RESEARCH
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In the Faculty of Medicine research programmes included the following in the Department of Biochemistry: the effects of morphine and other drugs on the hormonal control of metabolism; the medical application of locally-found plant alkaloids and the cellular mechanisms involved; comparative aspects of metabolism in relation to biochemical evolution; and biochemical ceiteria of the aging process.
The major research interests of the Department of Medicine were in the field of diseases of the blood, liver, spleen and heart. In the field of cardiology a therapeutic trial on the different forms of drug treatment for acute rheumatic heart disease has been finished and an assessment of the late results of mitral valvulotomy is being carried out. In association with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology a survey of the incidence and types of anaemia encountered in pregnancy has been completed and the results indicate a high incidence of thalassaemia in Hong Kong Chinese. Research projects in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology included studies of the morphology of the Chinese female pelvis, anaemia in pregnancy, neonatal jaundice in the Chinese, and bladder tone in pregnancy.
In the Department of Pathology investigations on the histological typing of lung cancers occurring in Hong Kong, a study of gall- stones in recurrent pyogenic cholangeitis and a chemical study of the liver fluke clonorchis sinensis have been completed. Observa- tions on nasopharyngeal and liver carcinomas, chorion-epithelioma, serology of Clostridium welchii food poisoning and trace elements in urine are in progress. In the Department of Physiology re- searches were carried out on the adaptation to changes in environ- mental temperature, metabolic changes in thiamine deficiency, toxic action of fish poison, metabolic effect of pregnancy and heroin addiction.
In the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture research activi- ties in the Department of Civil Engineering during the year in- cluded experimental studies of composite steel and concrete structures, the further development of a rapid method of designing multi-storey buildings and investigations into the engineering behaviour of local soils. The Department of Electrical Engineering started a new research project on the analysis of electrical circuits involving non-linear elements such as metrosil. The analysis could