Year: 2025
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Roma (Gypsies): History and medical aspects
Historical research indicates that the Roma people (also referred to as Romani or the pejorative “gypsies”) originated in India, contrary to earlier beliefs that they came from Egypt. Linguistic studies have unequivocally confirmed their language’s Indo-Aryan roots and similarities to Sanskrit, Hindi, and other languages of India. Over centuries of migration through Persia, Armenia, and…
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John Berryman, poetry, and addiction
Alan BleakleyPlymouth, United Kingdom “Starts again always in Henry’s ears / The little cough somewhere, an odour, a chime,” writes American poet John Berryman (1914–1972) in “Dream Song 29.”1 From a life of heavy drinking that served to mask the pain of chronic depression arose the legacy of his Dream Songs, told from the perspective…
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Eugenics and the perfusion pump: Lindbergh’s controversial medical legacy
Matthew TurnerHershey, Pennsylvania, United States Following his successful solo trans-Atlantic flight in the Spirit of Saint Louis in 1927, aviator Charles Augustus Lindbergh became an international celebrity. He was Time magazine’s very first Man of the Year in 1927, and was seen as an American hero for over a decade.1 One of Lindbergh’s greatest achievements—the…
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Siberia medical
Siberia is a vast expanse of forests, tundra, and remote settlements that covers 5.1 million square miles of land and stretches from the Urals to the Pacific and from the Arctic to the southern steppes. It encompasses roughly 77 percent of Russia’s territory but remains sparsely populated. Approximately 36 million people reside in Siberia, primarily…
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The great hospitals of Paris
Few cities have shaped Western civilization as profoundly as Paris, the “city of light”. For over 500 years, until the mid-twentieth century, Paris was the undisputed center of European culture, encompassing art, literature, and philosophy. Historians trace its early history to 451 CE, when Saint Genevieve saved it from the Huns, and to about 500…
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Early descriptions of polymyalgia rheumatica and giant cell arteritis
JMS PearceHull, England The accurate depiction of polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) in the 1940s is relatively recent. By contrast, its close relative giant cell arteritis (GCA) was clearly described in 1890. Their early descriptions were separate and the recognition of their overlap did not appear until the 1960s.1,2 The uncertain nature of the condition is shown…
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The enduring legacy of William Stewart Halsted
Michael NeffDallas, TexasMariam BanoubJulius BonelloPeoria, Illinois Late at night, nearly as exhausted with worry as the patient suffering severe abdominal pain before him, William Halsted made an executive decision. “Mother,” he pleaded, “you have an infected gallbladder and you need an operation.” After more reassurance, Mrs. Halsted, clutching her side, lay on the table and…
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The history of medicine in Malaysia and Singapore
The history of medicine in Malaysia and Singapore spans centuries of healing activities derived from indigenous traditions, colonial influences, and scientific advances. Long before the colonial era, local communities practiced herbal medicine using ingredients derived from the tropical rainforest’s flora, using methods passed down through generations, often combining herbal remedies with rituals, incantations, and divination.…
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The air remembers
Elizabeth CrowstonCavalier, North Dakota, United States In the grasp of the dawn, where your laughter once danced, The air remembers where you were, a tale of love glanced. I reach out for you but am greeted with raw emptiness, The air holds your shape, unreachable to me, in its quietness. Beneath the sky’s vast, unfathomable blue, Where sunsets painted…