29 - Curse of the Ninth

12/13/17 • 26 min

Did the famous composer Gustav Mahler work his fatal heart murmur into his final ninth symphony? To try and answer this question, I’m joined by Dr. Kevin Nordstrom of the Great Composers Podcast. We’ll delve into Mahler’s diseases, a history of heart sounds, musical theory, his obsession with mortality, and the unfortunate circumstances of his own death. Classical music and medicine, in one podcast! What more could you want? And included (at no extra charge!) is a new #AdamAnswers about the origins of respiratory therapy.

You can listen to Dr. Nordstrom’s Great Composers Podcast on iTunes or on his website.

Sources:

Amenta C, “The Opening of Mahler's Ninth Symphony and the Bernstein "Heart-beat" Hypothesis by Charles Amenta,” Naturlaut 4(1): 17-18, 2005.
Cardoso F and Leese AJ. “Did Gustav Mahler have Syndenham’s chorea?” Mov Disord. 2006 Mar;21(3):289-92.
Christy NP et al, “Gustav Mahler and his illnesses,” Trans Am Clin Climatol Assoc. 1971; 82: 200–217.
Ferretti J et al, “History of Streptococcal Research.” Streptococcus pyogenes : Basic Biology to Clinical Manifestations.
Hannah IR and Silverman ME, “A history of cardiac auscultation and some of its contributors,” Am J Cardiol. 2002 Aug 1;90(3):259-67.
Levy D, “Gustav Mahler and Emanuel Libman: bacterial endocarditis in 1911,” Br Med J (Clin Res Ed). 1986 Dec 20-27;293(6562):1628-31.
Mangione S, “Mahler at 100: a medical history,” Hektoen International. http://hekint.org/2017/01/30/mahler-at-100-a-medical-history/

You can listen to Dr. Nordstrom’s Great Composers Podcast on iTunes or on his website.

Sources:

Amenta C, “The Opening of Mahler's Ninth Symphony and the Bernstein "Heart-beat" Hypothesis by Charles Amenta,” Naturlaut 4(1): 17-18, 2005.
Cardoso F and Leese AJ. “Did Gustav Mahler have Syndenham’s chorea?” Mov Disord. 2006 Mar;21(3):289-92.
Christy NP et al, “Gustav Mahler and his illnesses,” Trans Am Clin Climatol Assoc. 1971; 82: 200–217.
Ferretti J et al, “History of Streptococcal Research.” Streptococcus pyogenes : Basic Biology to Clinical Manifestations.
Hannah IR and Silverman ME, “A history of cardiac auscultation and some of its contributors,” Am J Cardiol. 2002 Aug 1;90(3):259-67.
Levy D, “Gustav Mahler and Emanuel Libman: bacterial endocarditis in 1911,” Br Med J (Clin Res Ed). 1986 Dec 20-27;293(6562):1628-31.
Mangione S, “Mahler at 100: a medical history,” Hektoen International. http://hekint.org/2017/01/30/mahler-at-100-a-medical-history/

Previous Episode

28 - Smallpox Blankets

The story of smallpox blankets offered as gifts to indigenous peoples as a weapon of war is ubiquitous -- but is it based in truth? And did our increased medical understanding of smallpox lead to its use as a biological weapon? In this episode, we confront these questions and explore the history of biological warfare, smallpox, and medicine. Listen to all this, a new #AdamAnswers, and more in this episode of Bedside Rounds, a tiny podcast about fascinating stories in clinical medicine.

Sources:

Barras V and Groub G, “History of biological warfare and bioterrorism,” Clin Microbiol Infect 2014.
Carus W, “The history of biological weapons use: what we know and what we don’t,” Health Security, Vol 13, No4, 2015.
Fenner F et al, “Smallpox and its Eradication,” World Health Organization, 1988, Chapters 5 and 6.
Mayor A, “The Nessus Shirt in the New World: Smallpox Blankets in History and Legend,” J Am Folklore, Vol. 108, No. 427 (Winter, 1995), 54-77.
Mear C, “The origin of the smallpox outbreak in Sydney in 1789,” Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, June, 2008.
Skwarecki B, “What is the scariest disease?” PLoS Blogs, retrieved at https://gizmodo.com/what-is-the-scariest-disease-1653943826
Theves C, et al, “The rediscovery of smallpox,” Clin Microbiol Infect 2014; 20: 210-218.
Ranlet P, “The British, the Indians, and Smallpox: What actually happened at Fort Pitt in 1763?”, Pennsylvania history: 427-442.
Warren C, “Smallpox at Sydney Cove -- who, when, why?” J Aust Studies, 30 Oct 2013

Next Episode

30 - The Orphan Vaccine

Two hundred years ago, a few doctors, a matron, and 22 orphans set sail in a gutsy attempt to spread the new invention of vaccination across three continents in the world’s first attempt to eliminate smallpox. Learn about their epic journey, the Balmis-Salvany Expedition, as well as the medical context surrounding the invention of vaccination in “The Orphan Vaccine”. Plus, a new #AdamAnswers about why you always get sick when you first go on vacation. You can find all this and more in the latest episode of Bedside Rounds, a tiny podcast about fascinating stories in clinical medicine!

Sources:

Domingo P, “Smallpox: The triumph over the most terrible of the ministers of death,” Annals of Internal Medicine, November 1997.
Fenner F et al, “Smallpox and its Eradication,” World Health Organization, 1988,
Franco-Paredes C, et al. “The Spanish Royal Philanthropic Expedition to Bring Smallpox Vaccination to the New World and Asia in the 19th Century”, Clinical Infectious Diseases, Volume 41, Issue 9, 1 November 2005, Pages 1285–1289
Hammarsten JF et al, “Who discovered smallpox vaccination? Edward Jenner or Benjamin Jesty?” Trans Am Clin Climatol Assoc. 1979;90:44-55.
Lipton RB et al, “Reduction in perceived stress as a migraine trigger: testing the ‘let-down headache’ hypothesis,” Neurology. 2014 Apr 22; 82(16): 1395–1401.
Mark C and Rigau-Peres JG, “The World’s First Immunization Campaign: The Spanish Smallpox Vaccine Expedition, 1803-1813,” Bulletin of the History of Medicine, Volume 83, Number 1, Spring 2009, pp 63-94.
Morgan AJ and Poland GA, “The Jenner Society and the Edward Jenner Museum: Tributes to a physician-scientist,” Vaccine, 295 (2011) D152-D154.
Tuells J. “Francisco Xavier Balmis (1753–1819), a pioneer of international vaccination,” Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 2002, 56:11.