Historical Advancements and Evolution in Understanding Human Anatomy and Pathology: The Contribution of the Middle Ages.

Dissections and autopsies are critical for understanding human anatomy, pathology, and uncovering mechanisms of disease. This review presents an historical journey from ancient times until the late Middle Ages. The major steps and developments are summarized with key figures and events presented.

A History of Board Certification in Pediatric Pathology on Its 30th Anniversary.

In 1983 under the leadership of Dr. Daria Haust, the Pediatric Pathology Club (PPC; forerunner of the Society for Pediatric Pathology [SPP]), promulgated bylaws that included recognition of the special expertise required in pediatric pathology. This standard followed formal discussion that began as early as 1970, suggesting that special certification should be pursued, and the idea was vetted by the PPC in 1980 following a special report by Dr. Benjamin Landing and a letter to PPC members. Under the leadership of Dr. William Donnelly in 1984, a relationship between the SPP and the American Board of Pathology (ABPath) began in order to receive recognition of pediatric pathology as a special discipline. As a result, a test committee chaired by Dr. Jerald Schenken began preparing question categories and examples for ABPath examination. These efforts culminated in the first pediatric pathology subspecialty examination, held in Atlanta, Georgia on November 20, 1990. With this article we wish to detail the history of ABPath pediatric pathology board certification from its beginnings to the current time.

Thymic carcinomas and thymic neuroendocrine tumors: a tribute to Dr. Juan Rosai.

Throughout his career, Dr. Juan Rosai greatly impacted our understanding of mediastinal tumors, both as a scientist and as a teacher. This review highlights his manifold contributions in the field of thymic carcinomas and thymic neuroendocrine tumors from a historical perspective.

Kurt Aterman, MUDR, MB, BCh BAO HONS, DCH, MRCP, PhD, DSc, FRCPath: "A Small Man With a Very Large Cerebrum and a Soul to Match".

Kurt Aterman was raised in the Czech-Polish portions of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire during World War I and the interwar period. After completing medical school and beginning postgraduate pediatrics training in Prague, this Jewish Czech physician fled to England as a refugee when the Nazis occupied his homeland in 1939. He repeated/completed medical training in Northern Ireland and London, working briefly as a pediatrician. Next, he served in the Royal Army Medical Corp in India, working as a pathologist. After the war and additional pathology training, he spent the next decade as an experimental pathologist in Birmingham, England. After completing a fellowship with Edith Potter in Chicago, Aterman spent the next 2 decades as a pediatric-perinatal pathologist, primarily working in Halifax, Canada. Fluent in many European languages, he finished his career as a medical historian. Aterman published extensively in all 3 arenas; many of his pediatric pathology papers were massive encyclopedic review articles, accurately recounting ideas from historical times. Aterman was a classical European scholar and his papers reflected this. Aterman was one of the founding members of the Pediatric Pathology Club, the predecessor of the Society for Pediatric Pathology. This highly successful refugee's writings are important and memorable.

Jean W Keeling.

This is a short appreciation of Jean W Keeling as a pediatric pathologist.

History of Pick's disease.

After a short summary of Arnold Pick's biography, the history of how Pick's disease (PiD) was reported is presented, from its clinical symptoms to its molecular characterization. The macroscopic description of frontotemporal atrophy by Pick is recounted followed by a description of the histological lesions observed by Alzheimer and the progressive characterization of the disease. The subsequent diagnosis has since relied on ultrastructural findings as well as immunohistochemical and biochemical techniques. The discovery of the role of the microtubule-associated τ-protein, encoded by chromosome 17, more specifically of the 3R isoform, has led to the inclusion of PiD in the 3R tauopathies. Today, both sporadic and familial PiDs, including the more frequent behavioral form, are considered as frontotemporal dementias. Experimental models have reproduced some of the lesions but the prion-like hypothesis concerning PiD has not, as yet, been proven.

Role of German-speaking scholars in the development of pathology in Turkey.

The Westernization efforts initiated in the Ottoman Empire (also historically known as the Turkish Empire) in the 1800s also addressed medical training. Sultan Mahmud II opened a Western-style medical school, the Imperial School of Medicine, in Galatasaray, Istanbul, in 1839. Dr. Karl Ambros Bernard (1808-1895) from Vienna, who was educated at the Josephinum Military Medical Academy, was appointed as the director. The Sultan allowed the use of cadavers and autopsies, provided that they were carried out on deceased Christians. Dr. Sigmund Spitzer (1813-1895) from Vienna joined the medical school as an anatomy and dissection specialist in 1839. In the pre-World War I period, Professor Robert Reider (1861-1913) from the University of Bonn and Professor Georg Deycke (1865-1938) from Eppendorf Hospital in Hamburg came to Istanbul to train Turkish military doctors in postgraduate studies. The Gulhane Military Postgraduate Education & Training Hospital was opened in 1898. A student of the hospital, Hamdi Suat, was sent to Germany to specialize in pathology. He completed his education under the supervision of Professor Marchand (1846-1928). Professor Hamdi Suat Aknar (1873-1936) is regarded as the founder of pathology in Turkey. The Nazi pressure on scientists of Jewish origin during the pre-World War II period led to the emigration of scientists from Germany to Turkey. Professors P. Schwartz (1894-1977) from Frankfurt University and S. Oberndorfer (1876-1943) from Munich-the latter of whom was the first to define carcinoid tumors-took charge at Istanbul University, where they established the contemporary under-postgraduate pathology education and training system.

Origins of a pervasive, erroneous idea: The "green birefringence" of Congo red-stained amyloid.

Congo red was discovered to stain amyloid by accident in 1922, and Congo red-stained amyloid was shown to be birefringent on polarization microscopy in 1927. Colours, namely green and yellow, were reported under these conditions in 1945, although these are only two of various anomalous colours that may be seen, depending on the optical set-up. In 1953 there began a dogmatic insistence that in Congo red-stained amyloid between crossed polarizer and analyser green alone should be seen, and the finding of any other colour was a mistake. The idea that green, and only green, is essential for the diagnosis of amyloid has persisted almost universally, and virtually all mentions of Congo red-stained amyloid say that it just shows "green birefringence" or "apple-green birefringence." This idea is wrong and is contrary to everyday experience, because green is seldom seen on its own under these conditions of microscopy, and often, there is no green at all. How observers maintain this unscientific position is explained by a study of its historical origins. Most of the early literature was in German or French and was usually quoted in English at second hand, which meant that misquotations, misattributions and misunderstandings were common. Few workers reported their findings accurately, hardly any attempted to explain them, and until 2008, none gave a completely satisfactory account of the physical optics. The history of Congo red-stained amyloid is an instructive example of how an erroneous belief can become widely established even when it is contradicted by simple experience.

Anatomopathological research in nineteenth-century Gdansk - an outline of the problem.

Between 1793 and 1914, there were many internationally recognised physicians active in Gdansk. Their scientific activities included, among other things, anatomopathological research, constituting a determinant of progress in medical sciences during this period. One of the most important people was Martin Heinrich Rathke (1793-1860). He is recognised as one of the founders of modern embryology. In Gdansk Rathke's successor was Wilhelm Baum (1799-1883). Baum introduced compulsory post-mortem examinations in the city hospital even after the outbreak, and he was mentor to Theodor Billroth (1829-1894). The successor of Baum as the head of the city hospital was Emil Friedrich Götz (1806-1858). He took up an important topic, which was the consent of the family of the deceased to perform an autopsy. Furthermore, it described the gradual broadening of the scope of anatomopathological activities, consistent with the postulates of the first and second Viennese school, performed in Gdansk in the nineteenth century. However, a detailed analysis of the relationship between the discoveries of nineteenth-century medicine, especially in the field of pathological anatomy, and research carried out in Gdansk, remains in the sphere of research to be done.

[The 1933 resignation of Prof. Gotthold Herxheimer as chairman of the German Society of Pathology in a new light : Pathology in National Socialism]. / Der Rücktritt Prof. Gotthold Herxheimers als Vorsitzender der Deutschen Pathologischen Gesellschaft 1933 in neuem Licht : Pathologie im Nationalsozialismus.

The article offers a new approach to the retirement of Herxheimer as head of the German Society of Pathology in 1933 and frames it in a new context. The result is that the German Society of Pathology of the time contributed to National Socialism and supported it. Herxheimer became a victim, but his tragic fate was partly self-inflicted. This article is based on the methods of historical and cultural studies.

[Pathology in the Age of Violence : Mainz 1916 to 1946]. / Pathologie im Zeitalter der Gewalt : Mainz 1916 bis 1946.

BACKGROUND: Based on recent historical research, the context of mentality plays an important role in understanding the history of medicine and pathology in Nazi Germany. OBJECTIVES: What impact did the "Age of Violence" have on the work of pathology in Germany between 1914 and 1945? What does that mean for modern recent pathology? METHODS: Based on printed as well as archival material (City and University Archives, Mainz), the history of pathology in Mainz is presented as a case study. RESULTS: Mainz, as a part of a borderland region, faced experiences of verbal and bodily violence, which moulded the work of pathologists in the German Empire extensively. These developments bolstered the collaboration of pathologists with the Nazi state. CONCLUSIONS: Inquiries regarding medical ethics should not be restricted to the dispositions of actors and consequences for the suffering. In contrast, influences of mentality-driven contexts should be considered equally. The latter should be supportive to the maintenance of a democratic medicine.

[Eulogy to Prof. Dr. Med. Michael J. Mihatsch : Presentation of the Rudolf Virchow Medal 2019 of the German Society of Pathology]. / Laudatio auf Prof. Dr. med. Michael J. Mihatsch : Verleihung der Rudolf-Virchow-Medaille 2019 der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Pathologie.

Michael Mihatsch, born in 1943 in Gleiwitz, studied medicine in Bonn and Freiburg, and then went to Basel to begin studying pathology. In 1978, he became Assistant Professor at the University of Basel, and led the Institute there from 1988 until 2007. Mihatsch made Basel a center for prospective renal pathologists.His most significant achievement is the description of the connection between phenacetin administration and nephropathy with renal atrophy and the concomitant occurrence of urothelial carcinoma. His campaign against phenacetin finally contributed to a ban on the medication.His textbook Renal Pathology in Biopsy is a classic of medical literature.As a leading nephropathologist worldwide, Prof. Dr. Med. Michael J. Mihatsch received the Rudolf Virchow Medal of the German Society of Pathologists in 2019.

Heritage of Stanislaw Ciechanowski (1869-1945)-Discoverer of pathogenesis of prostatic hyperplasia-passionis insignia signis fulgent mirificis .

BACKGROUND: Prostatic enlargement was first correctly recognized as a prostatic hyperplasia by professor of anatomic pathology, Stanislaw Ciechanowski (1869-1945) in Cracow on contrary to Parisian urologist Jean Casimir Félix Guyon's concepts of progressing atherosclerosis as a morphological cause of prostatic overgrowth and mechanical insufficiency of lower urinary tract. METHODS: Primary resources were analyzed about Stanislaw Ciechanowski mainly from depositories of the Section of Special Collection, Stanislaw Konopka Main Medical Library Warsaw and Polish bibliograhy of Estreichers at Jagiellonian University. RESULTS: Professor of anatomic pathology, Stanislaw Ciechanowski (1869-1945) was the first to state that chronic inflammation induced overgrowth of parenchymatous and stromal prostate components in course of benign prostatic hyperplasia. Ciechanowski preformed also pioneer and notable studies in the mechanisms of carcinogenesis and classification of cancer in Poland. As one of the major Polish medical editors and a father of Polish modern medical language he was also very prolific author in the field of congenital pathology, sclerosis of pulmonary arteries, endemic goiter, intestinal emphysema, etc. Due to magnitude of autopsies, he preformed, Stanislaw Ciechanowski was a perfect candidate to complete the first edition of several volumes of main Polish handbook on anatomy of a human body after tragic death of professor Adam Bochenek. CONCLUSIONS: Ciechanowski gained such a high authority, that his opinion was found crucial in prewar Poland in the field of medical publications, but his world-famous achievement was scientific explanation of prostate overgrowth as inflammation induced hyperplasia.

Ewing Sarcoma and the History of Similar and Possibly Related Small Round Cell Tumors: From Whence Have We Come and Where are We Going?

The diagnosis of small round cell tumors always has been extremely difficult, and our current classification systems continue to evolve. Since its initial discovery by Dr James Ewing, the historical context of what is acceptably included under the designation "Ewing sarcoma" has changed. Although Ewing sarcoma and primitive neuroectodermal tumor were both initially described in the early 20th century, these tumors were considered likely distinct entities until the end of that same century, almost 75 years later. With modern immunohistochemistry and more recent advances in molecular techniques, the understanding of Ewing sarcoma and Ewing-like tumors has improved dramatically but also raises new questions and challenges. We now know that this category of tumors is remarkably more heterogenous than initially thought, especially in regards to its cytogenetics and molecular properties, and some of these differences likely have prognostic relevance. Whether we are now expanding the spectrum of Ewing sarcoma or simply recognizing new entities is controversial. Therapeutic approaches to address these new categories and/or entities need further focus and attention. Herein, we provide a comprehensive historical perspective on Ewing sarcoma, Ewing-like tumors (CIC and BCOR-rearranged sarcomas), and related and/or similar small round cell tumors, often included in the differential diagnosis, including mesenchymal chondrosarcoma, desmoplastic small round cell tumor, and small cell osteosarcoma. We also seek to provide updates and insights into the evolving classification and clinical relevance of the Ewing family of tumors.

Diagnostic histochemistry: A historical perspective.

Histochemistry has a history which, in some ways, goes back to ancient times. The desire for humans to understand the workings of their bodies, and the roles that various chemicals have in them, is long-standing. This review considers the evolution of histochemistry and cytochemistry as scientific disciplines, culminating in the pairing of those techniques with basic biochemistry. They have served as the bases for a synthesis of microscopy, chemistry, immunology, and molecular biology, particularly in the practice of anatomic pathology.

Matthew baillie's specimens and engravings.

In 1799, Matthew Baillie, William Hunter's nephew, published his famous atlas of pathology. It was entitled A Series of Engravings Accompanied with Explanations which are Intended to Illustrate the Morbid Anatomy of Some of the Most Important Parts of the Human Body. The present study aims to match the illustrations to extant specimens in the collections of William and John Hunter, preserved at the University of Glasgow and at the Royal College of Surgeons of England respectively. Baillie's book contains 10 fasciculi, consisting of 73 plates and 206 figures. The specimens Baillie illustrated came from his own collection and those of ten others, including his uncles, William and John Hunter. The book was illustrated by William Clift and engraved by James Basire, William Skelton and James Heath. Excluding eight illustrations of intestinal worms where the provenance of the specimens is uncertain, a total of 98 specimens from William Hunter's collection were illustrated in 104 figures. Eight of the specimens were calculi impossible to identify specifically. Excluding worms and calculi, 72 of William Hunter's specimens illustrated by Baillie are extant in the Hunterian Collection at the University of Glasgow. All but one of the 20 specimens illustrated that had belonged to John Hunter were identified in the on-line catalog of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Baillie's own collection was destroyed when the Royal College of Surgeons of England was bombed in 1941. Baillie is credited with being the first to produce an illustrated systematic textbook of morbid anatomy and probably the first to illustrate emphysema and transposition of the great vessels. His book, however, was not comprehensive. It did not cover a number of topics such as muscles and bones and there is little coverage of the nervous system. Baillie's book, however, was an original concept as an atlas of morbid anatomy and showed his deep insight into pathology. Clin. Anat. 31:622-631, 2018. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Henry Ware Cattell and Walt Whitman's Brain.

Henry Ware Cattell was a prominent pathologist and medical editor in late 19th and early 20th century America. Strangely, his name is unknown to most medical historians but is more widely known by aficionados of Walt Whitman's poetry. In 1892, Cattell was involved in an incident that abruptly changed his life and decreased his commitment to pathology as a career. Cattell had been serving as the pathologist/prosector for the American Anthropometric Society at the time the poet Walt Whitman died. Cattell, the pathologist for the University of Pennsylvania's Wistar Institute, performed Whitman's autopsy on March 27, 1892; Whitman's brain was removed and was to join those of other prominent American intellectuals who had donated their brains to the Society's "Brain Club," but something went horribly wrong (allegedly, an assistant had dropped the brain and destroyed it) and Cattell kept this a secret. Full of self-doubt, Cattell was anguished about his inadequacies as a pathologist and was extremely worried about how all of this would affect his career when discovered. While still continuing to practice hospital-based pathology, he began to transition into an author and editor. This essay will provide a detailed biographical sketch of Henry Ware Cattell, address his sibling rivalry with his more famous brother James McKeen Cattell, briefly discuss the fad of 19th century intellectuals embracing the pseudo-science of phrenology and their participation in anatomical "brain clubs," and, finally, address the mystery of what happened to Walt Whitman's brain. Clin. Anat. 31:988-996, 2018. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

An insight into the history of anatomopathological museums. Part 2.

The second part of the comprehensive work concerning pathology museums and collections presents their history since the 19th century. The evolution and specialisation of museums, depending on the attitude of their creators and geographic localization, have been analysed. The changing aspects of obtaining the exhibits and how they were preserved, presented, and stored are also a part of this work. The methods of human organ fixation reached excellence in the 19th century, but the rarity of some pathologies urged the scientists to recreate them artificially in models for didactic purposes. In the 19th and 20th centuries one could observe the flourishing development with a plateau and then decline from the second part of the 20th century to the reorientation of the museums that took place in Europe and North America. The history of anatomopathological museums is connected with ethical problems related to acquisition of exhibits in previous centuries and especially during World War II. The changing purpose of the collections, as well as their unclear future and the impact on the visitors, are evident. For the last 50 years, many museums have been closing completely, but some collections have been digitalised and are still in permanent use. The uniqueness of old specimens with certain diseases, often long gone and not observed anymore, makes them important in many aspects nowadays. Pathology museums are themselves relics of the past, being at the same time tangible proof of ways of development in medicine, but also a way of preservation of human knowledge in a special type of relation with the human body.

Cornerstones of Toxicology.

The 35th Annual Society of Toxicologic Pathology Symposium, held in June 2016 in San Diego, California, focused on "The Basis and Relevance of Variation in Toxicologic Responses." In order to review the basic tenants of toxicology, a "broad brush" interactive talk that gave an overview of the Cornerstones of Toxicology was presented. The presentation focused on the historical milestones and perspectives of toxicology and through many scientific graphs, data, and real-life examples covered the three basic principles of toxicology that can be summarized, as dose matters (as does timing), people differ, and things change (related to metabolism and biotransformation).