The Development of Silicone Breast Implants for Use in Breast Augmentation Surgeries in the United StatesIn the 1960s, two plastic surgeons from the United States, Thomas Dillon Cronin and Frank Judson Gerow, collaborated with the Dow Corning Corporation, which specialized in silicone products, to create the first silicone breast implant. Surgeons used the implant, named the Cronin-Gerow implant, to improve the look of a woman’s breasts, by correcting for asymmetry, augmenting the size, or creating a more uplifted profile. Surgeons began widely using the breast implant almost immediately after it reached the US market in 1964, and breast augmentation quickly became one of the most popular cosmetic surgeries in the country.
“Some of the Uses of Electricity in Gynecology,” (1901) by William Henry Walling In 1901, physician William Henry Walling published the article, “Some of The Uses of Electricity in Gynecology,” in the January issue of the
American Gynecological and Obstetrical Journal. Walling was a practicing gynecologist who studied electro-therapeutics, or the use of electricity in medicine for the treatment of disease, which was an emerging topic during the late 1800s. Walling stated that proper administration of electrical current to a woman’s
vagina,
uterus, bladder, or rectum could be therapeutic for gynecological diseases. He supplies scientific explanations for some of his claims, but not for all.
“Genetical Implications of the Structure of Deoxyribonucleic Acid” (1953), by <a href="/search?text=James%20Watson" title="" class="lexicon-term">James Watson</a> and <a href="/search?text=Francis%20Crick" title="" class="lexicon-term">Francis Crick</a>In May 1953, scientists
James Watson and
Francis Crick wrote the article “Genetical Implications of the Structure of Deoxyribonucleic Acid,” hereafter “Genetical Implications,” which was published in the journal Nature.
United States v. Milan Vuitch (1971)In the 1971 court case
United States v. Milan Vuitch, hereafter
US v. Vuitch, the US Supreme Court ruled that a Washington, DC law was constitutional by overturning a 1969 district court decision. Beginning in the early twentieth century, Washington, DC, prohibited abortions except for abortions performed to preserve the life or health of the pregnant woman. In 1969, Milan Vuitch, a physician in Washington, DC, was convicted of criminal
abortion for providing an
abortion when the woman’s life was not endangered.
Reduction of Maternal-Infant Transmission of Human Immunodeficiency Virus with Zidovudine TreatmentIn 1994, Edward M. Connor and colleagues published "Reduction of Maternal-Infant Transmission of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 with Zidovudine Treatment." Their study summarized how to reduce the transfer of human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, from pregnant women to their fetuses with Zidovudine, otherwise known as AZT. HIV is a virus that weakens the immune system by destroying white blood cells, a part of the body´s immune system. Fifteen to forty percent of infants born to HIV-positive mothers become infected during fetal development, labor and delivery, or breast-feeding. From April 1991 to December 1993, Connor and his colleagues researched HIV-positive pregnant women who took AZT, a drug that treats but does not cure an HIV infection.
“Molecular Configuration in Sodium Thymonucleate” (1953), by Rosalind Franklin and Raymond GoslingIn April 1953, Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling, published "Molecular Configuration in Sodium Thymonucleate," in the scientific journal
Nature. The article contained Franklin and Gosling´s analysis of their X-ray diffraction pattern of thymonucleate or deoxyribonucleic acid, known as DNA. In the early 1950s, scientists confirmed that
genes, the heritable factors that control how organisms develop, contained DNA. However, at the time scientists had not determined how DNA functioned or its three-dimensional structure. In their 1953 paper, Franklin and Gosling interpret X-ray diffraction patterns of DNA fibers that they collected, which show the scattering of X-rays from the fibers.
“Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain: Epidemiological Evidence of the Relationship and Implications” (2005), by Arnaud Fauconnier and Charles ChapronArnaud Fauconnier and Charles Chapron published “Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain: Epidemiological Evidence of the Relationship and Implications,” henceforth “Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain,” in the journal
Human Reproduction Update in 2005. In that article, the researchers studied the relationship between pelvic pain and
endometriosis. Endometriosis is the growth of
endometrium, or tissue that normally lines the inside of the
uterus, outside of the
uterus.
Photograph 51, by Rosalind Franklin (1952)On 6 May 1952, at King´s College London in London, England, Rosalind Franklin photographed her fifty-first X-ray diffraction pattern of deoxyribosenucleic acid, or DNA. Photograph 51, or Photo 51, revealed information about DNA´s three-dimensional structure by displaying the way a beam of X-rays scattered off a pure fiber of DNA. Franklin took Photo 51 after scientists confirmed that DNA contained
genes. Maurice Wilkins, Franklin´s colleague showed
James Watson and
Francis Crick Photo 51 without Franklin´s knowledge. Watson and Crick used that image to develop their structural model of DNA.
The Baby Makers (2012)In 2012, the production company Waddell Media Production released the documentary
The Baby Makers. The four-part series, directed and produced by Edel O’Mahony, follows multiple couples in Northern Ireland struggling with
infertility problems as they utilize different treatments such as
in vitro fertilization, or IVF,
egg donation, and
egg freezing. IVF is a procedure in which a woman’s
egg is fertilized by a
sperm outside of her body.
Leuprorelin as a Treatment for EndometriosisLeuprolide acetate, or leuprorelin, is a manufactured drug that has been prescribed as a treatment for
endometriosis, a medical condition in which body tissue that typically lines the
uterus grows outside of the
uterus, since 1989. Leuprorelin is a modified version of a
gonadotropin-releasing
hormone, a type of
hormone that helps regulate the female menstrual cycle.
