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Author(s): Schwartz, Elliott | Abstract: American composer Elliott Schwartz, born and raised in Brooklyn, discusses the various ways in which the legacy of Italian music has shaped his stylistic development. He also recounts the circumstances which led to his 1980 resident fellowship at the Villa Serbelloni in Bellagio, and the creation of his string quartet "Bellagio Variations." Schwartz's essay includes a brief non-technical analysis of the quartet, and links to a recorded performance.

Objective We review empirical evidence for the relations of recent and cumulative lead dose with cognitive function in adults. Data Sources A systematic search of electronic databases resulted in 21 environmental and occupational studies from 1996 to 2006 that examined and compared associations of recent (in blood) and cumulative (in bone) lead doses with neurobehavioral outcomes. Data extraction Data were abstracted after consideration of exclusion criteria and quality assessment, and then compiled into summary tables. Conclusions At exposure levels encountered after environmental exposure, associations with bio-markers of cumulative dose (mainly lead in tibia) were stronger and more consistent than associations with blood lead levels. Similarly, in studies of former workers with past occupational lead exposure, associations were also stronger and more consistent with cumulative dose than with recent dose (in blood). In contrast, studies of currently exposed workers generally found associations that were more apparent with blood lead levels; we speculate that the acute effects of high, recent dose may mask the chronic effects of cumulative dose. There is moderate evidence for an association between psychiatric symptoms and lead dose but only at high levels of current occupational lead exposure or with cumulative dose in environmentally exposed adults.

This essay explores the role of music composition within the curriculum of a typical small liberal arts college and the faculty composer's role(s) in facilitating the study of composition. The relationship between composition and campus performance is discussed, particularly in light of the increased emphasis on performance in formerly all-male colleges (Amherst, Williams, Bowdoin, Dartmouth, and so on) after the advent of coeducation in the 1970s. Other topics include teaching strategies for introducing non-major students to composition, the rise of interest in non-Western music (with resulting influence on student composers), and the utilization of visiting performers/composers.

URING THE FINAL WEEK of September I had the good fortune of attending not one but two European new-music festivals-moreover, two that differed greatly in a number of important respects. The 1990 installment of the annual "World Music Days," sponsored by the International Society for Contemporary Music (and traditionally held in a different country each fall) took place in Oslo, Norway from the 22nd to 30th of September. I spent the first five days of that period in Oslo, and then on the 27th flew to Amsterdam, where I managed to catch most of the fourday (26-29 September) symposium entitled "The Voice as a Musical Instrument." The latter was sponsored by the prominent and increasingly important-although relatively recent-Dutch new-music organization known as De IJsbreker. To begin with Oslo: from the 594 compositions submitted for possible

A case is reported of a 34 year old white male with chronic renal failure secondary to glomerulonephritis who received four renal transplants over a period of five years. He died 25 months after the fourth transplant. Necropsy revealed a reticulum cell sarcoma-microglioma of the brain. The possibility that multiple transplants may have had a synergistic effect in the development of a malignant cerebral lymphoma in this patient is briefly discussed in the light of the current theories concerning the pathogenesis of the tumours in transplant recipients and in the context of the present therapeutic approach to graft rejection.