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  • Article

A brief history of ventilation

As ventilators continue to play an important part in helping very ill coronavirus patients, medical historian Dr Lindsey Fitzharris traces their development from the first attempts at mouth-to-mouth resuscitation through centuries of medical crises.

  • Article

How tuberculosis became a test case for eugenic theory

A 19th-century collaboration that failed to prove how facial features could indicate the diseases people were most likely to suffer from became a significant stepping stone in the new ‘science’ of eugenics.

  • Article

Jim, the horse of death

Horses’ blood was used to produce an antitoxin that saved thousands of children from dying from diphtheria, but contamination was a deadly problem. Find out how a horse called Jim was the catalyst for the beginnings of medical regulation.

  • Article

Why gene editing can never eliminate disability

In a world where DNA testing and gene editing offer ways to eliminate certain disabilities, Jaipreet Virdi explores a more accepting and inclusive approach.

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  • Upper respiratory infections : improved results with Privine hydrochloride.
  • Upper respiratory infections : improved results with Privine hydrochloride.
  • Upper respiratory infections : improved results with Privine hydrochloride.
  • Upper respiratory infections : improved results with Privine hydrochloride.
  • Duchenne muscular dystrophy - normal female, chromosomes have been highlighted by a fluorescent probe for exon 45/47 (note the double yellow band). This disorder is caused by a recessive gene on the X chromosome, so is normally shown only by males, who lack a second X chromosome. The condition starts with difficulty in walking and climbing stairs in early childhood, usually resulting in confinement to a wheelchair by the age of 10, with death from respiratory infection or cardiac failure by about the age of 20.
  • Plectranthus argentatus S.T.Blake Lamiaceae Silver spurflower. Herbaceous perennial. Distribution: Queensland and New South Wales, Australia. Little is known of its chemical constituents. It does contain many novel diterpenoids in its leaf glands (Alder, A.C. et al, Helvetica Chimica Acta, 2004, 67(6): 1523 – 1530).This genus has had some species from the genus Coleus incorporated into it, and these form a separate clade on phylogenetic analysis. The species in the ‘Coleus’ clade have a higher incidence of medicinal usage, being used to treat digestive, skin, infective and respiratory problems. They contain monoterpenoids, sesquiterpenoids, and diterpenoids. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Adenovirus particles
  • TEM of Adenovirus
  • Adenovirus, coloured electron micrograph
  • A medical myth : Parsley for urinary disease.
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