[Christmas article: Christmas article: The professors take up the master's program at Rigshospitalet].

Caricatures highlight personal characteristics. The caricature drawing of the four prominent professors from the transition from the Royal Frederik's Hospital to Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen in 1910, shows the dominant surgeon Niels Thorkild Rovsing (1862-1927), who takes up half of the drawing; the reserved organizationally interested physician Knud Helge Faber (1862-1956) in the middle; the thoughtful surgeon Oscar Thorvald Bloch (1847-1926), and the somewhat isolated physician Hans Christian Joachim Gram (1853-1938), who became known for his staining method to separate Gram-positive from Gram-negative bacteria.

Eikenella corrodens endocarditis and liver abscess in a previously healthy male, a case report.

Background: Eikenella corrodens is one of the HACEK bacteria constituting part of the normal flora of the oropharynx, however, still an uncommon pathogen. We report a case of a large Eikenella corrodens liver abscess with simultaneously endocarditis in a previously healthy male.

Case Presentation: A 49-year-old Danish man was admitted because of one-month malaise, fever, cough and unintentional weight loss.

The stethoscope - A 200th anniversary.

René T.H. Laënnec was the man who designed the first monaural instrument for mediate auscultation.

On the history of Cinchona bark in the treatment of Malaria.

How and when the medical value of Cinchona bark was discovered is obscure, but it is said that the powder was given to a European for malaria for the first time in the 1630s. The bark was brought to Europe by Spanish missionaries and it was recommended by the cardinal Juan de Lugo. In the 1660s, the use of Cinchona bark became known in England - and in Denmark by Thomas Bartholin.

[A historical perspective of Ebola virus].

The 2014 Ebola fever outbreak was the first of its kind in West Africa. This epidemic, affecting multiple countries, by far exceeded any previous outbreak in case counts and geographical spread. But Ebola viruses are not new to Africa, as they have occurred in epidemic proportion in the central part of the continent since 1976.

[On the history of vitamin K, dicoumarol and warfarin].

The history of the discovery and development of vitamin K and its antagonists, the oral anticoagulants dicoumarol and warfarin, are fascinating, triumphant landmarks in the annals of medicine. Vitamin K was found by Carl Peter Henrik Dam and Fritz Schønheyder from the University of Copenhagen. The discovery was initiated by Dam, by a lucky choice of chicks in the dissertation of sterol metabolism, since the vitamin is not formed by intestinal bacteria in these animals.

[On the history of barbiturates].

Throughout the history of humanity, numerous therapeutic agents have been employed for their sedative and hypnotic properties such as opium, henbane (Hyoscyamus niger) and deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna), but also alcohol and wine. In the 19th century potassium bromide was introduced as a sedative - and antiepileptic drug and chloral hydrate as sedative-hypnotics. A new era was reached by the introduction of barbiturates.

Primary complement C5 deficiencies - molecular characterization and clinical review of two families.

Inherited deficiency states of the terminal complement component C5 are rare and often associated with increased risk of recurrent Neisseria infections. More than 50 cases with primary C5 deficiency have been reported. In spite of this, the molecular basis has only been documented in a few cases.

Long-term follow-up on affinity maturation and memory B-cell generation in patients with common variable immunodeficiency.

Purpose: Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) comprises a heterogeneous group of primary immunodeficiency disorders. Immunophenotyping of memory B cells at the time of diagnosis is increasingly used for the classification of patients into subgroups with different clinical prognoses. The EUROclass classification is a widely used method.

[History of gold--with danish contribution to tuberculosis and rheumatoid arthritis].

Gold has a long history as a therapeutic agent, first as gold particles and colloidal gold, then as a soluble salt made by the alchemists, and potable gold was recommended almost as a panacea against different diseases. Gold compounds were introduced in the treatment of tuberculosis, based initially on the reputation of Robert Koch, who found gold cyanide effective against Mycobacterium tuberculosis in cultures. Although several investigations of gold salts showed no convincing effect in experimental tuberculosis in guinea pigs, the idea of using gold compounds as chemotherapy was furthermore encouraged from the work of Paul Ehrlich with arsenicals.

[Ambroise Paré (1510-90)--and features of the history of surgery].

For six centuries the barbers of Europe practiced surgery. In 1215 a papal edict forbade members of the clergy (physicians) from performing surgical procedures as contact with blood was felt to be contaminating to men of the church. Bloodletting and minor surgery was now turned over to the barber-surgeons and this was in agreement with the medical doctors who felt that these procedures were beneath their dignity.

Immunodeficiency associated with FCN3 mutation and ficolin-3 deficiency.

Ficolin-3, encoded by the FCN3 gene and expressed in the lung and liver, is a recognition molecule in the lectin pathway of the complement system. Heterozygosity for an FCN3 frameshift mutation (rs28357092), leading to a distortion of the C-terminal end of the molecule, occurs in people without disease (allele frequency among whites, 0.01).

[From willow bark to acetylsalicylic acid].

Acetylsalicylic acid is one of the most widely used drugs in the world. Its ancestry the salicylates, including salicin and salicylic acid, are found in the bark and leaves of the willow and poplar trees. The ancient Sumerians and Egyptians, as well as Hippocrates, Celsus, Pliny the Elder, Dioscorides and Galen used these natural products as remedies for pain, fever and inflammation.

[Reasons for the construction of Bispebjerg Hospital--a hospital with light, air and freedom of nature].

Since the 1850ies the city of Copenhagen changed, ramparts were removed or remodelled as parks, industries were established. The new factories and wharfs expanded, labourers were needed; many country people moved into the city to find work and thus the population increased immensely. In Copenhagen a few hospitals only were present around 1850; The Royal Frederik Hospital (now the Museum of applied Arts) was the only hospital in the modern sense of the word.

First attempt to produce experimental Campylobacter concisus infection in mice.

Aim: To infect mice with atypical Campylobacter concisus (C. concisus) for the first time.

Methods: Three separate experiments were conducted in order to screen the ability of five clinical C.

[Pictures from the Dolphin Pharmacy in Copenhagen].

The development of the pharmacy in the 19th and 20th centuries is illustrated by education and activity in the Dolphin Pharmacy in Copenhagen. The career within chemistry and pharmacy started with an apprenticeship of 4 year in the pharmacies. The Dolphin Pharmacy was responsible for part of the examination, i.

[Mercury--a major agent in the history of medicine and alchemy].

From ancient time the history of mercury has been connected with that of the medicine and chemistry. Mercury therefore contributes to the history of science throughout times. Knowledge of cinnabar (HgS) is traced back to ancient Assyria and Egypt, but also to China.

Potentiation of histamine release by Microfungal (1-->3)- and (1-->6)-beta-D-glucans.

(1-->3)-beta-D-Glucans, a cell wall component in most microfungi, are suggested to play a role in the development of respiratory and general symptoms in organic dust-related diseases. The mechanisms by which they induce these effects are, however, not clear. In the present study, mediator release and its potentiation by the (1-->3)-beta-D-glucan as well as by the (1-->6)-beta-D-glucan found in yeast and other fungi were therefore examined.

[From the bath- and massage to the sports clinic--the Rheumatological Department of Bispebjerg Hospital 1913-2006].

At the turn of the previous century, the number of inhabitants in the City of Copenhagen increased greatly. A new large hospital, Bispebjerg Hospital, stood ready in 1913. At the time, access to light, fresh air, and open spaces was considered to be important factors in the battle against disease.

["Never at rest--always on the move"--Professor, Surgeon Peter Kisby Moller (1849-1940)'s diaries from study tours to London and Paris in 1876 and to Berlin in 1890].

In the years 1926-28, after his retirement in 1921 from the post of professor of surgery at Odense Hospital, Peter Kisby Møller (1847-1940) wrote his autobiography. He dedicated the biography to his four sons, three of whom were medical doctors. He based the autobiography on diaries written daily in a neat hand ever since childhood.

Gastric inflammatory markers and interleukins in patients with functional dyspepsia treated with astaxanthin.

The chronic active inflammation caused by Helicobacter pylori is dominated by neutrophils, macrophages, lymphocytes and plasma cells. Several interleukins are involved in the inflammatory process. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of astaxanthin on gastric inflammation in patients with functional dyspepsia.

Epithelial cell kinetics of the gastric mucosa during Helicobacter pylori infection.

Helicobacter pylori is an important pathogen in major gastroduodenal diseases, including inflammation with ulceration and gastric malignancies. Alterations in H. pylori associated cell turnover in gastric epithelial cells are examined in relation to inflammatory activity, bacteria load and cytokines which may improve knowledge concerning the outcome of gastric diseases caused by H.