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Biomedical subjects

R H Girdwood

Publications and source records attributed to R H Girdwood.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1998

On being a medical student in the 1930s.

From a Minute Book which has survived the years, an account is given of matters discussed by the Clinical Medicine Board of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in the 1930s. This Board consisted of the senior physicians in the hospital and the records give an indication of the excessively large number of students who were all having their clinical experience in the wards of the one hospital. In addition to the University students there were others studying for the Triple Qualification of the Royal Colleges. The pressure of this teaching on staff and patients was considerable. It was decided to transfer some of the tuition to Craigleith Hospital which became the Western General. In 1930 the male house doctors were awaiting their call-up. The administrator had to consider arrangements for the continuation of teaching if bombing took place. In March 1941 the Polish Medical School was organised in Edinburgh.

Education, Medical↗
PubMed1995

Medical affairs in the Far East after V-J day. A personal view.

The invasion of Singapore and Malaya was delayed because of the reduction in the period of service in the Far East. The atom bombs were then dropped and plans for all services including medical ones had to be altered, their main aim becoming the treatment and repatriation of surviving prisoners of war. The ending of the war did not occur abruptly on V-J day; many Japanese troops had to be convinced that the war was over. Meantime the treatment of diseases in British and other service men continued; reference is made to some experiences in Rangoon. The morale of personnel who now were anxious to return to their homes was low and efforts were made to raise their spirits. In India it was accepted that the days of British rule were over.

History, 20th Century↗
PubMed1993

Fifty years after: some experiences of the medical care of prisoners of war.

Mention is made of Italian prisoners-of-war treated in Catterick military hospital but in October 1943 Italy joined the Allied side. An account is given of the medical condition of 78 Japanese POWs and of 228 members of the Japanese Indian Forces (JIFs) in a transit hospital in eastern India (now Bangladesh). Tropical sprue appeared to occur in an epidemic form each June and July in Burma and eastern India, but did not seem to have affected the Japanese or JIFs. A brief account is given of the condition of 180 European or Australian service men who had survived harsh conditions in Japanese POW camps until liberation in September 1945, then being admitted to a military hospital in Rangoon en route for home. Some had suffered from blindness as a result of malnutrition, the precise reason being uncertain, but there was some improvement after the injection of crude liver extract.

History, 20th Century↗
PubMed1990

Fifty years of an organized blood transfusion service in Scotland.

The activities of an enthusiastic Edinburgh dentist in recruiting donors in the early 1930s led up to the establishment of a Scottish National Blood Transfusion Association in 1940. From this has developed the present Service with five Regional Centres and a major manufacturing Protein Fractionation Centre.

Blood Banks↗
PubMed1976

Drug-induced anaemias.

Many drugs have been reported to have caused anaemia. The most serious form involves marrow aplasia, but the way in which this is produced is not understood. A number of drugs lead to megaloblastic anaemia and where this is caused by interference with dihydrofolate reductase the explanation is obvious. However, some substances, notably anticonvulsants, cause megaloblastic anaemia by some other mechanism. A number of drugs cause intestinal bleeding with anaemia as a result. Sideroblastic anaemia is a relatively rare condition, sometimes caused by drugs, particularly those used in the treatment of tuberculosis. Leukaemia very occasionally supervenes in patients with drug-induced aplastic anaemia.

Anemia↗
PubMed1974

Death after taking medicaments.

A register of reported adverse reactions, recently made available to major hospitals and medical schools gives an indication of prescribing habits under the N.H.S. in England and Wales. An analysis is made here of the chief medicaments allegedly leading to death. Such data are incomplete because of lack of knowledge of the total use of each drug in the United Kingdom and because reporting of adverse reactions is very incomplete. Nevertheless, data about various groups of drugs do draw attention to some hazards and should encourage more widespread reporting of reactions to drugs and other medicaments.

Adrenal Cortex Hormones↗