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Making it possible to live with chronic kidney disease (CKD)

03/09/2023
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On this day in 1960, for the first time, Dr. Belding Scribner (Scrib) inserted a shunt into a man's arm to connect an artery to a dialysis machine. The operation was successful and enabled the man, Clyde Shields, to survive on dialysis for over a decade. This shunt (shown in the images below) was the last piece of technology needed to provide long-term dialysis for patients with failing kidneys. The impact of this successful procedure was immediate -- kidney failure was no longer a death sentence. 

      

Left: A diagram naming parts of the original 1960 shunt. Middle: The shunt inserted into Clyde Shields's arm in 1960. Right: Dr. Belding Scribner. 

How it works: The shunt consists of two extension tubes, a stabilizer, and a "U tube" (which takes on a U-shape closer to the patient's elbow). When dialysis is needed, the "U tube" is removed and the dialysis machine connected in its place. (The original 1966 article below explains how this shunt works in more detail.)

Today: Now there are more options for dialysis. Patients may undergo surgery to have a fistula or graft in their arm, or a catheter in their neck, all of which improve access to the bloodstream for dialysis. At-home dialysis is also possible. The patient education webpages listed below offer general overviews of dialysis, including its types, steps, effects, risks, and outlooks. 

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Title: Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer's, My Mother, and Me

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Publication info: Skyhorse, 2012; Graphic novel, 128 pages. 

Location: Rancho Cordova campus library. Call number: RC523 .L43 2012. 

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Title: Machines in Our Hearts: The Cardiac Pacemaker, the Implantable Defibrillator, and American Health Care. 

Author: Kirk Jeffrey. 

Publication info: Johns Hopkins Press, 2001. 

Location: Academic eBook Collection. 

Description: Today hundreds of thousands of Americans carry pacemakers and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) within their bodies. These battery powered machines—small computers, in fact—deliver electricity to the heart to correct dangerous disorders of the heartbeat. But few doctors, patients, or scholars know the history of these devices or how heart-rhythm management evolved into a multi-billion-dollar manufacturing and service industry. Machines in Our Hearts tells the story of these two implantable medical devices. Kirk Jeffrey, a historian of science and technology, traces the development of knowledge about the human heartbeat and follows surgeons, cardiologists, and engineers as they invent and test a variety of electronic devices. Numerous small manufacturing firms jumped into pacemaker production but eventually fell by the wayside, leaving only three American companies in the business today. Jeffrey profiles pioneering heart surgeons, inventors from the realms of engineering and medical research, and business leaders who built heart-rhythm management into an industry with thousands of employees and annual revenues in the hundreds of millions. As Jeffrey shows, the pacemaker(first implanted in 1958) and the ICD (1980) embody a paradox of high-tech health care: these technologies are effective and reliable but add billions to the nation's medical bill because of the huge growth in the number of patients who depend on implanted devices to manage their heartbeats.

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Anna Atkins: First female photographer?
03/21/2023
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Left: Anna Atkins. Middle left: Alaria esculenta. Middle right: Cystoceira granulata. Right: Ferns, specimen of genotype. 

Check out Anna Atkins's cyanotypes! Anna is often credited as the first female photographer, although this is not definitively proven. A family friend of hers, John Herschel, invented the cyanotype method of photography in 1842. Anna then published three volumes of Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions between 1843 and 1853. 

One copy of this book is at the Natural History Museum in London. You can view the original book and flip through its pages on their website.  

It's difficult to say for certain that Anna is the first female photographer. However, her publication has left a lasting impression on botany as a scientific field, and her use of both art and science uniquely captures the beauty of botany.

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