparable Australasian survey to provide an international reference., Results: There was a 78% response rate (124 of 158), 37% hospitalists, 31.5% cardiologists, and 31.5% EP. Most respondents chose rate over rhythm control (92.2%; 95% CI, 89.1% - 94.5%) and thromboembolic treatment (67.8%; 95% CI, 63.8% - 71.7%). Compared to both hospitalists and EPs, cardiologists were more likely to choose thromboembolic treatment for new and paroxysmal AF (adjusted OR 2.38; 95% CI, 1.05 - 5.41). They were less likely to favor hospital admission across all types of AF (adjusted OR 0.36; 95% CI, 0.17 - 0.79) but thought cardiology consultation was more important (adjusted OR 1.88, 95% CI, 0.97 - 3.64). Australasian physicians were more aggressive with rhythm control for paroxysmal AF with low CHADS2 score compared to US physicians., Conclusions: Significant variation exists among specialties in the management of acute AF, likely reflecting a lack of high quality research to direct the provider. Future studies may help to standardize practice leading to decreased rates of hospitalization and overall cost.

Objective: Smoking is the most important preventable cause of death. According to the global youth tobacco survey (GYTS) presented by WHO, 25% of smokers smoked their first cigarette before the age of 10; hence, it is of great importance to investigate the effect of smoking of family members and friends on smoking incidence of adolescents., Materials and Methods: This analytic cross-sectional study was conducted on the basis of GYTS questionnaire. The studied population consisted of 3000 high school students who were selected randomly. Data was collected by applying the questionnaires which were fulfilled by students anonymously without supervision of school authorities. The results were analyzed with SPSS 11.5 software employing chi-square test., Results: The studied population included 1842 boys (61.4%) and 1158 girls (38.6%) with the mean age of 16.1 years. In terms of smoking habit, 827 students (27.6%) were occasional smokers, 122 students (4.2%) were regular smokers, 518 students (17.3%) used another type of tobacco, and 1533 students (51.1%) were non-smokers. In terms of gender, 77.6% of occasional smokers were males and 22.4% of them were females. At the same time, males and females made up 80.3% and 19.7% of regular smokers, respectively. Also, males and females made up 71.1% and 28.9% of students using another type of tobacco, respectively. In terms of smoker family members and friends, 1860 students (85.6%) of non-smoker students had no smoker in their families and only 313 (14.4%) had at least one smoker in family, while 61.5% of smoker students had at least one smoker family member (p <.001). Similarly, 50.3% of smoker students had a number of smoker friends, while only 13% of non-smoker students had smoker friends. In terms of economic status this study showed that 22.4% of smoker students and 20.7% of non-smoker ones had high pocket money., Conclusion: This study showed that the incidence of smoking among high school students significantly correlated with the incidence of smoking among their friendsandfamilymembers (p < 0.001). This study also showed that the economic status (based on the amount of pocket money) has little orno effect on the incidence of smoking among high school students (p value: 0.863).