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Biography 2012; 33(8): 729-731 PubMed PMID: 23391970 Citation  Keywords:  Apgar Score, Germany, History, 19th Century, History, 20th Century, Humans, Infant, Newborn, Infant, Newborn, Diseases:diagnosis, Neonatal Screening:history, Reflex, United States,.   

: It is well known that the names of discoverers are commonly used in medical terminology, especially in everyday use. The advantage of an eponym is that a complex description of a certain syndrome, surgical procedure, manifestations of a particular disease, or its details, can be expressed in a single word (Holomáňová & Brucknerová 2003). Current official anatomical nomenclatures do not use eponyms. Some exceptions do however exist. In pediatrics, we frequently use the names of two famous persons: Virginia Apgar and Ernst Moro....

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Biography 2012; 33(7): 661-664 PubMed PMID: 23391875 Citation  Keywords:  Chromosome Disorders:diagnosis, Chromosomes, Human, Pair 13, Chromosomes, Human, Pair 18, Down Syndrome:diagnosis, History, 19th Century, History, 20th Century, History, 21st Century, Humans, Pediatrics:history, Trisomy:diagnosis, United Kingdom, United S.   

: The aim of this study is to present a short biography of some important physicians and describe the most prominent differences between trisomy 13, 18 and 21. The authors present the most prominent differences between trisomy 13, 18 and 21. The work of many important physicians, geneticists, has helped in the process of recognition of congenital anomalies. This group of famous persons includes Patau, Edwards and Down....

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Historical Article 2012; 33(3): 304-313 PubMed PMID: 22635090 Citation  Keywords:  Animals, Congenital Abnormalities:history, History, 19th Century, History, 20th Century, History, Ancient, Humans, Neuroendocrinology:history, Teratology:history,.   

: Teratology is the science of congenital developmental disorders (CDDs), overt or latent defects of the organism resulting from the effect of internal and external factors on developmental processes. In this article the significance and position of present-day teratology is discussed in the context of development of this branch of science and related disciplines. The authors present an updated overview of the most important milestones and stages of the development of teratology. Based on the analysis of the historical development of theses and theories that represent a decisive contribution to this field, we present a survey of the fundamental principles of experimental and clinical teratology. The aim of observing these principles is to get insight into developmental relations and to understand mechanisms of action on the level of cell populations (elementary morphogenetic processes), tissues and organs. It is important to realize that any negative intervention into the normal course of these processes, either on genetic or non-genetic basis, inevitably leads to a sequence of subsequent changes resulting in the development of congenital developmental disorders. Despite modern approaches of molecular biology and genetics, along with top diagnostic techniques, we are still not able to identify the actual cause in more than 50% of all congenital defects. One-half of the unidentified cases are referred to as "multifactorial", a term that is rather ambiguous. It either means that some of the basic principles of teratogenesis still escape our attention, or the interpretation of some of the well known principles might be misleading. A third possibility is rather pessimistic. The development of the individual is so sophisticated and dependent on a delicate network of a multitude of factors mutually affecting each other that it is extremely prone to give rise to a plethora of spontaneous errors which are unpredictable and impossible to prevent. Nevertheless, the long and complicated history of scientific endeavour has yielded considerable present-day knowledge on causes and mechanisms of CDDs, a history whose beginnings date back to antiquity....

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Historical Article 2008; 29(Suppl 1): 161-201 PubMed PMID: 19029874 Citation  Keywords:  Clinical Trials as Topic, Electroconvulsive Therapy, Ferrosoferric Oxide:therapeutic use, History of Medicine, History, 15th Century, History, 16th Century, History, 17th Century, History, 18th Century, History, 19th Century, History, 20th Century, Histor.   

: Since antiquity, the phenomenon of magnetism has been known, and it has been tried for therapeutic purposes. Through history, people have made use of both natural sources of magnetic fields (magnetic iron ore) and artificial ones (magnets, electromagnets). It was as late as the 19th century that we started to produce time-varying magnetic fields, making numerous observations about its impact on humans, the nervous system included. A majority of these observations were cognitive in nature. There are, however, studies aimed at assessing the therapeutic results of the influence of magnetic fields, particularly of low frequencies. In terms of magnetotherapy with the use of a low-induction magnetic field, there are serious doubts concerning its effectiveness in general, including therapy for mental disorders. The year 1985 witnessed the introduction of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) into medical practice as a diagnostic tool in neurology as well as in basic neurophysiologic and neuropsychological investigations. The 1990s began the epoch of investigations into possible applications of TMS in therapy of mental disorders, particularly depression. This work presents critical remarks and limitations of TMS, such as findings that its effectiveness is not particularly high. The traditional fixed stimulation of a definite area of the patient's head may lead to irritation of structures that, in a specific patient, may not be responsible for the symptoms of depression. The effectiveness could be improved only with the use of neuronavigation and prestimulation via functional neuroimaging diagnostics of the brain, which, however, would make TMS expensive and less practical....

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Historical Article 2008; 29(Suppl 1): 147-160 PubMed PMID: 19029871 Citation  Keywords:  Clinical Trials as Topic, History, 19th Century, History, 20th Century, Humans, Schizophrenia:physiopathology, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation:history,.   

: Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive and painless way of stimulating the neural tissue (cerebral cortex, spinal roots, and cranial and peripheral nerves). The first attempts at stimulating the neural tissue date back to 1896 by d'Arsonval; however, it was successfully carried out by Barker and colleagues in Sheffield, UK, in 1985. It soon became a useful tool in neuroscience for neurophysiologists and neurologists and psychiatrists. The original single-pulse TMS, largely used as an investigative tool, was further refined and developed in the early 1990s into what is known as repetitive TMS (rTMS), having a frequency range of 1-60 Hz. The stimulation by both TMS and rTMS of various cortical regions displayed alteration of movement, mood, and behavior, leading researchers to investigate a number of psychiatric and neuropsychiatric disorders, as well as to explore its therapeutic potential. There is now a large amount of literature on the use of TMS/rTMS in depression; however, its use in schizophrenia, both as an investigative and certainly as a therapeutic tool is relatively recent with a limited but increasing number of publications. In this article, we will outline the principles of TMS/rTMS and critically review their use in schizophrenia both as investigative and potential therapeutic tools....

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Historical Article 2007; 28(6): 749-756 PubMed PMID: 18063926 Citation  Keywords:  Behavior:radiation effects, Cultural Characteristics, Dissent and Disputes:history, Electromagnetic Fields, History, History, 15th Century, History, 16th Century, History, 17th Century, History, 18th Century, History, 19th Century, History, 20th Century, .   

BACKGROUND: Russian astronomer A.L. Tchijevsky published in the twenties of 20th century a study comparing the approximately 11-year cycling of "sunspot activity" and "historical process", analyzed globally since the 5th century B.C. to the 19th century A.D. According to him, phenomena of societal "excitation", as revolutions, occurred synchronously with the solar maxima, and, oppositely, those of peaceful activities of masses, as science and arts, with the solar minima. Recently, Slovak philosopher E. Páles describes periodic fluctuation of historical events in mutually distant geographic areas during more than three millennia. The period lengths, however, are longer, one of the most pronounced being around 500 years. THE QUESTION was therefore posed: does a similar correlation with sunspot activity, as found for 11-year cycles, exist also in the 500-year cycling?

MATERIAL AND METHODS: The historical data consisted of two time series concerning revolutions in Europe and China, and of eight time series from activities in science and arts registered from five geographic areas. For the comparison, parallel time series of sunspot (Wolf) numbers, available since IInd century B.C., were constructed. Using periodic regression function, the times of peaking were estimated for each data set.

RESULTS: In agreement with Tchijevsky's hypothesis, revolutions culminated near to solar maxima while cultural flourishing usually distinctly near to solar minima. This conclusion is based on the level of statistical significance alpha=0.05.

CONCLUSION: Solar impact on geomagnetic field could be one of elucidating mechanisms. Recently, electromagnetic influencing of brain function has been realized artificially....

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Biography 2006; 27(5): 557-561 PubMed PMID: 16892006 Citation  Keywords:  Europe, History, 19th Century, History, 20th Century, Pharmacology, Clinical:history,.   

: Emil Starkenstein (1884-1942), professor of pharmacology at the German Medical Faculty of Charles University in Prague, was not only an experimental pharmacologist, but also the pioneer of clinical pharmacology. During the World War I (1914-1918) he took advantage of his knowledge of experimental pharmacology for the new approaches to the treatment of bacillary dysentery, cholera and of epidemic typhus fever. In 1918 he published the article "Clinical Pharmacology--Theory and Praxis at the Patient's Bedside", in which he defined the main task of clinical pharmacology as the implementation and verification of experimental pharmacology achievements in clinical therapy. During the period 1921-1933, his scientific interests involved namely analgesic combinations, seasickness therapy and pharmacology of iron. He published more than 240 scientific articles and three textbooks. Emil Starkenstein died on November 6, 1942 as a victim of Holocaust. Starkenstein s collection of more than 20,000 reprints of scientific studies, which has been deposited recently in the Archives of Charles University in Prague is very valuable....

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Biography 2003; 24(6): 11-12 PubMed PMID: 15077066 Citation  Keywords:  History, 19th Century, History, 20th Century, Humans, Neuroendocrinology:history, Periodicity, Slovakia,.   

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