Ancient Philosophers on Mental Illness

This dissertation is about ancient philosophers notions of mental illness, from Plato onwards. Mental illness here means disorders that, in ancient medical thought, were believed to originate in the body but to manifest themselves predominantly through mental symptoms. These illnesses were treated by physical means, which were believed to address the bodily cause of the illness, conceived of as an elemental imbalance or a state of cephalic stricture , for example. Sometimes the mental symptoms were addressed directly by psychotherapeutic means. The first and most important question explored concerns how the ancient philosophers responded to the medical notion of mental illness, and how they explained such illnesses in their theories of physiology and psychology. Although the illnesses are seldom discussed extensively, the philosophers were well aware of their existence and regarded their occurrence an indication of the soul s close dependence on the body. This called for a philosophical account. The second question addressed has to do with the ancient philosophers role as experts in mental problems of a non-medical kind, such as unwanted emotions. These problems were dubbed diseases of the soul , and the philosophers thus claimed to be doctors of the soul. Although the distinction between mental illnesses and diseases of the soul was often presented as rather obvious, there was some vagueness and overlap. There is still a third question that is explored, concerning the status of both mental illnesses and diseases of the soul as unnatural conditions, the role of the human body in the philosophical aetiologies of evil, and the medico-philosophical theories of psycho-physiological temperaments. This work consists of an introduction and five main chapters, focusing on Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics and Galen, and the Sceptics, the Epicureans and later Platonists. The sources drawn on are the original Greek and Latin philosophical and medical texts. It appears that the philosophers accepted the medical notion of mental illness, but interpreted it in various ways. The differences in interpretation were mostly attributable to differences in their theories of the soul. Although the distinction between mental illness and diseases of the soul was important, marking the boundary between the fields of expertise of medicine and philosophy, and of the individual s moral responsibilities, the problematic aspects of establishing it are discussed rather little in ancient philosophy. There may have been various reasons for this. The medical descriptions of mental illness are often extreme, symptoms of the psychotic type excluding the possibility of the condition being of the non-medical kind. In addition, the rigid normativeness of ancient philosophical anthropologies and their rigorous notion of human happiness decreased the need to assess the acceptability of individual variation in their emotional and intellectual lives and external behaviour.

Components of the peptidome and transcriptome persist in lin wa pi: the dried skin of the Heilongjiang brown frog Rana amurensis as used in Traditional Chinese Medicine

Although the ancient practice of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) utilizes predominantly herbal ingredients, many of which are now the subject of intense scientific scrutiny, significant quantities of animal tissue-derived materials are also employed. Here we have used contemporary molecular techniques to study the material known as lin wa pi, the dried skin of the Heilongjiang brown frog, Rana amurensis, that is used commonly as an ingredient of many medicines, as a general tonic and as a topical antimicrobial/wound dressing. Using a simple technology that has been developed and validated over several years, we have demonstrated that components of both the skin granular gland peptidome and transcriptome persist in this material. Interrogation of the cDNA library constructed from the dried skin by entrapment and amplification of polyadenylated mRNA, using a "shotgun" primer approach and 3'-RACE, resulted in the cloning of cDNAs encoding the precursors of five putative antimicrobial peptides. Two (ranatuerin-2AMa and ranatuerin-2AMb) were obvious homologs of a previously described frog skin peptide family, whereas the remaining three were of sufficient structural novelty to be named amurins 1-3. Mature peptides were each identified in reverse phase HPLC fractions of boiling water extracts of skin and their structures confirmed by MS/MS fragmentation sequencing. Components of traditional Chinese medicines of animal tissue origin may thus contain biologically active peptides that survive the preparation procedures and that may contribute to therapeutic efficacy.

Herbal medicine: the science of the art

In the last 50 years science has provided new perspectives on the ancient art of herbal medicine. The present article discusses ways in which the evidence base for the professional use of 'Western' herbal medicine, as therapy to treat disease, known as phytotherapy, can be strengthened and developed. The evidence base for phytotherapy is small and lags behind that for the nutritional sciences, mainly because phytochemicals are ingested as complex mixtures that are incompletely characterised and have only relatively recently been subject to scientific scrutiny. While some methodologies developed for the nutritional sciences can inform phytotherapy research, opportunities for observational studies are more limited, although greater use could be made of patient case notes. Randomised clinical trials of single-herb interventions are relatively easy to undertake and increasing numbers of such studies are being published. Indeed, enough data are available on three herbs (ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba), St John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) and saw palmetto (Serenoa repens)) for meta-analyses to have been undertaken. However, phytotherapy is holistic therapy, using lifestyle advice, nutrition and individually-prescribed mixtures of herbs aimed at reinstating homeostasis. While clinical experience shows that this approach is applicable to a wide range of conditions, including chronic disease, evidence of its efficacy is scarce. Strategies for investigating the full holistic approach of phytotherapy and its main elements are discussed and illustrated through the author's studies at the University of Reading.

PAT proteins, an ancient family of lipid droplet proteins that regulate cellular lipid stores.

The PAT family of lipid droplet proteins includes 5 members in mammals: perilipin, adipose differentiation-related protein (ADRP), tail-interacting protein of 47 kDa (TIP47), S3-12, and OXPAT. Members of this family are also present in evolutionarily distant organisms, including insects, slime molds and fungi. All PAT proteins share sequence similarity and the ability to bind intracellular lipid droplets, either constitutively or in response to metabolic stimuli, such as increased lipid flux into or out of lipid droplets. Positioned at the lipid droplet surface, PAT proteins manage access of other proteins (lipases) to the lipid esters within the lipid droplet core and can interact with cellular machinery important for lipid droplet biogenesis. Genetic variations in the gene for the best-characterized of the mammalian PAT proteins, perilipin, have been associated with metabolic phenotypes, including type 2 diabetes mellitus and obesity. In this review, we discuss how the PAT proteins regulate cellular lipid metabolism both in mammals and in model organisms.

History of Medicine Schedule 2010-2011

William Osler (1849-1919): America’s Most Famous Physician (Robert E. Rakel) The Assassination of John F. Kennedy: A Neurosurgeon’s Eyewitness Account of the Medical Aspect of the Events of November 22, 1963 (Robert G. Grossman) Making Cancer History: Disease and Discovery at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (James S. Olson) The History of Pathology as a Biological Science and Medical Specialty (L. Maximillian Buja) “Medicine in the Mid-19th Century America” (Student Essay Contest Winner) (David Hunter) The Achievements and Enduring Relevance of Rudolph Virchow (Nathan Grohmann) Medicine: Perspectives in History and Art (Robert E. Greenspan) What Every Physician Should Know: Lessons from the Past (Robert E. Greenspan) Medicine in Ancient Mesopotamia (Sajid Haque) The History of Texas Children’s Hospital (B. Lee Ligon) Visualizing Disease: Motion Pictures in the History of Medical Education (Kirsten Ostherr)

History of Medicine Schedule and Abstracts 2009-2010

From Genes to Genome: An historical perspective (David Wheeler) Ignaz Semmelweis: Medical Prophet Without Honor (Ronald L. Young) Why Lewis Thomas, MD is Not a Bore: The Life of a Biology Watcher (Steven Greenberg) Doctors from Hell: The Horrific Account of Nazi Experiments on Humans (Vivien Spitz) Illuminating Autism: Passing the Torch from the Twentieth Century (Student Essay Contest Winners) (Lynn Yudofsky) Healing Beyond Hippocrates: The Temples of Asclepius and Public Health Care in Ancient Greece (Andrew Baldwin) Iron Wills and Iron Lungs: The Polio Years in Texas (Heather Green Wooten) William Osler and the Inspirational Uses of History (Michael Bliss) Working Too Hard and Achieving Too Much: The Cost of Being Harvey Cushing (Michael Bliss) Medicine in Ancient Egypt (Gene Boisaubin) The History of Diabetes (Jeff Unger)

Comparison against 186 canid whole genome sequences reveals survival strategies of an ancient clonally transmissible canine tumor.

Canine transmissible venereal tumor (CTVT) is a parasitic cancer clone that has propagated for thousands of years via sexual transfer of malignant cells. Little is understood about the mechanisms that converted an ancient tumor into the world's oldest known continuously propagating somatic cell lineage. We created the largest existing catalog of canine genome-wide variation and compared it against two CTVT genome sequences, thereby separating alleles derived from the founder's genome from somatic drivers of clonal transmissibility. We show that CTVT has undergone continuous adaptation to its transmissible allograft niche, with overlapping mutations at every step of immunosurveillance, particularly self-antigen presentation and apoptosis. We also identified chronologically early somatic mutations in oncogenesis- and immune-related genes that may represent key initiators of clonal transmissibility. Thus, we provide the first insights into the specific genomic aberrations that underlie CTVT's dogged perseverance in canids around the world.

The ancient physician's legacy to his country : being what he has collected himself, in fifty-eight years practice : or, an account of the several diseases incident to mankind ... /

Mode of access: Internet.

A dictionary of practical surgery : comprehending all the most interesting improvements, from the earliest times down to the present period : an account of the instruments and remedies employed in surgery, the etymology and signification of the principal terms : and numerous references to ancient and modern works, forming a "catalogue raisonné" of surgical literature /

At head of title: Harper's Stereotype Edition, uniform with Hooper's Medical Dictionary.

Uroscopic rainbow: modern matula medicine

Visual inspection of a patient's urine has long been used by physicians, with colour recognised as having important clinical implications. In this review the authors will revisit this ancient pastime with relevance to contemporary medical practice.

Ancient Bruises: a Case of Skin Lesions due to Vitamin C Deficiency

Scurvy was a common 18th century disease caused by vitamin C deficiency. It presents with multiple non-specific symptoms and can lead to capillary fragility due to impaired collagen synthesis. We report the case of a 63-year-old woman who presented with fatigue, nausea and progressive skin lesions consisting of multiple ecchymoses on the legs as also described in the diary drawings of a navy doctor in the 19th century. The ascorbic acid level was undetectable low in the patient’s serum. However, treatment with 500 mg ascorbic acid daily dramatically improved the skin lesions within 5 days.

Major depressive disorder and nutritional medicine : a review of monotherapies and adjuvant treatments

A literature review was conducted to examine the evidence for nutritional interventions in depression. It revealed a number of significant conclusions. Interestingly, more positive clinical trials were found to support adjuvant, rather than monotherapeutic, use of nutrients to treat depression. Much evidence exists in the area of adjuvant application of folic acid, S-adenosyl-methionine, omega-3, and L-tryptophan with antidepressants. Current evidence does not support omega-3 as an effective monotherapy to treat depression. However, this may be due, at least in part, to olive oil being used as the control intervention, some studies using docosahexaenoic acid alone or a higher docosahexaenoic acid to eicosapentaenoic acid ratio, and significant heterogeneity regarding depressive populations. Nevertheless, adjunctive prescription of omega-3 with antidepressants, or in people with dietary deficiency, may be beneficial. Inositol lacks evidence as an effective antidepressant and cannot be currently recommended. Evidence on the use of L-trytophan for depression is inconclusive and additional studies utilizing a more robust methodology are required.