Bulletin Summer 1975

Evaluation of Chinese pulse diagnosis information Treatment of Drug Addict s by Acupuncture The vast number of pulse conditions and wealth of diagnostic information claimed obtainable with the traditional Chinese method o f palpation (or pulse- taking) have always been viewed with amazement and disbelief. Past attempts to record the pulse waveform have not been very successful because of distortions, movement artefacts and non-repeatability. A recent investigation carried out by Mr. T . C. Choy of the Electronics Department jointly with Prof. F. Koide of the University of Hawaii, using an ordinary strain gauge physiological displacement transducer, produced some interesting results as shown in (a) , which reproduces the radial pulse taken at the " T s ' un" position of a subject suffering from mild influenza. The waveform has the characteristics of a "Floating" and "Tense" pulse (see (b) and (c)). The wide application of acupuncture has aroused the attention of scientists al l over the world and extensive research on acupuncture has been conducted in recent years. This University has just received a grant of HK $40,000 from the Lee Foundation of Singapore for biochemical research on drug addicts treated by electro-acupuncture. This project will be in collaboration with Dr. H.L. Wen and will open up a new vista in drug addicts therapy. If concrete results can be achieved, it will be a boon not only to the unfortunate people in Hong Kong but will help to solve a world-wide 20th-century social dilemma. It is, of course, only a beginning but holds vast promises. Other Research Projects Staff and students of the Science Faculty are actively engaged in a large number of research projects. Though diverse in nature, they are all directed towards the advancement of knowledge and community service. Interdepartmental Research (a) Radial Pulse taken at Ts'un position (b) A "Floating” Pulse (c) A “Tense” Pulse A new design is presently undertaken by Mr. Choy which involves the use of "eddy-current" type precision displacement transducers in a non-contact mode with a separate artefact channel for active interference elimination and a hand-wired signal preprocessor for automatic amplitude and offset correction. It is hoped that with interdisciplinary and external cooperation, the research can lead to a useful clinical diagnostic technique. An interdepartmental research project has been launched through cooperation between member s of the Physics and Biology Departments . The aim of the project is to determine the effect of laser on the vertebrate visual system. The project will include studies on (I) the changes of visual morphology an d visual histochemistry after laser treatment, (2) the A laser inadiatedRetina showing displacement of nuclei 8