The “Ice Age” of Anatomy and Obstetrics: Hand and Eye in the Promotion of Frozen Sections around 1900

In the late nineteenth century anatomists claimed a new technique—slicing frozen corpses into sections—translated the three-dimensional complexity of the human body into flat, visually striking, and unprecedentedly accurate images. Traditionally hostile to visual aids, elite anatomists controversially claimed frozen sections had replaced dissection as the “true anatomy.” Some obstetricians adopted frozen sectioning to challenge anatomists’ authority and reform how clinicians made and used pictures. To explain the successes and failures of the technique, this article reconstructs the debates through which practitioners learned to make and interpret, to promote or denigrate frozen sections in teaching and research. Focusing on Britain, the author shows that attempts to introduce frozen sectioning into anatomy and obstetrics shaped and were shaped by negotiations over the epistemological standing of hand and eye in medicineThis work was supported by the Wellcome Trust through enhancement and strategic awards in the history of medicine on the theme “Generation to Reproduction” (074298, 088708)

Introduction to “Transforming pregnancy since 1900”

Around 1900, few pregnant women in Western Europe or North America had any contact with a medical practitioner before going into labour. By the end the twentieth century, the hospitalisation of childbirth, the legalisation of abortion and a host of biomedical technologies from the Pill and IVF to obstetric ultrasound and prenatal diagnosis had dramatically extended the reach of science and medicine into human reproduction. This shift has a long and complex history which of course predates the introduction of twentieth-century innovations. Nevertheless, novel medical interventions such as ultrasound, many commentators assert, have transformed ‘the very experience of pregnancy’ (Petchesky, 1987). This special section originated in a workshop held in Cambridge in 2012. It stemmed from the observation that, despite a wealth of historical, sociological and anthropological writing on reproductive health and healthcare, we have a relatively insecure grasp of profound transformations in the science and management of pregnancy since the turn of the twentieth century. Existing historical research has been concerned primarily with the politics of childbirth and fertility control or framed within studies of the emergence of social policies focused on maternal and child welfare. By explicitly thematising continuity and change, the workshop aimed both to look beyond the most intensively studied topics and to contribute to ongoing reassessments of the ‘medicalisation’ of pregnancy as a historical process

Numerical Study of Cuttings Transport of Nanoparticle-Based Drilling Fluid

Cuttings transportation from the drill bit, through the annulus, to the surface is one of the most important functions performed by drilling fluid. The prediction of drilling fluid's performance to transport cuttings in the annulus is very complex task due to the presence of numerous parameters. Nanoparticles (NPs) have been recently introduced into drilling fluid to engineer its properties and enhance its performance. Nevertheless, the lifting capacity has not been sufficiently investigated. The understanding of the influence and the mechanisms responsible for the improvement in cuttings transport process can further advance the application of NPs for drilling fluids. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is widely used as a numerical technique in handling complex multiphase flow problems in different operational conditions. The present work has taken the advantages of CFD to computationally analyze the influence of NPs and the effects of various parameters such as drilling fluids rheology, flow rate, pipe rotation, cuttings density, shape, concentration, and drilling fluids-cuttings particle coupling regimes on the cuttings transport in a vertical wellbore. The CFD simulation is carried out by using transient solver of ANSYS-FLUENT commercial code. The dense discrete phase model is used to overcome the main shortcomings of previous Eulerian based approaches. Good agreement has been achieved between the simulation and the published experimental results. It showed that the fluid viscosity and cuttings transport process can be significantly enhanced by adding nanomaterials to the fluid, and the process is highly influenced by cuttings characteristics such as in situ concentration, shape, and density

The Shrine of ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī in Baghdad & the Shrine of ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Jīlānī in ʿAqra: Mapping the multiple orientations of two Qādirī Sufi shrines in Iraq

This thesis charts the stakeholder communities, physical environment and daily life of two little studied Qādiriyya Sufi shrines associated with Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī (1077 – 1165 AD), a 12th century Ḥanbalī Muslim theologian and the posthumous founder of one of the oldest Sufi orders in Islam. The first shrine is based in Baghdad and houses his burial chamber; and the second shrine, on the outskirts of the city of ‘Aqra in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, is that of his son Shaikh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz (died 1206 AD). The latter was also known for lecturing in Ḥanbalī theology in the region, and venerated for this as well as his association with Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qādir. Driven by the research question “What shapes the identity orientations of these two Qādiriyya Sufi shrines in modern times?” the findings presented here are the result of field research carried out between November 2009 and February 2014. This field research revealed a complex context in which the two shrines existed and interacted, influenced by both Sufi and non-Sufi stakeholders who identified with and accessed these shrines to satisfy a variety of spiritual and practical needs, which in turn influenced the way each considered and viewed the two shrines from a number of orientations. These overlapping orientations include the Qādirī Sufi entity and the resting place of its patron saint; the orthodox Sunnī mosque with its muftī-imams, who are employed by the Iraqi government; the local Shīʿa community’s neighbourhood saint’s shrine and its destination for spiritual and practical aid; and the local provider of welfare to the poor of the city (soup kitchen, funeral parlour and electricity-generation amongst other services). The research findings also revealed a continuously changing and adapting Qādirī Sufi scene not immune from the national and regional socio-religio-political environments in which the two shrines exist: a non-Sufi national political class vying to influence and manipulate these shrines for their own purposes; and powerful national sectarian factions jostling to do the same. The mixture of stakeholders using and associating with the two shrines were found to be influential shapers of these entities, both physically and spiritually. Through encountering and interacting with each other, most stakeholders contributed to maintaining and rejuvenating the two shrines, but some also sought to adapt and change them driven by their particular orientation’s perspective

‘Drawing aside the curtain’: natural childbirth on screen in 1950s Britain

This article recovers the importance of film, and its relations to other media, in communicating the philosophies and methods of ‘natural childbirth’ in the postwar period. It focuses on an educational film made in South Africa around 1950 by controversial British physician Grantly Dick-Read, who had achieved international fame with bestselling books arguing that relaxation and education, not drugs, were the keys to freeing women from pain in childbirth. But he soon came to regard the ‘vivid’ medium of film a more effective means of disseminating the ‘truth of [his] mission’ to audiences who may never read his books. I reconstruct the history of a film that played a vital role in teaching Dick-Read’s method to both the medical profession and the first generation of Western women to express their dissatisfaction with highly-drugged, hospitalized maternity care. The article explains why advocates of natural childbirth such as Dick-Read became convinced of the value of film as a tool for recruiting supporters and discrediting rivals. Along the way, it offers insight into the British medical film industry and the challenges associated with producing, distributing and screening a depiction of birth considered unusually graphic for the time.This research was supported by the Wellcome Trust through a strategic award in the history of medicine on the theme ‘Generation to Reproduction’ [088708]

Role of zinc in bulk precipitation from the steaming process of potable water

Water chemistry plays an important role in fouling kinetics and morphology. This work investigates the influence of zinc cations in potable water, specifically the kinetics of crystallisation and their effect on the fouling layer during the operation of a batch steam generator system and a once-through flow system. The kinetics of precipitation in the batch crystalliser were examined based on the change in concentration of the foulants, while the fouling resistance approach was used in the flow system. In addition, morphological testing was carried out using Scanning Electron Microscopy, Powder X-ray Diffraction, and Energy dispersive X-ray. The findings showed that the precipitation rate of calcium carbonate decreases with the increase in zinc ions until reaching the zinc carbonate supersaturation in the water due to water evaporation. Regarding morphology, co-precipitation of zinc carbonate was observed at high zinc concentrations. As a result, a double effect was observed where zinc both retarded and enhanced fouling over time. The fouling rate in the flow system decreased as the zinc concentration increased. Zinc ions were found to influence the morphology of deposit minerals significantly. Moreover, the surface deposition of zinc salts increased with the solution content of zinc