Digital Collections

Medicine Research Day Collection

June 21, 2024: Library staff and faculty are happy to announce the Medicine Research Day collection in Digital Scholar. This collection showcases the innovative research and academic contributions of our faculty and students, highlighting the exceptional work done by our institution’s researchers. The Medicine Research day 2024 event is now available for access and offers a wealth of knowledge across multiple disciplines. Whether you’re a researcher, student, or simply passionate about medical advancements, this collection provides valuable insights into the latest developments and discoveries at LSUHSC.

Within the collection you will find posters, concise abstracts of research topics and objectives, and video recordings of presentations. Our commitment to preserving and sharing events such as Medicine Research Day at LSUHSC extends beyond the 2024 collection. We are diligently working on digitizing and archiving historical MRDs to ensure that valuable research and academic achievements from past years are made accessible.

We invite you to explore the Medicine Research Day 2024 collection by visiting our digital repository here:

https://digitalscholar.lsuhsc.edu/mrd/

Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to expand our repository with research events from around campus and other valuable academic resources. For any inquiries or further information, please contact Blair Hollender, Digital Initiatives Librarian at LSUHSC New Orleans.

LSUHSC LDL Website Maintenance

The Louisiana Digital Library website will be down for scheduled updates. The interruption will take place on Tuesday, July 26, 2022 from 9:00am until 5:00pm and the website will be inaccessible during this time. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause for our users.

New Digital Collection Added

A new collection has been added to the LSUHSC Digital Collection, the Robert Simmons Photograph Collection. The Robert Simmons collection features historical photographs of the fifth and building of the sixth Charity Hospitals, hidden camera photographs taken before cell phones, and the professors that taught the professors that taught your professors. Robert Simmons captured images of his time at LSU School of Medicine as a student and at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center as a professor. These images feature descriptions that were orally provided by Robert Simmons and feature a unique perspective of the school. Take a look and see if there’s anyone you recognize! If you have a question about the collection, or can provide more information about any of the photos you see, email digitalarchives@lsuhsc.edu

New Books Display to Start the School Year!

The first New Books display for Fall 2018 is now posted on the New Books Shelf (3rd floor of the Ische Library)! This display highlights some course textbooks for medical students as well as other titles of interest for faculty, students, and staff on two of our newest e-book resources: Access Neurology and ClinicalKey!

(* denotes course textbook for medicine)

Access Neurology Titles:

• Clinical Neurology and Neuroanatomy: a localization-based approach by Berkowitz, 2017*
• Molecular Neuropharmacology: a foundation for clinical neuroscience by Nestler, 3rd ed. 2015*
• The Hospital Neurology Book edited by Salardini and Biller, 2016.
• Neuromuscular Disorders by Amato and Russell, 2nd ed. 2016
• DeMyer’s The Neurologic Examination: a programmed text by Biller, Gruener, and Brazis, 7th ed. 2017
• Depression in Medical Illness edited by Barsky and Silbersweig, 2016
• Pediatric Practice: Neurology edited by Carney and Geyer, 2010
• Neuroanatomy Text and Atlas by John H. Martin, 4th ed. 2012

ClinicalKey Titles: 

• Principles of Medical Biochemistry by Meisenberg, 4th ed. 2017*
• Thompson and Thompson Genetics in Medicine by Nussbaum, 8th ed. 2016*
• Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease edited by Kumar, Abbas, and Aster, 9th ed. 2015*
• Sedation: a guide to patient management by Malamed, 6th ed. 2018*
• Atlas of Essential Procedures by Tuggy and Garcia, 2011
• Child Abuse and Neglect: Diagnosis, Treatment and Evidence by Carole Jenny, 2011
• Signs and Symptoms in Family Medicine: a Literature-Based Approach edited by Paulman, 2012
• Principles of Gender-Specific Medicine: gender in the genomic era by Legato, 3rd ed. 2017
• Travel Medicine edited by Keystone, 3rd ed. 2013
• Integrative Medicine by Rakel, 4th ed. 2018
• Textbook of Physical Diagnosis: history and examination by Swartz, 7th ed. 2014
• Roberts and Hedges’ Clinical Procedures in Emergency Medicine and Acute Care edited by Roberts, 7th ed. 2019

New Books Display June 2018 – Thieme Clinical Collection!

Our latest New Books Display highlights a few of the E-books in the Thieme Clinical Collections.

The Thieme Clinical Collections provide access to Thieme Publisher’s books for the medical specialties. The current collection includes over 600 books published from 2000-2017. Specialties include audiology, dentistry, gastroenterology, internal medicine, neurology, neurosurgery, nuclear medicine, obstetrics & gynecology, ophthalmology, orthodontics, orthopedics, orthopedic surgery, orthopedic trauma, otolaryngology, otology, pathology, pediatric neurology, physical therapy, plastic surgery, radiology, surgery, urology, and more.

• Plastic Surgery Emergencies: Principles and Techniques — Bullocks, Jamal M.; Hsu, Patrick W.; Izaddoost, Shayan A.; et al.: 2017
• Decision Making in Orthopaedic Trauma — Marmor, Meir T.: 2017
• Physical Examination of the Spine — Albert, Todd; Vaccaro, Alexander: 2017
• Differential Diagnosis in Neuroimaging: Spine — Meyers, Steven P.: 2017
• Hand and Wrist Anatomy and Biomechanics: A Comprehensive Guide — Hirt, Bernhard; Seyhan, Harun; Wagner, Michael; et al.: 2017
• Minimally Invasive Glaucoma Surgery: A Practical Guide — Francis, Brian A.; Sarkisian, Steven R.; Tan, James C.: 2017
• Pediatric Otolaryngology: Practical Clinical Management — Clarke, R. W.: 2017
• Abdominal Ultrasound: Step by Step — Block, Berthold: 2016
• Facial Nerve Disorders and Diseases: Diagnosis and Management — Guntinas-Lichius, Orlando; Schaitkin, Barry M.: 2016
• Orthopedic Biomechanics — Brinckmann, Paul; Frobin, Wolfgang; Leivseth, Gunnar; et al.: 2016
• Pelvic Pain and Dysfunction: A Differential Diagnosis Manual — Philip, Peter A.: 2016
• Clinical Epidemiology of Orthopaedic Trauma — Su, Yanling; Chen, Wei; Wang, Juan; et al.: 2016
• The Chronic Ear — Dornhoffer, John L.; Gluth, Michael B.: 2016
• Patient Blood Management — Gombotz, Hans; Zacharowski, Kai; Spahn, Donat Rudolf: 2016
• Atlas of Peripheral Regional Anesthesia: Anatomy and Techniques — Meier, Gisela; Buettner, Johannes: 2016

These E-books and many more are included in the Thieme Clinical Collections.

If you have any questions about the collection or how to access our E-book collections, do not hesitate to contact a library staff member over chat, email, phone, or in person.

Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) E-book Collection

As part of our New Books Display this month, we are highlighting the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) E-book Collection from Ovid Books. The Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI), based in Australia and one of the premier evidence-based practice organizations in the world, has developed an evidence-based practice model that is considered a benchmark in the healthcare industry.

This E-book series of 24 titles provides you with the tools you need to:

– Understand the JBI model of evidence-based healthcare

– Appraise qualitative and quantitative research

– Appraise evidence from intervention and diagnostic accuracy studies

– Learn ways to minimize risks from adverse events

Each of these book authors has been carefully selected for their expertise in the topic area.

The following titles are included in the JBI E-book Collection:

• CAN-Implement©: Planning for Best-Practice Implementation
• Clinical Wisdom and Evidence-Based Healthcare
• Comparison of Meta-Aggregation and Meta-Ethnography as Qualitative Review Methods, A
• Critically Appraising Evidence for Healthcare
• Guideline Adaptation: Conducting Systematic, Exhaustive, and Reproducible Searches
• Historical Emergence of Qualitative Synthesis, The
• Implementing Evidence Using an Action Research Framework
• International Collaboration in Translational Health Science
• Knowledge Translation in Healthcare
• Mixed Methods Approach to Evidence Synthesis, A
• Public Engagement in Translating Knowledge to Action
• Stakeholder Engagement: The Role of Tacit Knowledge and Value Statements in Translation Science
• Statistics for Systematic Review Authors
• Synthesis of Prevalence and Incidence Data, The
• Synthesizing Descriptive Evidence
• Synthesizing Economic Evidence
• Synthesizing Evidence from Narrative, Text and Opinion
• Synthesizing Evidence of Diagnostic Accuracy
• Synthesizing Evidence of Harm
• Synthesizing Evidence of Risk
• Synthesizing Qualitative Evidence
• Synthesizing Quantitative Evidence
• Translation Science and the JBI Model of Evidence-Based Healthcare
• Turning Knowledge into Action: Practical Guidance on How to Do Integrated Knowledge Translation Research

If you would like to read any of the E-books from this collection, search for the title in our library catalog (INNOPAC), access Ovid Books, or search our E-Journals & E-Books A to Z List. If you have any questions or would like assistance, do not hesitate to speak to a member of our Circulation Staff.

September New Books Display

This month the Isché Library is featuring some of our newest E-books on the New Books Display, located near the 3rd floor elevator.  If you would like information on how to access E-books, the circulation staff would be happy to assist you.

These books and many more are available for online access.

Featured E-books from ScienceDirect EBS Collection:

The ScienceDirect EBS Collection is a group of e-books the LSUHSC Libraries have access to through June 2018. After that time, the most-used books will be added to the Libraries’ permanent collections.

• Noyes’ Knee Disorders: Surgery, Rehabilitation, Clinical Outcomes, 2^nd edition
• Tropical Dermatology, 2^nd edition
• Assisted Ventilation of the Neonate: An Evidence-Based Approach to Newborn Respiratory Care, 6^th edition
• Creating Katrina, Rebuilding Resilience: Lessons from New Orleans on Vulnerability and Resiliency
• Memory Loss, Alzheimer’s Disease, and Dementia: A Practical Guide for Clinicians, 2^nd edition
• Middleton’s Allergy Essentials
• Deep Learning for Medical Image Analysis
• Biomedical Engineering in Gastrointestinal Surgery
• Biomechanics of Living Organs
• Catalytic Kinetics

Featured E-books from EBSCOhost:
EBSCOhost E-books may be printed, saved, or emailed one chapter at a time.

• Cancer Nursing: Principles and Practice, 8th edition
• EKGs for the Nurse Practitioner and Physician Assistant, 2nd edition
• Interprofessional Evidence-Based Practice: a Workbook for Health Professionals 

Featured E-books from Ovid: 

• Sauer’s Manual of Skin Diseases, 11th edition
• Kaplan & Sadock’s Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry, 10th edition
• Drugs in Pregnancy and Lactation: A Reference Guide to Fetal and Neonatal Risk, 11th edition
• Clinical Anesthesia, 8th edition
•  Lever’s Histopathology of the Skin, 11th edition

Featured E-books from AccessMedicine:
AccessMedicine E-books may be printed one chapter at a time.

• Fitzpatrick’s Color Atlas and Synopsis of Clinical Dermatology, 8th edition
• Hurst’s the Heart, 14th edition

These are just some of the latest additions to our E-Book collection.  E-Books can be accessed through our catalog and also through the various database links on our webpage.

This Month in History: Don’t Just Grin and Bear It

“A woman’s first responsibility is to make an effort to do what she wants to do.” —sage advice?áfrom?áDr. Winston Weese, Emeritus Associate Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at LSU Medical School

You never know what you will chance upon when you browse the LibraryÔÇÖs Newspaper Clippings Collection. Trolling for this monthÔÇÖs topic took me on a journey through various strange perspectives on womenÔÇÖs health.

In 1959, convention speakers discussed ÔÇ£gyno-psychiatry,ÔÇØ ÔÇ£a very basic and superficial type of psychiatry [that] is primarily reassurance. Sometimes a woman is infertile because she believes her husband does not love her. Or vice versa. What we are trying to do today is to make the infertile woman realize that help is possible: that they donÔÇÖt have to just grin and bear it.ÔÇØ One article from 1961 blames men for womenÔÇÖs anxieties: ÔÇ£The American man isnÔÇÖt asserting his male dominance.ÔÇØ The piece is full of quotable gems like, ÔÇ£The wise woman of course, vocally credits her husband with leadership even when he does not have itÔÇØ and ÔÇ£boosts her husbandÔÇÖs ego even though she may be far superior to him in intelligence.ÔÇØ

Some answered the call for by entering the medical field.?áIn 1931, The Southern Medical Association fielded questions about the rise of women as doctors. At the time, women doctors still combated some suppositions about their patients: ÔÇ£Why should they be all women?ÔÇØ and about their personhood with ÔÇ£frequent assertions that such professions as social work and medicine destroy many of the gentler attributes of the feminine nature.ÔÇØ One of the doctors interviewed was the remarkable Dr. Moss of New Orleans, who said, ÔÇ£ThatÔÇÖs a lot of foolishness on the part of people who donÔÇÖt know us.ÔÇØ

Dr. Emma Sadler Moss rejected a teaching career because she was ÔÇ£not gentle enoughÔÇØ and stood as is a?áshining example?áof a woman doing what she wants. She brushed aside the hackneyed image of the young, gentle Southern woman, preferring the allure of the medical profession, where she excelled. After a stint as a medical technologist, Dr. Moss studied for her M. D., which she earned in 1935 from LSU. From there, she earned the title of Director of Pathology at Charity Hospital, clinical professor of pathology at LSU Medical School, and President of the American Society of Clinical Pathology (notably, the first woman President of the society).

Dr. MossÔÇÖ commitment to these institutions lasted for over thirty years until her death in 1970. She received numerous awards for her work in pathology including being recognized as the 1954 Medical Woman of the Year and as one of ÔÇ£The Six Most Successful Women of 1955.ÔÇØ The Library owns two editions of her lauded text, An Atlas of Medical Mycology, which she co-authored with Dr. Albert Louis McQuown. A full listing of her contributions to LSU Medical School and Charity Hospital can be viewed in A History of LSU School of Medicine New Orleans.

Glimpse of the Past is an ongoing project to promote the?áLouisiana Digital Library effort. This Month in History will present for your reading pleasure a closer look into a newspaper clipping of note from our Digital Collections and articles relating to the LSU Medical School.

This Month in History: The Body of Art

As soon as the human body became an object of study and curiosity, art attempted to render it, inside and out. The recreational artist may depict a scene of illness or portraiture, while the specially-commissioned medical artist records anatomical structure and surgical procedure for purposes of instruction, collaboration, and publishing. Well-known pioneers of the modern practice of medical illustration include Leonardo Da Vinci and Andreas Vesalius; their legacy continues well into contemporary culture in tandem with advances in photography and various other image-capturing technology to create a comprehensive visual understanding of medical practice.

LSU Medical School employed its own Medical Arts Department, headed by William Branks Stewart from 1933 until his death in 1950, to observe and document cases as needed. ÔÇ£Would You Like a Portrait of Your Appendix?ÔÇØ asks a Times-Picayune article from 1946–a memorable keepsake, indeed (though you might enjoy this plush version more). Mr. StewartÔÇÖs body of art includes drawings, paintings, photographs, plaster molds, and even animations for use as visual aids in demonstration, in print, and in the classroom. Our Library has made available a digitized collection, aptly named the William Branks Stewart Collection, as a sampling of his works.

Mr. StewartÔÇÖs services were often requested in order to document rare cases and new procedures for later study and review. According to the above article, he would often take the time to familiarize himself with the entire operation in as many as twelve separate instances. A firm understanding of the techniques involved in a procedure and how best to communicate those steps to a student, he found, are necessary skills for the successful medical illustrator. When asked to contextualize his work, Mr. Stewart related his duties to those of an archaeologist with one important difference:” none of them ever had to look down a gastroscope!”

In addition to his professional position as Head of Medical Arts and contributor of drawings to the LSU student-run newspaper, The Tiger, William Branks Stewart was a member of the New Orleans Arts League and the Association of Medical Illustrators. By 1946, he had illustrated eleven textbooks by LSU professors, made plastic prosthetic eyes to replace glass ones, taken moulages (plaster or wax casts) of skin lesions, and even painted names on office doors. He submitted artwork to the Delgado Museum (now the New Orleans Museum of Art), an example of which can be seen here (be sure to take a look at the inscription on the reverse side).

A graduate of the Glasgow School of Arts in Scotland, it appears Mr. Stewart was destined for great things. In a prompted address to readers of The Tiger (page two), he candidly states, “Why did I study art? To make big money? Am I making it? To dodge work? Am I dodging it? Have I failed? No, I am doing something I enjoy, among people I enjoy, and in what I consider to the be most interesting city in America. So what the h—.”

Medical illustrations continue to be of great importance to our students as often photographs alone cannot provide a clear picture of the field under observation. Or, if you are like me, you may appreciate less “icky” renderings of our vicera.

Interested in learning more about the history of medical illustration, art in medicine, or anatomy study? Be sure to take a look at our Library Catalog!

Glimpse of the Past is an ongoing project to promote the Louisiana Digital Library effort. This Month in History will present for your reading pleasure a closer look into a newspaper clipping of note from our Digital Collections and articles relating to the LSU Medical School.

This Month in History: The Hardened Artery Blues

ÔÇ£We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.ÔÇØÔÇöJohn Dryden

Integral to a discussion of health is a discussion of habit. This excerpt from Dryden points out the consequences of habit-forming. Health-wise, each personÔÇÖs habits contribute to that personÔÇÖs overall health including but not limited to how they eat, drink, smoke, and exercise. While this is now a well-known fact of life, bad habits persist.

The 1960s were no stranger to poor health and heart disease. A Times-Picayune article highlights the LSU Medical SchoolÔÇÖs pathology unit of the 1960s and their research into atherosclerosis, a hardening of the arteries due to plaque formation. Dr. Jack C. Geer and Dr. Henry C. McGill, Jr. sought to study the effects of exercise and diet habits, saturated fat intake, geographic and economic environment, genetic predisposition, and stress levels on arterial health. Scientists began to understand that a low-fat diet is not enough to ensure a strong heart, but is only one aspect of leading a healthy lifestyle.

Along with Dr. Jack P. Strong, Dr. Geer and Dr. McGill were known as “The Three Amigos.” Dr. Strong would become Chair of Pathology from 1966 to 2009 and receive numerous awards and honors. Dr. Geer graduated from LSU Medical School in 1956 and took on the role of Professor from 1956-1966, eventually serving as Chair and Professor of Pathology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. McGill served as Head and Professor of Pathology at LSU Medical School from 1960 to 1966 and became one of the founding faculty members at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center at San Antonio.

Research for this post lead me to a video interview of Dr. McGill on his lengthy career in pathology. He describes his ideal pathology department as comprehensive: with anatomy, laboratory, and surgery. Dr. McGill endearingly and vehemently promotes preventive care as opposed to treatment plans applied after the damage has been done.?á Unfortunately, he says, ÔÇ£There is no moneyÔÇØ in that game in a familiar trend of “No Pills, No Profit.”?á He mourns the fact that by middle age, it is often too late to prevent the type of lifelong damage done to your arteries as they form the fibrous plaque that leads to heart disease. Watching the video is worth the pearls of wisdom that he offers. One such instance is a life philosophy: “Everybody needs to get fired once in their life.” In describing his classroom experience, he tells that, “The style was to quiz a student until he admitted to absolute ignorance and that was the lesson for the day.”

According to the 2011 edition of The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy, atherosclerosis ÔÇ£is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the US and in most developed countries.ÔÇØ A big thanks to the work of LSU Medical School’s “The Three Amigos” for doing their part along the line of pathology research to help combat our bad habits.

Glimpse of the Past is an ongoing project to promote the Louisiana Digital Library effort. This Month in History will present for your reading pleasure a closer look into a newspaper clipping of note from our Digital Collections and articles relating to the LSU Medical School.

This Month in History: Enjoy Rabbits Playing Piano

A brief interlude for your busy day: Harvey the virtuoso rabbit and her YouTube accompaniment, Elissa watch?v=0NzN8ksnJhA.

As you might have guessed, rabbits are not particularly adept at playing the piano (certainly not as well-attuned as a famous piano-playing cat, Nora: most-outrageous-piano-playing-cat.htm). In an attempt to challenge unfair bunny stereotypes, Dr. Waid H. Dean, Instructor of Physiology at LSU Medical School, chose Harvey to prove the musical worth of her species.

Though Dr. Dean openly admits “there is no scientific purpose to this demonstration”?á in a 1958 Times-Picayune article, he says the rabbit’s performance “is merely to demonstrate that animals can be trained to respond to signals.” As with many high-achieving parents, Dr. Dean is not easy to please and expects the best from his tiny Leporidaean maestro. Harvey cannot live up to expectations, however–quickly tiring out after a couple of notes and anxious for her next treat. Though she may not be 6 feet 3 inches tall like another famous Harvey, she is decidedly more cuddly.

On that note, Happy Spring from the staff at John P. Ische Library!

This Month in History: The Alligator Men

As a Louisiana native or even an adventurous visitor, youÔÇÖve probably fed an alligator a marshmallow or two. WhatÔÇÖs the allure of marshmallows to a wild swamp creature? We may never truly know, but for an animal that will scarf down turtle shells, rocks, lures, beer cans, and shoes, marshmallows are probably the least of its worries.

Profiled in the Times-Picayune for their project in 1951, the self-proclaimed LSU “alligator men” studied the production of acid gastric juice and self-induced hibernation in alligators, as compared to iguanas and chameleons. The stars of this ÔÇ£zooÔÇØ were Dr. Roland Coulson, LSUMC faculty (1944-2004), Dr. Thomas Hernandez, LSUMC faculty (1960-1977) and Chair of Pharmacology, Dr. Fred G. Brazda, LSUMC faculty (1939-1977) and Chair of Biochemistry, and their graduate student, Dr. Herbert C. Dessauer. In the preface of a later work, Alligator Metabolism, Coulson and Hernandez speak to the origin of their honorary titles”: “It is not possible to have done research on alligators for many years without having gained a reputation for eccentricity as a consequence of the choice of experimental animal. One accepts this and learns to live with it. […] By some, an alligator man is tolerated (as a harmless eccentric should be), and by others he is admired for the fearless manner in which he confronts such a ‘terrifying’ beast.”

Though certainly fearless, these doctors chose smaller gators to reduce the risk of injury, and by the time the animals reached a rowdy 20 pounds, they were returned to the swamp. Because alligators produce a large amount of hydrochloric acid during digestion, they perform a more dramatic and more readily observable process of digestion. Alligators are also tougher physically and less prone to blood poisoning, making them easier to study. In addition to their excellent acid production, the test gators self-induced a sort of hibernation in winter despite the fact that researchers kept them in windowless rooms with automatic lights; by abstaining from food and decreasing sugar in the bloodstream, the test subjects did not grow.

The practical application of the research of the “alligator men” may not seem readily apparent, but as Dr. Coulson explains in the newspaper article, ÔÇ£The scientist doesnÔÇÖt have to be working toward the cure of any specific malady [ÔǪ] but often he stumbles upon it by accident, through just a study as ours.ÔÇØ They developed enough material to write numerous journal articles (PubMed author search results hyperlinked above) and monographs. Two books co-authored by Dr. Coulson and Dr. Hernandez are available in the Library: Alligator Metabolism: Studies on Chemical Reactions in Vivo and Biochemistry of the Alligator: A Study of Metabolism in Slow Motion.

Dr. Herbert Dessauer, who began as a humble graduate student and would go on to become Professor Emeritus of molecular biology at LSU Medical Center, passed away earlier this month after a brief illness. We would like to recognize his contributions to not only the scientific community, but also to LSU.?á For more information on the contributions of each of the renowned doctors mentioned in this post, please consult A History of LSU School of Medicine New Orleans, which is available in the Library. When you stop by, be sure to check out our display cases, which are home to various medical artifacts including an analytical balance used by Coulson, Hernandez, and Dessauer.

Glimpse of the Past is an ongoing project to promote the Louisiana Digital Library effort. This Month in History will present for your reading pleasure a closer look into a newspaper clipping of note from our Digital Collections and articles relating to the LSU Medical School.

This Month in History: A Nation of Neurotics

In America, methods of care for our mentally ill have become intertwined with the politics of universal healthcare, hospital administration, and prevention of violent crime, all of which suffer under an increasingly budget-cut government. This issue is not a new one, however. The Newspaper Clippings Digital Collection of the Isch?® Library shows an emerging pattern: a pattern of need. Hospitals and treatment centers need enough beds for psychiatric patients; hospitals need staff to treat those patients; police officers, clergy, and even the general public need training to assess and assist the mentally ill.

Linkages of mental illness and criminal tendencies also surface. In recent news, LSU psychiatrist Dr. Jose Calderon-Abbo joined the vice presidentÔÇÖs task force on gun violence; he has also partnered up with Tulane public health criminology expert Dr. Peter Scarf to present a paper of similar topic to the House Subcommittee on Crime, terrorism, and Homeland Security at a hearing on The Youth Promise act.

Not only do mental illness and crime sometimes occur simultaneously, but those charged with apprehending the mentally ill are often the same people who apprehend criminals.?á One of our newspaper clippings from 1961, entitled ÔÇ£How Police Can Help Mentally Ill,ÔÇØ addresses the need for officers of the law to be properly trained on how to interact with, assess urgency of treatment for, and detain suspects who appear to be suffering from illness, loss of competency, or loss of sanity.

The clergy are often called upon to assist the mentally ill; one article, ÔÇ£Help of Clergy Asked by Many: Role of Churchmen for Mentally Ill Cited,ÔÇØ explains how the clergy ought to be well versed in tactics to understand and aid their congregations. Examples of tactics used to interact with those in need in the include: a manual from 1954 ÔÇ£How to Recognize and Handle Abnormal PeopleÔÇØ by Robert A. Matthews and Loyd W. Rowland, former director of the Louisiana Association for mental health and former Head of the department of psychiatry and neurology, ?áin addition to a 1960 New Orleans officer training film, ÔÇ£Booked for Safekeeping,ÔÇØ produced by George C. Stoney.

In 1961, the name of the game was “expedite”: complex legislature required the approval of a hospital director, an order of commitment signed by the coroner, a psychiatrist, and a responsible party, and approval from a civil judge. Convoluted commitment laws and lack of funding for psychiatric facilities and staff were concerns at this time, but these concerns continue today as the Greater New Orleans area loses beds at Charity Hospital and MandevilleÔÇÖs Southeast Louisiana Hospital.

In the words of Dr. Robert A. Matthews, former head of the department of neuropsychiatry at LSUHSC from 1950-1957, ÔÇ£While we are passing the hat around for money to fight polio, heart disease, cancer, tuberculosis and other maladies, we ought also to be financing some exploration in to the cause and cure of emotional storms and mental defectiveness. We are fast becoming a nation of neurotic people.ÔÇØ

Glimpse of the Past is an ongoing project to promote the Louisiana Digital Library effort. This Month in History will present for your reading pleasure a closer look into a newspaper clipping of note from our Digital Collections and articles relating to the LSU Medical School.

This Month in History: The Remedies of Mr. William D. Postell

Do you ever drink water from the opposite side of the glass to cure hiccups or apply duct tape to a wart or spray Windex on a zit? These are just a few examples of therapeutic home remedies, but where do they originate? A collector of ÔÇ£weird-lookingÔÇØ medicinal gadgets and medical historian, Mr. William Dosite Postell, is the star of our highlighted article this month.

Former Librarian of the LSU Medical School, Mr. Postell was a Will of all trades: as he believed, ÔÇ£There is a little bit of the clinician, the research worker, the medical historian, the medical philosopher, the bibliophile, as well as the custodian and the library technician, in each successful librarian.ÔÇØ Though his career at LSUMS was principally one of librarianship, Postell was able to branch out from that role, becoming a scholar of wacky medical wares like cholera baths and mad dag stones.

One outdated cure is the ÔÇ£vapor bath,ÔÇØ invention of a Louisianan, Dr. Louis H. Lefebrve. Depicted in the drawing here, Postell found an early bath in the possession of the Prudhomme family of Natchitoches, Louisiana on one of his excursions to area antebellum plantations. The bath utilized sulphuric acid to assuage the effects of cholera. The story of the madstones or ÔÇ£bezoarsÔÇØ comes from the frontier. These stony hairball-like concretions were taken from the stomachs of deer, cows, or goats and placed on a bleeding wound to draw out poisons like those from the rabies virus or snake venom. In modern medicinal practice, the bezoar is considered a serious health risk in gastrointestinal tracts of humans and has lost its curative mythos (unless, of course, you live in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, where the bezoar cure is alive and well).

Postell was quite the adventurous and successful librarian no stranger to going above and beyond his position in pursuit of knowledge. Having served as President of the Medical Library Association (MLA) in 1952 and 1959, he was awarded the prestigious Marcia C. Noyes award for his outstanding contributions to medical librarianship. In a memorable article of the Bulletin of the MLA, Postell wrote, ÔÇ£The best publicity a library can secure is by way of service given. The circulation and reference desk is the best place at which good will can best be cultivated. It is here that the public is met and served. It is the here that new patrons obtain their first impression of the library. If they are met graciously and served competently, they will return.ÔÇØ

Stop by the Isch?® Library sometime and let us graciously and competently show you the wonderful resources at your fingertips! If you are interested in reading PostellÔÇÖs work, the LibraryÔÇÖs holdings include: Applied Medical Bibliography for Students, The Development of Medical Literature, and The Health of Slaves on Southern Plantations.

Glimpse of the Past is an ongoing project to promote the Louisiana Digital Library effort. This Month in History will present for your reading pleasure a closer look into a newspaper clipping of note from our Digital Collections and articles relating to the LSU Medical School.

This Month in History: Dr. Rowena Spencer and Her Little Chickens

Despite the resemblance, Dr. Rowena Spencer explains, children are not tiny adults; indeed, ÔÇ£Children are like little chickens. They like to know their way around.ÔÇØ As one of the first women in the country to specialize in pediatric surgery as well as the first woman appointed to the surgical staff at the LSU Medical Center and the first female surgeon in the state of Louisiana, Dr. Spencer proved a wonderful asset to any hospital. Her bedside manner set her apart as a surgeon of unparalleled worth.

Dr. Spencer preferred to take a lighter approach to her smaller patientsÔÇöbeing a friend instead of a threat; as a 1960 Times-Picayune article describes, ÔÇ£She is not above bribing a youthful patient with a nickel or a piece of candy.ÔÇØ And when asked in a recent interview about the most satisfying part of her work, she answered, ÔÇ£Holding the babies. I love babies more that a mule can kick.ÔÇØ

A forerunner for females in the surgical arena, Dr. Spencer faced some adversity, though she did not appear to dwell on this issue. She persevered to become a respected member of the medical community at a point in history rife with tension over not only the presence of women in the medical field but also African-Americans. At Johns Hopkins University, where she earned her M.D. in 1947, Spencer was in good company. She studied under Dr. Alfred Blalock and his laboratory technician, Vivien Thomas. Thomas, an African-American with little formal education, played an integral role in helping save those suffering from ÔÇ£blue baby syndrome.ÔÇØ Another partner in this discovery was Helen Taussig, founder of the field of pediatric cardiology and first female president of the American Heart Association. The work of Blalock, Thomas, and Taussig on the heart is immortalized in a PBS production, ÔÇ£American Experience: Partners of the HeartÔÇØ(2002), and in a Hollywood production, Something the Lord Made (2004). Dr. Spencer would continue their work on infant patients, making a name for herself as an authority on conjoined twins.

Examples of her work include many articles such as: ÔÇ£Parasitic Conjoined Twins: External, Internal, and DetachedÔÇØ and ÔÇ£Congential Heart Defects in Conjoined Twins.ÔÇØ An autographed copy of her text, Conjoined Twins: Developmental Malformations and Clinical Implications, is available for checkout at the Library. Dr. Spencer has also had the honor of being featured in a publication entitled, Louisiana Women: Their Lives and Times. Her chapter, ÔÇ£A Study of Changing Gender Roles in Twentieth-Century Louisiana MedicineÔÇØ by Bambi L. Ray Cochran, appears alongside essays on Marie Therese Coincoin, Oretha Castle Haley, and many others in a fitting tribute to their contributions. Dr. Spencer recently celebrated her 90th birthday.

Glimpse of the Past is an ongoing project to promote the Louisiana Digital Library effort. This Month in History will present for your reading pleasure a closer look into a newspaper clipping of note from our Digital Collections and articles relating to the LSU Medical School.