- Email: [email protected]
Irish abortion case
485
children and adolescents of the same county, showed a rate of sonographic changes eight times higher than in the control group. The Byelorussians themselves are beginning to question and to try to pinpoint why it has been so difficult to present their case to the world. They observe that almost all the key figures in the nuclear establishment set up in the republic under the communist regime were Russian incomers, appointed by Moscow. (The director of the Institute of Radiation Medicine of the Byelorussian Ministry of Health, Dr Vladimir Matyukhin, for example, was formerly head of radiation medicine with the Soviet Far Eastern Fleet). Immediately after the failed coup last August, the leading Byelorussian daily Zviazva began publishing summaries of the meetings of the Soviet Ministry of Health, which had imposed a ban of secrecy on all matters relating to the medical consequences of the accident. Human rights campaigners are now starting to call for the prosecution of the officials concerned, since the secrecy, by preventing any preventive measures-such as iodine supplementation or even a warning to stay indoors-was, they say, an offence against the basic right to life and health. Such a prosecution would not be easy, since the decision-makers of that time were in Moscow, now, technically, in a foreign country. But in the months to come, the polictical "fallout" from
Chemobyl
may prove to be
no
less
significant
than the
radiation itself. Vera Rich
Noticeboard Irish abortion
case
In 1983 the people of the Republic of Ireland voted by two to one to amend Article 8 of the constitution, to include the words: "the state acknowledges the right to life of an unborn child, with due regard to the equal right of the life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to request, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right". In the High Court in Dublin Mr Justice Costello has granted Ireland’s Attorney General an injunction preventing a 14-year-old rape victim from having her pregnancy terminated. She had left Ireland on Feb 6, but returned when the interim injunction was granted; the girl had threatened suicide. The judge’s ruling was published on Feb 17. According to The Independent (Feb 18), the Attorney General had directed that public discussion of the case and the issues raised would be in contempt of court. Officially 2000 women every year travel from the republic to the UK for abortions (and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service in London receives every week 25 such requests for help). The total number is thought to be well over 2000, probably double. An appeal to the Irish Supreme Court is possible but time is running out. The circumstances of the case are unusual in that it seems likely that an abortion outside Ireland could have been arranged smoothly. However, police advice was sought about forensic DNA testing on fetal material, and that set in motion the wheels of official
interference. Public discussion in Ireland has not, of course, been stifled. An Irish Times editorial thunders about "a nightmare brought on by a combination of political cowardice and sectarian triumphalism,
together with some genuinely but profoundly ill-informed idealism". All-party talks aimed at resolving the political crisis-but not, perhaps, the girl’s personal one-are being set in motion. A further referendum (only 54% of the electorate voted last time) is a
possibility.
Cells
surviving
a
exposure
In radiation biology there are grays and grays: allowance has to be made for the type of radiation. The ot particle, in terms of biological effects dose for dose, is more potent than X radiation. This complicates the interpretation of environmental radiation risks. Even so, it is still widely held that radiation from nuclear power facilities cannot explain leukaemia among children in the neighbourhood. That view might need revision in the light of findings from the MRC Radiobiology Unit. A hit on the nucleus will prove fatal to a cell; other cells may escape altogether-but what of those merely wounded by an a particle? More dangerous apparently, for chromosome damage can appear in the progeny several divisions later. Wright and colleagues’ studied mouse bone-marrow stem cells in culture and exposed them to radiation doses from the a-emitter plutonium-238. The changes were not seen when X rays were used. According to Dr Eric Wright "We do not yet know whether the type of damage we have demonstrated reflects damage to stem cells that may lead to leukaemia", but it will be in that context that bodies such as the UK Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation and the Environment will no doubt wish to examine these findings. 1. Kadhim MA, Macdonald DA, Goodhead EG. Transmission of chromosomal irradiation. Nature 1992; 355: 738-40
DT, Lorimore SA, Marsden SJ, Wright instability after plutonium &agr;-particle
A decade of AIDS research
Investigators of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) may need to examine their research priorities. Ten years ago, AIDS was a newly described condition about which little was known. However, in the past decade, research into the disease has increased dramatically. Elford and colleagues1 report a search of the MEDLINE database on CD-ROM (compact disc read-only memory) that shows that between 1981 and 1990 more than 30 000 papers were indexed under the headings AIDS or HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). There was a 50-60% increase per year between 1983 (646 papers) and 1988 (6801) in publications indexed under these headings, but between 1988 and 1989 the rate of growth fell to 6%. The annual rate of growth of all papers on MEDLINE between 1981 (265 205) and 1990 (373 000) was about 3-6%. What were the main preoccupations of the AIDS papers indexed MEDLINE? Aetiology was the subject of 25% of all AIDS publications in 1983 but only 3% in 1990; at the same time, papers on HIV increased from 2 to 37 % of the total. Prevention and control were the subjects of 6% of paper in 1984,18% in 1988, and 12% in 1990. 1% of publications in 1983 were about drug therapy compared with 7% in 1990. The epidemiology of AIDS/HIV was consistently the concern of about 10% of papers throughout the decade. English was the language of the overwhelming majority (82 %) of papers on AIDS. Since many cases of AIDS occur in countries where English is not the first language (the francophone countries of Africa for example), this finding raises questions about the accessibility of published research in these countries. AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa was discussed by only 3% of AIDS/HIV papers indexed by MEDLINE between 1982 and 1990-over the same period, a quarter of all AIDS cases were reported from Africa. Because of its origin in the USA, MEDLINE may be biased towards English-language publications, and the database does not index all journals that deal with AIDS and HIV. However, a search in The Lancet office of the AIDS CD-ROM database (Maxwell Electronic Publishing, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA), which covers published research on AIDS additional to that indexed by MEDLINE, showed that only about 4% of papers discussed AIDS/HIV in sub-Saharan Africa. Thus, the limitations of the MEDLINE database are unlikely to account for the patterns of AIDS/HIV research described by Elford and colleagues. There is a clear need to give priority in future AIDS research to those countries that will have to bear the greatest burden of this disease. on
1. Elford
the
J, Bor R, Summers P Research into HIV and AIDS between
epidemic curve AIDS 1991; 5:
1515-19.
1981 and 1990:
children and adolescents of the same county, showed a rate of sonographic changes eight times higher than in the control group. The Byelorussians themselves are beginning to question and to try to pinpoint why it has been so difficult to present their case to the world. They observe that almost all the key figures in the nuclear establishment set up in the republic under the communist regime were Russian incomers, appointed by Moscow. (The director of the Institute of Radiation Medicine of the Byelorussian Ministry of Health, Dr Vladimir Matyukhin, for example, was formerly head of radiation medicine with the Soviet Far Eastern Fleet). Immediately after the failed coup last August, the leading Byelorussian daily Zviazva began publishing summaries of the meetings of the Soviet Ministry of Health, which had imposed a ban of secrecy on all matters relating to the medical consequences of the accident. Human rights campaigners are now starting to call for the prosecution of the officials concerned, since the secrecy, by preventing any preventive measures-such as iodine supplementation or even a warning to stay indoors-was, they say, an offence against the basic right to life and health. Such a prosecution would not be easy, since the decision-makers of that time were in Moscow, now, technically, in a foreign country. But in the months to come, the polictical "fallout" from
Chemobyl
may prove to be
no
less
significant
than the
radiation itself. Vera Rich
Noticeboard Irish abortion
case
In 1983 the people of the Republic of Ireland voted by two to one to amend Article 8 of the constitution, to include the words: "the state acknowledges the right to life of an unborn child, with due regard to the equal right of the life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to request, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right". In the High Court in Dublin Mr Justice Costello has granted Ireland’s Attorney General an injunction preventing a 14-year-old rape victim from having her pregnancy terminated. She had left Ireland on Feb 6, but returned when the interim injunction was granted; the girl had threatened suicide. The judge’s ruling was published on Feb 17. According to The Independent (Feb 18), the Attorney General had directed that public discussion of the case and the issues raised would be in contempt of court. Officially 2000 women every year travel from the republic to the UK for abortions (and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service in London receives every week 25 such requests for help). The total number is thought to be well over 2000, probably double. An appeal to the Irish Supreme Court is possible but time is running out. The circumstances of the case are unusual in that it seems likely that an abortion outside Ireland could have been arranged smoothly. However, police advice was sought about forensic DNA testing on fetal material, and that set in motion the wheels of official
interference. Public discussion in Ireland has not, of course, been stifled. An Irish Times editorial thunders about "a nightmare brought on by a combination of political cowardice and sectarian triumphalism,
together with some genuinely but profoundly ill-informed idealism". All-party talks aimed at resolving the political crisis-but not, perhaps, the girl’s personal one-are being set in motion. A further referendum (only 54% of the electorate voted last time) is a
possibility.
Cells
surviving
a
exposure
In radiation biology there are grays and grays: allowance has to be made for the type of radiation. The ot particle, in terms of biological effects dose for dose, is more potent than X radiation. This complicates the interpretation of environmental radiation risks. Even so, it is still widely held that radiation from nuclear power facilities cannot explain leukaemia among children in the neighbourhood. That view might need revision in the light of findings from the MRC Radiobiology Unit. A hit on the nucleus will prove fatal to a cell; other cells may escape altogether-but what of those merely wounded by an a particle? More dangerous apparently, for chromosome damage can appear in the progeny several divisions later. Wright and colleagues’ studied mouse bone-marrow stem cells in culture and exposed them to radiation doses from the a-emitter plutonium-238. The changes were not seen when X rays were used. According to Dr Eric Wright "We do not yet know whether the type of damage we have demonstrated reflects damage to stem cells that may lead to leukaemia", but it will be in that context that bodies such as the UK Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation and the Environment will no doubt wish to examine these findings. 1. Kadhim MA, Macdonald DA, Goodhead EG. Transmission of chromosomal irradiation. Nature 1992; 355: 738-40
DT, Lorimore SA, Marsden SJ, Wright instability after plutonium &agr;-particle
A decade of AIDS research
Investigators of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) may need to examine their research priorities. Ten years ago, AIDS was a newly described condition about which little was known. However, in the past decade, research into the disease has increased dramatically. Elford and colleagues1 report a search of the MEDLINE database on CD-ROM (compact disc read-only memory) that shows that between 1981 and 1990 more than 30 000 papers were indexed under the headings AIDS or HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). There was a 50-60% increase per year between 1983 (646 papers) and 1988 (6801) in publications indexed under these headings, but between 1988 and 1989 the rate of growth fell to 6%. The annual rate of growth of all papers on MEDLINE between 1981 (265 205) and 1990 (373 000) was about 3-6%. What were the main preoccupations of the AIDS papers indexed MEDLINE? Aetiology was the subject of 25% of all AIDS publications in 1983 but only 3% in 1990; at the same time, papers on HIV increased from 2 to 37 % of the total. Prevention and control were the subjects of 6% of paper in 1984,18% in 1988, and 12% in 1990. 1% of publications in 1983 were about drug therapy compared with 7% in 1990. The epidemiology of AIDS/HIV was consistently the concern of about 10% of papers throughout the decade. English was the language of the overwhelming majority (82 %) of papers on AIDS. Since many cases of AIDS occur in countries where English is not the first language (the francophone countries of Africa for example), this finding raises questions about the accessibility of published research in these countries. AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa was discussed by only 3% of AIDS/HIV papers indexed by MEDLINE between 1982 and 1990-over the same period, a quarter of all AIDS cases were reported from Africa. Because of its origin in the USA, MEDLINE may be biased towards English-language publications, and the database does not index all journals that deal with AIDS and HIV. However, a search in The Lancet office of the AIDS CD-ROM database (Maxwell Electronic Publishing, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA), which covers published research on AIDS additional to that indexed by MEDLINE, showed that only about 4% of papers discussed AIDS/HIV in sub-Saharan Africa. Thus, the limitations of the MEDLINE database are unlikely to account for the patterns of AIDS/HIV research described by Elford and colleagues. There is a clear need to give priority in future AIDS research to those countries that will have to bear the greatest burden of this disease. on
1. Elford
the
J, Bor R, Summers P Research into HIV and AIDS between
epidemic curve AIDS 1991; 5:
1515-19.
1981 and 1990: