Alias, Robin, this sort of thing is becoming more and more common in fields such as my own where the desire to get published (and get grants) trumps searching the literature for priority. It used to be the mark of a scholar if he or she could turn up someone who had a similar idea previously and acknowledged this through citation. Now everyone seems to be in too much of a hurry to get publications out the window than to take the time to ask "has anyone already done this?"
Ed
