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Calcium (Ca) deficiency has been associated with acidic very sandy soils that are widespread in Southwestern Australia (WA). There are no documented reports of Ca deficiency of cereals grown in the field. However, there is a possibility that Ca deficiency could be observed on the acidic very sandy soils of WA, particular where fertilizers low in Ca concentration are used. For previously unfertilized sandy soil collected from under indigenous remnant vegetation in WA, there was no effect on yield of dried shoots of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) due to addition of fertilizer Ca (0 up to 480 mg Ca/pot) to either the topsoil (top 10 cm of soil, pH 4.6) (1:5 soil 0.01 M CaCl2, w/v) or subsoil (10–20 cm soil, pH 5.1). However, application of fertilizer Ca increased grain yields, by about 12% for the topsoil and up to about tenfold for the subsoil. For the subsoil, no grain was produced on the nil Ca treatment; about 0.16 g of grain was produced per plant at the second level of applied Ca (60 mg Ca/pot), and abou...

A high rate of suicide attempts and suicide ideation characterized a sample of 229 grade 7 to 9 adolescents resident on seven reserves in central Alberta. The prevalence of suicidality for these adolescent Indians was very similar to rates reported for Navajo youth and for 8th- and 10th-grade American non-Indian students. Comparison of Indian and non-Indian suicidality risk factors showed somewhat elevated levels of family disruption and psychological problems among Indian adolescents. Compared to Canadian nonadolescents, substance abuse levels were high, and conditions necessary to modeling were virtually omnipresent. Suicide ideation was significantly elevated for Indian adolescents with low psychological well-being, no father in the home, and a prior suicide in the household. Controlling for age, risk factors for suicide attempts were heavy alcohol use, no father in the home, sleeping problems, and low psychological well-being. The high rates of adolescent Native suicide imply that a much higher proportion of their suicide attempts succeed. Targeted, community-based counselling and educational programs are needed to address these problems.

This paper is the first report of health knowledge among Native Indian youth in central Alberta and, in the absence of comparable information for Native youth in other regions of Canada, provides a unique basis for comparison of the health knowledge of Native youth attending junior high school with that of non-Native young Canadians included in the Canada Health Knowledge Survey. The results of our survey of 229 Native Indian youth from seven different reserves in central Alberta indicate that a higher proportion of the Native youth were more knowledgeable about dental health, fire safety, and the effects of smoking, alcohol and drugs. However, they generally scored lower on items related to knowledge of first aid for burns, nutrition, communicable diseases, and personal health. Factors contributing to these differences and suggestions for future action are suggested on the basis that accurate information of this kind is essential for health promotion efforts directed toward reducing risky health behaviours and promoting healthier lifestyles among youth of Native Indian communities.

The residual value of manganese fertiliser for seed (grain) production of lupin (Lupinus angustifolius L.) was measured in 2 long-term (16 years) field experiments on 2 different soils (sand, lateritic ironstone gravel–sand) when manganese sulfate was placed (drilled) with the seed at about 5 cm while sowing. Relative to the nil-manganese treatment, additions of manganese fertiliser increased yields by about 1.0 t seed/ha and decreased the amount of split seed from about 80% to less than 5%. Additions of manganese fertiliser did not affect plant density (measured 1 month after sowing) or the yield of dried shoots. The residual value of manganese fertiliser was measured in 1994 for grain production of lupin, for manganese applied once only to plots not treated with manganese before, either in 1994 (current manganese) or in a previous year (previous manganese), applied in one of the following years: 1978, 1982, 1988, 1991. The residual value of previous manganese for grain production decreased relative to the effectiveness of current manganese, the decrease increased with increasing time since application. The decrease in the relative value varied with soil type. For example, the sandy soil showed a larger decrease in the effectiveness of manganese compared with the gravelly sand. For the sandy soil, 16 years after application the manganese application was about one fifth as effective as current manganese, for lupin grain production. As measured using soil test manganese, critical soil manganese values for diethtlenetriamine penta-acetic acid, ammonium acetate, and ammonium acetate plus hydoxy quinone extraction varied with soil type. For example, the diethtlenetriamine penta-acetic acid critical concentration of manganese for grain yield for the sand was about 2 mg/kg compared with about 4 mg/kg for the gravelly sand. The critical concentration of manganese in the youngest vegetative bud for maximum seed yield was about 50 mg/kg while the critical concentration of manganese in the stem at mid-flowering of the main stem was about 20 mg/kg. Having a manganese concentration above the critical concentration of manganese in either plant tissues resulted in split seed levels of less than 5%.

U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, Subcommittee on Health and Environment 1976 Data on the Medicaid Program: Eligibility, Services, Expenditures, Fiscal Years 1966-76. Publication No. 61-722 0 (January). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. Valentine, C. A. 1968 Culture and Poverty: Critique and Counterproposals. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Weiss, J. E. and M. Greenlick 1970 "Determinants of medical care utilization: the effect of social class and distance on contacts with the medical care system." Medical Care 8:456-62. Wilson, R. W. and E. L. White 1977 "Changes in morbidity, disability, and utilization differentials between the poor and the nonpoor: data from the health interview survey: 1964 and 1973." Medical Care 15:636-46. Zborowski, M. 1958 "Cultural components in response to pain." Pp. 256-68 in E. G. Jaco (ed.). Patients, Physicians, and Illness. Glencoe: Free Press. Zola, I. K. 1966 "Culture and symptoms-an analysis of patients' presenting complaints." American Sociological Review 31:615-30.

A glasshouse experiment was conducted to define critical concentrations of copper in young leaves of wheat and to investigate the effect of water stress after anthesis on the relationship between yield and copper concentrations in young leaves. The concentration of copper in the youngest fully emerged leaf was a sensitive and accurate indicator of the copper status of wheat. The critical concentration for copper in the youngest fully emerged leaf did not change with the age of the plant. Copper deficiency occurred whenever the concentration of copper in the youngest fully emerged leaf fell below 1.3 �g g-I (dry weight). Water stress after anthesis did not change the relationship between copper concentrations in young leaves and grain yield, although this stress markedly decreased grain yield. In the field there was considerable variability among plants given the same copper treatment in copper concentrations in young leaves. Nevertheless, whenever copper deficiency decreased growth, the average concentration of copper in the youngest fully emerged leaf was less than 1.3 �g g-1.

REPORTS of field occurrences of molybdenum deficiency in small-grained cereals are rare. Fricke1 in Tasmania showed that the ‘blue chaff’ disease of oats could be cured by applying molybdenum. Lobb2 and Fitzgerald3 in New Zealand, and Mulder4 in The Netherlands, have reported responses with field grown oats to molybdenum. Lobb2 and Mulder4 have also obtained field responses with wheat to molybdenum. It has been found that large areas of Australian soils are deficient in molybdenum that can be used for nitrogen fixation by Leguminosae, and for growth by Cruciferae, Compositae, Cucurbitaceae, Solanaceae and Linaceae5. The only field responses in the Gramineae in Australia are those reported by Fricke1 with oats, and Noonan6 with maize. It has frequently been demonstrated, for example by Johnson et al.7, that members of Gramineae are relatively tolerant of low supplies of molybdenum and that molybdenum deficiency in cereals only occurs in extreme conditions of molybdenum deficiency.

Ten annual Trifolium and Medicago cultivars were sown at low (1-6 lb an acre) and high (3-18 lb an acre) seeding rates with wheat crops in five trials in the south-eastern wheatbelt of Western Australia. Wheat and legume seed yields from these mixed stands were compared with stands of the same rates of wheat and legume sown alone. Sowing the legumes with the crop reduced wheat yields by from 7.4 bushels an acre (25 per cent) in one trial to 1.5 bushels an acre (5 per cent) in another. The evidence did not suggest which factors caused the different response. Legume seed production under the crop was severely reduced in all trials. In 30 of the 44 comparisons made it was reduced by more than 50 per cent, and in 13 cases by more than 75 per cent. In 9 cases the amount of seed set under the crop was less than 30 lb an acre. In most cases trebling the amount of legume seed sown under the crop greatly increased legume seed yield but caused only a small (less than one bushel per acre) further decrease in wheat yield.