René-Théophile-Hyacinthe Laennec (1781-1826) and the description of metastatic pulmonary melanoma.

In 19th century, the anatomo-clinical school of Paris linked clinical signs with anatomical lesions establishing clinical medicine. One of the most enlightened promoters of this method was the French physician René-Théophile-Hyacinthe Laennec, known as the inventor of stethoscope. In our article, we reveal his work on pulmonary melanoma.

Infectiologie et postulats de Koch: tourner la page [Infectious diseases and Koch's postulates: turning the page].

The thoracolumbar junctional region (T10-L1) of the spine is a transitional zone, where more than half of the thoracic and lumbar fractures occur. In this presentation the origin of the pathoanatomical changes in the thoracolumbar junctional region of the spine is discussed in view of the previous studies. These studies refer to a torsional force contributing to the formation of the degenerative changes, especially in the facet joints. Degenerative changes anteriorly and posteriorly do not concur in the thoracolumbar junctional region. Only a weak concurrence is found between disc degeneration and spondylosis, which refer to differences in their pathomechanisms. A strong concurrence between the degenerative changes at different levels, especially anteriorly, reflects factors causing overall degeneration in the thoracolumbar junctional region.