The Senate doesn't return to Washington for another week, but will have a full slate upon its return, with the financial regulatory restructuring debate high on the list of priorities. The House com- pleted its work on reg reform just prior to the holiday break. A leading voice in the Senate debate will be Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), the Senate Banking Committee chairman who last week announced he will not seek re-election in November. Dodd and ranking committee member, Rep. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), in a recent statement said "meaningful progress" has been made in the area of financial regulatory reform, with accord being reached on some aspects of enhanced consum- er protections, and preventing government bailouts of financial firms, modernizing the country's financial regulatory structure and the current oversight of the deriva- tives market. The legislators added that they are "committed to working together," and are hopeful that the remaining issues that do exist can be resolved before the Senate reconvenes on Jan. 19. Jobs legislation will also be discussed later in the month, and Sen. Mark Udall's (D-Colo.) S. 2919, the Small Business Lending Enhancement Act, could be consid- ered as part of that job creation legislation, a move strongly advocated by CUNA. S. 2919 would increase credit union member business lending to 25% of assets and raise the "de minimis" threshold for a loan to be considered a member business loan to $250,000. The House has very similar legislation pending, H.R. 3380, the "Promoting Lending for America's Small Business Act," introduced by Reps. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.) and Ed Royce (R-Calif.). The House will be back in session this week. Q From page 1 u

BACKGROUND:Painful feet are an extremely common problem amongst older women. Such problems increase the risk of falls and hamper mobility. The aetiology of painful and deformed feet is poorly understood.METHODS:Data were obtained during a pilot case-control study about past high heel usage in women, in relation to osteoarthritis of the knee. A total of 127 women aged 50-70 were interviewed (31 cases, 96 controls); case-control sets were matched for age. The following information was obtained about footwear: (1) age when first wore shoes with heels 1, 2 and 3 inches high; (2) height of heels worn for work; (3) maximum height of heels worn regularly for work, going out socially and for dancing, in 10-year age bands. Information about work-related activities and lifetime occupational history was gathered using a Life-Grid. The interview included a foot inspection.RESULTS:Foot problems, particularly foot arthritis, affected considerably more cases than controls (45 per cent versus 16 per cent, p = 0.001) and was considered a confounder. Cases were therefore excluded from subsequent analyses. Amongst controls, the prevalence of any foot problems was very high (83 per cent). All women had regularly worn one inch heels and few (8 per cent) had never worn 2 inch heels. Foot problems were significantly associated with a history of wearing relatively lower heels. Few work activities were related to foot problems; regular lifting was associated with foot pain (p = 0.03).CONCLUSION:Most women in this age-group have been exposed to high-heeled shoes over many years, making aetiological research difficult in this area. Foot pain and deformities are widespread. The relationship between footwear, occupational activities and foot problems is a complex one that deserves considerably more research.

We have developed a method for the partial automation of DNA sequence analysis. Fluorescence detection of the DNA fragments is accomplished by means of a fluorophore covalently attached to the oligonucleotide primer used in enzymatic DNA sequence analysis. A different coloured fluorophore is used for each of the reactions specific for the bases A, C, G and T. The reaction mixtures are combined and co-electrophoresed down a single polyacrylamide gel tube, the separated fluorescent bands of DNA are detected near the bottom of the tube, and the sequence information is acquired directly by computer.