Common Speech Problems Encountered in General Practice

The authors consider speech and communication in the light of whole patient care and point out that defects may be signs and symptoms of underlying organic disease. They describe the four classifications of speech disorders—articulation, rhythm, voice and language, with an indication of the speech therapy required and duration of treatment. Special emphasis has been given to those speech problems which are seen by the family physician; these are usually of the articulation group. A short discussion of stuttering and aphasia is given. Emphasis is put on the direction of treatment by the physician and the use of well-qualified personnel as members of the rehabilitation team.     

Glossary of Terms Frequently Encountered in Soviet Psychology

Numerous terms are used in Soviet psychology, the direct translation of which may be misleading to American psychologists because they are habitually used in a different sense from that familiar to Western psychology. For example, righteous indignation has been vented by Western psychologists over the "Russian preoccupation" with interpreting all behavior in terms of Pavlovian reflexes. To the Russian psychologist, the word refleks is no more a specific term than the word "response" is to an American psychologist. Its use does not imply the classical Pavlovian conditioning paradigm. Since interpreters are not necessarily aware that the cognates are not synonymous, it is worthwhile for any Western psychologist to become aware of the most common and easy sources of terminological confusion. The following is a glossary of terms which are so familiar to the Russian psychologist that he will seldom stop to explain them. Most of them are cognates. Some are synonymous with their usual English translations; many are not.     

Diagnostic Key to Mycobacteria Encountered in Clinical Laboratories

A diagnostic key has been developed which will permit identification of most mycobacteria encountered in clinical laboratories. The key is based on performance of a few simple tests. The efficiency and accuracy of the key was evaluated in terms of correlation between identifications based on the few tests and those arrived at through application of the techniques of numerical taxonomy, which involves a large battery of tests. Of 679 cultures of mycobacteria other than Mycobacterium tuberculosis, 86.5% were correctly identified by use of the key, and only 1.8% of the cultures were erroneously identified. The remaining cultures required further examination.     

Hazards in Hyperbaric Medicine

During the period April 1965 to April 1968 observations were made on 285 patients and 357 staff exposed to air and oxygen at pressures of 1 to 3 atmospheres absolute in a hyperbaric unit. Decompression sickness was not noted and an annual radiological skeletal survey failed to show aseptic bone necrosis; the incidence of otitic barotrauma was 4·7%. Oxygen toxicity was not observed in any patient. It is suggested that pressures in this range are relatively safe in a specialized medical hyperbaric environment.     

Short-Chain Acids of Pseudomonas Species Encountered in Clinical Specimens

The short-chain acids of 36 strains of Pseudomonas grown on Trypticase soy agar were determined by gas-liquid chromatography. Distinct acid profiles were observed for each of the eight species tested. Propionic, isobutyric, and isovaleric acids were the principal acids detected in media extracts of P. maltophilia, P. cepacia, P. pseudoalcaligenes, P. diminuta, and P. vesiculare. The presence and relative amounts of the isobutyric and isovaleric acids clearly distinguished P. maltophilia, P. pseudoalcaligenes, and P. cepacia from other species. P. diminuta could be distinguished from P. vesiculare by the production of glutaric acid; P. testosteroni was the only species tested which produced relatively large amounts of phenylacetic acid.