William Arbuthnot Lane (1856-1943): Surgical Innovator and His Theory of Autointoxication.

William Arbuthnot Lane contributed to the advancement of many fields of orthopedics, otolaryngology, and general surgery. He is credited for his "no-touch technique" and the invention of long-handled instruments, some of which are still in use today, to minimize tissue handling. He is most well known for his hypothesis that slowing of gastric contents could cause a variety of ailments and this became known as Lane's disease. Although his surgical treatment of Lane's disease is now defunct, it advanced the surgical technique in colorectal surgery. It seems likely that some of Lane's "autointoxication" patients would be classified today as patients with colonic inertia, diverticulitis, colonic volvulus, and megacolon or, which are all treated with colectomy. Lane was a pioneer in multiple fields and a true general surgeon. He advanced colorectal surgery immensely and propelled the field of surgery into a new era.

Hysterical again: the gastrointestinal woman in medical discourse.

This article suggests increased attention to how medical discourses of gastrointestinal (GI) disorder and distress are fraught with social assumptions and consequences by examining nineteenth-century and contemporary medical texts focused on chronic constipation and Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). I suggest that these medical discourses present what I call the "gastrointestinal woman," who is characterized as having unjustified anxiety and is to blame for her condition. My approach to understanding, and ultimately revising, the representation of the gastrointestinal woman is shaped by disability studies scholarship, which encourages intervention in problematic medical discourses and more active shaping of discourses of chronic pain and illness by those who have these conditions.

Rash remarks and practical points.

A letter in the BJN 100 years ago highlighted an interesting nursing point with regard to speaking in front of patients without thinking about their feelings.

[Medical history of Martin Luther].

Martin Luther achieved great success in religious reformation, though he was said to have suffered from many kinds of diseases during his lifetime. Unfortunately, however, his medical history has never been reported in Japan. Since the second half of his thirties, he was suffering from severe constipation, causing hemorrhoids and anal prolapse. At the beginning of his forties he had vertigo, tinnitis and headaches, which were the signs of chronic purlent otitis media and ended in left otorrhea and pyorrhea of the left mastoiditis. Nearly at the same time, he started to suffer from anginal pain, colic and dysuria due to urinary uric acid stones, gout and left leg ulcer, which were all caused by metabolic syndromes. The last 1/3 of his life was affected by the shadow of diseases, and his religious activities were frequently disturbed. He died from myocardial infarction at the age 63, in February 1546.

[The Grains of health of Dr. Franck. From secret remedy to patent medicine]. / Les Grains de santé du Dr Franck. Du remède secret a la spécialité.

After a short history of secrets remedies, the author presents the "Grains de santé du Dr Franck". She tells about their compound and indications, about their owner (Dr Audin-Rouvière) and its misunderstandings with the medical Academy because of the name of "Dr Franck". Finally, the author presents the evolution of this secret remedy to a patent medicine, sold buy Troncin laboratory.

Male pelvic floor: history and update.

Our understanding of the male pelvic floor has evolved over more than 2,000 years. Gradually medical science has sought to dispel ancient myths and untruths. The male pelvic floor has many diverse functions. Importantly, it helps to support the abdominal contents, maintains urinary and fecal continence, and plays a major role in gaining and maintaining penile erection. Weakness of the male pelvic floor muscles may cause urinary and fecal incontinence and erectile dysfunction. Function may be restored in each of these areas by a comprehensive pelvic floor muscle training program. Spasm of the pelvic floor muscles may produce pain and require relaxation techniques. Additional research is needed to add further evidence to our knowledge base.

The sorbonnic trots: staging the intestinal distress of the roman catholic church in French Reform Theater.

This essay surveys the use of the metaphors of illness, specifically those of constipation and diarrhea, in vernacular French Evangelical and Calvinist polemical theater of the 1520s and 30s (Berquin, Malingre, Marguerite d' Angoulême) through the 1560s (Badius). It considers the relatively frequent reference to staging of diagnosis, treatment, and cure in the context of contemporary medical belief and practice, and observes a shift in emphasis from optimistic prognosis and successful therapy of the earlier Evangelical period to negative pronouncement of imminent (and deserved) death in the later calvinist or Huguenot period at the start of the Wars of Religion.

[A remembrance of Clarín's illnesses in his centenary]. / Las enfermedades de Clarín. Un recuerdo en su centenario.

The Spanish famous writer Leopoldo Alas, also known by the pseudonymous of "Clarín" suffered from two main kind of illnesses: nervous and digestives. Both began early, when he was only thirty two. At that moment, and during all his thirties, nervous ailments were conspicuous, but digestive problems were growing up slow but steadily and became the most serious and even menacing during his forties. Nervous pathology was double: on the one hand, some attacks of migraine with visual disturbances (scotoma), dysphasia and other "indescribable nervous oddities", which happened about 4-5 times per year; on the other, several emotional and vague symptoms, such as melancholia, dejected mood, anxiety, nervousness, etc. Digestive symptomatology, consisting of atonic constipation, intestinal dyspepsia, febricula, and a feeling of being "as a blocked drain", is due--no doubt--to tuberculous peritonitis diagnosed by his young nephew Dr. Martínez. This serious illness was the cause of his death on the 13th June 1901, when he was only 49.