Medical Bacteriology and Medical Genetics, 1880–1940: A Call for Synthesis

Between 1880 and 1920 the medical quest to unearth the causes of disease saw two pathbreaking discoveries. One was the bacteriological revolution – the identification of specific germs as causal agents of specific diseases (anthrax, tuberculosis, diphtheria, cholera and so on), and the simultaneous effort to develop disinfection techniques and immunisation measures to combat these diseases. The other was the rediscovery of Mendel’s laws of heredity and the resulting emergence of medical genetics, where an entire set of medical maladies (deafness, blindness, bodily deformities, haemophilia, Huntington’s chorea, feeble-mindedness and many mental diseases) were identified – rightly or wrongly – as genetically determined. The ‘germ theory of disease’ and the ‘gene theory of disease’ shared striking, all-too-often overlooked similarities. Both theories built on shared epistemological assumptions that influenced their explanatory mechanisms and their overall conceptual frameworks; both mobilised similar visual and linguistic vocabulary; both appropriated – and enforced – prevailing cultural and gender norms; and both enshrined broadly parallel hygienic practices. Reflecting similar social concerns, medical bacteriology and medical genetics acquired kindred scientific and societal configurations, which this paper highlights and scrutinises.

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Determinants, Attitudes and Practices on Child Marriage: Evidences from Rural Rajasthan

Social Work Chronicle ◽

10.21863/swc/2015.4.1and2.003 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 4 (1and2) ◽

Author(s):

Abdul Azeez E.P. ◽

Amit Poonia

Keyword(s):

20Th Century ◽

Gender Disparity ◽

Child Marriage ◽

Girl Child ◽

Attitudes And Practices ◽

Number Of Children ◽

Social Concerns ◽

And Gender

Rajasthan State is one of the hotspots of child marriages in India. A large number of children especially girl child get married before attaining the legal age and even before the occurrence of physical maturity. The magnitude of the age-old tradition has decreased in many regions in comparison to the last decade of 20th century. But still the diminishment of the child marriage is not promising and it exists as one of the major social concerns. The very existence of child marriage has multifaceted effects on the individuals who victimized for it. The glaring gender disparity and gender biased issues are also one of the products of early marriages.

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Effect of aging and obesity on the expression of dyslipidaemia in children from families with familial combined hyperlipidaemia

Clinical Science ◽

10.1042/cs20060234 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 112 (2) ◽

pp. 131-139 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Ewoud ter Avest ◽

Allan D. Sniderman ◽

Sebastian J. H. Bredie ◽

Albert Wiegman ◽

Anton F. H. Stalenhoef ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Plasma Lipids ◽

Low Density Lipoprotein ◽

Density Lipoprotein ◽

Indirect Evidence ◽

Low Density ◽

Tissue Mass ◽

Adipose Tissue Mass ◽

And Gender ◽

Genetically Determined

The aim of the present study was to delineate the mechanism(s) responsible for the increased secretion of VLDL (very-low-density lipoprotein) particles in patients with FCH (familial combined hyperlipidaemia). In 194 young adults (<25 years of age) recruited from families with FCH, we investigated how plasma lipids, (apo)lipoproteins and BMI (body mass index) varied with age. Furthermore, we performed a 5-year follow-up study of clinical and biochemical characteristics of a subset of this population (n=85) stratified by apoB (apolipoprotein B) levels (below or above the 75th percentile adjusted for age and gender). Plasma apoB concentration (r=0.45, P<0.0001), triacylglycerol (triglyceride) concentration (r=0.45, P<0.0001), LDL (low-density lipoprotein) subfraction profile (r=−0.46, P<0.0001) and BMI (r=0.51, P<0.0001) were significantly associated with age. Plasma apoB concentration in the hyperapoB group was already elevated at a young age, whereas other characteristics of FCH, as observed in adults, including triacylglycerol levels >1.5 mmol/l and/or small-dense LDL, were observed only sporadically. After the 5-year follow-up, BMI increased in both groups, and this increase was associated with changes in apoB (r=0.27, P<0.05), triacylglycerol (r=0.30, P<0.01), VLDL cholesterol (r=0.22, P<0.05), VLDL triacylglycerol (r=0.25, P<0.05) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (r=−0.27, P<0.05). In conclusion, we have found indirect evidence of a primary, presumably genetically determined, increase in plasma apoB concentration occurring early in life of offspring from families with FCH. However, aging-related post-maturation increases in adipose tissue mass also appear to contribute to an aggravation and/or modulation of this genetically determined apoB overproduction.

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Reflections on the Human Face

Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society ◽

10.1017/s1355617700256130 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 6 (6) ◽

pp. 738-739

Author(s):

Steven Z. Rapcsak

Keyword(s):

Social Communication ◽

Emotional State ◽

Personality Characteristics ◽

Neural Systems ◽

Human Face ◽

Age And Gender ◽

Facial Cues ◽

The Face ◽

And Gender ◽

Genetically Determined

The significance of the human face in social interaction can hardly be overestimated. We rely primarily on facial appearance in discriminating between members of our species, but we also use the face to judge the age and gender of a person and to interpret his or her emotional state. We find certain faces pleasant or attractive, attribute personality characteristics to people such as intelligence or honesty based on physiognomy, and use facial cues to guess people's intentions and predict their behavior toward us. Similarly, we can gauge the effect of our words or actions on others by the feedback we receive from their faces. The face assumes a privileged role in social communication almost immediately after birth, suggesting that the neural systems underlying various facial behaviors are to a large extent innately specified and genetically determined.

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Fifty Years of Medical Genetics

PEDIATRICS ◽

10.1542/peds.23.3.581 ◽

1959 ◽

Vol 23 (3) ◽

pp. 581-581

Keyword(s):

Medical Literature ◽

Medical Science ◽

Medical Genetics ◽

Future Developments ◽

General Terms ◽

Hereditary Factors ◽

Metabolic Reactions ◽

Genetically Determined ◽

Made In

Many articles are appearing in the medical literature which aim to provide a discussion of the application of genetics to medical science in general terms for the benefit of the clinician without training in genetics. The present lecture is an especially lucid and stimulating account of the elements of genetics and the progress that is being made in the elucidation of diseases by the application of genetics. The manner in which metabolic reactions may be affected, directly or indirectly, by genetically determined enzymic defects is briefly and clearly presented. The interplay between environmental and hereditary factors is considered. Sufficient background is provided to enable one to observe future developments in the application of genetics to medicine with a better understanding and consequently keener interest.

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Epidemiology of Hoffmeister's “Genetically Determined Predisposition to Disturbed Development of the Dentition” in Patients with Cleft Lip and Palate

The Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal ◽

10.1597/04-156.1 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 43 (4) ◽

pp. 457-465 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Franka Stahl ◽

Rosemarie Grabowski ◽

Katrin Wigger

Keyword(s):

Cleft Lip ◽

Cleft Lip And Palate ◽

Dental Anomalies ◽

Chi Square ◽

Chi Square Test ◽

Bud Position ◽

And Gender ◽

The Individual ◽

Genetically Determined ◽

Deciduous Molars

Objective Type and prevalence rates of the symptoms of Hoffmeister's “genetically determined predisposition to disturbed development of the dentition” were studied in patients with clefts. Patients Data of 263 patients with nonsyndromic clefts of lip (alveolus and palate) or isolated cleft palates were examined in a retrospective study. Setting The clefts were classified as cleft lip or cleft lip and alveolus, cleft palate, unilateral cleft lip and palate, and bilateral cleft lip and palate. All patients were scrutinized for 28 individual symptoms. Prevalences of the individual symptoms were statistically evaluated regarding cleft type and gender by using the chi-square test and were also compared with findings in patients without clefts. Results In 97.7% of the patients with clefts, at least one symptom was found. Microdontia of individual teeth, hypodontia, and hyperodontia were the symptoms most frequently recorded. Comparison of the different cleft types revealed differences regarding the prevalences of supernumerary lateral incisors (p = .051), infraposition of deciduous molars (p < .001), and atypical tooth bud position (p = .030). Comparison of the prevalences of 10 symptoms recorded in the patients with clefts with the prevalences recorded in patients without clefts showed nine symptoms were found much more frequently in the population with clefts. Conclusion These findings support the hypothesis that clefting is part of a complex malformation associated with other dental anomalies resulting from disturbed development of the dentition. Patients with clefts are also likely to present other deficiencies of dental development and tooth eruption in both dentitions, even in regions not affected by the cleft.

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Attitudes toward Cohabitation, Family, and Gender Roles: Relationships to Values and Political Ideology

Sociological Perspectives ◽

10.2307/1389522 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 40 (2) ◽

pp. 199-225 ◽

Cited By ~ 38

Author(s):

Diane N. Lye ◽

Ingrid Waldron

Keyword(s):

Gender Roles ◽

Gender Equality ◽

Political Ideology ◽

Well Being ◽

Higher Order ◽

The Political ◽

Weak Support ◽

The Social ◽

Social Concerns ◽

And Gender

This study investigates four hypotheses concerning relationships between values or beliefs and attitudes toward cohabitation, family and gender roles. These are the Social Concerns Hypothesis, the Political Ideology Hypothesis, the Higher Order Needs Hypothesis, and the Consumerism Hypothesis. Each hypothesis has been tested, using data from several nationally representative subsamples of white high school seniors. As predicted by the Social Concerns Hypothesis, students with more social concerns had more favorable attitudes toward gender equality and nontraditional gender roles, particularly among males. This finding suggests that, for males, concern for fairness and the well-being of others may be an important motive for support for gender equality and acceptance of nontraditional gender roles. As predicted by the Political Ideology Hypothesis, conservative political beliefs were associated with traditional attitudes toward cohabitation, family, and gender roles. In contrast, our findings provide only weak support for the Higher Order Needs Hypothesis, and our findings suggest that the Consumerism Hypothesis should be reformulated.

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Individual and gender fingerprints in human body odour

Journal of The Royal Society Interface ◽

10.1098/rsif.2006.0182 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 4 (13) ◽

pp. 331-340 ◽

Cited By ~ 215

Author(s):

Dustin J Penn ◽

Elisabeth Oberzaucher ◽

Karl Grammer ◽

Gottfried Fischer ◽

Helena A Soini ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Volatile Compounds ◽

Stir Bar Sorptive Extraction ◽

Sampling Device ◽

Chemical Structures ◽

Axillary Sweat ◽

Body Odour ◽

Axillary Odour ◽

And Gender ◽

Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometry ◽

Genetically Determined

Individuals are thought to have their own distinctive scent, analogous to a signature or fingerprint. To test this idea, we collected axillary sweat, urine and saliva from 197 adults from a village in the Austrian Alps, taking five sweat samples per subject over 10 weeks using a novel skin sampling device. We analysed samples using stir bar sorptive extraction in connection with thermal desorption gas chromatograph–mass spectrometry (GC–MS), and then we statistically analysed the chromatographic profiles using pattern recognition techniques. We found more volatile compounds in axillary sweat than in urine or saliva, and among these we found 373 peaks that were consistent over time (detected in four out of five samples per individual). Among these candidate compounds, we found individually distinct and reproducible GC–MS fingerprints, a reproducible difference between the sexes, and we identified the chemical structures of 44 individual and 12 gender-specific volatile compounds. These individual compounds provide candidates for major histocompatibility complex and other genetically determined odours. This is the first study on human axillary odour to sample a large number of subjects, and our findings are relevant to understanding the chemical nature of human odour, and efforts to design electronic sensors (e-nose) for biometric fingerprinting and disease diagnoses.

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Use of the Ogawa-Kudoh method to isolate mycobacteria in a tuberculosis reference laboratory in northwestern Paraná, Brazil

Brazilian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences ◽

10.1590/s1984-82502013000300018 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 49 (3) ◽

pp. 567-570 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Fernanda Schaefer Borges da Silva ◽

Aline Lemes Castilho ◽

Flaviane Granero Maltempe ◽

Rosangela Zampieri Pina ◽

Elisa Keiko Hirayama Takao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gold Standard ◽

Low Cost ◽

Clinical Analysis ◽

Reference Laboratory ◽

State University ◽

Age And Gender ◽

Gold Standard Method ◽

And Gender ◽

Medical Bacteriology ◽

Excellent Tool

Culturing is the gold standard method for confirming a diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB). The Brazilian Ministry of Health recently proposed the use of the Ogawa-Kudoh method for sputa cultures to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The aim of the present study was to evaluate 8 years of using the Ogawa-Kudoh method in a TB reference laboratory in northwestern Paraná, Brazil. The present study consisted of a retrospective analysis of sputa cultures records for the detection of mycobacteria using the Ogawa-Kudoh method in the Laboratory of Medical Bacteriology, Laboratory of Teaching and Research in Clinical Analysis (LEPAC), State University of Maringá, from July 2003 to September 2011. The following variables were analyzed: Ziehl Neelsen (Z-N) smears and cultures results and the age and gender of the patients. Sputa samples from 3,231 patients with suspected TB were analyzed. Of these, 67.17% were male with an average age of 45.58 years. Of the total number of Z-N-negative samples (n=2,949), 42 (1.42%) were positive for M. tuberculosis (p >0.05). The Ogawa-Kudoh method is an excellent tool for diagnosing pulmonary TB. It is easy to perform, requires less biosafety equipment than the Petroff method, has a low cost, and has good sensitivity for detecting of M. tuberculosis.

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