Month: January 2025
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Book review: A history of vaccines and anti-vaxxers
Arpan K. BanerjeeSolihull, England Infectious diseases have been a scourge throughout human history. The first recorded epidemic was of the plague that occurred in Athens from 430–427 BC, chronicled in the writings of Thucydides in his History of the Peloponnesian War. In nineteenth-century Britain, tuberculosis, scarlet fever, diphtheria, typhoid, measles, smallpox, and cholera were major…
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Brigadier General Clara Adams-Ender: A transformational nurse leader
LaTonya JonesChicago, Illinois, United States One of the most coveted military awards is the Army Expert Field Medical Badge (EFMB). It is awarded to soldiers who demonstrate excellent performance of common military tasks while simultaneously exhibiting an expert level of proficiency in applying basic medical care in the field.1 All branches of the military medical…
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Agatha Christie, nurse
Linda CarterCarpinteria, California, United States It is not well known that Agatha Christie (1890–1976), the most published author of all time,1 served as a Red Cross nurse volunteer in World War I. Beginning in 1914, she logged 3,400 hours of supportive care in a temporary hometown hospital. That same year, twenty-four-year-old Agatha Miller married first…
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Massaging the baby
Erin FroschCork, Ireland The centuries-old practice of baby massage has been used as early as 2670 BC in China1 to promote bonding between parent and child and demonstrate affection through physical touch, words of affirmation, and quality time. It has been passed down from generation to generation in cultures across Africa, Asia, and the South…
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Working abroad
Julius MontuertoLobogon, Duero, Bohol, Philippines Nursing school in the Philippines is among the most expensive undergraduate programs anyone can pursue. Having the opportunity to enroll in this program is a privilege and earning that nursing diploma guarantees financial stability—but only if we work abroad. Nurses in the Philippines are not well compensated. Every year, thousands…
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Metrodora: Egyptian physician, midwife, and surgeon
Geraldine MillerLiverpool, England Metrodora is considered to be the “the mother of gynecology.”1 Yet, for many centuries, she has remained unknown. Even today, there are few within the medical community who know much about her pioneering work as a midwife, gynecologist, and surgeon who performed “procedures ahead of her era.”2 She is believed to have…
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Multiple personalities are taking over me
Prekshya ParajuliLouisville, Kentucky, United States In a world where days unfold with habitual grace,I find myself caught in a strange, erratic chase.Not half an hour past, yet hunger calls again,A craving that burns despite my daily strain. Eight hours a day, I toil without much complaint,But today, mere hours in, exhaustion paints my faint.A friend…
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Leonardo’s Vitruvian Man, a self portrait?
JMS PearceHull, England Amongst Leonardo da Vinci’s (1452–1519) unrivalled masterpieces are the Mona Lisa (c. 1503), The Last Supper (c. 1495–1498), Salvator Mundi (c. 1499–1510), and the Vitruvian Man (c. 1490). All have been subject to countless commentaries and learned descriptions.1,2 Just as the fictional works of novelists often include (albeit subconsciously) aspects of their…
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Complicating leprosy in the late medieval West
Juliana MenegakisSt. Andrews, Scotland Starting in the 1990s, Demaitre, Rawcliffe, and Touati revived the study of medieval leprosy, countering the traditional view that lepers were excluded from mainstream society.1 Traditionalists argued that medieval Europeans were inspired by Leviticus, which instructs priests on how to examine and cleanse people with a “defiling skin disease,” traditionally interpreted…