Friedrich Miescher's Discovery in the Historiography of Genetics: From Contamination to Confusion, from Nuclein to DNA.

In 1869, Johann Friedrich Miescher discovered a new substance in the nucleus of living cells. The substance, which he called nuclein, is now known as DNA, yet both Miescher's name and his theoretical ideas about nuclein are all but forgotten. This paper traces the trajectory of Miescher's reception in the historiography of genetics. To his critics, Miescher was a "contaminator," whose preparations were impure. Modern historians portrayed him as a "confuser," whose misunderstandings delayed the development of molecular biology. Each of these portrayals reflects the disciplinary context in which Miescher's work was evaluated. Using archival sources to unearth Miescher's unpublished speculations-including an analogy between the hereditary material and language, and a speculation that a series of asymmetric carbon atoms could account for hereditary variation-this paper clarifies the ways in which the past was judged through the lens of contemporary concerns. It also shows how organization, structure, function, and information were already being considered when nuclein was first discovered nearly 150 years ago.

[Diagnosis and treatment of suppurative mediastinitis - a special chapter in the history of surgery (in Russian only)]. / Diagnostika i lechenie gnoinogo mediastinita - osobaia glava v istorii khirurgii.

It was reviewed a history of diagnosis and treatment of suppurative mediastinitis from ancient times to our time depending on inflammation type, localization and clinical features. An important role of national surgical school in the development of surgical treatment was emphasized.

Taming an old enemy: a profile of intracranial suppuration.

Intracranial suppurative disorders (ICSDs; brain abscess, empyema, and purulent ventriculitis), have been a scourge through the ages and attempts at curative surgery, as for cranial trauma, are considered to be one of the first true neurosurgical interventions performed. ICSDs, seen initially as a consequence of poor socioeconomic conditions and neglected otorhinogenic infections, predominantly manifest today as postsurgical complications, and/or in immunocompromised patients where they continue to result in significant neurologic morbidity and death. The reduction in the incidence of "old world" classic ICSDs can be attributed to the modernization of society, driven inter alia by a shift from an agricultural to an industrial economic society. It can also be coupled with pivotal achievements in public health and the dramatic developments in medicine in the 20th century. This trend was first noted in developed countries but now, with improved socioeconomic circumstances and globalization of medical technology, it is occurring in the developing regions of the world as well. Although ICSDs have undergone a metamorphosis in their clinical profile and despite their rarity in contemporary "developed world" neurosurgical practice, they still have undoubted potential for fatal consequences and continue to pose a significant challenge to the 21st-century neurosurgeon.

El significado de la erección, la genitalidad y otras representaciones de índole urológico en el imaginario paleolítico / The meaning of erection, genitality, and other representations of urologic topics in the paleolithic imaginary

La Historia de la Urología comienza con documentos escritos que hacen referencia expresa a procedimientos, prácticas y descripciones de procesos mórbidos relacionados con el aparato urinario y genital masculino. Curiosamente, durante la época prehistórica más reciente, el Paleolítico superior (desde hace aproximadamente 40.000 a 12.000 años; la época más larga desde que nuestra especie entra en escena en la historia de la humanidad) tiene también documentos gráficos que expresan cómo el hombre entendía los fenómenos fisiológicos y cómo observaba los procesos patológicos de su organismo. Las representaciones con genitalidad expresa permiten inferir el significado de la erección desde la mentalidad paleolítica, e incluso la posible existencia de una cultura de retracción prepucial o de ritos de circuncisión. Patologías de índice urológico como la fimosis, la parafimosis, la supuración, el priapismo e incluso masa escrotal, aparecen representadas en dicha época y constituyen los primeros indicios de lo que podemos denominar un saber urológico primitivo

The history of urology starts with written documents making express reference to procedures, practices and descriptions of morbid processes related with the male genitourinary tract. Oddly, the most recent prehistoric period, the superior Paleolithic (from approximately 40.000 years to 12.000 years ago; the longest period since our species entered the history of humanity) also has graphic documents expressing how the human being understood the physiologic phenomena and how he observed the pathologic processes of this organism. The representations with genitality expressions enable us to understand the meaning of erection from the Paleolithic perspective, and even the possible existence of a culture based on preputial retraction or rituals of circumcision. Several urologic disorders such us phimosis, paraphimosis, discharge, priapism, and even scrotal mass appear represented at that time and constitute the first sign of knowledge of what can be called primitive urologic knowledge

[Contribution of Friedrich Wilhelm Zahn (1845-1904) to the study of inflammation]. / La contribution de Friedrich Wilhelm Zahn (1845-1904) à l'étude de l'inflammation.

Prior to being named to the first chair of Pathology at Geneva University, Friedrich Wilhelm Zahn had published, in 1871, his doctoral thesis entitled Zur Lehre von der Entzündung und Eiterung. This work, written under the direction of Edwin Klebs, at Berne, demonstrated experimentally that the so-called Microsporon septicum (an infectious fungus identified by Klebs) provoked a local inflammation as well as remote secondary focal suppurations. This study apparently confirmed Kleb's hypothesis that Microsporon septicum, usually present in wounds, is the cause of an infectious disease. Zahn's research as well as the work of Klebs fell under attack: the method of identifying the microorganism as well as the demonstration of his causal relationship to inflammation were not conclusive. At the end of the discussion, it was admitted that the status of a cause of infection could be attributed to a microorganism only under the two following conditions: the latter must be identified with Koch's method, and his causal relationship to the infectious disease must be specific. This is precisely what Zahn's thesis was unable to prove. The analysis of his work as well as of the critical arguments enables us to follow and understand the controversy on the cause of inflammation and suppuration at the dawn of the bacteriological age.