PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOCHEMISTRY 



in the solution of clinical problems. It will require a great deal of 

 time and effort to determine the relative importance of the various 

 possible actions of methionine, that is, as a source of organic sulfur, 

 as a source of a specific amino acid, or as a precursor of choline. It is 

 not reasonable to expect that the lipotropic factors will exert beneficial 

 effects when they are added to diets which already contain an abun- 

 dance of these agents unless clinical conditions exist in which their 

 absorption or utilization is abnormal. 



The metabolism of fat which is, of course, intimately related to 

 that of protein and carbohydrate, can no longer be thought of as the 

 sluggish stream it was widely considered to be relatively few years ago. 

 From some viewpoints it is now easier to study the intermediate me- 

 tabolism of fats than that of carbohydrate or protein, and we can con- 

 fidently look forward to great progress in this field during the next 

 few years, 



V/ar Medical Research 



With the outbreak of war in September, 1939, many productive 

 peacetime medical studies were immediately discontinued. Our ene- 

 mies had apparently made this move many years previously and thus 

 had, for a time, the great advantage of the results of deliberate and 

 detailed planning for the medical aspects of warfare. Several busy 

 years were required to balance the scales anew. 



Our experiences in war medical research in Canada are essen- 

 tially the same as those of our allies with whom and by whom problems 

 and solutions have been freely shared. The primitive state of our 

 organization for medical research in the Armed Services at the begin- 

 ning of the war may have introduced an element of novelty into some 

 of the arrangements subsequently made in Canada. In the Air Force 

 and Navy, medical research groups from university departments were 

 set up, in affiliation with the Medical Committees of the National 

 Research Council of Canada, as the nuclei of Service Medical Research 

 Units. The research workers, some placed on active service and some 

 as civilians supported by the National Research Council, continued to 

 use the university buildings and facilities for their Service researches. 

 In the Naval Service, this arrangement has continued with little 

 change up to the present time. In our particular unit, the first re- 



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