Spring 2010 - Hektoen International

Evolution from recapitulation theory to Neural Darwinism

January 29, 2017

JMS Pearce London, United Kingdom Early evolutionary theorists noted that the evolution of the brain, its structural organization, and microscopic structure appeared to develop concurrently with human anatomy through the process of evolution. This understanding of the evolution of the brain was heavily influenced by both the theories of phylogeny, which discusses this evolutionary lineage […]

One for science: nothing more, nothing less

January 29, 2017

Erin Duralde Palo Alto, California, USA On an ordinary day, just a routine checkup, Ruth’s left breast spoke up for the first time. Under the stiff press of the mammography machine, after 83 years of content silence, it cleared its throat and announced that today was the first day of its starring role in […]

You say you want a revolution?

January 29, 2017

Y Pritham Raj Portland, Oregon, United States “It must be a virus,” I whispered to myself noticing that Miss C, my medical assistant, was not her usual, efficient self today. She was painfully slow – dragging, in fact – while trying to gather the data I so desperately needed to help the patients waiting […]

Confidentiality and privacy in public hospitals

January 29, 2017

David O. Irabor Ibadan, Nigeria In Africa, as elsewhere in the world, healthcare professionals are bound by ethical codes not to disclose information given to them by their patients. Yet despite the best of efforts, neither confidentiality nor privacy can always be easily guaranteed, as exemplified by a look at problems encountered at a […]

God’s menu

January 29, 2017

Florence Gelo Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA “You act like you are waiting to die!” Sophie explains that this accusation comes in many forms from friends and members of her church. “Why don’t you go to the health spa? Give up those medications. What you need are good, nutritious foods, vitamins, and minerals. There is a […]

Death, a part of life

January 29, 2017

Carole A. Travis-Henikoff Chicago, Illinois, United States The subject of death is by its very nature a personal thing. Woody Allen said he didn’t mind dying; he just didn’t want to be there when it happened. Most of us feel the same way. Death frightens us in proportion to our systems of belief formed […]

When the doctor is the patient

January 27, 2017

Saleh Aldasouqi East Lansing, Michigan, United States I looked at my fingers, tender after a few glucose finger sticks to the middle and ring fingers of both hands, wondering which fingers to use the next day. No matter how user-friendly blood glucose testing devices have become, finger pricking remains a painful experience that patients […]

Kindred paradigms: community arts and health advocacy in HIV/AIDS activism

January 24, 2017

Niyi Awofeso Anu Rammohan Australia, Perth Community arts involve an understanding of communities and how art can function as an agent of social change. Community artists employ a broad range of genres and disciplines to reach a wide audience. Defined broadly as the work of communities of people committed to improving their individual and […]

Campaigning for Craig: the healing power of a legacy T-shirt

January 24, 2017

Nancy Gershman Chicago, Illinois, United States Figure 1: Original photo of Craig Sometimes the elephant in the room is a painful irony, like the story of Craig, a 25-year-old flying instructor who died in his aircraft. As parents we think, “Oh, if only we’d talked him out of flying lessons!” But as bereavement professionals, […]

Bosch’s Stone Operation: meaning, medicine, and morality

January 24, 2017

Laurinda Dixon New York, United States Figure 1: Hieronymus Bosch, Cure of Folly (Stone Operation), ca. 1488 or later, oil on panel, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. The Stone Operation (fig. 1) (ca. 1488 or later), also known as The Cure of Folly, by the Dutch fifteenth-century painter Hieronymus Bosch (ca. 1450-1516), is, like […]