Children in Adult Intensive Therapy Units

From experience in the Northampton/Kettering area 9 to 10% of all patients in a general hospital requiring care in an intensive therapy unit were aged 12 years or under. Fifty-nine children were admitted to the intensive therapy unit of Northampton General Hospital between May 1967 and August 1969. Of these, 22 had been injured in road traffic accidents, five were surgical emergencies, five had meningitis, four status epilepticus, and four respiratory infections.All of the 30 families interviewed were in favour of their child being admitted to the unit, and none considered that the experience had had any lasting adverse psychological effect on the child. It is suggested that certain carefully selected child patients do benefit from the facilities of an intensive therapy unit, and for this reason such units must be designed, equipped, and staffed with this in mind.     

A New Medium for the Detection and Enumeration of Clostridium perfringens in Foods

S ummary . This paper describes the development and use of a selective diagnostic medium for the detection and enumeration of Clostridium perfringens in foods. The medium gives higher counts of Cl. perfringens and fewer false positives than existing media.     

Morphogenesis and Homology in Arthropod Limbs

Arthropods exhibit highly diverse limb morphologies rangingfrom unbranched walking legs to multibranched swimming paddles.Understanding morphogenesis in structurally diverse limbs canbe useful for ascertaining homologies between limbs. Structurallysimilar limbs have been produced by different evolutionary modificationsof morphogenesis in certain cases. Whereas it is easy to supportthe claim that whole arthropod limbs are homologous structures,I demonstrate that it is not always possible to draw well-foundedhomologies between parts of different limbs. This result isimportant with regard to general models of appendage developmentand evolution in arthropods because it clarifies contradictoryexplanations based exclusively on gene expression data.     

Transduction and Genetic Homology Between Pseudomonas Species putida and aeruginosa

Genetic crosses occur by transduction between the species Pseudomonas aeruginosa and P. putida. The frequency relative to intraspecific transfer is reduced and varies among markers, suggesting that these genomes contain discrete regions of homology and nonhomology.     

Assessment of Birmingham Medical Students

At Birmingham University since 1966 the major medical examinations began to be replaced by a process of continuous assessment. This is based on fairly frequent tests, usually at the end of each course, including short essay questions, multiple-choice questions, and tests of ability in wards and laboratory. At the end of the first final-year course 96 students underwent assessment. Of these 77 passed; 19 were referred for re-examination, of whom a further 12 passed subsequently. The scheme was found suitable by both teachers and external examiners.