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The beef programme set up by Dalgety Meat Ltd is a positive link between producer and consumer. It started 10 years ago when it became clear that it was necessary for Dalgety to establish a link with beef breeding and production if the company was to provide its retail clients with regular supplies of quality meat. To achieve this link, Dalgety Meat Ltd developed beef producer groups.Calves destined for beef originate either from dairy or beef herds and there are many different routes through life, making it very difficult to maintain contact with the product from conception to consumer. Also, an individual producer fattening, say, 50 to 100 head, supplying a wholesaler requiring 50,100 or 200 thousand cattle per year can not, individually, make any impact in terms of producing beef for an identified market. However, a group of producers with an output of several thousand fat cattle opens up a different possibility. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Familial clustering of congenital bilateral abductor vocal fold paralysis has been reported very rarely. So far, only a handful of cases have been reported, mostly with the autosomal dominant of X-linked recessive mode of inheritance. We describe the cases of a brother and sister, who presented with neonatal stridor due to bilateral abductor vocal fold paralysis. First-degree parental consanguinity suggests an autosomal recessive mode of inheritance. Karyotype analysis revealed a paracentric balanced inversion of chromosome 13 in both cases, that was also present in the unaffected mother. An updated review of the literature on this interesting but rare condition is also presented.

The clinical and pathological features of glandular tumours of the external auditory meatus are presented. Their heterogenous clinical and pathological features make the collective term 'ceruminoma' ambiguous and misleading. The spectrum of pathological behaviour and histological features demonstrated by these interesting tumours necessitate a broader classification system. In our hospital 32 patients presented with tumours of the external auditory meatus over a 30-year period, of which seven were glandular in origin. A review of the histology of these glandular tumours enabled us to reclassify them as adenoma, cylindroma, adenoid cystic carcinoma or ceruminous adenocarcinoma. Together with the less common mucoepidermoid carcinoma and pleomorphic adenoma this subdivision forms a basis for a more meaningful classification system with prognostic and therapeutic implications specific to each tumour type. The term 'ceruminoma' should no longer be used unqualified.

The resurgence of tuberculosis world-wide and its association with HIV infection means a greater likelihood of otolaryngologists encountering the disease in one form or another. In this review the features of primary and secondary tuberculosis in various head and neck sites are described, and recent advances in diagnosis are discussed. For the otolaryngologists other important aspects such as infections with atypical mycobacteria, the differential diagnosis of cervical lymphadenopathy in HIV-infected patients, recently recognized problems in drug treatment, and the role of surgery in head and neck tuberculosis are also discussed.

A review of medical records of unselected children in whom the otoscopic diagnosis of middle ear effusion was uncertain, showed that tympanometry resolved the diagnostic uncertainty with an accuracy of 88 per cent for the prediction of a dry middle ear and an accuracy of 85 per cent for predicting fluid in the middle ear. Tympanometry itself gave inconclusive findings in II per cent of cases. Tympanometry can greatly reduce the need for diagnostic aspiration of the middle ear.

A survey is presented of all known cases of cancer of the mouth in a population of nearly half a million in a relatively isolated part of Yorkshire, with the results of treatment of squamous carcinoma, adeno-carcinoma, lympho-sarcoma, malignant tumours of odontogenic origin and sarcomas.

A study of all patients with cancer of the larynx in a population of 449,430 over ten years shows that supraglottic and epilaryngeal cancer has an almost equal incidence to glottic cancer. There is a relationship between urbanization and the incidence of cancer of the larynx, and between cancer of the larynx and bronchogenic carcinoma. A policy of radiotherapy with surgery held in reserve for supraglottic and epilaryngeal cancer failed at a general hospital, for reasons that have been discussed. Primary surgery is required for most cases of supraglottic and epilaryngeal cancer. Radiotherapy with surgery held in reserve is the most appropriate treatment for the great majority of glottic cancers. When radiotherapy failed to cure the disease palliation was achieved in only a small minority of the cases.