Brits at their Best

Associated Press reports:

Doctors are reporting surprising early success with a novel treatment they hope will one day cure congestive heart failure in thousands of dying patients: They shrink the bloated heart with drugs while an artificial pump temporarily takes over the workload.
Though small, the British study more than tripled the usual recovery rate for patients with severe heart failure, a common killer once viewed as unstoppable. The findings were published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

British Medical Firsts and the mavericks who discovered them can be read about here. They include:

Discovering circulation of blood

Discovering digitalis helps the heart

Vaccinating against smallpox

Diagnosing Hodgkin's disease

Founding neuroscience

Diagnosing Addison's disease

Founding endocrinology

Diagnosing Bright's disease

Discovering poor sanitation causes cholera

Establishing epidemiology

Establishing antiseptic surgery

Inventing oxygen machine

Discovering cause of malaria

Discovering cause of Malta Fever

Discovering cause of sleeping sickness

Founding science of genetics

Discovering vitamins

Inventing X-ray spectrometer

Vaccinating against typhoid

Discovering insulin

Discovering penicillin

Discovering structure of penicillin, insulin, & B12

Discovering DNA

Discovering smoking causes cancer

Inventing hip replacements

Inventing beta blockers to stop heart attacks

Synthesizing a drug that blocks the production of acid by the stomach

Inventing defibrillator

Establishing modern hospice care

Inventing birth control pill

Inventing CT scan

Inventing MRI

Discovering Helicobacter pylori causes gastritis and peptic ulcer disease, and showing the way to cure it

Helping map Human Genome

Regenerating nerve cells

Posted by Cat at November 03, 2006 01:40 AM | Permalink |

Brits Stop Heart Failure

BRITAIN’S CONSTITUTION

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