The effect of etomidate on the auditory evoked response was examined in a double-blind study carried out before the start of surgery. Fourteen patients were anaesthetized with 70% nitrous oxide and oxygen after induction with thiopentone. Ventilation was controlled. Seven of the patients received a continuous infusion of etomidate, increasing in five equal steps from 0.01 mg kg-1 min-1 to 0.05 mg kg-1 min-1 over a period of 50 min. The other seven received similarly an equivalent volume of saline. The patients given etomidate were easily distinguishable from those given saline, solely on the basis of changes in the early cortical peaks Pa and Nb. In the etomidate group the latencies of these peaks increased and their amplitudes decreased. These changes were linearly related to serum etomidate concentration. There was no effect of etomidate on the brainstem response.

I. Adipose tissue samples were obtained by needle biopsy from three subcutaneous sites (thigh, abdomen and upper arm) in twenty-two obese women. The fatty acid composition was determined using gas-liquid chromatography and the results presented relate to eleven component fatty acids.2. The fatty acid composition of adipose tissue obtained from the arm and abdomen was remarkably similar, with the exception of the levels of lauric acid.3. The analyses showed that the majority of the saturated fatty acids were present in smaller proportions whilst the majority of unsaturated fatty acids were present in larger proportions in the thigh than in the two other sites. Highly significant inter-site differences were demonstrated for six of the major fatty acids and also for both the total amounts of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids and their ratios. 4.N o marked differences in the fatty acid composition of adipose tissue from obese subjects were revealed during this study when compared with previously reported results obtained from 'normal-weight' subjects.Although numerous studies have been carried out to elucidate the biochemical and metabolic pathways of adipose tissue, comparatively few have dealt with fatty acid (FA) composition of adipose tissue.In the early 1960s several workers in East and South Africa investigated the FA composition of adipose tissue from adults of different ethnic origins. MacLaren et al. (1962) showed that, with the exception of lauric and myristic acids, abdominal fat samples from three racial groups were very similar despite marked dietary differences. A similar conclusion was reached by Krut & Bronte-Stewart (1964) who also showed no effect of age on depot fat composition of adults of three races, but higher ratios for monounsaturated: saturated FA in women than in men.In 1965, MacLaren and his co-workers (MacLaren et a/. 1969, investigating the adipose tissue FA composition of prematures, infants and adults in Lebanon, found in four adults and one 12-year-old child that the amounts of palmitoleic acid were significantly lower and those of stearic acid higher, in fat obtained from deep sites compared to that from superficial sites. This finding was not confirmed in two studies made in England by Heffernan (1963) and Brook (1971). Several of these authors reported some inter-site differences between the proportion of one or two major FA in the adipose tissue of the leg and of the abdomen.Adipose tissue FA composition has been investigated for its possible relationship to atherosclerosis and diabetes (Antonini et al. 1970), myocardial infarction (Kirkeby et al. 1972) and coronary heart diseases (Lang et al. 1977).The purpose of this investigation was to compare the FA composition of adipose tissue from three different subcutaneous sites (upper arm, thigh and abdomen) obtained from obese female subjects.

Summary

SummaryThe nitrous oxide and halothane contamination in the inspired air of anaesthetists and in the atmospheres oJ'operating theatres, anaesthetic induction and recovery rooms, were measured during normal unmodified h,orking sessions in 20 hospitals using integrated personal samplers. The nitrous oxide (and halothane) leoels ranged from < I0 to 3000 ppm ( < 0.1 to 60ppm)

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