The Side Effects of Drugs Annual was first published in 1977. It has been published continuously since then, as a yearly update to the encyclopaedic volume Meyler's Side Effects of Drugs. Each new Annual provides clinicians and medical investigators with a reliable and critical yearly survey of new data and trends in the area of Adverse Drug Reactions and Interactions.

An international team of specialists have contributed to the Annuals by selecting critically from each year's publications all that is truly new and informative, by critically interpreting it, and by pointing out whatever is misleading. The use of the book is enhanced by separate indexes, allowing the reader to enter the text via the drug name, adverse effect, or drug interaction.

Special features of the Annuals are the Side Effects of Drugs Essay, usually written by a guest author, and the special reviews: short articles, within the different chapters, that give extra attention to topics of current interest.

The Essay in Annual 26 is entitled 'How safe is cannabis?' (by Professor L.L. Iversen) and there is a Historical Essay entitled 'From thalidomide to pharmacovigilance: a personal account' (by Professor D.J. Finney).

The special reviews in this volume include, among others:

• The cognitive effects of Ecstasy


• Antipsychotic drugs and weight gain


• Vigabatrin-related visual abnormalities


• Managing the adverse effects of morphine


• The cardiotoxic effects of antihistamines


• Inhaled corticosteroids and growth inhibition in children


• Bioterrorism and its prevention through immunization
  

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The earliest extant heroic epic in any European vernacular, Beowulf is considered the most important poem in Old English. The title character is a warrior of superhuman strength who accomplishes glorious deeds to honor his king. He also represents the ideal lord and vassal, generous to his own men while fulfilling all the forms of courtesy at court. The narrative itself falls into two parts: Beowulf first rescues the royal house of Denmark from two marauding monsters; then, after having ruled his people peacefully for fifty years, he is called upon to combat a dragon that is terrorizing the countryside.

Combining mythical elements with actual historical figures and events, the narrative ranges from fierce action sequences to and detailed portrayals of court life and earnest considerations of social and moral dilemmas, all in a tone of sustained grandeur....