Hematology all time.

The first theory was ‘ humoral theory’ for lower limb swelling following childbirth predominated prior to 1800. It was thought that during pregnancy, lochia accumulated in the lower limbs leading to swelling, post partum, this retained fluid was thought to be milk. But this theory was soon disputed by doctors towards the end of eighteenth century. Later it was thought that swollen leg following childbirth was result of clots in the blood vessels of legs. Dr.William Hewson , surgeon and physiologist abandoned the theory of humours for lower limb swelling. He suggested ‘ coagulable lymph ’, which caused blood in veins and caused lower limb oedema. Charles White , an eminent obstetrician, in the city of Manchester, described his theory on leg swelling in pregnant women. He thought that this swelling is due to rupture of the lymphatics from pressure of fetus head. He was the first to use the term, ‘phlegmatia alba dolens puerperarium’. Initially, they thought it could occur only in pr...

Recently, World Thrombosis Day (WTD) was celebrated on October 13,2020. In the last post, we saw why October 13 was celebrated as WTD. There is a lot of work which Virchow did on thrombosis and hence he was honoured by celebrating his birthday as WTD. But there were other people, who had also described thrombosis even before Virchow. The first probable reference was in 1271. Raoul of Normandy, a 20 year old man, developed unilateral oedema in his right ankle, which subsequently extended up to his thigh with no obvious symptoms in the contralateral leg. In 1576, Ambroise Pare first documented that blood could clot and congeal in a vein. He mentioned this in reference to superficial veins. “they (the varicose veins) often swell with congealed dryed blood and cause pain which is increased by going and compression.” Towards the end of the seventeenth century, childbirth as a cause of thrombosis was described. This may be because, at that time, there was shift from midwife doctors...

The World Thrombosis Day (WTD) campaign for 2020 centered on the theme of ‘Eyes Open to Thrombosis’. Why this theme ? The WTD campaign believes that eyes are windows to the mind. There is lack of awareness of thrombosis by health care professionals, the general public and policy makers, so WTD wants to stress on the importance of building awareness by touching the mind. “Eyes Open to Thrombosis” encourages people to open their eyes to thrombosis today and not wait until tomorrow. The WTD campaign continues its mission to increase global awareness of thrombosis. This new theme ‘Eyes open to thrombosis’ is woven into offerings, planning for many activities throughtout the year, from collaterals and resources to digital events and activities. Partners can translate the events and activities into local languages. The WTD 2020 campaign has more than 2000 WTD partners around the world. History WTD was founded by the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) in 20...

  Nobel Prize in Physics, 2020 The Nobel Prize in Physics 2020 was divided, one half awarded to Roger Penrose, University of Oxford, United Kingdom,   “for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity “. The other half jointly awarded to Reinhard Genzel, Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestril Physics, Garching, Germany University of California, Berkeley, USA and Andrea Ghez, University of California, Los Angeles, “for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy” It was announced by Professor Goran K. Hansson, Seretary General of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, on 6 October,2020. Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 2020 The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2020 was awarded jointly to Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M.Rice “for the discovery of Hepatitis C virus”. It was announced by Professor Thomas Perlmann, Secretary General for the Nobel Assembl...

  Hi friends, When I was looking for what topics to post this week, the noble prizes for the year 2020 were being announced. So, I thought of writing few posts about the Nobel prize. Nobel prize is named after Dr.Alfred Bernhard Nobel, who was a Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, businessman and philanthropist. I think most of us are aware of this. I will write about Sir Alfred Nobel in subsequent posts. He wrote a will stating that his property will be given as prizes for various branches, every year. The 2020 Nobel prize in Chemistry was announced by Professor Goran K. Hansson, Secretary General of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, on 7 October 2020. It was awarded jointly to Emmanuelle Charpentier of Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens, Berlin, Germany and Jennifer A. Doudna of University of California, Berkeley, USA for the development of a method for genome editing. What was their discovery which made them get Nobel prize? They have discovered one o...

Janet Rowley unlocked the Rosetta stone to modern understanding of cancer genetics. Her work initially met with lots of skepticism as chromosomal abnormalities were then considered to be effect of disease rather than the cause. However, by 1980s, each of the abnormalities had been molecularly characterized which revealed that translocations create fusion proteins that drive cell growth. Soon, scientists identified many chromosomal translocations in other cancers. Her discoveries was very useful as it led to the greater understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of certain cancers and led to breakthrough therapies like   using Imatinib in Chronic myeloid leukemia and high-dose retinoic acid in treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia. She went on to publish over 500 journal articles. She spent her entire career at the University of Chicago. In 1962, she joined as a research associate in the Department of Hematology. She became an associate professor in 1969 and a professor in...

World Chronic Myeloid leukemia Day is celebrated on September 22, every year to raise awareness about chronic myeloid leukemias (CML). Do anyone know why World CML day is celebrated on this day? It is September 22, so if you write in numbers, it is 9/22, the chromosomal translocation seen in CML.  International Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Foundation (iCMLf) is established by a group of hematologists who had a common interest in CML. They collaborate with various patient groups and help physicians and scientists who are managing and doing research in CML. ( https://www.cml-foundation.org/about-us/the-icmlf.html ) On this day, I take pleasure in writing about the “matriarch of modern cancer genetics”, Dr.Janet Davison Rowley who is one of my inspirations in the field of research. Dr. Janet unlocked the Rosetta stone to modern cancer genetics. Dr.Janet Davison Rowley was born on April 5, 1925 in New York City. Her parents were Hurford and Ethel Ballantyne Davison, they were both te...