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RESEARCH
and contributed original papers to the International Symposium on Phytochemistry held in Hong Kong and the 5th International Congress of Biochemistry held in Moscow.
Another of the newly formed departments, Orthopaedic Surgery, continued the research which it had previously undertaken as a sub-unit of the University's Surgery Department. Tuberculosis of bones and joints is still one of the most frequent conditions which is treated in this section of the University, and a great part of the research activity is related to this field. An analysis of 300 cases of tuberculosis of the spine treated with anterior spinal fusion between 1955-60 was completed, and showed the very satisfactory results obtained with this type of treatment.
On the experimental side, the Department contributed to the knowledge of the spread of tuberculosis to the spine, and of the histo-pathology of the disease at different stages. Progress was made in the study of the vascularization of the human spine during growth. Another research project has been stimulated by the observation that some orthopaedic conditions, such as osteochon- dritis of the hip, are found among Western children but are unknown among Chinese children, and the project aims to find out if there is any vascular difference between the Western and the Chinese hip.
A survey was also made of the surgery of the hand and the foot in the treatment of leprosy. The results concerning the surgery of the foot were presented at a meeting of the British Orthopaedic Association, and those of the hand will be published as soon as they are complete.
In the Department of Pathology research included studies of ovarian tumours and abnormalities of pregnancy. Work is in prog- ress on tumours of the liver and, in collaboration with Professor Kreyberg of Oslo, on the grading of lung tumours. Investigations continued into the improvement of laboratory techniques in diagnostic bacteriology, and surveys are being made of polio- myelitis community rates and carrier rates, as well as studies of other enteric viruses in Hong Kong.
The Department of Physiology continued its investigations of the metabolic effects of temperature, toxicology of biological poisons, metabolic changes in vitamin deficiency and physiology of pregnancy.