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Biomedical subjects

S Finger

Publications and source records attributed to S Finger.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

The eye as an optical instrument: from camera obscura to Helmholtz's perspective.

The era of modern vision research can be thought of as beginning in the seventeenth century with Johannes Kepler's understanding of the optics of the camera obscura with a lens and its relation to the eye. During the nineteenth century, Helmholtz used "The eye as an optical instrument" as the title for one of his Popular Lectures, and such a conception of the eye is now accepted as a fundamental feature of visual science. In analysing the optics of the eye, Helmholtz constructed some novel optical instruments for studying the eye. The development of optometers, ophthalmometers, and ophthalmoscopes is presented historically, with emphasis on how these instruments and camera analogies helped scientists to understand the functions of the eye, especially the enigma of accommodation. "The laws of optics are so well understood, and the knowledge of the eye, when considered as an optical instrument, has been rendered so perfect, that I do not consider myself capable of making any addition to it; but still there is a power in the eye by which it can adapt itself to different distances far too extensive for the simple mechanism of the parts to effect." (John Hunter in a letter to Joseph Banks in 1793, published by Home 1794, page 24).

Animals↗
PubMed2001

Edward Albert Schäfer (Sharpey-Schafer) and his contributions to neuroscience: commemorating of the 150th anniversary of his birth.

The year 2000 marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Edward Albert Schäfer (Sir Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer). Affiliated first with University College, London, and then with Edinburgh University, Schäfer made monumental contributions to the fields of histology, physiology, endocrinology, and practical medicine. This paper traces his professional life and emphasizes his seminal contributions to the neurosciences, which include his findings in support of neuron doctrine, his research on cortical localization in monkeys, his discovery of adrenaline and its place in the history of neural transmission, and his studies on recovery after nerve damage. Author of many histology and physiology books, founder of the "Quarterly Journal of Experimental Physiology," and mentor to many students who achieved great fame themselves, Schäfer was an active teacher and researcher, a man who remained committed to his vision of medicine based on laboratory science until he died in 1935.

England↗
PubMed2001

Victor Horsley on "trephining in pre-historic times".

Victor Horsley was intrigued by newly discovered, ancient trepanned skulls, especially those that revealed that the operation was performed on living patients. He examined the man-made openings as an expert on the locus of the primate motor cortex and as a surgeon who had successfully removed parts of the motor cortex to treat Jacksonian epilepsy. He postulated that trepanation originated as a way to treat pain and epilepsy caused by depressed cranial fractures over the motor cortex. Like Broca before him, Horsley helped create the exciting Zeitgeist that led others in the late-1 800s to explore, ponder, and write about ancient trepanned skulls.

England↗
PubMed2001

Discovering trepanation: the contribution of Paul Broca.

PAUL BROCA WAS an icon of neuroscience and neurosurgery who also happened to be intrigued by trepanned skulls. His anthropological work established that, thousands of years ago, individuals not only trepanned skulls but also successfully performed these operations on living persons. After first commenting on a pre-Columbian Peruvian skull in 1867 (the first case of trepanning on a living person widely recognized as such), he turned to even older trepanned skulls found on French soil. In the 1870s, he theorized that the procedure originated as a means to treat convulsions in infants. As he saw it, Neolithic man attributed such convulsions to evil spirits, for which trepanation provided a ready means of escape. Because simple infantile convulsions resolve on their own, the practice would have seemed successful, and therefore it would have been propagated and expanded by later generations. Broca's theory skillfully integrated his anthropological and medical knowledge and helped to create the exciting environment in which scientists pondered what Neolithic and primitive people really knew regarding the brain and surgery.

Anthropology↗
PubMed2000

Dr. Otto Soltmann (1876) on development of the motor cortex and recovery after its removal in infancy.

In 1870, Fritsch and Hitzig demonstrated that dogs have a motor cortex. In a chapter published 6 years later, Otto Soltmann studied the functional development of the motor cortex, which he believed functioned in willed movement. He was the first to show that the dog's motor cortex becomes electrically excitable at about 10 days of age, with the contralateral forepaw area appearing first. He also studied the effects of ablating the cortical motor regions unilaterally and bilaterally, and encountered a remarkable degree of sparing of function in his animals operated on as newborns, but not in older-operated dogs. Soltmann turned to the theory of functional take-over (vicariation) to account for the absence of deficits in his young animals. He was especially intrigued by the fact that electrical stimulation of a healthy motor cortex could produce bilateral matched movements, but only in dogs that sustained opposite motor cortex lesions very early in life.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Outcome of total hip arthroplasty in small-proportioned patients.

In a prospective, consecutive series, 41 total hip arthroplasties were performed in 27 small-proportioned patients with small femoral dimensions. The 17 female and 10 male patients averaged 23.6 years (range, 14-47 years), and the mean height and weight were 157 cm (range, 132-183 cm) and 53.5 kg (range, 36-84 kg). The most common preoperative diagnosis was juvenile rheumatoid arthritis in 18 patients (28 hips). Most patients were severely disabled in their daily activity, and 68% of the patients were classified as Charnley functional class C. The femoral implants consisted primarily of the proximally porous-coated miniature Anatomic Medullary Locking femoral component (AML/CDH, Depuy, Warsaw, IN) in 33 hips in 22 patients (average stem diameter, 9.5 mm; range, 8-12.0 mm). A porous ingrowth acetabular cup fixed with screws was used in all procedures. At an average follow-up of 51 months, Harris Hip Scores improved significantly from 34 points (range, 0-65 points) preoperatively to 85 points (range, 33-100 points) after arthroplasty. There were no intraoperative complications. There was 1 revision because of femoral implant loosening. Three cementless femoral components showed evidence of nonprogressive subsidence. One patient had significant bilateral acetabular component polyethylene wear and underwent revision. All other femoral and acetabular components were radiographically stable. The relief of pain and improvement of function were dramatic. The miniature AML/CDH femoral component, combined with an uncemented acetabular cup, provides a promising, off-the-shelf alternative in small-proportioned patients.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

The power of a musical instrument: Franklin, the Mozarts, Mesmer, and the glass armonica.

In 1761 Benjamin Franklin invented the armonica (often referred to as the glass harmonica), an instrument designed to simplify the playing of the musical glasses. The instrument immediately became popular and inspired compositions by Wolfgang Mozart, who had the opportunity to hear and play one at the house of Franz Anton Mesmer. Armonica music was used by Mesmer in his séances, because he felt it could promote healing by propagating a mystical fluid that he called animal magnetism through the body. After Mesmer's theories were debunked by a highly respected panel of scientists, the armonica fell out of vogue. Because Franklin was on the panel that examined the discredited mesmerism, he indirectly contributed to his own invention's demise.

Equipment and Supplies↗
PubMed1999

Cutaneous sensory spots and the "law of specific nerve energies": history and development of ideas.

By use of suitable methods, different spots on the skin surface can be shown to be selectively sensitive to one of four sensory qualities in decreasing order of density: pain, touch, cool and warm. The presence of such spots was observed virtually simultaneously in the early 1880s by three independent investigators. Two papers on punctuate sensitivity of the skin were published in 1882 and 1883 by Magnus Blix of Uppsala University in Sweden; three papers were published in 1884 by Alfred Goldscheider, a German army doctor; and one was published in 1885 by Henry Donaldson of Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. Donaldson's findings originated from a serendipitous observation. In contrast, Blix's and Goldscheider's experiments were based on Johannes Muller's concept of "specific sense energies" and the extension of this idea to sensory qualities (the law of "specific nerve energies") by others, including Hermann von Helmholtz. The discovery of different types of sensory spots had considerable influence on other researchers of the period, including Max von Frey, but has only recently been substantiated by electrophysiological experiments.

Germany↗
PubMed1999

Does Gustave Dax deserve to be forgotten? The temporal lobe theory and other contributions of an overlooked figure in the history of language and cerebral dominance.

Gustave Dax played an important role in the early history of cerebral dominance for language. He not only sent the 1836 memoir of Marc Dax, his deceased father, to Paris in 1863, but saw to it that this important document was published before Paul Broca's own article on cerebral dominance appeared later in 1865. In addition, he supported his father's contention that the left hemisphere is special for speech with 140 additional clinical cases. Gustave Dax's own unique contribution, however, has been almost completely overlooked. Although his theory lacked specificity, he preceded Meynert, Schmidt, and Wernicke in suggesting that the left temporal lobe may be especially important for speech.

Dominance, Cerebral↗
PubMed1999

A perplexing document in the early history of Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome: Melotti's rendition of a "Lecture of Charcot" (including a complete translation from the Italian with commentary).

In 1885, Dr. Guilio Melotti published an Italian translation of a lecture on "Convulsive Tics with Coprolalia and Echolalia" given by Jean-Martin Charcot. Although this lecture often has been cited as an authoritative statement of Charcot's view, until now it has not been translated into English. The lecture presents a number of statements that appear nowhere else in Charcot's published corpus, including some that seem to contradict Charcot's other pronouncements on maladie des tics. Although the Melotti-Charcot lecture may portray Charcot's position accurately in many passages, the article most likely is a compilation from a variety of sources.

France↗
PubMed1999

Margaret Kennard on sparing and recovery of function: a tribute on the 100th anniversary of her birth.

Margaret Kennard was an American pioneer in the experimental study of sparing and recovery of function. Her most famous experiments were performed on monkeys and apes at Yale University during the late 1930s and early 1940s. By describing the behavioral effects of brain damage on infantile, juvenile, and older primates, she drew new attention to just how important developmental status can be at the time of neural insult. Kennard also conducted experiments which showed that even adult primates can exhibit significant sparing and recovery of function, especially if brain lesions are made in stages rather than all at once. In many respects, Kennard helped launch the modern era of research on sparing and recovery of function by demonstrating that several factors in addition to lesion locus can affect post-injury performance and by recognizing that, if neural reorganization does occur, it probably takes place in spared parts of the damaged system.

Brain Damage, Chronic↗
PubMed1998

A happy state of mind: a history of mild elation, denial of disability, optimism, and laughing in multiple sclerosis.

Although multiple sclerosis (MS) is often looked on as a disorder of the sensory and motor systems, it can also be associated with changes in emotion and personality. Many patients with MS seem cheerful, optimistic about the future, and strangely unconcerned about their ongoing physical deterioration. In addition, patients with MS have a tendency to break into uncontrollable laughing, even when they have no reason to be happy. This article looks at how these seemingly upbeat affective changes were viewed by early researchers of MS, including Cruveilhier, Charcot, and Moxon during the 19th century and Cottrell, Wilson, and Ombredane in the 1920s. Frequently cited studies on the emotional correlates of MS from the mid-20th century are also presented, and some trends in the more recent literature are identified.

Affect↗