English practitioners of medicine in the seventeenth century.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to A W Sloan.
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Thomas Sydenham, widely regarded as the leading English physician of the second half of the 17th century, was a soldier before he became a physician. This may account for his very practical attitude to medicine, which he believed should be learned by observing patients rather than by reading books. His treatment was largely traditional and he tended to ignore contemporary advances in medical science, but his meticulous records of patients and of their response to treatment paved the way for the clinical approach which was to prevail in the future.
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With a view to estimating the effect of altitude on body dimensions vis-à-vis ethnicity-religion, geographical distance, and occupation, a comprehensive multivariate statistical analysis was performed on data pertaining to 16 anthropometric characters collected from 1,103 individuals (643 males and 460 females) belonging to two ethnic groups-Sherpa and Lepcha. Samples were drawn from several locations in the eastern Himalayan region-Darjeeling and Kalimpong in West Bengal (India), and Nepal, situated at low (1,000-2,000 meters) and high (above 3,500 meters) altitudes. The individuals sampled practice different occupations and follow different religions. Significant age and sex effects were observed. The data were age-adjusted, and sexes were treated separately. A test of equality of mean vectors indicated heterogeneity among population groups. Almost all characters were found to contribute significantly to the ability to discriminate between the groups. The overall probability of correctly classifying an individual based on body dimensions into the group in which she or he actually belongs was high (between 0.64 and 0.77). Shape and size factors could be identified that explained about 50% of the total variance and yielded a reasonable separation of the groups. Results of four different types of multivariate statistical analyses were in agreement, and showed that altitude is most highly associated with body dimensions.
The great French physiologist Claude Bernard (1813-1878) spent most of his life in Paris, where he held academic appointments and was active in a variety of research fields. In addition to his many contributions to medical science his views on experimental procedure and on philosophy have had an important influence on the development of medical science.
The kinetics of oxygen uptake (VO2), cardiac output (Q), and heart rate (HR) were studied in three healthy male subjects during onset of exercises up to 750 kpm/min. VO2 was measured on a single breath basis, Q by CO2-N2 rebreathing method at 30" intervals from time 0 to 6 min of exercise, and HR beat by beat. In the transition from rest to exercise, the increase of Q and VO2 follows a single exponential function, while h. r. a double exponential. Average half times of Q and VO2 during the onset of exercise are about 18" and 26" respectively. Q changes seem to anticipate VO2 changes at the first 15-45 s of exercise, while thereafter a proportional increase is observed. This non-linear increase of Q to VO2 at the beginning of exercise may presumably be due to a neurogenic control of h.r. and hence of Q from receptors at muscular level.
1. Several investigators have found that the development of post-exercise ketosis is not counteracted by glucose ingestion. Post-exercise ketosis might therefore have more in common with diabetic ketoacidosis than with starvation ketosis. 2. The effects of ingesting 100 g of glucose, alanine or starch were therefore studied in subjects rendered hyperketonaemic by prolonged running on a low carbohydrate diet, or by 65 h of starvation. These substances were also ingested by normal post-prandial subjects. 3. The runners developed post-exercise ketosis (1.81 +/- S.D. 0.81 mmol/l), which was counteracted by alanine and glucose, but only minimally by starch. 4. Fasting caused a variable ketosis (2.19 +/- S.D. 1.63 mmol/l), also counteracted by glucose and less by starch, but alanine caused vomiting. 5. Glucose and alanine lowered the blood ketone body levels of the post-prandial subjects. 6. The rising ketone body levels in starvation and after exercise were accompanied by simultaneous increases in the plasma insulin/glucagon ratios; in both, glucose ingestion increased the ratio further, while alanine decreased it. 7. It is concluded that there is no essential difference between established post-exercise and starvation ketosis, and that the blood fuel-hormone changes do not correlate with the changes in blood ketone body concentrations.
From 1348 to 1350 Europe was devastated by an epidemic of plague, called at the time the Great Mortality and later the Black Death. The epidemic reached southern Europe from the Middle East and spread northward, reaching England in June 1348. Contemporary descriptions leave no doubt of the diagnosis, but estimates of the mortality differ widely owing to lack of contemporary statistics; in England it was probably between one-third and one-half of the population. The Black Death and subsequent plague epidemics in the 14th century had marked social and economic effects, reduced the prestige of the Church and off the medical profession, and were a factor in the social unrest which led to the Renaissance of the Reformation.
1. The effect of exercise on blood ketone body concentrations was studied in trained athletes and in sedentary subjects pedalling a bicycle ergometer. 2. Although the untrained subjects had higher heart rates and blood lactate concentrations at the same work load as the athletes, neither group developed ketonaemia even after intense or prolonged exercise. 3. Older subjects developed post-exercise ketonaemia, reaching maximum about 3 hr after exercise. 4. A high-carbohydrate diet before the exercise could prevent the onset of post-exercise ketonaemia and a low-carbohydrate diet enhanced it. The highest post-exercise blood ketone levels were recorded in marathon runners after a "glycogen-stripping' regimen. 5. Concentrations of free fatty acids, glucose, growth hormone and insulin in blood after exercise followed different patterns from that of ketones. 6. Post-exercise ketosis, when it occurs in untrained subjects, may be due to a lower carbohydrate intake than that of athletes.
During the 68 years since it was founded, 548 publications have appeared from the Department of Physiology of the University of Cape Town, which has at different times included subdepartments of pharmacology and of medical biochemistry. The main fields of physiological research have been electrophysiology of the heart and of nerves, calcium metabolism (especially of teeth), endocrinology (especially of sex hormones), phonocardiography, bile secretion, exercise physiology (especially tests of physical fitness), measurement of obesity, renal physiology (especially membrane transport of sodium) and neurophysiology. Work continues in some of these fields.
William Harvey was born in 1578 and died in 1657. He studied arts at the University of Cambridge and medicine at the University of Padua. He was a Fellow of the College of Physicians of London and physician to St Bartholomew's Hospital and to King James I and King Charles I. His discovery of the circulation of the blood was announced in his Lumleian Lectures to the College of Physicians and later published in his book, De Motu Cordis. His other major work was on embryology, published under the title De Generatione Animalium. Harvey was distinguished in many fields of medicine and medical science and is widely regarded as the founder of modern physiology.
On 109 male Sherpas, aged 18--85 years, 24 anthropometric measurements were performed, including weight, height, 18 bony measurements, 2 limb circumferences, and 4 skinfolds. From these data, upper and lower limb lengths, 12 indices, and total body fat were calculated. The Sherpas are of medium stature and body build, with Mongoloid cranial and facial characteristics and very little body fat. Their relatively large chests, long legs, and large calf muscles may be a racial adaptation to the high altitude at which they live and to the load-carrying, which is a feature of their life.
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Although the environmental stresses to which man is subjected on the ground are less than those commonly encountered in aviation or under water, they may still exceed an individual's powers of adaptation. Extremes of temperature, commonly encountered in the Arctic or the tropics, may occur in regions of normally temperate climate and lead to failure of temperature regulation, resulting in hypothermia, frostbite, heat exhaustion, or heat stroke. High mountains impose additional hazards due to high winds and lack of oxygen, and deep mines are dangerous work-places because of high temperature and humidity. Some physiological acclimatization occurs in extreme natural environments and the dangers may be reduced by appropriate clothing, diet and behaviour.
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