Tag: Spring 2024
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Tapeworm tribulations
Taenia saginata, solium, and asiatica are three related species of tapeworms, each with its own lifecycle, mode of transmission, and clinical implications. The adult tapeworms cause few symptoms, but their larvae can be more troublesome. These parasites have afflicted mankind for thousands of years, perhaps when switching from large carnivores to less dangerous hosts such…
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On blue and blues
Avi OhryTel Aviv, Israel As a child born with blue eyes, I wondered why I don’t see the world around me in a blue color. Later in life, as an amateur jazz drummer, I was passionate about the popular song “Blue Moon” (1934), Jobim’s “No More Blues”, and blue jeans. The blue color dominates our…
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Lasting effects of Agent Orange
Ceres Alhelí Otero PenicheMexico City, Mexico Agent Orange was an herbicide used by the United States military from 1962 to 1971 in the Vietnam War. To prevent Vietnamese soldiers from being able to hide among the trees, Agent Orange was used to clear forests in the regions of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. It was also…
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The bow tie: For nerds only or necessary neckwear?
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “You’ve been with the professors / and they all liked your looks…”–Bob Dylan, “Ballad of a Thin Man” The tie, whether the long necktie or the bow tie, is a piece of apparel without any real function. It is widely believed that in the late sixteenth century, Croatian mercenary soldiers tied a…
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King Henry III of Castile, the Suffering
Nicolas RoblesBadajoz, Spain Henry III of Castile was called “the Suffering” (in Spanish, Enrique III el Doliente) because of his ill health. He was the son of John I and Eleanor of Aragon, born in 1379 in Burgos. Henry was the first person to hold the title of Prince of Asturias as heir to the…
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Trachoma: Contained but not yet subdued
Trachoma is a chronic eye infection caused by Chlamydia trachomatis, a bacterium at first thought to be a virus because of its minuscule size. It is the most common infectious cause of blindness worldwide, striking repeatedly in early childhood and, until recently, blinding millions.1 In 1907, Ludwig Halberstadter and Stanislaus von Prowazek observed the causative…
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Echinococcus granulosus, the sheepdog worm
In the days when Britain ruled the waves and its colonies, some sheep from Thomas Hardy’s Wessex and other counties followed their masters to the antipodes instead of stupidly jumping off a cliff.1 They multiplied in the sun and produced much wool, some of which was later returned to England under the imperial preference system…
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The eponymous tumors of the kidney: Wilms and Grawitz
In a time when diseases were often named after the first person to describe them, kidney tumors were classified into Wilms tumors for children and Grawitz tumors for adults. Both names supposedly honored the memory of these pioneers, and unlucky candidates sitting for medical examinations were sometimes expected to know who these people were. Max…
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Touching for the King’s Evil
JMS PearceHull, England The old word scrofula is now seldom seen in medical writings. Nor are the words ague, buboe, and podagra. Despite their romantic, descriptive appeal, they have been swept aside by the jet stream of the current epidemic of maladroit, often high-tech words, phrases, acronyms, and initialisms. Scrofula, the “King’s Evil,” or “struma,”…
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Arnold Schoenberg’s String Trio Op. 45: Notes on “My Fatality”
James L. FranklinChicago, Illinois, United States On August 2, 1946, the Austrian-born composer Arnold Schoenberg suffered a near fatal heart attack at his home in Los Angeles. Despite the fragile state of his health, on August 20th he was able to resume work on a string trio that had been commissioned by Harvard University. Schoenberg…