An autobiographical sketch.
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Czechoslovakia↗
Biomedical subjects
Francis Schiller
Publications and source records attributed to Francis Schiller.
Negative pressure dressings as an alternative technique for the treatment of infected wounds.
Coverage of wounds caused by infection and subsequent treatment often are variable because of the location of the wound and wound size. Although much research has been done to expand the indications of negative pressure wound treatment systems, little investigation has been done to quantify the reduction of wound size for vacuum-assisted closure treatment in the presence of infection. In this series, 14 patients who had wounds caused by infections were treated with the vacuum-assisted wound closure system. All wounds were greater than 20 cm2. The duration of treatment averaged 10 days (range, 2-27 days), and the initial wound size averaged 70 cm2 (range, 22.5-288 cm2). After the course of treatment, the final wound size averaged 39 cm2 (range, 10-147 cm2). The average wound size reduction was 43%. This method seems to enhance the rapidity of wound reduction, and because it is a closed system of treatment, it has the added benefit of minimizing exposure of staff and other patients to communicable diseases. Vacuum-assisted wound closure systems add another option in the care of musculoskeletal infections.
Adult↗
Yawning?
Since antiquity yawning has attracted a moderate interest among philosophers, psychologists, physiologists, as well as educators, moralists and physicians. Organisms from birds to men and from the womb to the deathbed were found to be displaying it. While sometimes satisfying to the producer, its display is offensive to the lay observer. Hippocrates had it on his lists of useful 'natures.' Aristotle dropped a few words on the matter. Boerhaave elevated its function to the intellect of animals. Haller has commented on its relation to the acoustic system, blood-flow, and baby sleep. Darwin mentioned it in connection with emotional behavior. Some modern authors praised its beneficial effects on respiration and smell. In the 1960s, Ashley Montagu tried to correct the contemporary failure to explain the behavior by the fact of raised CO2 and arterial compression. It also interested some neurologists, especially in its association with the encephalitis lethargica in the 1920s, with 'spasmodic yawning,' with epilepsy, not to speak of hysteria. As to boredom or its stimulus, a 40-page dissertation survives from the court of Frederick the Great of the 18th century condemning idleness, a subject that also inspired Blaise Pascal and William James. But in the Hindu world, public yawning was a religious offense.
Animals↗