Portal:Medicine
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Medicine is the science and practice of caring for patients, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness. Contemporary medicine applies biomedical sciences, biomedical research, genetics, and medical technology to diagnose, treat, and prevent injury and disease, typically through pharmaceuticals or surgery, but also through therapies as diverse as psychotherapy, external splints and traction, medical devices, biologics, and ionizing radiation, amongst others.
Medicine has been practiced since prehistoric times, and for most of this time it was an art (an area of creativity and skill), frequently having connections to the religious and philosophical beliefs of local culture. For example, a medicine man would apply herbs and say prayers for healing, or an ancient philosopher and physician would apply bloodletting according to the theories of humorism. In recent centuries, since the advent of modern science, most medicine has become a combination of art and science (both basic and applied, under the umbrella of medical science). For example, while stitching technique for sutures is an art learned through practice, knowledge of what happens at the cellular and molecular level in the tissues being stitched arises through science.
Prescientific forms of medicine, now known as traditional medicine or folk medicine, remain commonly used in the absence of scientific medicine and are thus called alternative medicine. Alternative treatments outside of scientific medicine with ethical, safety and efficacy concerns are termed quackery. (Full article...)
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- ...Oral rehydration therapy (ORT) is a simple, cheap, and effective treatment for diarrhea-related dehydration? It is used around the world, but is most important in the Developing countries, where it saves millions of children from diarrhea— the second leading cause of death (after pneumonia) in children under five. According to The Lancet (1978), ORT is "potentially the most important medical discovery of the 20th century".
- ...Arsenic in the form of potassium arsenite was used even in the second half of the 20th century for psoriasis, and in the form of arsenic trioxide was approved in 2000 by the FDA for the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia that is resistant to ATRA?
- ...the term "dengue" is a Spanish attempt at the Swahili phrase "ki denga pepo", meaning "cramp- like seizure caused by an evil spirit"? "Beriberi" on the other hand, originates from the Sinhala (Sri Lankan) language meaning "I cannot, I cannot".
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- ... that the Noongar used the Eucalyptus wandoo tree as a medicine and ointment?
- ... that Constance Fozzard was told during her surgical training that women with children could not become consultants?
- ... that Tang Zonghai was one of the first advocates for the integration of Chinese and Western medicine?
- ... that Margaret C. Roberts was encouraged to study medicine by LDS Church leader Brigham Young to reduce mortality rates during childbirth?
- ... that a lack of screening for pregnant women with syphilis in sub-Saharan Africa is associated with increased infant mortality?
- ... that the Anglo-Saxons may have used a mixture of garlic, another Allium, wine, and bovine bile as an eye medicine?
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