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Laxative use was significantly reduced in our long-term care facility when an interdisciplinary program based on a philosophy of prevention and health promotion was implemented. Specifically, increased fluid and fiber intake, timely toileting habits, and regular activity/exercise led to a halving of the number of patients receiving laxatives as required, relative to pre-program levels and relative to a control unit not receiving the program.

1. The most common ways in which staff were affected by patient death were "low morale" and "loss of efficacy at work." 2. Staff most commonly reported coping with death by "sharing feelings," knowing that their "work contributed to a good death" and by "placing death in a good light," although one in five nurses reported no strategy for dealing with patient death. 3. Nurses who are most affected by patient death have a more difficult time caring for younger patients, tend to "take their stress home" and are more likely to base their nursing care on a personal relationship with the patient, than nurses who are less affected.

This paper considers the optical design of a wide-angle fixed-path Michelson interferometer consisting of two arm glasses and an air gap. It is shown that this configuration can be optimized to give (a) extra large fringes (over 50 degrees in diameter) over a range of wavelength, (b) a path difference nearly independent of wavelength, or (c) a path difference specified differently at two different wavelengths for observing a pair of doublets. Specific examples refer to the airglow wavelengths of 557.7, 630.0, 732.0 nm and others, and to a path difference of 4.5 cm. The properties of different glass combinations are discussed.

A wide-angle Michelson Doppler imaging interferometer (WAMDII) is described that is intended to measure upper atmospheric winds and temperatures from naturally occurring visible region emissions, using Spacelab as a platform. It is an achromatic field-widened instrument, with good thermal stability, that employs four quarterwave phase-stepped images to generate full images of velocity, temperature, and emission rate. For an apparent emission rate of 5 kR and binning into 85 x 105 pixels, the required exposure time is 1 sec. The concept and underlying principles are described, along with some fabrication details for the prototype instrument. The results of laboratory tests and field measurements using auroral emissions are described and discussed.

Seventy-four cases of breast cancer in children and adolescents are reviewed. No predisposing factors were identified. A secretory type of mammary carcinoma characteristically seen in this age group has an excellent prognosis. Other types of mammary carcinoma which also occur in children may have a less favorable prognosis. Persistent breast masses in children and adolescents should be biopsied unless cystic, and should be treated as would carcinoma in adults, keeping in mind the favorable prognosis in so-called secretory carcinoma.