Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #HistMed
Most recents (24)
Anne Pollock's 5 principles of decolonial #histmed pedagogy:
1. Read colonizers critically
decolonizing history does not mean no longer reading dead white men, but reading them critically (and also sparingly...)
#AAHM23 #FutureOfHistMed
1. Read colonizers critically
decolonizing history does not mean no longer reading dead white men, but reading them critically (and also sparingly...)
#AAHM23 #FutureOfHistMed
2. Bring in other perspectives of historical context, especially those of colonized people - colonizers were one voice but not the only voice - especially historians of global health are well equipped to disrupt top-down narrative of global health knowledge production
3. Attend to precolonial periods
draw on scholarship that examines colonized places before time of colonization
draw on scholarship that examines colonized places before time of colonization
[1/4] These #toolsofthetrade are vital for patching-up patients during surgical procedures! The phials contain ligatures which were used to tie blood vessels following operations such as amputation. Tying blood vessels prevents the patient from bleeding to death! #oldoptheatre 
[2/4] The ligatures are made from horsehair and silkworm gut, materials noted for their tensile strength. Other materials recommended by surgeons included catgut and kangaroo tendon! (Catgut, by the way, is made from the intestines of cattle, sheep or goats – not cats!) #histmed
[3/4] Before antisepsis and asepsis ligatures were a source of infection. Horsehair sutures became more popular with surgeons because they appeared to present a lower risk of infection. The preparation of the sutures involved boiling the hair, which inadvertently sterilised it!
Meet the Luminaries from EndowedChairs.com, a card game created with
@zach_london
#NeuroTwitter #gamedev #histmed
@somedocs
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Luminary #5: Isabelle Rapin (1927-2017)
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@zach_london
#NeuroTwitter #gamedev #histmed
@somedocs
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Luminary #5: Isabelle Rapin (1927-2017)
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Isabelle Rapin is the perfect Luminary to discuss today, because she was born December 4🎂and was a founding member of the @ChildNeuroSoc in 1973 in #Nashville (where everyone is going for #AES2022).
Peds neurologists know why she has a pinwheel on her card - do you? 2/🪑
Peds neurologists know why she has a pinwheel on her card - do you? 2/🪑
Born in Lausanne, Switzerland - where Augusta Déjerine-Klumpke studied - Rapin went to medical school locally. Like ADK, she worked at the Salpétrière - and like ADK, she wrote a brief autobiography (please write one, send to @JChildNeurol) journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/08… 3/🪑
Meet the Luminaries from EndowedChairs.com, a card game created with @zach_london
#NeuroTwitter #gamedev #histmed @somedocs
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Luminary #4: Dorothy Russell (1895-1983)
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#NeuroTwitter #gamedev #histmed @somedocs
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Luminary #4: Dorothy Russell (1895-1983)
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Hands up if you used this textbook! The 7th edition of "R&R" was published in 2007.
You may have known that this was written by eminent neuropathologist Dorothy Russell, but did you know she had epilepsy? 2/🪑
You may have known that this was written by eminent neuropathologist Dorothy Russell, but did you know she had epilepsy? 2/🪑
Russell was born in Australia, but after both her parents died (her mother from measles), Dorothy and her sister Petronella went to live in England with an aunt. 3/🪑
Let's meet the Luminaries from EndowedChairs.com, a card game created with @zach_london.
#NeuroTwitter #gamedev #histmed @somedocs
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Luminary #1: Sarah McNutt (1839-1930)
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#NeuroTwitter #gamedev #histmed @somedocs
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Luminary #1: Sarah McNutt (1839-1930)
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In 2002, Horn and Goetz published this excellent paper on McNutt - the 1st woman elected to the American Neurological Association (@TheNewANA1) - and her work with other early female physicians, including the Blackwells. n.neurology.org/content/59/1/1… 2/🪑
McNutt came from a long line of female midwives and healers, including Sarah Weir, who worked on Nantucket, and Rachel Hussey, who delivered 2992 children (both called physicians here, but neither MDs) 3/🪑
First up, DON’T use Frank sign. The sign hypothesizes that a diagonal ear lobe crease signifies coronary artery disease. I’ve been meaning to post this since I saw it being promoted on Twitter. Here’s the problem #MedTwitter:
As a diagnostic test, it is inaccurate with a +LR probably <2 and a -LR probably >0.5. These are woefully insufficient to change clinical management. The sign is very much associated with age… bit.ly/3SBuszj
And in cadaveric research is less specific than advanced age, so you might as well use that instead. bit.ly/3xTDDmO
Here's a fun story about the earliest known neurological text: the Edwin Smith Papyrus. #histmed #NeuroTwitter #NeuroHistory
Edwin Smith, born in Connecticut, lived in Egypt in the late 1800s. An antiquities dealer, he bought a papyrus in 1862 that he was unable to translate.
Edwin Smith, born in Connecticut, lived in Egypt in the late 1800s. An antiquities dealer, he bought a papyrus in 1862 that he was unable to translate.
Smith died in 1906, and his daughter donated the scroll to the New York Historical Society.
In 1920, Egyptologist Caroline Ransom Williams found it and recognized its worth. She wrote to her mentor James Henry Breasted and asked him to translate it. brewminate.com/the-contributi…
In 1920, Egyptologist Caroline Ransom Williams found it and recognized its worth. She wrote to her mentor James Henry Breasted and asked him to translate it. brewminate.com/the-contributi…
Ransom Williams felt she was too occupied with family to take it on.
“The papyrus is probably the most valuable one owned by the Society and I am ready to waive my interest in it, in the hope that it may be published sooner and better than I could do it.” [November 22, 1920]
“The papyrus is probably the most valuable one owned by the Society and I am ready to waive my interest in it, in the hope that it may be published sooner and better than I could do it.” [November 22, 1920]
En juin 1966, la France est le premier pays au monde à classer les psychédéliques dans le tableau des stupéfiants. Cette décision a pour effet indirect de mettre un terme aux recherches scientifiques menées à l’époque sur la substance. Mais comment en est-on arrivés là ? Un 🧵
Un mois et demie plus tôt, une série de 3 articles parus dans @lemondefr avait provoqué une « panique morale » : la journaliste et médecin Claudine Escoffier-Lambiotte y faisait découvrir aux français·es une « drogue » encore inconnue dans le pays, le LSD
Contrairement aux USA, où le LSD était alors un médicament connu de la population, en France les échecs des essais thérapeutiques (voir mon article journals.openedition.org/hms/2168) font que la presse ne s’est pas intéressée jusque là à ce psychotrope.
Here’s a good story about the placebo effect – on physicians:
If you had a stroke in 1810, it would have been diagnosed clinically, without MRI. Your doctors knew that if you died, your brain held either fluid (edema, ischemic stroke) or blood (hemorrhagic stroke). 1/
If you had a stroke in 1810, it would have been diagnosed clinically, without MRI. Your doctors knew that if you died, your brain held either fluid (edema, ischemic stroke) or blood (hemorrhagic stroke). 1/
So obviously the problem was that there was too much fluid in your body.
Solution? Reduce fluid, by blood-letting. This was the solution to a lot of things (one of these days I'll do a #histmed #tweetorial on Benjamin Rush).
And many people got better. 2/
Solution? Reduce fluid, by blood-letting. This was the solution to a lot of things (one of these days I'll do a #histmed #tweetorial on Benjamin Rush).
And many people got better. 2/
People got better because when you have a small stroke, inflammation and edema make symptoms worse initially, and then, over time, symptoms improve.
If they didn't get better? Easy - you didn't bleed them enough. 3/
If they didn't get better? Easy - you didn't bleed them enough. 3/
James Lind conducted the 1st randomized medical trial in 1747 when he gave sailors different remedies for scurvy.
In 1863, Austin Flint gave patients with rheumatism a "placebo," and it worked as well as medicines - possibly the first placebo-controlled trial. #histmed 1/7
In 1863, Austin Flint gave patients with rheumatism a "placebo," and it worked as well as medicines - possibly the first placebo-controlled trial. #histmed 1/7
"Placebo" was already a well-known term and concept. Initially defined as a common medication (seen here in a dictionary from 1785), it came to mean an inert substance that had no effect on a disease, but pleased the patient. 2/7
The history of medicine is full of placebos: commonly, impure placebos, meaning they did something (made you poop or vomit, got you drunk or sedated, or tasted spicy or bitter), but didn't do the thing they were supposed to do (fix your cold, or your cancer, or your tetany). 1/7
Bound by blood: William Halsted, master surgeon known for pioneering radical mastectomies and starting the first surgical residency at Hopkins, had some incredible and crazy family stories - e.g. emergently transfusing his sister with his own blood!
#MedHistory #histmed #surgery
#MedHistory #histmed #surgery
He performed one of the first cholecystectomies in the US on none other than his mother, and in their kitchen at around 2 am! In 1882 he removed her gallbladder which contained 7 gallstones, and she survived and recovered completely.
He also saved his sister's life after she lost a significant amount of blood during childbirth. Seeing her going into shock, he withdrew his own blood, transfused it into her, then went on to operate and stop her bleeding. They must have had the same blood type as she recovered.
One of my favorite #histmed stories is the discovery of EEG by Hans Berger in the 1920s. #NeuroTwitter
At age 19, Berger (1873-1940) fell off a horse. On the same day, his sister, miles away, sent a telegraph to ask if he was doing ok. 1/10
At age 19, Berger (1873-1940) fell off a horse. On the same day, his sister, miles away, sent a telegraph to ask if he was doing ok. 1/10
He was fine, but he thought he had communicated his frightened thoughts about getting hurt to his sister by telepathy. He decided to study psychiatry, to learn more about inter-brain communication. 2/10
Berger wanted to measure the "psychic energy" that, he thought, tied us all together. He wrote about the "radioactivity of the brain," he studied circulation, he measured temperature of the brain during mental exertion (in a 23 yo patient with a gunshot wound to the head) 3/10
1) Welcome to a new #accredited #tweetorial on Clinical and Laboratory Manifestations of #DKD in #T2D: From Early Identification to Monitoring Management. Your expert author is @edgarvlermamd.
2a) This activity is supported by an independent educational grant from the Boehringer Ingelheim/Lilly Alliance and is intended for healthcare providers. It is accredited for #physicians #physicianassistants #nurses #NPs #pharmacists. Check out @cardiomet_ce for more🆓CE/#CME.
2b) Past programs are still eligible for credit & can be found at cardiometabolic-ce.com. Faculty disclosures are at cardiometabolic-ce.com/disclosures/.
#FOAMed #medtwitter #diabetesmanagement #kidneydisease #diabetickidneydisease #diabetes @goKDIGO @MedTweetorials @nephondemand
#FOAMed #medtwitter #diabetesmanagement #kidneydisease #diabetickidneydisease #diabetes @goKDIGO @MedTweetorials @nephondemand
And #ECRday2022 is off! We're kicking off with a panel on 'The Early Career Journey' with a team of @qub_belfast experts. Before we get started: some housekeeping! Thanks are due to @DNIRE1, Alice at @QUBPostdoc & @WrayRamona for being so amazingly helpful & supportive 🙏
@DNIRE1 @QUBPostdoc @WrayRamona We also need to thank @QUBResearchPol for the funding that enabled us to pay all our speakers & chairs: only right to reward their time, expertise & generosity!
@DNIRE1 @QUBPostdoc @WrayRamona @QUBResearchPol Speaking of chairs, today we are in the hands of @J_O_McCullough, who is a @nbcdtp PhD Candidate at @ModLangs_QUB.
"Noi però gli abbiamo fatto le strade". Forse, ma su quelle strade, oltre la violenza coloniale, portammo anche un'epidemia. Quando le truppe italiane arrivarono in #Eritrea, avevano bisogno di mangiare. L'esercito iniziò a comprare bovini, facendoli importare dall'India 1/n
Nel 1887, insieme agli animali arrivò anche il virus della peste bovina (#rinderpest), che piuttosto velocemente si diffuse in tutta l'Africa. Uccise il 90% dei bovini d'allevamento e moltissimi animali selvatici (bufali, giraffe...), generando una carestia che sterminò i 2/n
#Masai in Africa Orientale e un terzo della popolazione etiope (fonte: wikipedia). Inoltre, la rapida diminuzione degli animali fece modificò la vegetazione delle savane, rendendo l'ambiente più adatto alla proliferazione di una mosca la Glossina palpalis AKA mosca tse tse 3/n
Hi everyone - as a fellow at Kean University I need to give a fellows talk on my research. For COVID safety (and because I want you all to be able to be there) I've asked that the event be hosted virtually. So I'm very happy to invite you to my research talk! (1/4)
On Monday, February 7th from 3:30 - 4:30 PM EST I will be talking about my dissertation work and my manuscript research. I'll be talking about #DisHist, #HistMed, and #VastEarlyAmerica in early nationalist Philadelphia. (2/4)
If you want to learn about things about disability in early America, or welfare infrastructure in early American cities, or medico-welfare reform across the early 1800s, please save this Zoom meeting link (3/4): kean-edu.zoom.us/j/99822294403
1. (Reflex) hammer time! A thread. 🔨 #neurotwitter #Neurology #histmed @MayoClinicNeuro @mayoneurores @AANMember
2. After Erb & Westphal described muscle stretch reflexes in 1875, chest percussion hammers were used to elicit reflexes. This is a Vernon percussion hammer, the precursor of the Queen Square reflex hammer. This one was made by Whitelaw (Aberdeen, Scotland).
3. This Wintrich percussion hammer was modified to allow sensation testing and so was likely used to check reflexes.
Ogólnie „wirusy” to lipa. Fagocytoza jest skuteczną metodą obrony przed organizmami chorobotwórczymi, stanowiąc ważny element odporności nieswoistej. Zjawisko fagocytozy odkrył w 1882 Ilja Miecznikow. Zgłosił je w 1883 na 7. Kongresie Rosyjskich Przyrodników i Lekarzy w Odessie.
Od tej pory mówi się o wodniczce pokarmowej. Bakteria, grzyb, pierwotniak zostaje strawiona i wchłonięta do cytoplazmy komórkowej, a niestrawione resztki są wyrzucane na zewnątrz, gdy wodniczka z powrotem łączy się z błoną komórkową. Tak, otrzymujemy egzosom nazywany „wirusem”...
Egzosom nazywany „wirusem” to zjawisko adaptacyjne i ochronne dla zbiorowości mogące powodować odpowiedź immunologiczną jawną lub niejawną. „Wykłady na temat patologii porównawczej stanu zapalnego” Miecznikowa przeczytano w 1891 r. w Instytucie Pasteura i opublikowano w 1892 r.
Meet Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, who #OTD was awarded the Medal of Honor for her service during the Civil War. She remains the only woman to be be awarded this honor. She was a suffragist, suspected spy, POW, and surgeon.
nps.gov/people/mary-wa…
#Twitterstorians #OTD #WomensHist
nps.gov/people/mary-wa…
#Twitterstorians #OTD #WomensHist
In 1855, she earned her MD from Syracuse Medical College. She and her husband opened their own practice, but it failed. She also refused to "obey" her husband, kept her last name, and wore a short skirt with trousers. They divorced.
#women #rights #feminism #histmed
#women #rights #feminism #histmed
When the war started, she joined the Union Army. She was refused a commission, so she worked as an"unpaid volunteer surgeon at the U.S. Patent Office Hospital in Washington." She wore men's clothing throughout the war and said it made doing her job easier. (NPS)
When people critique self-diagnosis as a valid practice they misunderstand the relationship between medicine, diagnostics, and medical training. As a historian of medicine this is endlessly frustrating to me. So here's a thread on the history of diagnostics. 1/22
Until the early 19th century turn to empirical training, which took off in France, diagnostics didn't actually matter all that much. Doctors generally claimed that their patients were sick from imbalanced humors (black bike, yellow bile, blood, and phlegm). 2/22
Some claimed that patients were sick bc of an imbalance between the body's liquid and solid parts (known as solidism), others claimed imbalances from nervous excitement, but on the whole the idea was that an imbalance was happening and needed to be remedied. 3/22
Cocaïne et vaginisme
TW : violences gynécologiques
A la fin du XIXe siècle, la cocaïne est employée pour remédier à une nouvelle maladie féminine : le vaginisme. Les médecins de l’époque y voient en effet un moyen simple pour contrôler la fécondité de ces femmes « réticentes ».
TW : violences gynécologiques
A la fin du XIXe siècle, la cocaïne est employée pour remédier à une nouvelle maladie féminine : le vaginisme. Les médecins de l’époque y voient en effet un moyen simple pour contrôler la fécondité de ces femmes « réticentes ».
Je renvoie d’abord au super billet de @MortasPauline sur l’histoire du vaginisme pour comprendre l’apparition de cette nouvelle maladie dans la médecine de la fin du XIXe siècle, ici : sexcursus.hypotheses.org/670
Chez les femmes souffrant de ces symptômes, la douleur extrême de la pénétration ne permettait même pas dans certains cas aux gynécologues de procéder à un examen des patientes.
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Why is metformin associated with lactic acidosis? Do we need to routinely stop metformin when admitting patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) to the hospital?
Let's explore these questions by looking at the history of metformin in the following #histmed #tweetorial.
Why is metformin associated with lactic acidosis? Do we need to routinely stop metformin when admitting patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) to the hospital?
Let's explore these questions by looking at the history of metformin in the following #histmed #tweetorial.
2/
Metformin, a biguanide, works by decreasing hepatic glucose production and increasing insulin sensitivity.
It is a first-line therapy in T2DM because it's inexpensive, well-tolerated, helps with weight loss, and has very low risk of hypoglycemia.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…
Metformin, a biguanide, works by decreasing hepatic glucose production and increasing insulin sensitivity.
It is a first-line therapy in T2DM because it's inexpensive, well-tolerated, helps with weight loss, and has very low risk of hypoglycemia.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…
3/
Metformin derives from galega officinalis, a plant long used in European folk medicine.
First synthesized in the 1920s, metformin was shown to lower blood glucose in rabbits but it was soon forgotten and eclipsed by the discovery insulin.
Metformin derives from galega officinalis, a plant long used in European folk medicine.
First synthesized in the 1920s, metformin was shown to lower blood glucose in rabbits but it was soon forgotten and eclipsed by the discovery insulin.
Les auto-expérimentations à la cocaïne par des médecins, épisode 2
En 1898, le chirurgien allemand Auguste Bier étudie une toute nouvelle forme d’anesthésie locale à la cocaïne : la rachianesthésie, qui allait devenir quelques années plus tard la péridurale.
En 1898, le chirurgien allemand Auguste Bier étudie une toute nouvelle forme d’anesthésie locale à la cocaïne : la rachianesthésie, qui allait devenir quelques années plus tard la péridurale.
Mais à cette date, la méthode en est à ses balbutiements. Les médecins ont découvert qu’en injectant une substance dans la moelle épinière, son effet est plus direct et plus durable. Ils mènent alors une course contre la montre, au niveau européen, pour définir une méthode sûre
et efficace d’administration de la cocaïne par cette voie. Et comme toujours, ils s’y collent personnellement. Bier constate ainsi que ses patient·es ressentent des effets désagréables après avoir reçu cette forme d’anesthésie locale. Il décide donc de l’auto-expérimenter.
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This is the incredible story of an anesthesiologist who, in 1946, purposefully paralyzed himself using curare.
Though conditions were controlled, by the end of the experiment he was wide awake and fully paralyzed, without any sedation.
#histmed #medtwitter #tweetorial
This is the incredible story of an anesthesiologist who, in 1946, purposefully paralyzed himself using curare.
Though conditions were controlled, by the end of the experiment he was wide awake and fully paralyzed, without any sedation.
#histmed #medtwitter #tweetorial
2/
Context:
Purified forms of the neuromuscular blocker curare came into clinical use for general anesthesia in the 1930s and 1940s.
There was an active debate at the time about whether curare causes paralysis alone or if it also sedates.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15402044/
Context:
Purified forms of the neuromuscular blocker curare came into clinical use for general anesthesia in the 1930s and 1940s.
There was an active debate at the time about whether curare causes paralysis alone or if it also sedates.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15402044/
3/
This question had major implications for the nascent field of anesthesiology.
Some practitioners began to use curare alone during surgery, without sedation, believing that curare adequately sedated patients in addition to paralyzing them.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15402044/
This question had major implications for the nascent field of anesthesiology.
Some practitioners began to use curare alone during surgery, without sedation, believing that curare adequately sedated patients in addition to paralyzing them.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15402044/
