Res Medica (E-Journal)
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Retrospect 225th Session
Get PDFThe Society has enjoyed another successful session. Of particular note were the Presidents’ Annual Dinner and the launching of the Appeal Fund. At the Dinner, which was held in the Hall of the Royal College of Surgeons, and is said to have been quite a remarkable success, the Guest of Honour was Sir Derrick Dunlop.THE APPEALAt the Presidents’ Annual Dinner, Sir Derrick took the opportunity in his speech to launch the Appeal on behalf of the Society. Since then, an attempt has been made to send copies of the Appeal to all male Edinburgh graduates in Medicine. Since we shall be obliged eventually to leave our present Hall— in the face of threatened compulsory purchase by the Midlothian County Council—an adequate response is imperative to enable the Society to build a New Hall on the site reserved for us by the University. In fact, the response to the Appeal is already encouraging
Physical Signs in the Chest
Get PDFPart 1 of a Series of Two ArticlesThis article is a personal one, based on my own practice and techniques. The evidence of the x-ray has taught consultants modesty in the evaluation of physical signs in the chest. In the good old days when the Chief said that there were dullness and diminished breath sounds in some area of the chest, the referee had spoken and there was no appeal. Nowadays he is liable to look rather silly if the x-ray is normal or the abnormality is found on the other side he is likely, therefore, to be less dogmatic. We have also learnt, in the last few years, about “observer error”. We know how differently even skilled observers may interpret the same phenomena and how even a skilled observer may fail to notice something which may be spotted immediately by one of his colleagues, or by himself on another occasion
Survival in Cold Water
Get PDFFrom a dissertation to the Society on 18th October, 1963.There is a note in a paper written in 1943 by Kritchley which mentions that after a ship had been torpedoed in an area where the water was 29°F , only one man out of a crew of ten survived longer than half an hour in the water.Losses during the war resulting from cold immersion were catastrophic, accounting for perhaps two-thirds of the people who lost their lives at sea.In 1945 this question was reviewed by Molnar. He collected a number of records of incidents involving immersion in cold water from the files of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery U.S. Navy, Washington, He chose those records which included the temperature of the water, or an accounted note of the date and locality so that the temperature could be read off from maps, and some indication of the duration of immersion
The Society
Get PDFOffice-bearers for the 230th sessionPublic BusinessPrivate BusinessRevision of Law
Book Reviews
Get PDFCalling the Laboratory Editor : W. A. R. Thompson, M.D. 2nd edition . E. & S. Livingstone, Ltd. 1966. 1 7/6d. pp.126.Glaucoma: Epidemiology, Diagnosis and Some Aspects of Treatment Proceedings of a symposium held at the Royal College of Surgeons of England 1965.Textbook of Medical Treatment: Edited by Sir Derrick Dunlop and Stanley Alstead. 10th edition. E. & S. Livingstone, Ltd. 1966. 70s. pp. 1003.A Guide to Cardiology By J. C. Leonard and E. G. Galea. 2nd edition. E. & S. Livingstone, Ltd. 1966. pp. 306
Polycythaemia
Get PDFThough strictly speaking polycythaemia means an increase in all three formed elements in the peripheral blood the term is usually used to describe an increase above normal in the number of circulating red cells per unit volume of blood. The polycythaemia may be relative, due to a fall in the plasma volume, or true or absolute when the total number of red cells in the body, the red cell mass, is increased. Such an increase in the mass of circulating red cells could in theory be produced by a prolongation of the average life span of red cells beyond the normal value of about no days, or by an increased output of red cells by the haemopoietic system. Present evidence indicates that in the majority of true polvcythacinic syndromes, it is the latter which occurs (Pike 1958)
James Parkinson and His Disease
Get PDFJames Parkinson was born in 1755 in Shoreditch, close to the City of London and like his father practised medicine there as an Apothecary and Surgeon. His earlier years in practice were disturbed by a rebellious spirit, roused by the poverty and injustices he saw around him. Inevitably he was drawn into politics and joined the provocative London Corresponding Society. He wrote a number of highly critical pamphlets under the pseudonym of “Old Hubert”. His criticisms of government and administration were at times so bitter and fearless that eventually they led to his being subpoened and examined by the Privy Council. During the course of these examinations he had to answer to the Lord Chancellor, the Prime Minister, Mr. William Pitt and others in high office. Fortunately his explanations impressed his interrogators by their honesty and sincerity and he escaped imprisonment. By the time he was 40, with the increasing demands of a busy practice and a young family, he seemed to turn all his efforts to his own work and writings. His interests were broad. His first book was on “The Organic Remains of a Former World”. Later he wrote on medical education, the preservation of health, and a brilliant criticism “Observations on Doctor Hugh Smith’s Philosophy of Physics”. Nevertheless it was not for another 22 years that he wrote his classic essay on “The Shaking Palsy” which was published in 1817 (Critchley 1955)
Free-running circadian rhythm disorder in the sighted – case report & discussion
Get PDFFree-running disorder (FRD) is characterized by inability to maintain stable entrainment to a 24h sleep-wake pattern. Patients with FRD show a sleep/wake pattern similar to those observed in time-free environments bereft of zeitgebers.FRD is common in blind patients, and rarely occurs in sighted individuals. In individuals with no visual impairment, males are more commonly affected. Here, two unusual cases of FRD in young, sighted females are presented. Both patients responded to treatment with melatonin, but derived no perceived benefit from phototherapy
Orthotopic liver transplantation in the making
Get PDFWithin the field of liver transplantation the concepts of warm liver transplants and hepatocyte transplantation are currently under investigation. Although such novel research efforts are intricate and complex, the concept of human liver transplantation posed quite a challenge itself in the not so distant past. The development of the orthotopic liver transplant relied on numerous individuals and novel approaches of the time. Success resulted following cumulative developments in early experiments when Thomas Earl Starzl performed the first human liver transplantation 50 years ago in 1963. This article highlights key developments in the lead up to such an attempt, details of the procedure itself and biographies of three key leaders; Alexis Carrel, Peter Medawar, and Thomas Starzl
Editorial
Get PDFIt seems to the student of medicine that arguments about the method by which his education can be accomplished with most effect, will never cease. Thus he is perpetually hearing, from this source or from that, that one system is better and another worse, one more and another less suited to turn a doctor loose upon an unsuspecting and at times positively unfortunate public. The system of teaching students in small tutorial groups has many advantages, and the existence or an intimate student-teacher relationship will always rank high amongst them. This system of education which is practised in a number of English universities is in marked contrast to the Scottish university system which consists of a formal lecture course, accompanied by clinical instruction in scarcely less formal cliniques. The lecture course tends to be authoritative and up to date since it is usually shared out amongst a number of lecturers, each dealing with that aspect of the whole subject in which he is specially interested. Further, in contrast to the Tutorial system the course can be carefully planned in advance, and each aspect treated in due perspective since the student cannot divert his teacher’s attention from the main stream of thought. None the less it must be admitted that there are many students who find the process of expressing their own views before an intelligent audience, or equally of criticising the expressed views of their fellows, an instructive and a stimulating exercise. It is of course true that when in clinique, the student is often allowed, sometimes even encouraged, to discuss his teacher’s views in a critical fashion, but, unfortunately, time is limited and the cliniques manifestly overcrowded. Here is a deficiency in our education for which the Royal Medical Society attempts to compensate, and it is our claim that we provide facilities for the student to become a more able speaker and a more critical thinker