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Guillotines from Joseph‑Ignace Guillotin to Greenfield Sluder

Joseph‑Ignace Guillotin. The politician and physician Joseph-Ignace Guillotin (1738-1814) was so disgusted by brutal head and shoulder injuries sustained in ‘failed attempts’ by drunken axe-wielding executioners during the French Revolution that he and surgeon Antoine Louis (1723-1792) advocated not only...

A soprano’s demise: a cautionary tale for the thyroid surgeon

Prior to the mid-19th century, thyroid surgery was considered excessively dangerous. The emergence of anaesthetic, antisepsis and improved instrumentation, however, increased its feasibility and frequency in Europe. The unhurried, judiciously antiseptic and haemostatic approach, advocated by Kocher, was popularised and...

Facing changes after surgery through portraiture

‘Facing Out: Life After Treatment for Facial Cancer’ was a two-year arts-for-health project funded by Arts Council England and The National Lottery which culminated in an exhibition at The Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, in February 2019. Here, artist and project...

How the earwig got its name

What are earwigs, and how are they connected with the ear? Amr Abdelhamid explains the etymology, myths and beliefs behind the pesky creature with the otological name. Earwigs are harmless insects of the order Dermaptera that are amongst the most...

Anxiety and acronyms – musings of an otolaryngologist

Personal protective equipment (PPE) has been a focus of attention and concern for healthcare workers around the globe during the COVID-19 pandemic. Neil Tolley discusses some of the issues. I write this article in mid-May when, were it not for...

Rapid genetic testing to avoid hearing loss in neonates

Thousands of newborn babies could avoid a lifetime of hearing loss thanks to a new rapid genetic test. In this article, we learn how. We have demonstrated for the first time that a rapid genetic test from a cheek swab...

Are we making progress on tinnitus?

One of the aspects of tinnitus that drew me into it becoming a major theme of my clinical and research work was how little work had been done when I began to see patients in the mid 1980s. This struck...

From Hippocrates to COVID-19: sniffing out the disease

The ancient Greek physician, Hippocrates, used the ‘art of smell’ to diagnose diseases around 400BC. He also formulated miasmatic theory, which posited that disease is caused by bad smells. Bad air was strongly believed by many physicians to be the...

Aligning hearing and cognitive healthcare in older people

Published in print under the titleHearing care and dementia: professional insights on the new Lancet Commission findingsThe Lancet Commission on ‘Dementia prevention, intervention and care: 2024 report’ highlights a list of potential modifiable factors to reduce dementia risk. As with...

Beyond hearing aids: early interventions in hearing care to lower dementia risk

Published in print under the titleHearing care and dementia: professional insights on the new Lancet Commission findingsThe Lancet Commission on ‘Dementia prevention, intervention and care: 2024 report’ highlights a list of potential modifiable factors to reduce dementia risk. As with...