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The pioneers of endoscopy and the sword swallowers

Adolf Kussmaul drew inspiration from an unlikely source to further the development of endoscopy… The early pioneers of airway endoscopy and oesophagoscopy were bedevilled by two major and seemingly insurmountable problems. One was the paucity of light sources, with reliance...

Allergy – what’s in a name?

Allergy is defined as an “abnormal immune reaction to an ordinarily harmless substance” [1], however the meaning of the word has taken many forms since its introduction in 1906 by Austrian Paediatrician and Immunologist, Clemens von Pirquet [2]. Combining his...

Not just the scissors: the story of Myron Metzenbaum

Myron Metzenbaum was born in Cleveland, Ohio (USA) in 1876, the fourth of nine children. As a young man, he worked in the family’s linen store, where his father was well known to be very kind to the less fortunate...

Time to professionalise medical leadership

For a profession proud of its adherence to an evidence base, medicine has been remarkably slow to acknowledge and to act on the evidence which underpins the value of good leadership to patients and the healthcare system. Mr Robert Francis...

The effects of leisure noise exposure on young people’s hearing

There is growing concern regarding the effects of leisure noise exposure on young people’s auditory system. Information provided by healthcare professionals should be evidence-based; Hannah Keppler discusses some recent findings about hearing in young people. Excessive noise exposure can lead...

Deaf identity in audiology services: exploring the significance and implications

Dr Celia Hulme, a culturally Deaf * sign language user, draws from her personal experience and extensive PhD research on Deaf signers’ experiences with audiology services. *In this article, the convention of using an uppercase ‘D’ is used to denote...

Addressing the non-use of hearing aids

We all know non-use of hearing aids occurs, but why, and what can we do about it? Numerous studies have investigated the challenges surrounding the underutilisation of hearing aids, examining factors such as reluctance to seek assistance, the impact of...

Pre-clinical development of magnetic delivery of therapy to middle and inner ears

Why are we developing this technology? A key problem in drug delivery is getting the therapy to the right place in the body, which is especially challenging for targets that are small, deep and are protected or surrounded by anatomical...

In conversation with Reza Rahbar

Reza Rahbar is professor of otolaryngology at Harvard Medical School and associate otolaryngologist-in-chief at Boston Children’s Hospital. He initiated and leads IPOG, the International Pediatric Otolaryngology Group. I met up with him to ask more about it. Reza Rahbar DMD,...