scholarly journals The making of oncology: The tales of false carcinogenic worms

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-52
Author(s):  
K. Lalchhandama
Keyword(s):  
Stomach Cancer ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Nobel Prize ◽  
Schistosoma Haematobium ◽  
Clonorchis Sinensis ◽  
Opisthorchis Viverrini ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Carcinogenic Agent ◽  
History Of ◽  
Parasitic Worms

Cancer is a disease of antiquity. The Ancient Greeks were familiar with onkos (from which we have the term oncology)—tumour of all sorts. Hippocrates coined karkinos and karkinoma, our source of the words cancer and carcinoma. Of a plethora of carcinogens, parasitic worms (helminths) constitute a considerable health concern. Three trematodes, Clonorchis sinensis, Opisthorchis viverrini, and Schistosoma haematobium are now officially classified carcinogens. But the discovery of helminths as cancer-causing agents took wrong turns and marks an inglorious chapter in the history of science. The carcinogenicity of worms, vindicating Rudolf Virchow’s reiztheorie (irritation theory) of cancer origin, was glorified in the scientific forefront by Johannes Fibiger in the 1910s. Discovery of a new nematode, which he proudly named Spiroptera carcinoma, and his subsequent demonstration that the parasite could induce stomach cancer in rats, earned Fibiger a retrospective Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1926, and a lasting fame. But not in an appealing way. His achievement did not withstand the test of time. S. carcinoma was annulled as an invalid taxon in zoology—supplanted by Gongylonema neoplasticum—and eventually was branded as a non-carcinogenic agent.

scholarly journals The making of oncology: The trinity of true carcinogenic worms

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 94-103
Author(s):  
K. Lalchhandama
Keyword(s):  
Food Habits ◽  
Schistosoma Haematobium ◽  
Liver Fluke ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Clonorchis Sinensis ◽  
Opisthorchis Viverrini ◽  
History Of ◽  
Near Future ◽  
The Trinity ◽  
Group 1

Three flukes, Schistosoma haematobium (urinary blood fluke), Clonorchis sinensis (Chinese liver fluke), and Opisthorchis viverrini (Southeast Asian liver fluke) are, by official decree, Group 1 (fully proven) human carcinogens. Thus, they comprise a group of preventable carcinogens. But considering the situation of prevailing infection, from the lifestyle and food habits of people in the endemic regions, it is unlikely that they are eradicated in the near future. S. haematobium is transmitted by snails and infection is acquired from snail-infested water. C. sinensis and O. viverrini are both transmitted from eating fish. As medically important flukes, it is crucial to understand their biology, and this is an attempt to explain that in the light of the history of their discovery. Further, this is written with a hope that several facts, often erroneously presented in scientific literature, about these flukes are rectified.

scholarly journals Maria Skłodowska Curie: l’obstination dans l’effort d’un génie

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luigi Dei
Keyword(s):  
History Of Science ◽  
Nobel Prize ◽  
European Culture ◽  
Personal Approach ◽  
History Of ◽  
Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries

«Luigi Dei takes a very personal approach to presenting the life and achievements of Maria Skłodowska-Curie, setting them in the broader context of the history of science and European culture between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. More specifically, he traces the links of the scientist, who twice won the Nobel Prize, with Poland (her homeland) and France (the country in which she lived, worked and made her outstanding scientific discoveries)» (Preface, Jan Piskurewicz).

scholarly journals Maria Skłodowska Curie: the obstinate self-sacrifice of a genius

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luigi Dei
Keyword(s):  
History Of Science ◽  
Nobel Prize ◽  
European Culture ◽  
Personal Approach ◽  
History Of ◽  
Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries

«Luigi Dei takes a very personal approach to presenting the life and achievements of Maria Skłodowska-Curie, setting them in the broader context of the history of science and European culture between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. More specifically, he traces the links of the scientist, who twice won the Nobel Prize, with Poland (her homeland) and France (the country in which she lived, worked and made her outstanding scientific discoveries)». (Preface, Jan Piskurewicz)

scholarly journals The making of oncology: Helminthology as the cornerstone

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 78-93
Author(s):  
K. Lalchhandama
Keyword(s):  
Bladder Cancer ◽  
Bile Duct ◽  
Nobel Prize ◽  
Schistosoma Haematobium ◽  
Liver Fluke ◽  
Clonorchis Sinensis ◽  
International Agency ◽  
Helminth Parasites ◽  
First Time ◽  
Group 1

Cancer is multifaceted and multifarious disease. The diversity of cancer is complicated by so many types of carcinogens. Remarkably, helminth parasites are among the first well-established cancer agents. It started with the celebrated discovery of a roundworm Gongylonema neoplasticum (more famously, but wrongly, as Spiroptera carcinoma) by Johannes Fibiger, only to show that Nobel Prize selection can be a fallible operation. After almost a century of scepticism, it is now conceded that helminths, other than G. neoplasticum, are truly carcinogenic. For the first time in history, the International Agency for Research on Cancer finally proclaimed in 2009 that three flukes, Schistosoma haematobium (urinary blood fluke), Clonorchis sinensis (Chinese liver fluke), and Opisthorchis viverrini (Southeast Asian liver fluke) are Group 1, i.e. fully proven, carcinogens. The first is the leading cause of bladder cancer, while the latter two are of that of the bile duct (cholangiocarcinoma). This is the story of how they came to be.

“My Goose Child Martina”:

2011 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 405-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tania Munz
Keyword(s):  
History Of Science ◽  
Nobel Prize ◽  
Rhetorical Agency ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
Konrad Lorenz ◽  
Public Persona ◽  
History Of ◽  
A Share

Abstract In 1935, the graylag goose Martina (1935–?) hatched from an egg in the home of the zoologist Konrad Lorenz (1903–1989). Martina imprinted on Lorenz, slept in his bedroom, mated with the gander Martin, and flew off in 1937. Over the following decades, Konrad Lorenz helped to establish the discipline of ethology, received a share of the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and continued to write about his famous goose Martina. This essay examines the different instantiations of the geese in general, and Martina in particular, in Lorenz's writings aimed at readerships that included prewar zoologists, National Socialist psychologists, and popular audiences from the 1930s to 1980s. By developing an animal with her own biography, Lorenz created an individual whose lived and rhetorical agency made her especially well suited to perform widely divergent aspects of his evolving science. While a significant literature in the history of science has explored the standardization and stabilization of animals in science, I show how Lorenz's creation of a highly protean and increasingly public Martina was co-constitutive of the establishment of his science and public persona.

Piaget and Garcia's History of Science

1990 ◽  
Vol 35 (7) ◽  
pp. 654-656
Author(s):  
Harry Beilin
Keyword(s):  
History Of Science ◽  
History Of

Galilean Reflections on Milton Friedman’s "Methodology of Positive Economics", with Thoughts on Vernon Smith’s "Economics in the Laboratory"

2007 ◽  
pp. 55-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Schliesser
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Experimental Economics ◽  
Nobel Prize ◽  
Free Fall ◽  
Nobel Prize Winner ◽  
Theoretical Physics ◽  
History Of ◽  
Positive Economics

The article examines in detail the argument of M. Friedman as expressed in his famous article "Methodology of Positive Economics". In considering the problem of interconnection of theoretical hypotheses with experimental evidence the author illustrates his thesis using the history of the Galilean law of free fall and its role in the development of theoretical physics. He also draws upon methodological ideas of the founder of experimental economics and Nobel prize winner V. Smith.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document