Medical Research Committee Research Articles

A note on the proposed amalgamation of the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine and the Medical Research Committee: philanthropy and state support of medical research, 1914.

(1986). A note on the proposed amalgamation of the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine and the Medical Research Committee: Philanthropy and state support of medical research, 1914. Annals of Science: Vol. 43, No. 3, pp. 287-289.

Achievements of the Research Committee of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (1971–1985)

In the Charter of the College, the Research Committee is established as a Standing Committee of Council; thus research has always been seen to be an essential part of the work of the College. The four main roles of the Research Committee are: (a) to help, advise and encourage the membership of the College in carrying out psychiatric research; (b) to advise the Council on the place of all aspects of research in the College; (c) to maintain a dialogue between the College and major potential grant-giving organizations for research, for example, the Medical Research Committee (MRC), the Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) (both of which send observers to the Research Committee) and larger relevant voluntary organizations; and (d) in some circumstances to be the agent for carrying out research.

Sherrington and industrial fatigue.

In September 1915 the Minister of Munitions, David Lloyd George, O.M. (1863—1945), set up the Health of Munition Workers Committee at the instigation of his Parliamentary Secretary, Dr Christopher Addison (1869—1951), who succeeded him as Minister in 1916 and in 1919 became the first Minister of Health (one of three medically qualified holders of this once important post, the other two being Walter Elliot and David Owen) (1). The Committee included Dr Walter Fletcher, F.R.S. (1873—1933), who in 1914 became the first Secretary of the Medical Research Committee at the suggestion of Dr T. R. Elliott, F.R.S. (1877—1961), the Committee having been established the previous year under Lloyd George’s National Insurance Act of 1911; Dr Leonard Hill, F.R.S. (1866—1952) was also a member. It may be mentioned that the Committee published in 1918 a report on the dietaries of munition workers (2) by Viscount Dunluce (1878—1932) and Capt. Major Greenwood, F.R.S. (1880—1949) which concluded: ‘The present provision of so many calories from fat and meat as could be made six months ago is no longer feasible. Fortunately, economic necessity and the teaching of physiology, however tentative the latter may be, do seem to point in the same direction. The substitution of energy derived from potatoes and cereals for a large portion of that yielded by fats and animal proteins would be a change that cannot scientifically be condemned’. This has been recently rediscovered by the NACNE Report (3).

Pharmacist involvement in institutional review of clinical trials

The establishment of an institutional review committee (IRC) for investigational clinical trials in a large community hospital is reported. After the need for an IRC was identified, the pharmacy and therapeutics committee charged the director of pharmacy with drafting a protocol for establishing an IRC. Following a literature review, guidelines were written for the IRC in the form of a committee manual. These guidelines were approved, and composition of the nine-member committee was set as follows: three members of the trustee medical education and research committee, three members of the medical staff, one member each of the clergy staff and the pharmacy staff, and one nonaffiliated community representative. The IRC reviews, approves or denies, and supervises all proposed clinical investigations. Risk/benefit ratios, purpose, recruitment and selection procedures, financial support, and informed consent documents of the proposed study are among the factors considered in the approval process. Guidelines for written policies and procedures governing IRC structure and activities are presented. The involvement of the pharmacist in the establishment and subsequent functions of the committee is described. IRC membership is an opportunity for the pharmacist to work with other professionals in protecting the rights and welfare of human research subjects.

Bridging the gap between clinician and chemist

Founded by the British Medical Research Committee (afterwards to become the Medical Research Council) in 1914, the National Institute for Medical Research moved into its first home, the Mount Vernon Hospital in Hampstead, London, in 1920. It became necessary to expand and a new building was constructed some IO miles away at Mill Hill. This is the site of the present institute which was not fully occupied until 1950. In the following article R. K. Callow, who was a member of the National Institute _for Medical Research stafffrom 19291966 (although absent on war service) reminisces on the early days of medical research at the institute.

Biological Activities of Various Lipid Fractions from Echinococcus granulosus Scolices on In vitro Cultures of Hymenolepis diminuta

Thin-layer chromatography of lipid extracts of Echinococcus revealed substances with stimulatory and depressive effects on growth of excysted cysticercoids of Hymenolepis diminuta in in vitro cultures. Cholesterol depressed growth and increased mortality, unidentified steroids increased mortality and a substance with Rfs similar to farnesal stimulated growth of these forms by as much as 100%. Similar substances, untested as yet for biological activity, were found in lipid extracts of infective larvae of Trichinella spiralis and miracidia of Fasciola hepatica. The complexity of the life cycles of parasitic helminths dictates reasonably sophisticated control mechanisms. The molts of larvae and maturation to adulthood are not unlike those of insects. The bulk of literature during the last 10 years on in vitro cultivation of parasitic helminths illustrates the rather primitive state of our knowledge regarding these phenomena. A finer understanding of the involved mechanisms might well open up new avenues for control of these parasites. A chance observation that lipoidal materials were being leached from scolices of Echinococcus granulosus during preparation of ES (excretion and secretion) antigens, and the fact that scolices of this organism live in hydatid cysts in an excellent culture medium, yet do not mature, prompted these studies. MATERIALS AND METHODS The procedure followed for the collection of scolices was essentially that of Agosin et al. (1957). Livers collected from sheep and cattle at the Beirut abattoir were brought to the laboratory within 2 hr after slaughter of the host animals. The fluid was withdrawn aseptically from hydatid cysts with a syringe and needle. The settling scolices were transferred to centrifuge tubes with a Pasteur pipette, washed 3 or 4 times with distilled water Received for publication 16 February 1968. * These studies were supported in part by research grants from the Medical Research Committee, American University of Beirut and from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service (AI-02205-08 and AI-07218-01). t Present address: Department of Biology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana. + Present address: School of Pharmacy, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky. and separated by low speed centrifugation. The thoroughly washed scolices were used alive for one experiment and lyophilized to a dry powder for the remainder. Total lipids from scolices were extracted by a procedure similar to that of Folch et al. (1957). The lyophilized scolices (0.495 g) were mixed with 100 volumes (w/v) of a mixture of chloroform: methanol (2:1, v/v) and agitated on a shaker for 6 hr. The insoluble residue was then separated from the solvent by low speed centrifugation and the supernatant fluid filtered through paper. This extraction was repeated 3 more times. The combined extracts were reduced to 10 ml under reduced pressure at 40 C and were subsequently washed with an equal volume of distilled water (Beames, 1965). After standing 1 hr, the separated chloroform layer was washed with 1/2 volume of 1% KC1 solution. To the aqueous phase, an equal volume of a mixture of chloroform: methanol (2:1) was added, and in a few minutes the chloroform layer (lower phase) was easily separated. The combined chloroform extracts were kept overnight at -20 C and quickly filtered in the cold. The filtrate was dried over Na2SO4 and evaporated to dryness under reduced pressure at 40 C. The residue was weighed (0.0672 g; 13.6% of dry weight) and immediately picked up in a minimum volume of chloroform and spotted on thin layer chromatography (TLC) plates for the fractionation of its lipid content. Preliminary qualitative extractions of infective larvae of Trichinella spiralis and miracidia of Fasciola hepatica were done in a similar way. Unless otherwise specified, thin layer plates 0.25 mm thick were prepared from Silica Gel G (Merck according to Stahl). The plates were oven-dried at 110 C for 30 min and stored in a dessicator. They were reactivated at 110 C for 10 min immediately before use. Eastman Chromagrams (0.1 mm thick) were also used. Solvent development was allowed to proceed to 12 to 13 cm from the point of sample application (1.5 cm from the lower edge of the plate) in preequilibrated chambers away from light.

"THE SAFETY OF ORAL CONTRACEPTIVES ": A Case Study in Medical Administration

Medical administrators must possess real expertise in studying health problems in the community; the relevant skill required is epidemiology. The problem of the association of OCAs (oral contraceptive agents) with thromboembolic disease is a major health problem which 70 medical administrators in the Ministry of Health were asked to investigate. These administrators passed on the investigative problem to the Medical Research Committee after repeated pushing from the Drug Safety Committee following a year of apparent inactivity on the part of the Ministry. The author suggests these medical administrators see themselves purely as administators passing questions to the experts in relevant fields and formulating policy rather than carry out the epidemiological studies themselves. Without the ability and opportunity to apply epidemiological methods to problems of medical care medical administration as a career will not appear attractive to physicians.

Research in Deafness in Children: Proceedings of a Conference at Oxford Held on the 6th and 7th of April, 1963, and Organized by the Medical Research Committee of the National Deaf Children's Society

Medical Journal of AustraliaVolume 2, Issue 9 p. 377-377 Review Research in Deafness in Children: Proceedings of a Conference at Oxford Held on the 6th and 7th of April, 1963, and Organized by the Medical Research Committee of the National Deaf Children's Society First published: 01 August 1965 https://doi.org/10.5694/j.1326-5377.1965.tb18836.xAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Abstract Research in Deafness in Children: Proceedings of a Conference at Oxford Held on the 6th and 7th of April, 1963, and Organized by the Medical Research Committee of the National Deaf Children's Society. Edited by L. Fisch, M.D., D.L.O.; 1964. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications; London: The National Deaf Children's Society. 7″ × 4¾″, pp. US. Price: 15s. (English). Volume2, Issue9August 1965Pages 377-377 RelatedInformation

Research in Deafness in Children.

This book represents the proceedings of a conference at Oxford in 1963 organized by the Medical Research Committee of the National Deaf Children's Society, whose function is to foster and support research in order to solve outstanding problems of deafness in children. The first division of the book deals with research in the causes of deafness and, while there is little new information here, some thought-provoking presentations are given. In the second half of the book hearing tests as they are presently practiced in children, problems in testing, problems in interpretation of electroencephalograms and other electrophysical changes in response to auditory stimuli, and the need for hearing tests in the newborn are discussed.

MEDICAL RESEARCH--HOSPITAL FOOD--ONE-DAY INFLUENZA.

THE Medical Research Council has just celebrated its jubilee, and it is interesting to recall that it started life as an offshoot of the National Insurance Act of 1911. Tuberculosis was then rampant, and the section of the Act dealing with sanatorium treatment empowered the insurance commissioners to use for medical research, from money provided by Parliament, a sum equivalent to 1 penny a head of the insured population. This produced £57,000, and in 1913 the Medical Research Committee was formed.Ever since those early days the Medical Research Council, as it was later named, has been able to . . .

1. Nardil (phenelzine) as a potentiator of electroconvulsive therapy (E.C.T.). 2. A survey of outpatient E.C.T.

The following are summaries of work carried out at Powick Hospital, Worcester, as a project approved by the Medical Research Committee of the Birmingham Regional Hospital Board, which also gave financial assistance.

A genetical study of the variations in ABH secretion

Summary1. The sib pair data suggest that the amount of A, B or H antigen secreted by an individual is in part inherited.2. Most of the inherited component of the variance in antigen secreted appears to be polygenic.3. The data confirm that group O people secrete more H substance than do group A people who, in turn, secrete more than group B people, and that group AB people secrete least of all. This suggests that there may be a difference between homozygotes and heterozygotes of groups A and B with regard to the amount of H secreted.4. The ratio of A:H secreted appears to be in part controlled genetically.5. The distribution of the ratio of A: H substance in group A secretors indicates that many of the so‐called aberrant secretors are really the arbitrarily chosen extremes of a continuous and unimodal distribution of ratios. If this be so, aberrant secretors should be defined as individuals whose A: H or B: H ratio falls more than a given number of standard deviations from the mean of the control group. Such a definition would allow people in different places, using different antisera, to compare their results.The research has been carried out with the aid of grants from the Medical Research Committee of the United Liverpool Hospitals under the Chairmanship of Lord Cohen of Birkenhead, the Nuffield Foundation and the Medical Research Council. Our thanks are due to our Senior Technician, Mr W. T. A. Donohoe, for his expert serological work. Finally we are grateful to our research assistant, Miss S. M. Manning, who has been invaluable in collecting most of the material and in carrying out all the secretarial work.

Investigations of muscular weakness in middle life: the so-called menopausal muscular dystrophy.

Australasian Annals of MedicineVolume 3, Issue 3 p. 171-181 Article INVESTIGATIONS OF MUSCULAR WEAKNESS IN MIDDLE LIFE: THE SO-CALLED MENOPAUSAL MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY MARK BONNIN, MARK BONNIN From the Royal Adelaide Hospital and the Department of Anatomy, University of AdelaideSearch for more papers by this authorW. R. ADEY, W. R. ADEY From the Royal Adelaide Hospital and the Department of Anatomy, University of AdelaideThe electromyographic investigations were performed with equipment constructed by the aid of grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Medical Research Committee of the University of Adelaide.Search for more papers by this author MARK BONNIN, MARK BONNIN From the Royal Adelaide Hospital and the Department of Anatomy, University of AdelaideSearch for more papers by this authorW. R. ADEY, W. R. ADEY From the Royal Adelaide Hospital and the Department of Anatomy, University of AdelaideThe electromyographic investigations were performed with equipment constructed by the aid of grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Medical Research Committee of the University of Adelaide.Search for more papers by this author First published: August 1954 https://doi.org/10.1111/imj.1954.3.3.171Citations: 2 AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume3, Issue3August 1954Pages 171-181 RelatedInformation

The pancreatic lesion in adult mice infected with a strain of pleurodynia virus. 2. Virus titres in the pancreas and their correlation with blood virus levels and morphological changes.

Australian Journal of Experimental Biology and Medical ScienceVolume 32, Issue 4 p. 489-498 Original Article THE PANCREATIC LESION IN ADULT MICE INFECTED WITH A STRAIN OF PLEURODYNIA VIRUS 2. VIRUS TITRES IN THE PANCREAS AND THEIR CORRELATION WITH BLOOD VIRUS LEVELS AND MORPHOLOGICAL CHANGES† JK Dineen, JK Dineen Department of Pathology, University of AdelaideSearch for more papers by this author JK Dineen, JK Dineen Department of Pathology, University of AdelaideSearch for more papers by this author First published: 01 August 1954 https://doi.org/10.1038/icb.1954.51Citations: 1 † This work was carried out with support from the Medical Research Committee of the University of Adelaide and by the John Mortlock Medical Bequest. AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume32, Issue4August 1954Pages 489-498 Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Society for Immunology RelatedInformation

The renal circulation in the male West African

Journal Article The renal circulation in the male West African Get access R. A. Kenney R. A. Kenney Colonial Medical Research Committee's Laboratory for Hot Climate Physiological Research, Lagos Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Transactions of The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Volume 48, Issue 3, May 1954, Pages 247–249, https://doi.org/10.1016/0035-9203(54)90071-1 Published: 01 May 1954

Serum potassium patterns in anuria and oliguria.

Excerpt Dangerous elevation of serum potassium concentration is most frequently encountered clinically in patients suffering from anuria or oliguria.1, 2, 3In our experience, however, a dangerous r...

Motor inhibition and Rorschach movement responses: a test of the sensory-tonic theory.

Journal of PersonalityVolume 21, Issue 3 p. 400-410 Motor Inhibition and Rorschach Movement Responses: A Test of the Sensory-Tonic Theory1 JULIAN MELTZOFF, JULIAN MELTZOFF Philadelphia VA. Clinic, 2, Roosevelt V.A. Hospital, and Michael Reese HospitalSearch for more papers by this authorJEROME L. SINGER, JEROME L. SINGER Philadelphia VA. Clinic, 2, Roosevelt V.A. Hospital, and Michael Reese HospitalSearch for more papers by this authorSHELDON J. KORCHIN, SHELDON J. KORCHIN Philadelphia VA. Clinic, 2, Roosevelt V.A. Hospital, and Michael Reese HospitalSearch for more papers by this author JULIAN MELTZOFF, JULIAN MELTZOFF Philadelphia VA. Clinic, 2, Roosevelt V.A. Hospital, and Michael Reese HospitalSearch for more papers by this authorJEROME L. SINGER, JEROME L. SINGER Philadelphia VA. Clinic, 2, Roosevelt V.A. Hospital, and Michael Reese HospitalSearch for more papers by this authorSHELDON J. KORCHIN, SHELDON J. KORCHIN Philadelphia VA. Clinic, 2, Roosevelt V.A. Hospital, and Michael Reese HospitalSearch for more papers by this author First published: March 1953 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.1953.tb01783.xCitations: 37 1 A portion of the data in this investigation was presented in a paper read at the 1951 meetings of the A P.A 2 Reviewed in the Veterans Administration and published with the approval of the Medical Research and Publications Committee. The statements and conclusions punished by the authors are the results of their own study and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or policy of the Veterans Administration § The authors are indebted to members of the two V.A installations for assistance in conducting the experiment Dr Elliot Mishler of Prenceton University, Dr Robert A. Brotemarkle of the University of Pennsylvania, and Dr. George D Goldman of City Collie of New York made facilities and subjects available AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume21, Issue3March 1953Pages 400-410 RelatedInformation

Research in the Colonies

WITH its third issue under the title "Colonial Research (1948–1949)"* the collection of annual report dealing with Colonial research now appears to have taken something like final shape. Under that title the present volume of 134 pages includes the annual report of the Colonial Research Council, the sixth annual report of the Colonial Products Research Council, the fifth annual report of the Colonial Social Science Research Council, the fourth annual reports of the Colonial Medical Research Committee and of the Committee for Colonial Agricultural, Animal Health and Forestry Research, and the second annual reports of the Colonial Insecticides Committee and Colonial Economic Research Committee. That from the Colonial Research Council is the master report covering the whole field, including those of the specialist advisory bodies, and to it are appended a list of schemes approved for research grants under the Colonial Development and Welfare Acts during the period April 1, 1948-March 31, 1949, and of allocations for research under those Acts, 1940—March 31, 1949. Some of the information has already been given in the return of schemes published in July as Colonial 211 and in "The Colonial Territories (1948—1949)" (Cmd. 7715), to which reference has already been made (see Nature, August 6, p. 199).

The work of the National Institute for Medical Research

In the National Insurance Act of 1911 there was contained a provision which has proved to be of great importance for scientific work in this country. This provision laid down that the sum of one penny per insured person should be provided from public funds for the purposes of research. The total income resulting amounted to £55,000 in the first year of the operation of the Act, and it was for the administration of this sum and for the decision as to the purposes to which it should be put that the Medical Research Committee was appointed in 1913. The first report of the Committee, which appeared late in 1915 over the signature of the first secretary, Walter Fletcher, and was submitted to the Chairman of the National Health Insurance Joint Committee, contained a declaration of policy which is of such fundamental importance to the conduct of medical research that it seems to me to be worth quoting in full at this time. In defining their objects the Committee made the following statement: 'The object of the research is the extension of medical knowledge with the view of increasing our powers of preserving health and preventing or combating disease. But otherwise than that this is to be the guiding aim, the actual field of research is not limited and is to be wide enough to include, so far as may from time to time be found desirable, all researches bearing on health or disease, whether or not such researches have any direct or immediate bearing on any particular disease or class of diseases, provided that they are judged to be useful in promoting the attainment of the above object.’

Medical Research Council and Sir Edward Mellanby, G.B.E., K.C.B., F.R.S.

SIR EDWARD MELLANBY will shortly be retiring from the secretaryship of the Medical Research Council, a post which to has held for some sixteen years. He has however, served and inspired the Council for close on thirty-five years. He was invited by thf the parent body of the Council, the short-lived Medical Research Committee, to undertake an inquiry canse of rickets soon after the beginning First World War, and his remarkable success in solving this problem soon gained him a world-wide reputation. He became well known during the inter-war years as a leading exponent of the new science of nutrition. This is not the place to tell of Sir Edward's own important contributions to medical and physiological science—original work which he has pursued vigorously and fruitfully during all his years of administrative work at the Medical Research Council. Rather should it here be remembered that his fearless devotion to the pursuit of truth has stimulated and directed medical research in Great Britain along many and varied tracks with a gratifying degree of success. Those with genuine medical or physiological problems to tackle would not apply to Sir Edward in vain for a hearing. He might conduct searching and sometimes even chastening interviews with aspirants to medical research ; but if he were convinced of the soundness of an idea and the integrity of purpose of its sponsors, he would be prepared to recommend the support of the man and the work with all the resources of his Council. Sir Edward will be sorely missed in his administrative capacity. There is, however, every reason for believing that he will still be able to give much of his time to his own medical research.