Pub Date : 1980-12-20DOI: 10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1697
R Mulcahy
{"title":"As others see us.","authors":"R Mulcahy","doi":"10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1697","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1697","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":9321,"journal":{"name":"British Medical Journal","volume":"281 6256","pages":"1697"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1980-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1697","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"29269165","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 1980-12-20DOI: 10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1719
J Shafar
Napoleon remarked of a colleague: "He lies too much, it is well to lie sometimes, mais toujours c'est trop"; Winston Churchill, when he left the Liberal Party in 1924 to return to the Con-servatives, declared: "Anyone can rat, but it takes a certain amount of ingenuity to re-rat"; and Groucho Marx said of a safari in Africa: "We shot two bucks, but that was all the money we had." The distinctive identity and qualities of the individual initiating the message evoke a mental image with a pattern of association that arouses corresponding expectation. In like manner, the growth of biographical writings to a recognised literary species in recent decades reflects the public's appetite for personal record. The brief snatches I present here reflect but the merest glimmer from the Aladdin's cave of biography, which overflows with the riches of incident and the contending interpretations of the subject's inner self. Literary giants In part, Thomas Carlyle's lack of gratitude, jealousies, and trenchant criticisms may be attributed to his ailments. Insomnia, fits of depression, and lifelong dyspepsia were his lot. Self-centred, intolerant of his wife's ill health, he grumbled incessantly , full of self-pity yet possessed of a constitution of the strongest, permitting his survival to the age of 86. In discussion he rarely argued, he harangued. He dominated the times and imposed the role of the expert on the reading public and the prophet on society, a self-proclaimed Moses, who, says Clough, "led us into the wilderness and left us there." Excessive Teutonism and a biblical upbringing moulded his approach, as shown in Sartor Resartus (the tailor repatched) which includes autobiographical aspects of the Calvinistic severity and grinding poverty of early industrial Scotland as well as of his own spiritual crises. Yet he could inspire great friendships and display nobility of character. John Stuart Mill, to whom he had loaned the manuscript of his first volume of The French Revolution, passed it on to Mrs Taylor without consent; a servant used it to light the fire. Carlyle's forbearance was remarkable, especially as his original notes had been disposed of and he was faced with the immense task afresh. Contrasted with the elegant and artificial prose of former historical presentations , his vivid, dramatic, picturesque writing and his depiction of the central characters in the manner of the novelist established his fame. He upheld the precept that "man was born to work" …
{"title":"Reading for Pleasure: The author in person.","authors":"J Shafar","doi":"10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1719","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1719","url":null,"abstract":"Napoleon remarked of a colleague: \"He lies too much, it is well to lie sometimes, mais toujours c'est trop\"; Winston Churchill, when he left the Liberal Party in 1924 to return to the Con-servatives, declared: \"Anyone can rat, but it takes a certain amount of ingenuity to re-rat\"; and Groucho Marx said of a safari in Africa: \"We shot two bucks, but that was all the money we had.\" The distinctive identity and qualities of the individual initiating the message evoke a mental image with a pattern of association that arouses corresponding expectation. In like manner, the growth of biographical writings to a recognised literary species in recent decades reflects the public's appetite for personal record. The brief snatches I present here reflect but the merest glimmer from the Aladdin's cave of biography, which overflows with the riches of incident and the contending interpretations of the subject's inner self. Literary giants In part, Thomas Carlyle's lack of gratitude, jealousies, and trenchant criticisms may be attributed to his ailments. Insomnia, fits of depression, and lifelong dyspepsia were his lot. Self-centred, intolerant of his wife's ill health, he grumbled incessantly , full of self-pity yet possessed of a constitution of the strongest, permitting his survival to the age of 86. In discussion he rarely argued, he harangued. He dominated the times and imposed the role of the expert on the reading public and the prophet on society, a self-proclaimed Moses, who, says Clough, \"led us into the wilderness and left us there.\" Excessive Teutonism and a biblical upbringing moulded his approach, as shown in Sartor Resartus (the tailor repatched) which includes autobiographical aspects of the Calvinistic severity and grinding poverty of early industrial Scotland as well as of his own spiritual crises. Yet he could inspire great friendships and display nobility of character. John Stuart Mill, to whom he had loaned the manuscript of his first volume of The French Revolution, passed it on to Mrs Taylor without consent; a servant used it to light the fire. Carlyle's forbearance was remarkable, especially as his original notes had been disposed of and he was faced with the immense task afresh. Contrasted with the elegant and artificial prose of former historical presentations , his vivid, dramatic, picturesque writing and his depiction of the central characters in the manner of the novelist established his fame. He upheld the precept that \"man was born to work\" …","PeriodicalId":9321,"journal":{"name":"British Medical Journal","volume":"281 6256","pages":"1719-23"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1980-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1719","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"29269168","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 1980-12-20DOI: 10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1682-a
K W Nightingale, E N Ayim
{"title":"Outbreak of botulism in Kenya after ingestion of white ants.","authors":"K W Nightingale, E N Ayim","doi":"10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1682-a","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1682-a","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":9321,"journal":{"name":"British Medical Journal","volume":"281 6256","pages":"1682-3"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1980-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1682-a","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"18456713","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 1980-12-20DOI: 10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1696
T D Swinscow
{"title":"Medical History: The Pemmican BMJs.","authors":"T D Swinscow","doi":"10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1696","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1696","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":9321,"journal":{"name":"British Medical Journal","volume":"281 6256","pages":"1696-7"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1980-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1696","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"29269164","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 1980-12-20DOI: 10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1698
M E Molyneaux
{"title":"An ABC of Prescribing Sins.","authors":"M E Molyneaux","doi":"10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1698","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1698","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":9321,"journal":{"name":"British Medical Journal","volume":"281 6256","pages":"1698-9"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1980-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1698","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"29269166","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 1980-12-20DOI: 10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1690
J F Mayberry
{"title":"The Hamadryad Hospital Ship for Seamen, 1866-1905.","authors":"J F Mayberry","doi":"10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1690","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1690","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":9321,"journal":{"name":"British Medical Journal","volume":"281 6256","pages":"1690-2"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1980-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1690","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"18051359","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 1980-12-20DOI: 10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1662
{"title":"More anthropology and less sleep for medical students.","authors":"","doi":"10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1662","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1662","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":9321,"journal":{"name":"British Medical Journal","volume":"281 6256","pages":"1662"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1980-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1662","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"18456707","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 1980-12-20DOI: 10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1686
C F Pantin, R A Young
A 73-year-old man presented with a four-month history of blurred vision and diplopia while resting after meals. A quarter of an hour after a meal he developed blurring of vision and diplopia which worsened over the next 15 minutes. For the next half to two hours he was able to distinguish only light and dark. He complained of dizziness and slight nausea during this period, but had no loss of consciousness or sweating. The duration of the symptoms was proportional to the size of meal. Between meals his visual acuity was 6/9 bilaterally. For the two years before admission he had complained of dizziness, diplopia, and blurred vision after walking a decreasing distance (about 100 yards on admission) or on rising abruptly from a supine to standing position. These symptoms lasted for about 15 minutes on resting. In 1951 he had had a partial gastrectomy for duodenal ulcer from which he had noted no long-term problems. He smoked 20 cigarettes a day. The only palpable pulses in the limbs were the right femoral and popliteal with a femoral bruit. The right carotid pulse was very weak. The left carotid pulse was easily palpable with a bruit high in the neck. His blood pressure, measured with a large cuff on the right thigh, was 140/90 mm Hg (lying and standing) with a heart rate of 80/min in sinus rhythym. An electrocardiogram, chest radiograph, and 50-g glucose tolerance test (blood glucose and insulin) were within normal limits. After admission his symptoms occurred after eating a meal. His visual acuity was reduced to perception of finger movements. After a meal given under test conditions, however, his visual acuity, pulse, blood pressure (lying and standing), and electrocardiogram remained stable with blood glucose, insulin, pancreatic, and small intestinal enzyme profiles within normal limits. Arch aortography showed occlusions of the innominate artery and the proximal left subclavian artery. The right common carotid artery was patent but the right internal carotid was stenosed at its origin; both were filled only on late films via collaterals. Thus all the circulation to the brain passed through the patent left common carotid to the also stenosed left internal carotid, and through collaterals from the thorax to the vertebral and right internal carotid arteries. A left carotid endarterectomy was performed. The stump pressure in the intemal carotid artery was only 28 mm of blood. A Javid shunt was used for cerebral protection. Histology of the arterial wall showed atherosclerosis and calcification. His recovery was uncomplicated and he is now free of his postprandial symptoms. Selective left carotid angiography showed that the proximal segment of the internal carotid artery appeared normal.
{"title":"Postprandial blindness.","authors":"C F Pantin, R A Young","doi":"10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1686","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1686","url":null,"abstract":"A 73-year-old man presented with a four-month history of blurred vision and diplopia while resting after meals. A quarter of an hour after a meal he developed blurring of vision and diplopia which worsened over the next 15 minutes. For the next half to two hours he was able to distinguish only light and dark. He complained of dizziness and slight nausea during this period, but had no loss of consciousness or sweating. The duration of the symptoms was proportional to the size of meal. Between meals his visual acuity was 6/9 bilaterally. For the two years before admission he had complained of dizziness, diplopia, and blurred vision after walking a decreasing distance (about 100 yards on admission) or on rising abruptly from a supine to standing position. These symptoms lasted for about 15 minutes on resting. In 1951 he had had a partial gastrectomy for duodenal ulcer from which he had noted no long-term problems. He smoked 20 cigarettes a day. The only palpable pulses in the limbs were the right femoral and popliteal with a femoral bruit. The right carotid pulse was very weak. The left carotid pulse was easily palpable with a bruit high in the neck. His blood pressure, measured with a large cuff on the right thigh, was 140/90 mm Hg (lying and standing) with a heart rate of 80/min in sinus rhythym. An electrocardiogram, chest radiograph, and 50-g glucose tolerance test (blood glucose and insulin) were within normal limits. After admission his symptoms occurred after eating a meal. His visual acuity was reduced to perception of finger movements. After a meal given under test conditions, however, his visual acuity, pulse, blood pressure (lying and standing), and electrocardiogram remained stable with blood glucose, insulin, pancreatic, and small intestinal enzyme profiles within normal limits. Arch aortography showed occlusions of the innominate artery and the proximal left subclavian artery. The right common carotid artery was patent but the right internal carotid was stenosed at its origin; both were filled only on late films via collaterals. Thus all the circulation to the brain passed through the patent left common carotid to the also stenosed left internal carotid, and through collaterals from the thorax to the vertebral and right internal carotid arteries. A left carotid endarterectomy was performed. The stump pressure in the intemal carotid artery was only 28 mm of blood. A Javid shunt was used for cerebral protection. Histology of the arterial wall showed atherosclerosis and calcification. His recovery was uncomplicated and he is now free of his postprandial symptoms. Selective left carotid angiography showed that the proximal segment of the internal carotid artery appeared normal.","PeriodicalId":9321,"journal":{"name":"British Medical Journal","volume":"281 6256","pages":"1686"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1980-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1686","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"18456725","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 1980-12-20DOI: 10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1700
F I Konotey-Ahulu
The adult man in Africa, unlike the average European man, can have a biological fitness exceeding that of this wife. Sociocultural factors allow, and indeed encourage, this state of affairs, which may have far-reaching genetic consequences. The male procreative superiority index (MPSI) of any man is easily worked out by dividing the total number of a man's children by the average number of children born to each wife. The country-wide mean MPSI for 3095 fathers contacted throughout Ghana was 2 . 03, indicating that the Ghanaian father on the average has twice as many children as the mother. The genetic consequences of this phenomenon are discussed, bringing out effects on such diverse genes as those for abnormal haemoglobins, twins, and extra digits. African anthropogenetics needs rethinking more on factual lines than on theoretical evolutionary concepts.
{"title":"Male procreative superiority index (MPSI): the missing coefficient in African anthropogenetics.","authors":"F I Konotey-Ahulu","doi":"10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1700","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1700","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The adult man in Africa, unlike the average European man, can have a biological fitness exceeding that of this wife. Sociocultural factors allow, and indeed encourage, this state of affairs, which may have far-reaching genetic consequences. The male procreative superiority index (MPSI) of any man is easily worked out by dividing the total number of a man's children by the average number of children born to each wife. The country-wide mean MPSI for 3095 fathers contacted throughout Ghana was 2 . 03, indicating that the Ghanaian father on the average has twice as many children as the mother. The genetic consequences of this phenomenon are discussed, bringing out effects on such diverse genes as those for abnormal haemoglobins, twins, and extra digits. African anthropogenetics needs rethinking more on factual lines than on theoretical evolutionary concepts.</p>","PeriodicalId":9321,"journal":{"name":"British Medical Journal","volume":"281 6256","pages":"1700-2"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1980-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1700","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"17985030","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}