Scientific stories

Parisians' love for lemonade was spreading so quickly that by the time the plague surrounded the city, the business was apparently still in the hands of street vendors. Lemonade wasn't just popular - it was loved everywhere, and the traders supplied it to every corner of the city. Lemonin, found in lemons and other citrus fruits, is a natural insecticide and repellent. The lemonin-rich peel is the most effective part of the lemon. Human beings have invented insect control chemicals for centuries, and as a result, the U...

There is an opinion that the bubonic plague spreading in Europe was transmitted by flea bites. Today, many believe that fleas infected with Yersinia pestis, a plague bacteria, have arrived with sand lance - random passengers from the Far East. Once in Europe, the sand lance infected a strong and omnipresent population of European rats with its own fleas. Fleas, the vectors of the plague, were transported to cities with the rats, where they were parasitized on rats, people, and pets, killing them and returning to the rats...

This story is about the legendary and everybody's favorite beverage, which now exists in many variations. It has sour historical roots. We are talking about lemonade, which in the times of bubonic plague not only quenched thirst but also saved the whole city from attack. And lemonade also helped the medicine of that time unheard of! In 1668, after a decade of absence, the bubonic plague returned to France and the inhabitants of Paris were threatened. It was already known about the plague in Normandy and Picardia: it was in Sasson, Amiens...

Alois Alzheimer was born on June 14, 1864, in Marcbraite. From there, the Alzheimer's family moved to the Royal Humanist Gymnasium. Later, having chosen medicine as his path, the young Alois was a university student at medical universities in Aschaffenburg, Tuebingen, Berlin, and Würzburg (where he wrote his doctoral thesis and received his degree in 1887). His medical career began in 1888 as a resident physician at the Hospital for the Mentally ill and Epileptics in Frankfurt am Main. There he worked for seven years and was later appointed head physician...

Learned by myself - teach others In 1908, Alois Alzheimer was employed by the Psychiatric Institute as an associate professor and became the head of the anatomical laboratory at the clinic. There, in addition to his research work, he also trained students from various countries. The scientist spent a lot of time on discussions and explained to each of them the things that remained unclear, dealt with them in various clinical cases. Those who were present and able to observe his work as a teacher...

Who deserves to die? Our hero, meanwhile, is actively pursuing a psychiatric career. He becomes an army psychiatrist and the first British psychiatrist. He is also a member of the Parole Board. In 1959, Ley was recommended by the Royal Commission on the Death Penalty as an independent psychiatrist to carry out psychiatric examinations of the criminals to be hanged. One of Ley's most famous cases was that of Gunter Podol, who was charged with the murder of a policeman. In his defense, Podol claimed...

The news about the first "child from three parents" in the history of mankind gave an opportunity to talk about Ley's syndrome, a disease, which until now, perhaps, was heard only by those whose family was affected by such a tragedy. From now on, this incurable disease, caused by mutations in mitochondrial DNA, can certainly not be cured but prevented. However, the name of the person who described the pathology remains unknown. We will try to write at least a few words about this outstanding person, who is much more famous in psychiatry, although he started out as a neurosurgeon...

Peaceful psychiatry Archibald Ley goes back to neurology, to science. The work in the neurological department of the London Hospital is progressing, and cooperation with a famous neurologist with a terrific name for his profession - Walter Russell Brain, the first Baron Brain. It is funny that Lord Brain has long been the editor of Brain magazine. Lord Brain is also known as the discoverer of Brain's quadripedal reflex: if a patient with limb weakness of one half of the body becomes four, the affected arm is straightened out...

Renee Laenneck is a medical doctor from a classic medical family. The history of medicine knows three famous doctors named Laenneck. Rene's uncle was Guillaume Laenneck, not only a famous physician but also the rector of the University of Nantes. Naturally, René learned medicine from a young age: since he was 14 he has been studying with the best surgeons. Already at the age of 18, Laenneck was a surgeon's assistant in Napoleon's army, and two years later, in 1801, his teacher was Jean-Nicolas Corvizard, Napoleon Bonaparte's personal physician...

Laura Maria Katarina Bassi She was born in 1711. About the date of her birth argue till now: in different sources a scatter in 10 days, from October 20 till October 31. She grew up in the family of a famous lawyer and from the age of 13 years, she received home education for 7 years. Gaetano Tacconi was not only a family doctor for the Bassi family but also a professor of medicine and philosophy at Bologna University. He was well acquainted with Cardinal Prospero Lambertini, who he brought with a group of philosophers in 1731 to the university to show the success of his student...

Frederick Bunting In 1869, 22-year-old student Paul Langerhans, studying under a microscope the structure of the pancreas, found that part of its cells are pairs or small groups. In a quarter of a century, these structures will be called "islands of Langerhans" after him. For a long time, the function of these mysterious structures will remain unknown. Only in the early 20's will it be possible to prove that they are necessary to release the most important hormone. This hormone was called insulin (from Latin insula - the island) at the place of excretion...

Proof of the existence of stem cells is the famous experiments of James Till and Ernest McCulloch in the 50-60s. They created radiation chimeras, irradiating recipient mice in a lethal dose, and the death of animals was prevented by bone marrow transplantation from the donor animal. These authors have managed to prove experimentally and mathematically that blood production in deadly irradiated animals can be restored by transplanting a single cell that could differentiate into a variety of blood cells...