RESUMO
Horace N. Allen, an American physician, was a Presbyterian missionary to Korea. In 1886, he wrote the annual report of the Korean government hospital, summarizing patient statistics according to outpatient and inpatient classification for the first ever in Korean history. In the report, he speculated that hemoptysis cases of outpatient might have been mainly caused by distoma. Allen's conjecture was noteworthy because only a few years lapsed since the first scientific report of paragonimiasis. However, he was not sure of his assumption either because it was not evidently supported by proper microscopic or post-mortem examinations. In this letter, we thus revisit his assumption with our parasitological data recently obtained from Joseon period mummies.
Assuntos
Arqueologia/história , Helmintíase/história , Helmintos/isolamento & purificação , Hemoptise/história , Parasitologia/história , Animais , Autopsia , Helmintíase/diagnóstico , Helmintíase/epidemiologia , Helmintíase/parasitologia , Helmintos/citologia , Hemoptise/diagnóstico , Hemoptise/epidemiologia , Hemoptise/parasitologia , História do Século XVIII , História do Século XIX , Humanos , Múmias/parasitologia , Óvulo/citologia , Prevalência , República da Coreia/epidemiologiaRESUMO
BACKGROUND: In 2010 we celebrated the bicentennial of Chopin's birth. He left more than 230 fantastic compositions, often described as romantic, emotional and poetic. Chopin composed almost exclusively for piano solo and has been called the pianists' composer. From his teens he suffered from respiratory tract infections, gradually accompanied by haemoptysis, pronounced breathing problems, diarrhoea and loss of weight. He experienced part of his adult life as a period of great suffering. He was 39 years old when he died. The assumed cause of death was tuberculosis, but other possible differential diagnoses have been suggested in recent years. MATERIAL AND METHOD: In order to examine the different diagnostic alternatives, a non-systematic search of the literature was carried out in PubMed, Embase, Current Contents, Google and relevant reference books. RESULTS: The official cause of death was tuberculosis, but the autopsy report has never been found. Both cystic fibrosis and alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency are possible differential diagnoses that can explain his symptoms. INTERPRETATION: In spite of a disabling disease, Chopin was musically creative right to the end of his life. His suffering must have influenced his musical expression, which is characterised by intimacy and sentimentality. It is unlikely that we will ever find the true cause of death.
Assuntos
Pessoas Famosas , Música , Adulto , Causas de Morte , Fibrose Cística/diagnóstico , Diagnóstico Diferencial , Diarreia/diagnóstico , Hemoptise/história , História do Século XIX , Humanos , Música/história , Paris , Polônia , Infecções Respiratórias/história , Espanha , Tuberculose Pulmonar/diagnóstico , Tuberculose Pulmonar/história , Deficiência de alfa 1-Antitripsina/diagnósticoRESUMO
Chopin was born in Zelazowa Wola in Western Poland. He had no formal piano tuition and one could say that his skill as a pianist was self-taught, close to a miracle. All his compositions included the piano; this was not a restriction for him. The illnesses that plagued him and the cause of his death are the subject of articles by retrospective diagnosticians.