La recepción de la teoría bacteriológica en Cataluña a través de la Revista Homeopática (1890-1913) / The bacterial theory in Catalonia through Revista Homeopática (1890-1913)

El cambio de paradigma médico que provocaron los descubrimientos en bacteriología aceleró la necesidad por parte de la homeopatía de recibir y adaptar su doctrina a las nuevas tendencias científicas. Las estrategias de legitimación son un instrumento de gran importancia en el posicionamiento de las disciplinas dentro del mundo científico. La homeopatía, como disciplina médica, también utilizó sus recursos para apropiarse de una teoría que se estaba introduciendo con fuerza. En este trabajo se estudiarán las estrategias legitimadoras utilizadas por la Academia Médico Homeopática de Barcelona, a fin de que los nuevos descubrimientos de koch no derrumbasen la doctrina Hahnemanniana, a partir del análisis de la Revista Homeopática, órgano de difusión de esta institución. Con el estudio de estas estrategias, se intenta demostrar que la teoría bacteriana no representó el principio del fin, de un movimiento que todavía hoy sobrevive al pensamiento hegemónico (AU)

The discoveries in bacteriology led to a paradigm shift in medical homeopathy, accelerating the need to receive and adapt its teaching to new scientific trends. Legitimisation strategies are an important tool in the positioning of the disciplines within the scientific world. Homeopathy is a medicaldiscipline that also uses its resources to take on a theory that was being introduced to great effect. this paper exa mines the legitimisation strategies that the Acadèmia Médico-Homeopàtica de Barcelona used so that koch’s new discoveries did not demolish the Hahnemanniana doctrine, from the analysis of the Revista Homeopática. The study of these strategies tries to show that the bacterial theory did not represent the beginning of the end of a movement that still survives today (AU)

[Behring's personal papers--Behring's lives]. / Behrings Nachlässe--Behrings Biographien.

The article wants to show the connection between the enriched personal papers of Emil von Behring (1854-1917) in the Behring archives in Marburg (established in 1927) and the history of the first biography of the scientist, which was published by Heinz Zeiss and Richard Bieling during Nazi era in 1940. One focus is placed on Behring's widow Else von Behring (1876-1936), who was active in arranging Behring's papers in proper order and in searching a biographer of her husband's life. The paper also presents new discoveries from the Behring Works archives in Marburg which show Behring--founder of the serum therapy and first winner of the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1901--as an entrepreneur who was fighting for control and influence in the field of science and of business: maybe another narration of Behring's life.

Fred Neufeld and pneumococcal serotypes: foundations for the discovery of the transforming principle.

During the first decade of the twentieth century, the German bacteriologist Fred Neufeld, later Director of the Robert Koch-Institute in Berlin, first described the differentiation of pneumococci into serotypes on the basis of type-specific antisera. This finding was essential for subsequent research at the Rockefeller Institute of Medical Research (RIMR) in New York, and elsewhere, aiming for the conquest of human pneumococcal pneumonia, including antiserum therapy, the discovery that the type-specific antigens were carbohydrates, and the development of effective multivalent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccines. Moreover, on the basis of pneumococcal serotypes Fred Griffith, in 1928 in London, discovered pneumococcal transformation, and Oswald T. Avery and coworkers, in 1944 at RIMR, identified DNA as the transforming substance. This sequence of events, leading to today's knowledge that genes consist of DNA, was initiated by a farsighted move of Simon Flexner, first Director of the RIMR, who asked Neufeld to send his pneumococcal typing strains, thus setting the stage for pneumococcal research at RIMR. Here, we describe Fred Neufeld's contributions in this development, which have remained largely unknown.

Rudolf Kraus em busca do "ouro da ciência": a diversidade tropical e a elaboração de novas terapêuticas, 1913-1923 / Rudolf Kraus in search of the "gold of science": tropical diversity and the development of new treatments, 1913-1923

Com base na trajetória de Rudolf Kraus, o artigo analisa a busca de curas para doenças infecciosas em regiões tropicais no início do século XX, dando especial atenção à elaboração por Kraus de novos terapêuticos biológicos como soros, vacinas e soluções proteicas. As regiões tropicais eram com frequência apresentadas como mais propícias à pesquisa devido à maior quantidade de organismos a identificar e também à concorrência supostamente menor entre pares. Os trópicos eram, assim, considerados um oásis para as pesquisas microbiológicas. Kraus dedicou-se à fabricação de diversos produtos de origem biológica, mas não teve o sucesso esperado com muitos deles.

Based on the career of Rudolf Kraus, the article analyzes the search for cures to infectious diseases in tropical regions in the early twentieth century, focusing especially on Kraus' development of new biological treatments like sera, vaccines, and protein solutions. At that time, the world's tropical regions were often portrayed as more propitious for research, given the larger number of organisms that could be identified in these realms and an allegedly lower level of peer competition as well. The tropics were thus seen as an oasis for microbiological research. Kraus dedicated himself to the production of various products of biological origin, but he failed to achieve his hoped-for success with many of them.

Rudolf Kraus em busca do “ouro da ciência”: a diversidade tropical e a elaboração de novas terapêuticas, 1913-1923 / Rudolf Kraus in search of the “gold of science”: tropical diversity and the development of new treatments, 1913-1923

Com base na trajetória de Rudolf Kraus, o artigo analisa a busca de curas para doenças infecciosas em regiões tropicais no início do século XX, dando especial atenção à elaboração por Kraus de novos terapêuticos biológicos como soros, vacinas e soluções proteicas. As regiões tropicais eram com frequência apresentadas como mais propícias à pesquisa devido à maior quantidade de organismos a identificar e também à concorrência supostamente menor entre pares. Os trópicos eram, assim, considerados um oásis para as pesquisas microbiológicas. Kraus dedicou-se à fabricação de diversos produtos de origem biológica, mas não teve o sucesso esperado com muitos deles. (AU)

Prevention of tetanus during the First World War.

The emergence of tetanus in wounded soldiers during the first months of the First World War (WWI) resulted from combat on richly manured fields in Belgium and Northern France, the use of modern explosives that produced deep tissue wounds and the intimate contact between the soldier and the soil upon which he fought. In response, routine prophylactic injections with anti-tetanus serum were given to wounded soldiers removed from the firing line. Subsequently, a steep fall in the incidence of tetanus was observed on both sides of the conflict. Because of fatal serum anaphylaxis associated with administration of serum at a time when purification methods still needed to be improved, it must be presumed that tens to hundreds of men might have died as a result of the routine administration of anti-tetanus serum during WWI. Yet anti-tetanus serum undoubtedly prevented life threatening tetanus among several hundred thousands of wounded men, making it one of the most successful preventive interventions in wartime medicine. After the abrupt fall in tetanus incidence in 1914 due to introduction of anti-tetanus serum, the incidence of the disease tended to become even lower as the war went on. This was probably due to earlier and more thorough surgical treatment, consisting of opening, cleaning, excision and drainage of wounds as early as possible. In this overview, recent battlefield findings from the Meuse-Argonne offensive in 1918 are used to illustrate common practices employed in the prevention of tetanus during WWI.

The dynamics of Wertbestimmung.

The procedure of Wertbestimmung played a vital role in the implementation of serum therapy and the standardization of mass-produced pharmaceuticals. In fin-de-siècle Germany, a legal framework was put in place to guarantee serum quality and safety and to minimize any associated public health risks. Because the sera were biological remedies, it was difficult to produce them in uniform quality and the procedure of Wertbestimmung, i.e. determining the potency of the serum based on an objective and comparable value, was extremely complex. Various agents such as bacteria cultures, serum hosts, or test animals had to be regulated. In the years after 1895, numerous efforts to stabilize the procedures of Wertbestimmung were undertaken by serum producers and members of the state-run survey institute responsible for overseeing serum production. Despite efforts to stabilize the framework and to generate a reliable reference system, the framework's environment and agents were in constant flux: new producers entered the market and procedures were expanded to include other biologicals as well. The article describes the dynamics involved in the sustained efforts to maintain a stable framework in the face of constant alterations between 1895 and the 1920s.

[Review of the activities from the former State Institute for Serum Production]. / Een terugblik op de activiteiten van de voormalige rijksseruminrichting.

This article describes the foundation and development of the State Institute for Serum Production (Rijksseruminrichting) in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, during the period 1904-1959. It describes the work of Dr J. Poels, the founder of the Institute, and the production of antisera in terms of the selection of animals, immunization protocols, blood sampling and collection, and the preservation and use of antisera in practice. Attention is also paid to the production of vaccines and diagnostic tests and to research on animal diseases. Envisaged research goals were not achieved because of a lack of adequate financial support and staffing, and poor laboratory facilities.

Emil von Behring and serum therapy.

Emil von Behring is the father of serum therapy. We present an overview of the development of this important tool in the treatment of diphtheria. In a historical context Behring's work reflects the scientific spirit of fin de siècle Berlin.

[From Bogomoletz anti-reticular cytotoxic serum to monoclonal antibodies]. / Vid antyretykuliarnoï tsytotoksychnoï cyrovatky Bohmol'tsia do monoklonal'nykh antytil.

The paper devoted to the 120th anniversary of A.A. Bogomoletz birth deals with the developmental stages of the cytotoxin (xenogenic antibody) doctrine from creating the anti-reticular cytotoxic serum (ACS) of Bogomoletz to the use of monoclonal antibodies both in biological investigations and in medicine. The use of ACS for treating various diseases and the mechanisms of its effect; obtaining other anti-organ and anti-tissue cytotoxic sera and establishing their experimental effects; the use of a set of cytotoxic sera, taken in both inhibitory and stimulating doses, in medicine and agriculture, as well as the drawbacks of cytotoxic sere (polyclonal xenogenic antibodies) are described. The experience of using monoclonal antibodies to identify the structures of protein antigenic determinants and to establish their role in different diseases are analysed. The use of monoclonal antibodies for treating various diseases is reviewed. The advances in the techniques of obtaining monoclonal antibodies are noted.