Ambulatory paediatrics: does it work?

To determine whether a paediatric ambulatory assessment service is an effective and acceptable replacement for an inpatient unit. Analysis of hospital paediatric medical admissions. Postal questionnaire survey of local general practitioners.

Broadcast quality teleconferencing for oncology.

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Bethesda, Maryland has developed a broadcast-quality teleconferencing system known as the Telesynergy system to address the need to convey expert information between larger cancer centers and their remote counterparts. This system is available to "Partnerships in Science Program" partners across the U.S.

Molecular characterization of phocine distemper virus: gene order and sequence of the gene encoding the attachment (H) protein.

Generation of a set of cDNA clones covering the N, P/V/C, M, F, H and part of the L gene of phocine distemper virus (PDV) has been described. The gene order of PDV determined from a physical as well as a transcriptional map, was identical to that of the other morbilliviruses so far studied. The H gene sequence (1951 nucleotides) contains one large open reading frame which encodes a protein of 607 amino acids, identical in length to that of the H protein of the Convac strain of canine distemper virus (CDV).

Humoral immune responses in seals infected by phocine distemper virus.

Recently the isolation and characterisation of a morbillivirus which caused high mortality in common seals (Phoca vitulina) in 1988 have been reported. Because of the clinical and pathological similarity of the disease in seals to that of distemper in dogs, the name phocine distemper virus (PDV) has been proposed. There are marked differences in the virus-induced proteins of PDV compared to other morbilliviruses and the humoral immune response of moribund and dead seals to PDV was restricted to some of the internal antigens of PDV, similar to the response described earlier for canine distemper virus infection in dogs.