The pharmacokinetics of diclofenac were examined following single rapid intravenous injection and also following single oral doses to healthy female volunteers. After intravenous injection plasma levels of diclofenac fell rapidly and were below the limits of detection at 5.5 h postdosing. Individual drug profiles were described by a triexponential function and mean half-lives of the three exponential phases were 0.05, 0.26 and 1.1 h. After oral doses of enteric-coated tablets, the lag time between dosing and the appearance of drug in plasma varied between 1.0 and 4.5 h. However once drug absorption had commenced similar plasma drug profiles were obtained in different individuals. Peak plasma diclofenac levels ranged from 1.4 to 3.0 microgram . ml-1. The mean terminal drug half-life in plasma was 1.8 h after oral doses. This value was not significantly greater than the value of 1.1 h following intravenous doses. Fifty percent of orally dosed diclofenac did not reach the systemic circulation due, predominantly, to first-pass metabolism.

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This paper presents a study of patterns of cranial variation within and between extant hominoids. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between sexual dimorphisms and size differences between sexes. It emerges that shape contrasts between sexes are closely linked to size differences whilst variance dimorphism appears to be relatively independent of size effects. This study demonstrates that there are differences between the hominoids in their magnitudes and patterns of sexual shape contrasts. These types of differences are also found to exist between subgroups of modern humans. It is suggested that the differences which occur between hominoid groups in their patterns of sexual dimorphism are probably the result of a mixture of time and rate hypermorphoses (in males relative to females) acting upon different ontogenetic trajectories. The findings of this study suggest the need for caution in extrapolating from the sexual dimorphisms found in living hominoids to hypothesized dimorphisms in fossils.

A cluster analysis of 17 preoperative and 10 operative variables has been undertaken from a prospective study of 181 patients undergoing operations on the biliary tract in order to identify those with organisms in the bile who would therefore benefit from prophylactic antibiotic cover. The analysis defined populations of high risk (45 patients) and low risk (136 patients) in which the incidence of infected bile was 67 and 19 per cent respectively (P less than 0-001). Eight variables were more common in the high risk than in the low risk group (P less than 0-001). These "high risk factors" were: jaundice at operation, recent rigoors, emergency operation or one within 4 weeks of an emergency admission, age over 70 years, previous biliary operation, common duct obstruction and stones in the bile duct. In 67 patients where one or more "high risk factors" was present, the bile contained organisms in 37 (53 percent); when 4 "high risk factors" occurred in the same patient (16 cases) biliary organisms were isolated in 14(87 per cent). We conclude that the presence of one or more "high risk factors" indicates a patient in whom prophylactic antibiotics would be advised during an operation on the biliary tract.

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