SCIENCE with Ms Lun
Today in Science
September
19th : Elizabeth STERN. Born 1915 . Died 18 August 1980, aged 64.
What: Canadian cytopathologist
Famous for: her research into cervical cancer
Stern graduated from the University of Toronto School of Medicine in 1938. She moved to Los Angeles with her husband and began her career as a cytooathologist (specialised doctor who looks a slides of cells under a microscope). Stern discovered the stages cervical cells go through on their progression to cancer. Her research helped in the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of the disease. The Pap smear test (invented in the 1920s by Georgios Papanikolaou) became widely used in the US in the 1950s to screen women for cervical cancer. It has reduced the mortality of the disease by 70% since its introduction.
On the left, is a diagram showing changes that might be seen in cervical cells. We now know about the link between HPV (Human Papilloma virus) and cervical cancer. The LSIL and HSIL changes could be caused by HPV infection and would be classified as an abnormal result. It may or may not need treatment and can change back to normal (especially in younger women) but could progress to cancer and needs monitoring.
Luckily, for our youngsters, males and females, there is a free vaccine against HPV called Gardasil-9. Currently, around 150 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 50 women die from it each year in New Zealand.
20th: David MARINE, born 1888. Died 6 November 1976, aged 88.
What: American pathologist
Famous for: Contributed to our understanding of iodine to prevent goitre (a thyroid disease)
It was Marine's research in 1917-22 that showed conclusively the benefits of iodine to prevent goitre. He followed a large group of schoolgirls (girls are more likely to develop goitre) over 2 and a half years in Akron, Ohio. He had tried to do the research in Cleveland but it was vetoed as iodine was considered toxic. There were over 2,000 girls that received iodine and a further 2,000 that received none (the control group). His results found that of the girls that had an enlarged thyroid and were receiving iodine in the study, 60.3% showed a decrease in their goitre. In 1924, 100 mg/kg potassium iodide was added to table salt in the US.
Marine went on to advise the World Health Organization on anti-goitre programs in the third world countries.
What is goitre?
Goitre is an enlarged thyroid gland (a butterfly shaped gland found in the front of the neck) causing a lump. While iodine deficiency is one cause (iodine is needed to produce two types of thyroid hormones, T3 & T4) there are some other diseases that cause an enlarged thyroid.
Treating goitre with iodine was not new to science when Marine did his research. As early as 1820, a paper was published by Dr Jean-François Coindet, a Swiss physician who had successfully treated goitre using sea sponges, and later iodine-rich seaweed. French chemist Jean-Baptiste Boussingault also showed the benefits of an iodine-rich salt in treating goitre in 1821. Iodine treatment was met with scepticism as early iodine treatments could have terrible side effects.
By 1860, it was known that some patients with enlarged thyroids (and often other symptoms) could not be treated with iodine. One such disease is Graves' (an autoimmune disease where too much thyroid hormone is produced).
Hashimoto's disease is another autoimmune disease where insufficient amounts of thyroid hormone are produced.
Multinodular goitre: a few solid or fluid-filled nodules develop on both sides of the thyroid
Thyroid cancer may also cause an enlarged thyroid.
Enlarged thyroid gland or goitre.
20th: Sir James DEWAR, born 1842. Died 27 March 1923, aged 80.
What: English chemist and physicist
Famous for: low temperature chemistry, the liquefaction of gases and spectroscopy
In 1891, Dewar became the first person to produce liquid oxygen in industrial scale quantities. The following year he invented the "Dewar flask", more commonly referred to as a Thermos or vacuum flask, in which liquid gases could be maintained at low temperatures (unfortunately he failed to patent the idea and it was exploited commercially by others). In 1889, Dewar developed the explosive cordite (jointly with Frederick Abel), a smokeless alternative to gunpowder.
In the late 1890s, Dewar produced liquid then solid hydrogen at very low temperatures. He tried to become the first person to produce liquid helium but failed (Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes did it in 1908). Dewar then focused on the surface tension of soap bubbles at the start of WWI.
Dewar's flask is a glass bottle inside a glass bottle sealed at the neck with a partial vacuum between them, the forerunner to the Thermos.
22nd: Michael FARADAY born 1791. Died 25 August 1867, aged 65.
What: English chemist & physicist
Famous for: Contributed to our understanding of electromagnetism and electrochemistry.
Faraday's family were poor so he did not receive a great education. At 14, he worked as an apprentice bookbinder. During the next seven years, he read books on a range of scientific fields. In 1813, he got a job as chemical assistant at the Royal Institute (Britain's leading scientific institute). While working here, he assisted Humphry Davy (another leading scientist) but showed he was a capable lecturer and researcher in his own right. The Royal Institute's website states "The discoveries of Michael Faraday, made in the basement of the Ri, shaped the modern world."
Research included:
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discovering electromagnetic rotation
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identified a liquid gas called benzene
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improvements to optical glass
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discovered electromagnetic induction (the principle behind the electric transformer and generator), therefore the beginnings of the electric motor
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rewrote the theory of electrochemistry (i.e. electrode and ions)
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established electrolysis
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discovered the magneto-optical effect and diamagnetism (how elements behave in a magnetic field)
He also founded the Royal Institution's Friday Evening Discourses and the Christmas Lectures in 1826 and both of which continue to this day.
By the 1840s, his health had started to deteriorate hindering his ability to carrying out his research.
Faraday's giant electro-magnet (custom made on a link of a ship’s anchor chain). It was the most powerful magnet in the country at the time.
Image from https://www.rigb.org/
our-history/michael-faraday/ magnetic-laboratory