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Query: UMLS:C0000737 (abdominal pain)
 31,184 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Prior to the 17th century, there was considerable confusion regarding the process of digestion. Although some physicians were certain that it was initiated by acid in the stomach, both the source and the nature of the acid were unclear. In the early 19th century, Prout confirmed the active secretion of hydrochloric acid by the stomach and related it to the symptoms of dyspepsia. Jacob Helm and, subsequently, Beaumont studied digestion in humans with gastric fistulas and each commented extensively on the physiologic manifestation of digestion. The role of the vagus nerves in the control of gastric acid secretion was identified in the early and mid-19th century by Brodie, and subsequently elaborated upon by Pavlov. By the early 20th century, Latarjet and Jaboulay in France, performing operations for abdominal pain and tabes, reported the effects of vagotomy on acid secretion and gastric motility. In 1943, Dragstedt, in the United States, reported the cure of duodenal peptic ulcer disease by supradiaphragmatic vagotomy. He later observed the substantial delays in emptying of the stomach, which necessitated the introduction of concomitant gastric drainage procedures, such as gastrojejunostomy and pyloroplasty. In 1902, Bayliss and Starling had described the existence of a chemical regulator of function--secretin--which they termed a hormone. Shortly thereafter, Edkins reported results of studies that supported the presence of an acid regulatory hormone, gastrin, in the antrum of the stomach. Unfortunately, controversy marred this observation, and the action of gastrin was for more than 30 years ascribed to histamine. Komarov, in 1938, confirmed the existence of gastrin and its stimulatory effects on acid secretion. Physiologic recognition of the roles of vagal stimulation and antral gastrin in the secretion of acid from the stomach resulted in the development of the operation of vagotomy and antrectomy for peptic ulcer disease. Studies of the pylorus and the motility of the stomach resulted in an appreciation of the genesis of the postgastrectomy syndromes. By the middle of the 20th century, a clear appreciation of the morphologic characteristics of the parietal cell and its ability to secrete hydrochloric acid was under way. The complex metabolic process of the cell was correlated with the major morphologic transformation necessary to generate secretion of hydrochloric acid. The development of sophisticated research technology allowed the appreciation of the complex intracellular processes necessary to allow the generation of a 2.5 million-fold gradient of hydrogen ion secretion.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
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PMID:From Prout to the proton pump--a history of the science of gastric acid secretion and the surgery of peptic ulcer. 215 87

In March 1941, two months after her wedding, Karen Blixen was diagnosed as having syphilis in the second stage. She was treated initially with mercury and later on in Denmark with salvarsan. Years later she received more treatment with mercury, salvarsan and bismuth, but in fact she was cured already in 1915 and told so by her venerologist Carl Rasch. However, she did not believe him, and several physicians, including well-known specialists in internal medicine and neurology told her many years later that she had to accept the diagnosis tabes dorsalis, i.e., syphilis in the third chronic stage. This paper claims, based on her medical records from several hospitals, that her physicians' attitude resulted in the delay of right treatment for her real disease for many years and led to at least one unwarrented surgical procedure (chordotomy). In 1956 she finally received surgical treatment of her stomach ulcer which for many years had caused her attacks of abdominal pain. The procedure was delayed for ten years because of a lumbar sympathectomy, which removes the pain for some years but not the ulcer itself, nor the bout of vomiting. Many doctors (and biographers) have been puzzled by her life-long bowel symptoms. It was often called tropic dysentery, in spite of the fact that this diagnosis was never confirmed by stool analyses. Instead it is suggested that most likely the Baroness caused the symptoms. She misused strong laxatives during her whole adult life. She did not tell her doctors about this until very late in her life and then it was far too late. Many times barium enemas showed a severe chronic condition with dehaustration and dilatation. The reason for her misuse was the fact that she was afraid of gaining too much weight. She used amphetamine during her life in Denmark after her return in 1931 in order to reduce her appetite, and probably she used Chat in Africa. She also constantly smoked cigarettes which in combination with minimal food intake facilitated the development of her stomach ulcer. It is concluded that Karen Blixen would have had a much better life, if communication between her and her physicians had been better. She should have told them and they should have been better to listen to that which was unsaid.
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PMID:[Karen Blixen and her physicians]. 1256 2

The evidence that Adolf Hitler might have suffered from incapacitating syphilis is reviewed. Rumors that he acquired syphilis from a prostitute at the age of 20 years, with possible re-infection during World War I, can no longer be verified. Evidence is that he was sexually rather inactive throughout his life. Suggestions that Hitler's cardiac lesion and complaints such as transitory blindness, tremor of his left arm and leg, recurring abdominal pain and a skin lesion of the leg were of syphilitic aetiology cannot be supported. Hitler's progressive mental and physical deterioration after 1942, his growing paranoia, fits of rage, grandiosity and symptoms of possible dementia would fit in neurosyphilis. There are, however, also other explanations for his terminal syndrome, and evidence that repeated clinical examinations did not show the characteristic signs of dementia paralytica or tabes dorsalis, swings the balance of probability away from tertiary syphilis.
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PMID:Did Adolf Hitler have syphilis? 1706 46