Every specialist, at present, is confronted with the fact that it is continually becoming more difficult to remain 'up to date'. The areas in which he must read are expanding while the individual publications are becoming greater in number, larger in content and appear more frequently. The choice of the subject was not easy. This time we have selected the pharmacological aspects of anaesthesiology as our main topic, as a continu ation of the Boerhaave course in 1971. Although we know that a drug works, the mechanism behind this action is of great importance. The pharmacokinetics and side...

One of the most fascinating tools at the disposal of the molecular biologist is the medical clinic. The responsibilities of those who provide health care do not stop when they give optimal care to the individual patient and train their successors adequately. They also are under the obligation to obtain maximal information from every case they treat in order to reach a better understanding of the underlying illness in order to improve therapeutic results in the next patient. Fundamental research in pathological material is therefore a medical must as well as an opportunity for scientific work....

The present volume of the Boerhaave series intends to be a reflexion of our present knowledge in the expanding field of early diagnosis and prevention of inherited disorders. Early diagnosis can mean detection of a carrier state in one or both potential parents, detection of a specific inherited disease in a previously born child or during a pregnancy at risk, or during various stages of the life of an already born individual. The first chapters will discuss inherited disorders manifesting later in life. In Huntington's Chorea detection may be possible from the age of 20 or 30 onwards, while...

The 1973 Boerhaave Course in Leiden on Measurement in Anaesthesia was composed of the lectures included in this book, supplemented by the series of 'lecture demonstrations' organised by Dr. P. Cliffe and given by the members of the Departments of Clinical Measurement and the Magill Department of Anaesthetics, Westminster Hospital, London. The aim of the 1973 Boerhaave Course on Measurement in Anaesthesia was designed to arouse interest in this subject where it has not already occurred. The subjects discussed in the lectures and presented in this book were those that were considered topical...

This volume contains the proceedings of a postgraduate course for medical practitioners of various specialties. One purpose of the course was to provide factual data on developmental aspects of the brain and behaviour, and about the possible impact of several important categories of internal and environ- mental factors upon neural development. Another purpose was to indicate the extent and the limitations of the methodology now available for the scientific approach of the study of the development of behaviour. In general the investigator is faced with methodological problems of two types, the...

During the past twenty years there has been a rapid evolution in anaesthesia, so much so, that we stand on the brink of a major change in the role of the anaesthetist in medicine. Anaesthesia has now emerged from being a craft speciality, obsessed with details of techniques, to become a science concerned with the maintenance of life. As a result of our better understanding of the physiological and pharmacological effects of anaesthesia and surgery, new opportunities have been created for anaesthetists to apply their particular knowledge, not only to provide better and safer conditions for...

This book comprises the essential records from a Boerhaave course given in June 1971 for specialists in cardiology and other fields of internal medicine interested in the subject of quantitation in cardiology. It is evident that in the wide field of medicine, and particularly in cardiology, there is a growing need for exact and detailed information in conjunction with existing diag nostic methods. This is apparent in the greater precision in anatomical and haemodynamic details required by the thoracic surgeon as the number of available heart operations gradually increases. In retrospect it is...

The course of history is never one of smooth progression. Periods of relative quietness are interrupted by periods of wars and revolution. This pattern resembles that of a river which, before flowing into the delta, has to pass countless rapids. The same holds for the development of the science of medicine. In obstetrics some of these 'revolutions' or 'rapids' consist of the introduction of conservative obstetrical treatment by Lucas Johann Boer at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the discovery of the cause of puerperal sepsis by Oliver Wendell Holmes and Semmelweiss between 1843 and...

The Leiden-Edinburgh Boerhaave Course on 'The Gastro-intestinal Tract', held in Leiden on October 29 and 30, 1969, resulted from the renewed co-operation between the Medical Faculties of Edinburgh and Leiden, based on very old ties. As one will know, the Edinburgh Faculty of Medi- cine was founded in 1726 on the principles guiding the Leiden Faculty of Medicine at that time, on the instigation of John Monro I, who had studied medicine in Leiden under the famous Boerhaave. These old ties were revived some 8 years ago, first by students, later by the Faculties themselves, with the special...

The Boerhaave Courses in Cardiology have been held once or twice a year since 1955. For the greater part they were meant for specialists in Cardiology, Pediatrics, and Internal Medicine, who wished to hear about recent advances in Cardiology and in its anatomical and physical basis. For some time the courses reflected mostly the work in Leiden, especially on congenital heart disease, but soon the highly valuable cooperation of other centres was obtained on subjects in which they had more experience. In later years speakers from abroad were also invited and they con- tributed greatly to the...