The demographic work of Sir William Wilde.

This paper argues that Sir William Wilde was indeed a pioneering demographer. It also describes the unveiling of the plaque commemorating Sir William Wilde at his home, 1, Merrion Square, Dublin on the 28 October 1971.

Survival outcome of patients with screening versus symptomatically detected colorectal cancers.

AIM: The national Bowel Cancer Screening Programme has been rolled out nationwide following pilot screening in two health authorities in the UK. The aim of this study was to define overall 5-year survival of screen detected cancers and to compare the overall survival outcome of screened vs symptomatic patients over a 10-year period. METHOD: All patients with colorectal cancer treated at one trust in patients of screening age (50-69 years) during the pilot screening programme (2000-2008) were analysed. Patients were defined as screen detected or symptomatically detected. Disease pathology and recurrence data were obtained from the hospital's computerized results reporting system and mortality was cross-matched with data from the West Midlands Cancer Intelligence Network. RESULTS: In all, 633 patients aged 50-69 were identified in the study period; 155 patients had a screen detected cancer and 478 did not. A log-rank test completed on survival outcomes indicated that survival was significantly worse in the symptomatic group. This difference persisted if only patients treated with curative intent were considered. CONCLUSION: Survival outcome was significantly better in the screened vs the symptomatic population in all groups and also in those treated for curative intent. There was a trend towards better survival for screen detected cancer when compared stage for stage.

Effect of season and ambient temperature on outcome of guaiac-based faecal occult blood tests performed for colorectal cancer screening.

AIM: Guaiac-based faecal occult blood tests (gFOBTs) are used in the colorectal cancer screening programme. Recent data suggested that the immunological faecal occult blood test illustrated a variation in positivity according to season and ambient temperature. Our aim was to assess the effect of season and ambient temperature on the positivity rates of the gFOBT during pilot screening for colorectal cancer. METHOD: Data from the first year of round 1 of the pilot screening programme in Coventry and Warwickshire were analysed. Patients with positive and negative gFOBT samples were included. Patients with spoilt samples or incomplete data were excluded. Of the total of 59513 patients, 30311 were men and 29202 women. Mean age was 56 years. Daily temperature data were provided by the meteorological office. RESULTS: Median exposure of the gFOBT test card was 6 days (range 1-17). Median daily maximum temperature was 14°C. Spring and summer illustrated significantly decreased positivity rates compared with autumn and winter (Pearson's chi-squared test, P<0.001). Mean daily maximum temperature for the test card exposure showed no significant difference in positivity rates (P=0.53). Subgroup analysis revealed a significant reduction in positive samples in the >25°C subgroup (P=0.045). CONCLUSIONS: There is a seasonal variation in positivity rates of gFOBTs with increased positivity in spring and summer months. There is no difference in positivity rates in relation to ambient temperature except in subgroup analysis where there is a significant reduction in positivity rates above 25°C.

Life-cycle stage morphology of Psoroptes mange mites.

Detailed life-cycle stage descriptions for the ectoparasitic mite Psoroptes ovis (Hering) (Acari: Psoroptidae) from rabbit hosts (syn. Psoroptes cuniculi) are presented. The results resolve a number of contradictions in the literature relating to the recognition of the life cycle stages of these mites. This study supports the view that there are two distinct male nymphal stages, both lacking dorsoposterior tubercles. The male tritonymph is significantly larger than the protonymph and has five pairs of metapodosomal setae rather than three. In addition, male tritonymphs have two pairs of cuticular pits on the central metapodosoma rather than the single pair of the protonymph. The results also show that the female protonymph can be distinguished from the male nymphal stages and the female tritonymph. Both female nymphal stages possess dorsoposterior tubercles, but the protonymph is significantly smaller than the tritonymph. In addition, the protonymph possesses three pairs of metapodosomal setae rather than five, one pair of cuticular pits rather than two, and a pulvillus on leg IV which is absent in the female tritonymph. The presence of dorsoposterior tubercles enables the female nymphs to be distinguished easily from the males. By contrast, distinguishing between the nymphal stages of the same sex relies on the identification of both the number of metapodosomal setae and cuticular pits. These descriptions are used to produce a key, which allows the various stages of both sexes to be distinguished.

Thomas Ferrar, MB, LRCSI (1797-1837): the absentee professor of surgery at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution.

Thomas Ferrar was the second professor of surgery in the short-lived (1835-1849) medical school of the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. Appointed on 5 July 1836 he failed to turn up for the winter session and was accordingly discharged on 29 November. He died in Sligo in the following June aged 39. Nothing has been written about Ferrar who survives as a mere foot-note in Belfast medical history. The events leading to his dismissal are, however, unusual, equivocal, and worth recounting. The facts suggest that the Institution was clearly justified in its action but that Ferrar emerges with some credit for a certain if misplaced high-mindedness though overshadowed by his patent derelictions.

Product modification.

For more than 20 years there has been a coherent programme of product modification in the UK, involving the introduction of low tar brands of cigarettes and the gradual reduction in average tar yields over the whole range of manufactured cigarettes. The sales-weighted average tar yield has declined from 20.8 mg/cigarette in 1972 to 11.0 mg/cigarette in 1993. To some extent potential benefits to established smokers have been offset by their tendency to 'compensate' for reduced nicotine yields. Investigating such aspects has formed one part of a wide-ranging research programme to monitor effects of modified products on health. Collectively the studies show benefits in terms of smoke intake and health outcome related to reduced tar cigarettes, but the success achieved in reducing average tar yields and narrowing the range has limited opportunities to detect differential effects.

Doctors in the Great Famine, 1845-1850.

The medical services, like most others in Ireland, were swamped by the massive demands of the Great Famine and its accompanying disruptions, diseases and epidemics. They were not, however, 'drowned', due largely to the fortitude of the individual doctors, the remarkable robustness of many of the medical institutions, and the vigorous if often unpopular steps taken by the central board of health whose most assiduous member was Dominic John Corrigan. There was a heavy price, mortality amongst doctors was very high (in 1847 alone, at least 123 died of 'fever' contracted in the course of duty), and a basic reform--most of the 'medical charities' came to be permanently administered through the Poor Law machinery.