We have great pleasure to present the latest extension of the European Institute of Health Care book series. This volume is devoted to neurodevelopmental d- orders. Again, we had the privilege to be able to work with reknowned experts who have agreed to contribute to this endeavour. The book comprises a number of topics related to psychosocial and motor development and is exemplary with regard to its comprehensiveness, as reviews of the topics presented are generally not available in a single publication. It starts with a timely and critical discussion of the genetics of attention deficit...

Backing up the pioneering medical researchers and experi menters are the phalanxes and cohorts of practising clinicians in district general hospitals and in general practice who may have to implement and apply any breakthroughs and advances in practical and realistic terms. This they cannot, and should not, be expected to do without careful consideration and analysis. It is essential, therefore, to have regular reviews of the growing points of medicine which are constructively critical as well as being enthusiastic and which can present the issues and implications clearly and fairly to...

DDDDDDDDDDDD Effective management logically follows accurate diagnosis. Such logic often is difficult to apply in practice. Absolute diagnostic accuracy may not be possible, particularly in the field of primary care, when management has to be on analysis of symptoms and on knowledge of the individual patient and family. This series follows that on Problems in Practice which was con- cerned more with diagnosis in the widest sense and this series deals more definitively with general care and specific treatment of symp- toms and diseases. Good management must include knowledge of the nature,...

Herewe offer anew approach to understanding and managing common medical conditions. With the needs of our readers in mind we present clearer, more extensive and more expansive views on them. Traditional medical textbooks are wordy tomes with well worn patterns dealing in set order with 'causes, symptoms and signs, diagnosis and treatment'. They offer formal instant snapshots of diseases. We have devised an economic synoptic style, and we have endeavoured to give acomprehensive and an on-going long term movepicture ofeach condition and to relate this to the analysisofsymptoms and signs, to...

Administering the National Health Service (NHS) is asking to navigate without reliable and sufficient information. It is amazing how a national service costing more than GBP15,OOOM (1984) and employing more than 1 million has existed since 1948. It is likely that with better appropriate data there could be economies and great efficiency and effectiveness. Paradoxically there is much data on the NHS, published and unpublished, that has remained unexploited and unused. In this book we have taken up the challenges of showing the availability of data and its presentation so that clinicians,...