Neurology and the Soul
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"A Sixty-Year Evolution of Biochemistry at Mcgill University"
Article "A Sixty-Year Evolution of Biochemistry at McGill University" Rose Johstone Scientia Canadensis: Canadian Journal of the History of Science, Technology and Medicine / Scientia Canadensis : revue canadienne d'histoire des sciences, des techniques et de la médecine , vol. 27, 2003, p. 27-83. Pour citer cet article, utiliser l'information suivante : URI: http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/800458ar DOI: 10.7202/800458ar Note : les règles d'écriture des références bibliographiques peuvent varier selon les différents domaines du savoir. Ce document est protégé par la loi sur le droit d'auteur. L'utilisation des services d'Érudit (y compris la reproduction) est assujettie à sa politique d'utilisation que vous pouvez consulter à l'URI https://apropos.erudit.org/fr/usagers/politique-dutilisation/ Érudit est un consortium interuniversitaire sans but lucratif composé de l'Université de Montréal, l'Université Laval et l'Université du Québec à Montréal. Il a pour mission la promotion et la valorisation de la recherche. Érudit offre des services d'édition numérique de documents scientifiques depuis 1998. Pour communiquer avec les responsables d'Érudit : [email protected] Document téléchargé le 14 février 2017 07:44 A Sixty-Year Evolution of Biochemistry at McGill University ROSE JOHNSTONE' Résumé: Le département de biochimie de l'université McGill a ouvert ses portes près d'un siècle après la création de l'école de médecine. Les racines du département, toutefois, plongent jusqu'au tout début de l'école de médecine en 1829. Parce que plusieurs membres fondateurs de l'école de médecine reçurent leur formation à Edimbourg, le programme de formation médicale porte la marque de l'école d'Edimbourg — particulièrement l'accent placé sur la formation en chimie et la recherche fondamen• tale. -
The Creation of Neuroscience
The Creation of Neuroscience The Society for Neuroscience and the Quest for Disciplinary Unity 1969-1995 Introduction rom the molecular biology of a single neuron to the breathtakingly complex circuitry of the entire human nervous system, our understanding of the brain and how it works has undergone radical F changes over the past century. These advances have brought us tantalizingly closer to genu- inely mechanistic and scientifically rigorous explanations of how the brain’s roughly 100 billion neurons, interacting through trillions of synaptic connections, function both as single units and as larger ensem- bles. The professional field of neuroscience, in keeping pace with these important scientific develop- ments, has dramatically reshaped the organization of biological sciences across the globe over the last 50 years. Much like physics during its dominant era in the 1950s and 1960s, neuroscience has become the leading scientific discipline with regard to funding, numbers of scientists, and numbers of trainees. Furthermore, neuroscience as fact, explanation, and myth has just as dramatically redrawn our cultural landscape and redefined how Western popular culture understands who we are as individuals. In the 1950s, especially in the United States, Freud and his successors stood at the center of all cultural expla- nations for psychological suffering. In the new millennium, we perceive such suffering as erupting no longer from a repressed unconscious but, instead, from a pathophysiology rooted in and caused by brain abnormalities and dysfunctions. Indeed, the normal as well as the pathological have become thoroughly neurobiological in the last several decades. In the process, entirely new vistas have opened up in fields ranging from neuroeconomics and neurophilosophy to consumer products, as exemplified by an entire line of soft drinks advertised as offering “neuro” benefits. -
Oliver Sacks, MD, FRCP
Biography Oliver Sacks, MD, FRCP Oliver Sacks was born in 1933 in London, England, into a family of physicians and scientists (his mother was a surgeon and his father a general practitioner). He earned his medical degree at Oxford University (Queen’s College), and did residencies and fellowship work at Mt. Zion Hospital in San Francisco and at UCLA. Since 1965, he has lived in New York, where he is a practicing neurologist. From 2007 to 2012, he served as a Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center, and he was also designated the university’s first Columbia University Artist. Dr. Sacks is currently a professor of neurology at the NYU School of Medicine, where he practices as part of the NYU Comprehensive Epilepsy Center. He is also a visiting professor at the University of Warwick. In 1966 Dr. Sacks began working as a consulting neurologist for Beth Abraham Hospital in the Bronx, a chronic care hospital where he encountered an extraordinary group of patients, many of whom had spent decades in strange, frozen states, like human statues, unable to initiate movement. He recognized these patients as survivors of the great pandemic of sleepy sickness that had swept the world from 1916 to 1927, and treated them with a then-experimental drug, L-dopa, which enabled them to come back to life. They became the subjects of his book, Awakenings, which later inspired a play by Harold Pinter (“A Kind of Alaska”) and the Oscar-nominated feature film (“Awakenings”) with Robert De Niro and Robin Williams. Sacks is perhaps best known for his collections of case histories from the far borderlands of neurological experience, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and An Anthropologist on Mars, in which he describes patients struggling to live with conditions ranging from Tourette’s syndrome to autism, parkinsonism, musical hallucination, epilepsy, phantom limb syndrome, schizophrenia, retardation, and Alzheimer’s disease. -
Torsten Wiesel (1924– ) [1]
Published on The Embryo Project Encyclopedia (https://embryo.asu.edu) Torsten Wiesel (1924– ) [1] By: Lienhard, Dina A. Keywords: vision [2] Torsten Nils Wiesel studied visual information processing and development in the US during the twentieth century. He performed multiple experiments on cats in which he sewed one of their eyes shut and monitored the response of the cat’s visual system after opening the sutured eye. For his work on visual processing, Wiesel received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine [3] in 1981 along with David Hubel and Roger Sperry. Wiesel determined the critical period during which the visual system of a mammal [4] develops and studied how impairment at that stage of development can cause permanent damage to the neural pathways of the eye, allowing later researchers and surgeons to study the treatment of congenital vision disorders. Wiesel was born on 3 June 1924 in Uppsala, Sweden, to Anna-Lisa Bentzer Wiesel and Fritz Wiesel as their fifth and youngest child. Wiesel’s mother stayed at home and raised their children. His father was the head of and chief psychiatrist at a mental institution, Beckomberga Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden, where the family lived. Wiesel described himself as lazy and playful during his childhood. He went to Whitlockska Samskolan, a coeducational private school in Stockholm, Sweden. At that time, Wiesel was interested in sports and became the president of his high school’s athletic association, which he described as his only achievement from his younger years. In 1941, at the age of seventeen, Wiesel enrolled at Karolinska Institutet (Royal Caroline Institute) in Solna, Sweden, where he pursued a medical degree and later pursued his own research. -
360 ° Series
ON THE PLAY, PLAYWRIGHT, AND PRODUCTION VIEWFINDER: FACTS AND PERSPECTIVES 360 ° SERIES U S P R E M I E R E T H E V A L L E Y O F A S T O N I S H M E N T C O N C E I V E D A N D D I R E C T E D B Y P E T E R B R O O K A N D M A R I E - H É L È N E E S T I E N N E WWW.TFANA.ORG TABLE OF CONTENTS The Play 3 An Introduction from Peter Brook 4 Dialogues: From ‘The Key of Clear Green’ by Oliver Sacks, M.D. 7 Mandalas: An Installation Inspired by The Valley of Astonishment The Production 9 Dialogues: On the Making of The Valley Of Astonishment, An Interview With Peter Brook by James Woodall 11 Cast and Creative Team About Theatre For a New Audience 16 Mission and Programs 17 Major Supporters The Valley of Astonishmentis a C.I.C.T. / Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord production, co-produced by Theater for a New Audience, New York; Les Théâtres de la ville de Luxembourg; Théâtre d’Arras / Tandem Arras-Douai; Théâtre du Gymnase, Marseille; Warwick Arts Center; Holland Festival, Amsterdam; Attiki Cultural Society, Athens; Musikfest Bremen; Théâtre Forum Meyrin, Geneva; C.I.R.T. and Young Vic Theatre, London. The Valley of Astonishmentpremiered at Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, Paris on April 29th, 2014. The producers would like to thank Franck Krawczyk, Carol Steen, Jon Adams, Daniel Tammet, Dr. -
The Brain That Changes Itself
The Brain That Changes Itself Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science NORMAN DOIDGE, M.D. For Eugene L. Goldberg, M.D., because you said you might like to read it Contents 1 A Woman Perpetually Falling . Rescued by the Man Who Discovered the Plasticity of Our Senses 2 Building Herself a Better Brain A Woman Labeled "Retarded" Discovers How to Heal Herself 3 Redesigning the Brain A Scientist Changes Brains to Sharpen Perception and Memory, Increase Speed of Thought, and Heal Learning Problems 4 Acquiring Tastes and Loves What Neuroplasticity Teaches Us About Sexual Attraction and Love 5 Midnight Resurrections Stroke Victims Learn to Move and Speak Again 6 Brain Lock Unlocked Using Plasticity to Stop Worries, OPsessions, Compulsions, and Bad Habits 7 Pain The Dark Side of Plasticity 8 Imagination How Thinking Makes It So 9 Turning Our Ghosts into Ancestors Psychoanalysis as a Neuroplastic Therapy 10 Rejuvenation The Discovery of the Neuronal Stem Cell and Lessons for Preserving Our Brains 11 More than the Sum of Her Parts A Woman Shows Us How Radically Plastic the Brain Can Be Appendix 1 The Culturally Modified Brain Appendix 2 Plasticity and the Idea of Progress Note to the Reader All the names of people who have undergone neuroplastic transformations are real, except in the few places indicated, and in the cases of children and their families. The Notes and References section at the end of the book includes comments on both the chapters and the appendices. Preface This book is about the revolutionary discovery that the human brain can change itself, as told through the stories of the scientists, doctors, and patients who have together brought about these astonishing transformations. -
Medicine COVID-19 and RACISM
Columbia 2019–2020 ANNUAL REPORT Medicine Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons FIGHTING TWO VIRUSES: COVID-19 AND RACISM Features: 4 12 20 At a Crossroads: All Hands on Deck The Bioethics of Medicine and Genomics and Justice the Movement Pivot was the action verb that describes how VP&S clinicians, A new ethics division is Work toward health equality researchers, and students expanding VP&S scholarship has begun at VP&S and all confronted COVID-19 when the into the ethical, legal, and of academic medicine as early virus arrived in New York City. social implications of precision summer protests revealed From redeploying clinicians to medicine. The 360-degree the health disparities in areas outside their specialty to perspective includes “studying medicine in general and graduating fourth-year students the studies” as researchers especially in COVID-19 cases. early, VP&S helped “bend the continue to unleash the Students and faculty share curve” at the epicenter of the power to treat, prevent, and their own perspectives on nation’s pandemic. cure disease. The effort also the intersection of COVID-19 provides an opportunity to and Black Lives Matter. bring social science to bear on bioethical questions. On the Cover Steven McDonald, MD, a 2014 VP&S graduate, is one of five faculty members and medical students who share their perspectives on the Black Lives Matter movement. Read about the five and the VP&S plans to promote racial justice, Page 4. Photograph by Jörg Meyer ColumbiaMedicine | 2019–2020 Annual Report Issue -
From Eureka to Your World : Headway 2015-06-24, 11:39 AM
From Eureka to Your World : headway 2015-06-24, 11:39 AM McGill Publications headway Research, discovery and innovation at McGill University Wednesday, June 24th, 2015 | Français News feed Search this website... GO Home Magazine About Research Funding Sources Multimedia Archives Sections Act Locally/Act Globally Cover Story First Person In Depth/In Focus Industrial Impact Making Headway Multimedia Networks Neuroscience New Wave News Bites Research Focus Special Report Vice-Principal's message Workspace Home > Articles > Volume 4, Number 1 > From Eureka to Your World Cover Story http://publications.mcgill.ca/headway/magazine/from-eureka-to-your-world/ Page 1 of 20 From Eureka to Your World : headway 2015-06-24, 11:39 AM From Eureka to Your World Volume 4, Number 1 Share this By Jake Brennan, Danielle Buch, Thierry Harris and Andrew Mullins; illustrations by Matt Forsythe 33 Ways* That McGill Research Saves Lives, Kills Weeds, Nabs Thieves… and More * (and counting) In the world of McGill research, creating new knowledge isn’t an end—it’s the means for developing the innovations that change our world. Lives are improved, and even saved, by ideas that make the long journey from lab to marketplace. And, yes, the commercialization of research stimulates our economy at the local, provincial, national and international levels. We’ve collected just some of the ways McGill research has improved and is improving quality of life, from time-tested “greatest hits” to up-and-comers tipped to revolutionize tomorrow’s world—each a concrete manifestation of the University’s mission of “…providing service to society in those ways for which we are well suited by virtue of our academic strengths.” 1. -
From Controlling Elements to Transposons: Barbara Mcclintock and the Nobel Prize Nathaniel C
454 Forum TRENDS in Biochemical Sciences Vol.26 No.7 July 2001 Historical Perspective From controlling elements to transposons: Barbara McClintock and the Nobel Prize Nathaniel C. Comfort Why did it take so long for Barbara correspondence. From these and other to prevent her controlling elements from McClintock (Fig. 1) to win the Nobel Prize? materials, we can reconstruct the events moving because their effects were difficult In the mid-1940s, McClintock discovered leading up to the 1983 prize*. to study when they jumped around. She genetic transposition in maize. She What today are known as transposable never had any inclination to pursue the published her results over several years elements, McClintock called ‘controlling biochemistry of transposition. and, in 1951, gave a famous presentation elements’. During the years 1945–1946, at Current understanding of how gene at the Cold Spring Harbor Symposium, the Carnegie Dept of Genetics, Cold activity is regulated, of course, springs yet it took until 1983 for her to win a Nobel Spring Harbor, McClintock discovered a from the operon, François Jacob and Prize. The delay is widely attributed to a pair of genetic loci in maize that seemed to Jacques Monod’s 1960 model of a block of combination of gender bias and gendered trigger spontaneous and reversible structural genes under the control of an science. McClintock’s results were not mutations in what had been ordinary, adjacent set of regulatory genes (Fig. 2). accepted, the story goes, because women stable alleles. In the term of the day, they Though subsequent studies revealed in science are marginalized, because the made stable alleles into ‘mutable’ ones. -
Public Perceptions of S&T in Brazil, Funding Crisis and the Future
Public perceptions of S&T in Brazil, funding crisis and the future Interest in science and technology The interest in science and technology increased 15% in Brazil between the first and the more recent survey CGEE, 2015 Interest in science and technology European Union (2013) x Brazil (2015) 26% of the Brazilians are very interested in S&T, against 13% of the people interviewed in the European Union European Union 2013 Brazil 2015 Not interested Low interested Interested Very interested DK DA CGEE, 2015 Who is interested? DA DN Very interested Interested Not very interested Not interested Illiterate Elementary school Elementary High school University (incomplete) school (complete) degree (complete) CGEE, 2015 Those who have more formal education have more interest in S&T Do you remember... Do you know any Brazilian institution dedicated to scientific research? Do you remember the name of a Brazilian scientist? No Yes DA CGEE, 2015 50% of Brazilians think scientists are smart people who do useful things for humanity Science brings only benefits: 1987–12% 2006–29% 2010–38% 2015–54% What inspires the scientists? Helping humanity (34%), contributing to the advancement of knowledge (17%), contributing to the scientific and technological development of the country (15%) People in the government should follow guidelines developed by scientists Partially agree - 41% Completely agree - 18% Scientific and technological developments will lead to less social inequalities Partially agree - 35% Completely agree - 17% Considering the surveys... - People -
Book Review Uncle Tungsten
Book Review Uncle Tungsten. Memories Of A Chemical Boyhood, by Oliver Sacks (Alfred P. Knopf, 2001) 337 pp., ISBN 0-676-97261-6; $25.00 (hardcover) Reviewed by Dennis J. Sardella Department of Chemistry Merkert Chemistry Center Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 It is ironic that the best book I have read about the fascination of chemistry was not written by a chemist, but by a physician. Uncle Tungsten. Memories of a Chemical Boyhood is the product of Oliver Sacks, the neurologist who wrote The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat, Awakenings and several other books. The book is an almost lyrical recollection of a childhood immersed in and consumed with chemistry. So, why wasn’t Uncle Tungsten. Memories Of A Chemical Boyhood written by a chemist, or turning the question around, why isn’t Oliver Sacks a chemist? Uncle Tungsten tells of Sacks’ discovery of, and growing absorption in, chemistry beginning in his boyhood and lasting until the beginning of adolescence, by which time his enterprise, degree of knowledge and sophistication seem to have been about what I would be happy to see in a sophomore chemistry major. He did not simply play with chemicals, he experimented, haunted natural history and mineralogical museums, read widely, and questioned, going beyond the “Gee whiz!” stage through the “Gee, why?” stage to the “Gee, then ...” stage that characterizes the scientist. Growing up in post- World War II England, Sacks found in chemistry a place of retreat, pleasure and stability that nurtured the artist as well as the scientist in him. -
From a MS of Hildegard's Scivias, Written at Bingen About 1180. This
From a MS of Hildegard’s Scivias, written at Bingen about 1180. This figure is a reconstruction from several visions of migrainous origin (see Appendix I). (Illustrations credit col1.1) Many perceptual alterations may occur in migraine. The strangest and profoundest is mosaic vision, here shown in a self- portrait by the artist Paul Bateman. (Courtesy of the artist.) ALTERNATIONS AND CONCOMITANCES WITH OTHER DISORDERS Even more complicated than these cases in which two allied symptoms alternate, are those patients who present with a polymorphous syndrome in which a large variety of symptoms—with clinical and physiological affinities to each other—occur simultaneously or cyclically in the history of the individual: Case 49 This 31-year-old engineer has already been cited in connection with a tendency to post-prandial stupors. He suffers from a variety of further symptoms, as follows: (a) A continuous “latent” vascular headache, which becomes manifest on stooping, jolting, or coughing. (b) Attacks of common migraine. (c) Night sweats, for which no organic basis has been found. (d) Attacks of nocturnal salivation. (e) Attacks of abdominal pain and diarrhoea—contrast studies of the bowel have always been negative. (f) Orthostatic hypotension. (g) Occasional sleep-paralysis, narcolepsy, and cataplexy. He is otherwise in excellent health. Fig. 1B. Case 75 (Illustrations credit 1.1) Case 75 A 35-year-old physician subject to migraine auras and classical migraine has also experienced, as alternative reactions, abdominal migraines, bilious attacks, stuporous migraine equivalents, “vagal attacks” (exceedingly similar in type to that described by Gowers), and, more rarely, fainting and narcolepsy.