§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will list all research units funded by the Medical Research Council which have closed since 1979, indicating their main areas of work.
§ Sir Keith JosephThe information is as follows:
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Unit Main areas of work Experimental Haemotology unit experimental and clinical studies in the field of haemotology. Demyelinating diseases unit aetiological factors in multiple sclerosis and age associated dementias Unit for the study of environmental factors in physical and mental illness problems on the borderline of medicine and sociology Neuropharmacology unit the actions of drugs on the central nervous system with particular reference to drugs used in psychiatry and also drugs of abuse. Unit for metabolic studies in psychiatry the investigation of possible biochemical humoral and electrophysiological abnomalities in patients with mental disorders and aspects of physiology, biochemistry and animal behaviour that may have a bearing on these problems. Reproduction and groth unit research on human reproduction and on the development of children.
Unit Main areas of work WHO/MRC Tanzania Government Laboratories studies on filariasis, malaria, schistosomiasis and hookworm Environmental physiology unit anatomical, physiological and ergonomic problems arising in working and living envrionments, including the tropics, and relevant problems in ageing and rehabilitation Unit on experimental pathology of skin study of the structure and functions of the skin in health and disease Clinical genetics unit study of genetic and other factors in the causation of developmental abnormalities in man and the investigation of the role of inheritance in the causation of common diseases Clinical psychiatry unit the investigation of clinical problems in a psychiatric hospital and its community services Development psychology unit psychopathology of cognitive development with particular reference to the perceptual, phonological, linguistic and motor problems of aphasic, autistic, blind, deaf, dyslexic and subnormal children Industrial injuries and burns unit studies into the causes, local and general pathology, complications and treatment of burns and other injuries Lipid metabolism unit study of lipid metabolism particularly in relation to the problem of atherosclerosis In the same period the Medical Research Council has set up ten new units.