Dealing with diversity: The Smithsonian tropical research Institute and tropical biology

Despite unprecedented research attention in recent years, the tropics remain an unexplored frontier. To achieve a better understanding of tropical ecosystems in the face of rapid and irrevocable destruction, it is essential to develop and improve field facilities for long-term comparative research worldwide. This article describes the work of one such facility - the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama - as model for future investigations.     

Pathology in tropical medicine

The pathology o f a parasitic disease is a major link between the investigating parasitologist and those concerned with its epidemiology, socioeconomic impact, clinical treatment and control. The epidemiologist requires information about the incidence and prevalence of major pathological lesions attributable to on infection, which in turn will determine the social and economic impact of the disease and thus its priority for control. For both diagnosis and treatment, the clinician requires an understanding of the pathological mechanisms, and the potential for new drugs or vaccine development largely depends on such understanding. Recent years have seen remarkable improvements in determining the nature of pathology associated with parasitic infections. and in understanding their causative mechanisms. With this issue, Parasitology Today begins a series of special reviews designed to bring together these insights into parasite pathology (see pages 271-282). In this introductory overview. Charles Mackenzie traces the origins and development of the science.     

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.     

Toxoplasma: the next 100years

It has been 100 years since Toxoplasma gondii was initially described in Tunis by Nicolle and Manceaux (1908) in the tissues of the gundi (Ctenodoactylus gundi) and in Brazil by Splendore (1908) in the tissues of a rabbit. T. gondii is a ubiquitous, Apicomplexan parasite of warm-blooded animals that can cause several clinical syndromes including encephalitis, chorioretinitis and congenital infection. Due to the extensive repertoire of applicable experimental techniques available for this pathogen it has become a model organism for the study of intracellular pathogens. Data obtained from genome-wide expression studies, including ChIP on chip and proteomics surveys, are refining our understanding of the genetic networks involved in the developmental biology of this pathogen as well as the interactions of the parasite with its host. This review addresses recent advances in our understanding of the developmental biology and host-pathogen relationships of T. gondii.     

The past and future of tropical medicine in Czechoslovakia.

The authors present a short historical review on the developments in the Czechoslovak tropical health studies with special reference to the post WW II period. Perspectives for future expansion are likewise outlined.