Journal of clinical neuroscience : official journal of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia
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Biography Historical Article
Harvey Cushing and some Australian connections: part 1 - early life and work.
Before World War 1 both the United States of America and Australia had rather rudimentary medical systems. Enterprising practitioners in both countries tended to look to continental Europe (especially Germany) and the United Kingdom as places of medical renown. The outbreak of World War 1 changed this but also enabled doctors from both the United States and Australia to work in military hospitals in Europe. ⋯ Examples of these were the experiences of Harvey Cushing, a burgeoning American neurosurgeon, which he recounted in his diary. His commentary merits close inspection and analysis. An account of some of Cushing's Australian connections post World War 1 is given in Part 2 (in press).
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Non-accidental head injury ("shaken baby syndrome") is a major cause of death and disability in infants and young children, but it is uncertain whether shaking alone is sufficient to cause brain damage or an additional head impact is required. Accordingly, we used manual shaking in an ovine model in an attempt to answer this question since lambs have a relatively large gyrencephalic brain and weak neck muscles resembling a human infant. ⋯ Neuronal perikaryal APP was widely distributed in the brain and spinal cord, the first time such a diffuse neuronal stress response after shaking has been demonstrated, but axonal immunoreactivity was minimal and largely confined to the rostral cervical spinal cord at the site of maximal loading. No ischaemic-hypoxic damage was found in haematoxylin and eosin-stained sections.