Migraine: Diagnosis, treatment and understanding c1960-2010

seminar transcriptThere are around eight million migraine sufferers in the UK today. This Witness Seminar looked at the last 50 years of research into the diagnosis and treatment of the condition and the changing attitudes of the medical profession towards this debilitating disorder. Chaired by Dr Mark Weatherall, the participants, some of whom were also migraine sufferers, included neurologists and pharmacologists, representatives from patient organizations such as Migraine Action and the Migraine Trust, and GPs and headache nurses. The discussion covered the vascular and neuronal theories of migraine, the early treatment with ergotamine, analgesics and antiemetics, and investigations into the importance of 5-HT. It then moved on to examine the scientific research behind the development of the triptans during the 1980s and impact of their introduction in the early 1990s. More recent treatments, such as the use of Botox (botulinum toxin), were also considered. Other topics included the development of headache classification and diagnostic criteria for migraine; the support for migraine sufferers such as headache clinics, specialist headache nurses, and charities; and the reason why, despite the number of sufferers and its high socio-economic cost, there is often little interest in migraine and research attracts limited fundin

The Medicalization of Cannabis

Annotated and edited transcript of a Witness Seminar held on 24 March 2009. Introduction by Professor Leslie Iversen.First published by the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL, 2010.©The Trustee of the Wellcome Trust, London, 2010. All volumes are freely available online at: www.history.qmul.ac.uk/research/modbiomed/wellcome_witnesses/Annotated and edited transcript of a Witness Seminar held on 24 March 2009. Introduction by Professor Leslie Iversen.Annotated and edited transcript of a Witness Seminar held on 24 March 2009. Introduction by Professor Leslie Iversen.Annotated and edited transcript of a Witness Seminar held on 24 March 2009. Introduction by Professor Leslie Iversen.Annotated and edited transcript of a Witness Seminar held on 24 March 2009. Introduction by Professor Leslie Iversen.Annotated and edited transcript of a Witness Seminar held on 24 March 2009. Introduction by Professor Leslie Iversen.Annotated and edited transcript of a Witness Seminar held on 24 March 2009. Introduction by Professor Leslie Iversen.Cannabis has been considered as both an illicit drug and a medicine throughout its history. Introduced to the UK as a medicine in the nineteenth century, its medical utility was limited and it was not until tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), one of the principal active components in cannabis, was isolated in 1964 by Raphael Mechoulam and his team in Israel that scientific research on the drug expanded. Further major developments came in the 1980s, when the cannabinoid receptors in the brain were discovered. Scientists, clinicians, policy makers and patients interested in exploring and utilizing cannabis as an orthodox medication attended this seminar. Several were involved with the early elucidation of the structures of the components of the cannabis plant, or with the two MRC-funded trials in the 1990s into the therapeutic effect of cannabis on multiple sclerosis (MS) and postoperative pain. The founding director of GW Pharmaceuticals discussed the problems of growing cannabis plants and standardizing extracts to produce a medicine that could gain regulatory approval. Two MS patients related their experiences of cannabinoid medications and the significance of patient activism and self-medication in renewing research interest in the potential medical benefits of cannabis, against the backdrop of increasing recreational use, was also considered. The meeting was suggested by Professor Virginia Berridge, who chaired the meeting jointly with Professor E. M. Tansey. Contributors include: Professor David Baker, Professor Virginia Berridge Dr Vincenzo Di Marzo, Professor Griffith Edwards, Professor John Galloway, Dr Edward Gill, Dr Geoffrey Guy, Dr Clare Hodges, Dr Anita Holdcroft, Ms Victoria Hutchins, Professor Raphael Mechoulam, Professor Anthony Moffat, Dr William Notcutt, Professor Roger Pertwee, Dr Philip Robson, Dr Ethan Russo, Professor Tilli Tansey, Ms Suzanne Taylor. One appendix gives diagrams of the structures of the major plant cannabinoids and structurally-related synthetic cannabinoids. Crowther S M, Reynolds L A, Tansey E M. (eds) (2010) The Medicalization of Cannabis, Wellcome Witnesses to Twentieth Century Medicine, vol. 40. London: The Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL. ISBN 978 085484 129 5The Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL is funded by the Wellcome Trust, which is a registered charity, no. 210183

A Report on Sickle Cell in Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone is thought to be one of the West African countries most affected by sickle cell disorders. Estimates state that one in four people carry the gene for sickle cell and between 1 to 2% of births are of children with the condition. Despite this, there has been a general public health and social neglect of the condition, so that prevalence is poorly understood and policy non-existent. This participatory qualitative research project, conducted in 2018 in two districts in the country, sought to understand both women’s experiences caring for children with the condition, as well as what the needs were of women who had the condition. The findings illustrated that a historical memory of the condition and its effects exists in the intergenerational memories and practices of people. This is important to learn from to combat stigmatisation of women and people who have the condition. However, past expertise and medical knowledge currently co-exist in isolation from each other, with access to proper healthcare unavailable in most parts of the country. This has led to an inability to get a correct medical diagnosis, no advice about how to live with the condition and an inability to access specialized medical and rehabilitative services. These failures in care have led to early deaths and disablement, with the result that the general public fear the condition. A neglect of reproductive justice and the relational implications for women with the condition was also apparent in the high number of deaths of women and infants with sickle cell. Lastly, due to the work of the voluntary and medical sector, there is increasing awareness in parents, schools and communities of how the total environment is crucial for holistic management of sickle cell conditions in a low- income country. However, it is women who are still mostly responsible for ensuring that their children access a better quality of life and women who still incur moral blame and shame for their ill-health and that of their children

Childhood asthma and beyond

Consists of the edited transcripts of Witness Seminars organized by the History of Twentieth Century Medicine Group and held at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, London, on 4 April 2000.First published by the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL, 2001. ©The Trustee of the Wellcome Trust, London, 2001. All volumes are freely available online at: www.history.qmul.ac.uk/research/modbiomed/wellcome_witnesses/Consists of the edited transcripts of Witness Seminars organized by the History of Twentieth Century Medicine Group and held at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine.The Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL is funded by the Wellcome Trust, which is a registered charity, no. 210183

Drugs Affecting 5-HT Systems

Seminar transcriptIt was in the very early hours of a February morning in 1977 that I first looked down the microscope and saw yellow fluorescence, characteristic of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) in frozen sections of Octopus brain. After struggling for two years with the capricious fluorescence histochemical technique to locate catecholamines and 5-HT, I finally had a successful result, and the PhD that had seemed a remote possibility for many months finally began to look feasible. Given the enormously important topic of this volume – the discovery and development of drugs affecting 5-HT systems – this small excursion into Octopus neurochemistry might seem irrelevant. However, cephalopod molluscs have played important roles in the history of 5-HT. More than 30000 pairs of posterior salivary glands of Octopus vulgaris were used by Vittorio Erspamer, for the first extraction and identification of enteramine, which was later shown to be identical to serotonin discovered by John Gaddum, and chemically characterized as 5-hydroxytryptamine. Other molluscs have provided some of the most sensitive bioassays for 5-HT, as Gaddum and Paasonen described in 1955, and several participants in this Witness Seminar recollected either using such bioassays or investigating invertebrate pharmacology at the beginning of their careers. Many reflected, however, that invertebrate receptors seemed to be very different from those found in mammals; they had, as David Wallis put it, ‘a parallel pharmacology’. One Witness, Merton Sandler, remembered attending a lecture by Vittorio Erspamer in London in the early 1950s, and being intrigued enough to start work on the degradative enzyme monoamine oxidase, a field which became highly significant for the development of a whole class of therapeutic drugs: the monoamine oxidase inhibitor

The Crescent Student Newspaper, November 14, 2003

Student newspaper of George Fox University.https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/the_crescent/2265/thumbnail.jp

The female teacher trainee scholarship scheme: operational research study for UNICEF Girls Education Project Phase 3 (GEP3)

No description supplie

Information Outlook, April 2003

Volume 7, Issue 4https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_io_2003/1003/thumbnail.jp

The Crescent Student Newspaper, November 14, 2003

Student newspaper of George Fox University.https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/the_crescent/2265/thumbnail.jp

The Crescent Student Newspaper, November 14, 2003

Student newspaper of George Fox University.https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/the_crescent/2265/thumbnail.jp