Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0036474 (scurvy)
 685 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

In 1754, aboard HMS Salisbury, James Lind conducted a simple, controlled clinical trial. He took 12 patients with "pale and bloated skin, listlessness, an aversion to exercise, swollen gums, halitosis, ecchymotic mucous membranes, and limb edema" and allocated them to receive treatment with one of six different therapies. Since the patients receiving two of his six chosen interventions had such a dramatic recovery, he felt ethically obligated to end his trial and administer these treatments to all the remaining sailors. Today we fully recognize the impact that the controlled clinical trial can have on the development of new interventions. Unfortunately, very few of these interventions are likely to have as dramatic an impact on outcomes as lemons and oranges did on scurvy. Because the interventions we study tend to have relatively small treatment effects, and because the design and reporting of published RCTs has consistently been documented to be less than perfect, there is a real need for us to develop critical appraisal skills. This article is by no means the only approach to critical appraisal, but hopefully it serves as an adequate starting point for the journey.
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PMID:Interpreting and using clinical trials. 970 Apr 45

In May 1845 HMS Terror and HMS Erebus left England under the command of Sir John Franklin to find the Northwest Passage linking the north Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The ships had been specially equipped for arctic conditions with central heating, auxiliary steam engines and reinforced steel bows to cut through the ice, however, despite these modern additions neither the vessels nor any of the 129 crew members would ever return. Recently the wrecks of the ships have been located in the waters around King William Island, Nunavut, Canada. Numerous theories have been advanced to explain the deaths that involve lead poisoning, scurvy and zinc deficiency. It is most likely, however, that the deaths were the result of multiple factors such as starvation, hypothermia, infection and general physical and mental decline. Cannibalism occurred but whether this involved the use of already dead sailors or the culling of the weak for food is not determinable. The essential point is that the crews were trapped in the Arctic, many thousands of miles from their homes and families, with dwindling food supplies and minimal chances of rescue.
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PMID:Death in the Arctic - the tragic fate of members of the Franklin expedition (1845). 3284 47