§ Mr. Bessellasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what further research the Medical Research Council will conduct on the genetical factors that contribute to the aetiology of schizophrenia.
§ Mr. Goronwy RobertsThe entire programme for the Medical Research Council's Psychiatric Genetics Research Unit is concerned with studies on genetic factors in mental illness, including schizophrenia. A general account of research in this field to date and of possible lines of future investigation is to be found on pages 54–61 of the Council's Annual Report for 1965–66. The Council is continuing to support work on this subject and will develop it as necessary in the future.
§ Mr. Lubbockasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what recent research has been conducted by the Medical Research Council on the use of urine chromatography in the diagnosis of schizophrenia.
§ Mr. Goronwy RobertsThe Medical Research Council's Unit for Research on the Chemical Pathology of Mental Disorders is carrying out a number of investigations on urine chromatography in 143W mental disorder, concerned in particular with the identification and possible significance of the chemical substances involved and with the assessment of the effects of diet, drugs and intestinal bacteria on the results of chromatographic tests. Although by the use of these techniques workers at a number of centres have shown that people previously diagnosed by clinical methods as suffering from schizophrenia tend to excrete certain substances more frequently and in larger amounts than the normal population, the significance of these findings has not yet been fully determined and the techniques are not at present generally regarded as helpful in the actual diagnosis of schizophrenia.