SPOT

Hans Ottes Installation „Namenklang" aus dem Jahre 1995 arbeitet mit der Klanggestalt der Eigennamen von Komponisten des 20. Jahrhunderts, denen sich Otte persönlich verbunden fühlt bzw. mit denen er in freund­ schaftlicher Verbindung steht. Die Namen wurden zunächst normal auf Band gesprochen, anschließend jedoch klanglich transformiert. Die Wie­ dergabe erfolgt in mehreren Schichten durch vier voneinander unabhän­ gige Stereosysteme. Die acht großen, auf 1,5 Meter hohen Sockeln mon-


MISCELLANEA Life in Cold Climates
.-\ccording LO the January issue of Jl'orld ffralth, the magazine of the World Health Organization, it is just as ·normal' LO li\'e in the . .\retie and Antarctic as in other parts of the world, and in fact more normal than in the tropics where heat se\'erely limits the amount of physical work an individual can do. It is not hunger that kills but often it is accidents. In Alaska deaths from external causes, including accidents, alcoholism, suicide and homicide predominate -2½ times the rate of the 1-est of the United States. Cold docs not kill disease organisms -living virus can be found in the frozen bodies of men who died centuries ago.
In another article, it is said that kukaemia is increasing in frequency and, though it occurs throughout the world, there is a pronounced geographical and racial variation in its incidence. Mortality is high among the American white population (50 per cent higher in town dellers than those living in the country) but much lower in the coloured; it is high in Denmark and in the Jewish people in Israel (as it is in American Jews), but comparatively low in Finland, France, Ireland, Italy and Japan. In England and Wales there has been a steady increase in mortality from leukaemia since 1920. Reverting to the United States, it seems that there is a belt of high mortality stretching across the north of the country west,1of the Mississippi and some states have an undue proportion of people with the disease.

Gift to Save the Children Fund
Riker Laboratories of Loughborough have sent £2.000 worth of drugs, including vitamins, dietary supplements and sulphonamides, to Jordan in response to an appeal for help made by the Save the Children Fund. This Fund operates medical and welfare clinics throughout Jordan, but is in great need of drugs and equipment to maintain them.

Drug news
Enduron ' Enduron • (methyclothiazide Abbott) tablets 5mg. are being supplied in a new form -square tablets, grooved and a deeper pink than formerly. The 2.5 mg. tablets remain unchanged. Enduron is available in bottles of 25 and 100 tablets, in each strength, the average adult dose of this diuretic being 5mg. daily.

Gypsona Plaster-of-Paris
Smith &: Nephew Ltd. have in-troduced a new form of ' Gypsona' plaster-of-Paris for emergenq use as a splint in the first aid treatment of fractures. It is supplied as a self-contained unit consisting of two 6in. x 30in. slabs, each of five thicknessess of low-plaster-loss bandage and two high wet-strength crepe paper bandages packed into a sealed Polythene bag. Once emptied, the bag can be used as the container for the water in which the slabs are soaked. This pack was originally designed in collaboration with the War Office for use by Army personnel, but is now available for general medical use. The pack itself is sufficiently small for storage in the glove shelf of a motor car or in the medical bag and would be useful for general practitioners, veterinary surgeons and in industry for first aid treatment of the injured. The pack costs lls.

Durenate
A new sulphonamide, with the approved name sulphamethoxydiazine, has been introduced by FBA Pharmaceuticals Ltd. in conjunction with Pharmethicals (London) Ltd. This preparation, which has been called ' Durenate ', is said to be .equal in potency and antibacterial spectrum to sulphadiazine. Blood and· tissue levels have been maintained for 48 hours and longer ; 90 per cent of the dose is said to be absorbed within 2 hours and the substance is excreted slowly in the urine. No damage to liver, kidneys or blood has been reported following its use. The average adult dose is 2 tablets initially, then l tablet daily. Durenate is available in tablets of 0.5 gram in packings of 8, 100 and 500, and also as a suspension in 40 ml. packs.

Trimune Vaccine
Evans Medical Ltd. have introduced ' Trimune ' diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus vaccine for the immunization of children. The vaccine contains diphtheria formol toxoid Lf 25, tetanus toxoid Lf 10 and Bordetella pertussis 20,000 million killed organisms in each 0.5ml. Trimune is available in boxes of three 5ml. ampoules (one course) and vials of 5ml.

Narphen tablets
Smith & Nephew Pharmaceuticals Ltd. have introduced ' Narphen' tablets, each containing 5mg. phenazocine hydrobromide. These tablets are indicated for the relief of pain and can apparently be used over prolonged periods of time. They are available in packings of 25 at a basic NHS price of 18s.9d. Narphen is subject to DDA regulations.
Cyclospasmol tablets Camden Chemical Co. Ltd. have made ' Cyclospasmol ' tablets available in 200mg. as well as 100mg. strengths, and the price of the latter has been reduced. Full details are obtainable from the manufacturers.
Tetanus Toxoid Burroughs Wellcome & Co. have recently introduced Tetanus Toxoid (Adsorbed). This preparation can be given to non-immune casualties at the same time as prophylactic antitoxin, immediately after injury. Where a casualty has already been fully immunized against tetanus, one 0.5ml. dose is said to provide adequate reinforcement. The primary course of immunization is two injections 6 weeks apart. Re?ctions are reported as rare and usually mild. The vaccine is available in packings of two 0.5ml. ampoules and rubber-capped bottles of 5ml.

Oranabol
A new oral anabolic steroid has recently been introduced by Phar-macei1tical Specialities (May & Baker) Ltd. under the name ' Oranabol '. Each tablet contains 5mg. of 4-hydroxy-17-a-methyltestosterone and the average daily dose is from IO to 40mg. for adults; considerably higher doses have been given in breast cancer. Further indications include acute and chronic renal failure, rheumatoid arthritis and prolonged corticosteroid treatment. Contra-indications are prostatic carcinoma and pregnancy. Oranabol is said to be almost entirely free from secondary androgenic and anti-oestrogenic action.

Eppy for simple Glaucoma
Smith & Nephew Ltd. have introduced a stabilized ophthalmic solution of adrenaline for the treatment of chronic, simple glaucoma. The preparation, named 'Eppy', has been buffered to pH 7.4 and is said to be non-stinging to the eye. The average dose is one drop every 24 hours, and Eppy is available in 7.5ml. dispensing containers with separate dropper ; basic NHS price is 17s. 10d. per vial.

Dependatherm 303 and 404
The two new ' Dependatherm ' instruments, manufactured by Dependable Relay Co. Ltd. have been designed to take body temperature in 3 seconds, to 0.1 degree accuracy whether in the mouth or under the arm. The Dependatherm 404 will also take skin temperature and is said to locate an inflammatory area precisely and both are unaffected by tropical or arctic conditions. The instrument comprises a sensitive probe attached to an electronic recorder powered by a small replaceable battery (see illustration). The price of the ' 303 ' is 15 guineas and the • 404 ' is 20 guineas.

The new Surrey Branch of the Royal Mursdcn Hospital
The Queen, who is Patron of the Royal :\larsden Hospital, visited the new Surrey branch at Sutton in :\lay. Her Majesty saw stage I of a two-stage plan, the second of which will be delayed until 1970. This magnificent hospital contains 85 beds, radiotherapy, diagnostic X-ray, pathological and out-patient departments and their supporting serl'ices. Patients were admitted for the first time in January this year and the hospital has been designed with the patients' comfort very much in mind. In this it has succeeded admirably, for the format is attractive, the wards light and airy (set on the south side only), the furnishings and murals bright and colourful. Attention has also been paid to saving staff time -by automatic messenger system, a central tray ser-,·ice, motorized beds, remote controlled dictation system and a host of other innol'ations.
The treatment planning department (divided into three sections) houses the simulator room, the physkal measurements room and the computer room where the data are collected and dosimetry estimated. The diagnostic X-ray equipment includes high output generators and automatic film processing equipment, closed circuit television, cineradiographic apparatus, vascular and other specialized radiographic equipment as well as axial and standard tomography units.
The physics department demonst ratt-s detectors for implantation in tumours, ultrasonic scanning, isotopic tracer investigations of tumours at various sites (an isotope laboratory is to be constructed very soon, ami it is worth remembering that the Royal Marsden was the fir~t hospital in this country to use art!• cifial radioisotopes in treatment), The main treatment machines arc two 6 million electron volt linear accelerators, a 10,000 curie cobalt unit and a 2 million electron volt generator, while provision for an extension to take a 35 million e.v. linear accelerator and a total body irradiator has been made. Refinements in technique have been made possible by specially designed • icccssories for these machines, some of which were constructed in the hospital workshop.
The new Surrey branch is intended to deal in the broadest sense with ionizing radiations and their effects on man, with a primary interest in neoplastic disease, clinical work and research proceeding closely side by side.
A few weeks previously, the l\linister of Health, Mr. Enoch Powell, had opened the new Wallace Wing (named after John Wallace, Chairman of the Board of Governors from 1956-63) at Fulham Road London. This wing comprise; a new out-patients department, laboratories for clinical research and a new department for radiotherapy. Speaking at a luncheon after the ceremony, Mr_ Powell referred to the tremendous strides made by the post-graduate hospitals of London and to the fact that they had outgrown both their physical shell and in some cases their location. Two years ago, the decision was made to bring most of these hospitals and their institutes together into two physical grou-· pings or nu~lei,. each hospi~al a~d its related mslltute pursumg its own speciality, with the advantage of modern buildings and equipment, common services and close contact. This means a most intricate planning operation, thought out years in advance, and close cooperation from the various bodies involved. Work has gone ahead both on the academic and professional planning and much remains to be done if the concept is to begin to take shape early in the second half of the 1960's. The Royal Marsden and the Institute for Cancer Research are on the scene already and are almost the hosts and reception committee.
Mr. Powell then referred to the difficult conditions under which the hospital had had to work. The new out-patients department in the Wallace Wing gives that good impression so necessary to a patient's well-being; the pharmacy, photographic department and the several laboratories now have breathing space and there is room for more. The new radiotherapy department is in two parts, one in the basement of this wing and the other at Sutton. Although the Exchequer has contributed to the equipment and will bear running costs, the capital cost (about a third of a million pounds) has been met from voluntary monies -endowment funds, legacies and donations, a fact which calls for considerable pride of achievement.
The Sutton branch taken from the east wing. The canopy projecting from the building forms the ambulance entrance .