Our beautiful, prize-winning Thieme House in Stuttgart, Germany has gracefully aged and some cosmetic surgery has become necessary.

New carpets and paint will make it look new and shiny again but may cause some disruption for our customer service team that is taking care of all orders outside the Americas. Customer service staff will be in the office in small numbers only during the holiday season but will be back in full force on January 7, 2004.

We apologize for any misdirected calls or emails, as well as delays or other inconveniences this may cause. However, we will - as usual - do everything to insure that your order gets fulfilled as quickly as possible.

Here's what you can do to help:
Our private customers:
For speedy delivery, please order by December 19, 2003.
Our trade customers:
To be invoiced in 2003, please order by December 22, 2003.

Our customer service team in the New York office that handles all orders in the Americas will provide support as usual. But stay tuned for more Thieme News as Thieme New York will be celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2004!

Welcome to Via Medici!

Currently available in German only, we are planning to extend this service in the future to our English-speaking students. Your feedback is always appreciated!

Via Events
Via Events will keep you updated about upcoming international meetings, workshops, and events, for example, the seminar on "Working in Britain" in London. After the meeting, check back with us to read extensive meeting reports and to look at the photos! Can't find the event you're looking for? No problem, just add meetings and events yourself, using our convenient online form.

Via International
Thinking about studying or working abroad? Via International will give you access to a plethora of information from students who have taken the plunge. Read their reports about a residency or practical year spent abroad, in countries from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. Find helpful information about whom to contact, how to apply, and where to stay. Save valuable time when planning your studies abroad by browsing our reports and links. Or send in your own report and share your experiences!

GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY SCIENTISTS SUGGEST LINK BETWEEN SMALLPOX VACCINATION AND HIV INFECTION

MANASSAS, Va.---Researchers at George Mason University's National Center for Biodefense announce preliminary findings demonstrating that smallpox vaccination may confer a measurable degree of immunity to HIV infection. The evidence for protection against HIV was found in laboratory studies conducted on the blood cells of recently vaccinated individuals. While cautioning that this evidence may not translate into direct immunity in humans, the scientists are optimistic about the potential applications of their results to the development of an HIV vaccine. "Our outcomes are very encouraging," says Ken Alibek, the center's executive director for education. "Additional studies that may lead us to more definitive conclusions already are under way."

Alibek credits Raymond Weinstein, an NCBD research professor, for developing the original hypothesis. Weinstein's son, Michael, also assisted with the development of the hypothesis. Both Alibek and Weinstein collaborated on the research.

Click here for more details.

Order Drs. Weinstein/Alibek's book, Biological and Chemical Terrorism: A Guide for Healthcare Providers and First Responders

Thieme Electronic Brain Atlases Now Installed on More Than 700 Neurosurgical Workstations Around the World!

Neurosurgeons have frequently consulted two of Thieme’s classic brain atlases, the Schaltenbrand-Wahren Atlas for Sterotaxy of the Human Brain and Talairach-Tournoux ’s Co-Planar Stereotaxic Atlas of the Human Brain, for planning functional neurosurgery. The steady growth of deep-brain stimulation and other surgical treatments for Parkinson's disease has spurred the use of electronic versions of these atlases. Leading instrument companies such as Medtronic, Brain Lab, Elekta, Radionics, and Stryker Leibinger now incorporate these electronic atlases right into their surgical workstations. There are currently more than 700 such installations worldwide. These electronic atlases play an integral role in assisting neurosurgeons to identify small structures deep in the brain, and to plan their operative approach to these structures.

Wieslaw L. Nowinski DSc, PhD, director of the Biomedical Imaging Lab at the Institute for Infocomm Research in Singapore, headed the team that developed the most frequently used electronic version of the atlases and created a suite of atlas navigation and application tools, e.g. The Cerefy ® Atlas of Brain Anatomy.

Dr. Nowinski says of their usefulness:
"The Cerefy brain atlas database is the widely accepted standard in stereotactic and functional neurosurgery, and its popularity in other areas is growing. One of the major advantages of atlas-assisted surgery is a potential saving in terms of cost, time, and invasiveness."

Click here for a more detailed statement from Dr. Nowinski.

For further information, please visit www.cerefy.com

The bestselling Electronic Clinical Brain Atlas, a CD-Rom of Schaltenbrand-Wahren,Talairach-Tournoux and other classic Thieme atlases created by Dr. Nowinski, will soon be released in a second edition, including a version with a surgical planning module.