Unfortunately, the negative consequences of this large scale social and economic change seem to weigh as heavily in the balance as the positive. Entrenched inequalities within and between countries often contribute to development that is pathogenic in character rather than therapeutic. We see that integration of the human community can spread illness as well as healing, destruction as well as h...

The pejorative aphorism Obesity is the result of greed and sloth has come to be applied to the fat individual. The inferences implied are widely accepted not only by the public and journalists but by the health-care professional and the nutritional scientist too. Is this justified particularly with respect to sloth? Of course, fat deposition must be the result of excess intake of energy in rela...

It is said that no discovery complete until its implications have been fully realized. The identification of a previously unrecognized phenomenon says little potential effects. What appears as stroke good luck can culminate in disaster; misfortune may harbor unimagined potential. Discovery double-edged sword manifests only over time. Nowhere this aphorism more applicable than contemporary medic...

THE diagnosis of subphrenic abscesses can be notoriously difficult. This fact is well expressed by the well known aphorism: 'Pus somewhere, pus nowhere else, pus under the diaphragm'. Even more puzzling can be the features when complications, which occur relatively f.requently, dominate the clinical picture. The situation of the subphrenic spaces, hidden under the rigid concavity of the ribs an...

The story of vascular ageing was first described in the seventeenth century when Thomas Sydenham wrote that ‘A man is as old as his arteries’. This aphorism was returned to publicity lately when Peter Nilsson reintroduced the concept of early vascular ageing. As vascular ageing is described a gradual process involving biochemical, enzymatic, and cellular changes of the vasculature and modificat...

All is vanity, we learn early in Ecclesiastes. This motivated by the mysterious aphorism that there nothing new under sun. But what does it mean to say sun? One might interpret this as a statement of Eternal Return past. Alternatively, one could understand call Withering view present draws from past but not all repeats. We argue motivates claim vanity. then show how interpretation can help us e...

The pejorative aphorism Obesity is the result of greed and sloth has come to be applied to the fat individual. The inferences implied are widely accepted not only by the public and journalists but by the health-care professional and the nutritional scientist too. Is this justified particularly with respect to sloth? Of course, fat deposition must be the result of excess intake of energy in rela...

The famous first aphorism of Hippocrates, "Life is short, the art is long" was long considered a perfect summary of medical ethics. Modern physicians find the words impossible to understand. But it can be interpreted as a fundamental insight into the ethical problems of modern medicine. The technology of modern scientific medicine can sustain life, even when life is losing its vitality. How sho...