[«Our whole family does not get out of the common cold¼: an ear, throat and nose disease in the conditions of S.P. Botkin]. / «Vse nashe semeistvo ne vykhodit iz nasmorka¼: zabolevaniya ukha, gorla i nosa v okruzhenii S.P. Botkina.

The article presents an epistolary insight into the history of otorhinolaringology in Russia. It shows pathology of ear, nose and throat, which S.P. Botkin faced: cases of diseases of empress Maria Aleksandrovna, grand duke Vyacheslav Konstantinovich, poet N.A. Nekrasov, publisher A.A. Kraevsky, Sergey Petrovich himself, his relatives and loved ones. The biographical singularity of the famous doctor's patients is noted. On the materials of family letters of 1855-1889 yrs., service diaries of 1872-1889 yrs. and S.P. Botkin's clinical lectures it is shown how daily cases and casuistry of otorhinolaryngology pathology formed scientific innovative ideas.

"The letters of S. P. Botkin from Bulgaria. 1887": The return of the manuscript in Russia.

The previous report partially brought to light history of publishing of "The letters of S. P. Botkin from Bulgaria 1877". The original letters were abroad for many years and they were returned to the USSR in 1974 by grandchildren of S. P. Botkin, S. P. Chekhov and D. P. Chekhov, who resided in France. The circumstances of handing over of the letters to the N. A. Semashko Institute of Health Organization and Social Hygiene are presented. The letters have not been republished for 130 years, but their historical, moral and educational significance remains actual and nowadays. The modern edition of the complete manuscript, along with introductory article and detailed scientific commentary, will become a significant contribution to representation of biography of S.P Botkin, to supplementation of written sources about the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878, and to comprehension of centuries-old Middle Eastern geopolitics of Russia.

Alexander Frese and the establishment of psychiatry in the Russian Empire.

Previous historiography has already paid particular attention to well-known 'metropolitan' biographies of I. Balinsky, V. Bekhterev and others, as well as their role in the establishment of a scientific approach in the treatment of mental illnesses in the Russian Empire. Little attention has been paid to 'provincial' physicians and the importance of their scientific activity in bridging the gap between the Russian and European institutions of psychiatry. The primary aim of this article is to show how Alexander Frese's 'mobile' and 'imperial' career influenced the emergence of the transnational origins of Russian psychiatry. It describes his travels to foreign psychiatric hospitals, and his subsequent critical assessment of them. I argue that his ideas, which had been formulated during these trips, determined the design of emerging psychiatric institutions (district hospitals) in the Russian Empire.

The Russian feldsher: A PA prototype in transition.

The feldsher is a physician assistant (PA) prototype. Developed in Russia during the 19th century to serve as healthcare personnel at a time of physician scarcity, feldshers provided medical services throughout the Russian Empire and later Soviet Union. Their medical role from the mid-19th century until the Bolshevik revolution in 1917 was crucial, particularly in rural and underserved regions. During wartime, many served in the military as medics. During the late 20th century, feldshers' numbers waned compared with physicians and nurses. In the 21st century, they remain a presence in the Russian medical system but their future is in transition as their numbers decline. However, earlier this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the Russian State Duma to create more feldsher-midwife stations in rural areas. This indicates that the Russian government, at the highest levels, see the need for more feldshers to serve, essentially, as PAs in remote areas.

Professor Monastyrski N.D. (1847-1888): One of the Forgotten Pioneers of Biliary Surgery.

Today, the ingenious and untimely deceased surgeon Monastyrski's name is almost lost in the history of medicine and means little, if anything, to young surgeons. Monastyrski Nestor Dmitrievich was born in 1847 in Czerniowce and graduated from the medical faculty of the University of Vienna. Deeply inspired by the stars of European medicine and surgery: Billroth, Kaposi, Mikulicz, he became a brilliant surgeon and teacher. Monastyrski performed the first gastroenterostomy in Russia and was one of the pioneers of the aseptic method in Russia. In May 1887 he performed the historical first cholecystojejunostomy in the world. In 1888, exhausted by a tumor of the right kidney, Monastyrski insisted on surgery which resulted in his death several hours later. The department of surgery which was founded by Monastyrski N.D. in the Clinical Institute of Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna (today - North-Western State Medical Academy named after I.I. Mechnikov) was named after him.

Wladyslaw Bieganski, MD (1857-1917)

Dr W. Bieganski was an eminent doctor of internal medicine mostly the acute infectious diseases and tuberculosis, he was scientist doing the research on the origin of the diseases and on the medical ethics, but more he was also a social activist taking care on the public health of the society in his time still living under the Russian rule. W. Bieganski living on the XIX/XX century in small provincial town, grace to his knowledge, self education and energy created the important scientific center in the municipal small hospital. His philosophic works and especially knowledge published under the shape of aphorisms on the medical ethics were several time published still after his death. The century of the death of Dr W. Bieganski the Senat of RP, the Higher Chamber of the Polish Parliament, celebrated by nominating him as one of the eminent persons for the year 2017. This publication was prepared to memorize the achievements of a medical doctor, scientists and social Dr W. Bieganski activists, that can be jugged as the precursor of the public health activist, and whose philosophical findings are still worth to be remember.

[The R.M. Fronshteyn Urology Clinic 150th Anniversary].

In 2017, the Urology Clinic of the Sechenov University celebrates the 150th anniversary. Since its foundation in 1866, it has been led by outstanding Russian medical experts. Today, the clinic features a highly specialized team of leading medical professionals that honors the traditions of the school that has been formed here for many years.

[The School of S.P. Botkin: Vassili Nikolaievich Sirotinin (1855-1934)].

The article considers a number of characteristics of the scientific clinical school of S.P. Botkin. The exceptional significance of this school in the history of national medicine is emphasized. It is demonstrated that V.N. Sirotinin was the most outstanding of all his followers, the school leader and one of the leaders of the clinic of inner diseases in Russia during the first decades of XX century. The article presents the scientific biography of V.N. Sirotinin, including his emigration years. It is demonstrated that the issues of organization by V.N. Sirotinin of his own clinical school requires and additional investigation.

[The Shmakovka health resort: the history and the current status]. / Kurort Shmakovka: istoriya i sovremennost'.

The authors distinguish three periods in the history of the «Shmakovka¼ health resort, viz. pre-revolutionary (from 1870 to 1917), Soviet (from 1917 to 1991) and modern (since 1992 up to the present time). The history of the discovery and the initial development of the mineral springs is highlighted, the foundation and evolution of the major facilities of the «Shmakovka¼ health resort in the years of socialist construction in the Soviet period is described. Information about the main areas of research carried out based at these facilities at different times is presented. Special attention is given to the various aspects of the sustainable development of the «Shmakovka¼ health resort in the context of the current tendencies toward activation of the import substitution activities with special reference to the organization of tourism in this country, strengthening of the material-technical base of the health centers, improvement of the quality of medical and health services, and further development of scientific research.

[Organization of medical equipment supply for the Russian Army during the First World War].

Organization of medical equipment supply-for the Russian Army during the First World War. The article shows that when preparing the army for the war and planning of emergency supplies for military time the Russian military department was guided by the experience gained during the Russo-Japanese War, which turned old by that time, and as a result during the First World War the medical service noticed a significant lack of medications,surgical instruments and other medical equipment. There were few bases of medical equipment in the troop district. The undertaken emergency measures allowed improving supply of medical institutions and troops with medical equipment.

[PROFESSOR A. A. SOKOLOVSKY AND EXPERIMENTAL PHARMACOLOGY IN RUSSIA.]

Various stages of the creative activity of Professor A. A. Sokolovsky have been analyzed. Sequential formation of his scientific outlook is shown and the history of creation of his basic hypotheses and ideas about the action of drugs is outlined. Manuals and textbooks on pharmacology, created by Prof. A. A. Sokolovsky, are considered. Peculiarities of teaching pharmacology introduced by Prof. A. A. Sokolovsky at the medical faculty of Imperial Moscow University are discussed.

[Use of chemical war gases at the Russian-German front during the First World War].

The First World War was notable for the widespread use of machine military hardware and absolutely new type of weapon--chemical weapon. As a result of the first gas attack by chlorine undertaken by the German army against the Russian armies on May, 31st, 1915, heavy poisonings have received 9100 people, 6000 of them died. Chemical attack of Germany against Russia was limited by the use chemical gases of suffocating action: chlorine, bromine,phosgene and diphosgene. It is not known exactly, how many times Germany attacked Russian positions with use of chemical gases. On available data, in the First World War from application by German of the chemical weapon Russia has suffered more, than any other of the at war countries: from five hundred thousand poisoned have died nearby 66,000 people. In turn, having received in the order the chemical weapon of own manufacture, Russian army itself tried to attack in the German armies. It is authentically known only about several cases of application dy Russian of fighting poison gases, and in all cases of loss of germen were insignificant.

[FOUNDER PERM PROVINCIAL MEDICINE--"PEOPLE'S DOCTOR" F. H. GRAIL].

The article presents the biography of one wonderful doctors, who have high human, civil and professional qualities, Fyodor Ch. Gral.

To 125th anniversary of V.V. Svyatlovsky's <> publication. The author's contribution into national industrial medicine development.

The article covers historical materials about Russian scientists Vladimir Vladimirovitch Svyatlovsky, author of the first Russian manual on industrial medicine - <>. Role of the scientist in national science development, his contribution into workers' health preservation, his works and lectures - these are topics also covered in the article.

[Main stages of occupational pathology development in Russia].

The authors attempted to follow history of national occupational pathology development, analyzed features of its formation of Russian Federation territory, presented main stages and key moments of its establishment in XIX-XXI centuries.

Nikolay Ivanovich Pirogov: a surgeon's contribution to military and civilian anaesthesia.

A key figure in the development of anaesthesia in Russia was the surgeon Nikolay Ivanovich Pirogov (1810-1881). He experimented with ether and chloroform and organised the general introduction of anaesthesia in Russia for patients undergoing surgery. He was the first to perform systematic research into anaesthesia-related morbidity and mortality. More specifically, he was one of the first to administer ether anaesthesia on the battlefield, where the principles of military medicine that he established remained virtually unchanged until the outbreak of the Second World War.

Two bullets to the head and an early winter: fate permits Kutuzov to defeat Napoleon at Moscow.

General Mikhail Kutuzov (circa 1745-1813) brilliantly repelled Napoleon's invasion of Russia. Honored as a national hero and a savior of Russia, Kutuzov has a unique medical story. He was shot in the head twice while fighting the Turks (1774 and 1788) and survived the serious injuries seemingly against all odds. The first bullet "ran through the head from one temple to the other behind both eyes." The second bullet entered the cheek, destroyed upper teeth, traveled through the head, and exited the occiput. Massot, a French surgeon with the Russian army, wrote after treating Kutuzov's seemingly two mortal wounds: "It must be believed that fate appoints Kutuzov to something great, because he was still alive after two injuries, a death sentence by all the rules of medical science." Aided by Massot's expert surgical technique, Kutuzov lived to become intimately engaged in events that altered world history. His health did, however, suffer significant effects due to the bullet wounds. In 1812, as Napoleon's Grande Armée approached, Kutuzov realized he could not confront Napoleon and he strategically retreated from Moscow, submitting the French to the harsh winter and Russian cavalry. Napoleon's devastated army retreated to Paris, and Kutuzov became the personification of Russian spirit and character. Kutuzov's survival of two nearly mortal head wounds created the legends, additional mystery, and drama surrounding him, not the least astonishing of which was the skilled neurosurgical care that probably saved his life.

[ANALYSIS OF F.M.DOSTOEVSKII'S HEALTH, PERSONALITY, AND WORKS FROM THE GENETIC STANDPOINT. PART 1].

The data on Dostoevsky's epilepsy are ambiguous and often contradictory. It prompted consideration of certain genetic aspects of the writer's pedigree for the clarification of this issue. The phenomenon of Dostoevsky's genius was for the first time contemplated from the standpoint of the contribution of genetic factors to his creative work. It was shown that Dostoevsky's ancestry can not be a source of hereditary predisposition to epilepsy. The available data question the genuine nature of his disease. Characteristic of Dostoevsky's ancestry is the wide occurrence of "creativeness" genes. Their cumulation together with a number of other factors verified in the writer can account for the phenomenon of his genius.

[Last years of N. I. Pirogov (according to dairy of D. A. Skalon written in 1876-7878)].

Last years of N.I.Pirogov (according to dairy of D.A.Skalon written in 1876-1878). Excerpts from colonel D.A. Skalon's 1876-1878 diaries are published for the first time. The diaries detail his interactions with NI. Pirogov (1810-1881) and present a unique account on psychophysical state of the great Russian surgeon during the last years of his life. The testimony of an immediate witness pictures a hale old man with a choleric temperament, broad and creative mind, state-scale thinking, and diverse interests reaching far beyond medicine.