Diagnostic Uncertainty, Microbes, and the Isolation of People with Cystic Fibrosis.

The framing of cystic fibrosis (CF) changed from a strictly genetic disease in the mid- to late-twentieth century to a genetic/infectious hybrid of sorts by the early twenty-first century, providing an opportunity to examine the nature of disease definition in medicine. Respiratory infections had long been associated with CF, yet it was not until the late twentieth century that many physicians became concerned about the possibility of patient-to-patient transmission of a particularly pathogenic microorganism. Initially termed Pseudomonas cepacia, the microbe was linked to rapid decline and even death in some people with CF, and early efforts to prevent its spread included the segregation of infected individuals.

The Mist Tent: An Analysis of Therapeutic Change in the History of Cystic Fibrosis Care.

Mist tent therapy for cystic fibrosis went through a rise and fall in popularity between the 1950s and 1970s, providing an opportunity to explore the nature of therapeutic change in medicine. The therapy "worked" in the context of a particularly grim life expectancy in the early 1950s and in the setting of a comprehensive therapeutic program that began in Cleveland in 1957. Although clinical studies published in the 1970s provided evidence that mist tents were ineffective or even harmful, these later studies were not necessarily more robust than earlier studies that provided evidence of mist tent efficacy, suggesting that other factors may have also contributed to mist tent abandonment.

Blobel and Sabatini's "Beautiful Idea": Visual Representations of the Conception and Refinement of the Signal Hypothesis.

In 1971, Günter Blobel and David Sabatini proposed a novel and quite speculative schematic model to describe how proteins might reach the proper cellular location. According to their proposal, proteins destined to be secreted from the cell contain a "signal" to direct their release. Despite the fact that Blobel and Sabatini presented their signal hypothesis as a "beautiful idea" not grounded in experimental evidence, they received criticism from other scientists who opposed such speculation.

An analysis of US fertility centre educational materials suggests that informed consent for preimplantation genetic diagnosis may be inadequate.

The use of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) has expanded both in number and scope over the past 2 decades. Initially carried out to avoid the birth of children with severe genetic disease, PGD is now used for a variety of medical and non-medical purposes. While some human studies have concluded that PGD is safe, animal studies and a recent human study suggest that the embryo biopsy procedure may result in neurological problems for the offspring.