Medical Humanities Commons^™

Socioeconomic Status And Its Relationship To Chronic Respiratory Disease, Sonu Sahni, Ankoor Talwar, Sameer Khanijo, Arunabh Talwar

Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine (New York) Publications and Research

Socioeconomic status (SES) is defined as an individual’s social or economic standing, and is a measure of an individual’s or family’s social or economic position or rank in a social group. It is a composite of several measures including income, education, occupation, location of residence or housing. Studies have found a lower SES has been linked to disproportionate access to health care in many diseases. There is emerging data in pulmonary diseases such as COPD, asthma, cystic fibrosis, pulmonary hypertension and other chronic respiratory conditions that allude to a similar observation noted in other chronic diseases. In the setting of …

Three Damn Letters, Katherine Ammon

Honors Program Theses

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a terminal disease that destroys a patient's motor neurons. In the play Three Damn Letters, a sarcastic woman must accept her own ALS diagnosis while also balancing her relationships with her father, husband, and son. This seriocomedic play explores themes of family roles, disability, love, and death.

Calcium Phosphate As A Key Material For Socially Responsible Tissue Engineering, Vuk Uskoković, Victoria M. Wu

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Socially responsible technologies are designed while taking into consideration the socioeconomic, geopolitical and environmental limitations of regions in which they will be implemented. In the medical context, this involves making therapeutic platforms more accessible and affordable to patients in poor regions of the world wherein a given disease is endemic. This often necessitates going against the reigning trend of making therapeutic nanoparticles ever more structurally complex and expensive. However, studies aimed at simplifying materials and formulations while maintaining the functionality and therapeutic response of their more complex counterparts seldom provoke a significant interest in the scientific community. In this review …

“Inhumanly Beautiful”: The Aesthetics Of The Nineteenth-Century Deathbed Scene, Margo Masur

English Theses

Death today is hidden from our everyday lives so it cannot intermingle with the general public. So when a family member dies, their body becomes an object in need of disposal; no longer can they be recognized as the familiar person they once were. To witness death is to force individuals to confront the truths of human existence, and for most of us seeing such a sight would fill us with an emotion of disgust. Yet during the nineteenth century, the burden of care towards the sick or dying was shared by a community of family, neighbors, and friends; the …

Professionalism Under Fire: Conflict, War And Epidemics, Michelle Mclean, Vikram Jha, John Sandars

Michelle McLean

Today’s medical students (tomorrow’s doctors) will be entering a world of conflict, war and regular outbreaks of infectious diseases. Despite numerous international declarations and treaties protecting human rights, the last few decades has been fraught with reports of ‘‘lapses’’ in medical professionalism involving torture and force-feeding of detainees (e.g. captured during the War on Terror) and health care professionals refusing to treat infected patients (e.g. HIV and Ebola). This paper provides some historical background to the changing status of a physician’s duty to treat and how medical practitioners came to be involved in the inhumane treatment of detainees during the …

Know Your Status: Alleviating Stigma From The Hiv Positive Community Of San Luis Obispo California, Mario Alberto Viveros Espinoza

Ethnic Studies

The purpose of this project is to alleviate stigma from the HIV community in San Luis Obispo, CA by creating an outreach program, “Know Your Status,” that raises awareness of HIV education and prevention. Research on HIV stigma and on ideologies for program development and implementation shows that HIV positive individuals face both internalized and externalized stigma. Program development and implementation can be effective by assessing and addressing the specific needs of those living within the community. This project includes the data needed for program development and implementation, collected through anonymous surveys from HIV positive community members, interviews with professionals …

The Medical Response To The Black Death, Joseph A. Legan

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This paper discusses the medical response to the Black Death in both Europe and the Middle East. The Black Death was caused by a series of bacterial strands collectively known as Yersinia pestis. The Plague originated in the Mongolian Steppes. It was spread westward by the east-west trading system. Once it arrived in the Crimea in 1346, Italian merchants helped spread it throughout the Mediterranean. Medicine in Europe and the Middle East were centered on Galen’s theory of humors. There were many religious explanations for the Plague, but the main medical explanation was the spread of bad air, or …

Barriers To Prevention And Treatment Of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Qualitative Analysis Of Women In East Sikkim, India, Emily Applewhite

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Diabetes Mellitus is a metabolic disorder that affects more people in India than anywhere else in the world (Ramachandran et. al., 2010). A recent national study concluded that Sikkim, a small northeastern state in the Himalayas, has the highest prevalence of Diabetes Mellitus compared to any other state in India. In order to determine why this is so, this study looks at the barriers women face when attempting to prevent and treat Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) in East Sikkim. Fieldwork for this study was facilitated by The Volunteer Health Association of Sikkim, and took place in Gangtok and a …

The Germ Theory Of Dystopias: Fears Of Human Nature In 1984 And Brave New World, Clea D. Harris

Scripps Senior Theses

This project is an exploration of 20^th century dystopian literature through the lens of germ theory. This scientific principle, which emerged in the late 19^th century, asserts that microorganisms pervade the world; these invisible and omnipresent germs cause specific diseases which are often life threatening. Additionally, germ theory states that vaccines and antiseptics can prevent some of these afflictions and that antibiotics can treat others. This concept of a pervasive, invisible, infection-causing other is not just a biological principle, though; in this paper, I argue that one can interpret it as an ideological framework for understanding human existence …

H.E.A.P.S. In Advances Towards A Healthier Samoa The Health Education And Promotions Section’S Role In Combating Non-Communicable Diseases, Kara Le

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

With an increase in the number of health issues within Samoa, specifically in relation to non-communicable diseases (NCDs), it is important to examine the efforts being made by government health officials to improve Samoa’s overall health status. This study explores the role of the Health Education and Promotion Section (H.E.A.P.S.) of the Ministry of Health in establishing and promoting healthier standards within the Samoan community. The current efforts of H.E.A.P.S. in combating NCDs through recently introduced projects and programs were explored in-depth. Further analysis of the design and effectiveness of these programs in changing the unhealthy habits of Samoan people …

Human Papillomavirus And The Gardasil Vaccine: Medicalization And The Gendering Of Bodies And Bodily Risk, Lauren Camara

Laurier Undergraduate Journal of the Arts

No abstract provided.

Tropical Medicine: A Clinical Text, 8th Edition, Revised And Expanded, Kevin M. Cahill, M.D.

Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs

The history of tropical medicine is as dramatic as the story of humankind. It has its own myths and legends, including tales of epidemics that destroyed whole civilizations. Today, with silent stealth, tropical diseases still claim more lives than all the current wars combined. Having had the privilege of working throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America, as well as in the great medical centers of Europe and the United States, the author presents the details essential for understanding pathogenesis, clinical manifestations, therapy, and prevention of the major tropical diseases. The text, now in its eighth edition, has been used for …

John Contracts Skin Disease At Spa, Donna M. Hughes Dr., Melanie Shapiro Esq

Donna M. Hughes