Res Medica (E-Journal)
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Get PDFNew Aspects of Human Genetics. British Medical Bulletin, January 1969.Tile Eye in General Practice (5th. Edition) by C.R. S. Jackson. E. & S. Livingstone Ltd. 30/-.Recent Advances in Pharmacology (4th. Edition).Edited by Robson & Stacey. J. & A. Churchill,London.Body Fluids in Surgery (3rd. Edition) by J. Wilkinson. E. & S. Livingstone Ltd.The Logic of Medicine by D. A. K. Black. Oliver & Boyd Ltd. 7/6d.A Manual of English for Overseas Doctors by Joy E. Parkinson. E. & S. Livingstone Ltd
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
Get PDFSudden infant death has only recently begun to attract widespread publicity and medical investigation. It is still largely ignored by the standard paediatrics textbooks and the only description of it given in formal lectures to Edinburgh medical students comes in the Forensic Medicine course. This perhaps helps to serve one useful purpose in that it may be an indication as to why the sudden infant death syndrome is still almost completely unexplained. These unfortunate children are usually found dead and, if they reach hospital at all, it is only as far as the accident and emergency department on their way to the mortuary. Most go directly to a coroner\u27s or procurator fiscal’s post-mortem, and are thus relatively insulated from the research-orientated clinician’s attention and interest.This syndrome is certainly no new phenomenon. Up to the end of the last century doctors were satisfied that these deaths were due to “teething”, a wide category that included many deaths for which an adequate explanation would now be found. The 1839 Registrar-General’s returns showed a total of 5,016 infant deaths due to this “cause” . The fashion then changed towards attributing them to “status thymolymphaticus”, although exactly why seems to be unknown.Gradually, however, the position is becoming somewhat clearer. Werne and Garrow in the United States produced some of the first significant papers during and immediately after the second world war. In Britain Professor Sir Samuel Bedson and Dr. F. E . Camps (1951) submitted a memorandum to the Ministry ofHealth, estimating an annual toll of 200 children, and suggesting an official investigation which finally bore fruit under Professor Banks in the 1965 Report
The Second Branch of Learning
Get PDFOur society is peculiarly reluctant to acknowledge any debt to its forebears other than those of definitely western nature. Much is made of the Greek and Roman origins of our ideas and ideals, while the contribution of other, more eastern, societies is usually omitted or glossed over in the course of education and in no case is this better demonstrated than in the case of our debt to the once mighty and glittering civilization of the MoslemsCenturies of misunderstanding and resulting conflicts, culminating in the savage and bloody military failure that was the Crusades, and the westward surge of the Ottoman Turks who, by the late 17th century had reached as far as Vienna and were only narrowly repulsed, produced a torrent of propaganda from both sides which even now obscures the historical closeness of Christian and Islamic societies and the role of Moslem learning in promoting the great awakening that was the Renaissance. It comes as a surprise to many to find that while Europe was sunk into its “dark ages" there was a civilization in the Middle East with a stability, culture and level of achievement that the West was not to know till the 18th century. The caliphs in Baghdad, at the height of their power, ruled an empire of which it was said that a virgin with a sack of gold could walk from one border to the other without fear of molestation. Their capital was not only a city of glittering mosques and fountains, of paved and torch lit streets, but a city of universities, free hospitals, and public libraries. Islamic learning was so famed that at least one of the Popes, Sylvester II, attended a Moslem university to complete his education before his elevation to the pontificate. Curiously enough, of the great physicians of this period few were Arabs, though the majority were Moslems. The noted Avicenna (980-1036), and Rhazes (864-C.920) were Persian, while Averroes (Ibn-Rushd), 1126-1198, and Avenzoar (Ibn-Zuhr, 1109-1162) were Moors, and the philosopher and scientist Maimonides (1135-1204), whose medical writings alone would have been sufficient to ensure his immortality, was Jewish by both race and religion.
Modern Management of Duodenal Ulcer
Get PDFChronic peptic ulcer of the duodenum is a common disease. It causes the loss of over two million working days per annum in the U.K. In Scotland, its sufferers occupy over one hundred thousand bed days, and, along with benign gastric ulcer it kills almost four hundred Scots per year.1,2\u27 By the age of fifty about ten per cent of the male Scottish population will have been affected by it.If it is not rare, neither is it new. The term peptic ulcer was first used in 1882 by Quincke, believing that pepsin was the prime culprit. Bilroth first performed his operation in 1881, so we have nearly a century of operative experience to draw from.Yet despite this, there is still controversy over how this condition should be managed. Until recently our drug therapy was ineffective in altering the natural history of the disease, and even now has little place in recurrent ulceration. And trying to untangle the mass of surgical literature with many surgeons each promoting the virtues of one of the various manoeuvres, with at least nine major and a multitude of minor variants on offer, is not easy
Medical Maracas
Get PDFFor ten years I was one of Edinburgh\u27s few medical maraca players. I hope that\u27s clear: I was a medical player of maracas, not a player of medical maracas. A maraca is a Latin-American musical instrument constructed originally, I suppose, out of a coconut with beans inside. Little natural aptitude is required to shake one in time to the music, but because they come in pairs, two hands are needed. Thus Latin-American orchestras have a limited number of openings for musical illiterates who own their own dinner-jackets, which is why your intrepid correspondent eventually ended up shaking bean-filled coconuts at the revellers at ten consecutive Medical Faculty Balls.Our band, the Unbelievable Brass was born in the Physiology Library in 1968 in those days the library was equipped with high shelves, ladders and a variety of mini-skirted research workers, and we perspiring undergraduates were forced to sublimate by doing crosswords, writing songs and producing revues. To one such revue the class\u27s own trumpet-player brought along half the brass section of the University Orchestra, and I found myself part of the ensemble, doubling as maraca-player and lady vocalist. M y debut involved rushing out to the tiny toilet to change into wig, balloons and dress, and tottering back to reveal myself to an appalled and largely silent audience
Editorial
Get PDFThroughout its history the Royal Medical Society has striven to be a forum for debate, allowing the presentation of new and challenging ideas as well as critically reviewing the old. It is hoped that RES MEDICA embodies these principles in a balanced manner.Medicine and the media have come to blows on many subjects in the past, but the last year was notorious in every respect. Technological wizardry wielded by some misinformed pedant brought visions of death, disorder and disability into peoples\u27 homes. The controversy surrounding brain death was damaging enough to both patients and doctors, but this was followed by a series of documentaries about decisions on whether toallow \u27severely\u27 handicapped neonates to live. One hopes that the current trial of a paediatrician in England will not set a precedent. The attitudes towards handicapped children have changed dramatically in the last few years, and Dr. Raeburn in his article "Active Management in Serious Genetic Disorders" should provoke some fresh thoughts on patients previously considered to be without hope.Civil disorder is only too well known to all of us and the distressing increase in apparently motiveless brutality in our society — particularly towards the elderly — makes Prof. MacLennan\u27s article "Muggings and Assault" cogent reading. The disabled suffer not only from pain but also immobility in many cases and the advances in joint prostheses offer hope to those with degenerative joint disease especially. These advances have been paralleled with better understanding of clinical methods and \u27investigations. Mr. Macnicol admirably outlines these in "The Diagnosis of Knee Pain"
In Memoriam Derrick Melville Dunlop LLD, MD, FRCP, FRCPEd, DSc, FACP FRCSEd(Hon), FDS, RCS(Hon).
Get PDFSir Derrick Dunlop, Emeritus Professor of Therapeutics and Clinical Medicine at the University of Edinburgh and Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh died in Edinburgh on 19 June, 1980.To say of a man that he became a legend in his lifetime is to risk censure for inappropriate journalistic hyperbole, but when applied to Sir Derrick Dunlop this cliché acquires the dignity of simple truth. In the eyes of a generation of Edinburgh medical graduates he was indeed a legendary figure whose unique qualities as a teacher and as a clinician entitle him to an honoured place among the great names in the history of the Edinburgh Medical School
History, Recollection and Conjecture
Get PDFImagination has to fill in the gaps (and there are many) of recorded history. Even recorded history may not be accurate, but imagination can lead one seriously astray. In researching Library Committee minutes while preparing my dissertation many years ago I remember finding that in the years 1917 -19 the business of the Library was incorporated with that of the other Committees in a conjoint Committee due to the small number of members
Psychiatry in Zambia
Get PDFThe World Health Organisation\u27s definition of health is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being". However competing demands for limited resources have marginalised provisions for mental health in many Third World countries. Dr R.J. Craig recently visited Zambia and examines the extent of the country\u27s psychiatric services.A holiday in Zambia provided a fresh and gripping look at life, medicine and psychiatry. I was made most welcome by Professor Alan Haworth, head of the Department of Psychiatry in the local university, and spent an engrossing few days with him and his colleagues
Journal scan
Get PDFThis is a short collection of interesting items pertinent to medicine and science in general. It gives a taste of some of the current work in hand around the world. We would welcome any contributions of this nature, just a short chatty narrative of an interesting or amusing article that you have seen or read