Deutsche medizinische Wochenschrift
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Dtsch. Med. Wochenschr. · Dec 2023
Review[Vaccinations as a key to pandemic management - Lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic].
Pandemics and epidemic outbreaks caused by emerging pathogens can usually only be curbed in the longterm through establishment of protective population-wide immunity. With the unprecedented rapid development and supply of highly effective vaccines against COVID-19, science and industry delivered the critical medical breakthrough for the successful management of the COVID-19 pandemic. ⋯ Nevertheless, the pandemic and its consequences for medicine, science, and society continue to reverberate. This article reviews at the development and implementation of COVID-19 vaccines, focusing on the situation in Germany, and seeks to draw lessons from the past three years to improve our readiness to combat future outbreaks and pandemics more effectively.
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Medical views on the value and risks of tobacco use have changed radically over the centuries. In the 16th century, tobacco was introduced to continental Europe as a medicinal plant and quickly rose to become a "cure-all." When hedonistic pipe smoking became widespread in continental Europe during the Thirty Years' War, physicians warned of the consequences of tobacco abuse. For centuries, tobacco herb was now considered both harmful and curative. ⋯ Statistical proof of the direct correlation was provided in the twenties and thirties by Fritz Lickint, among others. In 1939, the Cologne physician Franz Hermann Müller presented the first case-control study on the relationship between smoking and lung carcinoma, which received little international attention. The epidemiological studies published in the 1950s by English and American scientists were based on the same scientific approach as Müller's work but were now considered groundbreaking.
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Dtsch. Med. Wochenschr. · Dec 2023
[On the Narrative about Vincent van Gogh's End of Life - Psychological Processes in his Letters].
This text presents a study that examines van Gogh's suicidality quantitatively content-analytically for the first time over the entire period of his correspondence using the program Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC 2015). An index of variables was formed to capture suicidality in life stages. The results argue against the narrative about van Gogh's suicide and reinforce the assumption in recent research that his death was the result of an accident or homicide. The suicidality index developed in this study - once validated and in combination with other methods - could be relevant for diagnostics in medical psychology and forensic medicine.
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Dtsch. Med. Wochenschr. · Dec 2023
[A correspondence in Munich: Karl Valentin and Ferdinand Sauerbruch].
Karl Valentin, one of Germany's greatest comic talents, and the surgeon Ferdinand Sauerbruch probably met in Munich about 100 years ago. Their correspondence is outlined. Another encounter some years later in Berlin has been documented. Sauerbruch was one of many physicians whom Valentin consulted because of his fragile health, especially his "mood depressions." Sauerbruch, himself plagued by mood swings, but as a surgeon not actually responsible for such illnesses, meets this special person with empathy.