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mittens, socks, jumpers. With all the money I spent on cigarettes Ibought wool, now I am warmer and healthier" reported A.B. ofSheldon, Birmingham, who smoked 15 cigarettes a day for 20 years;and Mr F. of Solihull, who smoked 30 cigarettes a day for 34 years,related that "One day doing the brakes on my car, I put brake fluidon the cigarette I was smoking; it made me feel ill and I finishedthere and then. It saved my life in many ways, thanks to brakefluid".

M.R.C. Trial of Multivitamins in Neural Tube Defects

There have lately been Press reports that the Medical ResearchCouncil’s proposed randomised clinical trial of vitamin

supplementation including folate in the prevention of neural tubedefects has been cancelled or suspended. The secretary to theM.R.C., Sir James Gowans, F.R.S., has denied these reports. Hestates:

"Plans to launch the trial have reached an advanced stage, and the trial

Steering Committee hopes that it will be possible for the trial to start early nextyear. The proposed trial has been the subject of public debate and controversy.The Council are alive to the sensitivity of the issues raised and are currentlyconsidering with great care whether any of them are of such consequence as toaffect the case for launching the trial as it is designed. I must stress that theCouncil will not review the need for the trial-that has already beenestablished." "

The M.R.C. will issue another statement when the Council hasconsidered all the issues.

Medical Research Council

Dr A. J. McMichael (Nuffield department of clinical medicine,University of Oxford) has been appointed to an M.R.C. clinicalresearch professorship in immunology.

Information Technology and the DisabledA conference on the help information technology can offer to

disabled people will be held in the spring of 1983. The BritishMedical Association (Tavistock Square, London WC1, telephone01-387 4499) would like to hear from people using micro-electronicequipment to help disabled people so that the conference canexplore all areas and develop a national strategy to improve the lives.of disabled people.

250th Anniversary ofSt George’s HospitalTo mark the 250th anniversary ofSt George’s Hospital, London,

a service of thanksgiving will be held at Westminster Abbey onSaturday, April 23, at 11 A.M.. Past and present staff and students areinvited to apply for tickets by Dec. 18. A ball is to be held atGrosvenor House, London Wl, on April 22 and application formswill be available from Dec. 1. A historical exhibition will also bemounted at the hospital from April 23 to May 21. Requests forfurther information and applications for tickets should be made toMiss E. Garrett, District Administration, Grosvenor Wing, StGeorge’s Hospital, Blackshaw Road, London SW17 OQT.

It has been decided to establish an autonomous Irish College of GeneralPractitioners. The Irish Council of the R.C.G.P. has convened a workingparty chaired by Dr A. Donald, presently R.C.G.P. chairman, to help foundthe new body.A conference on Planning for Primary Health Care will be held at the

King’s Fund Centre, 126 Albert Street, London NW1 7NF, on Dec. 14.Details are available from David Hands, Assistant Director to the Centre.

The Society for Social Medicine is to hold a one-day meeting on HealthServices Research at the Royal Society of Medicine, London, on Dec. 15.Details and application forms are available from Dr J. R. Butler, George AllenWing, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NF.

A symposium on Fertility Control in the 21st Century will be held atChelsea College, London SW3, on Thursday, Dec. 16. Details are availablefrom the Society for Drug Research, Institute of Biology, 41 Queen’s Gate,London SW7 5HU (01-589 9076).

A study day for general practitioners on Diabetes Management will takeplace at Nottingham University on Dec. 17. Further information may beobtained from Dr Joan Miller, British Diabetic Association, 10 Queen AnneStreet, London W1M OBD (01-323 1531).

Corrections

Valproic Acid and Spina Bifida.-In the 3rd paragraph of this multi-authorletter (Nov. 13), the last sentence should read: "1 1 of the women, the mother of atrisomy-18 baby with omphalocele and limb reduction deformities, had takenvalproic acid". In the 2nd column of the table, the entry for Paris-Yvelinesshould be 113 (65).

Diabetes Produced in MIce by Smoked-cured Mutton.-In table V of this article(Nov. 6, p. 1017) the fifth item in the 6th column should be 7 (not 3-8). Thelegend to fig. 2 should read "male progeny (8 wk) of CD I mice...".

Diary of the Week

Nov. 21 To 27

Monday, 22ndST GEORGE’S HOSPITAL MEDICAL SCHOOL, Cranmer Terrace, London

SWl7 ORE12.30 P.M. (Room 3.062, Lanesborough Wing) Mr Malcolm Stewart: Results of the

First Year of the Nutrition Study.MANCHESTER MEDICAL SOCIETY, University of Manchester, Oxford Road,

Manchester5.30 P.M. (Architecture Building) Mrs N. Warren: Management of the Anxious Child.

Mrs J. Clerehugh: The Epidemiology of Early Periodontal Disease inAdolescents.

8.30 P.M. (Stopford Building) Dr L. F. Fisher: Contraceptive and Sexual Advice toAdolescents.

Tuesday,23rdLONDON MEDICAL GROUP

5.45 P.M. (King’s College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5)ymm)Mm—Obes)ty:Disease or Deviance?

MANCHESTER MEDICAL SOCIETY5.30 P.M. (Stopford Building) Dr R. P. Hobson: On People and Things-the Enigma

of Autism.

Wednesday, 24thINSTITUTE OF ORTHOPAEDICS, Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, 234 Great

Portland Street, London W IN 6AD6 P.M. Symposium-Vascular Problems In Accident Surgery.

ROYAL MASONIC HOSPITAL, Ravenscourt Park, London W6 OTN7 P.M. Mr Michael Knight: Pancreatic and Biliary Surgery.

ROYAL FREE HOSPITAL SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, Rowland Hill Street, LondonNW3 2PF

’

5 P.M. Dr J. 0. Hunter: Crohn’s Disease.NORTHWICK PARK HOSPITAL AND CLINICAL RESEARCH CENTRE,

Watford Road, Harrow, Middlesex HA1 3UJ.1 P.M. Dr E. M. Raftery: Cardiomyopathy.

JOHN RADCLIFFE HOSPITAL, Headington, Oxford OX3 9DU5 P.M. Prof. Harold Stein (Kiel): Immuno-histochemical Studies of Hodgkin’s

Dtsease-Detection of the Probable Physiological Equivalent of Hodgkinand Sternberg-Reed Cells (Leukaemia Research Fund lecture).

BIRMINGHAM MEDICAL INSTITUTE, 36 Harborne Road, Edgbaston,Birmingham B 15 2AF

8.15 P.M. Rt. Rev. Hugh Montefiore: Children and Lead Pollution.

Thursday, 25thLONDON MEDICAL GROUP

5.45 P.M. (London Hospital, Whitechapel, London El) Symposrum-Dealing withSexual Problems: Why are Doctors so Bad at It?

ST MARY’S HOSPITAL MEDICAL SCHOOL, Norfolk Place, London W2 1PG5.30 P.M. Prof. Ian Craft: In Vitro Fertilisation and Transplantation of the Fertilised

Embryo (Aleck Bourne lecture).BRISTOL ROYAL INFIRMARY, Marlborough Street, Bristol BS2 8HW2 P.M. Dr R. Heimann: Cirrhosis and Lymphoproliferative Disorders.

EXETER POSTGRADUATE MEDICAL CENTRE, Royal Devon and Exeter

Hospital, Barrack Road, Exeter EX2 5DW.12.45 P.M. Dr A. P. Warin: The Differential Diagnosis of Facial Rashes.

MANCHESTER MEDICAL SOCIETY5 P.M. (Stopford Building) Dr Cyril Taylor: The Health Service under Attack.

Friday, 26thROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF EDINBURGH, Edinburgh EH8 9DW

5 P.M. Mr D. W. Lamb: Upper Limb Dysplasia-Form and Function (James J. MasonBrown memorial lecture).

INSTITUTE OF DERMATOLOGY, St John’s Hospital for Diseases of the Skin, LisleStreet, Leicester Square, London WC2H 7BJ

4.45 P.M. Dr C. D. Calnan: Patterns of Eczema.

Saturday, 27thNUFFIELD ORTHOPAEDIC CENTRE, Headington, Oxford OX3 7LD8.30 A.M. Dr 1. Bab: Extra-cellular Matrix Vesicles and their Response to Metabolic

Stimuli.9.30 A.M. Dr C. C. Ashley: Intracellular Free Calcium and Muscle Contraction.