- Email: [email protected]
IMPERIAL CANCER RESEARCH FUND
868
Many names have been given to these units by different authorities. Might we plead for the use of the simple and descriptive term-recovery ward ? Our thanks are due to our surgical colleagues for their support of this experiment ; and to Dr. A. A. Mason for the illustration. We, and all our patients, owe a great debt to the two sisters who have been in charge of the ward for dealing so generously with our requests and so understandingly with our experiments and whims. REFERENCES
Anderson, C. D. (1951) Anesthesiology, 12, 604. Lowenthal, P., Russell, A. S. (1951) Ibid, p. 470. MeQuillen, F. A. (1948) J. Amer. Ass. Nurse Anesthetists, 16, 20. Mayo Clinic Section of Anesthesiology (1945) Proc. Mayo Clin. 20, 292.
(1948) Ibid, 23, 301. (1951) Ibid, 26, 290. Noble, A. B. (1948) Hosp. Progr. 29, 272, 289. H. Ruth, S., Haugen, F. P., Grove, D. D. (1947) J. Amer. med. Ass. —
—
35, 881.
IMPERIAL CANCER RESEARCH FUND THE annual general meeting of the Fund, held last Tuesday at the Royal College of Surgeons, with Prof. H. R. Dean in the chair, received the annual report for 1951-52 from the director, Dr. James Craigie, F.R.S. Carcinogenesis.-Feeding experiments have been initiated by Mr. H. G. Crabtree to test the hypothesis that p-aminobenzoic acid (and possibly folic acid) may be a critical inhibiting factor in the genesis of liver tumours by azo-carcinogens. Results so far obtained are in conformity with this hypothesis. Hormones.-Mr. P. C. Williams has continued the comparative study of the endocrine functions of the inbred strains of mice maintained in the Fund’s laboratories. The investigation of possible neural control of adenohypophyseal function, by the late Dr. E. Vazquez-Lopez and Mr. Williams, reached a stage when a preliminary communication could be given at a Ciba conference last summer. Ascites TU11lOurs.-It had been found that survival of tumours in the frozen state could be accounted for bv survival of a few cells which happened to be in a highly resistant state at the time of freezing. Ascites tumours provide a rich source of cells capable of assuming this resistant state and during the past year these tumours and various associated problems have been investigated by Dr. Craigie with the collaboration of Miss P. E. Lind, Miss M. Hayward, PH.D., and Dr. A. M. Begg. Low-te1nperature Preservation of Tumours.-The use of frozen stocks has greatly simplified much of the experimental work, not only by eliminating the necessity of continued maintenance by serial passage but by providing easier control of dosage where this is critical. Recent tests of tumours stored in the frozen state for over two years show an activity comfresh tumour fragments. Cancer.-Dr. B. D. Pullinger has continued her studies of mouse mammary tumours at the Research Department, Royal Cancer Hospital, Glasgow. Since 1944 a pure line strain of mice has been bred having a mammary-cancer incidence of less than 2%. This substrain was derived by cross-suckling-to free it from Bittner’s milk agent-from the R in strain, which previously had an incidence of about 80% of mammary cancer. Non-malignant adenomatous nodular proliferations have been found in about 20% of breeders over one year old, besides squamous and adenoacanthomatous nodules in another 20010. The cause is unknown. On account of their greater variety and later age-incidence the tumours resemble human breast cancer more closely than do those due to Bittner’s agent. Clinicopathological Research.-A research laboratory has been established in the pathological department at the Royal College of Surgeons, under the general direction of Prof. Geoffrey Hadfield. It was decided that the investigation should in the first place be restricted to cancer of the breast and prostate, and arrangements have been made wich the Westminster Hospital, with St. Peter’s Hospital and the Institute of Urology, and with the surgical unit of St. BartholoThe collaboration of Dr. E. F. Scowen mew’s Hospital. (St. Bartholomew’s) has been secured. The staff consists of two pathologists, Dr. L. M. Franks and Dr. J. Stretton Young, with a senior and a junior technician, and Dr. George Lumb (Westminster) is an active member of the team.
parable with Mammary
This 49th annual report ca,rries a historical supplement entitled Fifty Years of Cancer Research.
Medical Conferences FATIGUE ERGONOMICS RESEARCH
SOCIETY’S
SYMPOSIUM
A SYMPOSIUM on fatigue, organised by the Ergonomics Research Society, was held at the College of Aeronautics, Cranfield, on March 24-27. The programme covered most aspects of this ill-understood subject. The majority of speakers did not attempt to define fatigue, but Sir FREDERIC BARTLETT, F.R.s., who opened the sym. posium, proposed the following definition : "
is a term used to cover all those determinable the expression of an activity which can be traced to the continuing exercise of that activity under its normal operational conditions, and which can be shown to lead, either immediately or after delay, to deterioration in the expression of that activity, or, more simply, to results within the activity that are not wanted."
Fatigue changes in
considered that abnormal conditions suitable for the experimental If the operator is submitted to excessive heat or cold, or intense noise, vibration, or buffetting, great heights, or great depths, the complica. tions produced by such abnormal conditions, although they may accentuate " fatigue," make it difficult to evaluate the results. This is a point of considerable importance, as many of the investigations described in the course of the symposium involved studies under just such abnormal conditions.
Sir
Frederic
not
particularly investigation of fatigue. were
clear both from his paper and that of other speakers unlikely that any one definition will cover what is meant by fatigue. In fact, it is possible that this word, like shock " and possibly stress," hasoutlived its usefulness for scientific purposes. There are clearly many types of fatigue-mental and physical, acute and chronic-and it is all too easy for a valid description of one type to be confused with research in what amounts to an entirely different field. The word fatigue " may therefore possibly be confined to conditions included within Sir Frederic’s definition, and the word " stress " used for the abnormal conditions such as those mentioned above. It
was
that it is
"
CRITERIA
‘
Sir Frederic suggested three criteria of fatigue which deserved further study. Experimental study of muscular fatigue, using, for example, an ergograph, showed that sooner or later irregularities in the succession of events began to appear. These irregularities appeared without any awareness at all on the part of the operator. There was considerable evidence to show that the earlier and the most delicate criterion of the change in activity due to the continuance of that activity was an increasing irregularity of the successive items comprising the performance. It may well be that a similar increasing irregularity occurs in mental fatigue, although it is more difficult to measure such irregularities objectively. The second criterion is disintegration of the field of display, with the consequence that the right actions are done at the wrong time and some actions may be omitted altogether. The field of display consists of all the items in the field concerned with the task in hand. Some of these items are more directly concerned with the task than others, which might be called outliers. The last are the ones which will be either ignored or emphasised at the expense of the central features as fatigue develops. These account for the " lapses " of behaviour which commonly mark advancing fatigue of body or mind, Some experimental work on this aspect of fatigue was described by D. B. BROADBENT. The third criterion of fatigue concerns the subjective effects which are a common feature of a long-sustained activity. Localised discomforts, aches, and pains, and awareness of uncomfortable posture are amongst the
Many names have been given to these units by different authorities. Might we plead for the use of the simple and descriptive term-recovery ward ? Our thanks are due to our surgical colleagues for their support of this experiment ; and to Dr. A. A. Mason for the illustration. We, and all our patients, owe a great debt to the two sisters who have been in charge of the ward for dealing so generously with our requests and so understandingly with our experiments and whims. REFERENCES
Anderson, C. D. (1951) Anesthesiology, 12, 604. Lowenthal, P., Russell, A. S. (1951) Ibid, p. 470. MeQuillen, F. A. (1948) J. Amer. Ass. Nurse Anesthetists, 16, 20. Mayo Clinic Section of Anesthesiology (1945) Proc. Mayo Clin. 20, 292.
(1948) Ibid, 23, 301. (1951) Ibid, 26, 290. Noble, A. B. (1948) Hosp. Progr. 29, 272, 289. H. Ruth, S., Haugen, F. P., Grove, D. D. (1947) J. Amer. med. Ass. —
—
35, 881.
IMPERIAL CANCER RESEARCH FUND THE annual general meeting of the Fund, held last Tuesday at the Royal College of Surgeons, with Prof. H. R. Dean in the chair, received the annual report for 1951-52 from the director, Dr. James Craigie, F.R.S. Carcinogenesis.-Feeding experiments have been initiated by Mr. H. G. Crabtree to test the hypothesis that p-aminobenzoic acid (and possibly folic acid) may be a critical inhibiting factor in the genesis of liver tumours by azo-carcinogens. Results so far obtained are in conformity with this hypothesis. Hormones.-Mr. P. C. Williams has continued the comparative study of the endocrine functions of the inbred strains of mice maintained in the Fund’s laboratories. The investigation of possible neural control of adenohypophyseal function, by the late Dr. E. Vazquez-Lopez and Mr. Williams, reached a stage when a preliminary communication could be given at a Ciba conference last summer. Ascites TU11lOurs.-It had been found that survival of tumours in the frozen state could be accounted for bv survival of a few cells which happened to be in a highly resistant state at the time of freezing. Ascites tumours provide a rich source of cells capable of assuming this resistant state and during the past year these tumours and various associated problems have been investigated by Dr. Craigie with the collaboration of Miss P. E. Lind, Miss M. Hayward, PH.D., and Dr. A. M. Begg. Low-te1nperature Preservation of Tumours.-The use of frozen stocks has greatly simplified much of the experimental work, not only by eliminating the necessity of continued maintenance by serial passage but by providing easier control of dosage where this is critical. Recent tests of tumours stored in the frozen state for over two years show an activity comfresh tumour fragments. Cancer.-Dr. B. D. Pullinger has continued her studies of mouse mammary tumours at the Research Department, Royal Cancer Hospital, Glasgow. Since 1944 a pure line strain of mice has been bred having a mammary-cancer incidence of less than 2%. This substrain was derived by cross-suckling-to free it from Bittner’s milk agent-from the R in strain, which previously had an incidence of about 80% of mammary cancer. Non-malignant adenomatous nodular proliferations have been found in about 20% of breeders over one year old, besides squamous and adenoacanthomatous nodules in another 20010. The cause is unknown. On account of their greater variety and later age-incidence the tumours resemble human breast cancer more closely than do those due to Bittner’s agent. Clinicopathological Research.-A research laboratory has been established in the pathological department at the Royal College of Surgeons, under the general direction of Prof. Geoffrey Hadfield. It was decided that the investigation should in the first place be restricted to cancer of the breast and prostate, and arrangements have been made wich the Westminster Hospital, with St. Peter’s Hospital and the Institute of Urology, and with the surgical unit of St. BartholoThe collaboration of Dr. E. F. Scowen mew’s Hospital. (St. Bartholomew’s) has been secured. The staff consists of two pathologists, Dr. L. M. Franks and Dr. J. Stretton Young, with a senior and a junior technician, and Dr. George Lumb (Westminster) is an active member of the team.
parable with Mammary
This 49th annual report ca,rries a historical supplement entitled Fifty Years of Cancer Research.
Medical Conferences FATIGUE ERGONOMICS RESEARCH
SOCIETY’S
SYMPOSIUM
A SYMPOSIUM on fatigue, organised by the Ergonomics Research Society, was held at the College of Aeronautics, Cranfield, on March 24-27. The programme covered most aspects of this ill-understood subject. The majority of speakers did not attempt to define fatigue, but Sir FREDERIC BARTLETT, F.R.s., who opened the sym. posium, proposed the following definition : "
is a term used to cover all those determinable the expression of an activity which can be traced to the continuing exercise of that activity under its normal operational conditions, and which can be shown to lead, either immediately or after delay, to deterioration in the expression of that activity, or, more simply, to results within the activity that are not wanted."
Fatigue changes in
considered that abnormal conditions suitable for the experimental If the operator is submitted to excessive heat or cold, or intense noise, vibration, or buffetting, great heights, or great depths, the complica. tions produced by such abnormal conditions, although they may accentuate " fatigue," make it difficult to evaluate the results. This is a point of considerable importance, as many of the investigations described in the course of the symposium involved studies under just such abnormal conditions.
Sir
Frederic
not
particularly investigation of fatigue. were
clear both from his paper and that of other speakers unlikely that any one definition will cover what is meant by fatigue. In fact, it is possible that this word, like shock " and possibly stress," hasoutlived its usefulness for scientific purposes. There are clearly many types of fatigue-mental and physical, acute and chronic-and it is all too easy for a valid description of one type to be confused with research in what amounts to an entirely different field. The word fatigue " may therefore possibly be confined to conditions included within Sir Frederic’s definition, and the word " stress " used for the abnormal conditions such as those mentioned above. It
was
that it is
"
CRITERIA
‘
Sir Frederic suggested three criteria of fatigue which deserved further study. Experimental study of muscular fatigue, using, for example, an ergograph, showed that sooner or later irregularities in the succession of events began to appear. These irregularities appeared without any awareness at all on the part of the operator. There was considerable evidence to show that the earlier and the most delicate criterion of the change in activity due to the continuance of that activity was an increasing irregularity of the successive items comprising the performance. It may well be that a similar increasing irregularity occurs in mental fatigue, although it is more difficult to measure such irregularities objectively. The second criterion is disintegration of the field of display, with the consequence that the right actions are done at the wrong time and some actions may be omitted altogether. The field of display consists of all the items in the field concerned with the task in hand. Some of these items are more directly concerned with the task than others, which might be called outliers. The last are the ones which will be either ignored or emphasised at the expense of the central features as fatigue develops. These account for the " lapses " of behaviour which commonly mark advancing fatigue of body or mind, Some experimental work on this aspect of fatigue was described by D. B. BROADBENT. The third criterion of fatigue concerns the subjective effects which are a common feature of a long-sustained activity. Localised discomforts, aches, and pains, and awareness of uncomfortable posture are amongst the