The History of Eduard Pernkopf’s "Topographische Anatomie des Menschen"

This historical article by Professor David Williams first appeared in the Journal of Biocommunication in 1988. Based on the author's own experiences with Pernkopf illustrator Franz Batke in 1980 and 1981, the article offered the first historical overview of Eduard Pernkopf’s "Topographische Anatomie des Menschen." The author offers insight into the personal lives and unique work of the Pernkopf illustrators. The Editors wish to thank David for allowing the Journal to republish this seminal article. Original 1988 Abstract:Frequently misunderstood because of the history of the time in which it was produced, Eduard Pernkopf's Topographische Anatomie des Menschen nevertheless represents the pinnacle of color anatomic illustration. The more than 800 magnificent watercolor paintings of human anatomy found in Pernkopf's atlas occupied a number of Viennese artists for three decades. This article closely examines the work and its creators.

A Tale of Two Journals: An Analysis of History Articles Published from 1973 to 2017

Objectives The Journal of Urology (JU) and Urology have different policies regarding the publication of articles devoted to urologic history. JU stopped publishing full length historical articles in 2009. We wished to assess the pattern and frequency of historical article publishing in the two of the largest urologic journals. Methods We used a PubMed and manually based search of all articles from JU and Urology and categorized each article by subject, especially whether they were wholly and/or subtantially devoted to a historical subject. Results From 1973-2000, JU and Urology published 73 and 91 articles on the history of urology respectively. From 1997- 2008, JU experienced an increase in historical articles at a time when the History Forum was begun at the AUA Annual Meeting. Therafter, JU stopped publishing historical articles but Urology has published 35 from 2009-2017 at an average rate of 3.9 articles/year. Conclusions The journal Urology, but not JU, publishes a history of urology article about every 3 months. The study revealed the need for a journal wholly dedicated to the history of urology.

Carl Toldt Centennial, Surgeon and Anatomist

Carl Florian Toldt was an Austrian anatomist who made meaningful contributions worldwide and defined what is one of the most important surgical landmarks in abdominal surgery. Through his research studies, the embryologic dissection plane known as the “White Line of Toldt” represents an important anatomical landmark that helps to mobilize either the ascending or descending colon. His career spanned over 45 years, beginning in Verona and continuing to Prague and Vienna. He was an author of several innovative books and scientific articles regarding micro- and macroscopic anatomy. In addition, he received numerous recognitions and prizes for his work, making him an essential figure in the medical scientific community. Even a street in Vienna, Karl-Toldt-Weg, is named in his honor. The purpose of this historical article is to celebrate and honor Toldt 100 years following his death, remembering his scientific contributions to the medical and surgical fields and giving thanks for his numerous accomplishments. This article brings light to the man behind the eponym.

Lung sounds in bronchial asthma

Since the historical article by Forgacs in 1978, many studies have clarified the changes of lung sounds due to airway narrowing as well as the mechanism of genesis of these sounds. Studies using bronchoprovocation have shown that an increase of the frequency and/or intensity of lung sounds was a common finding of airway narrowing and correlated well with lung function in bronchial asthma. Bronchoprovocation studies also showed that wheezing may not be as sensitive as changes in basic lung sounds in acute airway narrowing in adult asthmatics. In lung sound analysis, narrow airways cause an increase in the frequency of breath sounds and lung sound intensity, implying when the patient has higher than normal breath sounds, i.e., bronchial sounds, he or she may have airway narrowing. Recent studies reported that this increase of breath sounds suggested worsening of airway inflammation in rather stable patients with bronchial asthma. As it is difficult to detect subtle changes in lung sounds by auscultation alone, automated sound analysis will be expected.

Georg von Békésy and Bruce Mer: Early Pioneers of Endoscopic Ear Surgery

The binocular operative microscope has been the workhorse of otologic and neurotologic surgeons since the 1950s. Since its advent, however, surgeons recognized that the operative microscope could not “look around corners” and its line-of-sight technology required soft tissue and bony dissection to enable light to reach the surgical plane. Endoscopic technology has evolved to address many of the limitations of operative microscopy. While the endoscope is often viewed as a recent development in otologic surgery, in the following historical article, we highlight the contributions of two mid–20th century pioneers of endoscopic ear surgery: Georg von Békésy and Bruce Mer. In the 1940s, Dr von Békésy envisioned an endoscope for determining stapes mobility. Dr Mer, with a team of engineers, created an otoendoscope to perform some of the first endoscopic ear procedures in the 1960s. Lessons gleaned from von Békésy and Mer’s research include the need for counterculture thinking and the challenges of pioneering ideas beyond technical capacity.

Real or not real that is the question...

My discussions with John Bell about reality in quantum mechanics are recollected. I would like to introduce the reader to Bell’s vision of reality which was for him a natural position for a scientist. Bell had a strong aversion against “quantum jumps” and insisted to be clear in phrasing quantum mechanics, his “words to be forbidden” proclaimed with seriousness and wit – both typical Bell characteristics – became legendary. I will summarize the Bell-type experiments and what Nature responded, and discuss the implications for the physical quantities considered, the real entities and the nonlocality concept due to Bell’s work. Subsequently, I also explain a quite different view of the meaning of a quantum state, this is the information theoretic approach, focusing on the work of Brukner and Zeilinger. Finally, I would like to broaden and contrast the reality discussion with the concept of “virtuality,” with the meaning of virtual particle occurring in quantum field theory. With some of my own thoughts I will conclude the paper which is composed more as a historical article than as a philosophical one.

ps to regional schools

Provinces and their culture are strongly related to regional architecture schools. In continuation of the topic of the previous issue, we are publishing two articles devoted to complex processes of the genesis of local architecture schools and their relations with geographical (article by P. Kapustin) and historical (article by E. Bagina and M. Arustamyan) peculiarities of the region.

Helping St George: the Royal Naval Medical Service at Zeebrugge, 22-23 April 1918

On the night of 22-23 April 1918, the Zeebrugge Raid, part of Operation Z.O., took place. This historical article gives some context to the raid and its purpose, studies the medical provision for and experience during the raid, and tells the stories of the medical staff involved.