- Email: [email protected]
G.M.C. RETENTION FEE
530 used. The total number of transformed colonies was 18 for the mother’s cells, compared with 239 for the patient’s cells. The 13-fold higher frequency of transformation of x.p. cells is similar to the results obtained by Todaro 5,6 with cells from patients with Fanconi’s ansemia or Down’s syndrome. No biochemical defect is known to account for the high sensitivity of these cells to transformation by SV40. x.p. cells, however, lack the ability to repair U.V.L. damage in 7 D.N.A., probably because of a defect in the incision step. It will be of great interest to determine the transformationfrequency of cells which show intermediate levels of D.N.A. repair replication, to see whether there is a correlation between the level of repair replication and sensitivity to
was
transformation by SV40. Medical Biological Laboratory of the National Defence Research Organisation, T.N.O., Rijswijk Z.H., Netherlands.
G. VELDHUISEN P. H. POUWELS.
G.M.C. RETENTION FEE
SIR,-On Aug. 15 (p. 373)
you
published
a
letter from
Mr. John Grieve about the annual retention fee which included a letter which he had sent to the Council on July 30. Perhaps therefore you would be so good as to publish the reply which was in fact sent on behalf of the Council
to
Mr- Grieve
General Medical Council, London W1N 6AE.
on
Aus- 10-
M. R. DRAPER Registrar
Dear Mr. Grieve, In the absence of the Registrar of the Council I am replying to your letter of July 30 about the annual retention fee. You suggest that the initial registration fee which you paid in 1938 was to have your name appear on the Medical Register for your life time, and you imply that the introduction of an annual retention fee is therefore unjust. I am afraid that the Council The Act of registration does cannot accept these suggestions. not involve any contract between the Council and the doctor. Registration is and always has been governed by the provisions of the Medical Acts for the time being in force. Until the passing of the Medical Act 1969 the Acts contained no provision for an annual retention fee, nor is the annual retention fee now introduced in any way retrospective. The 1969 Act however provided that the retention in the Register of names should in future be subject to a payment of an annual retention fee, although Regulations have provided very generous exemptions. The Council very much regrets both the necessity to introduce this fee, and the need to apply it to doctors already registered. Before doing so, however, the Council did very carefully examine all other alternatives and considered that the scheme now introduced would spread the load of the financial burden most fairly. You suggest in your letter that the solution might have been to seek voluntary contributions from members of the profession, as had been done by certain Colleges. The Council is however a statutory body with specific duties laid upon it by Acts of ParliaIt is not, therefore, free to curtail its activities if it so ment. chooses and in these circumstances it does need to have a fully reliable source of income. Yours sincerelv. G. A. HART Assistant
Registrar.
HYPOCHOLESTEROLÆMIA IN ANÆMIA SIR,—We were interested to read the paper by Elwood et al. and the comments by Stout 9 on low serumcholesterol levels in anaemia. We have found that the serumlipid values (cholesterol, phospholipid, and triglyceride), 5. 6.
Todaro, G. J., Green, H., Swift, M. R. Science, N. Y. 1966, 153, 1252. Todaro, G. J., Martin, G. M. Proc. Soc. exp. Biol. Med. 1967, 124,
in
a
group
were
economic status.1O The lowest values of serum-cholesterol in the more severe cases of anasmia. The rise in hxmoglobin after therapy was accompanied by a rise in serum-cholesterol. The mechanism of hypolipidsemia in ansemia remains obscure. We could find no significant lowering of lipid values (cholesterol and phospholipid) in rabbits made anaemic by repeated phlebotomy." An interesting finding in this study was a significant drop in the plasma-fibrinogen in anxmic rabbits when compared to the values obtained in controls. The two groups did not differ with regard to prothrombin-time and partial thromboplastin-time. We cannot account for this drop in the fibrinogen levels in anaemic rabbits. Since lipids are closely related to the development of atherosclerosis, and hypercholesterolxmia is associated with an increased risk of coronary heart-disease, it is tempting to postulate that anaemia may prevent or retard the development of atherosclerosis. However, experiments done in this unit,12 failed to reveal any such effect in chicks made anxmic by feeding with an iron-free diet and in which atherosclerosis was later induced by dietary means.
were seen
Cardiovascular Diseases Research Unit, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi -35, West Pakistan. 10. 11. 12.
JAVID A. HASHMI NISHAT AFROZ.
Hashmi, J. A., Afroz, N. Am. Heart J. 1969, 78, 840. Hashmi, J. A., Afroz, N. Unpublished. Bari, M. A. M.PHIL. thesis, University of Karachi, 1969.
Obituary WILLIAM ROWLAND MURRAY ALEXANDER M.B., B.Sc. Edin., F.R.C.P.E.
Dr. W. R. M. Alexander, a member of the rheumatic diseases unit at the Northern General Hospital, Edinburgh, died on Aug. 21 at the age of 51. He received his medical education at Edinburgh University and qualified in 1943. After holding posts as housephysician to Sir Stanley Davidson in the Royal Infirmary and the Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, he was appointed medical registrar in Ballochmyle E.M.S. Hospital. In 1946 he joined the R.A.M.C. and served as medical officer in charge of troops in Trinidad, attaining the rank of major. He returned to Edinburgh in 1948 and joined the staff of the Northern General Hospital as senior resident medical officer. It was during this period that he first developed an interest in the chronic rheumatic diseases. He was appointed Nuffield research fellow in the unit for rheumatic diseases which had recently been established in the hospital. In 1951 he gained a research fellowship of the American Rheumatism Foundation which enabled him to spend a year at Yale University, attached to the department of preventive medicine under the directorship of Dr. J. R. Paul. He returned to the staff of the rheumatic diseases unit and continued with his research and clinical work in association with Prof. J. J. R. Duthie. He became a con° sultant in 1962. Dr. Alexander is survived by his wife, two sons, and a
daughter.
1232.
7. Cleaver, J. E. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. 1969, 63, 428. 8. Elwood, P. C., Mahkr, R., Sweetnum, P., Moore, Lancet, 1970, i, 589. 9. Stout, C. ibid. p. 999.
fifty adult patients with aneemia of diverse significantly lower (p < 0001) than those of a of age-matched healthy adults of the same socio-
group of
aetiology,
J. J. R. D. writes: F., Welsby, E.
"
as
Rowland Alexander’s early death is all the more tragic it has cut short the career of one who had still a majol
was
transformation by SV40. Medical Biological Laboratory of the National Defence Research Organisation, T.N.O., Rijswijk Z.H., Netherlands.
G. VELDHUISEN P. H. POUWELS.
G.M.C. RETENTION FEE
SIR,-On Aug. 15 (p. 373)
you
published
a
letter from
Mr. John Grieve about the annual retention fee which included a letter which he had sent to the Council on July 30. Perhaps therefore you would be so good as to publish the reply which was in fact sent on behalf of the Council
to
Mr- Grieve
General Medical Council, London W1N 6AE.
on
Aus- 10-
M. R. DRAPER Registrar
Dear Mr. Grieve, In the absence of the Registrar of the Council I am replying to your letter of July 30 about the annual retention fee. You suggest that the initial registration fee which you paid in 1938 was to have your name appear on the Medical Register for your life time, and you imply that the introduction of an annual retention fee is therefore unjust. I am afraid that the Council The Act of registration does cannot accept these suggestions. not involve any contract between the Council and the doctor. Registration is and always has been governed by the provisions of the Medical Acts for the time being in force. Until the passing of the Medical Act 1969 the Acts contained no provision for an annual retention fee, nor is the annual retention fee now introduced in any way retrospective. The 1969 Act however provided that the retention in the Register of names should in future be subject to a payment of an annual retention fee, although Regulations have provided very generous exemptions. The Council very much regrets both the necessity to introduce this fee, and the need to apply it to doctors already registered. Before doing so, however, the Council did very carefully examine all other alternatives and considered that the scheme now introduced would spread the load of the financial burden most fairly. You suggest in your letter that the solution might have been to seek voluntary contributions from members of the profession, as had been done by certain Colleges. The Council is however a statutory body with specific duties laid upon it by Acts of ParliaIt is not, therefore, free to curtail its activities if it so ment. chooses and in these circumstances it does need to have a fully reliable source of income. Yours sincerelv. G. A. HART Assistant
Registrar.
HYPOCHOLESTEROLÆMIA IN ANÆMIA SIR,—We were interested to read the paper by Elwood et al. and the comments by Stout 9 on low serumcholesterol levels in anaemia. We have found that the serumlipid values (cholesterol, phospholipid, and triglyceride), 5. 6.
Todaro, G. J., Green, H., Swift, M. R. Science, N. Y. 1966, 153, 1252. Todaro, G. J., Martin, G. M. Proc. Soc. exp. Biol. Med. 1967, 124,
in
a
group
were
economic status.1O The lowest values of serum-cholesterol in the more severe cases of anasmia. The rise in hxmoglobin after therapy was accompanied by a rise in serum-cholesterol. The mechanism of hypolipidsemia in ansemia remains obscure. We could find no significant lowering of lipid values (cholesterol and phospholipid) in rabbits made anaemic by repeated phlebotomy." An interesting finding in this study was a significant drop in the plasma-fibrinogen in anxmic rabbits when compared to the values obtained in controls. The two groups did not differ with regard to prothrombin-time and partial thromboplastin-time. We cannot account for this drop in the fibrinogen levels in anaemic rabbits. Since lipids are closely related to the development of atherosclerosis, and hypercholesterolxmia is associated with an increased risk of coronary heart-disease, it is tempting to postulate that anaemia may prevent or retard the development of atherosclerosis. However, experiments done in this unit,12 failed to reveal any such effect in chicks made anxmic by feeding with an iron-free diet and in which atherosclerosis was later induced by dietary means.
were seen
Cardiovascular Diseases Research Unit, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi -35, West Pakistan. 10. 11. 12.
JAVID A. HASHMI NISHAT AFROZ.
Hashmi, J. A., Afroz, N. Am. Heart J. 1969, 78, 840. Hashmi, J. A., Afroz, N. Unpublished. Bari, M. A. M.PHIL. thesis, University of Karachi, 1969.
Obituary WILLIAM ROWLAND MURRAY ALEXANDER M.B., B.Sc. Edin., F.R.C.P.E.
Dr. W. R. M. Alexander, a member of the rheumatic diseases unit at the Northern General Hospital, Edinburgh, died on Aug. 21 at the age of 51. He received his medical education at Edinburgh University and qualified in 1943. After holding posts as housephysician to Sir Stanley Davidson in the Royal Infirmary and the Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, he was appointed medical registrar in Ballochmyle E.M.S. Hospital. In 1946 he joined the R.A.M.C. and served as medical officer in charge of troops in Trinidad, attaining the rank of major. He returned to Edinburgh in 1948 and joined the staff of the Northern General Hospital as senior resident medical officer. It was during this period that he first developed an interest in the chronic rheumatic diseases. He was appointed Nuffield research fellow in the unit for rheumatic diseases which had recently been established in the hospital. In 1951 he gained a research fellowship of the American Rheumatism Foundation which enabled him to spend a year at Yale University, attached to the department of preventive medicine under the directorship of Dr. J. R. Paul. He returned to the staff of the rheumatic diseases unit and continued with his research and clinical work in association with Prof. J. J. R. Duthie. He became a con° sultant in 1962. Dr. Alexander is survived by his wife, two sons, and a
daughter.
1232.
7. Cleaver, J. E. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. 1969, 63, 428. 8. Elwood, P. C., Mahkr, R., Sweetnum, P., Moore, Lancet, 1970, i, 589. 9. Stout, C. ibid. p. 999.
fifty adult patients with aneemia of diverse significantly lower (p < 0001) than those of a of age-matched healthy adults of the same socio-
group of
aetiology,
J. J. R. D. writes: F., Welsby, E.
"
as
Rowland Alexander’s early death is all the more tragic it has cut short the career of one who had still a majol