REGULARS
On May 2nd.1998 leaders of the European Union agreed to introduce the Euro in 11 different countries. Today the currency is growing as a benchmark reserve currency in central bank reserves worldwide. It has also expanded to 15 countries with more on the horizon. A recent article in the Herald Tribune had a look at the currencies progress and was largely positive in its verdict. However while economists worldwide till debate whether the monetary project has been a success, one of the euro’s biggest benefits has probably been realized over the past nine months. The most obvious casualty of the sub-prime fiasco has been the US$. It has plummeted to record lows against other currencies as US interest rates have been cut. The subsequent surge if the euro to record highs-near $1.60-up more than 10% in the past year-has provoked bleating from politicians and business leaders across the euro zone about the damage to export competitiveness. Yet for all the talk on stunted growth think back to the last big dollar crisis to get a sense of the insulation that the euro has provided to its citizens. In the US in 1991 after the banking system was rocked by a real estate crisis from the failure of many savings and loan companies, the Federal Reserve cut rates to shore up the economy and the dollar plummeted. But the fallout in Europe was significant. The weak dollar prompted a seizure in European financial markets, where the European Exchange Rate Mechanism or ERM was thrown into convulsions. Back then, each time there was weakness in the US dollar, it lead to a financial crisis in Europe, in essence an exchange rate crisis. As the dollar fell to record lows around 1.45 marks early in 1991, investors fleeing dollars flocked to the German mark and German government bonds. In those days the mark tended to act as a haven from peripheral European markets like Italy, Spain, Greece and even Belgium in times of financial or political stress. And in 1991 the mark was supercharged as the Bundesbank pushed interest rates higher to offset inflationary side effects of German
reunification. With many countries like Britain and Italy out of sync with Germany’s sudden boom, doubts rose as to whether they could afford to keep their currencies in step with the soaring mark as ERM rules required them to do. These doubts quickly sowed a vicious cycle of capital flight, interest rate rises to protect currency pegs and eventual devaluations when the cost of high rates became unbearable. The pound and the Italian lire were ejected from the ERM in 1992 and a series of devaluations from Spain to Ireland followed. Speculative attacks on the French franc’s peg to the mark meanwhile occurred regularly in early 1993. The dollar slide created monetary chaos in Europe and a level of interest rate and exchange rate volatility that exacted a heavy tax on cross border business planning and investment. Given that more than half of all euro zone exports are within euro zone countries, the absence of that kind of
disruption this time around has been significant. It is not difficult to see how the last
nine months might have played out in terms of financial speculation As inflated housing markets fell everywhere and Northern Rock suffered a bank run, the pound lost more than 10% against a basket of world currencies from November 2007 to March and fell to record lows against the euro. What would have happened to the
currencies of other housing exposed economies like Spain and Ireland if there had not been monetary union? Would they have allowed the deprecation or resisted it with interest rate rises? How would financial markets have reacted to the Societe Generale fiasco? And how would the 15 euro-zone central banks have coordinated the extensive money market intervention at the core of the European Central Bank’s crisis management? Precedents do suggest that a lot of problems have been avoided.
Joe Prendergast an analyst with Credit Suisse in Zurich says “The euro has short circuited the financial markets volatility and that’s clearly a good thing-certainly better than the ERM” And there’s me thinking the best thing about the euro was travelling in Ireland, France and Germany with the same currency was its biggest benefit. jerry@swissinvestcenter.net
Mag’s Page
By definition, most of you reading this will be all too familiar with long haul flights, and the hassle of traveling in general. Even without the perils of Terminal 5 and ‘Swampi’ it can be daunting getting from, say, the UK to Bangkok. You would think that travel from England to Denmark would be stress free by comparison wouldn’t you? But sadly no. Last month I totalled 24 hours travel time for the return trip, which included only 3 hours in the air. The rest of the time being taken up in getting from A to F via B, C, D and E using assorted other forms of transport. Maybe it’s all a matter of percentage flying time. For example, a 24-hour trip doesn’t seem half as bad when 12 of the hours are spent in the air. At least you know that you are getting closer to your destination by some 500 miles an hour. Some bright spark might evenhave come up with a table of ratios and formulas to determine the ideal balance ,between flying and other travel time, ,and the combined effects on stress levels. So the next time you embark on the Heathrow/Bangkok marathon be
thankful for the in-flight entertainment, 3 meals, and the chance to relax! The purpose of the trip in question though is worth a mention. Unlike modern life in the UK, many
cultures still have assorted rituals and ceremonies to celebrate the passage from childhood to adulthood. Probably the best known is the Bar Mitzvah observed by the Jewish faith, while in Thailand you will no doubt have seen the elaborate processions to the Temples to admit youngsters for their obligatory experience as novice monks. Young Danish people, (as well as those in Germany and probably
other countries in the ball park) have their ‘konfirmanden’ at the age of 13. An important event involving much preparation, not least the all-important selection of the right dress for the girls. While the assorted dresses are in traditional white or ivory, it was refreshing to see how a dozen 13- year-old girls can still personalize their outfits, mainly with much sought after Converse trainers.
Then there are all the trappings of a reception, speech, flowers and (not least) gifts. British parents have it easy by comparison, with usually only part ,of a wedding to fund for each of their offspring. My young relative who was at the centre of all this attention was so nervous though that I wondered why she was bothering with it at all. Not least because her speech had to be delivered in Danish as well as English and, kids being kids, the Danish translation hadn’t even been written out by the night before. All was revealed however by the traditional choice of gifts - which is money. Fortunately not pinned to the dress, or some of the poor girls wouldn’t have been able to walk. It does of course make sense to give gifts of money on these occasions. Much easier than trailing around Debenhams in search of inspiration, and the recipient can, with luck, accrue enough to buy one big item. Which I’m sure many of them do. The lovely thing about the Danes though is that they have a day off school (always a bonus) and undertake a mass shopping trip on the Monday after their confirmation.
Known for some obscure reason as ‘Blue Monday’ they hit the shops en masse with the sole intent to ‘spend spend spend.’ There’s probably an element of teaching responsibility involved, in much the same way as the boys who are confirmed are given a cigar to smoke at their reception. A kind of ‘once bitten twice shy’ approach, which hopefully works. It certainly doesn’t seem to do any harm, even if the promises to become responsible adults overnight are broken by teenage tantrums the next day!
There’s a nice one-liner from Peter Kay that seems to fit the bill perfectly this
month - ‘When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bike. Then I realized the Lord doesn’t work that way, so I stole one and asked him to forgive me’
d'Geek
DRM: destroyin g yo ur musi c colection? Imagine if you had a bedroom full of CDs
and decided to buy a new player one day, only to discover that none of your albums would play on the new system. That is more or less what has happened to people in America who bought music downloads from Microsoft. In April the company announced that from August 31 this year songs bought from MSN Music, its online music shop, would no longer be transferable to machines other than the ones the files were registered to. This means that, come September, if you want to transfer songs from your main PC to a laptop or a new computer you haven’t registered, you won’t be able to. If your computer dies, your painstakingly assembled music collection dies with it. The announcement goes against everything Microsoft – and others – has ever said about buying music downloads. It led customers to believe that the songs they
bought were for life, whatever computers they owned now and in the future. Now
Microsoft says if US consumers want to transfer them onto other computers they must do so before the end of summer. The tracks could still be backed up onto CDs
but sound quality would suffer. It is all down to the digital rights management
(DRM) software that Microsoft has embedded in all its music downloads to combat illegal file sharing. For DRM to work it needs a central computer to keep a live record of who has registered which songs to which computers. The problem is that the main server is now being turned off, as the company wants to sell downloads with a new type of DRM. The Microsoft issue is for now confined to North America, but in Britain too consumers have been on the sharp end of such practices. In March Sony shut down its Connect music download service, meaning that if you upgrade your computer or the hard drive dies, those Justin Timberlake albums for which you paid Connect up to £10 a pop simply won’t work. “We embarked on a seven-month communication process with customers to address this point,” said Richard Palk, former general manager of Sony’s Connect store. “We did our utmost to mitigate
any problems.” When the Virgin Digital music download store shut up shop last September, the tracks that UK customers had paid for could still be played but again were in effect handcuffed to the computers they were stored on. The
music industry has always insisted that when you pay for a download you will own the song or album outright, but it’s rapidly beginning to look more like just a longterm lease. Trojan -Infected MP3s Have PC Users Singing the Blues
A new type of Trojan horse malware application is hiding inside fake MP3
media files, infecting approximately 500,000 consumer PCs, McAfee Avert Labs reported. The nefarious files have been delivered primarily on peer-to-peer
networks during May. The trojan, known as “Downloader-UA.h,” was added to
McAfee’s DAT files and since then, McAfee VirusScan Online users have reported the half-million detections. The trojan hides in fake music and video files and is associated with fastmp3player.com. “When a user attempts to load one of these MP3 and MPG files, they don’t get the music/video they were hoping for; instead, they’re directed to download a file named ‘PLAY_MP3. exe,’” reports Craig Schmugar, a researcher for McAfee Avert Labs, on the Avert Labs blog. “In fact, the MP3/MPG
file they downloaded was completely fake, playing no media clip whatsoever.”
Infected users receive an offer that purportedly will let them listen to free MP3s. They must agree to an End User License Agreement (EULA), which installs an ad-supported application. “In the end you’re left with a fake MP3 file taking up space, a worthless MP3 player, adware that claims not only to not display popups, but also to block them, and more adware that successfully displays popup and popunder ads,” Schmugar reports. Thus far, operators of just 10 percent of the 500,000-plus systems with the Trojan on their PCs have gone so far as to agree to the EULA and download the adware installer. While the adware in this most recent report is primarily a nuisance, the delivery mechanism could transport something much nastier, so ensure your anti virus and spyware programs are kept up to date.
Earth report - Eating Green.
Ever wonder why people “go to the extreme” of being vegetarian or
vegan? The vegan philosophy stands on the precept that we, as humans, do not have
any right to “use” animals for anything. Furthermore, our use of animals, which have no choice in the matter, is a form of exploitation. A vegan lifestyle avoids, to the extent that is possible, all forms of that exploitation. A vegan chooses to avoid using or consuming animal products including dairy and eggs, as well as fur, leather, wool, down and cosmetics or chemical products tested on animals. So why would someone concerned about the earth be concerned about what they eat? Let’s take a look at some of the facts: Raising animals for meat has its consequences. It leads to rain forest destruction, global heat rising, water pollution, water scarcity, desertification, misuse of energy resources and world hunger. The use of land, water, energy and human effort to produce meat is not an efficient way to use the earth’s resources. Since 1960, some 25% of Central America’s rain forests have been burned and cleared to create pasture for beef cattle. It has been estimated that every four-ounce hamburger made from rain forest beef destroys 55 square feet of tropical rain forest. In addition, raising cattle contributes significantly to the production of three gases which cause global warming, is a leading cause of water pollution and requires a staggering 2464 gallons of water for the production of each pound of beef. It only takes 29 gallons of water to produce a pound of tomatoes, and 139 gallons to produce a one pound loaf of whole wheat bread. Nearly half of the water consumed Eating Green. Ever wonder why people “go to the extreme” of being vegetarian or vegan? The vegan philosophy stands on the precept that we, as humans, do not have any right to “use” animals for anything. in the United States goes to the growing of feed for cattle and other livestock. Many more people could be fed if the resources used to raise cattle were used to produce grain to feed the world’s population. An acre of land growing oats produces 8 times the protein and 25 times the calories, if the oats are fed to humans rather than to cattle. An acre of land used for broccoli produces 10 times the protein, calories and niacin as an acre of land producing beef. 30 Million tons of methane, a gas that contributes to global warming, comes from manure in sewage ponds. More than 70% of US grain production is fed to livestock. For each pound of meat, poultry, eggs and milk we produce, farm fields lose about 5 pounds of topsoil. It takes almost 10 times more energy to produce and transport livestock than vegetables. But the question is – can you give up your bacon and burgers, or even your milkshake? Biofuels not at root of food inflation: Potash CEO Government policies spurring biofuel production are not to blame for grain shortages and food inflation, said the chief executive of Potash Corp, the world’s largest fertilizer company. Bill Doyle said demand for meat and other food from Asia’s growing middle class combined with a depletion of world stocks are the major factors behind rising food prices. “I think that ethanol is the most popular whipping boy in the agricultural world at the moment,” Doyle told analysts in April. Doyle, who has talked about declining world grain stocks for years, noted 95 percent of the world’s grain crop this year will be used for food. “So to say that biofuels are the culprit clearly underestimates the demand and really shows a gross misunderstanding of the world food situation,” Doyle said. Cutting back on biofuel production would be a short-term measure for the longterm challenge of producing enough food to feed the world, he said. Doyle said moves by governments to curb grain exports could lead to less grain production at a time when more is
needed. “Governments finally wake up to the problem, they go into a flat panic, full lather, and they make policies that are absolutely wrong-headed, and are making
the situation worse,” he said. Brazil, Indonesia, Vietnam, India, Egypt and
Cambodia have recently introduced export bans or tariffs on rice -- a grain that Doyle noted is not used to make biofuel – which could exacerbate shortages in stores seen as far away as North America. “By limiting exports of rice they try to keep the price of rice low in their home country, which doesn’t give any stimulus to farmers to grow more rice. “We have to grow more food. We have to increase yields,” he said.
Arts & Culture
This month we have chosen to challenge you to re-appraise your idea of what filmmaking should be. We present to you Sergei Eisenstein, one of the most influential of early film directors. Under an oppressive state regime he
still managed to push the boundaries of film making, pioneering the use of montage shots at a time when movie equipment was very basic. You may have a little difficulty sourcing a copy of one of his films, but it is worth the effort. Take into consideration the time and the conditions of the film making and you will understand why Eisenstein is considered in such high esteem. Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (January 23, 1898 – February 11, 1948) was a revolutionary Soviet Russian film director and film theorist noted in particular for his silent films Strike, Battleship Potemkin and October, as well as historical epics Alexander Nevsky and Ivan the Terrible. His work vastly influenced early filmmakers owing to his innovative use of and writings about montage. Because of Soviet censorship, Eisenstein’s use of Political Cinema needed to be so subversive that government criticism passed unnoticed. Eisenstein was a pioneer in the use of montage, a specific use of film editing. He and his contemporary, Lev Kuleshov, two of the earliest film theorists, argued that montage was the essence of the cinema. Eisenstein believed that editing could be used for more than just expounding a scene or moment, through a “linkage” of related images. Eisenstein felt the “collision” of shots could be used to manipulate the emotions of the audience and create film metaphors. Eisenstein became convinced that in cinema one could manipulate time and space to create new meanings, and in his early years he believed that his duty as an artist was to contribute to the forging of the new life for his country, and eagerly embraced the film medium as the most efficient tool of communist propaganda. However, as much as “Strike” was a condemnation of czarism, it was also an innovative work of art. “Strike”
is filled with expressionistic camera angles, mirror reflections and visual metaphors.
In a story of police spies, the camera itself turns into a spy, a voyeur, a trickster. The
film was the first full display of Eisenstein’s bold new cinematic grammar, a montage
of conflicting shots that served as words and sentences endowed with the maximum
power of persuasion. As Eisenstein’s second film, the enormously successful and influential “Battleship Potemkin” (1925), demonstrated, his art could be even more powerful when it achieved a balance between experimental and traditional narrative forms. If “Strike” was an agitated visual poem arousing emotions within a receptive audience, “Potemkin,” the fictionalized story of one of the tragic episodes of the 1905 Russian revolution, was a work of prose, highly emotional but clear in its logical, public speech. The close-ups of suffering human faces and the soldiers’ boots in the now legendary “Odessa steps” sequence carried such impact that some screenings of the film outside the USSR provoked clashes with police when audiences were convinced they were watching a newsreel. Eisenstein’s popularity and influence in his own land waxed and waned with the success of his films and the passage of time. The Battleship Potemkin was acclaimed critically worldwide. But it was mostly his international critical renown that enabled Eisenstein to direct The General Line, and then October as part of a grand tenth anniversary celebration of the October Revolution of 1917. The critics of the outside world praised them, but at home, Eisenstein’s focus in these films on structural issues such as camera angles, crowd movements and montage, brought him and likeminded others, such as Pudovkin and Dovzhenko, under fire from the Soviet film community, forcing him to issue public articles of self-criticism and commitments to reform his cinematic visions to conform to socialist realism’s increasingly specific doctrines. Meanwhile, Eisenstein’s reception in Europe nurtured his opinion that he could be both avant-garde artist and creator of popular and ideologically “correct” films. In every country he visited he was hailed by radical students and intellectuals. He met with Joyce, Cocteau, Abel Gance, Marinetti, Einstein, Le Corbusier, Gertrude Stein, all of whom seemed
excited about his work. In May 1930 Eisenstein arrived in the United States, where he hoped to make a film for Paramount. Although he was welcomed by leading Hollywood figures, including Fairbanks, von Sternberg, Disney and especially Chaplin, who became his close friend, his proposal for an adaptation of
“An American Tragedy” was rejected as too complicated, as were several other highly original projects. Just before he left America, Eisenstein was encouraged by Robert Flaherty and Diego Rivera to make a film about Mexico, and in December 1930, with funding from writer Upton Sinclair, he began work on “Que Viva Mexico.” This project, which promised to become Eisenstein’s most daring, took a tragic turn when Sinclair, caving in to pressures from his family, who cited financial reasons, and Stalin, who was afraid that Eisenstein might defect, cancelled the film with shooting almost finished. Although Eisenstein was told the footage would be sent to Moscow for editing, he was never to see it again. Upset over the loss of his footage and shocked at the differences in the political and cultural climate that he noticed after three years abroad, he suffered a nervous breakdown. One after another, his ideas for projects were bluntly rejected, and he became the target of intense hostility from Boris Shumyatsky, the Soviet film industry chief whose objective was to create a Stalinist Hollywood. He took an appointment to head the Direction Department at the Moscow film school and became a devotedteacher and scholar. In January 1935, he was vilified at the All-Union Conference of Cinema Workers but eventually was allowed to start working on his first sound film, “Bezhin Meadow.” On this notorious project Eisenstein tried to create a universal tragedy out of the true story of a young communist vigilante who informed on his father and was murdered in retaliation by the victim’s relatives. The authorities wanted to demonstrate that family ties should not be an obstacle to carrying out one’s duty--a theme common to Soviet and German cinema of the time. Why Eisenstein agreed to deal with such dubious subject matter is not clear, but what has been saved from the allegedly destroyed film suggests that he once again confounded the Soviet authorities’ expectations. After “Bezhin Meadow” was banned, Eisenstein had to repent for his new “sins of formalism.” As one Soviet film scholar put it, “Eisenstein was apologizing for being Eisenstein.” As if to save his life, Eisenstein next made “Alexander Nevsky” (1938), a film about a 13th-century Russian prince’s successful battle against invading German hordes. This
monumental costume epic starring familiar character actors was a striking departure
from Eisenstein’s principles of montage and “typage” (casting non-professionals in
leading roles). “Nevsky” was a deliberate step back, in the direction of old theatre or,
even worse, opera productions which Eisenstein has been fiercely opposed to in the
20s. Still, the film demonstrated Eisenstein in top form in several sequences, such as the famous battle scene on the ice. Also significant were his attempts to achieve synthesis between the plastic elements of picture and music with the film’s memorable score by Prokofiev, possibly reflecting Eisenstein’s prolonged admirationfor the cartoons of Walt Disney. The exciting and stirring “Nevsky” was a huge success both in the USSR and abroad, partially due to growing anti-German sentiment, and Eisenstein was able to secure a position in the Soviet cinema at a time when many of his friends were being arrested. On February 1, 1939, he was awarded the Order of Lenin for “Nevsky” and shortlythereafter embarked on a new project, “The Great Fergana Canal,” hoping to create an epic on a scale of his aborted Mexican film. Yet after intense pre-production work the project was cancelled, and following the signing of the non-aggression treaty between the USSR and Germany, “Nevsky” was quietly shelved as well. In February 1940, in a Radio Moscow broadcast to Germany, Eisenstein suggested that the pact provided a solid basis for cultural cooperation. At that time he was commissioned to stage Wagner’s opera “Die Walkure” at the Bolshoi theatre. At the November 21, 1940, premiere, the German diplomats in Moscow, not unlike Stalin’s henchman before them, were dismayed by Eisenstein’s artistry. They accused him of “deliberate Jewish tricks.” Yet when the Nazis attacked Russia less than a year later, it was “Die Walkure”’s turn to be banned while “Nevsky” could once again be screened. With the war approaching Moscow, Eisenstein was one of the many filmmakers based there who was evacuated to Alma-Ata, where he first considered the idea of making a film about Czar Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible), which could have been favoured by Stalin. His film, Ivan The Terrible, Part I, presenting Ivan IV of Russia as a national hero, won Stalin’s approval (and a Stalin Prize), but the sequel, Ivan The Terrible, Part II was not approved of by the government. All footage from the still incomplete Ivan The Terrible: Part
III was confiscated, and most of it was destroyed (though several filmed scenes
still exist today). In his last completed film, Eisenstein achieved what he had dreamt of since 1928, when he saw a Japanese Kabuki troupe performance: the synthesis of gesture, sound, costume, sets and colour into one powerful, polyphonic experience. Both “Nevsky” and “Walkure” were steps in that direction, but only the celebrated danse macabre of Ivan’s henchmen comes close to the synthesis of the arts that has haunted artists for ages. Eisenstein’s death at the age of 50 prevented him from summing up his theoretical views in the areas of the psychology of creativity, the anthropology of art and semiotics. Although not many filmmakers have followed Eisenstein the director, his essays on the nature of film art have been translated into several languages and studied by scholars of many nations.
Health Issues
Hip replacement surgery; a new option. many older folk in the last 30 or 40 years have undergone a hip replacement whi ch has greatly improved their quality of life; now here is a new procedure whi ch can be a better first step to help those aching
bones... We had a distinguished visitor in Bangkok this month; Dr Derek McMinn, the pioneer inventor of a technique known as the BirminghamHip Resurfacing operation, came to the Bangkok Hospital Medical Centre. He gave presentations, held teaching sessions and performed the operation on a very grateful Thai lady. Dr Sombat Rojviroj, the Chief of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery proudly announced that the hospital is now fully trained and equipped to perform this innovative new operation. The story of Hip Replacement surgery is an interesting one. The hip joint, one of the strongest and most important joints in the body, has to withstand an enormous amount of pressures during its life. There is hardly a movement of the body that does not involve the hip and the stresses it is exposed to are enormous. It is a fairly simple joint if you look at it as a piece of engineering; a imple ball and socket joint. The femur, the thighbone, ends in a round ball and this articulates into the acetabulum, a cavity in the pelvic bone. Over time the articular cartilages, which cover the two surfaces, wear out and the two raw bony surfaces rub together. This is very painful and can make walking difficult and running impossible. For years many older people have been forced to use walking sticks to walk, as the pain is so intense. This inactivity can have effects on other parts of the body and the lack of exercise can shorten life. Attempts had been proposed and attempted even in the nineteenth century but it was the pioneering work of one man, Dr John Charnley, that led to the development of modern Hip Replacement surgery. He started working on the problem in the 1950s but it was not until 1962 that he was first able to perform the first successful operation. Today he is widely respected for his work, but at the time many of his colleagues in the world of Orthopaedic surgery were skeptical about his project. He worked at Wrightington Hospital, just outside Manchester in the North of England. He was a very determined man and was convinced that he could solve the problem. He built his first laboratory in a building that had been a tuberculosis sanatorium before the Second World War. This was not a well-financed research centre and attracted verylittle research money but was a very practical medical-engineering laboratory. There, he and his technician experimented with a number of different metals and plastics before he discovered a suitable pairing. He remarked afterwards that he had often recalled Winston Churchill’s remark that success often depended on the ability to proceed from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm. Charnley was an accomplished thinker and engineer. As it is essential to preserve a totally sterile environment at the site of the operation, he also reinvented a new way to ventilate operating rooms, a technique that is now used worldwide. In 1962, in what was his third series of operations, he achieved success. Within a few months the news of Charley’s successes had spread and surgeons from all over the world came to Manchester to study and be taught by him. His work was eventually recognized and his name is known throughout the world. The Queen honoured him by creating him a knight, Sir John Charnley, a few years after his triumph. Over the years many changes have been made to the original design and a variety of implants are available. Metal femur and metal acetabulum, metal on plastic and ceramic on plastic have all been tried, A metal femur replacement into a plastic acetabulum, as proposed by Charnley, has proved the most successful. In a total Hip Replacement the top of the femur, the long bone in the thigh, is removed and a metal duplicate is inserted to replace the removed part. In the pelvis, the old socket is enlarged and an implant, often a metal base with a plastic liner is inserted into the pelvic bone. Osteoarthritis of the Hip is a problem seen in patients of fifty and upwards and for the most part hip replacement has been a very suitable answer. Given a reasonably quiet lifestyle a hip could be expected to give twenty or more years service. For the young very active patient there was a problem. If such a patient had an implant in their forties or fifties then there was a chance that the patient would wear out the hiplittle research money but was a very practical medical-engineering laboratory. There, he and his technician experimented with a number of different metals and plastics before he discovered a suitable pairing. He remarked afterwards that he had often recalled Winston Churchill’s remark that success often depended on the ability to proceed from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm. Charnley was an accomplished thinker and engineer. As it is essential to preserve a totally sterile environment at the site of the operation, he also reinvented a new way to ventilate operating rooms, a technique that is now used worldwide. In 1962, in what was his third series of operations, he achieved success. Within a few months the news of Charley’s successes had spread and surgeons from all over the world came to Manchester to study and be taught by him. His work was eventually recognized and his name is known throughout the world. The Queen honoured him by creating him a knight, Sir John Charnley, a few years after his triumph. Over the years many changes have been made to the original design and a variety of implants are available. Metal femur and metal acetabulum, metal on plastic and ceramic on plastic have all been tried, A metal femur replacement into a plastic acetabulum, as proposed by Charnley, has proved the most successful. In a total Hip Replacement the top of the femur, the long bone in the thigh, is removed and a metal duplicate is inserted to replace the removed part. In the pelvis, the old socket is enlarged and an implant, often a metal base with a plastic liner is inserted into the pelvic bone. Osteoarthritis of the Hip is a problem seen in patients of fifty and upwards and for the most part hip replacement has been a very suitable answer. Given a reasonably quiet lifestyle a hip could be expected to give twenty or more years service. For the young very active patient there was a problem. If such a patient had an implant in their forties or fifties then there was a chance that the patient would wear out the hip.
Useful Telephone Numbers for Hua Hin
Railway station
032-512 770, 032-511 073
Bus station of Hua Hin
032-511 654, 032-512 543
Bus station of Prachuabkirikhan
032-601 901
Bus station of Pranburi
032-621 443
Hua Hin Hospital
032-520 401
Dog Rescue Center
0-1981 4406
Wild life Rescue Center (Tayang)
032-458 135
Department of Land Cha-am office:
032- 430 846-7
Department of Land Hua Hin office:
032-536 164, 032-512 407
Department of Land Prachuabkirikhan:
032-611 211
Department of Land Pranburi
032-622 199
Local Government (Hua Hin)
032-521 340, 532 471
Local water supply
032-511 677
The Power Board of Hua Hin
032-512 215, 032 513 165
Observer office:
032-531 078
Red Cross.
032-512 567
San Paolo Hospital
032-532 576-85
Polyclinic International
032-516 424, 032-516 425
Shell Cooking Gas
032-511 144, 032- 515 620
The Communication Authority of Thailand
(Hua Hin)
032-511 351
Rotary Club of Hua Hin
0-1916 6637
Meeting every Thursday 8.pm
at Hua Hin Grand Hotel & Plaza
[
return to the top ]
