Cardiac Cath Labs: Their Origins and Their Future.

More than 1 million diagnostic cardiac catheterizations (excluding percutaneous coronary intervention-only procedures) are performed each year in the nearly 2,000 cardiac catheterization laboratories in the United States.1.

Modernizing the flow of blood: Biomedical technicians, working knowledge and the transformation of Swedish blood centre practices.

The early 1980s saw a 'paradigm change' in how donated blood was handled and used by blood centres, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies. In Sweden, a five-year state-financed R&D programme initiated a swift modernization process, an alleged 'revolution' of existing blood centre practices. In this article, we use interviews and archival material to analyse the role of female biomedical technicians in this rapid technical and organizational change. In focus is their working knowledge, or savoir-faire, of blood, instruments and techniques. We give a detailed analysis of technicians' embrained and embodied skills to create safety in blood and its representations, handle contingencies and invent new procedures and techniques. These transformations are analysed as sociomaterial entanglements, where the doing and undoing of gender, sociomaterial practices, hierarchies of authority and expertise, and emotions are intertwined.

The Arago Laboratory of Banyuls and some of its Academicians

Since its founding in 1881 by Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers (1821-1901), the Arago Laboratory of Banyuls has been one of the three marine stations of the University Pierre and Marie Curie-Paris 6. It is located in Banyuls (Banyuls-sur-Mer) in Northern Catalonia. The center hosts researchers and students from all over the world. Some became famous, including four Nobel Prize winners: André Lwoff (1965), Pierre-Gilles de Gennes (1991), Albert Fert (2007) and Jules Hoffmann (2011). This article focuses on five scientists closely related to the center. The first three are Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers (1821-1901), the founder; Édouard Chatton (1883-1947), eminent director of the center; and André Lwoff (1902-1994), who before being known for his work in bacterial genetics and virology was an outstanding protozoologist under the direction of Chatton. Lynn Margulis (1938-2011), a great friend of the Arago Laboratory and personal friend of the author, is also remembered. Finally, there is a mention of Walter J. Gehring (1939-2014), professor at the University of Basel, Switzerland (AU)

No disponible

[The I.G. Farben laboratory at the Günzburg mental hospital. Epilepsy research during the NS-regime and the postwar period]. / Das Laboratorium der I.G. Farben an der Heil- und Pflegeanstalt Günzburg. Epilepsieforschung in der NS-Zeit und den Nachkriegsjahren.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the activities of the I.G. Farben laboratory at the former "Heil- und Pflegeanstalt" Günzburg. This laboratory was established to test the newly developed epilepsy drug "Citrullamon" and its derivatives. Specifically, the type and manner of the various experiments were examined to determine whether the suspicions of unethical human experimentation could be identified. The commercial and medical activities between I.G. Farben and the Heil- und Pflegeanstalt, including the specific roles of the senior physician Wilhelm Leinisch and the I.G. Farben chemist Arno Grosse, are reviewed.

[Aviation medicine laboratory of the North Fleet air base celebrates the 70th anniversary].

The article is dedicated to the history of formation and development of the oldest aviation medicine department and its role in a flight safety of the North Fleet naval aviation. The aviation medicine laboratory was created in the years of the Great Patriotic war for medical backup of flights, medical review board, delivering of combat casualty care, prophylaxis of hypothermia and exhaustion of flight and ground crew. In a post-war period the aviation medicine laboratory made a great contribution to development of medical backup of educational and combat activity of the North Fleet aviation. Participation in cosmonaut applicants selection (incl. Yu.A. Gagarin), optimization of flight services during the transmeridian flights, research of carrier-based aircraft habitability and body state of the contingent during the longstanding ship-based aviation, development of treatment methods for functional status of sea-based aviation crew are the achievements of aviation medicine laboratory. Nowadays medicine laboratory is performing a research and practice, methodic and consultative activity with the aim of improving the system of medical backup, aviation medicine, psychology, flight safety, improvement of air crew health, prolong of flying proficiency.

Fifty-five years (1955-2010) of the Coagulation Section at Laboratory of Hematology, Sestre milosrdnice University Hospital, and its founder, hematologist Ljubomir Popovic.

The Coagulation Section at Laboratory of Hematology, Sestre milosrdnice University Hospital, Zagreb, was founded in 1955 by Ljubomir Popovic, hematologist and assistant at School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, in cooperation with hard-working laboratory technicians. Apart from papers on hematologic neoplasms, plasmacytoma and lymphoma, Ljubomir Popovic published a number of papers in the field of anticoagulant therapy with heparin and oral anticoagulants, some of which are also in use today. After Ljubomir Popovic left the Hospital in 1964, the Laboratory was run by Professor Nedjeljko Milic, head of the newly founded Division of Hematology. In 1968, the management of the Laboratory of Hematology was taken over by Biserka Raic, MS, medical biochemist, until her retirement in 2007. Great development in morphological and cytometric studies of blood and blood cells has been paralleled by continuous progress and almost dominating activities in the diagnosis of hemostasis disorders. In the 1970s, Marko Koprcina, hematologist, and Biserka Raic introduced the then latest tests in practice at all Hospital departments. In that golden age of the Coagulation Section, M. Koprcina, B. Raic and their associates transferred their knowledge to all colleagues in the Hospital. Through that collaboration, high standards in the diagnosis of hemostasis disorders were achieved, from which the currently high level of clinical knowledge about coagulation disorders and their treatment has derived, making Sestre milosrdnice University Hospital one of the leading hospitals in this field in the country. By describing development of the Coagulation Section and the life of its founder Ljubomir Popovic, the authors tried to provide an answer to the following question: can today's clinicians still have a deciding role in laboratory development, considering that assessments of different phenomena are always initiated by an interested clinician who is trying to interpret and understand the nature of the disorder? This means that the clinician's place may still be in the laboratory, or else, it will become clear that the laboratory, as well as knowledge in general, has undergone such an expansion that the clinician is no longer able to run it by himself. It is our belief that the answer will assert itself through the survey of the history of the Coagulation Section at Laboratory of Hematology, Division of Hematology, and the lives of its founders and beneficiaries.

[Recollections of the development of clinical cytology at Merkur University Hospital]. / Sjecanja na razvoj klinicke citologije u Klinickoj bolnici Merkur.

My recollections of the development of clinical cytology at Merkur University Hospital cover a 30-year period, from 1955 to 1985, and succession of generations. The beginning is always exciting, pervaded by youthful enthusiasm, while memories are quite nostalgic. That is how I also felt at the "Ruzdic's" medical biochemistry laboratory. The founders of clinical cytology at Merkur University Hospital were the clinicians Erik Hauptmann (hematologist), Zdenko Skrabalo (endocrinologist) and Zvonimir Singer (gynecologist, cytogeneticist), with great contribution by Ibrahim Ruzdic (biochemist). As the first head of cytology laboratory at University Department of Medicine, I realized what was crucial for such a successful development of clinical cytology at our Hospital; it was so because new technologies were continuously introduced in agreement with clinicians, along with the basic routine cytodiagnosis, while paying special attention to staff education (postgraduate study in clinical cytology since 1967; residency in cytology since 1974; education of cytotechnologists since 1968). A number of MS theses and doctoral dissertations have been defended at our cytology laboratories. The Section of Cytology (now Croatian Society of Clinical Cytologists, Croatian Medical Association) was founded in 1970, owing to the efforts invested by E. Hauptmann. Clinical cytologists from Merkur University Hospital contributed to the foundation of the Association of Clinical Cytologists of the then Yugoslavia and organized their first congress in 1979; in 1972, we were adopted members of the EFCS, while Z. Singer and I. Crepinko are IAC members. I wish that written memories help remember the foundation and development of clinical cytology at Merkur University Hospital because we should not forget that every future has its origin.

[Quality management in medical laboratories]. / Qualitätsmanagement im medizinischen Labor.

During the 20th century understanding for quality has changed and international and national requirements for quality have been published. Therefore also medical branches started to establish quality management systems. Quality assurance has always been important for medical laboratories. Certification according to the standard ISO 9001 and accreditation according to the standard ISO 17025 have been the proof of fulfilling quality requirements. The relatively new standard ISO 15189 is the first standard for medical laboratories. This standard includes technical and management requirements for the medical laboratory. The main focus is the proof of competence within the personnel. As this standard is accepted throughout the European Union an increase in accreditations of medical laboratories is predictable.

[Juliano Moreira and the Gazeta Medica da Bahia]. / Juliano Moreira e a Gazeta Medica da Bahia.

Recent studies of Juliano Moreira have emphasized his work in Rio de Janeiro (1903-1933), but the main objective of this article is to describe his contribution to the Gazeta Medica da Bahia in the period before that (1893-1903). It describes the evolution of this magazine, which served as a vehicle for original research of the Bahian Tropicalist School. It presents Moreira's output in the Gazeta, in which he emerges as a student of dermatology, syphilology and parasitology, having identified cutaneous leishmaniasis for the first time in Brazil. At that time, he also consolidates his reputation as a professor in neuropsychiatry, conducting clinical studies in the field, analyzing treatment models and proposing changes in medical treatment. It highlights the importance of Moreira not only as a collaborator on the Gazeta during a decade, but also as an editor, as well as his role as chief editor (1901-1902).

[The scientific path of a laboratory of pathomorphology and electron microscopy].

The paper shows the research directions of the staff of the laboratory of pathomorphology and electron microscopy, which cover the period from 1924 to the present time, which can be conventionally divided into 4 stages associated with the leading role of the laboratory's heads: Prof. V.G. Shtefko (1924-1945), Prof. V.I. Puzik (1945-1974), Prof. O.A. Uvarova (1974-1980), and Prof. V.V. Yerokhin (1980 up to the present time). The laboratory's researches are the productive path of phthisiomorphology. The tasks of the laboratory have been associated with the problems to be solved by the institute. This applies the morphology, pathogenesis, classification of tuberculosis, and changes in inflammatory reactions in response to the altered Mycobacterium tuberculosis and to specific and pathogenetic actions on tuberculosis. New living conditions give the laboratory's researchers new tasks that require their solution at a new technological level.

[Paul Ehrlich and commercial serum production: on the control of diphtheria antitoxin in the laboratory and in industry]. / Paul Ehrlich und die Serumproduzenten: Zur Kontrolle des Diphtherieserums in Labor und Fabrik.

The state control of the anti-diphtheria serum is a prime example for the efficient cooperation between state authorities, industrials and scientists. The article describes firstly the dynamics of this development and places it in the context of already existing approaches to drugs control. Of special interest are the motives which led the different actors to support the state control of sera. Secondly the reciprocal influences between Ehrlich and the serum producers are analyzed. It is shown that practical problems inspired Ehrlich's theoretical work, which in return led to an improvement of measurement techniques.

Hints to blood groupers, 1950.

Sixty years ago, the premier blood grouping laboratory was that of Robert Race in London. Agglutination tests and blood grouping had provided breakthroughs in immunology, genetics, and the solution of clinical problems. The significance of immunohematology was recognized by the clinical hematology community as a potent force in the expanding field of disorders of the blood and blood-forming organs. The instructions by Race to his London workers entitled Hints to Blood Groupers provide a picture of the immunohematology laboratory even before automation and differed slightly from the American techniques that derived from Landsteiner. Before agglutination is replaced in the near future by the emergence of molecular methods, the detailed method of a superb laboratory is recorded.

[Ophthalmopathology between yesterday and tomorrow]. / Ophthalmopathologie zwischen gestern und morgen.

As financial resources run short there are considerations to integrate the ophthalmopathological laboratories of the eye hospitals into the institutes for pathology. The term "return" which is used sometimes in the discussion is historically incorrect as the pathology of the eye--similar to dermatopathology in the clinics for dermatology--was developed quite independently from general pathology in the eye hospitals over the last 150 years. Due to the work of outstanding ophthalmologists like Otto Becker, Theodor Leber, Julius Michel, and Ernst Fuchs ophthalmopathology augmented the ophthalmological knowledge much more than any other subdiscipline in the late 19th and the early 20th century. At any time, the very close link of the clinical picture and the morphology proved to be very advantageous for the understanding of the diseases. As a consequence of new diagnostic tools and progress in therapy the pathology of the eye is always changing and it is a still very important motor of modern ophthalmology. Whether in the clinical or in the experimental field: classical ophthalmopathology serves to characterise the phenotype, and nothing indicates that genomics or proteomics will make it unnecessary within the foreseeable future. Pure diagnostic pathology of the eye does not cover the costs. However, there are enough good reasons to keep the ophthalmopathological laboratories as parts of the eye hospitals.