Do You Believe in Magic?: Vitamins, Supplements, and All Things Natural: A Look Behind the Curtain

Centers for Disease Control and Preventi

Epidemiology and Prevention of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases

Michael Bliss

The Making of Modern Medicine: Turning Points in the Treatment of Disease

At the dawn of the twenty-first century, we have become accustomed to medical breakthroughs and conditioned to assume that, regardless of illnesses, doctors almost certainly will be able to help--not just by diagnosing us and alleviating our pain, but by actually treating or even curing diseases, and significantly improving our lives. For most of human history, however, that was far from the case, as veteran medical historian Michael Bliss explains in The Making of Modern Medicine. Focusing on a few key moments in the transformation of medical care, Bliss reveals the way that new discoveries and new approaches led doctors and patients alike to discard fatalism and their traditional religious acceptance of suffering in favor of a new faith in health care and in the capacity of doctors to treat disease. He takes readers in his account to three turning points--a devastating smallpox outbreak in Montreal in 1885, the founding of the Johns Hopkins Hospital and Medical School, and the discovery of insulin--and recounts the lives of three crucial figures--researcher Frederick Banting, surgeon Harvey Cushing, and physician William Osler--turning medical history into a fascinating story of ...

Sharon Ruben

Awakening Ashley: Mozart Knocks Autism on Its Ear

At eighteen months, Ashley Ruben still didn't talk. She wouldn't respond when her name was called; she didn't appear to hear either. She fixated on tiny pieces of dirt and ate only crunchy foods. She was enveloped in a thick fog-impenetrable by everyone except Barney the Dinosaur. She worked puzzles like a kindergartener and was computer-savvy before she was two years old. Her mother's late-night searches on the Internet hinted at a reason for her lack of engagement with the outside world. And then a developmental specialist confirmed it: autism, a diagnosis that shook the foundation of a family and shattered a mother's world. Ashley could hear, but she couldn't listen. In order to address that, a therapy retraining her ears to perceive sound better took her back to the time in the womb- where listening begins. With the help of specialized recordings of Mozart's music, Ashley gradually awakened. Her brain's desire to communicate was kindled, fostering a connection with her body, her family, and the world around her. Ashley had recovered, developing the ability to talk, to listen, to communicate- to become an engaging child. But how could Sharon Ruben, a clinical researcher in her ...