In a controlled clinical trail, 40 uraemic patients received only leucocyte-poor blood (L.P.B.) while 30 uraemic controls received whole blood and ordinary packed red blood-cells (R.B.C.). Alloimmunisation by HL-A antibodies was found in 15% of the study group and 52% of the control group. Thus, L.P.B. was significantly less likely to produce alloimmunisation than ordinary whole blood or R.B.C. transfusion. Frozen R.B.C may produce even less alloimmunisation, but the advantages of L.P.B. include lower cost, prolonged storage, and ready availability in emergencies.

39 patients with carcinoma of the uterine cervix who were treated with radium and required repeated general anaesthetics were randomised to halothane and control groups. Their serum-alanine-aminotransferase (S.G.P.T.) levels were measured before each general anaesthetic, and those patients whose S.G.P.T. levels rose above 100 I.U. per litre were freed from the restriction determined by the initial allocation and treated as indicated clinically. None of the 21 patients in the control group had S.G.P.T. levels rising above 100 I.U. per litre. 4 out of 18 patients in the halothane group developed S.G.P.T. levels above 100 i.u. per litre before their third radium treatment. None of these had any symptoms or alteration in other liver-function tests, but liver biopsies in 2 of these patients showed changes characteristic of Hepatitis. Arbitrary selection of 18 out of the 39 patients would only give rise to the degree of abnormality observed in the halothane-treated group with a probability of about 0-02. In the patients studied who required repeated general anaesthetics at short time intervals, the monitoring of S.G.P.T. levels before each operation was useful screen for liver damage and may have reduced postoperative hepatic necrosis by preventing further anaesthetics with halothane when the liver was already damaged.

Patients who had received halothane within a periof of one year and who required another anaesthetic were allocated at random to be given halothane or a control anaesthetic, the control being fiben using halothane-free apparatus. There were 76 patients entries in each group. Serum-glutamic-oxaloacetic-transaminase (S.G.O.T.) levels were measured before the anaesthetics and serially postoperatively for two to three weeks. The S.G.O.T. levels in the halothane group were significantly higher than in the controls. High levels were confined to patients who had had less than four previous halothane anaesthetics, increases above normal in the remainder and in the controls being rate. 1 patient in the halothane group had an S.G.O.T. of 440 I.U. per litre and hepatocellular necrosis on liver biopsy. 2 patients in the halothane group whose S.G.O.T.s rose to more than twice normal showed a similar reaction to re-exposure to halothane, although they had not shown a reaction to an intervening control anaesthetic.

In a prospective, randomised trial, 111 obstetrically normal pregnant women, who had elective induction of labour performed between 39 and 40 weeks, were compared with 117 controls who were managed expectantly until 41 weeks. Compared with the controls, the patients who had elective induction of labour had significantly less meconium staining in labour and a smaller blood-loss after delivery. The mean length of labour, the amount of pethidine used, and the Apgar scores at 1 minute were similar in the two groups. In the electively induced group, the caesarean-section rate was lower and the use of epidural analgesia more common than in the controls, but the differences were mot statistically signficant. The hour of delivery was similar in the two groups, suggesting that convenience to medical and nursing staff would not be greatly changed by elective induction of labour. There was no evidence that the hazards to mother and child were increased by elective induction, and its use might improve perinatal mortality by reducing the number of unexplained mature stillbirths.

A rabies vaccine, prepared in human diploid-cell culture, was given intradermally (i.d.) or intramuscularly (i.m.) to 35 volumteers who had not previously received prophylactic immunisation. Rabies neutralising antibody titres rose sharply after the first dose, and 4 weeks after the second dose all titres were above 1/80 (1-7 i.u. per ml.). Immunisation via the i.d. and i.m. routes was equally successful in terms of likely immune status, but the i.d. rate was associated with many more local sideeffects.

Infants have been fed with teats whose end-holes varied in shape and size. Two types of feeding-bottles were used. With conventional feeding-bottles, variations of teat-hole shape and size did not significantly alter the volumes of milk obtained at each suck. However, when an infant feeding-bottle was used which contained a valve, then variations in teat-hole shape and size did alter the volumes of milk obtained. The volume of milk obtained from a standard teat under such circumstances was the same as the volume previously calculated for breast-feeding.

The role of mycoplasmas in infertility was studied in 120 couples. During the twelve months of the study 27 couples (22-5%) conceived. T mycoplasmas were isolated from 63% of these couples, and Mycoplasma hominis from 18%, compared with 56% and 13%, respectively, in those who did not conceive. 88, with primary infertility of unascertained cause, took part in a controlled trial with doxycycline. The couples in the trial were allocated randomly to three groups: 30 received doxycycline, 28 received a placebo, and 30 couples were untreated. Although a twenty-eight-day course of doxycycline eradicated M. hominis and T-strain mycoplasmas from 27 (96%) of the 28 couples harbouring them, the rate of conception was no higher in those treated with the drug than in control groups. It is concluded that mycoplasmas are not associated with primary infertility and that, although doxycycline eradicates them, this drug is of no benefit in the treatment of primary infertility of unascertained cause.

Altogether 173 patients with warts were under observation for at least 3 and in most cases 6 months. In 80% of the patients wart-virus antibodies were present and could be measured by immunodiffusion (I.D.) and in 20% also by complement-fixation (C.F.) techniques. The mean duration of the warts in patients with C.F. antibodies was 0-6 years and in the others 1-9 years. The occurence of C.F. antibodies (IgG) was associated with rapid healing; 75% of these patients were cured during the first 2 months of the observation period. In contrast, of the patients with antibodies measurable only by the I.D. technique (IgM and/or low titres of IgG), only 16% were cured during the first 2 months and they had a fairly constant cure-rate (approximately 9% per month) during the 6 months' observation period. The results indicate that the cure of warts is partly connected with immunological phenomena, especially with the presence of C.F. antibodies. In other cases wart regression may be mainly a non-immune process, perhaps due to a limited lifespan of wart cells.

Healthy medical students were divided into two groups. One group was given double the normal fibre intake of their diet as a high-fibre-containing breakfast cereal; the other group (control) was given a breakfast cereal containing negligible amounts of dietary fibre. Otherwise the nutrient intake of the two groups was maintained constant. No differences in the serum-cholesterol, serum-triglyceride, serum-calcium levels were found between the two groups during or at the end of the study. The addition of a tolerable amount of dietary fibre to the diet does not affect serum-lipids.

81 patients, 24 with sarcoidosis and the remainder with various other diseases, were tested with three batches of Kveim material prepared from the same spleen. Positive Kveim tests were observed in sarcoidosis, tuberculosis, Hodgkin's disease, ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis, and Weber-Christian disease. These results show that a positive Kveim reaction to the material under test was not specific to sarcoidosis.