Migraine

In 1870, the English physician Hubert Airy published a short essay in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. Airy described a new condition, “transient teichopsia”, characterised by visual auras and “oppressive head-ache”. Airy's article drew on testimony from some of the leading British scientists of the day, and included some of the most striking images in any scientific paper—jagged, spiralling depictions of auras. Airy presented teichopsia as an entirely new diagnosis, unconnected with the long-established disorder known, variously, as emigranea, megrim, or migraine. In appreciation of the peer-review heroes from 2015The Lancet is responding to the increased volume of high quality research by not only expanding the number of specialty journals within our family, but also by publishing more research studies. In 2015, we published almost 20% more research papers than in the previous year. And we did this more quickly, by offering the possibility of 10 + 10 rapid publication for randomised controlled trials sent for peer review. We also launched The Lancet Clinic, published highly clinical and global health Commissions, and Series on topics as diverse as radiation and religion. Full-Text PDF ThalassaemiaIn 1858 the German pathologist Rudolf Virchow described leukaemia as a disorder of white blood cell proliferation. Virchow and others observed that people with chronic leukaemia typically had enlarged spleens, and for the next 50 years or so patients with this sign might be diagnosed with “splenic anaemia”. In the early 20th century, though, this broad frame broke into several new diagnoses. One of them— thalassaemia —has been shaped by some of the most potent forces of the modern era: migration and shifting attitudes to race, molecular medicine and the pharmaceutical industry, the power of scientific medicine, and the limitations of treatment. Full-Text PDF