T HE sixth International Neuromuscular Meeting was held in Paris in August. The original meeting, in London in 1975, was to act as a forum for investigators and industry (Burroughs Wellcome and Organon) in the hope that such a liaison would lead to the development of muscle relaxants needed by the clinician. In so far as the intermediate relaxants, atracttrium and vecuronium, were developed, th...

The advent of image-guided, laparoscopic surgery in the United States began quietly enough in the 1960's. Certainly, the laparoscope was used for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes before then, but its use was limited. The marriage in 1960 of the Hopkin's rod-lens system and Storz laparoscope with its fiberoptic light delivery system enabled physicians to view body cavities with greater illumi...

T-network tuners are popular for matching antennas for 160 through 10 meters. Recent articles by Frank Witt, AI1H[1] and Andrew Griffith, W4ULD,[2] addressed how to measure tuner loss for various resistive loads; gave some example calculations and measurements; and showed how to adjust the tuner for minimum loss. Measuring your tuner’s loss is the only sure way to know, but by examining the wor...

Phenotypes produced by expression of human amyloid precursor protein (APP) transgenes vary depending on the genetic background of the mouse. FVB/N mice overexpressing human APP695 develop a central nervous system disorder and die prematurely, precluding development of Ab peptide amyloid plaques. 129S6 mice are resistant to the lethal effects of APP overexpression, allowing sufficient levels of ...

In 1997 information from several sources was combined to detect trends in influenza activity in Australia. Data was included from laboratories, general practitioners and a national employer. Laboratory surveillance documented two consecutive outbreaks, influenza B in July followed by influenza A (H3N2) in August. Some of the influenza A (H3N2) viruses isolated, represented by the A/Sydney/5/97 ...

JZ Young died on 4th July. Although 90 in March, and recently in poor health, he was still working. With long-time collaborators, he was preparing two books and two papers for publication. Three of these are on cephalopod brains and biology, the fourth on the autonomic nervous system of dogfish, an early interest to which he returned after his retirement in 1974. John Young (known as JZ to coll...

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a progressive, chronic illness that is enigmatic because the mechanisms for its pathogenesis have yet to be determined. Syndromes synonymous with CRPS are reflex sympathetic dystrophy, reflex neurovascular dystrophy, causalgia, algoneurodystrophy, sympathetically maintained pain, clenched fist syndrome, and Sudek's syndrome. The diagnosis of CRPS is cate...