Clinical Trials: Publication Bias [Copyright © Shivendra Pal Singh 2012. All Rights Reserved.] More on Publication Bias here.
Pharmacology. Introduction to Pharmacology here.
Wellcome Image Awards (winning images are on display in Wellcome Collection, London until 31 December 2012). More images here.
Chicken embryo vascular system by Vincent Pasque, University of Cambridge
This fluorescence micrograph shows the vascular system of a developing chicken embryo (Gallus gallus), two days after fertilisation. Injecting fluorescent dextran revealed the entire vasculature used by the embryo to feed itself from the rich underlying yolk inside the egg. At this stage of development, the embryo and its surrounding vasculature are a little smaller than a 5p coin.
Caffeine crystals by Annie Cavanagh and David McCarthy
This false-coloured scanning electron micrograph shows caffeine crystals. Caffeine is a bitter, crystalline xanthine alkaloid that acts as a stimulant drug. In plants, caffeine functions as a defence mechanism. Found in varying quantities in the seeds, leaves and fruit of some plants, caffeine acts as a natural pesticide that paralyses and kills certain insects feeding on the plant. The main crystals of caffeine were 400-500 microns long; however, this crystal group formed on the end of the larger crystal and measures around 40 microns in length.
Chemical Balance – by Jean Shin
To create this work, thousands of empty prescription pill bottles were collected from nursing homes, pharmacies and individuals’ medicine cabinets. Like stalactites and stalagmites, the constructions hang down from above and grow upwards from the floor below. Chemical Balance speaks to our culture’s over-consumption of prescription drugs and our bodies’ dependency on these medications. The piece acts like a group portrait, mapping our society’s chemical intake. The illuminated structures radiate with an intense orange glow, suggesting that issues of health reach far beyond the physical.
LEGOScope – a working microscope constructed with LEGO bricks
Piled Higher & Deeper Comics by Jorge Cham
Drug endorsement: a promotional product design that separates Nobilin from other digestion-aids at the point of sale.
“The druggist… your friend, in sickness and in health.” Merck & Company, Inc., 1952 Advertisement
“The Headache”. A man suffering from headache in the form of devils. Colour etching. 1835. G. Cruikshank Wellcome Images
Microparticle drug delivery, showing co-polymers. Scanning electron micrograph. Dave McCarthy & Annie Cavanagh Wellcome Images
Colour-enhancing scanning electron micrograph of red blood cells. Dave McCarthy & Annie Cavanagh Wellcome Images
“DNA” Cafe in Istanbul
Humour
My birthday cake!
Cover of LIFE magazine dated 06-24-1966 w. headline “Pills” w. photo by Ralph Morse.
Der Mensch als Industriepalast (Man as Industrial Palace) (1926). From Fritz Kahn (1888–1968). Chromolithograph. National Library of Medicine, Stuttgart.
Pharmacist compounding in his pharmacy
Compounding was practiced by every pharmacy until the late 1950’s, before the advent of the pre-made drugs a pharmacist wouldn’t be worth much if he didn’t know how to compound. Doctors would write a prescription for a medication that needed to be made from scratch. The pharmacist needed to know how to compound these chemicals and extracts into various dosage forms like capsules, tablets and suspensions.
Anti-Malarials (from exhibit: Medicine Now @ the Wellcome Collection, London)
A small sampling of the huge variety of drugs available in just two malarial areas (South East Asia and Kenya). Artesunate is proving to be highly effective, especially in combination with other anti-malarials. However, advances are threatened by the rise in the distribution of counterfeit drugs. Fake drugs that contain little or no active ingredient are resulting in deaths and are increasing the likelihood of malaria developing drug-resistance.
My Soul, 2005, Katharine Dowson (from exhibit: Brains: The mind as matter @ the Wellcome Collection, London)
Satire Pharmacology
Fashion Pharmacology
The bag was a goodie from when I completed a course on receptor theory organised by the British Pharmacological Society. I wore the bag with pride until my friend got hold of it. I say they look lovely together!
Medical Revolution: the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA (1953)
Photographer: Antony Barrington Brown
Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin used X-ray diffraction to study DNA at King’s College, London. Francis Crick (right) and James Watson (left) used their findings for their own research and in April 1953 published their results – a molecular structure of DNA, i.e. the double helix. This model served to explain how DNA replicates and how DNA encodes hereditary information. Watson, Crick and Wilkins shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1962 (Franklin died in 1958).
Adverts – Early 20th Century:
‘Tabloid’ Laxative Vegetable, 1940s – from the Wellcome Foundation archives
Laxatives were amongst the earliest self-medicated products marketed by Burroughs Wellcome & Co. and they continued to be produced by the Company into the twentieth century. This advertisement dates from around the 1940s: its tagline, ‘When Nature Needs Assistance’ gently teases out the product’s use for the uninformed.
A paper bag advertising Bile Beans, 1930s – from the Wellcome Foundation archives
“Keep healthy, happy and slim by talking Bile Beans brand pills.”
Bile Beans were a very popular medicine in Britain during the 20th century, advertised for ‘inner health’. They were devised in Australia in 1899, survived a damning judgement in a law court in Scotland in 1905, became a brand leader in the 1930s, and were on sale until the mid-1980s.Their main aim was to cure constipation and indigestion; however, other adverts claimed they also cured rheumatism, menstrual pain and liver problems. The beans were to be taken nightly and were supposedly of “pure vegetable origin”.
‘Dr Jenner’s Kidney and Liver Cure’ Leaflet, 1900s – from the Wellcome Foundation archives
Alfred Parker’s Dr Jenner’s Kidney and Liver Cure, states that ‘simple backache’ was a sign ‘your kidneys are inactive, diseased, or inflamed’. This conveys the popular belief of the time that some diseases were due to irregularities in the liver and kidneys. I must say that I am quite fond of the extensive alliteration at the top of the advert – Parker clearly knew a thing or two about marketing. But could a bottle of Dr Jenner’s Kidney and Liver Cure really help a ‘pathetic’ and ‘perplexed’ gentleman?!
Parker was a member of the Pharmaceutical Society and a dispensing and manufacturing chemist, based in Staffordshire. He advertised his medicines quite a lot, all of which were made under his direct supervision.
