Exploratory experimentation and high-throughput molecular biology appear to have considerable affinity for each other. Included in the latter category is metagenomics, which is the DNA-based study of diverse microbial communities from a vast range of non-laboratory environments. Metagenomics has already made numerous discoveries and these have led to reinterpretations of fundamental concepts of...

OBJECTIVE To provide the first quantitative data on the use of the term "placebo" in the 19th century. DESIGN Computer search of BMJ's archival database from January 1840 (the first issue) through December 1899 for uses of the words "placebo(s)." Grounded theory was used to categorise the implications of uses of the term. RESULTS 71 citations contained the term "placebo(s)." Of these, 22 (3...

Introduction Birthmarks are common ( 8% to 10%) in newborns. Most birthmarks represent vascular and pigmentary lesions. The natural history of these lesions varies from being transient phenomena and essentially normal variants of no clinical significance to permanent cutaneous abnormalities that may be associated with significant systemic complications or diseases. Table 1 lists some neonatal s...

This paper explores the assimilation of the flightless dodo into early modern natural history. The dodo was first described by Dutch sailors landing on Mauritius in 1598, and became extinct in the 1680s or 1690s. Despite this brief period of encounter, the bird was a popular subject in natural-history works and a range of other genres. The dodo will be used here as a counterexample to the histo...

SCD is a major health problem requiring lifelong multidisciplinary care to manage the wide range of medical and social consequences. A number of new approaches offer the potential to have an impact on the natural history of this disease.

In view of tile varied accounts of the natural history of hallux valgus in man it seemed worth while to attempt a series of exact observations on established cases together with a comparable number of controls. \Vhile any marked differences between the two groups might be merely accidental, it is likely that a predisposing factor, if any such exist, would either be found among them, or at least...

Our understanding of the tuberculosis (TB) epidemic in children is incomplete due to challenges in diagnosis and reporting. Children have also been largely excluded from research and advocacy. However, the tide appears to be turning and interest in pediatric TB is increasing. In this article, we explore the epidemiology of childhood TB by first reviewing the natural history of TB in children an...

G. Austrheim ([email protected]) and K. Hassel, Museum of Natural History and Archaeology, Norwegian Univ. of Science and Technology, NO 7491 Trondheim, Norway. A. Mysterud, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), Dept of Biology, Univ. of Oslo, PO Box 1066 Blindern, NO 0316 Oslo, Norway. B. Pedersen, Dept of Biology, Norwegian Univ. of Science and Technology, NO 7491...

I have been astonished how rarely an organ can be named, towards which no transitional grade is known to lead. The truth of this remark is indeed shown by that old canon in natural history of Natura non facit saltum. We meet with this admission in the writings of almost every experienced naturalist; or, as Milne Edwards has well expressed it, nature is prodigal in variety, but niggard in innova...