Psychiatrists may be daunted by the prospect of undertaking a neurological examination. In this article we briefly review the neurological signs that may be seen in the context of some common neurological disorders of cognition and movement which may present with neurobehavioural symptoms and therefore may be seen initially by psychiatrists. This approach emphasises that neurological examination is not simply an operationalised procedure but an interpretative process. We propose a minimum neurological examination suitable for use by psychiatrists. Many of the signs included are relatively simple to observe or elicit, require no special equipment, and the examination techniques involved are easy to master.

Children with innocent murmurs are often referred to a paediatric cardiologist for diagnosis. The most common murmurs of early childhood are the so-called Still's murmurs, followed by ejection murmurs across the pulmonary or aortic vessels, and the venous hum. There also exists a high coincidence of murmurs with the presence of tendinous structures traversing the cavity of the left ventricle. In this report, we describe 6 patients who presented to our outpatient clinic with cardiac murmurs. None of them had abnormalities on the clinical examination, electrocardiographic, or echocardiographic investigation. They presented a similar murmur that was also audible over the back. On closer examination of the aorta with cross-sectional echocardiography, we discovered echogenic, tendinous structures crossing the lumen of the descending aorta or the aortic arch. Whilst we are not yet able to prove that the cords produced the innocent murmurs, the association is highly suggestive.

The tasks required for the preservation of the health of rescuers can be accomplished with the creation of a system for medical examinations and rehabilitation that functions with commonly used methodological and organizational principles. Absence of such a common methodological platform often results in the disqualification of members of the special contingent and a mistake in the evaluation process that gives birth to serious medical and social problems. The specific character of the rescuers' activities during conditions associated with extraordinary situations necessitates the development of criteria-based evaluation systems for determining the prognosis, and the clinical, diagnostic, normative, and legal, medical, and social criteria that include methodological approaches that define the criteria to be used in the examinations. We propose that the concept of the professional health examinations becomes the methodological basis used for the medical examinations and rehabilitation of the rescuers.

Accompanying the graying of America is the increased incidence of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and the need to teach prehospital personnel how to manage these patients. The purpose of this project was to develop an instructional strategy to teach prehospital personnel about AD and some basic management techniques. This information includes: causes of acute and gradual onset confusion in the elderly; symptoms and course of AD; mental status exam; methods to facilitate communication; techniques to avoid confrontation; and means to identify personal feelings about the elderly and AD.

Teaching methodology includes instructional objectives, videotape presentation of didactic/clinical material, videotape situations demonstrating patient management techniques, role playing exercises, and discussion groups.

The videotape presentation portion of the teaching methodology was shown to be effective as a single instructional strategy. One hundred and thirty-four EMS personnel were given a sixteen item exam before and after the videotape presentation. Pre-test to post-test difference was significant at p=.001. The additional instruction components may further impact the knowledge of AD and positive delivery of care to the elderly.

Sixty-four sorghum accessions were screened for resistance to the grain midge, Contarinia sorghicola Coq., under natural infestation conditions at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore during 1982. Absolute resistance was not found in any of them. Low grain damage was recorded in PVK 50 (6.61%), PVK 55 (11.58%), AF 28 (17.03%) and DJ 6514 (17.05%) while the susceptible accession, SPV 234 recorded high grain damage (92.72%) in the screening trial. The ovipositional preference studies at insectary revealed significantly reduced grain damage in the resistant accessions. Among them, the lowest damage (8.33%) was recorded in PVK 50 followed by AF 28, DJ 6514 and PVK 55 while the susceptible accession, SPV 234 recorded 21.57% grain damage. In the choice experiments, SPV 234 had 11.22–35.36% more infestation than in the resistant accessions evaluated along with it. Studies on development and biology of the midge revealed that antibiosis is one of the mechanisms of resistance in the lines, PVK 50, DJ 6514, AF 28 and PVK 55.