Capsules

P: For doctors who never have time to read all their technical literature but spend up to three hours a day in their cars, Los Angeles' College of Medical Evangelists started an "Audio-Digest" service: a tape recorder is installed in the doctor's car and each week, for $2.50, he gets a one-hour summary of medical news.

P: Tulane University neurosurgeons described a simple and seemingly successful way of treating syringomyelia, an uncommon but hitherto baffling complaint in which a cyst forms in the spinal cord, gradually causing paralysis. The technique involves using a wire of the modern wonder metal, tantalum, to keep the cyst open and draining. Unlike materials previously used, tantalum does not change in the body or interfere with body tissues. Three living testimonials appeared at the New Orleans meeting.

P: More than half the huge U.S. output of sleeping pills (395 tons in 1951) goes to drug addicts or thrill seekers, said Chicago's Dr. Donald A. Dukelow. These non-prescription sales, he said, cause at least 1,000 deaths a year, and are a factor in thousands of other deaths.

P: To help promising medical educators get started, Manhattan's John and Mary R. Markle Foundation announced awards to its sixth annual class, numbering 21 scholars. To the medical school employing each scholar, the foundation grants $6,000 a year for five years. The schools pledge good salaries and a chance to do research; the scholars in return give up the dollar rewards of private practice.

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