862

New York, was about twelve times that of midwinter sun.l Webband colleagues, working with human skin preparations, now showthat changes in season and latitude have a profound influence onprevitamin D3 production.2 Skin exposed to sunlight on cloudlessdays in Boston (42’2°N) produced no previtamin D3 fromNovember to March; in Edmonton, Canada, this period ofineffective sunshine extended from October to April. Small wonderthe D3 fat stores in many people, especially elderly individuals, areunable to cope with vitamin D winter.

HIV Infection in Drug Misusers

The Government is to allocate an additional £3 million to healthauthorities in 1988-89 to prevent the spread of HIV infectionamong injecting drug misusers and from them to a wider

population. A Department of Health circular issued last week askshealth authorities to increase efforts to make services known andaccessible to drug misusers. The circular includes advice on settingup syringe exchange schemes.

Hospitals InspectorateA call for all private and NHS hospitals to be inspected regularly

by a national inspection agency was made last week at a conferenceorganised by the National Association of Health Authorities

(NAHA) and the Registered Nursing Homes Association. Such anagency would ensure that explicit standards were being applied toboth the NHS and the private sector. The agency would be

particularly concerned with the quality and outcome of care, saidPhilip Hunt, NAHA director.

National Society for EpilepsyThe society has launched a new educational video package called

"Understanding Epilepsy". It is aimed at hospital doctors andconsists of three programmes covering the essentials of diagnosisand treatment of epilepsy and antiepileptic drugs. Furtherinformation can be obtained from the Education and Information

Department, National Society for Epilepsy, Chalfont St Peter,Buckinghamshire SL9 ORJ (02407-3991).

Marie Curie Foundation

Prof Jerzy Kroh, a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences,will deliver the first Marie Curie lecture, entitled "MarieSklodowska-Curie’s Legacy to Modern Science and Technology",in various centres in London, Glagow, Cardiff, and Belfast betweenOct 24 and Nov 4. For details, please contact Mr J. B. Quinton,Marie Curie Society, 28 Belgrave Square, London SW1X 8YZ(01-235 3325).

Public Health Alliance

The inaugural meeting of the Public Health Alliance will takeplace on Thursday, Oct 27, at 5.30 pm in room 8, Main CommitteeCorridor, House of Commons, London SW 1. The Alliance’saddress is PO Box 1156, Kings Norton, Birmingham B30 2AZ.

TUC Health and Safety Handbook

As part of its health and safety campaign, launched in August, theTrades Union Congress has published a new handbook, Hazards atWork, which gives guidance on all the major classes of risk likely tobe encountered at work. The handbook can be bought (price 5,plus 1 for postage and packing) from the Publications

Department, TUC, Congress House, Great Russell Street,London WCIB 3LS.

1. Knudson A Seasonal variation in antirachitic effect of sunshine in latitude 42° 39’

Albany, NY) Proc Soc Exp Biol 1932; 30: 66-682 Webb AR, Kline L, Holick MF. Influence of season and latitude on the cutaneous

synthesis of vitamin D, exposure to w inter sunlight in Boston and Edmonton willnot promote vitamin D3 synthesis in human skin. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 1988, 67:373-78

The Bernhard Baron lecture by Dr R. R. B. Russell on Chromosomesand Caries-Application of Genetic Engineering in Oral

Microbiology is to take place at the Royal College of Surgeons on Tuesday,Oct 11: Mr Duffett, Secretary, Royal College of Surgeons, Lincoln’s InnFields, London WC2A 3PN (01-405 3474 ext 4004).

A meeting entitled Restrictive Drug Lists-A Worldwide

Controversy will take place at the Royal Society of Medicine on

Wednesday, Oct 12: Miss Barabara Komomewska, Royal Society of

Medicine, 1 Wimpole Street, London WlM 8AE (01-408 2119 ext 301).

A conference on Clinical and Laboratory Research on HerbalPreparations is to be held at the Royal College of Physicians, London, onMonday, Oct 17 and the Withington Hospital, Manchester, on Tuesday, Oct18: Dr Leslie Davis, Conference Organiser, World Medical Association forPerfect Health, Mentmore, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire LU7 OQH(0296-661726).

A lecture by Dr Nedim Buyukmihci entitled The Rights of Non-Human Animals and Their Use in Research and Testing will be heldat the King’s Fund Centre, 126 Albert Street, London NW1, on Friday, Oct21: Dr Gill Langley, Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research, 6c BrandStreet, Hitchin, Herts SG5 1HX (0462-36819).

A symposium on Anglo-Dutch Medical Connections is to take place atthe Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine on Friday, Oct 28.Secretary, Academic Unit, Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine,183 Euston Road, London NWl 2BP (01-387 4477 ext 3253).

The Sir John Struthers lecture entitled The Science, Medicine andEthics of Conception In Vitro will be delivered by Prof R. G. Edwards atthe Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh on Friday, Oct 28: Royal Collegeof Surgeons, Nicolson Street, Edinburgh EH8 9DW (031-556 6206).

Corrections

Choice of Non-steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drug in Persons Treated for,D3)spepsia.-In this article by Dr Maurice Hernandez Avila and colleagues(Sept 3, p 556) the numbers on the vertical axes of the figures refer to "usersper 1000 persons", and acetaminophen in table III and fig 4 should have readparacetamol.

Implications of the New Genetics for Screernig for- Cystzc Fibrosis.-The firstsentence of the last paragraph of this article by Prof J. A. Dodge (Sept 17,p 672) refers to genetic (not general) disease.

International Diary

1988

A symposium on Innovative Cancer Chemotherapy For

Tomorrow: New York City, USA, Nov 16-18 (Jaclyn Silverman,Symposium Coordinator, Division of Medical Oncology, Box 1178, MountSinai School of Medicine, One Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY10029).

1 st meeting on Nutritional Epidemiology: West Berlin, Germany, Nov28-30 (Dr Lenore Kohlmeier, Institut fur Sozialmedizin und Epidemiologiedes Bundesgesundheitsamtes, General-Pape-Strasse 62-66, D-1000 Berlin42).

An international symposium on Health Care For Displaced Personsand Refugees: Washington, DC, USA, Dec 4-7 (Melissa Lankler,Georgetown University Medical Center, Box 31, 3900 Reservoir Road, NWWashington, DC 20007).

7th international Psychiatric conference: Karachi, Pakistan, Dec 13-16(Dr Qazi Irshad Ahmad, Secretary, 7th International PsvchiatricConference, Department of Neuropsychiatry, Jinnah Postgraduate MedicalCentre, Karachi 35).

1989

International symposium and tutorial on Genital PapillomavirusInfections-Advances in Modern Diagnosis and Therapy: HamburgWest Germany, Feb 3-5 (Dr G. Gross, Department of Dermatology.University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martmistrasse 52, D-2000

Hamburg 20).

6th international symposium on Hypoxia: Lake Louise, Alberta. Feb21-25 (Ingrid Ellis, Conference Administrator, McMaster Untverstn. 1200Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8N 3Z5j.