'The King of Diseases': An Essay on the Special Attention Paid to Cancer Patients and How It Came About.

The history of cancer during the twentieth century demonstrates that various factors have contributed to the perception of cancer as the 'Emperor of All Maladies', although this has never been true from an epidemiological perspective. Depending on the geographical area, infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria or cardiovascular disease still head the list of the most common illnesses. Within the group of chronic-degenerative diseases, however, cancer has outdistanced the widespread classic infectious diseases as a result of the epidemiologic transition around 1900, at least in the more developed countries. Under the Nazi dictatorship from 1933 to 1945, the perception of cancer in Germany was particularly promoted for propaganda purposes. In the atomic era, cancer began to attract strong public interest as a worthwhile object of research in radiation therapies using large-scale facilities (electron accelerators, 'electron guns'). A further upsurge of interest in cancer was then registered in the context of the debate about the pathogenic role of environmental factors. The remarkable thing is that this increased perception of cancer has not yet been significantly associated with any overarching success in cancer treatment, but it has been associated with ideologies, hopes and advances in technology.

International medical students' expectations and worries at the beginning of their medical education: a qualitative focus group study.

BACKGROUND: The number of international students has increased substantially within the last decade. Due to cultural barriers, this specific group faces diverse challenges. In comparison to German colleagues, international medical students perform significantly lower in clinical examinations and exceed the average duration of study; they suffer from personal distress as well as insufficient support. Within the present study, their individual perspectives, expectations, hopes and fears were examined. METHODS: Four focus groups with first-year international medical students (N = 16) were conducted in October 2013. Each 60- to 90-min discussion was audiotaped, transcribed and analysed using qualitative methods. RESULTS: International medical students go abroad in search of good study-conditions. For the choice of place of study, affordability, social ties as well as an educational system following the achievement principle are decisive factors. While contact with German-students and other international students is seen as beneficial, international medical students are most concerned to encounter problems and social exclusion due to language deficits and intercultural differences. CONCLUSIONS: Facilitating the access to university places, the provision of financial aid and, moreover, social support, nurturing cultural integration, would greatly benefit international medical students. Hereby, the establishment of specific medical language courses as well as programs fostering intercultural-relations could prove to be valuable.

Historical background of itch.

Itch as a disease, and especially as a symptom, was the object of medical and scientific curiosity for centuries. The reluctance of historians to focus on the history of itch relates to its nature as a subjective symptom. After all, how can historians have known what itch really felt like in previous centuries? Since the establishment of dermatology as an independent discipline of medicine in the middle of the nineteenth century, itch has become a subject of investigation in its own right. This chapter summarises research we conducted on the medical history of itch in ancient medicine and up through the twentieth century.

Voluntary peer-led exam preparation course for international first year students: Tutees' perceptions.

BACKGROUND: While the number of international students has increased over the last decade, such students face diverse challenges due to language and cultural barriers. International medical students suffer from personal distress and a lack of support. Their performance is significantly lower than non-international peers in clinical examinations. We investigated whether international students benefit from a peer-led exam preparation course. METHODS: An exam preparation course was designed, and relevant learning objectives were defined. Two evaluations were undertaken: Using a qualitative approach, tutees (N = 10) were asked for their thoughts and comments in a semi-structured interview at the end of the semester. From a quantitative perspective, all participants (N = 22) were asked to complete questionnaires at the end of each course session. RESULTS: International students reported a range of significant benefits from the course as they prepared for upcoming exams. They benefited from technical and didactic, as well as social learning experiences. They also considered aspects of the tutorial's framework helpful. CONCLUSION: Social and cognitive congruence seem to be the key factors to success within international medical students' education. If tutors have a migration background, they can operate as authentic role models. Furthermore, because they are still students themselves, they can offer support using relevant and understandable language.

[[In process].] / Aus Europa eine organische Einheit schaffen: Georg Friedrich Nicolai (1874-1964) und sein ,,Aufruf an die Europier" im Oktober 1914.

The 'case' of Georg Friedrich NICOLAI, a Berlin physiologist and pacifist, who vehemently stood against a chauvi- nistic academic world in Germany in August 1914, is typical for the academic situation and the role of nationalistic professors as 'mandarines' at German universities and academies at the outbreak of the Great War. NICOLAI suffered a lot from his pacifist internationalism: he was brutally excluded from scientific community, and his academic career was destroyed. Had he not successfully escaped to Denmark, his physical existence would have been endangered as well. On the other hand his dignity was never endangered while NICOLAI successfully resisted military dictatorship and a kind of submissive chauvinism of a perishing Kaiserreich.

["The King of Diseases": the special attention that is paid to cancer patients and how it came about? An Essay]. / "Der König der Krankheiten" - Wie entstand die besondere Aufmerksamkeit für Krebskranke? Ein Essay.

The history of cancer in the 20(th) century demonstrates that various factors have contributed to the perception of cancer as the "Emperor of All Maladies" although this has never been true from an epidemiological perspective. Depending on the geographical area, infectious diseases like tuberculosis or malaria or cardiovascular diseases still head the list of the most common illnesses. Within the group of chronic degenerative diseases, however, cancer has outdistanced the widespread classic infectious diseases as a result of the epidemiologic transition in 1900, at least in the more developed countries. Under the Nazi dictatorship (from 1933 to 1945), the perception of cancer in Germany got particularly promoted for propaganda purposes. In the Atomic Era cancer attracted strong public interest as a worthwhile object of research in radiation therapies using large-scale facilities (electron accelerators, "electron guns"). A further upsurge of interest in cancer could then be witnessed in the context of the debate about the pathogenic role of environmental factors. Notably, this increased perception of cancer has not yet been significantly associated with a sweeping success in cancer treatment, but rather with ideologies, hopes and innovation impulses. (As supplied by publisher).

Ernst Ferdinand Sauerbruch and his ambiguous role in the period of National Socialism.

The role of German physicians under National Socialism is highly controversial. We show that Ferdinand Sauerbruch, one of twentieth century's most outstanding surgeons and chair of surgery at Berlin's Charité from 1927 to 1949, openly supported National Socialism in his public statements and in his position as head of the medical section of the Reich Research Council. He was appointed state councilor and received the Knight's Cross of the War Merit Cross by the National Socialists. But Sauerbruch also supported victims of Nazi persecution, attempted to use his influence to put a stop to the "Euthanasia Program T4," and in private expressed his criticism of National Socialists. The ambiguous stance of Ferdinand Sauerbruch is probably more typical of the role physicians played during National Socialism than the well-known black-and-white cases.

The colony as laboratory: German sleeping sickness campaigns in German East Africa and in Togo, 1900-1914.

This paper is on dangerous human experimentations with drugs against trypanosimiasis carried out in the former German colonies of German East Africa and Togo. Victory over trypanosomiasis could not be achieved in Berlin because animals were thought to be unsuitable for therapeutic laboratory research in the field of trypanosomiasis. The colonies themselves were necessarily chosen as laboratories and the patients with sleeping sickness became the objects of therapeutical and pharmacological research. The paper first outlines Robert Koch's trypanosomiasis research in the large sleeping sickness laboratory of German East Africa and then focuses on the escalating human experiments on trypanosomiasis in the German Musterkolonie Togo, which must be interpreted as a reaction to the starting signal given by Robert Koch in East Africa.