The BBC here looks briefly at the study of aging in varying animal species - it mangles the scientific details in the usual fashion, but covers much of the territory: "From the moment they are born into the dense jungle of Central Africa, the biological clock is ticking for baby bonobos. A recent study, published in the journal Science, revealed that all primates - from men to monkeys - roughly age in the same way, with a high risk of dying in infancy, a low risk of dying as juveniles and then an increasing risk of dying as they aged. Some species though, have found a few tricks to help them play the aging game and extend their natural lifespans. By doing so, they can live for hundreds of years. While a select few, by some definitions, may already have become immortal. ... some species of bat [can] live for decades [and] the explanation may lie in the way bats protect themselves from protein damage, using special molecules called protein chaperones. ... Studies of the American lobster (Homarus americanus), have shown that its extreme longevity might be related to the expression of telomerase ... High concentrations of telomerase are found in cells that need to divide regularly such as organs and embryonic stem cells. Access to an elevated supply of telomerase would equip this crustacean with the ability to rebuild cells damaged by aging. The ability to repair cells in this way may help to explain why lobsters can live up to 100 years and are able to regrow limbs even at an 'old age'. ... Another oceanic resident, the quahog clam (Arctica islandica), is thought to be one of the longest lived metazoans of all. A recent study on this ancient clam, [which] lives more than 400 years, shows it has an increased resistance to oxidative stress. ... The reasons for the exceptional longevity in Arctica may have little to do with resistance to oxidative stress though. ... Instead, like in naked mole rats, it may be the integrity of the animal's proteins that may be the key, rather than damaging free radicals or antioxidants used to defend against them."
Monthly Archives: June 2011
A New Approach to Autoimmune Disease
An example of the how advances in biotechnology are allowing medicine to move closer towards intervening in first causes at the biochemical level: researchers "have developed a new approach for identifying the 'self' proteins targeted in autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. ... errant immune responses which mistakenly target the body's own proteins rather than foreign invaders can now be examined in molecular detail. Further research could lead to new insights into the exact causes of these debilitating autoimmune disorders. ... The immune system, the body's main line of defense against disease, has a critical responsibility to distinguish self-derived proteins from those of invaders like viruses and bacteria. Autoimmune diseases arise when a person's immune system fails to make that critical distinction and mistakenly attacks a normal tissue, such as nerve, joint, or insulin-producing pancreatic cells. ... Knowledge of the self-antigens involved in autoimmune processes is important not only for understanding disease etiology, but also for developing diagnostic tests. In addition, physicians may someday use antigen-specific therapies to destroy or disable auto-reactive immune cells. ... But looking through the haystack of cellular complexity for those single-needle self-antigens targeted by the immune system has proved daunting, to say the least. Ideally, scientists would be to develop some kind of biological magnet that could pull these fine needles out of the mass. In this report, the researchers describe an approach which does just that."
Link: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-06/hms-apn060211.php
Insight into the State of Funding for Aging Research
Aging research is the poor cousin of the life science field, despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of the harm brought to humanity through disease, frailty, and death is basically caused by aging. Work on extending life or reversing aging is in turn the poor cousin in the aging research family. This situation must change for the better if we are to see meaningful progress in our lifetimes.
A recent article puts some numbers to the picture, here for the Buck Institute, which is one of the largest mainstream laboratories specializing in aging research.
In this fiscal year, the institute will receive about $23 million in government grants, about 66 percent of its $35 million budget. The institute will also get about $5.6 million from the Marin Community Foundation - down from close to $8 million before the economic downturn - and about $5 million from individual and corporate donations.
Compare that with the SENS Foundation, which is currently running a with a yearly budget of a little over $1 million, and is completely reliant on philanthropic donations.
These are small numbers when considered against the broader field of medical research and development. They reflect a society that has not yet woken up to decide that repair of aging is in fact both a possibility and a priority. The feedback loop of education from scientists to the public and support from the public to scientists isn't yet running well for longevity science - it is running better than it was a decade ago, but clearly there is much work to be done.
An Inspiring Story
From the SENS Foundation: "For Max, working at the [SENS Foundation Research Center (SENSF-RC)] has been the culmination of years of dedicated study and preparation. Before he first heard about SENS in early 2005, he wasn't a scientist at all; in fact, he was a 23-year-old cost accountant. When he wasn't studying for his MBA, he was counting other people's money. He knew that he wanted more out of life, though: specifically, he wanted to change the world in a way that would benefit society. As soon as he found and read Aubrey de Grey's Ending Aging, he settled on human health as the area he would strive to impact - and on SENS as the way to make that impact. Over the next few years he committed himself to working in finance, at one point teaching at a local community college, always with the intention of saving his money so that he could return to school to learn about science and laboratory work. During this period he studied whenever he had the time, reading articles relevant to health and aging in scientific journals. In 2008, Max went back to school full-time at the University of Toledo to study chemistry, math, and biology. He was interested in taking an active role in SENS research as quickly as he could, so he contacted the predecessor of the SENS Foundation Academic Initiative, MFURI. As a member of the Initiative, he performed a literature review on the harm caused by iron and aluminum accumulation in the body, citing well over a hundred journal articles. Max's paper was accepted by the journal Rejuvenation Research and published in April 2010, just as he was completing his coursework at Toledo. As his next step, Max opted to join the RC staff rather than pursue a PhD opportunity so that he could continue to make as direct and immediate of a contribution to SENS as possible. Max has now been working at the SENSF-RC for one year, and will be staying on to continue his work on the A2E degradation project. In the long term, he hopes to see the LysoSENS project through all of its pre-clinical stages. It is his wish that this work will lead to therapies that can effectively reverse, or at the least greatly slow, the pathology of age-related macular degeneration."
Longevity-Promoting Compounds Enhance Pluripotent Stem Cell Generation
An interesting discovery: "Reprogramming of somatic cells to a pluripotent state was first accomplished using retroviral vectors for transient expression of pluripotency-associated transcription factors. This seminal work was followed by numerous studies reporting alternative (non-insertional) reprogramming methods, and various conditions to improve the efficiency of reprogramming. These studies have contributed little to an understanding of global mechanisms underlying reprogramming efficiency. Here we report that inhibition of the mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) pathway by rapamycin or PP242 enhances the efficiency of reprogramming to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Inhibition of the insulin/IGF-1 signaling pathway, which like mTOR is involved in control of longevity, also enhances reprogramming efficiency. In addition the small molecules used to inhibit these pathways also significantly improved longevity in Drosophila melanogaster. We further tested the potential effects of six other longevity-promoting compounds on iPSC induction, including two sirtuin activators (resveratrol and fisetin), an autophagy inducer (spermidine), a PI3K (phosphoinositide 3-kinase) inhibitor (LY294002), an antioxidant (curcumin) and an AMPK (activating adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase) activator (metformin). With the exception of metformin, all of these chemicals promoted somatic cell reprogramming, though to different extents. Our results show that the controllers of somatic cell reprogramming and organismal lifespan share some common regulatory pathways, which suggests a new approach for studying aging and longevity on the basis of the regulation of cellular reprogramming."
Funerals are for the Living, True, But More for the Ape Inside
I had an artistic vision, a long time back, shortly after I had my initial realization with regard to engineered longevity, of the path to radical life extension as a sort of vertical ascension. I recall describing the vision of flight through darkness years ago, to my partner at the time - the rest of that conversation lost, along with much else, to failing memory. A room is packed with thousands of people, waiting. The walls and ceiling then unfold to reveal a void beyond, and the assembled masses begin to ascend towards some distant goal - arms spread and looking up in anticipation, as they fly upward, empowered by their own sheer force of will. The energies of their passage glow blue in the darkness, a thousand, thousand trails of light. But with each moment, some falter, and fall away into the abyss, their light-trails vanishing into the surrounding darkness - and the crowd thins and thins the further they ascend.
I am not an artist, needless to say, and so that vision will never make it much beyond the confines of my head. But it is an ugly reality of the human condition that only a fraction of us will have the opportunity to live through into the age of rejuvenation biotechnology - even under the most optimistic timelines, billions will die. The alternatives are far worse, of course, but this is far from the best of worlds. Intellectually we can grasp this scale of death and destruction, but the ape within filters it out. He only cares about the people we associate with - and there aren't all that many of them, even allowing for the artificial and strange relationships of celebrity or much-loved fiction. The rest of the world? Just numbers.
That memory of people in flight through darkness is with me again because I learned today that my former partner died a few weeks ago, unexpectedly. As though the expectedness or the delay in learning of it should change anything of the meaning, but the ape within feels - strongly - that the details of tragedy are important. If we felt even a minuscule fraction of what we do under such circumstances for the vast crowds who fall from the flight each and every day, aged to death ... well, we'd be better than human, and aging would be much further along the path to a solution.
More than a hundred people have died since I started to write this post, most of them from aging or the complications of aging. All just as much individuals as my former partner, just as much people with attachments, potential, things to do, desires and regrets. So very many regrets. But I feel only intellectual loss for that hundred, and not much of it at that - this is what it is to be built on top of a foundation of ape prehistory, to be able to put the terrible fates of countless others easily from our minds, but to be deeply troubled by the loss of one.
To make the best of being human, we have to do the important work, even though it will not reward us, even though the ape inside doesn't really give a damn. Being human is about not letting the ape drive, even though it's always far easier just to let him take the wheel. So no obituary and no talking to the dead to say things that perhaps should have been said one day - and now can't be. Hard as it may be. The only person who would be listening here is the ape inside, and talking to him is a pointless exercise.
The world, meanwhile, is lived in by the living - who are falling from the flight in great numbers, day after day, while too little is being done about it. When whatever happens to me eventually happens to me, I would hope that someone takes a few minutes to write exactly the same thing, and mean it.
The Implications of Hormesis
Hormesis is the process by which a little damage or stress to our biology can lead to a longer life span, as it wakes up the repair mechanisms and makes them do a better job than they otherwise would - a net gain in resiliency. Here is a review that summarizes the implications for much of mainstream research into aging and longevity: "Various nutritional, behavioral, and pharmacological interventions have been previously shown to extend life span in diverse model organisms, including Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster, mice, and rats, as well as possibly monkeys and humans. This review aims to summarize published evidence that several longevity-promoting interventions may converge by causing an activation of mitochondrial oxygen consumption to promote increased formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). These serve as molecular signals to exert downstream effects to ultimately induce endogenous defense mechanisms culminating in increased stress resistance and longevity, an adaptive response more specifically named mitochondrial hormesis or mitohormesis. Consistently, we here summarize findings that antioxidant supplements that prevent these ROS signals interfere with the health-promoting and life-span-extending capabilities of calorie restriction and physical exercise. Taken together and consistent with ample published evidence, the findings summarized here question Harman's Free Radical Theory of Aging and rather suggest that ROS act as essential signaling molecules to promote metabolic health and longevity." ROS can of course be acting both as useful signals and sources of damage in different circumstances - the fact that life can be extended by antioxidants specifically targeted to mitochondria, coupled with the evidence mentioned above, suggests that much.
The Effects of Exercise on Aging
A review paper: "Aging is a gradual process during which molecular and cellular processes deteriorate progressively, often leading to such pathological conditions as vascular and metabolic disorders and cognitive decline. Although the mechanisms of aging are not yet fully understood, inflammation, oxidative damage, mitochondrial dysfunction, functional alterations in specific neuronal circuits and a restricted degree of apoptosis are involved. Physical exercise improves the efficiency of the capillary system and increases the oxygen supply to the brain, thus enhancing metabolic activity and oxygen intake in neurons, and increases neurotrophin levels and resistance to stress. Regular exercise and an active lifestyle during adulthood have been associated with reduced risk and protective effects for mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. Similarly, studies in animal models show that physical activity has positive physiological and cognitive effects that correlate with changes in transcriptional profiles. According to numerous studies, epigenetic events that include changes in DNA methylation patterns, histone modification and alterations in microRNA profiles seem to be a signature of aging. Hence, insight into the epigenetic mechanisms involved in the aging process and their modulation through lifestyle interventions such as physical exercise might open new avenues for the development of preventive and therapeutic strategies to treat aging-related diseases."
An Introduction to Open Cures at h+ Magazine
I recently wrote an article that introduces the Open Cures initiative and explains the backdrop of medical research and regulation that makes Open Cures - or something very much like it - absolutely necessary. The piece is presently published at h+ Magazine:
You may recognize me as the author-slash-editor of Fight Aging!, a long-running news and advocacy site focused on progress towards reversal of aging and engineering longer human lives. There is more to progress in the general sense than just the underlying science, however, and with that in mind I recently announced the launch of Open Cures, a volunteer initiative with the aim of greatly speeding up the development of clinical applications of longevity science. Participation is open to anyone who can help with the goals listed in the Open Cures roadmap: for example, we're presently looking for life science writers and people familiar with the medical tourism industry, amongst others.
But why, in this age of biotechnology and accelerating progress, it is even necessary to build an organization to help speed matters along? What is the roadblock that stands in the way of the clinical development of longevity-enhancing biotechnology?
I encourage you to read it all: it's a fairly concise outline as to why developing the scientific tools of rejuvenation is not enough in and of itself to win the game. We also have to ensure that clear paths exist for commercial development of legitimate treatments for aging - which is far from the case today:
Aging is not a disease, per the FDA - and therefore, no one is legally permitted to treat aging in humans with biotechnology in the US.
A fair number of well funded groups have been burning money and time in well-thought, well-connected efforts to change the FDA: to make it less hostile to progress, to enable therapies to come to market more rapidly (or in some cases at all). This has been going on for years - see FasterCures, for example - but has come to nothing. Changing the FDA is not the way forward: instead we need to work around it - and that is the Open Cures methodology:
Open Cures is a young volunteer initiative, formed in mid-2011 to work upon a grand long term vision: to orchestrate the clinical development of therapies already demonstrated to either extend life or reverse narrow aspects of aging in mice, and which may be capable of doing the same for humans. A dozen or more such biotechnologies presently languish with little effort devoted to their clinical development, because regulatory bodies such as the FDA forbid treatments for aging.
The following roadmap outlines a series of overlapping phases of development by which Open Cures volunteers can change this present environment and its hostility to the development of effective therapies to treat degenerative aging. The Open Cures vision is of a bridge built between the undeveloped biotechnologies of rejuvenation produced in US and European laboratories and the overseas developers who could usher these technologies into the clinic for human trials.
Birch bark nutrient prevents obesity, diabetes and high cholesterol
Researchers from the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences (SIBC) in China have identified a powerful compound in birch bark called betulin that helps lower cholesterol and prevent both diabetes and obesity. And betulin works particularly better than the statin drug lovastatin at lowering cholesterol, except without the harmful side effects.
Dr. Bao-Liang Song and his colleagues from SIBC tested the effects of betulin and found that it specifically targets the genes responsible for making harmful blood fats like triglycerides by effectively lowering their activity and protecting against disease. And since the compound is "abundant in birch bark," it has the potential to revolutionize the way blood fat levels are managed.
Concerning cholesterol levels, betulin was shown to lower lipid levels more effectively than lovastatin. And insulin-wise, betulin helps keep artery walls free and clear of build-ups and blockages, also known as atherosclerosis. Read more...
Ayurtox for Body Detoxification
The central part of medicine is patients – don’t push them out of social media
Clinical medicine is disappearing fast as topic for blog posts
Something happened to medical blogs in the past 6-12 months. They now seem a lot less interesting, more industrialized and aggregated. They have also become "too safe", generic and detached for regular reading.
There seems to be a rise of group blogs, guest posts and semi-syndicated contents. Several "clinic-focused" health bloggers have retired due to a variety of professional and HIPAA-related concerns.
It looks like clinical medicine is disappearing fast as a topic for blog posts in the U.S., replaced by posts about social media itself. As a side note, "social media" is actually a plural noun (media vs. medium), but it seems to be used mostly in singular form nowadays.
The central part of medicine is patients - don't push them out of social media
The central part of medicine is patients. Yet, we tell doctors: "never, ever blog about patients". This somewhat misguided advice displaces the most important part of the equation - the patients themselves.
Some health bloggers claim that we have to "aim above HIPAA" to avoid privacy breaches and comply with the highest standard of professionalism required by our occupation as physicians. How high "above HIPAA" is good enough though? In most clinical scenarios, the compliance with omitting the 18 unique HIPAA identifiers strikes the right balance.
Physicians must maintain appropriate boundaries of the patient-physician relationship in accordance with professional ethical guidelines just, as they would in any other context. When physicians see content posted by colleagues that appears unprofessional they have a responsibility to bring that content first to the attention of the individual, so that he or she can remove it and/or take other appropriate actions. If the behavior significantly violates professional norms and the individual does not take appropriate action to resolve the situation, the physician should report the matter to appropriate authorities (Source: AMA Policy: Professionalism in the Use of Social Media, 2011; my edits are in bold in the text above).
Different standards for individual doctors vs. health system conglomerates
There seems to be a discrepancy of the methods employed by doctors and institutions when using social media. We tell doctors: "never answer patient questions on Twitter". Yet, Cleveland Clinic runs regular Twitter chats soliciting patient questions which are then answered by doctors and healthcare personnel. Mayo Clinic and other institutions do the same.
A blog is your notebook for lifelong learning
Don't forget the most important thing: A blog is your notebook for lifelong learning. Doctors learn from their patients every day. Patients learn from their doctors every day too. Both groups must try their best to excel in the joint quest to achieve the best possible outcome.
Comments from Twitter:
@scanman (Vijay): 3 doctors, @kmathan @razmohan & I, set up a twitter account @DrTamil to answer medical queries from Tamil tweeters.
@DrVes: You know the comment that you are going to get, right? "It will never happen here."
@macobgyn (MacArthur Obgyn) why do you think that is?
@SarahStewart (SarahStewart): I wonder if medical blogs are reacting to fear of litigation etc.
@DrVes: I'm sure they are. The community itself is not making things easier either.
@Skepticscalpel (Skeptical Scalpel): You're reading the wrong blogs. Try mine http://skepticalscalpel.blogspot.com
@CardioNP (Cardio NP): mirroring medicine in general? Agree w you re blogs; miss the early years ~2004-5. Agree skeptic that ur blog is a nice welcome addition
@marciovm (marcio von muhlen): will change as social media permeates society, informed consent will be feasible re: sharing medical info. Difficult to explain now.
@scanman (Vijay) This tweet - http://bit.ly/mpPL0P - by @DrVes, one of the most consistent medical bloggers, was meant for the Social Media Moral Police.
@vincristine (Vincristine): Who is 'we'? I imagine doctors will tweet what, where and how they choose to tweet, no matter what 'we' say
@laikas Laika (Jacqueline): A lot of interesting observations by @DrVes on the evolvement of medical blogs & social media use. I will take up my #FF habit #ff @DrVes
References:
“The powers of medicines and the practice of healing - to exercise the quiet art” - Virgil, Aeneid http://goo.gl/5BUb3
The making of a modern physician - The Lancet http://goo.gl/SYfTu
Strictly speaking, “Doctor” is a word incorrectly applied to most medical practitioners http://goo.gl/wjA0S
AMA Policy: Professionalism in the Use of Social Media, 2011.
Image source: Wikipedia, GNU Free Documentation License.
Image source: Wikipedia, GNU Free Documentation License.
Disclaimer
I am the Editor-in-Chief of several case-based curricula of medicine and related specialties. This is the information regarding patient data: There is no real life patient data on this website. Please note: we do not write or “blog” about patients. All case descriptions are fictional, similar to the descriptions you can find in a multiple choice questions textbook for board exam preparation. Case courses and descriptions do not follow real cases.
Posted at Clinical Cases and Images. Stay updated and subscribe, follow us on Twitter and connect on Facebook.
Promoting women in science and medicine to become a priority
The University of Tromsø in Norway - the world's northernmost university - has adopted new recommendations designed to increase the number of female full professors from the current 23% to 30% by 2014.
Women spend longer as Associate Professors than men, partly because “men apply as soon as they think they have a chance of promotion, while women tend to wait until they are very confident”.
The panel developed 13 recommendations, among them:
- re-advertising positions if there are no women in the applicant pool
- ensuring that women receive training in salary negotiation
- assessing research quality rather than quantity
- improving the visibility of women within institutions
- encouraging diversity in leadership style
References:
Promoting women in science and medicine. The Lancet, Volume 376, Issue 9754, Page 1712, 20 November 2010.
Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.
Posted at Clinical Cases and Images. Stay updated and subscribe, follow us on Twitter and connect on Facebook.
How-To: Maintain a correct posture while working on your laptop
Adult or Child Laptop Use at Home, Work or Classroom.
Mobile or Smart Phone Use while Driving, Traveling or on the Move.
Link via Digital Inspiration.
Posted at Clinical Cases and Images. Stay updated and subscribe, follow us on Twitter and connect on Facebook.
Let’s Hug!
Lim Heng Swee, Malaysian illustrator and visual artist has devoted his work to putting a smile on your face. These doodle a day projects definitely did the trick for me!
Thanks Lim!
The Skin I Live In
The Skin I Live In is Pedro Almodovar’s latest film, based on Thierry Jonquet’s novel Mygale. The film recently premiered at Cannes and stars Antonio Banderas, Elena Anaya, and Marisa Paredes. According to /Film the story revolves around a plastic surgeon, Dr. Robert Ledgard (Banderas), who “manages to cultivate a skin that is a real shield against every assault. In addition to years of study and experimentation, Robert needed a further three things: no scruples, an accomplice and a human guinea pig. Scruples were never a problem. Marilia, the woman who looked after him from the day he was born, is his most faithful accomplice. And as for the human guinea pig….”
The movie sounds totally creepy and also great.
A New and Perfect Book on Hysteria: "Medical Muses: Hysteria in Nineteenth-Century Paris," Asti Hustvedt, 2011
During the decade of the 1870s, three young women found themselves in the hysteria ward of the Salpetriere Hospital in Paris under the direction of the prominent neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot. All three — Blanche, Augustine, and Genevieve — would become medical celebrities. The stories of their lives as patients on the ward are a strange amalgam of science and religion, medicine and the occult, hypnotism, love, and theater. The illness they suffered from was hysteria. This disease was not an arcane preoccupation of the doctors that treated them, but an affliction that would increasingly capture the public imagination. Stories about hysterical patients filled the columns of newspapers. They were transformed into fictional characters by novelists. Hysterics were photographed, sculpted, painted, and drawn. Every week, eager crowds arrived at the hospital to attend Charcot's demonstrations of hysterics acting out their hysterical symptoms. And it wasn't only medical students and physicians who came to view the shows, but artists, writers, actors, socialites, and the merely curious. Hysteria had become a fascinating and fashionable spectacle. But who were these hysterical women? Where did they come from? What role did they play in their own peculiar form of stardom? And what exactly were they suffering from?
... To what degree their disease was socially determined and to what degree it was physically determined is impossible to say. If they showed up at a hospital today, suffering from the same symptoms, they would probably be diagnosed with schizophrenia or conversion disorder or bipolar disorder. They would undoubtedly be diagnosed with eating disorders because they had bouts of willful starving and vomiting. However, if these women were alive today, they might not have become ill to begin with and no doubt would suffer from other symptoms.
I am convinced that Blanche, Augustine, and Genevieve were neither frauds nor passive receptacles of a sham diagnosis. They really did "have" hysteria. Located on the problematic border between psychosomatic and somatic disorders, hysteria was a confusion of real and imagined illness. In an era without demons and before Freud's unconscious, hysteria fell into a theoretical vacuum...
Hysteria may be an illness of the past, but the medical and ideological notions of femininity that lie behind it offer insights into the illnesses of the present and the way they are perceived. And while modern medicine no longer talks about hysteria, it nonetheless continues to perpetuate the idea that the female body is far more vulnerable than its male counterpart... Why has my study of a disease that is no longer officially a medical diagnosis compelled me to collect information on these new disorders? Why do the lives of three women who lived more than a hundred years ago feel so relevant today and resonate so strongly with the lives of women who are my contemporaries?
--Excerpt from the introduction to Medical Muses: Hysteria in Nineteenth-Century Paris, Asti Hustvedt, 2011
I have long been on the lookout for a scholarly yet accessible book--in English!--that could answer my many questions about the 19th century phenomenon of hysteria as spectacularly manifested at Charcot's Salpêtrière Clinic (depicted in the painting above). Asti Hustvedt's newly-released Medical Muses: Hysteria in Nineteenth-Century Paris--the cover of which you see above--has proven to be just the book I have been waiting for.
Hustvedt--whose memorable essays on hysteria and popular culture you might remember from the Zone Decadent Reader--uses the stories of 3 of the great divas of the Salpêtrière stage as a framework to examine the history of Charcot and his clinic and to adeptly and compellingly tease out the taxonomically-troubling overlaps that make hysteria so fascinating. Her examination of these overlaps--which include science and art, mind and body, the clinic and the carnival, miracles and medicine, theatre and hospital, the mind and the body, the occult and the scientific--beautifully frame the central paradox of hysteria, its simultaneous realness and imaginariness, baffling to this "era without demons and before Freud's unconscious."
This book is sensitive, informative, nuanced, insightful, engaging (I read it in a day and a half!) and extremely thought provoking; it is well illustrated with many images from Iconographie Photographique De La Salpêtrière (as seen in photos above) and provides a wonderful discussion of the relationship between these photographs and the understanding of the condition. It also provides a persuasive examination of contemporary maladies carrying on the hysterical tradition in a variety of ways.
This book is, to my mind, the long awaited perfect book on hysteria. For those of you with an interest in the topic, I simply cannot recommend this bo
ok more passionately!
You can find out more--and purchase a copy for yourself!--by clicking here. You can also come pay it a visit at The Morbid Anatomy Library; more on that here. You can read an extended excerpt of the book on the NPR website by clicking here and can find out more about the Zone Books Decadent Reader by clicking here.
Images:
- Painting: Une leçon clinique à la Salpêtrière, 1887, André Brouillet's. Photograph: AKG Images/Erich Lessing. Found here.
- Photographs: From the book Iconographie Photographique De La Salpêtrière (1877-1880), sourced from Wikipedia Commons and The Waring Historical Library online exhibit Dr. John-Martin Charcot and the Theater of Medicine.
Morbid Anatomy Library and Observatory, Open Studios, This Saturday and Sunday, June 4 and 5, 1-6
This weekend please join the Morbid Anatomy Library (as seen above) and sister space Observatory as we open our spaces to the public as part of the Atlantic Avenue Artwalk.
Following are the full details; Very much hope to see you there!
Atlantic Avenue Artwalk
Saturday and Sunday, June 4th and 5th
1-6 PM
543 Union Street at Nevins, Brooklyn
Free and Open to the PublicDirections: Enter the Morbid Anatomy Library and Observatory via Proteus Gowanus Gallery
R or M train to Union Street in Brooklyn: Walk two long blocks on Union (towards the Gowanus Canal) to Nevins Street. 543 Union Street is the large red brick building on right. Go right on Nevins and left down alley through large black gates. Gallery is the second door on the left.
F or G train to Carroll Street: Walk one block to Union. Turn right, walk two long blocks on Union towards the Gowanus Canal, cross the bridge, take left on Nevins, go down the alley to the second door on the left.
For more about the Morbid Anatomy Library, click here. You can find out more information about the Atlantic Avenue Artwalk, and get a full list of participants, by clicking here. You can find out more about Observatory and the exhibition now on view by clicking here.
Photo by Shannon Taggart.
"No Lib[rar]y is Complete Without the HORRORS!!” or, How the National Library of Medicine got its "Thesaurus of Horror"!
Last week, my friend Michael Sappol of the History of Medicine Division of the National Library of Medicine sent me a fascinating clipping relating to a book published in 1817 and entitled, amazingly, Thesaurus of horror; or, The Charnel-House Explored!! (exclamation marks and all! See above title page for verification). I asked him if he would be so kind as to write a guest post for this blog on the subject; he and his colleague, Jim Labosier, kindly and thoroughly obliged!
Following is the story in their own words and images:
How the National Library of Medicine got its "Thesaurus of Horror!"
In the spring of 1872 John Shaw Billings (1838-1913), on a quest to make the Surgeon General’s Library into “a great national medical library,” corresponded with Dr. Henry S. Jewett, the son of an old medical acquaintance, Dr. Adams Jewett of Dayton, Ohio. Billings asked for assistance in collecting books and medical journals. Jewett passed on the letter to his father, who offered Billings a variety of titles, including John Snart’s Thesaurus of Horror; or, the Charnel-House Explored!! (London, 1817), about which he wrote, “No Lib[rar]y is complete without the HORRORS!!”
Billings wrote in blue pencil on the letter “Wanted!!”
and accepted the Thesaurus, which still resides in the collection of the National Library of Medicine.
One of many contemporary works on premature burial (and perhaps a source for Edgar Allan Poe’s 1844 story, “The Premature Burial”), the Thesaurus comes equipped with this extensive subtitle:
…being an historical and philanthropical inquisition made for the Quondam-Blood of its Inhabitants! by a contemplative Descent into the Untimely Grave! Shewing, by a number of awful facts that have transpired as well as from philosophical inquiry, the re-animating power of Fresh Earth in Cases of Syncope, &c. and the extreme criminality of Hasty Funerals: with the surest methods of escaping the Ineffable Horrors of Premature Interment!! The Frightful Mysteries of the Dark Ages Laid Open, which not deluged the Roman Empire, but Triumphed over All Christendom for a Thousand Years! entombing the sciences, and subsequently reviving all the ignorance and superstition of Gothic Barbarity!
Snart (d. 1834?), a British optician who was strongly anti-Catholic and anti-Jewish, also wrote An Historical Inquiry Concerning Apparent Death and Premature Interment (1824); The Power of Numbers Exemplified by the Laws of Permutation (1819); Table of Four Hundred and Fifty Specific Gravities (1813); Mathematical Synopsis (1816) and several articles on astronomy.
You can peruse this book in its entirety on Google Books by clicking here. Also, I highly encourage you to click on the images to view much larger, entirely readable versions!
Thanks so much to Jim Labosier & Michael Sappol, History of Medicine Division, National Library of Medicine for this post!
Tonight at Observatory: The Fascination of Victorian Bell Jars Explored in Lecture and Show and Tell!
Under Glass: A Victorian Obsession
An Illustrated Lecture and Show and Tell with with Glass Parlor Dome Collector John Whiteknight
Date: TONIGHT: Thursday, June 2nd
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $5
Part of the Out of the Cabinet: Tales of Strange Objects and the People Who Love Them Series, presented by Morbid Anatomy and Morbid Anatomy Scholar in Residence Evan MichelsonA smoking monkey dressed as a Marquis, a Wild West scalping scene created in beeswax, a cemetery scene made from the deceased's hair, and stuffed pug dog puppies, all under glass domes!!!!!
The bell jar, or glass parlor dome, is synonymous with our memory of the Victorian Age (1837 - 1901). During the 19th century, these blown glass forms were referred to not as domes but as shades, and graced nearly every parlor, protecting a broad variety of treasures--including miniature tableaux, waxworks, natural history specimens, taxidermy of exotic birds and pets, automatons, and delicate arrangements of hairwork, featherwork, and shellwork--from dust and curious fingers.
Tonight, join parlor dome collector, scholar and author of the upcoming book Under Glass, A Victorian Obsession John Whitenight as he shares treasured objects from his more than 30 years of collecting, traces the art and history of the parlor dome in an illustrated lecture, and muses on the peculiar allure of the glass parlor dome, that extraordinarily thin bubble of glass which is at once barrier and invitation, creating an enchanted world which teases the viewer by saying, “ look at me, study me and enjoy me, but do not touch."
John Whitenight has collected antiques since he was a young boy. Along with his fever for collecting came a thirst for knowledge and a love affair with all things involving the Victorian era. Currently,his private collection consists of over 175 domes from four inches high to well over three feet high. As voracious for information as for new specimens, he has, over the years, become something of a scholar on domes and the various art forms beneath them. Feeling that this is an area that has been grossly overlooked in the study of 19th century decorative arts, Mr. Whitenight has decided it was time to put these wonderfully whimsical and eccentric Victorian concoctions into the spotlight where they belong; to this end, he is hard at work on a lavishly illustrated book on the topic entitled Under Glass, A Victorian Obsession.
Hope to see you there!
You can find out more about this event on the Observatory website by clicking here; you can access this event on Facebook here. You can get directions to Observatory--which is next door to the Morbid Anatomy Library (more on that here)--by clicking here. You can find out more about Observatory here, join our mailing list by clicking here, and join us on Facebook by clicking here.
Image: Tonight's lecturer John Whiteknight with a small part of his extensive collection of Victorian glass domes.
Morbid Anatomy Presents at Observatory This Week: The Hyrtl Skull Collection and Victorian Bell Jar Show and Tell!
This Week at Observatory: An artist's investigation into the Mütter Museum's famous Hyrtl Skull Collection! Meditations on the allure and history of the Victorian bell jar featuring a show and tell from an amazing private collection!
Full details follow; hope very much to see you there.
The Hyrtl Simulacrum
An illustrated lecture with artist Jeanne Kelly
Date: Tuesday, May 31
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $5
Presented by Morbid AnatomyThe Hyrtl Simulacrum is a multimedia, interactive augmentation to the museum experience that makes curiosity contagious and infects others with a sense of wonder. It uses museum artifacts as the foundation for creative historical fictions. These fictions are discovered through digital forensic facial reconstructions and analog interaction with story machines.
The stories begin with 8 of the 138 human skulls that combine to make up the Hyrtl collection, found in the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia, PA. Durning the late 1800's Dr. Joseph Hyrtl wrote what he knew about each person directly onto their skulls. The Hyrtl Simulacrum grew from these short stories written directly on bone. A famous Viennese prostitute, a tight-rope walker who died of a broken neck, a child murderer and a Tai bandit are only a few of the very real people chosen from the collection to become characters in this new narrative.
Combining her love of artistic anatomy, conceptual visual narrative, history, science and good story telling, the project has grown to include high-resolution CT scans of the original skulls, vintage photography, a variety of forensic reconstruction techniques, digital painting and image editing, large wooden interactive curiosity cabinets with miniature handmade dioramas inside and much more.
You can catch a preview of The Hyrtl Simulacrum at the Kellen Gallery at 2 West 13th St., where it will be on view through May 23rd.
Jeanne Kelly is an award winning conceptual artist, designer and all around creative. Research as design, scholarship as artistic medium, institutional insertion, collective narratives, public interventions and scripted spaces are the focus of her current work. In the creation of her own work and in collaboration with others, she has utilized everything from welding, painting and wood carving to flash animation, video projection and 3d modeling. Focusing over 20 years experience in the arts, she aims to enhance the current ideas of curation through the augmentation of the museum experience through fine art, interaction and narrative. Jeanne received her BFA in Painting and Printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University and her MFA in Design and Technology from Parsons The New School for Design.
Under Glass: A Victorian Obsession
An Illustrated Lecture and Show and Tell with with Glass Parlor Dome Collector John Whiteknight
Date: Thursday, June 2nd
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $5
Part of the Out of the Cabinet: Tales of Strange Objects and the People Who Love Them Series, presented by Morbid Anatomy and Morbid Anatomy Scholar in Residence Evan MichelsonA smoking monkey dressed as a Marquis, a Wild West scalping scene created in beeswax, a cemetery scene made from the deceased's hair, and stuffed pug dog puppies, all under glass domes!!!!!
The bell jar, or glass parlor dome, is synonymous with our memory of the Victorian Age (1837 - 1901). During the 19th century, these blown glass forms were referred to not as domes but as shades, and graced nearly every parlor, protecting a broad variety of treasures--including miniature tableaux, waxworks, natural history specimens, taxidermy of exotic birds and pets, automatons, and delicate arrangements of hairwork, featherwork, and shellwork--from dust and curious fingers.
Tonight, join parlor dome collector, scholar and author of the upcoming book Under Glass, A Victorian Obsession John Whitenight as he shares treasured objects from his more than 30 years of collecting, traces the art and history of the parlor dome in an illustrated lecture, and muses on the peculiar allure of the glass parlor dome, that extraordinarily thin bubble of glass which is at once barrier and invitation, creating an enchanted world which teases the viewer by saying, “ look at me, study me and enjoy me, but do not touch."
John Whitenight has collected antiques since he was a young boy. Along with his fever for collecting came a thirst for knowledge and a love affair with all things involving the Victorian era. Currently,his private collection consists of over 175 domes from four inches high to well over three feet high. As voracious for information as for new specimens, he has, over the years, become something of a scholar on domes and the various art forms beneath them. Feeling that this is an area that has been grossly overlooked in the study of 19th century decorative arts, Mr. Whitenight has decided it was time to put these wonderfully whimsical and eccentric Victorian concoctions into the spotlight where they belong; to this end, he is hard at work on a lavishly illustrated book on the topic entitled Under Glass, A Victorian Obsession.
You can find out more about these events on the Observatory website by clicking here; you can access these events on Facebook here. You can get directions to Observatory--which is next door to the Morbid Anatomy Library (more on that here)--by clicking here. You can find out more about Observatory here, join our mailing list by clicking here, and join us on Facebook by clicking here.
