Anamnesis: A Medical History

Between the end of 1944 and may of 1945, the Third Reich imposed a devastating embargo on food into the German Occupied Netherlands. The resulting famine killed around 18,000 people. I have been talking to Dr Mandy Drake about how studies on the victims, in particular those who were exposed to the famine whilst in the womb, have given scientists a great insight into the importance of early foetal experiences on health in later life.

The Dutch Famine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_famine_of_1944–45

Dutch Famine Cohort Study

https://academic.oup.com/ije/article/36/6/1196/814573/Cohort-Profile-The-Dutch-Hunger-Winter-Families

The Barker Hypothesis

Further reading: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7613432

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17444880

A reasonable article on the basics of epigenetics: https://www.theguardian.com/science/occams-corner/2014/apr/25/epigenetics-beginners-guide-to-everything

A good videoon molecular machines by Veritasium:

https://youtu.be/X_tYrnv_o6A

More about Dr Drake and her research: http://www.crh.ed.ac.uk/clah/dr-amanda-drake/

This Episode I’m talking about heart disease, and the amazing story of self-experimentation behind the first human cardiac catheterisation. That’s Nobel prize winner, Werner Forssmann and how he rebelled against his seniors and conducted a risky proof of concept that became the foundation of an entirely new field of medicine: Interventional Cardiology.

I’ve also been talking to Dr Andrew Flapan, consultant cardiologist, to find out more about interventional cardiology today and where it might be heading in the future.

Here’s a couple of books that cover Forssmann’s experiments in a bit more detail:

The Man Who Touched His Own Heart – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Man-Who-Touched-His-Heart/dp/0316225797

Experiments on Myself - https://www.amazon.com/Experiments-Myself-Werner-Forssmann/dp/0900997354/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1508590088&sr=1-2&keywords=experiments+on+myself

And one on self-experimentation in Medicine in general:

Who Goes First? - https://www.amazon.com/Who-Goes-First-Self-Experimentation-Medicine/dp/0520212819/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1508590132&sr=1-1&keywords=self+experimentation

A good leaflet explaining PCI for patients - http://www.ouh.nhs.uk/patient-guide/leaflets/files/090908pci.pdf

TAVI - https://www.bhf.org.uk/heart-health/treatments/tavi

British Heart Foundation for information on treatments for heart conditions - https://www.bhf.org.uk/heart-health/treatments

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This episode I’m talking about the importance of Malaria and how the discovery of one main component of the Gin and Tonic paved the way for humans to overcome this disease and spread their empires further around the world than ever before. I’ve also been talking to Dr Oliver Koch, a consultant in Infectious Diseases in Edinburgh, about the importance of malaria science today and where it might be going in the future.

Quinine – https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinine

Lifecycle of Plasmodium - https://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/biology/

Artemisinins - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3414217/

“Super Malaria” - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-41351160

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This episode is about how the devastating burns that were sustained during the Battle of Britain in WW2 lead the rekindling of Transplant Medicine and the advances that we have seen since then. I’ve been talking to Professor John Forsythe, transplant surgeon and former president of the British transplant society about the state of transplantation today and where it might go in the future.

NB The audio has been updated with the correct date of the first twin transplant: 1954, not 1945 as previously stated

Battle of Britain - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Britain

A good book that I remember reading a long time ago written by one of the pilots of the Battle of Britain – First Light https://www.amazon.co.uk/First-Light-Penguin-World-Collection/dp/0141042753

Peter Medawar – https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1960/medawar-bio.html

http://www.aai.org/About/History/Notable-Members/Nobel-Laureates/PeterMedawar

Professor John Forsythe - http://www.ed.ac.uk/surgery/staff/surgical-profiles/john-forsythe

Transplantation

An excellent and in depth book about the history of transplant surgery - A History of Organ Transplantation https://www.amazon.co.uk/History-Organ-Transplantation-Ancient-Practice/dp/0822944138

British Transplant Society - https://bts.org.uk

European Society for Organ Transplantation - http://www.esot.org

Organ Donation - https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk

Listen on Youtube - https://youtu.be/BUX_uzacyq4