EDUCATION
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bird proprioceptors; the histochemistry and physiology of insect secretory activity; and the ecology of Hong Kong mammals.
In the Faculty of Medicine, the Department of Anatomy was mainly concerned with the biology of the Chinese because of its basic importance to medicine, public health and education in this area. More than 15,000 normal Chinese children and young adults were carefully studied, ages ranging from birth to 25 years. Special attention was paid to the pattern of growth and development (sexual maturation, skeletal maturation, dental maturation, and the evolution of subcutaneous tissue); growth at adolescence; the factors that regulate and the factors that affect growth and develop- ment; and the physique and physical characteristics of young Chinese adults.
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In the Department of Biochemistry, research on the effects of morphine on the hormonal control of metabolism revealed that morphine induces changes in hormonal mechanisms, that the drug assumes the role of a pseudohormone which participates in the adrenal complex of hormonal factors and thus gives rise to a state of physical dependence. In the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, studies were continued on chemotherapy of tropho- blastic disease; quantitative assay of human chorionic gonadotrophin in trophoblastic disease; serum bilirubin assay in the newborn; lymphangiography in genital carcinoma; haemoglobin pattern in cases of hydrops foetalis; and the use of hypotensive drugs in toxaemia of pregnancy. In addition three new research projects were begun. The Department of Pathology continued research on disease of the liver and biliary passages common in Hong Kong, on bacteriological problems, and on kidney disease in childhood. Research projects in the Department of Physiology included the adaptation to changes in environmental temperature, metabolic changes in thiamine deficiency, toxic action of fish poison, heroin addiction, metabolic changes in pregnancy toxaemia, and the effect of diet on uterine function.
The Department of Medicine continued its research in various diseases commonly encountered among the local Chinese popula- tion. The mechanism of hypoglycaemia in pyogenic infection and carcinoma of the liver was further elucidated. Erythropoietin was demonstrated in patients with carcinoma of the liver and eryth- rocytosis. An investigation into anaemias in pregnancy in Hong