New Find

This Month in History: Pay No Attention to the Doctor Behind the Iron Curtain

A young, bespectacled version of the Wizard of Oz, Dr. Frank N. Low, lived up to the great and powerful legacy as a member of LSUMCÔÇÖs anatomy faculty, venturing behind the Iron Curtain in 1958. His travels came at a time of international tension, but in the name of science, Dr. LowÔÇÖs survey of electron microscope usage in laboratories across Europe proved invaluable in transcending the iron divide and promoting cross-cultural cooperation.

Cover Art for “Klop” the Bedbug; http://tinyurl.com/8h3hycr

Remarking on the ÔÇ£exoticÔÇØ subway of Moscow, the ÔÇ£finely developedÔÇØ Russian sense of humor, and the popularity of the play, ÔÇ£Klop” the Bedbug, in his interview with the Times-Picayune, Dr. Low appears to have enjoyed his surroundings overseas. He even brought home an object known as the ÔÇ£Tartar MenaceÔÇØ that would turn out not only to be lucky for Low, but also for his research assistant, a previous ÔÇ£Glimpse of the PastÔÇØ honoree, Dr. Marilyn Zimny, who upon receipt of the figurine received news that she had been awarded a research grant for $28,000. The ÔÇ£Tartar MenaceÔÇØ appears to refer either to a group of indigenous Mongol peoples called the Tatars or Tartars, or the Greek myth of Tartarus, a section of the underworld. Despite its violent etymology, the figurine kept Dr. Low safe from even a stubbed toe on his journey.

And lucky we are that it did, for Dr. Frank N. LowÔÇÖs contributions to the scientific world were momentous. As of a 1953 article, ÔÇ£Dr. LowÔÇÖs study provide[d] proof of the existence of a complete covering of the tiny blood vessels in the lung. The presence of this covering, medically known as a pulmonary epithelium has long been in doubt. The significance of [his] discovery is that it is an explanation of how air is excluded from the lung tissue, a destructive process. This is why lung surgery is so cautiously practiced.ÔÇØ

His triumphs also include authoring a renowned text, Electron Microscope: Atlas of Normal and Leukemic Human Blood, acquiring an electron microscope for LSUMC, and pioneering scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and freeze-etch/freeze-fracture technology. His impressive career culminated in his later life with the establishment of the Annual Dr. Frank N. Low Research Day at the University of North Dakota. He returned to LSU at the end of his career to work under Dr. Zimny in the anatomy department until his death in 1998. This memorial article shows how truly respected and loved he was. Now, if only we could find his ÔÇ£Tartar Menace!ÔÇØ

Glimpse of the Past is an ongoing project to promote the Louisiana Digital Library effort. This Month in History will present for your reading pleasure a closer look into a newspaper clipping of note from our Digital Collections and articles relating to the LSU Medical School.

Spotlight on the New Books Display

1. Using occupational therapy theory in practice?á(2012) by Gail Boniface & Alison Seymour
2. Cellular and molecular immunology?á(2012) by Abul K. Abbas, Andrew H. Lichtman, & Shiv Pillai ; illustrations by David L. Baker, Alexandra Baker
3. Arthritis in black and white (2012) by Anne C. Brower & Donald J. Flemming, Stephanie A. Bernard, associate editor
4. Clinical gynecologic oncology (2012) by Philip J. Di Saia & William T. Creasman, editors
5. Smith’s patient-centered interviewing : an evidence-based method (2012) by Auguste H. Fortin VI, et al
6. Visual attention in children : theories and activities (2012) by Kenneth A. Lane
7. Medically important fungi : a guide to identification (2011) by Davise H.Larone
8. Public health for an aging society (2012) by Thomas R. Prohaska, Lynda A. Anderson, & Robert H. Binstock, editors
9. A nuts-and-bolts approach to teaching nursing (2012) by Mary T. Quinn Griffin & Jeanne M. Novotny
10. Nurses in war : voices from Iraq and Afghanistan (2012) by Elizabeth Scannell-Desch & Mary Ellen Doherty
11. APA addiction syndrome handbook (2012, 2 volumes) by Howard J. Shaffer, editor-in-chief ; Debi A. LaPlante & Sarah E. Nelson, associate editors
12. Handbook of stress, coping, and health : implications for nursing research, theory, and practice (2012) by Virginia Hill Rice
13. Ocular differential diagnosis (2012) by Frederick Hampton Roy
14. Wounds and lacerations : emergency care and closure (2012) by Alexander Trott
15. Research for the public good : applying the methods of translational research to improve human health and well-being (2012) by Elaine Wethington & Rachel E. Dunifon, editors

Faculty Publications Greet the Cooler Weather

October’s compilation of faculty publications by LSUHSC-NO researchers has been added to the display in the LibraryÔÇÖs Reference area (near the Library elevator), on the third floor of the Resource Center Building. These items are also part of the LibraryÔÇÖs Faculty Publications Database.

The Faculty Publications Database includes publications authored by at least one member of the LSUHSC-New
Orleans faculty, 1998 ÔÇô present. Access to this database is available to the public. The database is linked from the Library web page?áhere. This page includes a handy link to a?áPDF?áof the monthly bibliography of display articles. To add your faculty publications, or for questions about this database, contact?áKathy Kerdolff.

LSUHSC-NO authors are shown in bold print:

1.?áDuke MD, Guidry C, Guice J, Stuke L, Marr AB, Hunt JP, Meade P, McSwain NE,Jr, Duchesne JC. “Restrictive fluid resuscitation in combination with damage control resuscitation: time for adaptation.” Journal of Trauma & Acute Care Surgery. 2012; 73(3):674-678.

2.?áHalabi A, Ditch S, Wang J, Grabczyk E. “DNA mismatch repair complex MutS? promotes GAA?ÀTTC repeat expansion in human cells.” Journal of Biological Chemistry. 2012; 287(35):29958-29967.

3.?áKoski ME, Chow D, Bedestani A, Togami JM, Chesson RR, Winters JC. “Colpocleisis for advanced pelvic organ prolapse.” Urology. 2012; 80(3):542-546.

4.?áPatterson CM, Morrison RL, D’Souza A, Teng XS, Happel KI. “Inhaled fluticasone propionate impairs pulmonary clearance of klebsiella pneumoniae in mice.” Respiratory Research. 2012; 13(40), epub.

5.?áPogue AI, Jones BM, Bhattacharjee S, Percy ME, Zhao Y, Lukiw WJ. “Metal-sulfate induced generation of ROS in human brain cells: Detection using an isomeric mixture of 5- and 6-carboxy-2?,7?-dichlorofluorescein diacetate (carboxy-DCFDA) as a cell permeant tracer.” International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2012; 13(8):9615-9626.

6.?áPrimeaux SD, Braymer HD, Bray GA. “CD36 mRNA in the gastrointestinal tract is differentially regulated by dietary fat intake in obesity-prone and obesity-resistant rats.” Digestive Diseases & Sciences. 2012; epub.

7.?áSumner J. ÔÇ£Communication as moral caring in nursing: the moral construct of caring in nursing as communicative action.ÔÇØ?áInternational Journal for Human Caring. 2012; 16(2):20-27.

8.?áVarner KJ, Daigle K, Weed PF, Lewis PB, Mahne SE, Sankaranarayanan A, Winsauer PJ. “Comparison of the behavioral and cardiovascular effects of mephedrone with other drugs of abuse in rats.” Psychopharmacology. 2012; epub.

Friday fun: Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Foods

Spin echo of StarFruit

Science geek website io9 reports on a very unusual use of an MRI:

Over at the blog Inside Insides, Andy Ellison of Boston University Medical School has been throwing the entire produce aisle inside a Philips 3 Tesla MRI, revealing the otherworldly realms that dwell inside common foods. Here’s but a small sampling of his many see-through delicacies, immortalized as GIFs ÔÇö my favorite is the broccoli explosion.

Head on over to Mr. Ellison’s blog for more interesting imaging, including a 3D rendering of broccoli and some?á?áincredibly cool 3D interactive versions of the scans by The Visual MD.

Friday Fun: Study maybe

Via Dr. Bertalan Mesk??’s ScienceRoll blog comes this inspired “Call me maybe”* parody by the University of Maryland School of Medicine 2015.

At 7:15 it’s fairly long for our limited attention span. To just watch the music, skip ahead to 2:08.

*Over 25? Check out the story behind the song?áCall me maybe via Wikipedia

This Month in History: Trading the Mrs. for an M.D.

In honor of those nursing students plowing through history papers this week, here is a little piece of LSU Health Sciences Center history on the role of women in medicine.

Though the word ÔÇ£invasionÔÇØ might connote a hostile takeover or an alien attack, for those who witnessed a new trend in medical student populations post-World War II, ÔÇ£invasionÔÇØ spoke to the influx of females in the medical fieldÔÇönot a case for either the armed forces or Special Agents Mulder and Scully, but certainly an opportunity for marked advances in modern science. This article from the New Orleans States (a newspaper subsumed by the Picayune in 1980) from September 1946 marks an important milestone in our institutionÔÇÖs history as twenty female students enrolled in their first-year of medical school at LSU, surpassing the thirteen of the previous year.

The reasoning behind this onslaught of female M.D. candidates seems to follow on the wake of the recent war: ÔÇ£There is no telling what would have happened to their dreams of a profession if the right man had been attending classes at college with them instead of fighting a war, most of them agreed.ÔÇØ While the availability of Mr. Right may have been postponed, the drive of these women to pursue a medical career (perhaps a less intuitive path according to the social norms of the late 1940s) cannot be denied. Citing the greater freedom and social mobility of the times in addition to the general indifference of their professors and male peers on the growing female presence in the classroom, these women transcend the ÔÇ£vague motivesÔÇØ of the ÔÇ£feminine vogue for wearing a doctorÔÇÖs insigniaÔÇØ to participate within our history.

Perhaps bolstered by the popular figure of Rosie the Riveter, a new class of professional care-givers is subjected to the rigors of a medical education and the horrors of the cadaver lab. One such empowered and notable woman pictured in this piece is Ms. Jean Persons, who would go on to become one of AlaskaÔÇÖs best known pioneer doctors and who published a memoir in 2007: From Dog Sleds to Float Planes: Alaskan Adventures in Medicine. You can read the glowing Amazon reviews here. In a time of tuberculosis and remote citizenship, Dr. Persons ÔÇ£was a petite single woman tackling a job most men would run from,ÔÇØ and so she stands as a measure for all those who follow, a prime example of not only female physicians, but of all LSU Medical School graduates.

Glimpse of the Past is an ongoing project to promote the Louisiana Digital Library effort. This Month in History will present for your reading pleasure a closer look into a newspaper clipping of note from our Digital Collections and articles relating to the LSU Medical School.

New Issue of the Library Bulletin

The latest issue of the LibraryÔÇÖs Newsletter has been released. Archives of the newsletter are also available from 1998 to the present.

New Voting Resources for Academic Medicine Community

The AAMC has a new resource devoted to voting information for the Academic Medicine Community. Watch ?áAAMC President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch, M.D. discuss the importance of voting on?áTuesday, November 6, 2012 below.

Visit the site at?áhttps://www.aamc.org/initiatives/election/?áfor?áinformation for voters to register, request absentee ballots, and create district-specific sample ballots.?á The site includes links to candidate and party Web sites.?á Visitors also can connect with AAMC initiative pages that contain messaging and other resources on the critical issues of funding for graduate medical education and medical research.

CDC Grand Rounds: New Disease Detection

The Centers for Disease Control offers a monthly Public Health Grand Rounds webcast.?á The Tuesday, September 18th broadcast (12-1 pm CDT) is entitled “Explaining the Unexplained: Discovering New Diseases Using Advanced Detection Tools.“?á It is possible to receive continuing education contact hours for participating.

Friday Fun: Naptime for Internal Medicine Residents

A recent study in Academic Medicine?ánot only made available awesome futuristic nap pods (photo, left) to fatigued house staff, but also found that a short mid-day nap can improve?ácognitive functioning and alertness among first-year IM residents.

“In this study, we measured the effect of a brief, mid-day nap during normal duty hours on cognitive functioning and alertness among first-year IM residents. We found that, compared with the resting-but-awake residents, the residents who actually napped experienced fewer attention failures during their work later in the day as determined by a monitor of SEMs. Further, we found that, compared with controls who rested but stayed awake for 20 minutes, residents who had the opportunity to nap for a maximum of 20 minutes demonstrated a faster reaction time and made fewer errors of omission and commission as determined by a validated test of cognitive functioning. These findings suggest that a short, mid-day nap may improve first year residentsÔÇÖ performance during their clinical duties.”

Any parent can tell you that a regularly scheduled nap time makes for happier humans. Now to just equip the staff lounge with some of these pods, throw in some cookies and juice for a post-slumber snack, and medical errors will be a thing of the past, right?

Citation and link to full text:?á
The Effects of a Mid-Day Nap on the Neurocognitive Performance of First-Year Medical Residents: A Controlled Interventional Pilot Study.
Amin MM, Graber M, Ahmad K, Manta D, Hossain S, Belisova Z, Cheney W, Gold MS, Gold AR.
Academic Medicine: 21 August 2012
View in PubMed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22914520

Start the Semester with Faculty Publications

There is a new selection faculty publications now on display for the month of September. These articles, authored by LSUHSC-NO researchers, have been added to the display in the LibraryÔÇÖs Reference area (near the Library elevator) on the third floor of the Resource Center Building. These items are also part of the LibraryÔÇÖs Faculty Publications Database.

The Faculty Publications Database includes publications authored by at least one member of the LSUHSC-New Orleans faculty, 1998 ÔÇô present. Access to this database is available to the public. The database is linked from the Library web page?áhere. This page includes a handy link to a?áPDF?áof the monthly bibliography of display articles. To add your faculty publications, or for questions about this database, contact?áKathy Kerdolff.

LSUHSC-NO authors are shown in bold print:

1. England JD, Franklin GM. “Difficult decisions: Managing chronic neuropathic pain with opioids.” Continuum. 2012; 18(1):181-184.

2.?áGee RE. “Preventive services for women under the affordable care act.” Obstetrics & Gynecology. 2012; 120(1):12-14.

3.?áHaque N, Raza A, McGoey R, Boulmay B, Diethelm L, Kantrow S. “Small cell lung cancer: Time to diagnosis and treatment.” Southern Medical Journal. 2012; 105(8):418-423.

4.?áJacob JT, Levet J,Jr, Edwards TA, Dassanayake N, Ketelson H. “Visualizing hydrophobic domains in silicone hydrogel lenses with sudan IV.” Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science. 2012; 53(7):3473-3480.

5.?áSimon LM, Magit AE. “Impact of incision and drainage of infected thyroglossal duct cyst on recurrence after sistrunk procedure.” Archives of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery. 2012; 138(1):20-24.

6.?áSingh G, Kumar A, Sinha N. “Studying significance of apoptosis in mediating tolbutamide-induced teratogenesis in vitro.” Fundamental & Clinical Pharmacology. 2012; 26(4):484-494.

7.?áSterling YM. “Impact of the environment on asthma control.” Journal of Community Health Nursing. 2012; 29(3):143-153.

8.?áMader EC, Jr, Maury JS, Santana-Gould L, Craver RD, El-Abassi R, Segura-Palacios E, Sumner AJ. “Human Rabies with Initial Manifestations that Mimic Acute Brachial Neuritis and Guillain-Barre Syndrome.” Clinical Medicine Insights: Case Reports. 2012; 5: 49-55.

New Medical Student Blog

From the Association of?áAmerican?áMedical Colleges:

Aspiring Docs Blog Features Life of a First-Year Medical Student

The AAMCÔÇÖs Aspiring Docs program recently launched a blog featuring an inside look at the life of a first-year medical student attending Harvard Medical School.?á Aspiring Docs Diaries will be written by Devon Taylor, who received a full scholarship to Harvard Medical School after overcoming significant adversity, including growing up in poverty and dropping out of high school.?á He will blog about his experiences beginning with orientation through the end of his first year.?á The blog offers an inspiring story to help demystify the medical school process and encourage others from similar backgrounds to aspire to careers in medicine.?á To learn more about Taylor and read his posts, visit www.aspiringdocsdiaries.org.

Malarial Mosquito with Seussical Whimsy

During World War II, Theodore Geissel (better known as Dr. Seuss) joined the war effort doing what he did best, creating cartoons and educating. He was commissioned as a captain in the US Army. The Contagions blog discovered this image on the USDA Young Dipterists website and NPR picked the story up.?á This is the first page of a handbook for soldiers to help educate them on the prevention of malaria by avoiding mosquito bites…no partying with Ann for them!

Perhaps those of us in South Louisiana should be taking his advice 70 years later with West Nile outbreaks making the news.?á Of course the Centers for Disease Control have released a feature with some more modern advice.

This Month in History: Dr. Hamlett & Zoological Treasure Hunting

Ever wondered how to catch a lizard? You might think to consult wikiHow or you might look up an instructional video on YouTube. Consulting our Digital Collection of newspaper clippings, however, would reveal quite an interesting portrait of a rugged, LSU Indiana Jones in pursuit of a rare treasure: the live-birthing lizard.

In 1953, the Times-Picayune ran an article on one Dr. George W. D. Hamlett, faculty of the LSU Medical School Department of Anatomy, whose research practices involved catching his subjects in the American Southwest rather than in a lab. Nets are all well and good for the casual lizard hunter, but Dr. HamlettÔÇÖs methods included an elaborate system of hammer, chisel, stick noose, and rifle. In order to capture the illusive live-birthing female lizard, he donned the traditional gear: khakis, hiking boots, and traded a fedora for a sun hat; armoring himself thus, he chiseled lizards out of rock formations and sought the mammal-like desert lizard among the trees. His interest in these lizards lay in their ability to produce young not through external development in an egg, but within the female of the species, an oddity for the reptile. Though Dr. Hamlett lacked the Indiana Jones bullwhip and the characteristic fear of snakes, his adventures were nevertheless harrowing.

The character of Dr. Jones is perhaps based on Sir Arthur Conan DoyleÔÇÖs character, Professor Challenger (a figure in turn based on his own Professor Sir William Rutherford) who is famous for having combined several areas of study such as archaeology, anthropology, and zoology in the pursuit of a totalizing knowledgeÔÇöÔÇ£Science seeks knowledge. Let knowledge lead us where it will, we still must seek it. To know once for all what we are, why we are, where we are, is that not in itself the greatest of all human aspirations?ÔÇ£(When the World Screamed). In the same way, Dr. HamlettÔÇÖs study of embryology continued on many divergent paths as he explored the complexities of the long-tongued bat, the badger, the armadillo, the cat, the coyote, and the American monkey, finally culminating in his study of humans.?á Some of his published works, ÔÇ£Embryology of the Molossoid Bat,ÔÇØ ÔÇ£Some Notes on Embryological Technique,ÔÇØ and ÔÇ£Human Twinning in the United StatesÔÇØ can be accessed through PubMed.

Though the similarities between Dr. Hamlett and Dr. Jones may not be many, there is an air of adventure to every quest for knowledge. Why can the scientist not leap across cliff faces and come to the rescue every now and then? But please be aware that there are no catacombs beneath this libraryÔÇÖs floorÔÇöyouÔÇÖll have to go to Venice for that.

Glimpse of the Past is an ongoing project to promote the Louisiana Digital Library effort. This Month in History will present for your reading pleasure a closer look into a newspaper clipping of note from our Digital Collections and articles relating to the LSU Medical School.

Kinesio Tape at the Olympics

If you’ve been watching the Olympics, you’ve noticed the tape on various athletes. Mostly it seems to be a relatively new product, Kinesio Tape.?á NPR News wrote a story on its efficacy earlier this week. The news article linked to a 2012?ástudy in Sports Medicine and?á a 2008 article in Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy; both are?áavailable to LSUHSC Library patrons.

Full text?áaccess to the articles may only be available to LSUHSC faculty, staff & students. It can be accessed off-campus with a valid LSUHSC library barcode & PIN. You can find more information at our remote access webpage.