RESUMEN
The mushroom Amanita muscaria (fly agaric) is widely distributed throughout continental Europe and the UK. Its common name suggests that it had been used to kill flies, until superseded by arsenic. The bioactive compounds occurring in the mushroom remained a mystery for long periods of time, but eventually four hallucinogens were isolated from the fungus: muscarine, muscimol, muscazone and ibotenic acid. The shamans of Eastern Siberia used the mushroom as an inebriant and a hallucinogen. In 1912, Henry Dale suggested that muscarine (or a closely related substance) was the transmitter at the parasympathetic nerve endings, where it would produce lacrimation, salivation, sweating, bronchoconstriction and increased intestinal motility. He and Otto Loewi eventually isolated the transmitter and showed that it was not muscarine but acetylcholine. The receptor is now known variously as cholinergic or muscarinic. From this basic knowledge, drugs such as pilocarpine (cholinergic) and ipratropium (anticholinergic) have been shown to be of value in glaucoma and diseases of the lungs, respectively.
Asunto(s)
Acetilcolina/historia , Amanita/química , Muscarina/historia , Acetilcolina/fisiología , Asma/tratamiento farmacológico , Asma/historia , Antagonistas Colinérgicos/historia , Antagonistas Colinérgicos/uso terapéutico , Historia del Siglo XVI , Historia del Siglo XVII , Historia del Siglo XIX , Historia del Siglo XX , Historia Antigua , Muscarina/aislamiento & purificación , Pilocarpina/historia , Pilocarpina/aislamiento & purificación , Pilocarpina/uso terapéutico , Pilocarpus/química , Enfermedad Pulmonar Obstructiva Crónica/tratamiento farmacológico , Enfermedad Pulmonar Obstructiva Crónica/historia , Receptores Colinérgicos/historia , Receptores Colinérgicos/fisiología , Chamanismo/historiaRESUMEN
Rhubarb was grown and used throughout China for thousands of years. It then found its way to St Petersburg where the Romanovs developed a flourishing trade in the plant to the rest of Europe. James Mounsey, a physician to the Tsar, brought back seeds from Russia to Scotland at considerable risk to himself. He passed some of the seeds to Alexander Dick and John Hope. Both these physicians then grew rhubarb at Prestonfield and the Botanic Garden (both in Edinburgh), respectively. Eventually rhubarb, in the form of Gregory's powder, became a common and popular medicine throughout the UK.
Asunto(s)
Fitoterapia/historia , Preparaciones de Plantas/historia , Rheum , Comercio/historia , Jardinería/historia , Antigua Grecia , Historia del Siglo XVIII , Historia del Siglo XIX , Historia Antigua , Humanos , Medicina Arábiga/historia , Preparaciones de Plantas/envenenamiento , Preparaciones de Plantas/uso terapéutico , EscociaRESUMEN
The James Lind Library (www.jameslindlibrary.org) has been established to improve public and professional general knowledge about fair tests of treatments in healthcare and their history. Its foundation was laid ten years ago at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, and its administrative centre is in the College's Sibbald Library, one of the most important collections of historic medical manuscripts, papers and books in the world. The James Lind Library is a website that introduces visitors to the principles of fair tests of treatments, with a series of short, illustrated essays, which are currently available in English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. A 100-page book-- Testing Treatments--is now available free through the website, both in English and in Arabic and Spanish translations. To illustrate the evolution of ideas related to fair tests of treatments from 2000 BC to the present, the James Lind Library contains key passages and images from manuscripts, books and journal articles, many of them accompanied by commentaries, biographies, portraits and other relevant documents and images, including audio and video files. New material is being added to the website continuously, as relevant new records are identified and as methods for testing treatments evolve. A multinational, multilingual editorial team oversees the development of the website, which currently receives tens of thousands of visitors every month.