John Mason

Factors predicting 30-day readmission after laparoscopic colorectal cancer surgery within an enhanced recovery programme.

Hospital readmission within 30 days of surgery has become a marker of poor quality patient care. This study aimed to investigate factors predictive of 30‐day readmission after laparoscopic colorectal cancer surgery within an enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) programme.

Re: Davis et al. How to improve plastic surgery knowledge, skills and career interest in undergraduates in one day. JPRAS 2010:63;1677–1681

The recently published work by Davis et al. was read with interest by members of the Cardiff University Surgical Society at our fortnightly journal club. The BAPRAS Undergraduate Course was attended by some of our members, who found it thoroughly enjoyable and commended the event for providing an informative insight into a career in plastic surgery, a speciality within surgery that is not covered by the medical curriculum in Cardiff. Due to the absence of plastic surgery exposure within the medical curriculum in Cardiff we were not surprised by the marked decline in plastic surgery teaching that has occurred throughout the UK since the 1980s, a fact highlighted by Davis et al. This data led us to discuss the fact that surgery in general now receives significantly less dedicated curriculum time when compared to medical specialities. Reasons for this relate to recent changes imposed by the GMC, which require medical schools to focus more on community medicine, as well as the demographic shift in medical school applicants, whereby more than 60% of entrants are now female, which itself has been shown to be a strong negative predictor for pursuing a career in surgery. As medical students with a strong interest in surgery we are dismayed by this situation, especially due to the fact that surgery still represents a competitive branch of medicine, whereby access into postgraduate training programmes may be hindered due to limited opportunities in certain medical schools. We therefore applaud the efforts of professional organisations

Polymetallic auriferous vein mineralization near Loch Tay, Perthshire, Scotland

Synopsis Vein mineralization hosted by NW-trending joints at Tombuie near Loch Tay, Central Grampians contains base metal sulphides with Au, Bi, Ag and Te bearing phases associated with relatively late stage galena-dominated mineralization. Minerals present include mercurian electrum, tetradymite, altaite, rucklidegeite, hessite and argentian tetrahedrite. The mineralization is similar to that at Calliachar–Urlar and other mineralized localities in the region that form a small metallogenic province partially defined by a Bi stream sediment anomaly.