Environmental contaminants of emerging concern in seafood--European database on contaminant levels.

Marine pollution gives rise to concern not only about the environment itself but also about the impact on food safety and consequently on public health. European authorities and consumers have therefore become increasingly worried about the transfer of contaminants from the marine environment to seafood. So-called "contaminants of emerging concern" are chemical substances for which no maximum levels have been laid down in EU legislation, or substances for which maximum levels have been provided but which require revision.

[Evaluation of local anesthesia in inguinal hernia operations].

The results of a group of General, Peridural and Epidural Anesthesia (162 operations) and a group of Local Anesthesia (87 operations) were compared. It was concluded that in the local anesthesia group: 1. A minimal dose of medication was needed (inclusive the anesthetics).

[Considerations in the training of surgeons].

There are several reasons why this topic has been chosen by the Royal Belgian Surgical Society: the general malaise in the profession; the increased number of applicants; the interference of the government in the organization of surgical postgraduate training; the misjudgment which probably has been made in the past in the organization of surgical training programs. The many factors which have led to the present "misgrown" situation are discussed: principally there has been a fundamental oversight: general surgeons have promoted themselves as procedural specialists rather than surgical experts in specific organ systems or a well defined pathology. Finally a certain number of proposals are made to adjust the surgical training programs to the needs in this era: Junior year: in depth study of anatomy; in depth study of pathophysiology; specific training in basic surgical techniques, skills, and handcraft, all three with a test at the end of that year.

[Computer hardware for a surgical service].

While the bulk of all medical information is text, we think that the hardware needed to collect this information and to store it in a databank, must be essentially a first class work processor, working in a multi-user system with terminals where this information is gathered: the nursing stations, operating theatres, outpatient clinics and a working and archiving station centrally placed and capable to link those different terminals and those from other services as well.