The Council on Scientific Affairs of the California Medical Association presents the following epitomes of progress in preventive medicine and public health. Each item, in the judgment of a panel of knowledgeable physicians, has recently become reasonably firmly established, both as to scientific fact and clinical importance. The items are presented in simple epitome, and an authoritative reference, both to the item itself and to the subject as a whole, is generally given for those who may be unfamiliar with a particular item. The purpose is to assist busy practitioners, students, researchers, and scholars to stay abreast of progress in medicine, whether in their own field of special interest or another.The epitomes included here were selected by the Advisory Panel to the Section on Preventive Medicine and Public Health of the California Medical Association, and the summaries were prepared under the direction of Dr Thom and the Scientific Advisory Panel to the Section on Preventive Medicine and Public Health.