Rather than a complete overview of the contribution of Utrecht to stroke research, I have selected a few subjects and attempt to put these in historical context. Johann Jakob Wepfer (1620–1695) was unique in that he approached ‘apoplexy’ through post-mortem observations, in the tradition of Padua. However, the interpretation of his findings in haemorrhagic and especially non-haemorrhagic stroke...

To a medical or pharmaceutical historian this book is a mine of useful information, well presented and carefully considered. Freudabilia continues to accumulate, and the slide towards the coffee-table end of the canon is now apparent. This short, well-illustrated book consists of fourteen chapters, varying in length from four to nearly forty pages, detailing the great man's prolonged encounter ...

490 www.thelancet.com Vol 385 February 7, 2015 In The Lancet, Leo Bonati and colleagues describe the results of the International Carotid Stenting Study (ICSS), a randomised controlled trial comparing carotid artery stenting and carotid endarterectomy. I compliment the authors for completing the largest trial of these two revascularisation strategies in patients with symptomatic carotid disease...

While animal breeders largely focus on improvement using additive genetic variance, inbreeding and asexual reproduction allow plant breeders to at least partially exploit nonadditive genetic variance as well. We briefly review various approaches used by breeders to exploit dominance and epistatic variance, discuss their constraints and limitations, and examine what (if anything) can be done to ...

Advances in drug therapy have required changes in public health procedures without discarding the time tested practices of tuberculosis control. Chemotherapy and modern advances in thoracic surgery have resulted in a sharp drop in mortality, declining morbidity, shorter duration of treatment and diminished hospital confinement. No known single or combination of drugs destroys all tubercle bacil...

This study examines why it was relatively easy for decision makers in post-communist Poland to abolish a woman’s right to abortion after almost 40 years of liberal legislation and access to the procedure. This turn of events is especially noteworthy as it occurred in the first years of democracy when the vast majority of the society did not question the existing approach to abortion and opposed...

Since it was broadcast, the pragmatic studies of the American TV series Desperate Housewife (DH) have become popular. But a majority of those studies focused on Cooperation Principle and the Theory of Conversational Implication; only a few scholars studied Politeness Principle (PP). Besides, most of the pragmatic studies used the qualitative, instead of the quantitative, approach. To solve thes...

On 17 March 1813 King Frederick William III of Prussia issued his appeal “to my people.” It was a call to arms for the struggle against Napoleon, a war of liberation, “...It is the final, decisive struggle that we must endure, for the sake of our existence, our independence, our fortune. There is no way out except an honorable peace, or glorious defeat.” The proclamation appeared in the newspap...