One of the more worrying features of recruitment and selection practices in the United Kingdom is the misuse of ipsative personality tests. Employers are understandably attracted by claims that these quick and easy to administer tests will give valid insights into the personality of job applicants. However, on the evidence we have seen, the publishers and the promoters of these tests are either unaware of, or do not understand, or are choosing to ignore their limitations. This is not to say that ipsative tests have no utility but that the claims made for their validity and reliability and their applicability to inter‐individual comparisons are misleading. Failure to take account of the mathematical properties of ipsative measures leads users to treat them as if they are normative measures, with startling consequences which ought to be obvious but unfortunately are not.

A sample of 45 student subjects provided solution scores for 80 five-letter anagrams. These scores were analysed as a function of solution word imagery, concreteness, familiarity, objective frequency, age-of-acquisition and associative meaningfulness using multiple regression techniques. T w o bigram measures together with number of vowels, nature of starting letter (vowel or consonant), anagram pronounceability and anagram-solution similarity scores were also entered into the regression equations. The bigram measures, the starting letter and anagram-solution similarity emerged as having significant associations with the solution scores. Previous reports of imagery effects in anagram are discussed in the light of the present results.

For children requiring mechanical circulatory support as a bridge to cardiac transplantation in North America, options previously were limited to extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) or centrifugal pump ventricular assist, both of which were suitable for only very short term application and were associated with significant complications and limitations. The Berlin Heart EXCOR ventricular assist device (VAD) was recently introduced into practice in North America to address this deficiency. We report a preliminary single center experience with the EXCOR in 17 children, 13 who received only a left-sided pump and four who required biventricular support. Before EXCOR placement, six patients were on ECMO, and one was on a centrifugal VAD. Eleven children were bridged to transplantation, one was bridged to recovery, and one remains on support. Three children died during support and one died after explantation. There was one late death nearly 2 years after transplant. Complications included stroke in seven patients, two of which were ultimately fatal. Five patients required re-operations for bleeding or evacuation of hematoma. Despite a disappointing rate of neurologic morbidity, our preliminary experience with the EXCOR has been very encouraging.

No abstract

Dynamic headspace concentration was used to trap peach flavor volatiles from a promising cultivar under development. Separation and identification of components were by high resolution gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. One hundred ten compounds including alcohols, aldehydcs, alkancs, esters, ketones, aromatic hydrocarbons, sulfur-containing compounds and some miscellaneous compounds were positively or tcntativcly identified. Forty-six compounds were positivcly identified in peach for the first time.