Does access to cardiac investigation and treatment contribute to social and ethnic differences in coronary heart disease? Whitehall II prospective cohort study

Objective: To determine whether access to cardiac procedures and drugs contributes to social and ethnic differences in coronary heart disease in a population setting. Design: Prospective study with follow up over 15 years. Civil service employment grade was used as a measure of individual socioeconomic position. Need for cardiac care was determined by the presence of angina, myocardial infarction, and coronary risk factors. Setting: 20 civil service departments originally located in London. Participants: 10 308 civil servants (3414 women; 560 South Asian) aged 35-55 years at baseline in 1985-8. Main outcome measures: Use of exercise electrocardiography, coronary angiography, and coronary revascularisation procedures and secondary prevention drugs. Results: Inverse social gradients existed in incident coronary morbidity and mortality. South Asian participants also had higher rates than white participants. After adjustment for clinical need, social position showed no association with the use of cardiac procedures or secondary prevention drugs. For example, men in the low versus high employment grade had an age adjusted odds ratio for angiography of 1.87 (95% confidence interval 1.32 to 2.64), which decreased to 1.27 (0.83 to 1.94) on adjustment for clinical need. South Asians tended to be more likely to have cardiac procedures and to be taking more secondary prevention drugs than white participants, even after adjustment for clinical need. Conclusion: This population based study, which shows the widely observed social and ethnic patterning of coronary heart disease, found no evidence that low social position or South Asian ethnicity was associated with lower use of cardiac procedures or drugs, independently of clinical need. Differences in medical care are unlikely to contribute to social or ethnic differences in coronary heart disease in this cohort

CRIMINAL LAW AND PROCEDURE - STATUTES-CONSTITUTIONALITY OF CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR UNREASONABLE DEDUCTIONS UNDER FEDERAL INCOME TAX STATUTE

Defendant was indicted for attempting to evade the federal tax on the income of a certain corporation for the years 1933 to 1936. In providing for deductions from gross income, the statute permits a reasonable allowance for salaries or other compensation for personal services. The government charged that the defendant was a party to a fraudulent scheme whereby, under the guise of paying commissions for services, which commissions were · deducted from gross income, the corporation distributed profits to its stockholders. The trial court submitted to the jury the issue whether the deduction represented a reasonable allowance for the services rendered. The circuit court of appeals held that defendant could not be found guilty of criminal violation of the statute merely by virtue of payment of unreasonable compensation for services actually rendered, but only for deductions taken for payments made when no services were in fact rendered. Held, defendant may be found guilty if the payments were unreasonable, and it was not error to submit this issue to the jury. United States v. Ragen, 314 U.S. 513, 62 S. Ct. 374 (1942)

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW - SELECTIVE SERVICE ACT - FINALITY OF LOCAL DRAFT BOARD\u27S CLASSIFICATIONS

The wife of a registrant who had been placed in class I-A and inducted into the army under the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 petitioned the federal district court for a writ of habeas corpus to secure her husband\u27s release, contending that the draft board had acted arbitrarily in classifying him. The petitioner and the registrant became engaged in December, 1939, at which time the date of their wedding was set for January 4, 1941. On November 20, 1940, the registrant filed his questionnaire with his local board, indicating that he then had no dependents but that he was to be married in January. On December 3, 1940, the board placed the registrant in class I, and he received his physical examination on January 3, 1941, the day before his marriage. The board changed the classification of the registrant from class I to class I-A on January 7, claiming that he had no dependents on the date of classification, which was December 3. Held, the proper date of classification was January 7; thus the registrant was released from the army because the local board had acted arbitrarily in refusing to find that the petitioner was a dependent. Application of Greenberg, (D. C. N. J. 1941) 39 F. Supp. 13

TAXATION - FEDERAL ESTATE TAX - DEDUCTION ALLOWABLE FOR GIFTS TO CHARITY WHEN THERE HAS BEEN A COMPROMISE

The testator gave the residue of his estate to a charity. When the widow of the testator made known her intention to contest the will, the charity offered to give her a sum equivalent to twenty-five per cent of the amount it was to receive under the will. The widow then agreed to withdraw all objections to the probate of the will. The executors were not parties to the compromise agreement, nor was it incorporated in, or made a part of, the probate proceedings. The executors filed an estate tax return in which a deduction from the testator\u27s gross estate was claimed for the full amount of the residuary estate as a bequest to charity. The commissioner of internal revenue contended that the twenty-five per cent of the residue going to the widow by the terms of the compromise agreement was not deductible. Held, the amount received by the widow cannot be deducted from the gross estate since she took by inheritance. The amount to be deducted for testamentary charitable gifts must be the amount the charity actually receives, and not the amount provided for in the decedent\u27s will. In re Sage\u27s Estate, (C. C. A. 3d, 1941) 122 F. (2d) 480

TAXATION - FEDERAL INCOME TAX - CONSTRUCTIVE RECEIPT OF INCOME BY LESSOR CORPORATION WHEN RENTS PAID DIRECTLY TO LESSOR\u27S STOCKHOLDERS

In 1864 the Joliet and Chicago Railroad Company made a perpetual lease without a defeasance clause of all of its property to another railroad company. Under the state law, the lease was a conveyance in fee. The lessee agreed to pay as rental an annual dividend of seven dollars a share on the then outstanding stock of the lessor, these payments to be made directly to the shareholders. The dividends paid by the lessee for the years 1931 to 1934 were taxed as income to the lessor, who now sues to recover the tax. Held, payments to the lessor\u27s stockholders constituted income to the lessor. United States v. Joliet & Chicago R.R., (U.S. 1942) 62 S. Ct. 442

TRUSTS - DIVISION OF PROCEEDS FROM UNITED STATES SAVINGS BONDS BETWEEN LIFE TENANT AND REMAINDERMAN

Testator devised the residue of his estate in trust to pay the income to his wife for life and on her death to distribute the corpus to the children of the testator. The trustee bought ten-year bonds of the United· States Government known as United States Savings Bonds. The bonds did not bear interest payable at stated intervals, but were sold at a price sufficiently below their maturity value to yield a return equal to 2.9 per cent per annum, compounded semi-annually, it the bonds were held for the full ten years. The holder of such bonds may present them for redemption by the United States at any time after they have been outstanding sixty days. Redemption is made in accordance with a schedule which, after the first year, provides an increased redemption price every six months which is sufficiently in excess of the original purchase price to yield to the holder a return of 1.33 per cent to 2.84 per cent per annum, depending upon how early in the ten-year period the bonds are redeemed. The trustee proposed to pay the life tenant, from available cash belonging to the corpus, the amount of each six months\u27 increment in redemption value according to the schedule set out in the bond. The remainderman contended that since the bonds were purchased on a discount basis any increment in value belonged to the corpus, or that if the increment was income, it was not distributable income until it came into the possession of the trustee when the bonds were redeemed. Held, the increment on the bonds is distributable income. In re Wehner\u27s Will, 238 Wis. 557, 300 N. W. 241 (1941)

TAXATION -- TAXING INCOME FROM SHORT-TERM FAMILY TRUST TO SETTLOR

In 1931 a settlor executed a deed of trust and transferred securities to the trustees, who were also the settlor\u27s lawyers. The trustees were to pay the income to the settlor\u27s wife, children and mother-in-law. The duration of the trust was six years and sixteen days, but it was provided that the trust would terminate before that time if the settlor or his wife died. At the termination of the trust the corpus was to be returned to the settlor. The settlor reserved no power to remove the trustees or to modify or revoke the trust or to control the management of the trust property. The commissioner of internal revenue sought to tax the income of the trust for the years 1934 and 1935 as income of the settlor although the trust was not created to satisfy any legal obligations of the settlor. Held, the net income of the trust is taxable to the settlor under section 22(a) of the Revenue Act of 1934. Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Barbour, (C. C. A. 2d, 1941) 122 F. (2d) 165

WILLS - HOLOGRAPHIC REVOCATION - REFERENCE TO NONTESTAMENTARY ACT TO DETERMINE WILL TO WHICH REVOCATION REFERS

Testator deposited his last will and testament with a trust company for safekeeping and received a receipt acknowledging the deposit. Several years later he wrote on the bottom of the receipt: The Will and Testament above referred to I hereby declare void. The writing was signed and dated. On his death his widow alleged that he had died intestate and the probate court entered a decree recognizing the widow as sole distributee of the estate, valued at twelve million dollars. The legatees in the will instituted the present proceedings against the widow for a rule to show cause why she had not produced the will for probate. The widow answered that the will had been revoked. In reply plaintiffs pleaded that the will to which the revocation referred could be identified only if the receipt were incorporated into the revocation and that the receipt could not be incorporated by reference because it was not in the testator\u27s handwriting. Held, that the will was revoked. Reference may be made to a nontestamentary act for the purpose of rendering certain the will to which the revocation refers. Hessmer v. Edenhorn, 196 La. 575, 199 So. 647 (1941)

TAXATION - EXCISE TAXES - MEANING OF DUES OR MEMBERSHIP FEES UNDER THE FERERAL REVENUE ACTS

The Winchester Country Club\u27s by-laws provided for annual dues of fifty dollars which entitled the member to all the privileges of the club except golf. By paying fifty dollars more for full privileges, members obtained the privilege of playing golf for a year. The club\u27s practice was to bill members annually in advance, measured by the privileges previously held. If after such billing a member indicated that he did not want the golf privilege, no attempt was made to collect the charge. The federal government collected taxes on payments to the club for golf privileges on the ground that the payments were dues or membership fees. After a claim for refund had been rejected, the club sued as agent for its members to recover the taxes paid. Held, the charges for golf privileges were taxable as club dues or membership fees within the meaning of the Revenue Act. White v. Winchester Country Club, (U.S. 1942) 62 S. Ct. 425

Seismic modelling and paleoceanography at DSDP Site 574

The analysis of high-resolution watergun seismic profiles collected in support of DSDP Leg 85 drilling reveals sev eral major, regionally traceable reflectors that can be correlated over more than 360,000 km2 in the central equatorial Pacific. Synthetic seismograms generated from shipboard physical property measurements (carefully corrected to in situ values) for DSDP Site 574 show excellent agreement with the field records; the agreement suggests that the traveltime to-depth conversion is accurate and permits the precise (± 5 m) location of reflectors in the cored section. The reflectors can be dated (±0.5 Ma) as follows: Orange, 21.5 to 22.5 Ma; Yellow, 20.5 to 21.5 Ma; Lavender, 16 to 17 Ma; Red, 13.5 to 14.5 Ma; Purple, 11 to 12 Ma; Brown, 7 to 8 Ma; and Green, 3 to 4 Ma. Similar analyses at the other Leg 85 sites result in identical ages. The reflectors are thus time surfaces; this chapter relates them to major paleoceanographic events and changes in the relative sea-level curve. The Orange and Yellow reflectors are associated with a marked increase in δ 1 3C, a major change in planktonic foraminiferal assemblages, the development of the deep Circum-Antarctic Current, and the establishment of steep thermal gradients between tropical and polar regions. This reorganization of the oceanic circulation system was probably a response to the opening of the Drake Passage, and it resulted in changes in the chemistry of tropical Pacific waters that caused the induration (and thus impedance contrasts) associated with these reflectors. The Lavender reflector is associated with a large carbonate minimum, the Chron 16 carbon shift, a widespread hiatus (NH2), major eustatic sea-level fluctuations, and a significant increase in silica deposition in the Pacific. It is not associated with 18O enrichment or climatic cooling. We conclude that this event represents an intensification in Antarc tic Bottom Water (AABW) circulation and the partitioning of silica between the Atlantic and the Pacific, caused by the introduction of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) in response to paleobathymetric and tectonic events. The Red re flector is associated with a subdued carbonate minimum, a widespread hiatus (NH3), a sea-level drop, significant changes in microfossil assemblages, and a major increase in δ 1 8 that has been linked with the buildup of Antarctic ice. Detailed isotopic analyses reveal that this isotopic shift occurred within an interval of 30,000 yr. and precisely at the depth of the Red reflector. The Purple reflector is associated with an extremely large carbonate minimum, a change in the style of carbonate deposition in the Pacific, a major lithologic boundary, a widespread hiatus (NH4), an increase in the provincialism be tween low and high latitudes in all planktonic microfossil assemblages, an apparent fall in eustatic sea level, an enrich ment in δ 1 8 , and a major North Atlantic reflector interpreted as representing an intensification of North Atlantic bot tom-water circulation. The Brown reflector is roughly associated with a small carbonate minimum, an enrichment in δ 1 8 , the late Miocene 1 3C depletion, a drop in the relative sea-level curve, and major faunal changes. The Green reflector is associated with a large carbonate minimum, an enrichment in δ 1 8 , a major western North Atlantic erosional event, and a widespread eastern Atlantic seismic reflector. The bulk of evidence supports correlation with the onset of Northern Hemisphere glaciation, but detailed isotopic analyses indicate that this isotopic event may be linked to the establishment of colder bottom waters without major ice-sheet development. Several types of reflectors have been identified. The reflectors in the older section result from diagenetic effects; the regionally correctable reflectors are associated with global events. In the younger (post-18 Ma) section, local reflectors are characterized by velocity contrasts, whereas regional reflectors are associated with density contrasts caused by car bonate minima. Two modes of generation of carbonate minima (and thus of reflectors) spanning the equatorial Pacific are (1) the intensification of AABW without the concurrent intensification of NADW and so without fractionation of silica between the Atlantic and the Pacific; this mode results in the less extreme carbonate minima; and (2) the intensifi cation of AABW in response to the intensification of NADW; this mode results in extreme carbonate minima and a cor relation of equatorial Pacific reflectors with North Atlantic events