Medical physics and physics in medicine in Ireland (part 1: 1600–~2000)

Medical physics and other contributions from physics to medicine are relatively well known, if not well documented in Ireland. Less well known are contributions from medicine to the development of physics, which can and do occur. This paper addresses examples of all three. The methods employed include documentary research and interviews with those who share(d) the stage in the area. Documentary evidence for historical aspects of medical physics over the last century are relatively sparse and incomplete. Notwithstanding this, they can and do enable a picture to be built up of how the arrangements in place now have come about, particularly when they are accompanied by mature recollections of the participants.Good critically assessed and accessible sources have been identified covering the seventeenth to nineteenth century material presented. Examples are presented based on the work of significant contributors, each with strong Irish connections, including Robert Boyle, Erwin Schrödinger, Fearghus O'Foghludha, and Edith Stoney the first female medical physicist. Their contributions are striking and continue to be relevant now. The findings provide a rich context and heritage for medical physics in Ireland and in the international community. They will include the contemporary period in a second paper, Part 2 of this study.     

The labour pains of biochemical selenology: The history of selenoprotein biosynthesis

The serendipitous discoveries leading to the present knowledge on selenium's role in biology are reviewed. Detected in 1818 as by-product of sulphuric acid production, selenium first attracted medical attention as an industrial hazard. In parallel selenium intoxication was recognized as cause of life stock diseases. Reports on teratogenic effects and carcinogenicity of selenium followed since the middle of the past century. In 1954 first hints towards specific biological functions of selenium were contributed from microbiology, and its essentiality for mammalian life was discovered in 1957. Independent and unrelated studies led to the identification of selenium as an integral constituent of one mammalian and two bacterial enzymes in the early 70ies followed by the identification of selenocysteine in these proteins. In the 80ies, independent sequencing of selenoproteins and cloned DNAs revealed that the selenocysteine of selenoproteins is encoded by the termination codon TGA (UGA). Recoding of TGA as selenocysteine codon by secondary mRNA structures was first elucidated by molecular genetics in bacteria and later in mammals. During the 90ies, finally, the basic principles of selenoprotein synthesis were worked out by molecular biology tools. The article closes with spotlight comments on proven and potential biomedical benefits of selenium and related research deficits.     

Focus: Preventive Medicine: Patient Safety Functions of State Medical Boards in the United States

The state medical board system in the United States plays a crucial role in promoting patient safety and is a primary vessel through which policymakers are able to regulate healthcare. The system’s origins, and how it has evolved in tandem with the practice of medicine generally, have heavily shaped its current structure and scope of activities. In particular, the ethos of a largely self-regulated profession has corresponded to a heavy physician influence. In light of this influence, maintaining legitimacy continues to require careful efforts by the state boards to avoid any perceived professional protectionism.     

140 years of medical physics in Romania

In 2020 the Romanian College of Medical Physicists celebrated 140 years of medical physics in Romania. The article presents a short historical perspective of medical physics teaching and education in the country, focusing on the current situation and challenges that we are facing in regards to staffing, training and accreditation. While certain aspects concerning the procurement of radiotherapy / medical imaging devices and staffing are improving over the years, others, related to clinical training and education, as well as the national recognition of the profession continue to pose a challenge.     

The 'atom-splitting' moment of synthetic biology. Nuclear physics and synthetic biology share common features

Synthetic biology and nuclear physics share many commonalities in terms of public perception and funding. Synthetic biologists could learn valuable lessons from the history of the atomic bomb and nuclear power.On 16 July 1945, in the desert of New Mexico, the first nuclear bomb was exploded. It was a crucial moment in the history of the physical sciences—proof positive of the immense forces at work in the heart of atoms—and inevitably changed the world. In 2010, a team at the J. Craig Venter Research Institute in the USA first created artificial life by inserting a synthetic 1.08 megabase pair genome into a mycoplasma cell that lacked its own. They demonstrated that this new cell with its man-made genome was capable of surviving and reproducing [1]. It was a colossal achievement for biology, and its significance might well rank alongside the detonation of the first atomic bomb in terms of scientific advance.…as with post-war physics, synthetic biology''s promises of a brighter future might not all materialize and could have far-reaching effects on society, science and politicsThere are several similarities between twentieth century physics, and twentieth and twenty-first century biology. The nuclear explosion in New Mexico was the result of decades of research and the first splitting of an atom in Otto Hahn''s laboratory in 1938. It ushered in an era of new ideas and hopes for a brighter future built on the power of the atom, but the terrible potential of nuclear weapons and the threat of nuclear warfare ultimately overshadowed these hopes and changed the course of science and politics. The crucial achievement of synthetic life is a strikingly similar event; the culmination of decades of research that started with its own atom-splitting moment: recombinant DNA technology. It promises to bring forth a new era for biology and enable a huge variety of applications for industry, medicine and the military. However, as with post-war physics, synthetic biology''s promises of a brighter future might not all materialize and could have far-reaching effects on society, science and politics. Biology should therefore take note of the consequences of nuclear physics'' iconic event in 1945 for science, politics and society.To appreciate the similarities of these breakthroughs and their consequences for society, it is necessary to understand the historical perspective. The pivotal discoveries for both disciplines were related to fundamental elements of nature. The rise of nuclear physics can be traced back to the discovery of neutrons by James Chadwick in 1932 [2]. Neutrons are essential to the stability of atoms as they insulate the nucleus against the repulsive forces of its positively charged protons. However, the addition of an extra neutron can destabilize the nucleus and cause it to split, releasing more neutrons and a tremendous amount of energy. This nuclear fission reaction was first described by Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann in 1938. Leo Szilard realized the possibility of using the neutrons released from the fission of heavy atoms to trigger a nuclear chain reaction to release huge quantities of energy. The first successful chain reactions took place in 1942 in Germany at Leipzig University in the laboratory of Robert Döpel, and in the USA at the University of Chicago in the so-called Chicago Pile-1 reactor, developed by Enrico Fermi. These first nuclear reactors provided the proof of concept for using a nuclear chain reaction as a source of energy. However, even before that, Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard wrote to US President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939, suggesting that the US government should develop a new powerful bomb based on nuclear fission. President Roosevelt created the Manhattan Project, which developed the first atomic bomb in 1945.Similarly to nuclear physics, the advent of rDNA technology has concerned the public…The Cold War and the mutually assured nuclear destruction between the USA and the USSR fanned widespread fears about a nuclear Third World War that could wipe out human civilization; Robert Oppenheimer, one of the physicists who developed the atomic bomb, was actually among the first to warn of the spectre of nuclear war. By contrast, the civilian use of nuclear physics, mainly in the form of nuclear reactors, promised a brave new future based on harnessing the power of the atom, but it also generated increasing concerns about the harmful effects of radioactivity, the festering problems of nuclear waste and the safety of nuclear power plants. The nuclear disasters at the Chernobyl reactor in 1986 and the Fukushima power plant in 2011 heightened these concerns to the point that several nations might now abandon nuclear energy altogether.The fundamental discovery in biology, crucial to the creation of synthetic organisms was the double helix structure of DNA in 1953 by Francis Crick and James Watson [3]. The realization that DNA molecules have a universal chemical structure to store and pass on genetic information was the intellectual basis for the development of recombinant DNA (rDNA) technology and genetic engineering. Twenty years after this discovery, Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer first transferred DNA from one organism into another by using endonucleases and DNA ligases [4]. This early toolkit was later expanded to include DNA sequencing and synthesizing technologies as well as PCR, which culminated in the creation of the first artificial organism in 2010. Craig Venter''s team synthesized a complete bacterial chromosome from scratch and transferred it into a bacterial cell lacking a genome: the resulting cell was able to synthesize a new set of proteins and to replicate. This proof of concept experiment now enables scientists to pursue further challenges, such as creating organisms with fully designed genomes to achieve agro-biotechnological, commercial, medical and military goals.Similarly to nuclear physics, the advent of rDNA technology has concerned the public, as many fear that genetically modified bacteria could escape the laboratory and wreak havoc, or that the technology could be abused to create biological weapons. Unlike with nuclear physics, the scientists working on rDNA technology anticipated these concerns very early on. In 1974, a group of scientists led by Paul Berg decided to suspend research into rDNA technology to discuss possible hazards and regulation. This discussion took place at a meeting in Asilomar, California, in 1975 [5].A pertinent similarity between these two areas of science is the confluence of several disciplines to create a hybrid technoscience, in which the boundaries between science and technology have become transient [6]. This convergence was vital for the success of both nuclear physics and later synthetic biology, which combines biotechnology, nanotechnology, information technologies and other new fields that have been created along the way [7]. In physics, technoscience received massive support from the government when the military potential of nuclear fission was realized. Although the splitting of the atom took place before the Manhattan Project, the Second World War served as a catalyst to combine research in nuclear physics with organized and goal-directed funding. As most of this funding came from the government, it changed the relationship between politics and research, as scientists were employed to meet specific goals. In the wake of the detonation of the first atomic bombs, the post-war period was another watershed moment for politics, technoscience, industry and society as it generated new and more intimate relationships between science and governments. These included the appointment of a scientific advisor to the President of the USA, the creation of funding organizations such as the National Science Foundation, or research organizations such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and large amounts of federal funding for technoscience research at private and public universities. It also led to the formation of international organizations such as the civilian-controlled International Atomic Energy Agency [6].There is no global war to serve as a catalyst for government spending on synthetic biology. Although the research has benefited tremendously from government agencies and research infrastructure, the funding for Venter''s team largely came from the private sector. In this regard, the relationship between biological techno-science and industry might already be more advanced than with the public sector given the enormous potential of synthetic life for industrial, medical and environmental applications.Research and innovation at universities has always played a vital role in the success of industry-based capitalism [8]; technoscience is now the major determinant of a knowledge-based economy or ''technocapitalism'' [9]. At the heart of technocapitalism are private and public organizations, driven by research and innovation, which are in sharp contrast to industrial capitalism, where the factories were production-driven and research was of less importance [10]. Furthermore, synthetic biology might provide valuable resources to the scientific community and thereby generate new research opportunities and directions for many biological fields [11].However, given the far-reaching implications of creating synthetic life and the risk of abuse, it is probable that the future relationship between synthetic biology and government will include issues of national security. In the light of potential misuse of synthetic biology for bioterrorism, and the safety risks involved in commercial applications, synthetic biology will eventually require some government regulation and oversight. In contrast to nuclear physics, in which the International Atomic Energy Commission was established only after the atomic bomb, the synthetic biology community should hold a new Asilomar meeting to address concerns and formulate guidelines and management protocols, rather than waiting for politicians or commercial enterprises to regulate the field.So far, synthetic biology differs from nuclear physics in terms of handling information. The Manhattan Project inevitably created a need for secrecy as it was created at the height of the Second World War, but the research maintained this shroud of secrecy after the war. After the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, the US government released carefully compiled documents to the American public. The existence of useable nuclear power had been secret until then, and the control of information ensured that the public further supported or tolerated the technology of nuclear fission and the subsequent use of atomic bombs [12]. This initially positive view changed in the ensuing decades with the threat of a global nuclear war.…synthetic biology has side-stepped the mistakes of nuclear physics and might well achieve a more balanced public integration of future developmentsInformation management in synthetic biology differs from nuclear physics, in that most of the crucial breakthroughs are immediately published in peer-reviewed journals and covered by the media. The value of early public discourse on science issues is evident from the reaction towards genetically modified crops and stem cell research. In this regard, synthetic biology has side-stepped the mistakes of nuclear physics and might well achieve a more balanced public integration of future developments.The main issues that might threaten to dampen public support for synthetic biology and favourable public perception are ethics and biosecurity concerns. Ethical concerns have already been addressed in several forums between scientists and public interest groups; this early engagement between science and society and their continuing dialogue might help to address the public''s ethical objections. In terms of biosecurity, biology might learn from nuclear physics'' intimate entanglement with politics and the military. Synthetic biologists should maintain control and regulation of their research and avoid the fate of nuclear physicists, who were recruited to fight the Cold War and were not free to pursue their own research. For synthetic biology to stay independent of government, industry and society, it must capitalize on its public engagement and heed the lessons and mistakes of nuclear physics'' atom-splitting moment. It should not just evaluate, discuss and address the risks for human or environmental health or biosafety concerns, but should also evaluate potential risks to synthetic biology research itself that could either come from falling public acceptance or government intrusion.? Open in a separate windowAlex J ValentineOpen in a separate windowAleysia KleinertOpen in a separate windowJerome Verdier     

The saga of the false fossil foram Eozoon

Eozoon canadense, 'the dawn animal of Canada', a large foraminifera, was announced in 1864 as the oldest fossil organism known. Camps soon formed into disbelievers of its fossil nature, agnostics, and “Eozoonists”. Eozoon would number among its proponents major figures of the time. The saga of Eozoon, or more precisely the dispute as to its actual nature, spawned hundreds of publications. Here the story is told with a new focus, one on the stature and roles of the major personalities involved, and the evidence they presented. Eozoon is considered to have been 'de-bunked' in the late 19th century. However, it will be shown that it was never indisputably proven to be inorganic. Rather Eozoon simply faded away after its most ardent defenders died. As late as 1947, it was shown as the primordial organism in a biology textbook. The saga of Eozoon remains as a valuable cautionary tale. It is an example of an artifact accepted as fact because it filled a troubling void in knowledge, i.e., at that time, the first traces of life before Cambrian, and it endured because it was promoted by only a few, but powerful, figures in the scientific establishment of the era.     

The Revival of Vivisection in the Sixteenth Century

In this article I examine the origins and progression of the practice of vivisection in roughly the first half of the sixteenth century, paying particular attention to the types of vivisection procedures performed, the classical sources for those procedures and the changing nature of the concerns motivating the anatomists who performed them. My goal is to reexamine a procedure typically treated as something revived by Vesalius from classical sources as a precursor to early modern discoveries by placing the practice of vivisection in its sixteenth-century context. There were a variety of reasons for employing vivisection in the sixteenth century, including exploring the differences between living and dead bodies, considering how parts of the body worked, and advocating the entirely new idea of the pulmonary transit. By exploring the discussions of Berengario, Niccolò Massa, Vesalius, Colombo and Juan Valverde I try to elaborate on these various reasons and their origins.     

History of the Department of Pediatrics Yale University School of Medicine.

The history of pediatrics at the Yale University School of Medicine can be divided into eight historical eras. The "Paleohistorical Era" included colonial figures such as Governor John Winthrop and Hezekiah Beardsley who wrote about children''s disease in colonial times. Eli Ives, Professor of the Diseases of Children at Yale Medical School gave the first systematic pediatric course in America in the first half of the nineteenth century. During the second era, from 1830-1920, the New Haven Hospital was opened. An affiliation between Yale University and the New Haven Hospital led to the formal establishment of clinical departments including pediatrics in the early 20th century. Six eras coinciding with successive pediatric chairman have led the department to its present respected position in American pediatrics. The department''s 75th anniversary in 1996 is an occasion to recognize many of the department''s accomplishments and leaders over the years. It is also a time to reaffirm the mission of the department: to the health needs of the children of Connecticut and beyond, to the advancement of scientific knowledge of infants and children and their diseases, and to the training and educational of the pediatric clinicians, educators and investigators of the future.     

Polygenic inheritance of bean mass

Analogies between plants and animals are often a source of confusion in the understanding of sexual reproduction in green plants

The ancient view that plants are non-sexual because they hold a place below animals on the ladder of nature was still held by many scientists in the 1 8th century. Paradoxically, al this time, Linnaeus and others were also postulating the universality of plant sexuality by using analogies with animals to over-extend the slowly emerging experimental evidence about the functions of floral parts. Today's school leavers seem to have similarly diverse views. A lack of school focus on gamete fusion appears to result in a continuing reliance on analogies with animals, and a belief that plants undergo only a qualified version of sexual reproduction. Suggestions for classroom activities to overcome this are offered, and some wider implications are considered.     

On Edouard Claparède and Johannes Lachmann (Clap & Lach) and their “Etudes sur les Infusoires et les Rhizopodes”

Accounts are given of the lives and careers of Edouard Claparède (1832–1871) and Johannes Lachmann (1832–1860), the authors of the landmark work of 19th century protistology “Etudes sur les Infusoires et les Rhizopodes”, published in 3 parts in 1859, 1860 and 1861. Accounts are also given on the origin of the monograph, the relationship of Claparède and Lachmann with Ernst Haeckel, and Claparède's role as a promoter of Darwin's theories. Suggestions as to how to properly cite the monograph of Claparède and Lachmann are provided, as well as a supplementary file listing the protist species currently accepted as having been first described in their monograph.     

Historical origins of current problems in cancer control

Canada''s provinces have some of the most highly developed cancer control systems in the world, but the recent crisis in waiting times for radiotherapy has drawn attention to many weaknesses and inadequacies. Focusing on the province with the largest cancer control system, Ontario, this paper explores the historical origins of current problems in cancer control and shows that they are directly related to policy decisions made in the early years of the system. The development of cancer control in Ontario from the 1920s to the present is outlined, and the historical origins of 3 specific problems related to patient care are discussed: fragmentation of care, which has resulted from an emphasis on radiotherapy rather than comprehensive care and from tensions between the medical profession and government; variation in practice, which can be traced to the empirical origin of much cancer treatment and the slow implementation of research programs; and inequitable access to care, which can be attributed to the emphasis on geographic centralization of services. Attempts to reform Ontario''s cancer control system are unlikely to be successful unless these fundamental issues are recognized and addressed.     

Diagnosis and treatment of lobar pneumonia in the pre-antibiotic era Anton Chekhov's medical report (1883)

In the late 19th century, pneumonia was one of the leading causes of death in Europe and the USA. Although at this time doctors knew about the infectious cause of pneumonia, they were not able to offer patients specific antimicrobial therapy. In the current paper, we translated into English for the first time and analyzed the almost forgotten medical report of a pneumonic patient written by the famous Russian writer and physician Anton Chekhov (1860–1904), which describes the classic stages of lobar pneumonia, now no longer observed in clinical practice due to antibacterial treatment. Despite the limited capabilities of lung disease diagnosis compared to the possibilities of modern medicine, physicians were able to diagnose lobar pneumonia using techniques of percussion and auscultation. Therapy in this case was limited to diet and symptomatic treatment and could only relieve some of the symptoms. This case history shows that in the early 1880s, in the one of the leading university clinics in Russia, despite the transition from humoral theory and ideas of natural philosophy to the concept of cellular pathology, there were still contradictory trends in the treatment of diseases.     

The first Gondwanan Euphorbiaceae fossils reset the biogeographic history of the Macaranga-Mallotus clade

Premise

The spurge family Euphorbiaceae is prominent in tropical rainforests worldwide, particularly in Asia. There is little consensus on the biogeographic origins of the family or its principal lineages. No confirmed spurge macrofossils have come from Gondwana.

Methods

We describe the first Gondwanan macrofossils of Euphorbiaceae, represented by two infructescences and associated peltate leaves from the early Eocene (52 Myr ago [Ma]) Laguna del Hunco site in Chubut, Argentina.

Results

The infructescences are panicles bearing tiny, pedicellate, spineless capsular fruits with two locules, two axile lenticular seeds, and two unbranched, plumose stigmas. The fossils' character combination only occurs today in some species of the Macaranga-Mallotus clade (MMC; Euphorbiaceae), a widespread Old-World understory group often thought to have tropical Asian origins. The associated leaves are consistent with extant Macaranga.

Conclusions

The new fossils are the oldest known for the MMC, demonstrating its Gondwanan history and marking its divergence by at least 52 Ma. This discovery makes an Asian origin of the MMC unlikely because immense oceanic distances separated Asia and South America 52 Ma. The only other MMC reproductive fossils so far known are also from the southern hemisphere (early Miocene, southern New Zealand), far from the Asian tropics. The MMC, along with many other Gondwanan survivors, most likely entered Asia during the Neogene Sahul-Sunda collision. Our discovery adds to a substantial series of well-dated, well-preserved fossils from one undersampled region, Patagonia, that have changed our understanding of plant biogeographic history.     

Entering the 21st century: the challenges for development

By many people, the 20th century will be remembered as an era of great achievement in human endeavour, and of enormous economic growth and prosperity. Achievements in medical research, from eradicating infectious diseases to laser surgery; in engineering, from the transistor to space exploration; and in economic development have all contributed to greater well being in the world at the end of the 20th century. Among the challenges to development identified by the World Bank in the coming decades will be managing the twin processes of globalization and localization, as well as post-conflict reconstruction. These will form the backdrop of the Bank''s main focus of creating a world free of poverty.     

Ethical Study on the Reform and Development of Medical and Health Services in China

At an early stage of its foundation, new China became clear about the nature of public welfare and quickly developed medical and health services, which was well received by the World Health Organization. The marketization and the reduction of input into medical and health services from the 1980s created severe adverse consequences. After the SARS' outbreak in 2003, China started to give serious consideration to its medical and health system, and to work at developing medical and health services. The new healthcare reform launched in 2009 re‐emphasizes fairness and public welfare, and China's achievements have been remarkable. Of course, there are still many problems to be solved in the reform, which also paves the way for increasing the reform in future.     

A History of Orthopedics in San Francisco and the West

The unique development of early medical specialization in the West can be traced to California''s geography and economic development. Such early specialization produced men with orthopedic inclinations. Early orthopedists founded the first medical school and the first modern teaching hospital, helped to found Stanford''s Lane Medical Library and made the first use of x-rays in the West. In addition many of these orthopedists were prominent in the political and social activities of the time.     

Medical women of the West.

The presence in the West of women physicians with degrees from regular medical schools spans a period of approximately 130 years. Women''s Medical College of Pennsylvania graduated many of these early women physicians. The first woman medical graduate of a western school was Lucy M. Field Wanzer, who finished in 1876 at the Department of Medicine, University of California in San Francisco. Soon thereafter, schools that would become Stanford University and the Oregon Health Sciences University schools of medicine, as well as the newly founded University of Southern California, were contributing to the pool of women physicians. The University of Michigan Medical School, the first coeducational state medical school, also educated some of the western women physicians, who by 1910 numbered about 155. This regional account of the progress of women physicians as they strove to become an integral part of the profession emphasizes the familiar themes of altruism, ingenuity, and perseverance that characterized their efforts.     

Re-reading Ronald Berndt: Exploring the Depths of his Yolngu Ethnography

The title of this essay sets its dialogic structure. Ronald Berndt's writing at times obscured the core insights that he had about Yolngu society, and partly as a consequence Australian anthropology has not yet made the best use of the immense richness of his ethnographic legacy. In retrospect, in many areas of their research the Berndts were pioneers addressing themes and topics that had been for too long ignored. They opened up new fields of study and redressed some of the imbalances associated with functionalism, the dominant paradigm of their early years as anthropologists. In this essay I examine two areas of Ronald Berndt's writings in which he had insights that were not fully appreciated at the time: the analysis of Yolngu social organisation and the analysis of Yolngu sexual symbolism. In both cases, his absorption in Yolngu ethnography made him aware that his predecessors had overlooked important themes of Yolngu society, yet in both cases his analysis was less convincing than it might have been.     

The Flexner Report--100 years later

The Flexner Report of 1910 transformed the nature and process of medical education in America with a resulting elimination of proprietary schools and the establishment of the biomedical model as the gold standard of medical training. This transformation occurred in the aftermath of the report, which embraced scientific knowledge and its advancement as the defining ethos of a modern physician. Such an orientation had its origins in the enchantment with German medical education that was spurred by the exposure of American educators and physicians at the turn of the century to the university medical schools of Europe. American medicine profited immeasurably from the scientific advances that this system allowed, but the hyper-rational system of German science created an imbalance in the art and science of medicine. A catching-up is under way to realign the professional commitment of the physician with a revision of medical education to achieve that purpose.