SummaryThe Triservice anaesthetic apparatus is a draw-ooer system using ambient air as the primary carrier gas.

A preliminary study of 24 hours’ postoperative analgesia using a patient-controlled analgesia technique was undertaken in eight European and fourteen Asian adult patients. All patients had upper abdominal surgery and received weight-related doses of pethidine postoperatively via a Cardiff Palliator. Both groups had a similar degree of analgesia as assessed by visual analogue score but the Asian patients were more sedated in the postoperative period. The Asian patients made 24% fewer demands for analgesia and had a smaller mean (SD) pethidine consumption, 7.62 (2.04) mg.kg−1, compared with the European patients, 9.97 (2.14) mg.kg−1, (P < 0.05) during the first 24 hours. Further research is necessary to determine whether the smaller requirement for analgesia in Asian patients is a result of pharmacokinetic or pharmacodynamic differences.

SummaryThis study set out to determine if there was any resistance to vecuronium in Nepalese studied in Nepal compared with Nepalese, Chinese and European patients studied in Hong Kong. The four groups, each of 10 male and 10 female patients, were intubated 60 s after administration of 0.1 mg.kg-' vecuronium. The Nepalese patients in Nepal had significantly less satisfactory intubating conditions ( p = 0.002). Similarly, male patients had significantly less satisfactory conditions than female patients ( p = 0.004). Some anthropometric measurements were significantly different between the patients in Nepal and those in Hong Kong. There were also sex-related anthropometric differences. It is suggested that differences in response to vecuronium could be explained by differences in distribution volume and muscle mass

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