A thyroid function screening programme of admissions to a general psychiatric service was established. Over a 22-week period 588 patients were admitted and thyroid function tests were performed on 336, a screening rate of 57.1%. Initial investigation showed that 21.3% had a total thyroxine outside the range 75-130 nmol/l. On further investigation only 9 patients (1 thyrotoxic, 8 hypothyroid) had confirmed thyroid disease. In 7 of the 9 patients the disease had been clinically suspected. Thus the screening programme identified only 2 unsuspected cases of thyroid dysfunction and we conclude that this level of detection does not warrant a formal screening programme.

BOOK REVIEWS universally-encountered situation of what to do when a patient on methadone tests positive in the urine for heroin. That criticism cannot be levelled at this book â€"¿ it has both. Indeed the practical advice is a real strength here, on subjects such as prescription-writing regulations, drugs and driving, and the implications of co-existent hepatitis. Other areas included in a â€oe¿ special problems―section include treatment of the pregnant addict, drug-abusing professionals, and manage ment of drug users on general wards, in the casualty department, and in custody. This is a single author text, which is mainly a strength, because of uniformity of style. However drug

A picture of the violent 'headhunting' Celtic peoples of Britain was painted by Roman historians and writers thousands of years ago. Even to this day, it is an image that has likely, though perhaps inadvertently, affected the interpretations of many incidents of skeletal trauma. This paper looks at a number of these narratives from a range of different burial contexts from the Iron Age in England. The secondary osteoarchaeological data from these sites was reviewed to understand the extent to which these interpretations can be scientifically supported. Results demonstrate that the study of the skeletal trauma was often unable to provide tangible support to most interpretations and raised some key issues with the limitations of the current techniques.