Tag: Mexico
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Chocolate created a commotion in Chiapa cathedral
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “Beware the chocolate of Chiapas.”—Mexican saying The cacao bean, the essential ingredient in chocolate, is native to Southern Mexico, Central America, and South America. There is evidence that chocolate was used in Ecuador over 5,000 years ago.1 The Aztecs produced a ceremonial drink called chocolatl. The Spanish invaders of the New World…
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Pursuing Hualapai tigers in the Mule Mountains
Stephen A. KlotzJustin O. SchmidtTucson, Arizona, United States Every Monday afternoon after returning to my office from infectious disease clinic, I would find pickle jars and yogurt containers on my desk. Upon removing the lids and peering in, I saw crawling over one another the largest kissing bugs in the United States. There was always…
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Past, present, and future of psychedelic medicine
Jennifer KeehnBaja California, Mexico While there are now more clinical trials than ever before on the therapeutic applications of psychedelics, the medicinal use of such substances is not new. Indigenous cultures worldwide have used plants, roots, vines, and fungi that produce altered states of consciousness in healing rituals for thousands of years. The contemporary study…
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Hispanic, Latin, Latino, Latina, or Latinx?
Bernardo NgImperial County, California, United States The first time I became aware of a scientific group using the term Latinx was in 2018 during a meeting in Austin, Texas. It is a gender-neutral alternative to Latino or Latina that does away with the gender label, making it more inclusive to the growing sexual diversity of…
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The derailment of Franklin Pierce
Jacob Appel New York, New York, United States Few subjects have attracted as much attention from medical historians, both well-founded and speculative, as the health of United States presidents. Considerable debate exists over the extent of impairment caused by Lincoln’s bouts of melancholia,1 Grant’s alcoholism,2 Wilson’s stroke,3 and Coolidge’s depression4—to name only those chief executives from…
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Origin of yellow fever
Enrique Chaves-Carballo Kansas City, Kansas, United States The origin of yellow fever has been a controversial subject since the disease appeared in the New World. William C. Gorgas, who was responsible for the sanitation of Cuba and Panama, believed that yellow fever originated in Panama.1 Henry R. Carter, from the U.S. Marine Hospital Service and director…
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Thomas Keith: Pioneer photographer and pioneer surgeon
Iain MacintyreEdinburgh, Scotland “His success so far outstripped that of all other operators, that it became a wonder and admiration of surgeons all over the world.”1 So wrote J Marion Sims (1813–1883), arguably the most famous American surgeon of the 19th century and often described as the father of surgical gynecology.2 Sims was describing the…
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Destination
J Rush PierceLakewood, CO, United States It must have started some time before, but I was unaware of it on that pleasant September day, hiking in the rocky foothills of northern New Mexico with my daughter. Arriving back at the trailhead by late afternoon, we shucked our packs into my SUV and paused for a…