ABSTRACT
The data on the composition of forces of medical services and organization of medical-evacuation support for troops defending the blockaded Leningrad are presented. The information about the health losses among the population of Leningrad as a result of bombing, shelling and disease is given. Extremely high rates of morbidity and mortality in residents were associated with hunger, hypothermia and emotional stress. The clinical picture of some diseases has different peculiarities because of alimentary dystrophy background. The city health service suffered huge losses: 482 medical institutions were destroyed, only about 300 people from 1.5 thousand of medical personnel in 1942 saved working capability. The health care service of the local air defense played an essential role in delivery of medical aid. The contribution of civil and military health workers in saving residents lives in the blockaded Leningrad was appreciated.
Subject(s)
Delivery of Health Care/history , Delivery of Health Care/organization & administration , Military Medicine/history , Military Medicine/organization & administration , World War II , Cities , Emaciation/history , Emaciation/mortality , Emaciation/therapy , History, 20th Century , Humans , Military Personnel/history , Starvation/history , Starvation/mortality , Starvation/therapy , Transportation of Patients/history , Transportation of Patients/organization & administration , USSR , Wounds and Injuries/history , Wounds and Injuries/mortality , Wounds and Injuries/therapyABSTRACT
A collection of before and after photographs of female patients treated using Weir Mitchell's Rest Cure for neurasthenia shows how important the anorectic body was to the promotion of this specific method of treatment. The photographs document the inevitable weight gain that resulted from the Rest Cure's prescription of absolute bed rest and the consumption of a high caloric diet requiring the ingestion of several quarts of milk daily. In doing this, the photos served a powerful semiotic function, since the plump individual at the end of the treatment presented a dramatic contrast to the emaciated long-term invalid who had begun it. The after treatment photographs also implied that these women were now capable of discharging their roles as wives and mothers, since an additional benefit of the Rest Cure was that severely underweight patients resumed normal menstrual cycles. However, although the Rest Cure undeniably alleviated some physical symptoms, it did not address underlying issues of what had caused so many of these patients to take to their beds in the first place, often for years at a time.
Subject(s)
Bed Rest , Diet, High-Fat/history , Documentation/history , Emaciation/history , Milk/history , Neurasthenia/history , Photography/history , Somatotypes , Weight Gain , Animals , England , Female , History, 19th Century , History, 20th Century , HumansSubject(s)
Famous Persons , Feeding and Eating Disorders/history , Thinness/history , Denmark , Emaciation/history , Female , History, 19th Century , History, 20th Century , Humans , Kenya , United StatesABSTRACT
Medical consequences of Leningrad blockade are considered from the standpoint of modern science. Pathologies acquired by blockade survivors are regarded as extreme polymorbid conditions caused by combined effect of prolonged psychemotional stress, largest-scale famine, and hypothermia responsible for undermining vital functions. Special emphasis is laid on the role of nervous system dysregulation in the development of many diseases. The influence of physiological and pathological stress on the outcome of alimentary dystrophia is discussed in the psychosomatic context. Pathogenesis of dystrophia and "Leningrad" hypertension is analysed. Mechanisms of survival and rehabilitation in subjects with persistent traces of blockade pathology are considered.
Subject(s)
Emaciation/history , Stress, Psychological/history , Urban Population/history , Adult , Emaciation/epidemiology , Emaciation/psychology , History, 20th Century , Humans , Hypertension/epidemiology , Hypertension/history , Hypertension/psychology , Middle Aged , Prevalence , Stress, Psychological/epidemiology , Stress, Psychological/psychology , USSR/epidemiology , World War IIABSTRACT
Medical consequences of Leningrad blockade are considered from the standpoint of modern science. Pathologies acquired by blockade survivors are regarded as extreme polymorbid conditions caused by combined effect of prolonged psychemotional stress, largest-scale famine, and hypothermia responsible for undermining vital functions. Special emphasis is laid on the role of nervous system dysregulation in the development of many diseases. The influence of physiological and pathological stress on the outcome of alimentary dystrophia is discussed in the psychosomatic context. Pathogenesis of dystrophia and Leningrad hypertension is analysed. Mechanisms of survival and rehabilitation in subjects with persistent traces of blockade pathology are considered.
