- Email: [email protected]
Injectable contraceptives
1184
Soviet Embassy and UK Department of Health, introduced leading industrialists to this scheme with the hope of encouraging them to fund such sponsorships. The dissemination of new research material from the USSR has been difficult because of geographical and language barriers. However, a new monthly peer-reviewed journal, Biomedical Science (edited by Prof R. V. Petrov and Prof B. T. Donovan with editorial boards composed of Soviet and international advisors), now publishes this previously inaccessible research to an Englishspeaking audience. Biomedical Science is a collaborative project between the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and two British publishers. All manuscripts submitted are translated in the UK, and about 50% are accepted for publication. Further information on the UK-USSR Medical Exchange Programme be obtained by writing to 9d, Stanhope Road, London N6 5NE, UK.
can
Injectable contraceptives Injectable hormonal contraceptives are among the most effective forms of fertility control, and the World Health Organisation regards them as well suited to the needs of women in developing countries who require an effective and reversible method of contraception that does not interfere with lactation and can be administered by non-physicians. New guidelines from WHOI concentrate on the two most widely used short-acting (2 to 3 month) progestagenic injectables, depot-medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA,’Depo-Provera’) and norethisterone enantate (NET-EN). Despite the unwillingness of the US Food and Drug Administration to allow the sale of depo-provera in the United States (its manufacturer, Upjohn, gave up the struggle and withdrew its marketing application in 1984), WHO and the International Planned Parenthood Federation are convinced of its and the preparation is now licensed in more than 80 countries. NET-EN is licensed in over 30 countries, and one or other injectable contraceptive has been used by at least 30 million women world wide. The guidelines provide technical information on the use of injectables, advice on organising a programme offering this form of contraception, and a list of indicators for evaluating such a programme. Injectable Contraceptives also describes the history of the development of the preparations, their mode of action, advantages (including non-contraceptive ones such as a tendency towards improvement of iron-deficiency anaemia and endometriosis), disadvantages (eg, irregular bleeding, the commonest reason for discontinuation), and contraindications (such as cardiovascular disease and suspected pregnancy). The guidelines give explicit instructions for the sterilisation of needles and syringes and for the safe use of disposable equipment.
safety,
1.
Injectable contraceptives: their role in family planning care. Geneva: World Health Organisation. 1990. Pp 117. Sw fr 14 70 ISBN 92-4544023.
Department of Health research The Department of Health is apparently so pleased with its new-style Yearbook of Research and Development’ that it has produced a second edition2 only seven months after the first. The latest volume explains in some detail how the department spent c60 million on research and development in 1989-90. 24 million of that went on three directly commissioned research programmes concerned, respectively, with health and personal social services (including 1million for the Medical Research Council’s AIDS programme); National Health Service information technology; and NHS equipment, supplies, building, and engineering (the responsibility of the NHS Procurement Directorate). The yearbook
includes nine reports
on
AIDS research and
ten on
child-care
projects and reviews of the work of Department of Health research units, such as the Blind Mobility Research Unit at Nottingham and Oxford’s National Perinatal Epidemiology Research Unit. The yearbook starts with a valediction from Prof Francis O’Grady, who was chief scientist of the DH from 1986 until August, 1990. His part-time post has been replaced with that of a full-time director of research and development, who has responsibility for all research in the NHS, including the chief
scientist’s duties of overseeing the health and personal social services research programme. Professor O’Grady promises the first incumbent, Prof Michael Peckham, who will take up his post on Jan 1, 1991, a legacy of confusion, conflict, and "a widespread perception that the Department’s research programme has failed to match expectations". 1. Anon. Government-funded health research. Lancet 1990; 335: 653 2. Department of Health. DH yearbook of research and development 1990. London. HM Stationery Office. Pp 199. £14. ISBN 0113213204.
Human Fertilisation and
Embryology Act
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, the culmination of several years of consultation and public debate that started with the setting up of the Warnock committee in 1982, received Royal Assent on Nov 1. The Act allows embryo research to continue, within a strict framework of statutory controls. In the summer of 1991 a statutory body, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, chaired by Prof Colin Campbell, will assume responsibility for the licensing of centres carrying out infertility treatments involving the use of human embryos and gametes and will keep developments in research and treatment under review. In the mean-time the Interim Licensing Authority, set up in 1985, will continue to administer a voluntary licensing system. The Act prohibits some areas of research, including cloning and the creation of hybrids, and permits the storage of sperm, eggs, and embryos only under strict control. The Act also makes clear that surrogacy arrangements are unenforceable. The Act makes some changes to the law on abortion, introducing for the first time a statutory time limit of 24 weeks for most abortions. Abortions after 24 weeks (which will be allowed only to save the mother’s life; or where there is a substantial risk of serious fetal handicap; or where the woman’s health is likely to suffer grave permanent injury) must be done in National Health Service
hospitals.
In
England Now
With an atypical display of compliance my octogenarian aunt agreed to go into hospital for a second attack on her Dupuytren’s contracture; but, when she arrived and was in bed, the surgical registrar doubted the need for reoperation and, after a behind-thescenes dialogue with the consultant, invited her to get up and go home. Which she cheerfully began to do. In the corridor she encountered the consultant. "I don’t like", he said, "the look of that lump on your face. Get back into bed, and we’ll remove it." Which they did. "It’s all perfectly simple" she said when neighbours inquired about the unexpected location of the surgical dressing. But please read me the label on this tube of ointment which I have to put on the wound." EYE OINTMENT, it said.
International Diary 1990
The annual meeting of the Clinical Autonomic Research Society is to take place in London on Friday, Nov 16: Dr David Jordan, Honorary Secretary, Department of Physiology, Royal Free Hospital Medical School, Rowland Hill Street, London NW3 2PF, UK (071-794 0500 ext 4304). A seminar entitled General Practice and the Law will take place in London on Wednesday, Nov 28: Dr J. D. Hickey, Assistant Secretary, Medical Protection Society, 50 Hallam Street, London WIN 6DE, UK
(071-637 0541). 1991
4th international symposium on the Biology, Immunology and Surgery of the Greater Omentum will take place in Utrecht on May 30-June 1: Secretariat 4th International Omentum Symposium, Mrs W. J Buys, Utrecht Cancer Research Centre, Servaasbolwerk 14, 3512 NK Utrecht, Netherlands (030-314688).
Soviet Embassy and UK Department of Health, introduced leading industrialists to this scheme with the hope of encouraging them to fund such sponsorships. The dissemination of new research material from the USSR has been difficult because of geographical and language barriers. However, a new monthly peer-reviewed journal, Biomedical Science (edited by Prof R. V. Petrov and Prof B. T. Donovan with editorial boards composed of Soviet and international advisors), now publishes this previously inaccessible research to an Englishspeaking audience. Biomedical Science is a collaborative project between the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and two British publishers. All manuscripts submitted are translated in the UK, and about 50% are accepted for publication. Further information on the UK-USSR Medical Exchange Programme be obtained by writing to 9d, Stanhope Road, London N6 5NE, UK.
can
Injectable contraceptives Injectable hormonal contraceptives are among the most effective forms of fertility control, and the World Health Organisation regards them as well suited to the needs of women in developing countries who require an effective and reversible method of contraception that does not interfere with lactation and can be administered by non-physicians. New guidelines from WHOI concentrate on the two most widely used short-acting (2 to 3 month) progestagenic injectables, depot-medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA,’Depo-Provera’) and norethisterone enantate (NET-EN). Despite the unwillingness of the US Food and Drug Administration to allow the sale of depo-provera in the United States (its manufacturer, Upjohn, gave up the struggle and withdrew its marketing application in 1984), WHO and the International Planned Parenthood Federation are convinced of its and the preparation is now licensed in more than 80 countries. NET-EN is licensed in over 30 countries, and one or other injectable contraceptive has been used by at least 30 million women world wide. The guidelines provide technical information on the use of injectables, advice on organising a programme offering this form of contraception, and a list of indicators for evaluating such a programme. Injectable Contraceptives also describes the history of the development of the preparations, their mode of action, advantages (including non-contraceptive ones such as a tendency towards improvement of iron-deficiency anaemia and endometriosis), disadvantages (eg, irregular bleeding, the commonest reason for discontinuation), and contraindications (such as cardiovascular disease and suspected pregnancy). The guidelines give explicit instructions for the sterilisation of needles and syringes and for the safe use of disposable equipment.
safety,
1.
Injectable contraceptives: their role in family planning care. Geneva: World Health Organisation. 1990. Pp 117. Sw fr 14 70 ISBN 92-4544023.
Department of Health research The Department of Health is apparently so pleased with its new-style Yearbook of Research and Development’ that it has produced a second edition2 only seven months after the first. The latest volume explains in some detail how the department spent c60 million on research and development in 1989-90. 24 million of that went on three directly commissioned research programmes concerned, respectively, with health and personal social services (including 1million for the Medical Research Council’s AIDS programme); National Health Service information technology; and NHS equipment, supplies, building, and engineering (the responsibility of the NHS Procurement Directorate). The yearbook
includes nine reports
on
AIDS research and
ten on
child-care
projects and reviews of the work of Department of Health research units, such as the Blind Mobility Research Unit at Nottingham and Oxford’s National Perinatal Epidemiology Research Unit. The yearbook starts with a valediction from Prof Francis O’Grady, who was chief scientist of the DH from 1986 until August, 1990. His part-time post has been replaced with that of a full-time director of research and development, who has responsibility for all research in the NHS, including the chief
scientist’s duties of overseeing the health and personal social services research programme. Professor O’Grady promises the first incumbent, Prof Michael Peckham, who will take up his post on Jan 1, 1991, a legacy of confusion, conflict, and "a widespread perception that the Department’s research programme has failed to match expectations". 1. Anon. Government-funded health research. Lancet 1990; 335: 653 2. Department of Health. DH yearbook of research and development 1990. London. HM Stationery Office. Pp 199. £14. ISBN 0113213204.
Human Fertilisation and
Embryology Act
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, the culmination of several years of consultation and public debate that started with the setting up of the Warnock committee in 1982, received Royal Assent on Nov 1. The Act allows embryo research to continue, within a strict framework of statutory controls. In the summer of 1991 a statutory body, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, chaired by Prof Colin Campbell, will assume responsibility for the licensing of centres carrying out infertility treatments involving the use of human embryos and gametes and will keep developments in research and treatment under review. In the mean-time the Interim Licensing Authority, set up in 1985, will continue to administer a voluntary licensing system. The Act prohibits some areas of research, including cloning and the creation of hybrids, and permits the storage of sperm, eggs, and embryos only under strict control. The Act also makes clear that surrogacy arrangements are unenforceable. The Act makes some changes to the law on abortion, introducing for the first time a statutory time limit of 24 weeks for most abortions. Abortions after 24 weeks (which will be allowed only to save the mother’s life; or where there is a substantial risk of serious fetal handicap; or where the woman’s health is likely to suffer grave permanent injury) must be done in National Health Service
hospitals.
In
England Now
With an atypical display of compliance my octogenarian aunt agreed to go into hospital for a second attack on her Dupuytren’s contracture; but, when she arrived and was in bed, the surgical registrar doubted the need for reoperation and, after a behind-thescenes dialogue with the consultant, invited her to get up and go home. Which she cheerfully began to do. In the corridor she encountered the consultant. "I don’t like", he said, "the look of that lump on your face. Get back into bed, and we’ll remove it." Which they did. "It’s all perfectly simple" she said when neighbours inquired about the unexpected location of the surgical dressing. But please read me the label on this tube of ointment which I have to put on the wound." EYE OINTMENT, it said.
International Diary 1990
The annual meeting of the Clinical Autonomic Research Society is to take place in London on Friday, Nov 16: Dr David Jordan, Honorary Secretary, Department of Physiology, Royal Free Hospital Medical School, Rowland Hill Street, London NW3 2PF, UK (071-794 0500 ext 4304). A seminar entitled General Practice and the Law will take place in London on Wednesday, Nov 28: Dr J. D. Hickey, Assistant Secretary, Medical Protection Society, 50 Hallam Street, London WIN 6DE, UK
(071-637 0541). 1991
4th international symposium on the Biology, Immunology and Surgery of the Greater Omentum will take place in Utrecht on May 30-June 1: Secretariat 4th International Omentum Symposium, Mrs W. J Buys, Utrecht Cancer Research Centre, Servaasbolwerk 14, 3512 NK Utrecht, Netherlands (030-314688).