Pediatría y cultura de viaje: los pensionados españoles y la apropiación del laboratorio en la periferia, 1907-1939 / Pediatrics and travel culture: Spanish travel award-holders and the appropriation of laboratories on the periphery, 1907-1939

Resumen Partiendo de la hipótesis de que el laboratorio jugó un papel importante en la autonomía disciplinar de la pediatría, este artículo estudia la influencia del viaje científico en la apropiación de nuevas metodologías por parte de los pediatras y puericultores españoles del primer tercio del siglo XX. Para ello, se analizan las pensiones concedidas a tal efecto por la Junta para Ampliación de Estudios e Investigaciones Científicas. Se describe la geografía científica creada por el programa y se profundiza en el papel de los mentores - especialmente de Gustavo Pittaluga (1876-1956) - en este proceso. Además de un estudio prosopográfico del grupo, se presentan tres casos que demuestran la importancia del programa en el encuentro de la pediatría con la bacteriología, la anatomía patológica y la bioquímica.

Abstract Starting from the hypothesis that laboratories played an important role in pediatrics becoming an autonomous discipline, this article studies the influence of scientific travel on the appropriation of new methodologies by Spanish pediatricians and child-care experts in the first third of the twentieth century. To do so, it analyzes the travel awards granted by the Junta para Ampliación de Estudios e Investigaciones Científicas. It describes the scientific geography created by the program and takes an in-depth look at the role of mentors - especially Gustavo Pittaluga (1876-1956) - in this process. In addition to a prosopographical study of the group, it presents three cases that demonstrate the importance of the program in bringing pediatrics into contact with bacteriology, pathological anatomy and biochemistry.

La vitamina C y algo más: Un premio Nobel poco conocido en Chile / A biographical sketch of Albert Szent-Györgyi

Albert Szent-Györgyi was a Hungarian biochemist and physiologist. He identified the structure and function of vitamin C, naming it as ascorbic acid. His research on cellular respiration and oxidation provided the basis for Krebs’ citric acid cycle. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1937. With his collaborators, he discovered the biochemical basis of muscle contractility, isolating the basic proteins, giving them the name myosin and actin. Later on, he worked on the theory of carcinogenesis, linked to electron movements. He was one of the first researchers to describe the connection between free radicals and cancer. He lived a long, very complete life, defending always his opinion and freedom.

The Life of Dr. RO Kishun, a Reflection of Modern Korean Medical History of the Borders / 의사학

RO Kishun was born on February 2, 1893 in Ongjin County, Hwanghae Province of Joseon Korea. He graduated from the Medical Training Center, a campus associated with the Joseon Government-General Hospital, in 1915, and from Kyushu Imperial University School of Medicine in 1917. He continued his medical study at the university in 1929, majoring in biochemistry, and earned a doctorate in medicine in 1932. Dr. RO, one of the earliest pioneers in Korean biochemistry, was active in his research, publishing four studies in the Japanese Journal of Biochemistry between 1931 and 1932. After returning from Japan in 1932, Dr. RO opened a medical practice in Mokpo and Busan, port cities situated on the southern tip of Korea. Later in 1936, he moved north to Manchuria (northeast China) to practice medicine at the International Hospital in Mukden (present-day Shenyang). He also served as president of Tumen Public Hospital between 1942 and 1946. When Japan signed unconditional surrender bringing World War II to an end, Dr. RO relocated to Yanbian and began providing medical training to ethnic Koreans. In October 1946, he was appointed dean of the First Branch School of China Medical University in Longjing, and in October 1948 the first dean of Yanbian Medical School, the predecessor of Yanbian University College of Medicine. Dr. RO dedicated his life to medical practice, teaching and training students, and mentoring younger faculty. A brilliant clinician, he also inspired and helped his colleagues with his outstanding ability to diagnose and treat patients. He was one of the founding members of Yanbian University College of Medicine. RO Kishun died on June 7, 1957 at age 64. Ethnic Koreans hailed him as Sinui (literally, the physician of God), and a bronze statue of himself was erected in front of the medical college in 1988. Dr. RO's life brings modern historians' attention to the issue of determining geographical territories and nationality, in that his life unfolded at the borderlands or frontiers of Joseon Korea, China, and Japan, where the history of the three nations met and intermingled with one another. He was a biochemist and researcher, practicing physician and medical professor of the era under Japanese Rule and the one following it. In modern Korean medicine, his life is viewed as a history of the borders, or a transnational legacy going beyond individual history of Korea, China, and Japan.

Eduardo Cruz-Coke: la vitamina D / Eduardo Cruz-Coke: the D vitamin

Presenta una abordagen sobre el término vitamina, que fue creado por el bioquímico polaco Casimir Funk en 1912. Por ese entonces, se había probrado que cierras patologías como el beriberi, el escorbuto y el raquitismo se debían a la carencia de ciertos 'factores alimenticios acesorios' en la dieta que, aunque en catidades íntimas, son esenciales para la salud del organismo. Funk propuso designar a estos factores alimenticios eccesorios, a la sazón desconocidos, con el nombre de vitaminas, creyendo que eran 'aminas de la vida'. La identificación de aquellos factores alimenticios con las aminas resultó errada, pero el término vitamina se impuso definitivamente a partir de aquel año. Poco más tarde, un bioquímico estadunidense comprobó en experimentos con ratas que la alimentación de éstás contenía al menos dos sustancias imprescindibiles para su desarrollo, la que llamó 'A-liposolubles' y 'B-hidrosolubles'. Como el término vitamina ya estaba en boga, combinó ambas denominaciones, llamándolas respectivamente vitamina C, D, E, F, una lista que sigue prolongándose.

Semblanza de mis 37 años de servicio en la Cátedra de Bioquímica, el Instituto de Bioquímica y Nutrición y el Centro de Investigación de Bioquímica y Nutrición de la Faculad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos / Biographical sketch of 37 years of service at the chair of Biochemistry, the Biochemistry and Nutrition Institute, and the Biochemistry and Nutrition Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos

En el presente artículo, el Dr. Marino Villavicencio Núñez, profesor emérito de la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, narra sus vivencias desde los primeros pasos en la docencia como profesor Jefe de prácticas a tiempo parcial y los hechos que dejaron huella en su formación, permitiendo ser considerado como uno de los más destacados investigadores bioquímicos, con reconocimiento nacional e internacional. El Dr. Villavicencio es parte y gestor de la historia del Centro de Investigación de Bioquímica y Nutrición. Quién mejor que él para relatar los detalles de la organización de los laboratorios, el equipamiento, la capacitación de sus miembros y la producción científica del más alto nivel, que llevó a que nuestra institución fuera considerada como un Centro de excelencia en Bioquímica en América Latina. El Dr. Marino Villavicencio es un auténtico Maestro y, si bien cesó a los 37 años de servicio, sigue enseñándonos a través de sus libros de bioquímica, sus compendios de actualizaciones bioquímicas y sus sabios consejos.

Universidad Nacional Mayor de San MarcosÆ Emeritus Professor Dr. Marino Villavicencio Nuñez narrates inthis article his personal experiences starting with early teaching steps as partial time Training chief and factsthat traced his formation and national and international acknowledgement as one of the most outstandingresearchers in biochemistry. Dr. Villavicencio is part and the manager of Biochemistry and Nutrition ResearchCenterÆs history. Nobody could relate better laboratoriesÆ organization details, equipment, staff capacitation, and thehighest level scientific production that lead our institution to be considered as an excellency biochemistry center inLatin America. Dr. Marino Villavicencio is an authentic Master and even though he ceased with 37 years of professional services he continues teaching us through his books on biochemistry, his up to date biochemistry digests and his wise counseling.

History of biochemistry.

Biochemistry in broad terms is the study of the chemical composition of the living matter and the biochemical processes that underlie life activities during growth and maintenance. This article is an attempt to explore the metamorphosis of biochemistry from a pupa entwined in its own cocoon to a vibrantly colored phenomenon. Studies pertaining to this discipline of science began with Biochemistry interfaces with biology and chemistry even before nineteenth century with studies concerned with the chemical processes that take place within living cells. Modern biochemistry developed out of and largely came to replace what in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was called physiological chemistry, which dealt more with extra cellular chemistry, such as the chemistry of digestion and of body fluids. The name Biochemistry was coined in 1903 by a German chemist named Carl Neuber. However, work in this very living, aspect of chemistry had started much earlier. Claude Bernard is accredited with the Sirehood of Biochemistry. During the later part of the nineteenth century eminent scientists contributed a great deal to the elucidation of the chemistry of fats, proteins and carbohydrates. At this period some very fundamental aspects of enzymology were under close scrutiny. Study of nucleic acid is central to the knowledge of life but its fusion with biochemistry started with works of Fredrick Sanger and Har Gobind Khurana. Their experiments involved a subtle bland of enzymology and chemistry that few would have thought possible to combine. The scientists were busy removing the mist that was mitigating the light of knowledge but they still lacked an insight into the cell. In 1990's research turned to finding the structural details of cell. The field of molecular biochemistry was also progressing at an almost unstoppable speed having expanded its horizons beyond human imagination with the introduction of PCR, creating waves of appreciation from every field of medicine and then coming out of the lab to help establish better therapies for various diseases by introduction of gene therapy. Biochemistry has promises to the world of science in development of new path-breaking research and coming times would surely prove these promises to be fulfilled.

Efeito do hormônio de crescimento sobre a expressão gênica do receptor LDL, receptor "scavenger" e da HMG-CoA redutase em células renais: possível correlação com a glomerulosclerose / GH effect on LDL receptor gene expression

Avaliou-se o efeito do GH in vitro sobre a expressão gênica do receptor LDL (RLDL) e da HMG-CoA redutase, bem como sobre a proliferação celular e acúmulo de lípides intracelulares em células mesangiais cultivadas em meio com soro deficiente de lipoproteínas (LPDS) durante 1, 2, 4 e 6 dias. A expressão coordenada entre o RLDL e a HMG-CoA redutase foi observada nas células mesangiais cultivadas em meio com LPDS. O GH aaumentou a proliferação das células mesangiais, dependente da sua concentração. A exposição prolongada ao GH induziu o aumento da expressão de RNAm do RLDL e da HMG-CoA redutase na células mesangiais, bem como o acúmulo de lípides neutros no citoplasma. Nos estudos in vivo...