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This paper looks at the reasons why a UK life insurance company would wish to consider expanding into an overseas market, the factors it ought to bear in mind when deciding upon which country or countries to enter and the entry routes open to a company wishing to expand overseas.By way of examples of overseas life insurance markets, the paper provides a detailed description of the German and Indian life insurance markets.

Lists of 30 monosyllabic words drawn at random with replacement from a set of 69 were presented monotically to the right or left ear of 28 subjects for immediate repetition (shadowing) at a rate of 120 words per minute. Each subject shadowed 40 lists. A right-ear advantage was found over the first 1.5 blocks (15 lists) but not for the remaining 2.5 blocks (25 lists). The results are related to previous investigations of monotic and dichotic listening, and are explained by a set (bias) in attention or response which favours the right ear and declines with practice.

1-Methy-4-phenylpyridinium ion (MPP), the active metabolite of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3.6-tetrahydropyridine, has been chronically infused (10 μg 24 h for 7 days) via osmotic minipumps into the left median forebrain bundle of the rat in order to determine whether it can induce permanent damage to the nigrostrialal dopamine system. Its effects were assessed over a period of 6 months post lesion. Four to 5 days following minipump implantation, all MPP -treated animals displayed spontaneous ipsilatcral postural bias indicating a marked imbalance in striatal dopamine and degeneration of the ipsilateral nigroslriatal dopamine pathway. After 3–5 weeks. MPP-infused animals showed dose-related ipsilateral and contralateral circling in response to methamphetamine (1.5 mg/kg i.p.) and apomorphine (0.05–0.25 mg/kg s.c.) respectively. In vivo using bilateral monitoring of striatal dopamine in MPP-infused animals at 2 and 4 months by push pull perfusion, both basal and methamphetamine- (2.5 mg/kg i.p.) stimulated release of dopamine was undetectable in the ipsilateral striatum. indicating a complete loss of dopamine terminals. In contrast, in the contralateral striatum of these animals and in striata of saline-infused animals, there were 4–5-fold increases in dopamine release in response to methamphelamine. Six months after lesion, animals infused with MPP' continue to exhibit robust rotational behaviour in response to melhamphctamine and apomorphine In the ipsilateral striatum of the MPP -infused animals the tissue concentrations of dopamine and its metabolites, 3.4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid and homovanillic acid, were all undetectable; however, the levels of noradrenaline, serotonin and its metabolite. 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid, were not significantly different from control values. In contrast to the striatum. MPP' had no significant effect on the levels of dopamine and its metabolites in the ipsilateral nucleus accumbens: in addition, the levels of noradrenaline and serotonin and its metabolite were comparable to control levels. Histologieal examination revealed a marked loss of cells and severe gliosis in the substantia nigra pars compacta of MPP'-infused animals. The present results provide evidence that direct infusion of MPP' into the medial forebrain bundle of the rat can lead to a complete loss of dopamine neurons in the pars compacta of the substantia nigra with ensuing behavioural, neurochemical and biochemical changes characteristic of the lesion. In addition, these studies have demonstrated that MPP' produces a selective degeneration of the nigrostriatal dopamine pathway while sparing the mesohmbic dopamine as well as the nigrostriatal and mesolimbic noradrenaline and serotonin projections.

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed to determine the presence of flavivirus antibodies to Murray Valley encephalitis (MVE) and Kunjin viruses in sentinel chicken sera. The development of a quick, reliable assay to detect antibodies to MVE was an essential part of a largescale surveillance programme to monitor arbovirus activity in Western Australia. This assay was developed for use with alkaline phosphatase conjugated goat anti-mouse IgG using mouse anti-chicken globulin in an intermediate step. There was a significant difference in absorbance values between neutralization test positive and pre-bled sera. However, some sera obtained from sentinel chickens and deemed negative by neutralization demonstrated adsorbance levels above the cut-off level in the ELISA, which reflects the increased sensitivity of this technique. The ELISA test detected antibodies to MVE in chicken sera 7–10 days after infection, whereas these antibodies were only consistently detected by the neutralization test 24 days after infection. Antibodies to both MVE and Kunjin reacted positively with the MVE antigen, but there was little cross-reactivity between this antigen and antibodies to other togaviruses. The main advantages of the ELISA over the neutralization test for detecting antibodies to MVE virus in the sera of sentinel chickens are its greater sensitivity and the speed with which tests can be performed. Results are available within 48 h of receiving specimens and emergency mosquito control measures may then be implemented.