Brief communication: gut morphology of Callithrix nigriceps and Saguinus labiatus from western Brazilian Amazonia.

Quantitative data on the gut proportions of the recently-described black-headed marmoset (Callithrix nigriceps) from western Brazilian Amazonian are presented. Like other marmosets, C. nigriceps exhibits a relatively large caecum and colon associated with adaptations for gummivory. The degree of gut specialisation recorded is greater than that for any other platyrrhine for which quantitative data are available. Gum was found in the stomach contents of all four individuals examined, although the fruit/seeds of as many as seven different plant taxa were also encountered, in addition to insects of six different orders. Gut proportions of two Saguinus labiatus from the same region were typical of the more frugivorous tamarins, and stomach contents included only fruit and insects. Relative gut proportions of both species were closely similar to those of congeners from the same region.

Radiosurgery: a nursing perspective.

The term radiosurgery, originally applied to three-dimensional stereotactic irradiation of small intracranial targets with low-energy x-rays, has more recently been applied to widely differing techniques and radiation sources. These include gamma units using cobalt-60; beams of protons, helium ions and neutrons; and modified cobalt-60 or linear accelerator units. These techniques allow delivery of a high dose of radiation in a single fraction to a small and well-defined intracranial volume, without delivering significant radiation to adjacent normal tissue. The most usual targets for radiosurgery are arteriovenous malformations. It is occasionally used for acoustic neuromas and primary or metastatic brain malignancies as well. Although radiosurgery is not a new procedure, its use is becoming more widespread. Nurses, as critical members of radiosurgery teams, must be informed about all aspects of the procedures and associated nursing care skills.

Doctors, partitocrazia, and the Italian state.

Political and economic forces are determinants of the social position of the professions in any country, but in Italy the political parties exercise such extensive control that no profession can function independent of political party decision making. The medical profession thus developed in close connection with the state, reflecting in the split between generalists and specialists with its professional organization (ordini) differences between the political parties. The attempt of the state to rationalize the health system and control costs through the mechanism of the Italian national health service had the ironic effect of unifying the profession in opposition and thereby increasing its strength. The case of Italy shows the standard conceptual models of professional autonomy to be incomplete because they fail to account for the central role of political parties.

The political context of health service regulation.

Can regulation work in health services, given the present political context? General issues in the regulatory process are discussed, followed by a consideration of the relevance of these issues to the health care field. Regulatory processes are reviewed for the United States in four areas: credentialling of people, surveillance of delivery systems, quality of materials and technology, and rate-setting or cost control. It is concluded that the process cannot work. Four alternatives are presented and briefly evaluated: tinkering, centralized regulation, national health service, and general nationalization of most major economic sectors.

Systems analysis and mental health services.

Systems analysis, a method originating in engineering and planning areas, evaluates the costs and consequences of alternative approaches to a goal given a known set of constraints. Mental health services are badly in need of a more rational approach to planning, and this article shows how specific systems analysis techniques can be used to describe a mental health system and, at the same time, to evaluate consequences and costs of changing the system in different ways. The limitations of the approach are also considered. The authors' main aim is a general introduction to the systems approach for mental health practitioners.

Trust, training, and the school dropout's world view.

The world mew of a group of "hard-core" school dropouts contained three major themes. First, they wanted to become members of the lower middle class and had relevant ideals. Second, their behavior and community ostracism made the possibility of achieving this status minimal. Third, although they had internalized middle-class ideals and values, their ideals were not integrated with the rest of their personality. They were ambivalent about these very goals and values, for "success" meant menial, boring work. For these reasons they mistrusted the training program and its staff. Either "success" or failure seemed like a blind alley.