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Obituary

ALICE DIMITRIADOUM.B. Athens, M.D. Heidelberg

Dr. Alice Dimitriadou, assistant lecturer in the

department of medicine of the Postgraduate MedicalSchool of London, was killed in a helicopter crash inColombia on July 1. She was on three months’ leavefrom her London post and was temporarily on theUriited Nations Atomic Energy Authority staff as a

visitor in the Instituto Asuntos Nucleares at Bogota,where she had been invited to help launch activationanalysis and chromatographic studies on the causes ofendemic goitre in the region.

After qualifying M.B. in Athens, she worked there both as aresearch assistant and as a director of a biochemical unit.After further biochemical research work in Heidelberg, whereshe graduated M.D., she came to the Postgraduate MedicalSchool of London. There she took up endocrine biochemicalresearch work in the department of medicine, with Prof.Russell Fraser, as a research assistant, later becoming a

Wellcome research fellow, and finally being appointed assistantlecturer.

R. F. writes:" Dr. Alice Dimitriadou’s sudden loss will be felt for some

time in her department at the Postgraduate Medical School ofLondon. Her careful scientific work had established her

reputation in thyroid studies, particularly concerning themethods of activation analysis and of chromatography, andthe study of the metabolism of thyroid hormones, and thepart played both by iodine deficiency and by goitrogens inthe causation of endemic and sporadic goitres. She has

recently also pioneered studies of the endocrine and dietaryfactors affecting the concentration of Krebs cycle acids invarious tissues. She was an indefatigable worker, whose highscientific standards were an inspiration to her colleagues, andalso a generous, friendly, and loyal collaborator, always readyto help and advise others."

AppointmentsBROWN, P. P., M.B. Lond., M.C.PATH. : consultant bacteriologist, United

Birmingham Hospitals.COLLINS, C. D., M.B. Lond., F.F.R., D.M.R.T.: consultant radiotherapist,

St. Thomas’s Hospital, London.KRASNER, C. D., M.B. Lpool, D.M.R.D.: consultant radiologist, Alder Hey

Children’s Hospital, Liverpool and Whiston Hospital, Lancashire.O’SHEA, J. P., M.B. Lpool, M.R.C.P. : consultant pathologist, Birkenhead

hospital group.SEALE, J. R., M.D. Cantab., M.R.C.P. : consultant venereologist, St. Thomas’s

Hospital, London.STEAD, B. R., M.B. Edin., F.F.A. R.c.s., D.A.: consultant ansesthetist, West

Suffolk area.

TYM, ROBERT, M.B. Sheff., F.R.C.S. : consultant neurosurgeon, KillearnHospital, Stirlingshire.

WARD, D. J., M.B. St. And., M.R.C.P. : consultant physician (rheumatology),Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital, Oswestry.

Newcastle Regional Hospital Board:AHERNE, W. A., M.D. N.U.I., M.C.PATH., consultant psediatric pathologist,

Newcastle upon Tyne hospital group and United Newcastle Hospitals.ANGUS, JOAN, M.B. Edin., M.R.C.P. : consultant paediatrician. South

Tees-side hospital group.BAIN, D. H. T., M.B. Edin., F.F.A. R.C.S. : consultant anxsthetist, Gateshead

and district hospital group.BLESSED, GARRY, M.B. Durh., D.P.M., M.R.C.P. : consultant psychiatrist,

St. Nicholas hospital group.EvANs, R. G. B., M.B. Lond., F.F.R., D.M.R.T.: consultant radiotherapist,

Newcastle regional service.GIBSON, 0. B., M.B. Durh., F.F.A. R.C.S.: consultant anaesthetist, Durham

hospital group.GRANT, ISOBEL H., M.B. Cantab., M.R.C.P.E., D.C.H. : consultant pmdiatrician,

South Tees-side hospital group.IRWIN, MARY A. M., M.B. Durh., F.F.R., D.M.R.D.: consultant radiologist,

Darlington district and South West Durham hospital groups.TAYLOR, MARGARET, M.B. Brist., M.R.C.P.E., D.C.H., D.OBST.: consultant

paediatrician, South Shields hospital group.THOMSON, C. W., M.B. Durh., F.F.A. R.C.S.: consultant anaesthetist,

Newcastle upon Tyne hospital group.

Notes and News

WORK LOAD AT QUEEN ANNE’S GATETHE second annual report of the Committee on Safety

Drugs 1 provides useful ammunition for those who feel th:drug manufacturers place too much emphasis on mixtures andreformulations. In 1965 the committee received 874 sub-missions for approval for marketing or for clinical trials, byonly 69 (8%) were for entirely new chemical substances. I1964 the figures were 600 and 55 (9%) respectively.2 This increase in work load (nearly 50% in one year) has meant thathe full-time secretariat has had to be increased to six doctorand three pharmacists. At present, drugs put to clinical tnabefore Jan. 1, 1964, come before the committee only once-fo:approval for marketing. In time, however, the number of drugswhich will need to be approved for clinical trial will increase, Ir.1964 only 11 % of submissions were related to clinical trial; bu:in 1965 this figure had increased to nearly 20%.The other main part of the committee’s work is that devoted

to reports of adverse reactions; and 4000 of these were receivedduring the year. Where indicated, these early warnings arefollowed up by one of the committee’s thirty-five part-timemedical officers. There are already indications that there ismuch to be gained by international cooperation on this side ofthe committee’s work. During 1965 information on adversereactions had been exchanged with 17 other organisations; andtwo countries have introduced a similar early-warning systemusing replicas of the confidential " yellow card " for reportingadverse reactions.The committee feels that " the suggestion that patients should

be kept in ignorance of their treatment is quite inconsistentwith contemporary medical thought ". Accordingly it believesthat, in the interests of safety, medicines should be labelledroutinely, unless otherwise specified by the prescribing doctor.

VOCATIONAL TRAINING FOR GENERAL PRACTICE

ON July 16, faculty representatives and the working party onspecial vocational training for general practice of the College ofGeneral Practitioners met to evaluate their report,3 and to studlthe content and detail of general practice and its future needs,There was also discussion on suitable hospital posts for voea-tional training, the curriculum of the G.P. training period forboth trainer and trainee, and methods of implementing thespecial vocational training programme through the regionsorganisation of the Ministry of Health, universities, faculties 0;the College, and other bodies interested in medical educationIt was agreed that many incentives, such as " job satisfaction

°

and better’payment for the trainee period to meet the compen-tion of the higher pay for an

" untrained " assistant, weKneeded to attract young men and women to take up the trainingprogramme. At the end of the training period there was to bean examination for membership of the College of GeneralPractitioners (M.C.G.P.). It was hoped that the General Medic’Council would approve the special vocational training pro-gramme in order to make possible the implementation of thprogramme and the official planning of suitable hospital post,

NATIONAL ASSISTANCE SWAN SONG

THE last report 4 of the moribund but still helpful NationAssistance Board reviews the services provided by the Boardduring 1965. Expenditure on assistance allowances, includingsupplements to pensions and other insurance benefits, amou^:;to £233 million, and 2,847,000 applications (excluding 600for N.H.S. grants) were received by the Board during the yearWeekly allowances were paid to nearly 2 million people. T: number of allowances paid to people registered for employment1. Committee on Safety of Drugs. Report for the Year Ended De

1965. Is. 9d. H.M. Stationery Office, 1966.2. See Lancet, 1965, ii, 799.3. Report on Special Vocational Training for General Practice C

of General Practitioners. London, 1965.4. Annual report of the National Assistance Board for 1965. H

Stationery Office. Cmnd. 3042. 8s.