Month: September 2018
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Pierre Rayer (1793- 1867) – first to use microscopy to study kidney disease
Pierre Rayer occupies a special place in the history of nephrology for his attempt to classify the various diseases that Richard Bright had described in his monumental publication of 1827. With his intern Eugene Napoleon Vigla, he revolutionized the study of kidney diseases by using microscopy to analyze urinary sediments, describing crystals, cells, casts, and…
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Not just a fad diet
Jessica A. NessAberdeen, South Dakota, United States Gluten is the new answer to all that is wrong with what people are eating. You want to lose weight? Go gluten free. You cannot sleep, have frequent stomach aches, or want to rule the world? Go gluten free. Some claims are excessive but many others are common.…
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Mushrooms
Agata BrewerCrawfordsville, Indiana, United States My family, like most families in Poland, loved mushroom hunting. We developed expertise in recognizing the poisonous ones and spotting sites rich in porcini and chanterelles, bay bolete and scaber stalks. Mushroom hunting is a national sport in Poland. Anytime in September, hordes of people carry wicker baskets, metal pails,…
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A CV for posterity
Anthony PapagiannisThessaloniki, Greece The British Medical Journal (BMJ) is one of the oldest and most eminent general medical journals. Among its many and varied features is a regular obituaries page. Departed members of all branches of the medical profession, academic teachers, researchers and Nobel Prize winners, hospital and army doctors, and general practitioners, are remembered…
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The art of not eating
Ammar SaadOttawa, Ontario, Canada Fasting has been considered a devoted act of worship for centuries.1 It unifies people of different languages, ethnicities, and socioeconomic status in many world religions. Intentionally silencing the human instinct for food and drink may be considered masochism or futile asceticism by some, but for millions around the world, it represents the…
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Pellagra: A medical whodunit
Putzer J. HungSaint Louis, Missouri, United States “What you do in this world is a matter of no consequence. The question is, what can you make people believe that you have done?”– Sherlock Holmes, A Study in Scarlet Beginning in 1902, a strange epidemic struck the southern United States. Victims, often women and children of…
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Medicinal and historical value of Chinese food therapy
Kelly ChenBirmingham, Alabama, USA Persimmon: cold, sweet, astringent. It opens up the nose and the qi of ears. Scallion: warm, spicy, bitter. It treats cutting wounds and ulcer. White winter melon: slightly cold, sweet. It rids one of watery swelling in the lower abdomen. Dry ginger: hot, spicy. It treats vomiting caused by coughing. These…
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Saint Elisabeth, a saintly nurse
Saint Elizabeth of Hungary (1207–1231) is one of the most loved saints of the Middle Ages. Also called St. Elisabeth of Thuringia, she is the patron of bakers, beggars, brides, and of charities. Daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary, she was probably born in Pressburg, now called Bratislava, but then part of the Hungarian kingdom. Her…
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Florence Nightingale, The Lady with the Lamp
For generations, Florence Nightingale has been known as the Saintly Angel of Mercy or the Lady with the Lamp, and her story has been told many times. She arrived in Scutari in November of 1854 with thirty-eight women volunteers, sent by her close friend, the war secretary, Sydney Herbert, to reform the army hospitals in…
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Gerrit Dou and his Netherlandish quacks
Gerrit Dou (1613-1675), one of Rembrandt’s first students, was born thirteen years before his contemporary Jan Steen and died four years before him. Both painted similar works of contrasting light and dark, both lived most of their lives in Leiden, and both included in their work several scenes illustrating healthcare in the Netherlands in the…