The illness of William Soutar (1898-1943).

William Soutar (1898-1943) was a Scottish poet, but many are unaware of his scholarly work which includes his famous "brain-rhymes". He was born in Perth Scotland in 1898. He was educated at Perth Primary School and Perth Academy and proved to be adept at sport and academics.

Medical aspects of the tour by Martin Martin (c 1660-1719) of the Western and Northern Islands of Scotland, Circa 1695.

This review is based investigations on the Western Isles, Scotland, by Martin Martin, a notable Scottish Highlander, academic and medical doctor, of the 17th-18th century. His extensive observations of the geography and peoples of these Isles were recorded in his books, "On the Description of the Western Islands of Scotland Circa 1695" and "A Late Voyage to St Kilda". In these books and subsequent papers there were some noteworthy observations on the occurrence (and as he says non-occurrence) of "epidemical" diseases and conditions afflicting the peoples of The Isle of Skye and the Western Isles of Scotland in this period, and these are discussed in this review.

Treatment of rheumatic musculoskeletal disorders.

Non-medicinal therapies with water, salts, exercise, massage, supportive devices, and electricity have been used for centuries and continue to be of benefit for some people with musculoskeletal disorders. Historical texts refer to the two electuaries mithridatium and theriaca as early therapeutic attempts of man to provide relief of musculoskeletal symptoms and attempt disease cures. For over 200 years, morphine-derived products have been used for musculoskeletal pain.

Assessment of knowledge, attitude and practice for oxygen therapy among medical staff at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital in Fiji.

Background: Oxygen therapy (OT) is a commonly prescribed essential medicine for people of all ages in the management of hypoxia. The adverse effects of inappropriate OT supplementation may be underestimated by health professionals and lead to poor health outcomes among hospitalised patients. Knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) assessments of medical staff members to OT guidelines are essential to ensure optimal patient care.

Five-year trend of antipsychotic prescription practices in a district Hospital in Ghana: A retrospective study.

Introduction: Antipsychotics are the mainstay treatment for psychotic conditions. Their prescription, however, should come with some caution since the consequences of their side effects can be dire for the patient receiving the prescription. Because of inadequate experts in low-middle-income countries, non-experts are trained through the Mental Health Gap Action Program (MHGAP) to reduce the treatment gap.

Symptom-led staging for semantic and non-fluent/agrammatic variants of primary progressive aphasia.

Introduction: Here we set out to create a symptom-led staging system for the canonical semantic and non-fluent/agrammatic variants of primary progressive aphasia (PPA), which present unique diagnostic and management challenges not well captured by functional scales developed for Alzheimer's disease and other dementias.

Methods: An international PPA caregiver cohort was surveyed on symptom development under six provisional clinical stages and feedback was analyzed using a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design.

Results: Both PPA syndromes were characterized by initial communication dysfunction and non-verbal behavioral changes, with increasing syndromic convergence and functional dependency at later stages.

Narcotic analgesics.

There is documentation of the use of opium derived products in the ancient history of the Assyrians: the Egyptians; in the sixth century AD by the Roman Dioscorides; and by Avicenna (980-1037). Reference to opium like products is made by Paracelsus and by Shakespeare. Charles Louis Derosne and Fredrich Wilhelm Adam Serturner isolated morphine from raw opium in 1802 and 1806 respectively, and it was Sertürner who named the substance morphine, after Morpheus, the Greek God of dreams.

Considerations for vaccinating children against COVID-19.

COVID-19 vaccines have been introduced in children and adolescents in many countries. However, high levels of community transmission and infection-derived immunity make the decision to introduce COVID-19 vaccination of children in countries yet to do so particularly challenging. For example, other vaccine preventable diseases, including measles and polio, generally have far higher childhood morbidity and mortality in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) than COVID-19, and coverage with these vaccines has declined during the pandemic.

Assessment and diagnosis of right ventricular failure-retrospection and future directions.

The right ventricle (RV) has a critical role in hemodynamics and right ventricular failure (RVF) often leads to poor clinical outcome. Despite the clinical importance of RVF, its definition and recognition currently rely on patients' symptoms and signs, rather than on objective parameters from quantifying RV dimensions and function. A key challenge is the geometrical complexity of the RV, which often makes it difficult to assess RV function accurately.

Transnasal Humidified Rapid Insufflation Ventilatory Exchange in children requiring emergent intubation (Kids THRIVE): a statistical analysis plan for a randomised controlled trial.

The placement of an endotracheal tube for children with acute or critical illness is a low-frequency and high-risk procedure, associated with high rates of first-attempt failure and adverse events, including hypoxaemia. To reduce the frequency of these adverse events, the provision of oxygen to the patient during the apnoeic phase of intubation has been proposed as a method to prolong the time available for the operator to insert the endotracheal tube, prior to the onset of hypoxaemia. However, there are limited data from randomised controlled trials to validate the efficacy of this technique in children.

Latarjet's muscular alterations increase glenohumeral joint stability: A theoretical study.

The surgical Latarjet procedure aims to stabilise the glenohumeral joint following anterior dislocations. Despite restoring joint stability, the procedure introduces alterations of muscle paths which likely modify the shoulder dynamics. Currently, these altered muscular functions and their implications are unclear.

Surgery of joints.

Crude forms of musculoskeletal surgery have been performed through history for the treatment of deformity, pain and the horrors of battle. In more modern times Muller is credited with the first synovectomy in rheumatoid arthritis in 1884, and a Synovectomy was first performed by Richard von Volkmann (1830-1889) for joint tuberculosis. Chemical synovectomy consisting of the intra-articular injection of various agents was popular for a while but is now largely discarded.

Sjögren's syndrome.

Sjögren's syndrome (SS) is characterised as keratoconjunctivitis sicca (dry eyes), xerostomia (dry mouth) commonly associated with salivary gland enlargement, and is referred to as Primary Sjögren's syndrome. It is known as Secondary Sjögren's syndrome when it occurs in patients, with connective tissue disease, such as rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, polyarthritis nodosa, polymyositis, and systemic sclerosis. SS has also been associated with chronic graft-versus-host disease after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation, human immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), hepatitis C infection (HCV), chronic biliary cirrhosis, neoplastic and myeloplastic syndromes, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Rheumatoid arthritis.

It is difficult to determine from ancient writings, old human specimens, and from Art over the centuries, as to when Rheumatoid Arthritis first appeared. It may be a relatively modern condition, as it was reasonably well described in the seventeenth century. Augustin Jacob Landre-Beauvais (1772-1840), University of Paris is credited, with the first clear description of the disease in his thesis.

Recommendations for developing effective and safe paediatric and congenital heart disease services in low-income and middle-income countries: a public health framework.

The global of paediatric and congenital heart disease (PCHD) is substantial. We propose a novel public health framework with recommendations for developing effective and safe PCHD services in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). This framework was created by the Global Initiative for Children's Surgery Cardiac Surgery working group in collaboration with a group of international rexperts in providing paediatric and congenital cardiac care to patients with CHD and rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in LMICs.

Outcomes and survivorship of anatomic total shoulder arthroplasty: current concepts.

Total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA) has been the gold standard of care for end-stage glenohumeral arthritis. Outcomes are varied and have been affected by both patient and implant characteristics. Patient factors, such as age, preoperative diagnosis, and preoperative glenoid morphology, can affect the outcomes after TSA.