Biomedical subjects

W J Friedlander

Publications and source records attributed to W J Friedlander.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1992

Was William Harvey's coat of arms at Padua an early example of the medical use of the caduceus?

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Emblems and Insignia↗

PubMed1992

The Bigelow-Simpson controversy: still another early argument over the discovery of anesthesia.

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Anesthesia↗

PubMed1986

Who was 'the father of bromide treatment of epilepsy'?

The introduction of bromide for the treatment of epilepsy was an important episode in the history of neurology, and the individual responsible for it is therefore deserving of special recognition. This accolade is almost unanimously given to Sir Charles Locock. However, such a conclusion needs to be seriously questioned. Both C. Bland Radcliffe and Sir Samuel Wilks are at least as deserving of the honor.

Bromides↗

PubMed1986

Putnam, Merritt, and the discovery of Dilantin.

In the first part of this essay, the "common wisdom" about Putnam and Merritt's contributions to the treatment of epilepsy was summarized (Rowland, 1982). Based on the history that has been presented here, how true are these "wisdoms"? Putnam and Merritt did devise "a simple and reliable method to test drugs of anticonvulsant effect" and they did show "that anticonvulsant effects in cats accurately predicted effects in humans," but others before them had done these same things. Dilantin, contrary to common wisdom, was not the first anticonvulsant drug to be tested in animals before it was given to human subjects; at least a year before, Cobb and his co-workers had done the same thing using vital dyes. However, Dilantin did represent the first time an anticonvulsant tested in animals was subsequently studied in a large series of patients. Nor were Putnam and Merritt the first to show that "anticonvulsant and sedative effects of drugs could be separated." Potassium borotartrate, ketogenic diet, ketone bodies, and vital dyes were anticonvulsive without necessarily being sedative. However, Putnam and Merritt were probably the first to make so explicit a statement to this effect. It may well have been this particular statement--and the fact that it was so well heard by other researchers--that represented their greatest achievement. In Kuhn's theory of scientific revolutions, the great step forward may not be so much the accumulation of evidence that the existing paradigm is not a feasible one, but rather the use of this evidence to form a new model or paradigm which is then accepted by normal science in such a fashion that the results prove to be productive. This, it would seem, is what Putnam and Merritt did. From it came their own major discovery, Dilantin, which, in Rowland's words, remains "a mainstay of treatment" for epilepsy up to the present time, and which "opened the way to the development of other anticonvulsant drugs."

Animals↗

PubMed1979

Equivocation in EEG reporting: the clinician's response.

Evidence is presented that about 29% of the time that an electroencephalographer feels he needs to equivocate about the findings in an EEG, the clinician interprets, or at least recalls, the EEG without this equivocation. When there is a lack of recall of an equivocal report, the clinician's error is usually in the direction of considering that the record has been interpreted by the electroencephalographer as being abnormal.

Attitude↗

PubMed1978

The tragedy at the Norwalk, Connecticut Drawbridge, or the dangers of attending a Medical Convention in 1853.

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Accidents, Traffic↗

PubMed1978

A specialized information center. The clinical neurology information center.

The history, philosophy, and methodology of a unique specialized medical information center are reported. The Clinical Neurology Information Center is an educational information service (giving its audience information which can be the basis for formulating their own questions) rather than an instructional information service (giving information in reply to questions). Clinical, as well as basic neuroscience, information is culled by professional neurologists from 855 medical periodicals. The essence of each article is summarized in a single sentence ("terse conclusions") or a bibliographic reference only is given; this material is published every two weeks in the Concise Clinical Neurology Review (CCNR). The format of the CCNR is such that the reader should be able to scan a very large amount of current literature by investing only twenty to thirty minutes every two weeks. The values of this system as well as some of its problems are discussed.

Abstracting and Indexing↗

PubMed1977