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Monday, 11 December 2017


Where the name of cesarean section is coming from?

The early history of cesarean section remains shrouded in myth and is of dubious accuracy. Even the origin of "cesarean" has apparently been distorted over time. It is commonly believed to be derived from the surgical birth of Julius Caesar, however this seems unlikely since his mother Aurelia is reputed to have lived to hear of her son's invasion of Britain. At that time the procedure was performed only when the mother was dead or dying, as an attempt to save the child for a state wishing to increase its population. Roman law under Caesar decreed that all women who were so fated by childbirth must be cut open; hence, cesarean. Other possible Latin origins include the verb "caedare," meaning to cut, and the term "caesones" that was applied to infants born by postmortem operations. Ultimately, though, we cannot be sure of where or when the term cesarean was derived. Until the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the procedure was known as cesarean operation. This began to change following the publication in 1598 of Jacques Guillimeau's book on midwifery in which he introduced the term "section." Increasingly thereafter "section" replaced "operation."
One of the earliest printed illustrations of Cesarean section. Purportedly the birth of Julius Caesar. A live infant being surgically removed from a dead woman. From Suetonius' Lives of the Twelve Caesars, 1506 woodcut.

Tuesday, 5 December 2017


ALM

Acral Lentiginous Melanoma (ALM) is one of the few skincancers not attributed to sun exposure. It most often appears on the soles of the feet, the palms of the hand, or under fingernails. While it is one of the least common of the major skin cancers, the survival rate is lower. ALM occurs much more often on the foot than on the hand. According to one study, 78 percent of ALMs were found on the lower limb with only 22 percent on the upper limb. Two to three percent of all melanomas are acral lentiginous melanoma. Because of the low rate of ALM, there is not as much research on this type of cancer, however, a little more than one-third of all skin cancers diagnosed in people of color are ALM. ALM lesions can remain in situ, or remaining in the epidermis, for years before crossing into the dermis and spreading to other parts of the body. However, survival rates are closely related to the thickness of the tumor when diagnosed. Any new lesions or those that change in size or shape should be seen by a dermatologist. Acral lentiginous melanoma was not documented as a distinct melanoma until 1986, five years after Bob Marley died from ALM.