Abstracts fra Bibliotek for Læger 1/2011

Originalartikel: Opfindsomhed i krisetider
Paul Warwicker 

 

Innovation in the face of crisis. The 1952-1953 epidemic of poliomyelitis in Copenhagen.

Bibl Læger 2011;203:4-25.

 

During the summer and autumn of 1952, an unprecedented epidemic focused the attention of the world on Copenhagen. Over 2700 patients suffering with poliomyelitis, with a mean age of 11, descended on the city’s infectious diseases hospital. 866 had paralysis and 316 suffered respiratory failure as a result of respiratory or bulbar involvement. In the face of this potential catastrophe, the hospital was equipped with only one “iron lung”, and six cuirass ventilators. Through the innovation of an anaesthetist, Dr Bjørn Ibsen (1915-2007), the organisation and leadership of Professor Cai Alexander Henry Lassen (1900-1974) and his medical and nursing team, the scientific insights of Dr Poul Astrup (1915-2001), and the hard work and dedication of hundreds of medical and dental students, not only were many lives saved, but a new form of ventilatory support was pioneered and the field of intensive care was changed forever.

 
Kvartalets genstand
Morten A. Skydsgaard 

 
Originalartikel: Sørensen og pH-værdien
Børge Riis Larsen 

 

Sørensen and the pH. A portrait of the Danish chemist S.P.L. Sørensen (1868-1939).

Bibl Læger 2011;203:28-41.

 

In 1909 the renowned Danish chemist S.P.L. Sørensen introduced the quantity pH, which is currently used all over the world to describe the acidity of a solution. Apparently, Sørensen is the Danish chemist who was most frequently nominated to the Nobel Prize – without ever receiving it. In 1974 the Nobel archives were opened, so now we actually know when he was nominated – and by whom. Another question addressed in this article is the significance of the letter p in pH. It is usually believed that p is an operator and means negative logarithm, but recently an alternative theory has been put forward. In the article a general view on S.P.L. Sørensen’s life and work is offered and the two mentioned issues are specifically addressed.

 
Kommentar: Nogle bemærkninger vedrørende S. P. L. Sørensen og pH-værdien
Ole Siggaard-Andersen 

 
Originalartikel: »Fra lægeboligen i Ejde«
Knud Jacobsen 

 

“From the doctor’s residence in Ejde” 

Some remarks on R.K. Rasmussen’s activities as clinician and researcher on the Faroe Islands

Bibl Læger 2011;203:46-71.

 

R.K. Rasmussen (1886-1961) was a general practitioner in the northernmost area of the Faroe Islands (then a Danish colony) from 1920 to 1952. Apart from his medical duties he performed an impressive epidemiological research on subjects such as tuberculosis and rachitis. In 1934 a colleague, Arthur Vaag (1896-1988), described an unknown kind of pneumonia, and within four years Rasmussen succeeded in establishing that the symptoms were caused by ornithosis transmitted by seabirds (Fulmaris glacialis). For this discovery, he was appointed honorary doctor at the University of Copenhagen. However, Vaag later waged a resentful campaign against Rasmussen, claiming that the celebration of his academic achievements was unjust. The article offers a presentation of the life and work of R.K. Rasmussen. 

 
Et billede fra min hverdag
Jørgen L. Thomsen

 
Internationale tilbageblik: Broer til Indien 
Erik Holst 

 
Forside: Udsnit af N. V. Dorphs maleri af kemikeren S. P. L. Sørensen med stab i Carlsberg Laboratoriet anno 1923