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IN an isolated observation, Moore et al.1 found that a new-born infant had a serum iron of 247 y/100 ml., while the mother at the same time had a serum iron of 58 y/100 ml. This finding seemed to us sufficiently interesting to justify collecting further data on serum iron in new-born infants. Venous blood from the mother, and blood from the placental end of the newly cut umbilical cord, were used, and plasma iron was estimated by the thiocyanate method2, using a photo-electric colorimeter for the final colour measurement. The results shown in the accompanying table were obtained from ten full-term infants and their mothers, of whom five were anaemic

The most obvious contribution of the pharmaceutical industry to health care must be the provision of the great range of effective and safety-tested therapeutic agents which are used in all branches of medicine and surgery. Beyond that, however, the industry has made important contributions of original scientific discovery and to the development of practicable therapeutic agents and to their safe dissemination. Less directly, the industry has contributed to health care by funding postgraduate education and by supporting medical and veterinary research, not necessarily limited to the development of new drugs.

A multi-centre controlled trial of steroid treatment of the nephrotic syndrome was carried out on 125 patients. Of these, 64 were controls and 61 received prednisone in a recommended dose range of 20-30 mg./24 hours. The actual initial dose averaged 29 mg./24 hours. Treatment was continued for a variable period, but not less than six months. More than 10 mg./24 hours was given on average for 12 months to all patients, and for longer periods to some. Patients were classified, on the basis of biopsy specimens, into three groups: A, minimal change; B, membranous nephropathy; and C, proliferative glomerulonephritis. In groups B and C prednisone did not have any strikingly favourable effect on proteinuria or on renal function as compared with the control group. In group A, however, prednisone reduced proteinuria to a striking and statistically significant extent. It had little if any effect on long-term renal function in any group. The death rate was higher in the combined prednisone groups (17/61) than in the control groups (12/64). This difference was not statistically significant, but there was a significantly higher number of deaths from cardiovascular disease in the prednisone group, whereas the numbers of deaths from renal failure were not significantly different in the two groups.