Month: October 2020
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THEME
RUSSIAN LITERATURE Published in October, 2020 H E K T O R A M A . THE EDUCATION OF DOCTOR CHEKHOV Chekhov was neither an academic star, nor a social standout. There were, however, two areas in which he excelled. The first was his ability to listen to patients…
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Not-so-natural history
Anthony Papagiannis Thessaloniki, Greece Photo by Anthony Papagiannis Physicians learn about chronic disease by watching its natural history and attempting to modify it with therapies. Cardiologists record episodes of ischemic disease, oncologists follow the progression of malignancies, and pulmonologists note changes in respiratory function over time. When patients are first seen, the disease is…
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Terminal digit preference
Marshall Lichtman Rochester, New York, United States Figure 1. There are three types of sphygmomanometer; mercury, aneroid, and digital. This figure is of a manual aneroid sphygmomanometer. The rubber pump is used to raise the cuff pressure above the patient’s systolic pressure and then the pressure is released by unscrewing slowly the small valve…
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Hope quarantined
Prasad Iyer Singapore Poet’s statement: This fictional poem expresses the feelings of a migrant separated from his family during the COVID pandemic. Photo by Logan Fisher on Unsplash Quarantine forceth divorced souls Distanced families and broken wholes Shards of thoughts, impaling my core Locked down borders’ hearts a sore Shallow slumber,…
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Dr. Will and Dr. Charlie: William James Mayo, (1861-1938) and Charles Horace Mayo (1865-1939)
John Raffensperger Fort Meyers, Florida, United States Portrait of William Worrell Mayo and his sons: Charles Mayo (right) and William James Mayo (left). Credit: Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) The father of the Mayo brothers, William Worall Mayo, was born in a village near Manchester, England, in 1819. His father died when…
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Teddy Roosevelt: Did a speech really save his life?
Kevin R. Loughlin Boston, Massachusetts, United States Figure 1. Roosevelt’s Eyeglass Case. Photo by Rickster77 on Wikimedia. CC BY-SA 3.0. Figure 2. Roosevelt’s Speech With Bullet Hole. Houghton Library, Harvard University. Part of the Theodore Roosevelt Collection. Via Flickr. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. Figure 3. Roosevelt’s Bloody Shirt. Houghton Library, Harvard University. Part of the…
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Can behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia salvage Semmelweis?
Faraze A. Niazi Jack E. Riggs Morgantown, West Virginia, United States Ignaz Semmelweis. 1818 – 1865. Age 47 years at death. Via Wikimedia. Remember me for the mind I had; not the mind a disease created. Few physicians have made a more significant observation than did Ignaz Semmelweis.1 In 1847 he took over two…
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Everyone’s pain
David Nathaniel Yim Baltimore, Maryland, United States Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash During a grueling two-week backpacking trip, I made the conscious commitment to become a physician. I did not realize at the time, but the painfulness of my trek was only beginning. I knew that I had to achieve excellent grades and…