- Email: [email protected]
Nightingale and Netley
221
Adverse reactions to veterinary medicines Doctors will be familiar with the arrangements for reporting suspected adverse reactions to medicines in man but may not be aware of the parallel scheme for veterinary medicines. A doctor who suspects such an adverse reaction (recent press reports have referred to reactions to organophosphorus compounds in sheep dips and to dipped sheep) should report it on form MLA 252A, obtainable from the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, Freepost, Central Veterinary Laboratories, New Haw, Weybridge, Surrey KT15 1BR (telephone 0932 336911 extension 3040). All reports of suspected reactions in man are investigated in liaison with the Department of Health and Safety Executive. The results of these inquiries are reported to the Veterinary Products Committee, which considers whether further action is required. Reports of suspected reactions in man will be published annually in the report of the VMD.
Frev’s free?
Auriculotemporal (Frey’s) syndrome is usually manifest by gustatory sweating and flushing, occasionally with a feeling of warmth or even pain. A common sequel to parotid gland surgery, Frey’s syndrome has often been resistant to simple topical applications and further surgery, though usually effective, is rarely taken up with much enthusiasm. Black and Gunn1 describe the use of roll-on aluminium chloride hexahydrate (20% w/v in an alcohol solution). Response to a gustatory stimulus before and after treatment was assessed with Minor’s starch iodine test: all 9 patients tested showed a response, and symptoms were usually abolished by regular applications of the solution. 1. Black
MJM, Gunn A. The management of Frey’s syndrome with hexahydrate antiperspirant. Ann R Coll Surg Engl 1990; 72: 49-52.
aluminium
Magnetic resonance award Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine is offering prizes ($1500 for the winner and$500 for all other finalists) for unpublished manuscripts describing original work in magnetic The
in biology and medicine. Applicants must be aged under 38 years and have had no more than the equivalent of five years’ full-time postdoctoral research experience. The closing date for entries is February 16,1990. Further details from Doris J. Spindell, Executive Director, SMRM, 1918 University Avenue, Suite 3C, Berkeley, CA 94704, USA. Telephone (415) 841-1899, fax (415) 841-2340. resonance
Nightingale and Netley An exhibition, ’Nightingale and Netley’, to be held at Royal Victoria Country Park, Southampton, in May, 1990, will feature the history of Netley Hospital in Victorian times (when it was Britain’s largest military hospital) and details of local connections with Florence Nightingale. Mr P. W. Kirkby, exhibition organiser, would welcome the loan of items for inclusion in the exhibition. Please contact him at the Park Centre, Royal Victoria Country Park, Netley Abbey, Southampton, Hants (telephone 0703 455157).
A man came out of the clinic door and sat beside me. He looked rather pale. "That’s it", he said. "The diet starts tomorrow. My cholesterol is four decimal points above normal,. From now on it is fish without the chips, and two veg without the meat." I murmured
sympathetically. My turn came at last. Height?-I seem to have lost an inch; weight?-two pounds heavier than our own scales at home; smoking history?-blast those happy undergraduate years; alcohol intake?-moderate, of course; and blood pressure?-slightly raised but nothing to worry about, said Sister. The form was completed. A needle came into view. There was a sharp stab to the thumb, some fiddling with a piece of electronic equipment, and an instant reading appeared. I sighed with relief? All is well, two decimal points below the magic figure. Nevertheless, a short talk followed on the advantages of a healthy diet, regular exercise, relaxation, moderate alcohol consumption, no smoking, and low-cholesterol foods. All this was taken from a bright, well illustrated booklet. As a gesture of professional courtesy Sister said I might have a copy to keep for myself. "No thank you", I said. "Actually, I wrote it." *
*
*
Bottle banks, now on the increase, have a valuable use apart from the very meritorious one of recycling waste glass. They offer an important therapeutic opportunity to relieve the tensions and strains of modem living; there is (and I quote from personal experience) something very satisfying and catharthic in disposing, violently, of a box full of assorted glassware. To obtain the maximum effect one needs an empty container-the noise of bottles falling from a height of about 1-5 metres onto the floor and echoing around is very therapeutic. It pays, I find, to give each item a name-your most trying patient (smash!) the unit administrator (crash!), and so on. It is not, I am glad to say, a mindless sedentary pursuit. Glass has to be sorted into plain, green, and brown (a stimulating, but not unduly taxing, exercise for a jaded mind), and the separation of the orifices for the various colours by anything up to2 metres provides a much-needed physical component. We are fortunate in having a bottle bank in a secluded comer of the hospital grounds; often I give a distraught attender at my psychiatric outpatient clinic a box of miscellaneous glassware and, pointing him or her in the right direction, say that the glass represents father/mother/husband/wife/the other woman, and so on, as appropriate, and encourage the patient to go to it. If anyone notices someone hurling bottles into the bank, shouting, "Take that, you b****!", they make no comment-they are used to me doing it, after all. I had thought of writing it up for the journals, but these days everything (even psychiatry) has to pretend to be scientific, and I am at a loss to know how to construct double-blind trials. I had considered randomly allocating unbreakable bottles and rubberlined receptacles, but in the absence of noise the patients would know to which group they belonged; the use of recordings of glass smashing would, I felt, invalidate the trial. Anyhow,I am satisfied with personal observation and, if you will excuse me, I must go and deal with this large bottle which represents our senior surgeon who sabotaged my plans at the hospital medical committee last night-I am really looking forward to this ...
In
England Now International I
in the business, so to speak, the letter came as Although something of a shock. My family doctor thought it was time that I, and others of my age group, had an MOT. An appointment card was enclosed. In due course, slightly apprehensive, I sat in his waiting room. I looked around me at my fellow appointees. Some were in track suits (I go jogging); others wore golf club ties (I am into healthy exercise); stomachs were held in (healthy diet); and we all sat up straight and looked bright and intelligent. We were, of course, in the cardiac
Diary
am
screening programme.
A
symposium on Generic Prescribing-Risks and Opportunities in a Changing Environment is to be held at the Royal Society of Medicine, 1 Wimpole Street, London, on Wednesday, Feb 7, at 12.30 pm: Elizabeth C.
Richardson, Administrator, British Association of Pharmaceutical Physicians, 1 Wimpole Street, London WIM 8AE (01-491 8610). A scientific meeting entitled Treating Obesity in the Community will be held at the Royal Society of Medicine, 1 Wimpole Street, London Wl, on Thursday, Feb 22, at 11.30 am: Association for the Study of Obesity, Membership Secretary, Mrs C. Hawkins, 50 Ruby Road, London E17 4RF.
Adverse reactions to veterinary medicines Doctors will be familiar with the arrangements for reporting suspected adverse reactions to medicines in man but may not be aware of the parallel scheme for veterinary medicines. A doctor who suspects such an adverse reaction (recent press reports have referred to reactions to organophosphorus compounds in sheep dips and to dipped sheep) should report it on form MLA 252A, obtainable from the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, Freepost, Central Veterinary Laboratories, New Haw, Weybridge, Surrey KT15 1BR (telephone 0932 336911 extension 3040). All reports of suspected reactions in man are investigated in liaison with the Department of Health and Safety Executive. The results of these inquiries are reported to the Veterinary Products Committee, which considers whether further action is required. Reports of suspected reactions in man will be published annually in the report of the VMD.
Frev’s free?
Auriculotemporal (Frey’s) syndrome is usually manifest by gustatory sweating and flushing, occasionally with a feeling of warmth or even pain. A common sequel to parotid gland surgery, Frey’s syndrome has often been resistant to simple topical applications and further surgery, though usually effective, is rarely taken up with much enthusiasm. Black and Gunn1 describe the use of roll-on aluminium chloride hexahydrate (20% w/v in an alcohol solution). Response to a gustatory stimulus before and after treatment was assessed with Minor’s starch iodine test: all 9 patients tested showed a response, and symptoms were usually abolished by regular applications of the solution. 1. Black
MJM, Gunn A. The management of Frey’s syndrome with hexahydrate antiperspirant. Ann R Coll Surg Engl 1990; 72: 49-52.
aluminium
Magnetic resonance award Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine is offering prizes ($1500 for the winner and$500 for all other finalists) for unpublished manuscripts describing original work in magnetic The
in biology and medicine. Applicants must be aged under 38 years and have had no more than the equivalent of five years’ full-time postdoctoral research experience. The closing date for entries is February 16,1990. Further details from Doris J. Spindell, Executive Director, SMRM, 1918 University Avenue, Suite 3C, Berkeley, CA 94704, USA. Telephone (415) 841-1899, fax (415) 841-2340. resonance
Nightingale and Netley An exhibition, ’Nightingale and Netley’, to be held at Royal Victoria Country Park, Southampton, in May, 1990, will feature the history of Netley Hospital in Victorian times (when it was Britain’s largest military hospital) and details of local connections with Florence Nightingale. Mr P. W. Kirkby, exhibition organiser, would welcome the loan of items for inclusion in the exhibition. Please contact him at the Park Centre, Royal Victoria Country Park, Netley Abbey, Southampton, Hants (telephone 0703 455157).
A man came out of the clinic door and sat beside me. He looked rather pale. "That’s it", he said. "The diet starts tomorrow. My cholesterol is four decimal points above normal,. From now on it is fish without the chips, and two veg without the meat." I murmured
sympathetically. My turn came at last. Height?-I seem to have lost an inch; weight?-two pounds heavier than our own scales at home; smoking history?-blast those happy undergraduate years; alcohol intake?-moderate, of course; and blood pressure?-slightly raised but nothing to worry about, said Sister. The form was completed. A needle came into view. There was a sharp stab to the thumb, some fiddling with a piece of electronic equipment, and an instant reading appeared. I sighed with relief? All is well, two decimal points below the magic figure. Nevertheless, a short talk followed on the advantages of a healthy diet, regular exercise, relaxation, moderate alcohol consumption, no smoking, and low-cholesterol foods. All this was taken from a bright, well illustrated booklet. As a gesture of professional courtesy Sister said I might have a copy to keep for myself. "No thank you", I said. "Actually, I wrote it." *
*
*
Bottle banks, now on the increase, have a valuable use apart from the very meritorious one of recycling waste glass. They offer an important therapeutic opportunity to relieve the tensions and strains of modem living; there is (and I quote from personal experience) something very satisfying and catharthic in disposing, violently, of a box full of assorted glassware. To obtain the maximum effect one needs an empty container-the noise of bottles falling from a height of about 1-5 metres onto the floor and echoing around is very therapeutic. It pays, I find, to give each item a name-your most trying patient (smash!) the unit administrator (crash!), and so on. It is not, I am glad to say, a mindless sedentary pursuit. Glass has to be sorted into plain, green, and brown (a stimulating, but not unduly taxing, exercise for a jaded mind), and the separation of the orifices for the various colours by anything up to2 metres provides a much-needed physical component. We are fortunate in having a bottle bank in a secluded comer of the hospital grounds; often I give a distraught attender at my psychiatric outpatient clinic a box of miscellaneous glassware and, pointing him or her in the right direction, say that the glass represents father/mother/husband/wife/the other woman, and so on, as appropriate, and encourage the patient to go to it. If anyone notices someone hurling bottles into the bank, shouting, "Take that, you b****!", they make no comment-they are used to me doing it, after all. I had thought of writing it up for the journals, but these days everything (even psychiatry) has to pretend to be scientific, and I am at a loss to know how to construct double-blind trials. I had considered randomly allocating unbreakable bottles and rubberlined receptacles, but in the absence of noise the patients would know to which group they belonged; the use of recordings of glass smashing would, I felt, invalidate the trial. Anyhow,I am satisfied with personal observation and, if you will excuse me, I must go and deal with this large bottle which represents our senior surgeon who sabotaged my plans at the hospital medical committee last night-I am really looking forward to this ...
In
England Now International I
in the business, so to speak, the letter came as Although something of a shock. My family doctor thought it was time that I, and others of my age group, had an MOT. An appointment card was enclosed. In due course, slightly apprehensive, I sat in his waiting room. I looked around me at my fellow appointees. Some were in track suits (I go jogging); others wore golf club ties (I am into healthy exercise); stomachs were held in (healthy diet); and we all sat up straight and looked bright and intelligent. We were, of course, in the cardiac
Diary
am
screening programme.
A
symposium on Generic Prescribing-Risks and Opportunities in a Changing Environment is to be held at the Royal Society of Medicine, 1 Wimpole Street, London, on Wednesday, Feb 7, at 12.30 pm: Elizabeth C.
Richardson, Administrator, British Association of Pharmaceutical Physicians, 1 Wimpole Street, London WIM 8AE (01-491 8610). A scientific meeting entitled Treating Obesity in the Community will be held at the Royal Society of Medicine, 1 Wimpole Street, London Wl, on Thursday, Feb 22, at 11.30 am: Association for the Study of Obesity, Membership Secretary, Mrs C. Hawkins, 50 Ruby Road, London E17 4RF.