The prevalence and causes of anemia have been studied in 104 patients over 60 years of age admitted to a general medical ward in Jerusalem. In males and females, mean hemoglobin levels were about 1 g less than in the corresponding groups of healthy younger controls. A primary nutritional anemia could not be implicated in any of the 15 patients with hemoglobins below 11 g/dl. The most important causes of anemia were chronic renal failure, metastatic carcinoma, gastrointestinal bleeding, and infection. Conversely, in diseases with no adverse effect on erythropoiesis such as chronic ischemic heart disease, hypertension and diabetes, hemoglobin levels were equal to those of the younger controls. These findings indicate that although diminished serum iron and RBC folate levels may occasionally be found in elderly subjects, nutritional deficiency is seldom responsible for anemia in this age group in Israel, and anemia when present is often the manifestation of a chronic underlying disease.
S U M M A R Y :Spermine was found t o inhibit the growth of various micro-organisms. The most susceptible were Staphylococcus aureus and Staph. albus, NeisseTia gonorrhoeae and N . meningitidis, and to a lesser degree Bacillus anthracis. The Enterobacteriaceae were relatively resistant. The action of spermine was enhanced by an increase in pH of the medium. The antibacterial effect was bactericidal ; it was slowed but not prevented by a decrease in temperature from 37 to 6'.
A thermophilic bacillus (minimal growth temperature 41 C, optimal 55 to 58 C, and maximal 65 C) was isolated from a manure pile. It is very similar to Bacillus stearothermophilus, but it differs in its inability to hydrolyze starch. The thermophilic isolate is a prototroph which grows in a minimal medium consisting of glucose, ammonium salt, phosphate buffer, and inorganic salts. At all temperatures studied (low to high), the same minimal nutritional requirements prevailed. The Arrhenius constant for growth was found to be 15,000 and 13,500 cal/mole in the minimal and rich media, respectively.
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