Psychiatry is a discipline that crosses many frontiers, involving a know ledge of the anatomy, physiology and biochemistry of the nervous system, of general medicine, of sociology, of psychology, of the law and of all those subjects which comprise the behavioural sciences. Moreover, in the field of psychiatry the explosion of knowledge has led to an increase in special ization in sub-disciplines. To all those interested in psychiatry this diversity causes real problems. They may have to consult a wide variety of sources before finding the answer to what may be in fact a relatively simple...

Reproduction and fetal development in humans and experimental animals may be adversely affected by a wide range of drugs and environmental agents. They may be toxic in the parental generation leading to impaired germ cell formation, loss of reproductive poten- tial and infertility following chronic exposure. Deviant fetal development occurs as a consequence of cellular damage at sensi- tive stages in development. Changes seen range from intrauterine mortality and structural malformation to growth retardation with physiological and behavioural defects. Concepts on the mechanism of action of...

A. N. WORDEN, D. V. PARKE AND J. MARKS THE BACKGROUND There is nothing new about the fact that chemical substances derived either from natural products or by synthetic means .. can give rise to toxicity in animals and human beings, and that they must be subjected to controls. The earliest writings speak of such toxicity and, from the times of ancient Egypt and in the Old Tes- tament, controls have existed[l]. In the Middle Ages Paracelsus (1493-1541) noted that "All things are poisons, for there is nothing without poisonous qualities. It is only the dose which makes a thing a poison", and...

The story of the benzodiazepines is a fascinating one: the synthesis of a long series of inert compounds and the abandonment of the project: months later, the renewal of the project and the discovery that this compound R05-0690 (Librium (R)) was a sedative and muscle relaxant in laboratory animals: the recognition that its postulated structure was wrong and that it was in fact a member of an entirely new chemical class: the excitement caused by the discovery of the powerful taming effect of the drug in wild animals: the even greater excitement in medical circles when its dramatic anxiety...

This book has been designed, as its title implies, as a practical book for medical practitioners, although it should be of interest to medical students and nutritionists. It attempts to provide essential information about this important group of substances rather than be an all embracing monograph on the subject. For this reason biochemical and physiological considera- tions have been kept to a minimum, and aspects of animal disorders and animal husbandry have not been considered. The material is often presented in a rather dogmatic fashion and, with rare exceptions, references are not...

Obesity in affluent countries continues to be a serious problem. When one runs an Obesity Clinic there appears to be an unending series of patients who need help. Our understanding of weight control has been advanced not only by the studies of obese patients but also by our investigation of the problems of weight gain in young women with anorexia nervosa. Just as among obese patients there is the group of 'efficient metabolizers' who can maintain their excessive weight with a calorie intake occasion- ally as low as 600 kcal per day, so we have demonstrated that among anorexic women there are...