MICROBIOLOGY: Of Coats and Pockets

Of White Coats and Stethoscopes

A WHITE COAT. THE COUNTRY DOCTOR’S BLACK BAG. A STETHOSCOPE. A snake-entwined staff. The oath of Hippocrates. The clinical acumen of Osler and the compassionate service of Schweitzer. These are the symbols and personifications of our chosen profession. One symbol of medicine since antiquity has been the Aesculapian staff. A glance through this journal will uncover the staff in the American Medi...

Conjunctival Pockets.

SYMBLEPHARON is described by all authors discussing conjunctival diseases as adhesion between the palpebral and bulbar conjunctivae. Its aetiology is described as purulent conjunctivitis, diphtheritic conjunctivitis, trachoma, trauma, and so on. These factors do not always cause symblepharon, but may result in a very troublesome condition, apparently not mentioned in the literature, viz. conjun...

Lectin and enzyme relationships in microbiology

Examples of inter- and intramolecular direct co-functioning of lectins and enzymes are summarized. The data indicate importance of lectin-enzyme relationships in molecular and clinical microbiology and medical biotechnology. Lectin-enzyme relationships have extended prospects in medicine and biotechnology.

Coats disease

Coats disease

Coats' disease is an idiopathic ophthalmic condition caused by a defect in the development of retinal vasculature, characterized by retinal telangiectasis, haemorrhages, intraretinal and subretinal exudation. There are two pathological processes, which are evident in Coats' disease. The first consists of a breakdown of the bloodretinal barrier at the endothelial level, which causes plasma leaka...