Confronting the challenges in reconnecting urban planning and public health.
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Although public health and urban planning emerged with the common goal of preventing urban outbreaks of infectious disease, there is little overlap between the fields today. The separation of the fields has contributed to uncoordinated efforts to address the health of urban populations and a general failure to recognize the links between, for example, the built environment and health disparities facing low-income populations and people of color. I review the historic connections and lack thereof between urban planning and public health, highlight some challenges facing efforts to recouple the fields, and suggest that insights from ecosocial theory and environmental justice offer a preliminary framework for reconnecting the fields around a social justice agenda. (+info)
Fifty years of muscle and the sliding filament hypothesis.
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This review describes the early beginnings of X-ray diffraction work on muscle structure and the contraction mechanism in the MRC Unit in the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, and later work in the MRC Molecular Biology Laboratory in Hills Road, Cambridge, where the author worked for many years, and elsewhere. The work has depended heavily on instrumentation development, for which the MRC laboratory had made excellent provision. The search for ever higher X-ray intensity for time-resolved studies led to the development of synchrotron radiation as an exceptionally powerful X-ray source. This led to the first direct evidence for cross-bridge tilting during force generation in muscle. Further improvements in technology have made it possible to study the fine structure of some of the X-ray reflections from contracting muscle during mechanical transients, and these are currently providing remarkable insights into the detailed mechanism of force development by myosin cross-bridges. (+info)
Discovery by Jaworski of Helicobacter pylori and its pathogenetic role in peptic ulcer, gastritis and gastric cancer.
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The presence of spiral-shaped micro-organisms in the human stomach was described over 100 years ago by Polish clinical researcher, Professor W. Jaworski at Cracow Jagiellonian University. Their presence was then confirmed in animals by G. Bizzazero, but was not really taken seriously until the late 1970s, when J.R. Warren, a pathologist in Perth, Australia, noted the appearance of spiral bacteria overlaying gastric mucosa, chiefly over inflamed tissue. Warren and B.J. Marshall cultured these organisms in 1982 from 11 patients with gastritis and were able to demonstrate a strong association between the presence of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) and the finding of inflammation in gastric biopsies. People, who did not exhibit gastritis, also did not have the organism, a finding which was confirmed in a number of studies. Originally called Campylobacter pyloridis, the name was changed to Campylobacter pylori, and then later to Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) as specific morphologic, structural, and genetic features indicated that it should be placed in a new genus. Marshall elegantly fulfilled Koch's postulates for the role of H. pylori in antral gastritis with the self administration of H. pylori, and also showed that it could be cured by use of antibiotics and bismuth salts. Most persons who are infected with H. pylori never suffer any symptoms related to the infection; however, H. pylori causes chronic active, chronic persistent, and atrophic gastritis in adults and children. Infection with H. pylori also causes duodenal and gastric ulcers. Infected persons have a 2- to 6-fold increased risk of developing gastric cancer and mucosal-associated-lymphoid-type (MALT) lymphoma compared with their uninfected counterparts. The role of H. pylori in non-ulcer dyspepsia remains unclear. These practical aspects of H. pylori were subjects of two international symposia organized by us in 1995 and 1997 in Cracow, helping to promote research and Polish consensus regarding treatment of H. pylori infection. (+info)
History of Polish gastrointestinal surgery.
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Surgery is the oldest discipline of medicine. The first Poland's University Chair of Surgery was established in the 18(th) century. Surgery that had been until then the domain of barbers became a clinical discipline. In the 19(th) century Polish surgeons were actively involved in the development of gastrointestinal surgery. Most famous among them, J. Mikulicz Radecki and L. Rydygier. They invented novel surgical techniques used for the treatment of many diseases. Their achievements contributed to creating Polish school of surgery, that was further developed throughout the 20(th) century. The progress in gastrointestinal surgery has been continued in the 21(st) century in spite of existing economic barriers. (+info)
The past and present of the Polish paediatric gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition.
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Gastroenterology has emerged from paediatrics as a separate discipline after 1978, due to the development of basic sciences, i.e., biochemistry, immunology, pathomorphology and introduction of miniaturized endoscopic and radiological equipment. This paper describes the most significant achievements in the areas of gastroenterology, hepatology, and nutrition in children in particular medical centres in Poland. It also discusses the role of the Polish Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, the role of the European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN), and the role of other Scientific Societies and Foundations supporting the development of science and education. The emphasis has been placed upon utilitarian research and education with regard to the management of children with gastrointestinal and hepatic disease. (+info)
The Protein Data Bank and lessons in data management.
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The Protein Data Bank (PDB) is a widely used biological database of macromolecular structures with a long history. This history is treated as lessons learned and is used to highlight what are believed to be the best practices important to developers of biological databases today. While the focus is on data quality, data representation and the information technology to support these data, the non-data and technology issues cannot be ignored. The role of the human factor in the form of users, collaborators, scientific society and ad hoc committees is also included. (+info)
Swiss-Prot: juggling between evolution and stability.
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We describe some of the aspects of Swiss-Prot that make it unique, explain what are the developments we believe to be necessary for the database to continue to play its role as a focal point of protein knowledge, and provide advice pertinent to the development of high-quality knowledge resources on one aspect or the other of the life sciences. (+info)
A new biology for a new century.
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Biology today is at a crossroads. The molecular paradigm, which so successfully guided the discipline throughout most of the 20th century, is no longer a reliable guide. Its vision of biology now realized, the molecular paradigm has run its course. Biology, therefore, has a choice to make, between the comfortable path of continuing to follow molecular biology's lead or the more invigorating one of seeking a new and inspiring vision of the living world, one that addresses the major problems in biology that 20th century biology, molecular biology, could not handle and, so, avoided. The former course, though highly productive, is certain to turn biology into an engineering discipline. The latter holds the promise of making biology an even more fundamental science, one that, along with physics, probes and defines the nature of reality. This is a choice between a biology that solely does society's bidding and a biology that is society's teacher. (+info)