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High rates of suicide continue to plague the modern world, with clinicians, researchers, and policymakers working urgently to ameliorate what has been recognized as a worldwide public health crisis. Under American Law, individuals- including health care providers, could generally not be held liable for causing the suicide of another person. This article presents a review of suicide law in the United States in the context of a recent civil case in which a physician with expertise in mental health was sued for the death of an ex-partner who committed suicide in his home. Historical events and landmark legal cases spanning the 15th century to now are examined and presented as a narrative review to inform society and mental health clinicians a-like towards interpreting the changing medical-legal landscape. As modern advances in science continue to discern the critical biopsychosocial factors that contribute to the act of suicide, there is an inevitably growing concern that suicide may no longer be an incomprehensible nor irrational event as has been assumed for centuries. Thus, it may be considered that individual with expertise and qualification to treat a group of individuals at higher risk of suicide (severe mental illness) may be subject to a different standard than the average individual. This article seeks to present a complex matter where no simple or broad-sweeping conclusions can yet be drawn, however remains a critically important matter for mental health clinicians., (© 2024 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.)

After the dramatic coronavirus outbreak at the end of 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, on 11 March 2020, a pandemic was declared by the WHO. Most countries worldwide imposed a quarantine or lockdown to their citizens, in an attempt to prevent uncontrolled infection from spreading. Historically, quarantine is the 40-day period of forced isolation to prevent the spread of an infectious disease. In this educational paper, a historical overview from the sacred temples of ancient Greece-the cradle of medicine-to modern hospitals, along with the conceive of healthcare systems, is provided. A few foods for thought as to the conflict between ethics in medicine and shortage of personnel and financial resources in the coronavirus disease 2019 era are offered as well., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

This paper aims to evoke an alternative viewpoint on surrogacy, moving beyond popular Western feminist beliefs on the practice, by introducing the history and current context of East Asian surrogacy. To elaborate a different cultural perspective on surrogacy, this paper first introduces the East Asian history of contract pregnancy systems, prior to the emergence of the American invention of 'modern' surrogacy practice. Then, it examines Japanese mass media portrayals of cross-border surrogacy in which white women have become 'convenient' entities. The results of the analysis show how Japanese culture has adopted a rhetoric about the use of white women as convenient surrogate mothers in the global commercial surrogacy market. An essential aspect of surrogacy is the premise that a woman's reproductive function should be accessible to others. Past discussions among feminists have neglected this important point. Moreover, they share the assumption that white surrogacy clients are exploiters, who take advantage of women of colour as surrogate mothers. The current situation in Asia flips this perspective-with white women regarded as easier targets for exploitation by wealthy people of colour. For Asian clients, Westerners can be easily regarded as 'others' whom they can use for their reproductive needs. In today's globalized era, the surrogacy industry is no longer for affluent Westerners only. Considering this change, it is crucial to discuss surrogacy issues by reconstructing feminist perspectives with a globalized view, to help protect women's bodies, regardless of nationality, ethnicity, skin colour, or religion., (© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

This study outlines some understandings of the word "hygiene." The notion that originated in ancient Greece first began to be adopted as a system of diet and morals to prolong the lifespan. From a type of self-care, this idea transformed into a concept of governance to extend the lives of subject-citizens. The theoretical debate about what public hygiene used to be shows its eminently political side: not only was hygiene a branch of the political economy, the ideas of hygienists were also analyzed as to the degree of impact they had on policy. After political and scientific battles, certain understandings of government action emerged victorious, while others were forgotten and neglected.

Purpose: One of the oldest procedures performed by man is trepanning of the bone and yet it was only in the last 40 years that bone marrow aspiration has been used to treat nonunion disorders., Material and Methods: These advances were possible due to improvements in instruments and in techniques to make holes in the bone, an history that began with skull trephinations around 8000-10,000 years ago, and continued with sternum bone marrow injection for trauma resuscitation in the beginning of the twentieth century; this procedure had improved at the beginning of the twenty-first century to allow pelvis bone marrow aspiration for the treatment of nonunion., Results: Trephined skulls from antiquity have been found in many parts of world, showing that trephining was ancient and widespread. Beginning with Neolithic period and the pre-Columbian Andean civilizations, the authors have traced the development of this surgical skill by describing the various surgical tools used to perform holes in the skull. These tools (trephines or trepan) were proposed at the end of the nineteenth century to study the bone marrow. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the sternum became the center of interest for the "in vivo" study of the bone marrow and the fluid injection in the sternum's bone marrow was described for resuscitation from shock during the World War II. With the introduction of plastic catheters and improved cannulation techniques, the need for intraosseous infusion as an alternative route for intravenous access diminished and sometimes abandoned. However, during the mid-1980s, James Orlowski allowed renaissance of the use of intraosseous infusion for paediatric resuscitation. Since then, this technique has become widespread and is now recognized as an alternative to intravenous access in adult emergencies; particularly, the intraosseous access has received class IIA recommendation from the Advanced Trauma Life Support program supported by the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma and bone marrow infusion is now recommended for "Damage Control" resuscitation. Although the pelvis bone contains half of the body's marrow volume, it was only in 1950 that the pelvis was proposed as a source for bone marrow aspiration and bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells to improve healing of fractures., Conclusion: It will be many years before doing holes in the bone as orthopaedic trauma procedure will be relegated to the annals of history.

Background: Accurate terms aid clarity in thinking and prevent confusion. In the infant feeding field 'normal' can be ambiguous as biologically normal may not equate with culturally normal in a given time or place. Similarly, the use of the term 'intervention' is appropriate if a recommended practice is not perceived as 'normal' to that culture., Objective: This article explores the meaning of 'normal' in the context of infant feeding, since mothers may not perceive breastfeeding as 'normal' when this differs from the experience in communities in which it is considered unusual., Methods: Historical and recent sources were used to explore the effect of culture and established practice on perceptions of what is 'normal'., Discussion: Iceland and several regions of Europe are used as examples of long-term abandonment of breastfeeding during the late Medieval and Early Modern periods and the 19th century. Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States are discussed in relation to fluctuations and declines in breastfeeding prevalence in the 20th and 21st centuries. The rôle of science and the rise of mother-support groups for breastfeeding, interventions to promote breastfeeding, and the possibility of cultural change, are also discussed., Implications for Practice: Culture influences the perception of what is 'normal' and where a culture has abandoned breastfeeding, or where it is in decline, women are unlikely to view it as the normal way to feed an infant. A more appropriate use of language is recommended, describing breastfeeding as 'biologically normal' or 'physiologically normal', as it is not always, and has not always been, culturally normal. In this context initiatives to improve breastfeeding rates can correctly be termed 'interventions'., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Opium is the latex from the opium poppy Papaver somniferum L., which humankind has utilized since ancient Mesopotamia all the way to modern times. Opium used to be surrounded in divine mystery or magic-like abilities and was given to cure a wide variety of diseases until its analgesic, antitussive, and antidiarrheal properties were understood, the resulting alkaloids were isolated, and their structure and properties unmasked. Opium went from being sold in any store front in the form of pills or tinctures with no prescription necessary for purchase or smoked in an opium den down the street, to then bringing about consumer advocacy and the right to know what is in a medication. Legislation was created to limit the prescribing and selling of medications to doctors and pharmacists as well as outlawing opium dens and smoking opium. This review focuses primarily on the uses of opium throughout history, the isolation of the principle alkaloids, and their structure elucidation.

In this article, the authors present a historic overview of the development of medical education in the United States and Europe (in particular the Netherlands), as it relates to the issues of time (duration of the course) and proficiency (performance requirements and examinations). This overview is necessarily limited and based largely on post hoc interpretation, as historic data on time frames are not well documented and the issue of competence has only recently been addressed.During times when there were few, if any, formal regulations, physicians were primarily "learned gentlemen" in command of few effective practical skills, and the duration of education and the competencies acquired by the end of a course simply did not appear to be issues of any interest to universities or state authorities. Though uniform criteria gradually developed for undergraduate medical education, postgraduate specialty training remained, before accreditation organizations set regulations, at the discretion of individual institutions and medical societies. This resulted in large variability in training time and acquired competencies between residency programs, which were often judged on the basis of opaque or questionable criteria. Considering the high costs of health care today and the increasing demand for patient safety and educational efficiency, continuing historic models of nonstandardized practices will no longer be feasible. Efforts to constrain, restructure, and individualize training time and licensing tracks to optimize training for safe care, both in the United States and Europe, are needed.

Dry forests at low elevations in temperate-zone mountains are commonly hypothesized to be at risk of exceptional rates of severe fire from climatic change and land-use effects. Their setting is fire-prone, they have been altered by land-uses, and fire severity may be increasing. However, where fires were excluded, increased fire could also be hypothesized as restorative of historical fire. These competing hypotheses are not well tested, as reference data prior to widespread land-use expansion were insufficient. Moreover, fire-climate projections were lacking for these forests. Here, I used new reference data and records of high-severity fire from 1984-2012 across all dry forests (25.5 million ha) of the western USA to test these hypotheses. I also approximated projected effects of climatic change on high-severity fire in dry forests by applying existing projections. This analysis showed the rate of recent high-severity fire in dry forests is within the range of historical rates, or is too low, overall across dry forests and individually in 42 of 43 analysis regions. Significant upward trends were lacking overall from 1984-2012 for area burned and fraction burned at high severity. Upward trends in area burned at high severity were found in only 4 of 43 analysis regions. Projections for A.D. 2046-2065 showed high-severity fire would generally be still operating at, or have been restored to historical rates, although high projections suggest high-severity fire rotations that are too short could ensue in 6 of 43 regions. Programs to generally reduce fire severity in dry forests are not supported and have significant adverse ecological impacts, including reducing habitat for native species dependent on early-successional burned patches and decreasing landscape heterogeneity that confers resilience to climatic change. Some adverse ecological effects of high-severity fires are concerns. Managers and communities can improve our ability to live with high-severity fire in dry forests.

This article critically reviews the literature on the history of biological warfare, bioterrorism, and biocrimes. The first serious effort to review this entire history, made in 1969, had numerous limitations. In recent decades, several authors have filled many of the gaps in our understanding of the past use of biological agents (including both pathogens and toxins), making it possible to reconstruct that history with greater fidelity than previously possible. Nevertheless, there are numerous remaining gaps, and closer inspection indicates that some supposed uses of biological weapons never took place or are poorly substantiated. Topics requiring additional research are identified.

The history of international spread of Chinese acupuncture and moxibustion is divided into three sta ges in this paper, and the spreading characteristics are analyzed. The first stage is approximately from the 6th century to the end of the 15th century, during which acupuncture and moxibustion were spread to neighboring countries by personnel exchanges; the spread towards Korean peninsula, Japan and Vietnam was considered the most successful communication. The second stage lasts from the beginning of 16th century to 1970. At the early time of this stage, the employees of the Dutch East Indian Company introduced acupuncture and moxibustion to European countries through Indonesia and Japan, leading to a short and small fashion; also the United States and Australia were involved. At the late time of this stage, by medical aid teams dispatched by China government, acupuncture and moxibustion were introduced to African countries. The third stage starts from 1971. With the establishment of Sino-US diplomatic relations as an opportunity, acupuncture and moxibustion were being spread rapidly to the world through radio, TV and internet. So far it has been introduced to more than 140 countries and areas. Performing serious studies on the spreading characteristics of three stages will promote the international communication of acupuncture and moxibustion, by which the world will have a better understanding onthe broad and profound traditional cultures of China.

With the development of our present day domesticated animals in America (during the 16th and 17th centuries), it was not long before animal diseases became troublesome and destructive (especially during the latter half of the 18th century). Though veterinary medicine became rather firmly established in many European countries (including England) during the latter half of the 18th century, veterinary medicine was relatively nonexistent in America, with only self-styled animal doctors and farriers (with their empirical and often destructive remedies).

Physicians have conducted research on syphilis for centuries, seeking to understand its etiology and the means of transmission as well as find ways to prevent and cure the disease. Their research practices often strayed from today's ethical standards. In this paper we review ethical aspects of the long history of research on syphilis with emphasis on the experiments performed in the 20th century. The description of research around the time of World War II covers medical experiments carried out in US prisons and in the experimentation centers established by Japanese doctors in occupied territory, as well as experiments in Nazi Germany and the treatment of syphilitics there., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier España, S.L.U. and AEDV. All rights reserved.)

This Review presents basic facts regarding the long-run evolution of income and wealth inequality in Europe and the United States. Income and wealth inequality was very high a century ago, particularly in Europe, but dropped dramatically in the first half of the 20th century. Income inequality has surged back in the United States since the 1970s so that the United States is much more unequal than Europe today. We discuss possible interpretations and lessons for the future., (Copyright © 2014, American Association for the Advancement of Science.)

The multiplication of offences prompted by racism and the increase of complaints for racism leads us to consider the illusory concept of "human races". This idea crossed the history, and was reinforced by the discovery of remote tribes and human fossils, and by the development of sociobiology and quantitative psychology. Deprived of scientific base, the theory of the "races" must bow before the notions of genetic variation and unicity of mankind.

Hearing loss afflicts millions of people throughout the world, and many of those millions are workers who have been exposed to excessive noise. People have always been surrounded by a variety of sounds in their environments, but the invention of gunpowder and the Industrial Revolution introduced new sounds of greater intensity than ever before. It is only within the past 40 years that serious efforts to reduce excessive noise at work sites have been initiated. In the latter half of the 20th century, many governments imposed regulations to limit workers' exposure to loud sounds. Because of this recent action, some people may believe that the recognition of occupational noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is relatively new. However, a review of selected historical and medical manuscripts, books, and articles show that the association of hearing changes with loud noise exposure was recognized for centuries before systematic attempts were made to limit the exposure. Delays in implementing controls to limit noise exposure were due to cultural reasons, technical problems in controlling noise generation, and a lack of understanding of the mechanics of hearing loss. A historical perspective on this issue may remind health care providers that they need to continue to emphasize hearing conservation measures as occupational noise exposures change with the shift of industrial activities between countries., (Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

The history of syphilis is complex and has left its mark throughout medicine. The origin of syphilis is an important historical and scientific issue in the history of medicine. The Columbian hypothesis which assumes that syphilis originated in the New World ('America') and that Columbus and his crew imported the disease after his voyages of discovery in 1493 to the Old World ('Europe') is the most accepted theory. Misinterpretations of unethical experiments into the causes of syphilis and gonorrhoea from the 17th century to the early decades of the 19th century led to nosological misconceptions. In the late 19th century and 20th century came the great breakthroughs in the fields of microbiology, diagnosis and therapy.

The plague is an infectious disease that has transcended through history and has been responsible for three pandemics with high mortality rates. During the third pandemic that started in Hong Kong (1894), the disease spread through maritime routes to different regions in the world, including South America. In this region, approximately 16 million people are thought to be at risk in relation to this disease due to specific situations like human-rodent coexistence inside houses in rural areas, homes built with inadequate materials that are vulnerable to invasion by these animals, inappropriate storage of crops and an increase in rainfall and deforestation, which allows for the displacement of wild fauna and man invasion of the natural foci of the disease. Between 1994 and 1999, five countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru and the United States of America, reported approximately 1,700 cases with 79 related deaths. In Colombia we have historical data about an "infectious pneumonia" with high mortality rates that occurred during the same months, for three consecutive years (1913 to 1915) in the departments of Magdalena, Atlántico and Bolívar, located in the Colombian Atlantic coast, which suggested plague, but could not be confirmed.

The diagnosis and treatment of low back pain must be standardized, based on evidence and solid research. The cost to individuals and society is great and only those diagnostic tests or treatments that can improve the quality and cost of care should be advocated., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The surgeons of the navies of the early days of western civilization--Greece, Rome, and the Italian city-states--were most likely the first practitioners of recognizable wilderness medicine. The teachings of Hippocrates and Galen ruled over the practice of medicine in Europe for centuries, but the steady evolution of understanding of the nature and causes of disease was starting to provide a useful foundation upon which to build by the turn of the 19th century. By 1800, nonetheless, the gap between medical theory and knowledge and the real ability to provide effective therapy was still enormous. However, the discovery of anesthesia in the 1840s and Joseph Lister's elucidation and application of the principles of asepsis in 1865 were major steps forward in the history of medicine. Many other improvements in civilian medical care relevant to wilderness medicine, though, have come about as a direct result of military medicine having to determine how to best keep people alive and well, often in very trying combat-related circumstances. The advancement of wilderness medicine has been closely connected to military exploration/operations throughout history, and not surprisingly, this remains in many ways as true today as it was a thousand years ago., (Copyright © 2012 Wilderness Medical Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The article is an autobiographical sketch of the author and his extensive investigation of human variations., (Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

The Didusch Center for Urologic History encompasses a rich and varied collection of drawings, photographs, and instruments of historical importance to urology, many displayed in the urological exhibits during the American Urological Association (AUA) conventions. The Center also houses a library devoted to urological and early medical texts and the AUA archives and is the institution of research in all fields of urologic history in the USA. The museum collection features most of Didusch's original drawings, as well as an impressive instrument collection acquired primarily through donations by urologists. The original William P. Didusch Museum (now known as the William P. Didusch Center for Urologic History) was originally housed in the AUA's Baltimore City headquarters building. Upon the association's move to Linthicum, MD in 2003, the museum has evolved into the William P. Didusch Center for Urologic History and taken on new tasks and responsibilities that include the topic of research in urologic history.

As part of a larger series addressing the intersection of law and medicine, this essay is the first of two introductory pieces. This article explores the nature of the physician-patient relationship and of the practice of medicine dating from the Hippocratic tradition to the end of the 19th century, a period during which a beneficence-based medical ethic remained relatively stable. The medical literature dating from the Hippocratic texts to the early codes of the American Medical Association did not include a meaningful role for the patient in the decision-making process. In fact, the practice of benevolent deception--the deliberate withholding of any information thought by the physician to be detrimental to the patient's prognosis--was encouraged. However, as philosophers identified an inherent value in respecting patient self-determination and the law imposed a duty on physicians to obtain informed consent, 2,400 years of relative stability under the beneficence model gave way to the autonomy model.

Objective: On the premise that historical background makes the present more understandable, this review covers the origins of Western dermatology from its Greek and Roman origins through the Middle Ages to the defining moments in the late eighteenth century.BACKGROUND AND CONCLUSION:The development of major European centers at this time became the background for future centers in the eastern United States in the midnineteenth century and, finally, to the West Coast of the United States and Canada by the midtwentieth century.

Ballet is one of the most popular youth activities in the United States. Many ballet students eventually train to dance "en pointe," the French words for "on pointe," or "on the tips of their toes." No research exists to define criteria for determining when a young dancer can transition from dancing in ballet slippers to dancing in pointe shoes. However, dancers can be evaluated for this progression based on a number of factors, including adequate foot and ankle plantarflexion, technique, training, proprioception, alignment, and strength.

We briefly describe the history of facial reconstruction in the deceased, starting from the skull. Facial reconstruction has passed through many phases and has been variously motivated, from religion and ancestor worship, through anthropology, to the identification of lost persons for forensic purposes. Renaissance artists used this technique for modelling and teaching. Techniques changed over the centuries but the ultimate goal was to create a convincing likeness of the dead. The two current activities are forensic facial reconstruction and reconstructing the personal appearance of ancient people.

Purpose: Historical perspective on the use of biotechnology for drug product development, terminology used for biotechnology drug products, potential benefits of biotechnology, applications of biotechnology to drug product development, pharmacy considerations in the use of biopharmaceuticals, and the classification of biotechnology products by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are discussed., Summary: Applications of biotechnology to medicine have a long history, and the pace of new applications has accelerated in recent decades. Various terms, including biosimilars, follow-on biologics, and follow-on proteins, have been used to refer to biotechnology products that are highly similar to the reference product, notwithstanding minor differences. New approaches to the production of drug products have been made feasible through biotechnology, facilitating the prevention, cure, and treatment of diseases. Recombinant DNA technology, monoclonal antibodies, and gene therapy are among the applications of biotechnology processes to drug development. Storage, handling, preparation, and administration are among the pharmacy considerations in the use of biopharmaceuticals. The FDA has not defined or developed a pathway for establishing therapeutic equivalence of biosimilar and innovator products. Payers may attempt to make decisions about therapeutic equivalence in order to reduce costs., Conclusion: Considerable confusion surrounds biosimilars. Pharmacists can help resolve the confusion by explaining to lawmakers and health-system decision-makers the terminology and science of biotechnology processes and the implications for use of biotechnology products in the future.

In this short review, some facts on the historical background of dentistry are given along with descriptions of dentists who contributed to history in various fields. The history of general anesthesia is also tightly connected with a few dentists.

Current debate on the death penalty in public and professional spheres is seen as divisive in nature, disallowing the possibility of common agreement. The history of views of the death penalty within the Catholic Church illustrates centuries of tensions and ambiguities as well as a current posture that manages to hold these tensions while advocating a strong position. That history of church views itself contains allusions to and intersections with medicine. There is something tangible to be gained in understanding religious views on the death penalty, in the debates both within medicine and in the public sphere. An argument is made for sufficient overlap of contemporary purpose between the goals of church and medicine to warrant further dialogue in enhanced and deliberative democratic processes.