The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 260

Dm fuksdlneDGD Nuclear magnetic resonance equipment at retina foundation is operated by John Draper, while Dr. John Gergely, left, and Dr. Endre Balozs watch him manipulate battery of dials. Machine is used in study of water activity in the body. By Herbert Black i ft i i it 1Kb On Jtt Equipment to measure electrical and physical activity in the cornea of the eye and in measuring the tension in muscle fibers is operated by Dr.

Bengt O. Hedbys of Sweden and Dr. Saiichi Mishima of Japan at the retina foundation, where they are temporarily stationed nents of the body. It is used particularly to study the polysaccharides, carbohydrates in the combs of roosters. The rooster comb studies are especially important because the material in it is similar to that in joints and this might lead to knowledge about arthritis.

saccharides, which are carbohydrates, such as starch, Dr. Balazs explains. The retina foundation uses liquid scintillation counters, another electronic device, to measure the amount of radioisotopes of such as carbon 14, calcium, phosphorus and sulphur in various compo Electronic equipment is used, for example, to measure the electrical and physical activity in the cornea of the eye. The instruments allow the researchers to study the quality of the cornea, which changes thickness under certain conditions and becomes opaque. The studies, it is hoped, will lead to a better understanding of why corneas become thick, how the changes occur, how the cornea acts under normal conditions and what effect water content has on the cornea This equipment can serve a double purpose in that it is versatile enough to measure tensions in muscle fibers.

Another very important piece of equipment is one that automatically analyzes the amino acids in muscle proteins. This is basic research in Dr. Gergehs muscle research department. Through use of the equipment it is possible to break down the proteins of the muscles into small fragments, or peptides. With more information, from this type of research, on the basic structure of muscles, it may eventually be possible to do something clinically about such diseases as muscular dystrophy, which involves muscle and connective tissue proteins.

One of the more imposing pieces of electronic equipment at the retina foundation is a nuclear magnetic resonance machine, used to study the properties of water in the biological systems. This equipment is based on measuring the magnetic properties of the nuclei of atoms, especially the hydrogen atoms. Why is this important? Because 80 percent of the body is composed of water and we know very little about how it behaves, what its properties are, and especially what happens when it gets close to large molecules like nucleic acid, one of the bases of life; proteins or poly- Electronic medicine is progressing at such a dizzy pace, both in clinical and research activities, that it takes a computer to keep up with it. It is almost an understatement today to say that every vital function of the human system can be measured electronically. Electronic devices monitor the breathing, heart rate, blood pressure of patients and relay the information to nursing stations, saving nurses time and effort and protecting the patient constantly.

Electronic testing equipment aids the doctor in diagnosis, providing him with results that are free of human error, and doing it with much greater speed than the best human lab technician. There are such marvels as short-lived radioisotopes to detect brain and kidney lesions, radio pills that transmit signals to the outside and a wide variety of sensors, or transducers, to measure organ functions. On a deeper level, computers are opening new horizons in biomedi-cine a combination of biology and medicine. This is paving the way for broad public health programs, advanced knowledge in the life sciences and new insights into the nature of man and society. A place where basic research through electronics is being practiced as a high art is Boston's Retina Foundation Institute of Biological and Medical Sciences.

In a building designed for the electronic age, completed in 1962, the retina foundation carries' on biological and medical research with respect to connective muscles, epithelial and nervous tissue. There also is a department of clinical eye research. Dr. Endre A. Balazs, director of connective tissue research, and Dr.

John Gergely, director of rnqscle research, stress that bio-medicine just couldn't exist as a modem discipline without automation of research equipment. PACE 8 1 The Cover Front cover picture shows platinum mesh electrode used in new General Electric fuel cell. Such cells convert chemical energy directly into electrical energy and this one operates on inexpensive hydrocarbon fuels such as propane and natural gas and even gasoline and diesel oil. A fuel cell using hydrogen as fuel will power the systems on board the two-man Gemini spacecraft. Ft) LJAk; BOSTON SUNDAY GLOBE, NOVEMBER 3.

1963.