1042 hold
meeting within the next two months to discuss a pilot scheme, emphasises that any written information would be only supplementary to oral instruction; and it remained the responsibility of the prescriber to instruct the patient about the dosage and duration of treatment. to
a
LOCAL NEEDS FOR CHILD HEALTH ONE of the recommendations of the Court Report’ was that local child-health needs should be defined and services planned to meet these needs. Some of the needs in Newcastle City have been defined and the findings are being used to press for redistribution of resources. On Nov. 1 Dr Michael Downham, senior lecturer in child health at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, told a conference held in London by the National Association for the Welfare of Children in Hospital thai a study of cot deaths had shown that most of the cases seemed to be concentrated in certain parts (five riverside wards) of the city. Using 1975 data, a similar type of survey showed that non-accidental injury, respiratory-syncitial-virus infection, perinatal deaths, and low-birthweight babies seemed to be commonest in children from families in four of the five wards. These same areas had been shown in previous surveys to be at a disadvantage in relation to some other factors, such as unemployment, overcrowding, proportion of doctors and health visitors, and number of single-parent families. A newly formed joint committee for children in the city is using this information to press for redistribution of resources within the allocations for joint projects between the health and local authorities. What the findings in Newcastle have shown is not so much that there is a clear relation between morbidity and poor environmental factors, which is already well known, but that health regions are too large for this kind of study. Needs have to be defined for smaller localities within districts, and services
planned accordingly.
cation Council and it will continue until March next year; and the other, aimed at those aged 20-30, is the work of the Scottish Health Education Unit.
Skiing for Spastics A successful skiing holiday for young spastics was organised by the Spastics Society earlier this year, and a second party will be going to Italy in March next year. Children over 12 and young adults will qualify for inclusion; they should be able to walk 400 yards, get up from the floor unaided, and be able to dress themselves and look after their own toilet requirements. Application forms may be had from Skiing for Spastics, 12 Park Crescent, London WIN 4EQ. Corrections Benzene and Leukcemia.-In the letter from Dr Peter F. Infante and his colleagues (Oct. 22, p. 868) the penultimate sentence of the fourth paragraph should read: "For leukaemia incidence, the data iQdicate a relative risk of 3.75 for all myelogenous leukaemia (3 vs 0.8)."
Chromosome 1 in Cervical Carcinoma-The penultimate sentence by Dr N. B. Atkin and Marion C. Baker (Nov. 5, p. 984) should read, "... in a carcinoma in situ of the cervix." In the table, the abnormality in case 6 was in the distal half of p, not q.
of the letter
Diary INSTITUTE
approach to the prevention of alcoholism is recommended by the Government’s Advisory Committee on Alcoholism.2 One line is continued and strengthened health education; and here the committee believes that even those who promote the advertising of alcohol can play a more positive role than that of merely abiding by codes of advertising practice-the Committee has been encouraged by some firms which have reinforced social controls against alcohol misuse in
ROYAL COLLEGE
and Health: Everybody’sBusiness. Two health-education campaigns on alcohol have been launched this month. One, a "sensible’ drinking campaign in the North of England, is being conducted by the Health Edu1. Fit for the Future. Report on the Committee as Child Health Services. Cmnd. 6684. H. M. Stationery Office, 1976. See Lancet, 1977, i, 79. 2. Advisory Committee on Alcoholism: Report on Prevention. Department of Health and Social Security and the Welsh Office. H.M. Stationery Office, 1977.
19
DERMATOLOGY, St. John’s Hospital for Diseases of the Skin, Lisle Street, Leicester Square, London WC2H 7BJ 4.30 P.M. Dr Arthur Jarrett: Keratin Formation. INSTITUTE OF OBSTETRICS AND GYN/MOLOGY, Queen Charlotte’s Hospital, Goldhawk Road, London W6 OXG 4.30 P.M. Dr John L. Lewis, Jr (New York): Maternal Ingestion of D.E.S.-
Tuesday, 15th
their advertising campaign. The other course is that of fiscal and legal measures to limit the availability of alcohol. The committee recommends that taxation on alcohol should increase as income levels increase (so that alcohol does not become cheaper in real terms) and that present licensing laws should not be relaxed. But when somebody’s drinking does become a problem, then it is everybody’s business to be ready to detect it. Not only doctors, social workers, and health visitors but also managers, shop-floor supervisors, and tradeunion representatives should know how to identify the early signs in those under their care and to suggest that the drinker seeks help. Drinkers themselves and their families should likewise be taught how to recognise the stage at which drinking is progressing towards disaster. These recommendations will be discussed in a paper on alcoholism to be published next year by the Department of Health and Social Security as one of the follow-up papers to their consultative document, Prevention
TO
OF
Benign TWO-PRONGED
13
NOV.
Monday, 14th
ALCOHOLISM A
of the Week
OF
Adenosis and Clear Cell Cancer in the Female
PHYSICIANS
OF
LONDON, 11
St. Andrew’s
Offspring.
Place, Regent’s
Park,NWl1 5
Dr D. C. Flenley: Clinical Hypoxia-Causes, Consequences, and Correction. (Tudor Edwards lecture.) INSTITUTE OF DERMATOLOGY 4.30 P.M. Dr R. Pye: The Physiology of the Sebaceous Gland. P.M.
Wednesday,
16th
ROYAL COLLEGE OF PATHOLOGISTS 5.30 P.M. (Royal College of Physicians of London.) Dr J. B. Brooksby: The Enigma of Virus Variation. (Foundation lecture.) INSTITUTE OF NEUROLOGY, National Hospital, Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG 6 P.M. Dr David Boullin: Pharmacological Control of Cerebral Blood-vessels. 7 P.M. Prof. D. A. Shaw: Therapeutics of Cerebrovascular Disease. INSTITUTE OF ORTHOPEDICS, 234 Great Portland Street, London WIN 6AD 6 P.M. Mr A. R. Taylor: The Cervical Spine in Rheumatoid Arthritis. 7 P.M. Dr H. G. Jacobson (New York): Osteoporosis in Inflammatory Joint Disease. INSTITUTE OF PSYCHIATRY, de Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 5.30 P.M. Dr A. W. H. Buffery: Restoration of Brain Function-a Neuro-
psychological Approach. NoRTHWICK PARK HOSPITAL, Watford Road, Harrow, Middlesex HA13UJ 1 P.M. Dr J. M. Gumpel: Collagen Disorders-Fact and Fiction. ROYAL FREE HOSPITAL SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, Pond Street, Hampstead, London
NW32QG 5
P.M.
Mr Adrian Marston: Mesenteric Vascular Disease.
Thursday,
17th
INSTITUTE OF NEUROLOGY 5.30 P.M. Dr T. J. Murray (Nova Scotia): Neurological Education. ST. MARY’S HOSPITAL MEDICAL SCHOOL, London W2 INY 5.15 P.M. Dr Elizabeth Stanley: Teaching Sexuality. (Aleck Bourne lecture.) BRITISH INSTITUTE OF RADIOLOGY, 32 Welbeck Street, London WIM 7PG 7.15 P.M. Prof. William Duncan: Current Thoughts on Fast Neutron Therapy. (Mackenzie Davidson lecture.) MANCHESTER MEDICAL SOCIETY 5.30 P.M. (New Medical School.) Padiatrics. Dr L. A. Hersov: Adolescent Suicide.
Saturday,
19th
ROYAL COLLEGE 4 P.M.
OF
SURGEONS
OF
ENGLAND
(Southampton General Hospital Postgraduate Centre.) Dr J. F. Hill: Blast Injury-with Special Reference to Terrorist Incidents in the U.K. since 1969. (Hunterian lecture.)
meeting within the next two months to discuss a pilot scheme, emphasises that any written information would be only supplementary to oral instruction; and it remained the responsibility of the prescriber to instruct the patient about the dosage and duration of treatment. to
a
LOCAL NEEDS FOR CHILD HEALTH ONE of the recommendations of the Court Report’ was that local child-health needs should be defined and services planned to meet these needs. Some of the needs in Newcastle City have been defined and the findings are being used to press for redistribution of resources. On Nov. 1 Dr Michael Downham, senior lecturer in child health at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, told a conference held in London by the National Association for the Welfare of Children in Hospital thai a study of cot deaths had shown that most of the cases seemed to be concentrated in certain parts (five riverside wards) of the city. Using 1975 data, a similar type of survey showed that non-accidental injury, respiratory-syncitial-virus infection, perinatal deaths, and low-birthweight babies seemed to be commonest in children from families in four of the five wards. These same areas had been shown in previous surveys to be at a disadvantage in relation to some other factors, such as unemployment, overcrowding, proportion of doctors and health visitors, and number of single-parent families. A newly formed joint committee for children in the city is using this information to press for redistribution of resources within the allocations for joint projects between the health and local authorities. What the findings in Newcastle have shown is not so much that there is a clear relation between morbidity and poor environmental factors, which is already well known, but that health regions are too large for this kind of study. Needs have to be defined for smaller localities within districts, and services
planned accordingly.
cation Council and it will continue until March next year; and the other, aimed at those aged 20-30, is the work of the Scottish Health Education Unit.
Skiing for Spastics A successful skiing holiday for young spastics was organised by the Spastics Society earlier this year, and a second party will be going to Italy in March next year. Children over 12 and young adults will qualify for inclusion; they should be able to walk 400 yards, get up from the floor unaided, and be able to dress themselves and look after their own toilet requirements. Application forms may be had from Skiing for Spastics, 12 Park Crescent, London WIN 4EQ. Corrections Benzene and Leukcemia.-In the letter from Dr Peter F. Infante and his colleagues (Oct. 22, p. 868) the penultimate sentence of the fourth paragraph should read: "For leukaemia incidence, the data iQdicate a relative risk of 3.75 for all myelogenous leukaemia (3 vs 0.8)."
Chromosome 1 in Cervical Carcinoma-The penultimate sentence by Dr N. B. Atkin and Marion C. Baker (Nov. 5, p. 984) should read, "... in a carcinoma in situ of the cervix." In the table, the abnormality in case 6 was in the distal half of p, not q.
of the letter
Diary INSTITUTE
approach to the prevention of alcoholism is recommended by the Government’s Advisory Committee on Alcoholism.2 One line is continued and strengthened health education; and here the committee believes that even those who promote the advertising of alcohol can play a more positive role than that of merely abiding by codes of advertising practice-the Committee has been encouraged by some firms which have reinforced social controls against alcohol misuse in
ROYAL COLLEGE
and Health: Everybody’sBusiness. Two health-education campaigns on alcohol have been launched this month. One, a "sensible’ drinking campaign in the North of England, is being conducted by the Health Edu1. Fit for the Future. Report on the Committee as Child Health Services. Cmnd. 6684. H. M. Stationery Office, 1976. See Lancet, 1977, i, 79. 2. Advisory Committee on Alcoholism: Report on Prevention. Department of Health and Social Security and the Welsh Office. H.M. Stationery Office, 1977.
19
DERMATOLOGY, St. John’s Hospital for Diseases of the Skin, Lisle Street, Leicester Square, London WC2H 7BJ 4.30 P.M. Dr Arthur Jarrett: Keratin Formation. INSTITUTE OF OBSTETRICS AND GYN/MOLOGY, Queen Charlotte’s Hospital, Goldhawk Road, London W6 OXG 4.30 P.M. Dr John L. Lewis, Jr (New York): Maternal Ingestion of D.E.S.-
Tuesday, 15th
their advertising campaign. The other course is that of fiscal and legal measures to limit the availability of alcohol. The committee recommends that taxation on alcohol should increase as income levels increase (so that alcohol does not become cheaper in real terms) and that present licensing laws should not be relaxed. But when somebody’s drinking does become a problem, then it is everybody’s business to be ready to detect it. Not only doctors, social workers, and health visitors but also managers, shop-floor supervisors, and tradeunion representatives should know how to identify the early signs in those under their care and to suggest that the drinker seeks help. Drinkers themselves and their families should likewise be taught how to recognise the stage at which drinking is progressing towards disaster. These recommendations will be discussed in a paper on alcoholism to be published next year by the Department of Health and Social Security as one of the follow-up papers to their consultative document, Prevention
TO
OF
Benign TWO-PRONGED
13
NOV.
Monday, 14th
ALCOHOLISM A
of the Week
OF
Adenosis and Clear Cell Cancer in the Female
PHYSICIANS
OF
LONDON, 11
St. Andrew’s
Offspring.
Place, Regent’s
Park,NWl1 5
Dr D. C. Flenley: Clinical Hypoxia-Causes, Consequences, and Correction. (Tudor Edwards lecture.) INSTITUTE OF DERMATOLOGY 4.30 P.M. Dr R. Pye: The Physiology of the Sebaceous Gland. P.M.
Wednesday,
16th
ROYAL COLLEGE OF PATHOLOGISTS 5.30 P.M. (Royal College of Physicians of London.) Dr J. B. Brooksby: The Enigma of Virus Variation. (Foundation lecture.) INSTITUTE OF NEUROLOGY, National Hospital, Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG 6 P.M. Dr David Boullin: Pharmacological Control of Cerebral Blood-vessels. 7 P.M. Prof. D. A. Shaw: Therapeutics of Cerebrovascular Disease. INSTITUTE OF ORTHOPEDICS, 234 Great Portland Street, London WIN 6AD 6 P.M. Mr A. R. Taylor: The Cervical Spine in Rheumatoid Arthritis. 7 P.M. Dr H. G. Jacobson (New York): Osteoporosis in Inflammatory Joint Disease. INSTITUTE OF PSYCHIATRY, de Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 5.30 P.M. Dr A. W. H. Buffery: Restoration of Brain Function-a Neuro-
psychological Approach. NoRTHWICK PARK HOSPITAL, Watford Road, Harrow, Middlesex HA13UJ 1 P.M. Dr J. M. Gumpel: Collagen Disorders-Fact and Fiction. ROYAL FREE HOSPITAL SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, Pond Street, Hampstead, London
NW32QG 5
P.M.
Mr Adrian Marston: Mesenteric Vascular Disease.
Thursday,
17th
INSTITUTE OF NEUROLOGY 5.30 P.M. Dr T. J. Murray (Nova Scotia): Neurological Education. ST. MARY’S HOSPITAL MEDICAL SCHOOL, London W2 INY 5.15 P.M. Dr Elizabeth Stanley: Teaching Sexuality. (Aleck Bourne lecture.) BRITISH INSTITUTE OF RADIOLOGY, 32 Welbeck Street, London WIM 7PG 7.15 P.M. Prof. William Duncan: Current Thoughts on Fast Neutron Therapy. (Mackenzie Davidson lecture.) MANCHESTER MEDICAL SOCIETY 5.30 P.M. (New Medical School.) Padiatrics. Dr L. A. Hersov: Adolescent Suicide.
Saturday,
19th
ROYAL COLLEGE 4 P.M.
OF
SURGEONS
OF
ENGLAND
(Southampton General Hospital Postgraduate Centre.) Dr J. F. Hill: Blast Injury-with Special Reference to Terrorist Incidents in the U.K. since 1969. (Hunterian lecture.)
