ABSTRACT
Dopamine is the principal transmitter of several central nervous system pathways originating in the midbrain and critically involved in motor activity, learning and motivation, disruptions of which have been implicated in a number of disorders, including Parkinson disease and schizophrenia. Dopamine played a particularly significant role in the history of neurochemistry. Following a series of investigations between 1957 and 1965, commencing in the laboratory and completed in the clinic, the significance of chemical neurotransmission for normal CNS function was first demonstrated in the case of dopamine.
Subject(s)
Dopamine/history , Psychiatry/history , Animals , History, 20th Century , History, 21st Century , Humans , Neurochemistry/historyABSTRACT
Hyperactive and inattentive children have been discussed in both the pedagogic and medical literature since the nineteenth century, and many controversies associated with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been repeatedly analyzed in different contexts. The 'prehistory' of the ADHD concept-that is, up to the definition of ADHD in DSM-III and of the corresponding 'hyperkinetic disorder' in ICD-9-is outlined, with an emphasis on the literature not previously discussed in English language reviews of the subject.
Subject(s)
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/history , Child Behavior Disorders/history , Adolescent , Amphetamines/history , Amphetamines/therapeutic use , Child , Child Behavior Disorders/drug therapy , Child, Preschool , Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders , History, 19th Century , History, 20th Century , History, 21st Century , Humans , Neurology/history , Psychiatry/history , SyndromeABSTRACT
This is the second of two papers which critically examine the relationship between the 1918/19 influenza pandemic and encephalitis lethargica (EL). The role of influenza in the etiology of EL was vigorously debated until 1924. It is notable, however, that the unitarian camp were largely reactive in their argumentation; while the influenza skeptics provided detail descriptions of EL and the features they argued to be unique or at least unusual, influenza supporters focused on sequentially refuting the evidence of their opponents. The impression which emerges from this debate is that the individual features identified by the skeptics were not absolutely pathognomic for EL, but, on the other hand, their combination in one disorder had not previously been described for any other disease.
Subject(s)
Disease Outbreaks/history , Encephalitis/history , Influenza, Human/history , Brain/pathology , Encephalitis/etiology , Encephalitis/pathology , Encephalitis, Viral/history , Encephalitis, Viral/pathology , History, 20th Century , Humans , Influenza, Human/diagnosis , Influenza, Human/pathology , Models, Neurological , Poliomyelitis/history , Poliomyelitis/pathologyABSTRACT
This is the first of two papers which critically examine the relationship between the 1918/19 influenza pandemic and encephalitis lethargica (EL). The role of influenza in the etiology of EL was vigorously debated until 1924. It is notable, however, that the unitarian camp were largely reactive in their argumentation; while the influenza skeptics provided detail descriptions of EL and the features they argued to be unique or at least unusual, influenza supporters focused on sequentially refuting the evidence of their opponents. The impression which emerges from this debate is that the individual features identified by the skeptics were not absolutely pathognomic for EL, but, on the other hand, their combination in one disorder had not previously been described for any other disease.
Subject(s)
Disease Outbreaks/history , Encephalitis/history , Influenza, Human/history , Encephalitis/epidemiology , Encephalitis, Viral/epidemiology , Encephalitis, Viral/history , History, 19th Century , History, 20th Century , Humans , Influenza, Human/epidemiologyABSTRACT
An investigation of the characteristics of influenza epidemics in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was undertaken, principally in order to analyze the role of the 1918/1919 influenza pandemic in the etiology of encephalitis lethargica. Expectations regarding a future influenza pandemic derive principally from experiences in the 1918 epidemic. It is proposed that this pandemic was atypical with respect to many of its features, and that these have not been appropriately regarded in mapping expectations and responses of a future pandemic. Both a longer historical viewpoint (incorporating knowledge from all major nineteenth and twentieth century epidemics) and closer examination of individual epidemics at the town level is essential for producing an accurate picture of the challenge.
