[The guardianship law and physician's responsibility]. / Betreuungsgesetz und ärztliche Verantwortung.

From 1992 a new law regulating the taking care of another person's legal and personal affairs and nursing problems has become effective. The aim of this law is to establish an individual and respectful relationship between the patient in care and the appointed person. The appointed person has to emphathize with the patient in his care to a degree where he is able to make decisions that reflect the individual lifestyle and life history of the patient in care. Fundamentally, it is the patient's right to make his own decisions about medical treatment according to tis own experience, personal values and emotions. If the patient is unable to make his own decisions for health reasons a caretaking person is appointed by decree. In respecting the patient's will stringent standards are necessary. The new law offers possibilities of freedom of decision and self-responsibility that should never be restricted again.

[Social workers in the commitment procedure]. / Der Sozialarbeiter im Unterbringungsverfahren.

Regular inclusion of a social worker alongside the expertising physician whenever a judge has to decide on committing a person to a psychiatric hospital, is known in German legal practice as "Stuttgart model". Our experiences with this procedure are discussed on an interdisciplinary level. In our opinion this model agrees with the spirit of the new German law governing guardianship and care.

Bunyavirus development in arctic and Aedes aegypti mosquitoes as revealed by glucose oxidase staining and immunofluorescence.

Northway virus replication has been detected in salivary glands of wild-caught Culiseta inornata and Aedes communis mosquitoes from the western Canadian Arctic after incubation at 4 degrees C for 9 to 11 months, and after incubation at 13 degrees C for 3 to 4 months after they received virus by oral ingestion or intrathoracic injection. Aedes hexodontus supported Northway virus replication after incubation at 13 degrees C for one month after intrathoracic injection. Aedes aegypti supported Northway virus replication after incubation at 13 degrees C or 23 degrees C for 6 to 28 days following intrathoracic injection. A larval isolate of California encephalitis virus (snowshoe hare subtype) multiplied in all 3 species of arctic mosquito after incubation at 13 degrees C for 1 to 3 months after virus was administered by oral ingestion or intrathoracic injection. Virus was detected in salivary glands of Cs. inornata after 329 days incubation at 4 degrees C after intrathoracic injection. Bunyavirus antigens in salivary glands of arctic and domestic mosquitoes were detected by the glucose oxidase immunoenzyme technique somewhat less frequently than by assay for virus infectivity.

Transmission of Northway and St. Louis encephalitis viruses by arctic mosquitoes.

Transmission of a Canadian arctic isolate of Northway virus has been demonstrated after incubation of arctic Aedes communis mosquitoes at 13 degrees C for 27 days after intrathoracic injection of 300 plaque forming units of virus. Replication has also been demonstrated after intrathoracic injection of domestic A. aegypti mosquitoes of this virus. Virions of Northway virus, 84--92 nm diameter were morphologically typical of a bunyavirus after propagation in salivary glands of A. communis or in tissue cultures of baby hamster kidney (BHK-21) cells. An Ontario isolate of St. Louis encephalitis was transmitted by bites of A. communis after 27 days incubation at 13 degrees C after oral ingestion of 3 or 30 mouse LD50 virus. This mosquito species transmitted virus after 13 to 76 days incubation at 13 degrees C following intrathoracic injection of 3 mouse LD50 or higher virus doses.

Assessment of peripheral vascular disease in patients with diabetes. Two case studies.

This report proposes that perfusion scanning in combination with arteriography be included in the diagnostic work-up of the diabetic patient who, because of peripheral vascular complications, is a candidate for surgery. Two cases are reported which illustrate the extremes of the findings: abnormal arteriogram-normal scan indicating large-vessel disease without significant small-vessel involvement. It is suggested that these patients are candidates for vascular reconstruction. The other extreme is the normal arteriogram-abnormal scan indicating small-vessels disease without significant large-vessel involvement. It is apparent that these patients are not candidates for vascular reconstruction.