No abstract

The relationship between physical health and psychological wellbeing is a complex one, with each impacting upon the other to one degree or another. Psychiatric patients are often reported to be not as physically healthy as their counterparts in the general population, with reports of increased weight gain and decreased activity. This study of two classifications of psychiatric patients in a high security psychiatric establishment was an attempt to ascertain if such a relationship existed between physical fitness, psychopathology, weight gain and medication levels. Using standardized tests to assess two parameters of health-related fitness — Harpenden skinfold callipers to estimate percentage body fat (BF), and a submaximal cycle ergometer ride for aerobic capacity (VO2 max) — results were compared with the general population using the Allied Dunbar National Fitness Survey (Sports Council and Health Education Authority, 1992) as a reference. The results indicate significant differences in aerobic fitness between the two groups (P<0.01) and such differences could be a cause for concern and may constitute a threat to both physiological and mental wellbeing.

Research involving animals SIR-The strength of opinion on both sides of the debate about the use of animals in research has generated mutual suspicion and discouraged rational discussion. In an attempt to break through the distrust, a group of antivivisectionists,

Clive Hollands, former Director of the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Vivisection, Secretary of the Committee for the Reform of Animal Experimentation, former member of the Animal Procedures Committee, and member of the Farm Animal Welfare Council, died in November 1996 at the age of 67. His many contributions to human and animal welfare are reviewed by some of his many friends and colleagues.

The far Barcoo where they eat nardoo To carry me westward ho, my boys, that's where the cattle stray, On the far Barcoo where they eat nardoo, a thousand mile away.