Neurología en la corte del Rey Sabio / Neurology in the court of the Learned King

Durante el reinado de Alfonso X de Castilla se alcanzó uno de los períodos culturales más florecientes de nuestra historia. El llamado Rey Sabio contribuyó a este desarrollo promoviendo el uso del castellano como lengua de transmisión científica en lugar del latín en la Escuela de Traductores de Toledo, donde sabios de las «tres culturas) (cristiana, islámica y judía) colaboraron en armonía para perpetuar el conocimiento heredado de los clásicos. En el presente trabajo se estudia historiográficamente la neurobiopatología alfonsí y la idea de enfermedad neurológica durante la época medieval hispana.En la obra generada por la corte alfonsí (Cantigas, documentos de su cancillería y cronicones de la época) se desprende que el Rey Sabio padeció procesos que cursaron con semiología neurológica y se reconocen cuadros de nuestra especialidad que afligieron a las gentes medievales. Alfonso X padeció afecciones que cursaron con coma y delirio, estando su propia vida seriamente comprometida en varias ocasiones. Asimismo, sufrió una lesión inflamatoria maxilar crónica con afectación orbitaria progresiva que produjo una grave neuralgia trigeminal, afectación del nervio óptico, pérdida progresiva de la función visual y enucleación ocular. En las Cantigas se relatan «curaciones milagrosas» de traumatismos craneales, neuropatías leprosas (mal de San Lázaro), demencias, hemiplejías, rabia (mal de San Huberto), crisis convulsivas (endemoniados). diversas tipologías de padecimientos psiquiátricos y el ergotismo (mal de San Antón)

During the reign of Alfonso X of Castile one of the most florishing cultural periods of European history was reached. The so-called Learned King contributed to this development by promoting the use of the Castilian as the language of scientific transmission instead of latin, and favouring the recovery of arabic origin manuscripts in the Toledo Translators' School. Where the wise men from the «three cultures» (Christian, Islamic and Jewish) worked together in harmony to perpetuate classical knowledge. The aim of this paper is to analyze the neurological pathology in the period concerned.The Learned King suffered from several neurologic syndromes including delirium and coma. He also showed chronic maxillary sinusitis with orbital involvement, trigeminal neuralgia and visual loss. Furthermore, in the Cantigas he described miraculous treatments of several disorders including seizures, leprous neuropathy, dementia, rabies, and ergotism

Armauer Hansen (1841-1912): portrait dun pionnier nordique de la bactériologie / Armauer Hansen (1841-1912), portrait of a Nordic pioneer

Desending from a Danish family, Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen was born in Bergan, Norway, on 29 July, 1841. Graduated in medicine in 1866 from the University at Christiana (the former name of Oslo), he started his medical career as an assistant physician at the National Hospital of Oslo for one year, working afterwards as a medical officer for a fishing company outside the Arctic Circle. Taking not well his routine job, he soon returned to Bergen where he began his work on a disease known as leprosy at the age of 26 and as an assistant of D.C. Danielssen at the Lungegaarden Hospital. There he engaged in research and investigations on the nature of the disease. Studying the various types of leprosy (skin, nerve and visceral lesions), he was awarded, one year after beginning his work, the gold metal of the University for his first publication on the disease. While Danielssen leaned toward heredity as a dominant factor in leprosy, Hansen's conviction was that the disease must have an infectious causal agent. In about 1871, Hansen began to observe tiny little rods in tissue specimens and considered they could be the ethiologic agent of leprosy, the more he found these rods in all the infiltrated nodular lesions in his patients. Finally, he proposed on February 28, 1873, that the rods were bacilli, responsible of leprosy. Promoted to the rank of Chief of the Leprosy Service in 1875, he held his job for 37 years; Hansen's entire adult life was spent at work in leprosy. He edited the journal . Hansen was also an eminent zoologist engaged in studies involving mollusks and worms; Since 1874, he was president of the Bergen Museum of Natural History. Armauer Hansen died on February 12, 1912, and the funeral ceremonies took place in the Museum of Bergen where his ashes are still kept.

V.R. Khanolkar: father of patology and medical research in India

Vasant Ramji Khanolkar was the first pathologist in India. He made major contributions to the epidemiology and understanding of cancer, blood groups, and leprosy. He was the first to show the existence of dhoti cancers, and was among the earliest to demonstrate the carcinogenicity of tobacco and the use of needle aspiration cytology for the diagnosis of neoplasms. He was an acclaimed teacher and was on the boards of numerous international organizations. He was a bibliophile and his writings are Oslerian in style. He serves as a role model to the few in India who are aware of him. He deserves to be called the "Father of pathology and medical research in India."

Kenneth Harrison Uttley (1901-1972). Historian to the diseases of Antigua, British West Indies

Dr Kenneth Harrison Uttley (1901-1972) served as the Chief Medical Officer in Antigua, British West Indies, from 1955 until 1966. During this time, Dr. Uttley personally reviewed and tabulated an island-wide governmental demographic database of all births, deaths and causes of death during the preceding 100 years. This database was the result of a Compulsory Birth and Death Registration Ordinance enacted as one of several Colonial Poor Laws in 1856. His efforts resulted in the publication of a total of 30 papers in American and British medical journals. Many of these papers reviewed historical demographic trends in births, fertility rates, neonatal deaths, infant mortality and early childhood mortality rates. Others focussed on the historical epidemiology of specific diseases such as neonatal tetanus, leprosy, tuberculosis and malaria. This is the first complete bibliographical account of Uttley's contributions to the history of diseases in the West Indies in general and Antigua in particular. Dr Uttley also served as an ordained priest in the Anglican Church and, upon retirement from the Colonial Medical Services, returned to England to serve as the Vicar of Purton, Oxfordshire.

Kenneth Harrison Uttley (1901-1972). Historian to the diseases of Antigua, British West Indies

Dr. Kenneth Uttley (1901-1972) served as Chief Medical Officer in Antigua, British West Indies, from 1955 until 1966. During this time, Dr. Uttley personally reviewed and tabulated an island-wide governmental demographic database of all births, deaths and causes of death during the preceeding 100 years. This database was the result of a Compulsory Birth and Death Registration Ordinance enacted as one of several Colonial Poor Laws in 1856. His efforts resulted in the publication of a total of 30 papers in American and British medical journals. Many of these papers reviewed historical demographic trends in births, fertility rates, neonatal deaths, infant mortality and early childhood mortality rates. Others focused on the historical epidemiology of specific diseases such as neonatal tetanus, leprosy, tuberculosis and malaria. This is the first complete bibliographical account of Uttley's contributions to the history of diseases in the West Indies in general and Antigua in particular. Dr. Uttley also served as an ordained priest in the Anglican Church and, upon retirement from the Colonial Medical Services, returned to England to serve as the Vicar of Purton, Oxfordshire. (AU)