FFFF has been in a state of aestivation for a a few weeks now. Before the din created by the “snap! crackle! pop!” of your apoptosing neurons gets too loud, we thought we’d better bring it back to help keep your brain in a healthy state. Surely there is no better way to do this than a Joe Lex Tribute edition of the FFFF…. Remember folks, you gotta use it, or you’ll lose it!
Each of the questions is inspired by Joe Lex’s fascinating talk “Who was Ringer? And did he really lactate?“
Question 1
- A Scotsman and an Irishman, teacher and student, are forever linked by the eponym for a pattern of breathing. The Scotsman was also first to describe acute hydrocephalus in 1801. The Irishman is also known for an eponymous syndrome of syncope triggered by heart block. What is the eponymous pattern of respiration?
- Cheyne-Stokes respiration — an abnormal pattern of breathing characterized by progressively deeper and sometimes faster breathing, followed by a gradual decrease that results in a temporary apnea. Each cycle usually taking 30 seconds to 2 minutes. It may be seen in patients with strokes, encephalopathies or brain tumours as well as normal people sleeping at high altitude.
- The Scotsman was John Cheyne (1777-1836), the father of Irish medicine, and his student was the Irish physician William Stokes (1804-1878) who is also remembered for Stokes-Adams attacks.
Question 2
- What did Scipione Riva-Rocci (1863-1937) from Turin, Italy, introduce in 1896?
- The mercury sphygmomanometer.
Riva-Rocci’s device was improved and popularised by Harvey Cushing and the mercury sphygmomanometer became popular worldwide.
- Stephen Hales first measured blood pressure in 1733 using a hollow tube inserted into the carotid artery. Prior to Riva-Rocci’s invention non-invasive spyhgmomanometers were unwieldly and inefficient.
Question 3
- Who first described Henoch-Schönlein Purpura?
- Although named for Eduard Heinrich Henoch and Johann Lukas Schönlein, HSP was actually first described by the brilliant English physician William Heberden in 1802.
- Photo by okwikikim – click image for source
Question 4
- In 1939, the American Heart Association and the Cardiac Society of Great Britain defined the standard positions for chest leads V1 – V6. What does the ‘V’ stand for?
- Voltage
Question 5
- John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, suffered from what endocrine disorder?
- Addison’s disease.
- JFK was diagnosed by a physician in England in 1947, and was given a year to live. On the sea voyage home he is said to have been so sick that he was read his last rites. His 1960 presidential campaign denied that he had the disease. [Reference]
- Amazingly, JFK even appeared in the medical literature — he is case 3 in the reference below:
- NICHOLAS JA, BURSTEIN CL, UMBERGER CJ, WILSON PD. Management of adrenocortical insufficiency during surgery. AMA Arch Surg. 1955 Nov;71(5):737-42. PMID: 13268224.
…and remember kids… choose your religion carefully!
Source: The Smoking Gun
About Chris Nickson
