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Obituary

HARRY HOOGSTRAALPhD, DSc Lond

Dr Harry Hoogstraal, the leading authority on thebiology of ticks and on tick-transmitted human andanimal diseases, died in Cairo on Feb 24, on his 69thbirthday.He was one of the most respected and best-loved members of

the international group of parasitologists, entomologists, andepidemiologists working on all aspects of medical and

veterinary acarology. Born in

Chicago in 1917, he received hisBA and MSc degrees at the

University of Illinois and went onto obtain his higher degrees at theLondon School of Hygiene andTropical Medicine. In 1942 he

joined the US Army MedicalService as malariologist andworked in New Guinea and in the

Philippines during the early partof the 1939-45 war. In 1948-49 hetook part in the Madagascarscientific expedition organised bythe US Navy and, soon

afterwards, was appointed head of the US Naval MedicalResearch Unit No 3 (NAMRU 3) in Cairo. His interest in ticksstarted in the Philippines, and within a short time his researchunit in Cairo became the centre of excellence in all aspects ofacarology. His main work during the past decade was to assemblea complete bibliography on the systematics, biology, and controlof ticks and tick-borne diseases. Seven volumes of this

outstanding opus have been published, and the eighth is in

preparation. He published over 500 research papers andstimulated and edited large series of abstracts from the

publication of USSR and other Eastern European authors,whose work was little known in the West. During the 36 years ofhis work at NAMRU 3 and as adviser to many Americanresearch institutions he directed about 800 scientific projectsrelated to acarology. He was a remarkable lecturer, never dull,always enlivening his presentation with a dash of whimsicalhumour that reflected his warm personality. His hospitality at hishouse in Maadi, on the outskirts of Cairo, was prodigious andmemorable. He was awarded 23 honorary degrees, including thedoctorates honoris causa of the Universities of Ain Shams inCairo and Khartoum, Sudan. He was president-elect of theAmerican Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and wasexpected to assume the duties of that office in December, 1986.He was a historian, a connoisseur of Egyptian art, a collector ofcacti, a breeder of tropical fish, and an entertaining raconteur ofhis travels around the world. His large personal scientific library,as well as an invaluable collection of 200 000 specimens of ticks,will form the core of the Hoogstraal Collection and Study Centerat the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. Harry nevermarried but was a kindly godfather to 43 children of his friendsand colleagues.

His many friends all over the world are saddended by hispremature death and will remember his life and work with greatrespect and true affection.

L. J. B.-C.

Dr HERMANN GMEINER, who was nominated by AlbertSchweitzer for the Nobel peace prize for founding, after the1939-45 war, SOS Children’s Villages, has died, aged 66. 223 of thevillages for homeless and deprived children and 400 associatedprojects have been established in countries around the world,including China, Africa, Latin America, and Asia.

Notes and News

PRIMARY HEALTH CARE IN ERITREA

Eritrea is one of the poorest countries in the world, sufferingfrom drought and famine and years of repression by Ethiopia.The People’s Liberation Front has established a programme ofprimary health care aimed at the most vulnerable people in thecurrent health crisis-women and children, who togetherconstitute two-thirds of the rural population. About half of thechildren die before the age of five in some areas of the countryand women, who suffer from having as many as eight childrenby the age of 40, have a maternal death rate of one in four. Thebasic unit of the primary health care programme is the villagecommunity health service which serves a population of about1000 and is staffed by a village health worker and a retrainedtraditional birth attendant. Patients may need to be referred tothe next level, the district health station. These centres serve apopulation of about 10 000 or 10 villages and are staffed by anadvanced barefoot doctor, a health assistant, and a laboratorytechnician. At the third level are the district health centres,supervised by a nurse, which support up to five health stations.District health centres refer patients to regional hospitals whichrefer patients on to the central hospital in the base area. War onWant reports1 that the system has made essential drugs morewidely available and has resulted in fewer women dying inchildbirth.

UNITED KINGDOM AIDS FOUNDATION

A NEW charitable foundation, the United Kingdom AIDSFoundation, has as its main object the promotion of researchinto the causes, origins, transmission, and treatment of AIDSand related diseases or conditions, the promotion of the welfareof sufferers, the alleviation of deprivation caused by AIDS, theadvancement of relevant education, and the support of othercharities with like objects. The Foundation has beenestablished as a trust to try to provide information andcoordinate fund-raising efforts and to form a group of trusteesto receive funds and spend money where it is most needed orwhere there seems to be a neglected aspect. The Foundationemphasises that the trust is in no way intended as a substitutefor the support needed from Government and the NationalHealth Service. It will strive to respond quickly to each need forfunds.The Foundation has been established by doctors working on

AIDS research and treatment at three London hospitals (StStephen’s, St Mary’s, Paddington, and the Middlesex), by theTerence Higgins Trust and the Body Positive Group, and byother organisations and individuals. The trustees, who will beadvised by a committee of representatives of the foundinggroups, are: Sir Gerard Vaughan, MP, Mrs Margaret Jay, SirKenneth Robinson, and Mr Patrick Trevor-Roper, FRCS.

Further information may be had from the Foundation’s secretary,Madeleine Becker, 16 Great College Street, London SW1 (tel: 01-2227085).

ADVERSE REACTIONS TO POTASSIUM IODIDETAKEN AS PROTECTION FOR THE THYROID

AFTER A REACTOR ACCIDENT

AFTER the recent nuclear reactor accident in the Ukraine

widespread use was made of iodine, generally in the form ofpotassium iodide tablets, to protect the thyroid from uptake ofradioactive iodine. Reports have appeared in the mass media ofsupposed adverse reactions to this treatment. The dosesrecommended from country to country seem to have been

different, and the amounts actually taken may have been

1. New Society, New Health Service: the Eritrean Public Health Programme.Available from War on Want, Three Castles House, 1 London Bridge Street,London SE1 9SG (01-403 2266).

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influenced by the strengths of tablets on sale. Serious side-effects of potassium iodide tablets are probably rare and not toowell known. In principle, risks might arise in cardiac patients,especially users of digitalis and of potassium-saving diuretics.Particularly in old people there might be a risk of intestinalperforation. Occasional complications in labour might beexpected when quantities of iodine sufficient to cause goitrehave been taken late in pregnancy.Dr M. N. G. Dukes (regional officer for pharmaceuticals,

World Health Organisation, Scherfigsvej 8, DK-2100

Copenhagen 0) and Ms Elisabet Helsing (regional officer fornutrition) would welcome information from medical

practitioners who have seen complications due to this form oftreatment.

CONTROLLED TRIALS IN PERINATAL MEDICINE

The Lancet has often had words of praise for the NationalPerinatal Epidemiology Unit in Oxford: would that other areasof medicine could be exposed to such critical and productiveattention. The latest project from the Unit, supported by theWorld Health Organisation, is a classified bibliography ofcontrolled trials in perinatal medicine (over 2500 of them)published up to 1984.1 The classified section provides a detailedbreakdown by subject, and by far the most interesting items arethose labelled "no entries"-many of them clearly ripe forinvestigation. Next year the Oxford database is to be madeelectronically accessible to subscribers: as well as being right upto date with published reports it will have details of trials thatare planned, in progress, or completed but unpublished.Meanwhile the classified bibliography, in elegant book form, isa must for anyone wishing to scrutinise the scientific basis ofcurrent perinatal practice or looking for something useful to doby way of research.

FAMILIAL ADENOMATOUS POLYPOSIS

THIS disease presents many challenges. Apart from the colorectalmanifestations there are desmoid tumours and related connectivetissue disorders; upper gastrointestinal neoplasia, both benign andmalignant; other tumours including hepatoblastoma, thyroidcarcinoma, and brain tumours; and the cytogenetic aspects of thisinherited syndrome. An international workshop held at LeedsCastle, Kent, in June, 1985, discussed these. So far little formallycollated information has been available. The meeting agreed thataccurate and comprehensive information should be gathered. Threemain topics were examined: desmoid tumours, other expressions ofpolyposis, and genetic factors.Treatment of desmoid tumours remains difficult; radiotherapy,

cytotoxic drugs, hormones and their antagonists, sulindac, andother drugs have been tried, but without sustained benefit. Somemembers of the workshop believed that desmoids sometimes

regressed spontaneously. Because desmoids are extremely difficultto remove and may arise as a result of an operation for polyposis,surgical excision should be undertaken with caution, particularly inthe intra-abdominal type. Further information was needed on

incidence, natural history, genetic factors, and histopathologicalfindings; and treatment protocols had to be defined, if possible.Gastric polyps are usually hamartomatous whereas duodenal polypsare usually neoplastic (adenomas). The view was that uppergastrointestinal endoscopy was always indicated in polyposis toestablish the presence of the lesions, which may be malignant,particularly in the ampullary region, and to gain knowledge of thefamilial aspects of the disease. At what age, however, and at whatpoint in the management of colorectal disease should endoscopy beundertaken? What value to the patient is the knowledge that suchlesions are present? These questions were unresolved.

Little is known about the inheritance of extracolonicmanifestations. It was agreed that the polyposis gene should besought and the latest research methods applied in an effort toestablish the factors linking the features of Gardner’s syndrome.1. Classified bibliography of controlled trials in perinatal medicine 1940-1984.

Prepared by the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, Oxford, UK, with thesupport of the World Health Organisation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.1985. Pp 414. £25.

The meeting discussed genetic counselling, particularly for theyoung patient about to have primary surgery, but no consensus wasreached.Members of the workshop, now known as the Leeds Castle

polyposis group, are undertaking long-term cooperative studies.They will collect data, including (anonymous) details of affected andnon-affected individuals, methods of surveillance before and afterdiagnosis, and the incidence of the rarer malignancies. The grouphopes to draw up guidelines for initial investigation of those at riskand for routine surveillance after primary treatment. Clinical andpathological definitions and a better name for the condition will besought. A survey of the clinical aspects and pathology of desmoiddisease is to be undertaken. One group, which already performsregular upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, will report on uppergastrointestinal malignancies. Age at onset of phenotypic features,prevalence of extracolonic lesions (including desmoid tumours),and other aspects are to be correlated within families. Primarysurgical techniques and outcomes will be analysed.Some data are already available, from groups in nine countries, for

2886 persons: 1004 affected patients who are still alive, 652 whohave died, and 1230 family members who are at risk and are eitherunder surveillance or will be called up at the appropriate age-ie,after puberty, or sooner if the child has symptoms or the parentswish an early examination. Other interested units are invited to jointhe inquiry.* *

*Further information may be had from the Honorary Director, ICRF Colorectal CancerUnit, St Mark’s Hospital, City Road, London ECIV 2PS.

THEORETICAL SURGERY

The Lancet’s Marburg correspondent Prof W. Lorenz(whose latest message appears on p 1201) has an address withoxymoronic qualities-the Institute of Theoretical Surgery.Do they operate on propositional patients with notional knives?All is made clear in the first issue of a new journal, TheoreticalSurgery,! which he coedits with Dr J. H. Baron of the RoyalPostgraduate Medical School, London. Essentially theoreticalsurgery is concerned with the medical (ie, non-operative) careof surgical patients, so it embraces a vast range of disciplines.An idea of the scope of the subject can be had from the firstissue, which contains articles on measurement of outcome afteranaesthesia and operation, the nature of clinical acumen,medical decision-making in gastrointestinal bleeding, the need(or rather, lack of need) for follow-up after treatment ofcolorectal cancer, and the ways in which surgeons assimilateinformation. This brew, of which many an editor would beproud, concludes with a historical note on three "theoreticalsurgeons" of the 19th century, James Paget, Erasmus Wilson,and Jonathan Hutchinson (how sad that we cannot see theirreactions to the designation). Whatever one may feel about thetitle, Theoretical Surgery is decidedly one of the more appealingnewcomers this year.

GOOD VIBRATIONS FOR THE VERY DEAF

A DEVICE looking like a faceless digital watch can help theprofoundly deaf person to feel part of the noisy world.

Developed by the Royal National Institute for the Deaf, thetactile acoustic monitor, which also incorporates a pocket-sizecontrol unit operated by 16-hour rechargeable batteries,produces strong vibrations on the wearer’s wrist when soundsreach a certain volume. These signals can alert the deaf personto differences between, for example, the telephone ringing andeveryday speech. The device, which costs Cl25 and is said to bepreferable to two other models on the market, has taken tenyears to develop because of technical difficulties in

manufacturing a small vibrator. The project was supported by

1. Theoretical Surgery, a Journal of Decision Making in Surgery, Anaesthesia andIntensive Care, is edited by J. H. Baron and W. Lorenz, and published bySpringer International. Four issues will appear in 1986, at a cost of about $67in the USA (Springer-Verlag, Service Center Secaucus, 44 Hartz Way.Secaucus, NJ 07094) and DM168 elsewhere (Springer-Verlag, HeidelbergerPlatz 3, D-1000 3, Berlin 33, W. Germany).

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the British Technology Group and the Department of Tradeand Industry, and the final product is being marketed bySummit CP, Birmingham. There are 100 000 profoundly deafpeople in the UK, in most of whom the handicap is acquired.These people could, with careful training, be helped by thisdevice to improve their lipreading. A remote-control input willallow a deaf person to be alerted from afar. The device mighteventually be modified for use in a deaf person’s ear. Furtherinformation may be obtained from the RNID, 105 GowerStreet, London WC1E 6AH (01-387 8033).

USES AND ABUSES OF COCAINE

HERoIN has always had a seedy reputation, evoking images of theuntrustworthy, desperate, starving addict. Cocaine is quite theopposite, inseparable in the popular press from success, fame, andriches. Freud was convinced by his early experiences of takingcocaine that it was a remarkable cure for depression and creativefrustration. Robert Louis Stevenson was able to complete TheStrange Case of Doctor _7ekyll and Mr Hyde in 6 days as a result oftaking the drug for a respiratory complaint. It was mixed withcaffeine to produce coca cola. And of course, cocaine has thereputation for enhancing sex. In the present climate of escalatingmisuse of drugs by the young, of heroin in particular, there hasdeveloped a certain sort of complacency about cocaine: that it is veryexpensive in Britain (as heroin used to be) and therefore unlikely toprovoke any epidemic of misuse; and, anyway, cocaine is not trulyaddictive. A book which may appeal to young people already ondrugs unravels what is known about cocaine from what is not.

Expert opinion is divided about whether the drug is physiologicallyaddictive or not. The attractiveness of cocaine-induced euphoriaand its concomitant depression, however, paves the way for abuse ofhuge extent. The authors of the book point to the Americanexperience of the personal and social damage wrought by cocaine, inall walks of life. The chapter on cocaine describes the differentmethods of taking the drug (and their differing potentials for

addiction), gives a checklist of symptoms of cocaine dependence forboth drug-user and closest friend/relative, and describes the

experience of coming off cocaine and where to find help. Otherchapters cover the range of substances (legal and illegal) open tomisuse. The book was first published in the United States and theauthors’ street credibility is guaranteed: they are editors of RollingStone magazine.

HELPING ELDERLY PEOPLE TO SEE BETTER

MANY elderly people regard visual deterioration as an

inevitable consequence of old age, and by the time visual lossbecomes really troublesome the individual is often too

preoccupied with other handicaps to give it attention. This is apity since improvement in vision may help individuals to copebetter with other disabilities. There are no urgent reasons formost sight-threatening eye diseases to be diagnosed early(except incipient closed-angle glaucoma and retinal

detachment) but once sight is lost it can seldom be regained, andwith loss of sight goes loss of independence and mobility.Furthermore, falls are often associated with poor vision, andearly confusional states may be worsened by diminishedsensory inputs. In Visual Disability and the Elderly2 Dr TimCullinan describes what simple measures can be taken to helpelderly people see better. They should be encouraged by bothhealth personnel and friends to shed their belief that nothingcan be done to improve their sight, and doctors should not feelincapable of measuring sight. Simple test cards, Dr Cullinansuggests, should even be issued to home helps. The test ought tobe administered in good light. And since good light (which doesnot neccesarily mean bright light) is important for good vision,the erroneous beliefs that "tired eyes" need dim light and thatlighting is expensive ought to be dispelled. For those already

1 How to Get Off Drugs. By Ira Mothner and Alan Weitz Harmondsworth Penguin.1986. Pp 304 £3 95.

2. Visual Disability in the Elderly. By Tim Cullinan. Beckenham, Kent: CroomHelm. 1986. Pp 95. £6.95.

wearing spectacles, the lenses should be clean and unscratched.The book, aimed at health-care workers and all those lookingafter the elderly, provides accounts of diseases responsible forvisual disability in the elderly and their epidemiology, withadvice on how and when to seek professional help and what toexpect.

WHO Sasakawa Health Prize

The second Sasakawa health prize for outstanding innovativework in health development has been awarded to three

recipients: the Ayadaw Township Committee, established in1979 to implement Burma’s people’s health plan; Dr LucilleCorti and Dr Pietro Corti, who built up the Lacor Hospital andits network of primary health centres in Uganda; and Dr AmornNondesuta, permanent secretary for public health in Thailand,who has developed the country’s community approach to healthpromotion.

Equal Employment Opportunities for EthnicMinorities in the NHS

The King Edward’s Hospital Fund for London hasestablished a task force to help health authorities implementopportunities for equal employment. The terms of reference ofthe task force are: "To help health authorities tackle racialdiscrimination in all its forms, concentrating on practical stepsin employment practice and in service provision. In the firstinstance attention will be focused on employment based on theprinciples of the Commission for Racial Equality Code, butequal opportunity in employment will always be considered inthe broader context of seeking equality in health service

provision and in health itself". The Minister for Health, MrBarney Hayhoe, has welcomed the setting up of the task force,which is to be closely associated with the NHS ManagementBoard, and hopes that health authorities will begin to set anexample of equal opportunity in recruitment, training, andpromotion practices. Large numbers of employees in the NHScome from ethnic minority background but few have reachedsenior grades of employment.

Third National Heart Transplantation Centre

Freeman Hospital, Newcastle, the cardiothoracic centre forthe North East Region, has become the UK’s third nationalheart transplantation centre, alongside the Papworth andHarefield Hospitals, as recommended by the SupraregionalServices Advisory Group. Freeman Hospital will receive

jC225 000 to fund twelve operations in the first year and theGovernment grant will be increased in the future to achieve

parity with the other two centres.

British Nutrition Foundation

The Foundation has decided to establish a task force toreview the nutritional and medical aspects of trans fatty acids.The task force will be chaired by Prof Ian Macdonald, professorof physiology in the University of London. Evidence should besubmitted to the Secretary of the Task Force on Trans FattyAcids, BNF, 15 Belgrave Square, London SW1X 8PS.

Current Advances in Laboratory TechniquesA programme of courses to take place in London in 1986/87 in the

series on current advances in laboratory techniques is now

complete. The subjects of study will be: monoclonal antibodies;endocrine pathology; immunocytochemistry in cytopathology;immunolabelling for electron microscopy; modern immunocyto-chemistry ; techniques in human molecular genetics; and

hybridisation histochemistry. Further details and applications areavailable from Prof Julia M. Polak, Department of Histochemistry,Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital,Ducane Road, London W12 OHS.

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University of Leeds

A chair of rheumatology has been founded in perpetuity at theuniversity, which presently holds a personal chair in the subject.The chair has been made possible by a grant from the Arthritis andRheumatism Council.

Royal College of Surgeons of EnglandDr John J. Bergan (Chicago) and Dr Lloyd M. Nyhus

(Chicago) have been made honorary fellows. Prof RoyDuckworth (London) has been elected fellow of the college.

Prof Paul Turner has been elected president of the Fellowship ofPostgraduate Medicine, following the retirement of Mr J. P.

Hopewell.

Dr K. A. Day, consultant psychiatrist to the Northgate Hospital, Morpeth,has been awarded the 1986 Burden research gold medal and prize forpublished work in the field of mental handicap.

Applications are invited from researchers working in a country of theEuropean Community for the 1987 Oswald Vander Veken prize of Bel Fr 1million to be awarded for the best original contribution to the understanding oftumors of the locomotor apparatus, their causes, their prevention, theirdiagnosis, and/or their treatment: National Fund for Scientific Research,Egmontstreet 5, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium.

A 2-day exhibition entitled the London Age Well Show will take place atthe Kensington Town Hall, London W8, on June 2-3: Sian Jones, AssistantPress Officer, Age Concern England, 60 Pitcairn Road, Mitcham, Surrey CR43LL (01-640 5431 ext 259).

A 2-day course on Osteopathy is to be held at the British PostgraduateMedical Federation, London WC1, on June 2-3: Mrs Elva Macklin,Education Department, British Postgraduate Medical Federation, 33

Millman Street, London WCIN 3EJ (01-831 6222).

International Diary1986

International symposium on Diagnosis and Treatment of LipoproteinDisorders-Impact on Prevention of Atherosclerotic Diseases:

Vienna, Austria, Aug 21-23 (Dr K. Widhalm, Department of Pediatrics,University of Vienna, Wahringer Gurtet 18, A-1090 Vienna).

2nd annual symposium on Cancer Epidemiology in MediterraneanCountries: Naples, Italy, Sept 20 (Oncology Organisation of MediterraneanEducation and Research Secretariat, ICIG, I’Hopital Paul-Brousse, 14-16Avenue Paul-Vaillant-Couturier, 94800 Villejuif, France).

2nd international exhibition and congress for Biotechnology : Hannover,Germany, Sept 23-25 (Deutsche Messe und Ausstellungs-AG, Messegelande,D-3000 Hannover 82).

International symposium on Multiple Sclerosis: London, UK, Sept24-25 (Director, Academic Unit, Charing Cross and Westminster MedicalSchool, Hammersmith, London W6 8RP).

Congress for the Basel Liver Week: Basel, Switzerland, Oct 13-21 (FalkFoundation e.V., Dr H. Falk, Habsburgerstrasse 81, D-7800 Freiburg/Br,West Germany).

Course on Practical Topics in Pediatric Nutrition: San Francisco,California, Oct 16-18 (Extended Programs in Medical Education, Room569-U, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA).

Annual conference on Getting to the Heart of Things in San Francisco:San Francisco, California, Oct 22-25 (Lil Sablack, Executive Director,American Medical Writers Association, 5262 River Road, Suite 410,Bethesda, MD 20816, USA).

9th international symposium on Drugs Affecting Lipid Metabolism:Florence, Italy, Oct 22-25 (Fondazione Giovanni Lorenzini, Via MonteNapoleone 23, 20121 Milan, Italy)

6th international meeting on Atherosclerosis and CardiovascularDiseases: Bologna, Italy, Oct 27-29 (Organising Secretariat, OSC Bologna,Via S. Stefano 30, 40125 Bologna).

A one-day workshop for clinical tutors will take place at the BritishPostgraduate Medical Federation, London WC1, on Tuesday, June 3: MrsElva Macklin, Education Department, British Postgraduate Medical

Federation, 33 Millman Street, London WC1N 3EJ (01-831 6222).

A one-day workshop entitled Empowering Patients-a Case Study ofHackney Maternity Services will be held at the Royal Institute of PublicAdministration, London SW1, on Tuesday, June 3: Jane Cragg, ConferenceOfficer, RIPA, 3 Birdcage Walk, London SW1H 9JH (01-222 2248).

A one-day symposium on Alzheimer’s Disease will take place at theInstitute of Psychiatry, London SE5, on Tuesday, June 3: Dr E. Spargo,Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF (01-703 5411ext 338).

A one-day meeting entitled Prescribing for the Elderly-Could We DoBetter? is to take place at the Kensington Town Hall, London W8, onTuesday, June 3: British Association for Service to the Elderly, 119 HassellStreet, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire ST5 lAX (0782 661033).

A one-day symposium entitled Genetic Red Cell Abnormalities in theCommunity is to be held at the Royal College of Pathologists, London SW 1,on Thursday, June 5: Scientific Meetings Officer, Royal College of

Pathologists, 2 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AF (01-930 5861).

A one-day meeting on Bhopal-What Happened and the LessonsLearnt will take place at the Middlesex Hospital, London W 1, on Thursday,June 5: Conference Department, Royal Society of Health, RSH House, 38A StGeorge’s Drive, London SW1V 4BH (01-630 0121).

Corrections

Quinolones-A Paradoxical Adolescence.-Reference 14 in thiseditorial (April 12, p 837) was incorrect. The correct reference is: ShenLL, Pernet AG. Mechanism of inhibition of DNA gyrase by analoguesof nalidixic acid: The target of the drugs is DNA. Proc Natl Acad SaUSA 1985; 82: 307-11.

Should Impotent Males who have no Clinical Evidence of Hypogonadismhave Routine Endocrine Screening?-The name of L. Perry was omittedfrom the list of authors of this letter (May 3, p 1041).

Diary of the Week

MAY 25 To 31

Tuesday, 27thICRF CANCER EPIDEMIOLOGY AND CLINICAL TRIALS UNIT, Ida

Green Seminar Room, Observer’s House, Green College, Oxford5 pm Dr Petr Skrabanek: Screening for Cancers of the Breast and Cervix-More

Harm than Benefit?

Wednesday, 28thROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF EDINBURGH, Nicolson Street,

Edinburgh EH8 9DW9.30 am Mr Magdi Yacoub: The Science and Art of Cardiac Surgery.

ROYAL FREE HOSPITAL, Pond Street, London NW3 2QG5 pm Dr Martin A. Samuel (Boston): Cardiac Manifestations of Neurological

Disease.NORTHWICK PARK HOSPITAL AND CLINICAL RESEARCH CENTRE,

Watford Road, Harrow, Middlesex HAI 3UJ1 pm Mr 1. S. Fyfe: Arthroscopy and Diseases of the Knee.

MANCHESTER MEDICAL SOCIETY, John Rylands University Library,Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PP

5.30 pm Dr E. D. Acheson: Public Health—Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow.DURHAM POSTGRADUATE MEDICAL CENTRE, Drybum Hospital,

Durham1.15 pm Dr F. A. Ive: Seborrhoeic Dermatitis.

NINEWELLS HOSPITAL AND MEDICAL SCHOOL, Dundee DD1 9SY12 pm Mr K. Baxby: New Ways with Urinary Stones.1.15 pm Dr K. M. Parry: A Fair Share.

Thursday, 29thROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF EDINBURGH

4.30 pm Prof G. S. Brindley: The Control of Micturition, Erection, and SeminalEmission by Surgically Implanted Stimulators of Nerves or SpinalRoots.

Friday, 30thROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF EDINBURGH

12 pm Prof A. R. Moossa (San Diego): Surgical Treatment of ChromcPancreatitis-Some Myths and Realities.

CARDIOTHORACIC INSTITUTE, Fulham Road, London SW3 6HP8 am Dr T. Higginbottom: Denervated Lungs-Denervated Hearts.