Bone and Bone Disease

A SYMPOSIUM on "Bone and Bone Disease" was held in the Medical Biology Centre (Q.U.B.) on Friday, 14th February, 1975, under the joint auspices of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, the Northern Ireland Council for Postgraduate Medical Education, and the Ulster Medical Society. The Symposium proved extremely popular and was attended by over two hundred doctors. The large attendance was commented upon by Dr. R. F. Robertson (Vice-president of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh) who opened the symposium. He remarked that the occasion was unique in that it was the first time the Edinburgh College had "crossed a sea" to participate in a symposium. The programme was divided into three sessions: Session 1 was chaired by Professor J. J. Pritchard (Department of Anatomy, Q.U.B.), Session 2 by Dr. R. F. Robertson (Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh), and Session 3 by Professor R. H. Girdwood (Department of Medicine, Edinburgh University). The culmination of the symposium was the annual Sir Thomas and Lady Edith Dixon Lecture, delivered by Professor H. F. DeLuca (Chairman of the Department of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin, Madison), who gave an erudite and enlightening exposition of the present state of knowledge of the metabolism of Vitamin D. For the lecture the chair was taken by Professor J. E. Morison (President of the Ulster Medical Society). The following are abstracts of the papers presented. After each session relevant points from the discussion are given.