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The experience of autumn 2001, when anthrax spores were released in the postal system, had considerable consequences in the United States and in Europe. The threat of covert deliberate releases against civilians has become a reality. In Europe, despite the growing number of criminal hoaxes, no cases of anthrax linked to deliberate releases have been reported, and the only contaminated letters were addressed to American embassies abroad. Nevertheless, the time has come for Europe to set up efficient and timely plans to respond to bioterrorism, under the coordination of the European Commission.

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The objective of the study was to assess the attitude of Edinburgh University medical students towards computers and to evaluate the effects of changes in the curriculum and intercalated BSc towards computer knowledge. During March to November 1995 a questionnaire was distributed in lectures, seminars and tutorials to all Edinburgh University medical students. Overall, 65% of students returned the questionnaire, divided equally between both genders. Only 2% of students had not used a computer in the previous year. The most frequent application used was E-mail and the most frequent site, the Greenfield suite micro lab, within the medical school. The average score for self-perceived computer knowledge on a scale of 0-10 was 4.19. This score was significantly higher for the students who own a computer and who have an intercalated BSc honours degree as well as the pre-clinical students compared to the clinical students. There is also a strong correlation between computer use and doing a second year special option module. With regards to attitude towards computers, 86% of students agreed that computer skills will be beneficial to them in their future career and 62% of all students wanted a structured course in computer use as part of the MB ChB course. There has been a general increase in computer literacy amongst the medical students in Edinburgh. This is specially so for the pre-clinical students who have had the brunt of the changes in the curriculum. The tendency for both the lower knowledge and use by the clinical students can, in part, be due to the accessibility of computers to these students.

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Three alleles of the FC27-type allelic family of the MSP2 gene of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum have been sequenced from parasites from the field (The Gambia and Tanzania). These alleles lack the 12 amino acid repeat units which are usual in this family of MSP2 alleles. We have investigated the recognition by sera from an endemic area (The Gambia) of three recombinant MSP2 proteins that have 5, 1 and no copies of this repeat region. Antibody recognition of these recombinant proteins varied according to the number of repeats present. High titre antibody levels were seen with most sera using the recombinant protein with 5 x 12-mer repeats, whereas only low responses were measured using proteins containing 1 or no 12-mer repeats. Several sera entirely failed to recognise the protein which lacked 12-mer repeats. The data suggest that variation in the number of tandem repeat sequences could allow the parasite to avoid high avidity antibody binding and this may allow escape from immune recognition.

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The benefits of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy in patients with the sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome (SAHS) are poorly documented and patients use CPAP less than physicians recommend. To establish patients' perceptions of benefit from CPAP and to identify determinants of CPAP use, 204 CPAP users completed a questionnaire relating to use of CPAP therapy, sleepiness, and road traffic incident rate before and after CPAP, perceived change in daytime function and nocturnal symptoms with treatment, and problems with CPAP. Variables from these domains of interest were examined, reduced through principal components analysis and correlated to assess associations between these and polysomnographic measures of illness severity. Self-reported CPAP use averaged 5.8 +/- SD 2 h a night. Subjective sleepiness rated by the Epworth sleepiness scale and road traffic incident rate were significantly reduced by CPAP (p<0.0001). A broad range of function and symptom items were highly significantly improved with CPAP (p<0.0001), corroborating the cost to community and industry from SAHS and the preventive value of CPAP. Road traffic incident rate before treatment was correlated with pre-CPAP sleepiness and SAHS severity. Subjective CPAP use correlated with sleepiness before treatment but not with SAHS severity. CPAP mask problems and side effects were not associated with reduced CPAP use, but "nuisance" complaints of awakenings, noise, and sore eyes from CPAP correlated negatively with reported use. Greater reported CPAP use was associated with better resolution of sleepiness and greater improvement in daytime function and nocturnal symptoms.

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The present study was undertaken to examine the fate of neuromuscular junctions in C57BL/WldS mice (formerly known as OLA mice) after nerve injury. When a peripheral nerve is injured, the distal axons normally degenerate within 1-3 days. For motor axons, an early event is deterioration of motor nerve terminals at neuromuscular junctions. Previously, the vulnerability of motor terminals has been attributed either to a 'signal' originating at the site of nerve injury and transported rapidly to the terminals or to their continual requirement for essential maintenance factors synthesized in the motor neuron cell body and supplied to the terminals by fast axonal transport. Mice of the WldS strain have normal axoplasmic transport but show an abnormally slow rate of axon and myelin degeneration. Structure and function are retained in the axons of distal nerve stumps for several days or even weeks after nerve injury in these mice. The results of the present study show that WldS neuromuscular junctions are also preserved and continue to release neurotransmitter and recycle synaptic vesicle membrane for at least 3 days and in some cases up to 2 weeks after nerve injury. Varying the site of the nerve lesion delayed degeneration by approximately 1-2 days per centimetre of distal nerve remaining. These findings suggest that the mechanisms of nerve terminal degeneration after injury are more complex than can be accounted for simply by the failure of motor neuron cell bodies to supply their terminals with essential maintenance factors. Rather, the data support the view that nerve section normally activates cellular components or processes already present, but latent, in motor nerve endings, and that in WldS mice either the trigger or the cellular response is abnormal.

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