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We present information on primary type specimens for 13,282 species and subspecies of reptiles compiled in the Reptile Database, that is, holotypes, neotypes, lectotypes, and syntypes. These represent 99.4% of all 13,361 currently recognized taxa (11,050 species and 2311 subspecies). Type specimens of 653 taxa (4.9%) are either lost or not located, were never designated, or we did not find any information about them. 51 species are based on iconotypes. To map all types to physical collections we have consolidated all synonymous and ambiguous collection acronyms into an unambiguous list of 364 collections holding these primary types. The 10 largest collections possess more than 50% of all (primary) reptile types, the 36 largest collections possess more than 10,000 types and the largest 73 collections possess over 90% of all types. Of the 364 collections, 107 hold type specimens of only 1 species or subspecies. Dozens of types are still in private collections. In order to increase their utility, we recommend that the description of type specimens be supplemented with data from high-resolution images and CT-scans, and clear links to tissue samples and DNA sequence data (when available). We request members of the herpetological community provide us with any missing type information to complete the list.

Hospice and palliative care volunteering in the United States of America (USA) has changed dramatically since its inception in the late 1960s. Inspired by physician Dame Cicely Saunders, the modern hospice movement officially began in the USA in 1971 with Florence Wald founding the first hospice, Hospice, Inc., a non-profit in New Haven, Connecticut. Then in 1983, the US Congress established the Medicare Hospice Benefit, whose Conditions of Participation (CoPs) mandated that volunteers must provide administrative or direct patient care in an amount that, at a minimum, equals 5 per cent of the total patient care hours expended by all paid hospice employees and contract staff. Hence, every hospice programme must have a volunteer programme in order to receive reimbursement for services rendered. The primary forces currently shaping hospice and palliative care volunteering have been regulations, care quality, skill requirements, liability concerns, and changing business objectives in a highly competitive environment.

This study aimed to determine if female house mice, Mus musculus domesticus, are able to assess a male's infection status from odour cues. We collected urine from male mice before, during, and after they were experimentally infected with influenza, a respiratory virus. Females spent more time investigating urine collected from males while they were uninfected than when they were infected. Also 70 % of females released into a large enclosure preferred to nest in boxes containing urine collected from uninfected rather than infected males. This is the first evidence that mice can discriminate virally infected individuals through chemical signals and the first evidence that infection causes odour changes in the urine. To determine if the odour of infected males is repulsive, we presented females with urine samples and neutral water blanks. Normal urine collected from uninfected males was more attractive, whereas urine collected during infection was as attractive as water. This indicates that rather than being aversive, influenza infection abolishes the attractiveness of a male's odour. A similar effect also occurs when male mice are infected with coccidian gut parasites (Kavaliers & Colwell 1995, Proc. R. Soc. Lond. 261B, 31-35). One proximate reason for the neutralization of the attractiveness of a male's odour may be a decrease in serum androgen concentrations during infection.

Among the many contributions of Leon Thal to the field of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) research was his leadership in developing the clinical trial network required for accelerating the testing of new potential therapies. He co-founded the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study to serve the public need for promising new treatments for AD [1]. The Leon Thal Symposium, held in December 2008, was structured around five major public policy initiatives designed to advance the study of new therapeutics for AD. Participants in the symposium were charged with formulating specific recommendations for an action plan for the Alzheimer’s Study Group (ASG). The final recommendations will be used by the ASG as part of the National Strategic Plan for Alzheimer’s, which will be forwarded to the 111th U.S. Congress [2]. We propose in this commentary that recommendations for the strategic plan include the Medicare program to increase public awareness of AD clinical trials and provide information on how potential study participants can enter AD clinical trials. (Medicare is the largest U.S. health insurance program and covers nearly 40 million Americans. It is for people aged 65 years or older, some disabled people younger than age 65, and people with end-stage renal disease.)

Although hospice volunteer programs contribute to patient care, little is known about their utilization and adaptation of technology. A survey was posted to the Hospice Volunteer Association Web site to assess technology use among volunteer coordinators and volunteers. Results revealed that participants have access to computers, Internet, and e-mail at the hospice agency and routinely use cellular phones and e-mail. Despite the use of technology, communication problems with volunteers hindered the coordinator's ability to manage scheduling, training, and volunteer assignments for patient care. Coordinators and volunteers felt comfortable utilizing technology but were less comfortable using technology in the patients' home. Several areas are identified for development and integration of advanced technology in volunteer programs. Future research is needed to ease technology implementation and increase volunteer acceptance.

It has been proposed that the restraining structures of an individual lumbar segment may become weakened during the early stages of degeneration. The process results in a loss of stiffness in the restraints, compromising their constraining and restoring forces. The effected level would offer less resistance to an applied load and it may displace through excessive range or display abnormal movement patterns. Erratic centrode patterns have been found in cadaveric segments with early disc degeneration. Abnormal ratios between segment translation and rotation have been detected in a group of ten patients with degenerative disc disease. Early attempts to detect abnormal motion radiologically have proved unreliable. Two new techniques are being researched. Some clinicians consider that an unstable lumbar segment can be detected by perceiving abnormal compliance during manual passive accessory tests. These perceptions have been defined biomechanically in terms of an increased neutral zone in the segments...

Background: Although the role of volunteers is at the heart of hospice care, little is known about hospice volunteer training and volunteer activity. Method: A survey was used to assess current training programs for hospice volunteers. Hospices were invited to participate in the study from a link on the website for the Hospice Volunteer Association and Hospice Educators Affirming Life Project. Results: Survey results revealed that the majority of volunteer work is in patient care, with most hospice agencies requiring a minimum 12-month volunteer commitment and an average 4-hour volunteer shift per week. Volunteer training is separate from staff training, is provided by paid agency staff, and costs approximately $14,303 per year. Conclusions: Communication and family support are considered important curriculum topics. Revisions to current volunteer training curriculum and format are suggested.

The Claims Conference Programme for Former Slave and Forced Laborers began in 2000, after German Government and industry agreed to a DM 10 billion fund to compensate surviving former laborers under the Nazis. This Chapter focuses on the Claims Conference's effort to secure a measure of compensation for serious personal suffering experienced by Holocaust survivors. The Claims Conference intensively seeks the return and restitution of Jewish-owned property and assets confiscated or destroyed under the Nazis. The Claims Conference distinguishes between compensation, symbolic payments to acknowledge persecution and suffering, and restitution, the return of assets or payment for them. The historic international Jewish efforts at negotiating symbolic compensation and restitution for Jewish victims of Nazism have attempted the impossible task of reconciling the greatest moral challenge of our times with the base element of money. Yet throughout, the Claims Conference has always insisted that the process is about more than money. Keywords: Claims Conference; Holocaust survivors; Jewish victims; Nazism; Slave Labor Programme

I congratulate and express appreciation to Mann and Refshauge for their comprehensive analysis of the causes of complications from cervical spine manipulation (Mann and Refshauge 2001).

Joining the discussion on whether our profession is meeting its full responsibilities to provide optimum care (Refshauge et al 2002) for patients receiving cervical manipulation, I offer these personal observations.

When shoulder movements become restricted in all directions, the literature reports that contracture of the joint capsule is not present in every case. These findings suggest a different underlying pathology in some cases, which restricts shoulder movements in a manner resembling contracture. In order to investigate the concept of another mechanism, fourteen patients were selected with a specific pattern of shoulder stiffness: a gross restriction of lateral rotation associated with only moderate restrictions of abduction and medial rotation. The patients were treated with mobilization of the lower cervical spine, which resulted in an improvement in the range of lateral rotation of the shoulder, the most restricted movement. These results suggest a correlation between the cervical spine and shoulders with this pattern of movement restrictions.

Facet movements in the mid-cervical spine (C2-C4) were examined on two cervical columns from preserved cadavers. The dissected columns were clamped to allow manual movement of one vertebra on the fixed vertebra beneath. Pins were inserted to mark the position of the facets, and movement changes recorded photographically; 160 measurements were taken from these photographs. The study showed that the facets of the free vertebra could be moved to either side in relation to the facets of the fixed vertebra. Furthermore during movements simulating lateral flexion and rotation, sideways translation of the facets was found to be part of the complex three dimensional motion.