Browsing: Health/Medicine

A Brief History On April 15, 1923, the hormone insulin became widely available for the treatment of diabetes.  Prior to the discovery of insulin and its adaptation for medical use, diabetes was an often-fatal disease of the inability of the body to process glucose. Digging Deeper Even today, diabetes claims millions of lives per year, as well as causing a variety of related maladies such as kidney failure, blindness, and nerve damage.  Insulin is a hormone produced in the pancreas, and was discovered in 1921 by Frederick Banting of Canada, a Nobel Prize winning discovery. By 1923, insulin became available…

A Brief History On February 9, 1996, the synthetic element, Copernicium, was discovered by a research team at the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Germany, named after the famous Polish astronomer and polymath, Nicolaus Copernicus (Mikołaj Kopernik in Polish), 10 days after the discovery, on the 537th anniversary of Copernicus’s birth. Digging Deeper Some of the other elements named after people include Curium, Fermium, Mendelevium, Nobelium, Einsteinium, Bohrium, Roentgenium, Lawrencium, and others.  Perhaps you recognize some or most of these names as major historical scientists. You might not appreciate a disease or disorder being named after you,…

A Brief History On January 17, 1977, an otherwise unremarkable murderer, Gary Gilmore, became famous when he was executed by firing squad by the State of Utah.  Gilmore, born Faye Robert Coffman, was the first person executed in the United States after nearly a decade long hiatus mandated by the US Supreme Court decision in Furman v. Georgia in 1972 that held capital punishment as practiced in the US was “cruel and unusual.” Digging Deeper Gilmore was notable for insisting on being executed, and for demanding that he face a firing squad of five police officers armed with 30-30 caliber…

A Brief History On January 12, 2023, Lisa Marie Presley, the only child of the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley, died at the age of 54, one of the many early deaths of those related to Elvis. Digging Deeper Lisa Marie died of cardiac failure due to complications of bariatric surgery she had undergone.  Her death at a premature age is only one such tragedy associated with Elvis.  Of course, the King himself died at the age of 42 in 1977, also of cardiac arrest and not of complications of his extensive prescription drug regimen. Elvis was touched…

A Brief History On January 1, 2025, we all take a bold leap into the future, a new year filled with promise and perhaps with some concerns as well.  Fear not, for Major Dan at H&H is happy to tell you what will possibly happen in the coming year.  Of course, I make no guarantees, for as Donald Trump recently said, “I can’t guarantee anything. I can’t guarantee tomorrow.” Digging Deeper Number one, as alluded to by the former president, all the bombastic campaign promises about lowering food and energy costs, etc., will fail to materialize, although we of course…