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Increasedclinical interest,1,2stimulated by newer diagnostic techniques,3-6has made it apparent that Ebstein's anomaly represents a spectrum of right heart abnormalities. In the usual case, the septal and posterior leaflets of the tricuspid valve are not attached to the true annulus, as is the enlarged anterior leaflet, but are displaced distally into the ventricle. The degree of mal-attachment and the structural deformities of the cusps may vary greatly. This valvular derangement divides the ventricle into a proximal thin-walled “atrialized” portion and a distal muscular “outflow tract.”

Complexes of the meso and racemic forms of the disulfoxides 1,2-bis(phenylsulfinyl) methane and 1,2-bis (phenylsulfinyl) ethane have been synthesized and characterized. Bond type and ligand field parameters have been determined from infrared and visible-uv diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. There were essentially no observed differences in the properties of complexes of the meso and racemic forms of the ligands.

Numerous benefits have been attributed to use of playback during psychotherapy. To test its usefulness, 24 inmates at a federal women's prison were randomly divided into an audiotape-playback group, a regular therapy group, and a non-therapy control group. All Ss were administered a Q-sort measure immediately before and following a 6-wk. therapy or control period. The three groups did not significantly differ on any of the three Q-sort indices used. Taped excerpts from the two experimental groups showed that the playback Ss were significantly more verbally productive per unit of time, and it was suggested that playback may have affected the process but not the outcome of psychotherapy.

Body territory may be a useful concept when personal space is studied under conditions of threat. It is predicted that, under conditions implying physical threat, defense of body territory will be greatest in the condition of male-to-male movement, that the male object-person will be a greater source of threat than the female object-person, and that anxiety will be associated with greater intervening distances for both sexes. Each S(male or female) approached and was approached by his respective object-person (male or female), providing measures of invading and being invaded behaviors. The major findings were: Ss tended to stay farther from the male than the female object-person; males showed the strongest sex-of-object effect, with approach toward the female object being more influential than avoidance of the male object; female Ss were more influenced by anxiety; and male Ss were most influenced by degree of heterosexuality. It was concluded that partial support was evidenced for what could be called a body territorial factor in human space behavior.

LASER radar measurements of night-time atmospheric sodium are now an established technique; they have already made significant contributions to our knowledge of the distribution of sodium atoms in the 75 to 105 km height region1–6, and have recently been extended into daytime7. It has often been the practice in airglow methods to study sodium, potassium and lithium simultaneously since their chemical and physical properties are similar, but, to date, no laser radar measurements of either lithium or potassium have been reported. We report here the result of an experiment to detect and measure the density and distribution of atomic potassium in the 76 to 100 km height region using a laser radar system.

RAMAN-shifted backscatter of laser radar radiation from atmospheric constituents in the troposphere has been reported1–3. Signals from nitrogen have been detected up to heights of about 6 km and there have been indications of backscatter at even greater heights4. Oxygen and water vapour have also been the subject of tropospheric Raman investigations, generally using frequency doubled ruby (0.3472 µm) as the laser transmitter.

SYNGE1first suggested in 1930 that density measurements could be made of the lower atmosphere by observing the light scattered from the beam of a search-light. Elterman2in 1950 and onwards has operated the method in New Mexico with many improvements of the techniques. Fiocco and Smullins3in 1963 substituted a laser beam for the search-light beam and achieved comparable results. The equipment used in the experiments described here was planned in 1962 and erected in Kingston, Jamaica, 18° N., 77° W.

IN a recent letter Poultney1has examined the evidence in favour of the existence of an atmospheric dust layer in the region about 85 km above the Earth's surface. In particular he claims that there is reliable evidence for this claim from observations using the ground based experimental method of examining the intensity of light back scattered from a vertical laser beam, or what is called laser radar. This technique is in use at several stations including Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A.2; College Park, Maryland, U.S.A.3; Kingston, Jamaica4; and Slough, England5.

IT has been established by observations at low latitudes that there exists near the equator a belt in the F region in which large irregularities in electron density give rise to equatorial spread F1severe radio star scintillations2and the scatter of radio waves3. Work by Hewish4and Briggs5on extra-terrestrial radio sources shows how the height of the irregularities may be inferred from observations of the diffraction pattern on the ground. But the methods used are rather indirect, and therefore subject to some uncertainty. More recently Cohen and Bowles6, using radar techniques, arrived at an estimation of irregularities of height for equatorial locations. It is not certain that these irregularities are to be identified with those responsible for satellite and radio star scintillation.