A survey of the management of breast cancer in England and Wales.

The management of breast cancer is controversial. In order to obtain an overview of the way that surgeons manage breast cancer in England and Wales and to assess trends in management by comparisons with the results of previous surveys a postal questionnaire was sent to all consultant general surgeons in England and Wales (n = 985). The response rate was 61%.

Dimensions of self-concept: a comparison of heroin and cocaine addicts.

Two groups of drug users on an inner-city inpatient drug detoxification unit were studied: 42 heroin addicts and 47 cocaine addicts. The two groups were compared on personality disorder diagnoses, personality traits, and demographic variables. Cocaine and heroin addicts scored similarly on: 1) number and kind of personality disorder diagnoses, with the exception of antisocial personality; 2) all personality traits measured; 3) positive and negative temperament; 4) description of self-concepts; and 5) positivity and negativity of self-concepts.

Emergency laparotomy in patients with AIDS.

The presentation, operative management and final diagnosis were reviewed in 28 patients with AIDS (27 men and one woman) who underwent emergency laparotomy. On clinical and radiological examination, six patients showed features of toxic megacolon, five patients had small bowel obstruction, six patients had localized peritonitis and three had perforated viscus with generalized peritonitis. The most common disease processes were acute colitis in seven patients (associated with cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in six), intra-abdominal lymphoma in five patients, acute appendicitis in five patients (associated with CMV infection in two), and atypical mycobacterial (MAI) infection in four patients.