This is what the Creative Commons is all about

Originally uploaded by jrmyst

I just found this on Flickr, an original and creative use of one of our images, a medical illustration by DK Winter. Far out.

New banner exhibition available from NLM

I am posting this message on behalf of a colleague.  Please direct any inquiries to her. Thanks!

 

 

 

A NEW BANNER EXHIBITION!

The National Library of Medicine is accepting requests to host a new banner exhibition scheduled to be available October 4 2009. 

The title is Literature of Prescription: Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “The Yellow Wall-Paper”

In the late nineteenth century, at a time when women were challenging traditional ideas about gender that excluded them from political and intellectual life, medical and scientific experts drew on notions of female weakness to justify inequality between the sexes. Artist and writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman, who was discouraged from pursuing a career to preserve her health, rejected these ideas in a terrifying short story titled “The Yellow Wall-Paper.” The famous tale served as an indictment of the medical profession and the social conventions restricting women's professional and creative opportunities.

 

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/about/exhibition/travelingexhibitions/literature.html

 

As with our other banner exhibitions, we are asking host libraries to cover incoming FedX expenses, which usually run a few  hundred dollars. The booking period is six weeks. The online exhibition will feature K-12 lesson plans and a higher education module and will be available after Labor Day.

 

An additional note, historian Helen Horowitz advised on the project and developed the higher education module, and is currently writing a book about the topic. She’ll be speaking about her research on Gilman at the History of Medicine Division Seminar this September 9 for those who are interested. http://www.smith.edu/history/fac_hhorowitz.htm

 

Thank you.

 

Patricia Tuohy

Head, Exhibition Program

National Library of Medicine

8600 Rockville Pike

Building 38/Room 1E-21

Bethesda MD 20894

t: 301.435.5240

f: 301.402.0872

 

 

 

New Adler Museum Bulletin received

One of the publications we get is the Adler Museum Bulletin. The Adler is a medical museum in South Africa. The current issue arrived today and has got a nice article on the therapeutic uses of arsenic in it. Agatha Christie would be fascinated.

 

War Surgery book

Mike wrote a couple of days ago about the War Surgery in Afghanistan and Iraq book. We were able to get a disc with all of the images used in the book. For the last several months, on and off, I've been assigning each digital version a number, tracking down the corresponding one in the book and cross-referencing the number there, and building a spreadsheet with the numbers, diagnoses, and captions as noted in the book. When, if, I ever finish, it will all be uploaded into our database.

Here are two images I numbered today.

Radiographs of hand fracture stabilization with Kirschner wires.

Wellcome Library Year in Review now available (PR)

The Wellcome is one of the great history of medicine collections -

The Wellcome Library Year In Review and vital stats are now online:

http://library.wellcome.ac.uk/assets/wtx055651.pdf
http://library.wellcome.ac.uk/assets/wtx055652.pdf

The Review covers our activities during 2008, specifically highlighting our digitisation programme. We also showcase some of our exciting  acquisitions from the year, including the casebooks of the 'father of modern forensics' Sir Bernard Spilsbury and the notebooks of double Nobel Prize winning geneticist Fred Sanger.

A limited number of print copies of the Year in Review will be available. If you would like to request a copy please contact t.tillotson@wellcome.ac.uk.

They link to a neat article about Spilsbury.

War Surgery book wins award

Dave Lounsbury one of the editors and authors wrote to me today saying:

I recv'd a letter today informing me that "War Surgery in Afghanistan & Iraq: A Series of Cases, 2003-2007" has won a national book award.

The American Medical Writers Association in Rockville, Maryland announces that "War Surgery": "is the winner of the distinguished 2009 AMWA Medical Book Award. AMWA's annual book awards "were established more than 30 years ago to recognize the very best in ... non-fictional medical writing." The textbook was "1 of 18 submitted ... and was evaluated by a panel of 4 judges."

The award will be formally presented in October in Dallas at the AMWA's 69th Annual Conference ... which may explain why notice of this award is not presently noted on its website www.amwa.org.

[For the record, the textbook was also nominated last spring for a Sidney Hillman Foundation Award, but in the end was not selected.]

The book has received uniformly favorable reviews from deployed medical officers (British & American) and in both lay (NYT, New York Review of Books, and The Economist) and peer-referenced (JAMA, NEJM, and Environmental & Wilderness Medicine, the journal of the Wilderness Medical Society) literature, as well as in the open media (BBC, NPR).

This is an excellent book, in the grand tradition of military medical publications, dating back to the Medical & Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion. You can download the whole thing for free at the link above, or order the book from the Government Printing Office.

Flickr picture statistics

I spoke to someone who's writing a paper on Flickr use by archives the other day, so here's our most recent stats:

View counts

So far today Yesterday All time
Photos and Videos 295 689 1,049,485
Photostream 205 461 843,269
Sets 41 192 66,807

Total 541 1,342 1,959,561

Walter Reed Army Institute of Research photographic collection

WRAIR~D1784Photo by HOCH, January 1977. BRAZIL~ANIMALS MARABA FISH.

In the 1960s and 70s (and possibly longer), doctors trained by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) were sent out to investigate tropical medicine while given cameras and film to document what they found. WRAIR had many photographs including film teams, all over the world including in Vietnam. The Vietnam still photos went to the National Archives when WRAIR moved into its current building, and the Medical Museum got 1/2 of the other still pictures that were left. We're now scanning WRAIR's third (thanks to their providing funding) and our third to create a digital collection that can be used by WRAIR and our researchers.


WRAIR D1783. Photo by HOCH, January 1977. BRAZIL - HIGHWAYS MARABA T-AM GOSLOS BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION.

I put these samples of the first test batch of scans on Flickr. The captions are limited because they're being taken from a printout of an early computerized catalogue. As you can see, not all of the pictures deal directly with medicine.


WRAIR D1762. January 1977. BRAZIL~UPPER TORSO MARABA BLACK FLY BITES CPT HOCH.

I'm in IMDB?

Well, this was weird - I'm especially disappointed at being down 48%.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2657374/

Michael Rhode 

---

Overview

STARmeter:

Down 48% in popularity this week.

Filmography

Thanks:

1. "Nova" (special thanks) (1 episode, 2004)
       - Life and Death in the War Zone (2004) TV episode (special thanks)

 

Museum's scanning statistics

So far, the Museum's had about 722,000 pages scanned, which doesn't work out to quite that many images since some of these are books that are then compiled into pdfs. Others are case files which the average person won't be able to see due to medical privacy restrictions. Overall it's a pretty impressive number though, and is still due to grow by 111,000 before the end of fiscal year 2009.

AFIP's online continuing medical education

I was in a meeting today on the digitization via scanning of the AFIP's records, and one part of that project is AskAFIP which provides courses for Continuing Medical Education credits. Doctors need CMEs to maintain their license. In June, AFIP provided about 2500 hours online at http://www.askafip.org

You can also buy some of the Museum's photographs there - notably the McGee Russo-Japanese War collection which we haven't gotten online anywhere else yet.

Embryo Models Found

Jim Curley has been in contact with an anatomy professor at Johns Hopkins Medical School. It seems they are moving to new digs and a closet full of anatomical models had been found. Would the museum like them? Jim got some pics of the contents and were we excited. Not only were there what looked to be some Zeigler wax models, but there was a model that had originally been part of the Carnegie Collection. Beth, Jim and I went up today for a look and there were lots of Zeigler and Carnegie models! This is the kind of fun treasure hunt I expect most museum people live for, finding beautiful things thought the be lost.

Bert Hansen on why we should celebrate today

See his blog post at http://medhum.med.nyu.edu/blog/?p=195

By popular demand: second Medical Illustration class added at NMHM, July 25th.

“An Introduction to Techniques in Medical Illustration”

When: Saturday, July 25, 2009 (1:00 – 4:00 p.m.)

**Note: The July 11^th class has been filled to capacity. Spots for the July 25^th class are filling quickly (only 9 left)—register today!

 

Where: National Museum of Health and Medicine

 

What: This workshop will explore the delicate beauty of traditional carbon dust illustration. While working from real specimens, participants will learn about the careful observation and drawing techniques required to create beautiful and accurate drawings using carbon dust, colored pencil, and ink. Ages 13 to adult. All levels welcome.

 

Course leader: Elizabeth Lockett, Scientific Illustrator and Collections Manager of the Museum’s Human Developmental Anatomy Center

 

Pre-registration is required by July 8, 2009: nmhminfo@afip.osd.mil or (202) 782-2673. Class limited to 15 students.

 

Cost: FREE!

 

Photo ID required.

 

Information: nmhminfo@afip.osd.mil or (202) 782-2673

 

www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum

Are you up for some weirdness?

In one of those strange, how-did-I-get-here moments on the internet, I came across the abcnews website that shows some oddball x-rays. As they say, Viewer Discretion is Advised.

New collection available in Archives

Guide # OHA 227.05 - Personal papers - [McGrath Notebooks]

Two notebooks from Thomas  McGrath with course notes on Experimental Physiology and Physiological Chemistry from classes at Albany Medical College, 1906-1907.

NY Times on cancer research

Today's Times has a very interesting article on how cancer research grants now go to the cautious - quite a change from the way Bert Hansen described late 19th and early 20th century medical research in his book.

Grant System Leads Cancer Researchers to Play It Safe
By GINA KOLATA
Published: June 28, 2009
A major impediment in the fight against cancer is that most research grants go to projects unlikely to break much ground.

Bert's book has quite a bit on antitoxins, serums and therapies derived from attenuated germs in animals. So much so that I was planning on writing to him and asking if he knew why nobody was using these types of methods anymore, in favor of relying on vaccination and antibiotics. At one point he noted that there were over 70 different tuberculosis serums - if drug-resistant TB continues to evolve, and by definition it will, one would think this earlier cure holds new promise.

However, this article from tomorrow's paper harks back to the future, and again, Bert's book can shed light on these historical techniques being rediscovered.

New Treatment for Cancer Shows Promise in Testing
By NICHOLAS WADE
Published: June 29, 2009
A new method of attacking cancer cells, developed by researchers in Australia, has proved surprisingly effective in animal tests.

Medical exhibit at Smithsonian Folklife Festival

The Smithsonian Folklife Festival is going on this week, and in the Wales section is a small exhibit on the history of medicine.



Wales turns out to be a major source for medicinal leeches, sold by Biopharma.

There is also a small display of historical pharmaceuticals.



Pill rollers aren't all that uncommon even now, but that's a nice ledger and some good ephemera in the labels.



The largest section was a medical garden.







The exhibit is up through July 5th

I hate flies

Liz was in the archives today, looking at some of our original medical illustrations in preparation for her class on doing, um, medical illustrations. You might think we know every scrap of paper we have in the archives but that's just not the case. I know for a fact that even Mike doesn't know everything. That's just so refreshing to say.

Anyway, she found two pen-and-ink drawings made by the Medical Illustration Service for disease prevention that I'd never seen before. The originals are much better than what's reproduced here, but they're a great example of one kind of work the Medical Museum illustrators did.

Typhoid Mary prepares food

From the barnyard to your plate

PICTURING MEDICAL PROGRESS FROM PASTEUR TO POLIO draws on Otis Archives

My friend Bert Hansen's got an excellent new book out, PICTURING MEDICAL PROGRESS FROM PASTEUR TO POLIO: A History of Mass Media Images and Popular Attitudes in America that includes a minuscule amount of research from the Medical Museum (and cites me in the acknowledgments, but don't buy it just because of that). I'm about 1/3 of the way through and learning about the history of both medicine and cartoons.

I'm really enjoying his look at the graphic history (including editorial cartoons and comic books) of medicine. Bert's explanations of the shifting cultural view of medicine resulting from mass media, especially regarding both the transmittal of knowledge to a wider audience than ever before, and, as he points out most convincingly in this book, for the public support of science and medicine, is wildly overlooked in the field at large. His website has reproductions of some of the cartoons and he's planning on adding to it.

Here's the official PR:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PICTURING MEDICAL PROGRESS FROM PASTEUR TO POLIO
A History of Mass Media Images and Popular Attitudes in America
Bert Hansen

“Bert Hansen’s rich exploration of the intersection of popular culture and the history of medicine opens wide a window on a time between the 1880s and the 1950s when physicians, nurses, and scientists were highly regarded warriors against disease and human suffering. It is a major contribution to our understanding of how medicine’s cultural authority was established and expanded in the United States, vital to scholars and valuable to those who hope to spark a renewed enthusiasm among Americans for the study of science and medicine.”
—Alan Kraut, professor of history, American University

Today, pharmaceutical companies, HMOs, insurance carriers, and the health care system in general may often puzzle and frustrate the general public—and even physicians and researchers. By contrast, from the 1880s through the 1950s Americans enthusiastically embraced medicine and its practitioners. PICTURING MEDICAL PROGRESS FROM PASTEUR TO POLIO (Paper $37.95, ISBN: 978-0-8135-4576-9, July 2009), by Bert Hansen, offers a refreshing portrait of an era when the public excitedly anticipated medical progress and research breakthroughs.

PICTURING MEDICAL PROGRESS FROM PASTEUR TO POLIO is a unique study with 130 archival illustrations drawn from newspaper sketches, caricatures, comic books, Hollywood films, and LIFE magazine photography. This book analyzes the relationship between mass media images and popular attitudes. Bert Hansen considers the impact these representations had on public attitudes and shows how media portrayal and popular support for medical research grew together and reinforced each other.

“This book is analytical, nostalgic, sensitive, and just plain fun. Bert Hansen's meticulous privileging of the visual is a pathbreaking achievement for methods in the social and cultural history of medicine. You can be rewarded simply by looking at the wonderful pictures, but you will ‘see’ so much more in his lively prose.”
—Jacalyn Duffin, Hannah Professor, Queen's University, and former
president of the American Association for the History of Medicine

“Even as a long-time collector of medical prints, I learned a lot from this extraordinary book. Hansen's digging has turned up many discoveries, providing a new perspective on graphic art in popular culture. The images are wonderful, but this is not just a picture book; it's a great read as well, filled with remarkable insights.”
—William Helfand, trustee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art

“PICTURING MEDICAL PROGRESS FROM PASTEUR TO POLIO is an authoritative, well-written account that will be a significant contribution not only to the history of American medicine, but to the history of American popular culture.”
—Elizabeth Toon, Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of Manchester


BERT HANSEN, a professor of history at Baruch College, has published a book on medieval science and many articles on the history of modern medicine and public health.

PICTURING MEDICAL PROGRESS FROM PASTEUR TO POLIO
A History of Mass Media Images and Popular Attitudes in America
Bert Hansen

Paper $37.95 | ISBN 978-0-8135-4576-9
Cloth $75.00 | ISBN 978-0-8135-4526-4 | 350 pages | 7 x 10

Publication Date: July 2009

AFIP: Supplemental Appropriation Bill signed by President with moratorium language

Office of the Press Secretary

_______________________________________________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                 June 24, 2009

 

The President released a statement after signing HR 2346 in the Oval Office:

 

"I want to thank the Members of Congress who put politics aside and stood up to support a bill that will provide for the safety of our troops and the American people. This legislation will make available the funding necessary to bring the war in Iraq to a responsible end, defeat terrorist networks in Afghanistan, and further prepare our nation in the event of a continued outbreak of the H1N1 pandemic flu."

 

Final Moratorium Language for Public Law No: 111-32

 

“Sec. 1001. None of the funds appropriated in this or any other Act may be used to disestablish, reorganize, or relocate the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology , except for the Armed Forces Medical Examiner and the National Museum of Health and Medicine, until the President has established, as required by section 722 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (Public Law 110-181; 122 Stat. 199; 10 U.S.C. 176 note), a Joint Pathology Center , and the Joint Pathology Center is demonstrably performing the minimum requirements set forth in section 722 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008.”

 

The President signed the supplemental yesterday afternoon, with the moratorium language in it.

 

Florabel G. Mullick, MD, ScD, FCAP

Senior Executive Service

The Director

 

AFIP's Armed Forces Medical Examiner featured on Fresh Air

Slain Soldiers Offer Clues To Protect The Living

Fresh Air from WHYY, June 24, 2009 · In previous wars, fallen soldiers rarely received post-mortem examinations, but that changed in 2001, when the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology began conducting autopsies on all slain service men and women. In 2004, the examinations were expanded to include CT scans.

CT Scans help show the pathway of wounds caused by bullets or shrapnel so that a less invasive autopsy can be conducted. While this improves the work of doctors, the data has a grim upside.

Captain Craig T. Mallak, a pathologist and lawyer who is also the chief of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System, describes how the physical and sometimes virtual autopsies of soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan have not only assisted in the design of body armor, helmets and vehicle shields, but medical equipment as well.

One specific example is the recent improvement of chest tubes used buy combat medics. By examining 100 Ct Scans and measuring wounds, doctors found that because soldiers were in better shape than civilians, they needed longer tubes and needles to penetrate the chest wall and reach the collapsed lung.

Combat medics now carry the improved equipment on the battlefield.

Brush your teeth

Here's a pretty neat super-zoom of the surface of a tooth.

Just ignore the flat-stomach ad off to the right of the video - they're not talking to you.

Seminary tours

The Seminary at Forest Glenn, the former’s girl school turned Army base, turned condos, has a tour this weekend:

 

http://www.saveourseminary.org/schedules.html

 

Visitors to the Museum can see a mural by Jack McMillen of how the Seminary appeared during World War 2.

 

NYTimes on traumatic brain injury research

The Museum has an extremely large collection of brains and slices thereof that can be used in this type of research. For information on current research in other places, see A Chance for Clues to Brain Injury in Combat Blasts
By ALAN SCHWARZ
Published: June 23, 2009
Twenty members of the military have donated their brain tissue upon death to help scientists determine the effects of blast injuries on the brain.

FW: Interested in medical illustration? Register today for NMHM's FREE medical illustration class, July 11th.

 

 

“An Introduction to Techniques in Medical Illustration”

When: Saturday, July 11, 2009 (1:00 – 4:00 p.m.)

 

Where: National Museum of Health and Medicine

 

What: This workshop will explore the delicate beauty of traditional carbon dust illustration. While working from real specimens, participants will learn about the careful observation and drawing techniques required to create beautiful and accurate drawings using carbon dust, colored pencil, and ink. Ages 13 to adult. All levels welcome.

 

Course leader: Elizabeth Lockett, Scientific Illustrator and Collections Manager of the Museum’s Human Developmental Anatomy Center

 

Pre-registration is required by July 1, 2009: (202) 782-2673. Class limited to 15 students.

 

Cost: FREE!

 

Photo ID required.

 

Information: nmhminfo@afip.osd.mil or (202) 782-2673

 

www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum

And here I thought no one read us

Mike sent this email around today. I don't know why he didn't post it here already - I know he's not shy so that can't be the reason.

The Medical Museion blog mentioned their blog rank and put a link to a blog ranking site - so I checked it out.

We’re #6, right above them, and higher than any art museums whom I expected would fill the top tier.

To be honest, I have no idea how they figure this out and looking at individual stats further down makes our whole ranking look fishy, but it was neat to see.

National Dental Museum in Baltimore seeks director

Here’s the announcement –

 

Director - National Museum of Dentistry - Baltimore, MD

http://www.museumprofessionals.org/forum/administrators/4551-director-national-museum-dentistry-baltimore-md.html

 

User-friendly syringes

From Core77, a design blog, comes news of a disposable syringe designed by the kitchen-tool people, OXO, for people with rheumatoid arthritis. I love ideas like this. The top of the picture shows the 5 newly-designed areas, plus they added easy-open packaging.

NMHM staff member attending cadaver prosection course

This local Indiana online news network talks about the cadaver prosection course that an NMHM staff member attended last year, and another is planning to attend this year.  

 

http://www.valpolife.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2883:iun-announces-2009-participants-in-international-human-cadaver-prosection-program&catid=160:education&Itemid=169

 

Smithsonian anthropologist profiled in Post

Doug Owsley is profiled in "Old West Mystery, Solved in D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Forensic Anthropologists Unravel Buffalo Soldier's Story," By Michael E. Ruane, Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, June 16, 2009 .

Eadweard Muybridge - an anniversary

Wired.com reports that on this day in 1878, Eadweard Muybridge used "high-speed stop-motion photography to capture a horse's motion." It just so happens we have a few samples of Muybridge's work. Here's (a scan of a photocopy of a copy print) of one of them from our collection.

David Macaulay at Medical Museum

David Macaulay spoke for 50 minutes at the Medical Museum today. He covered a few sections of his new book on the human body (of which originals are on display), showed some artwork and sketches that didn't go into the book, and it was a very good talk. He's speaking again twice on Saturday, June 13th so cruise 16th St and check it out.

TB Sanatorium records donated today

Charlotte Perry donated George Ellis Mills' records to the archives today. Mills, Charlotte's grandfather, was Director of the Boehne Tuberculosis Sanatorium in Evansville, Indiana, in the 1920s, until his untimely death in 1929. We received annual reports (no, no, not the boring, all-number kind; these have a lot of interesting narrative about the hospital with some great photos as illustrations), typewritten manuscripts about the rules and regulations there, more transcripts about tuberculosis, and 5 panoramic photos of staff and patients. I'll be making a finding aid next week, which will give me more time to read everything and scan some of the photos from the annual reports.

2057 new computer catalogue records added in Emu today

Catalogue records for 2057 files/folders from the Archives’ Medical Ephemera collection of clippings, brochures and pamphlets were imported as titles into our new computer catalogue EMU today. These are from 3 series – biographical, organizational and subject files. An example would read as: Ephemera - Trade Literature - folder - Barton, Clara (1821-1912) [Medical Ephemera] so when we eventually get the catalogue online you could search on *Barton in the titles, and you’ll get this file. In the meantime, you can still use this static (and sorry, out of date) finding aid at http://www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum/collections/archives/asearch/afinding_aids/ephemera/ephemera.html

Eye Prosthetics at Walter Reed

The Walter Reed Army Medical Center has a weekly newspaper, Stripe. This article is from last week's edition.

Interactive talk on human anatomy with David Macaulay at NMHM tomorrow, 6/12 & Sat., 6/13

 

 

©2008 David Macaulay

 

“The real beauty of the human body, as it turns out, has little to do with outward appearance. It is displayed in and beneath the skin in a remarkable demonstration of economy and efficiency.”

— David Macaulay from The Way We Work

 

 “David Macaulay: Author Talk & Book Signing”

When: Friday, June 12, 2009 (1:00-2:30 p.m.)

Saturday, June 13, 2009 (10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. & 1:00-2:30 p.m.)

 

Where: National Museum of Health and Medicine

 

What: Join David Macaulay for an interactive and lively discussion about his new book, “The Way We Work,” as he illuminates the most important machine of all -- the human body. Your body is made up of various complex systems, and Macaulay is a master at making the complex understandable. He shows how the parts of the body work together, from the mechanics of a hand, to the process by which the heart pumps blood, to the chemical exchanges necessary to sustain life. A book signing will follow the discussion.

 

Cost: FREE!

 

Bring your kids along! This is a great opportunity to teach children about the human body.

 

Photo ID required.

 

Information: nmhminfo@afip.osd.mil or (202) 782-2200

 

www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum

 

David Macaulay bio: Born on December 2, 1946, Macaulay was eleven when his family moved from England to the United States. An early fascination with simple technology and a love of model-making and drawing ultimately led him to study architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design. He received his degree in 1969 after spending his fifth year with RISD’s European Honors Program in Rome. Macaulay is probably best known for a very thick book called “The Way Things Work” (1988), an exhaustively researched compendium of the intricate workings involved in almost anything that functions. It was followed by “Black and White,” winner of the 1991 Caldecott Medal. Over the next decade, Macaulay published eight additional books, and in 2003 he began a volume about the workings of the human body—the results of which comprise this exhibition. In 2006, Macaulay was named a MacArthur fellow.

Andrea Seabrook of NPR is interested in us

Andrea Seabrook of NPR came by yesterday to look at our photograph collections and is planning on doing a story on the pictures.  More to come as we find out about it, but we talked for about 2 1/2 hours.

National Museum of Health and Medicine (NMHM), Forest Glen, Maryland presolicitation construction bid online

https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=b43052fd9f26a0270e9d70c957876ea0&tab=core&_cview=1

Y--National Museum of Health and Medicine (NMHM), Forest Glen, Maryland

Solicitation Number: W912DR-09-R-0070

Agency: Department of the Army
Office: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Location: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore

Solicitation Number:

W912DR-09-R-0070

Notice Type:

Presolicitation

Synopsis:

Added: May 27, 2009 4:40 pm Modified: May 28, 2009 11:08 amTrack Changes

This proposed procurement is 100% Set Aside for Small Business with NAICS category 236220 with small business standard $33,500,000.00.

This two-step procurement is being advertised as a Request for Proposal (RFP). Phase I consists solely of qualifications of contractors. Phase II requires the government to evaluate separate technical and cost proposals. This RFP requires the government to perform separate concurrent evaluations based on the best value award of the project.

In phase I the prequalification phase offerors will submit their technical proposal as directed in the solicitation. The government will competitively evaluate the proposals based on the evaluation criteria set forth in the solicitation package issued on or about 12 June 2009. There will be a site visit at 0100 EST local time, on or about 22 June 2009. Qualifications of contractors are due on or about 13 July 2009.

In phase II, those offerors who pre-qualified under the Phase I qualification stage will be issued an amendment for Phase II ON OR ABOUT 11 September 2009. There will be a site visit on or about 16 September 2009. Proposals will be due on or about 16 October 2009, and will include the specification package and associated plans or drawings.

Estimated cost of construction is between $10,000,000.00 and $25,000,000.00. Completion of work required no longer than 450 days.

Project Description:
This is a Best Value 2 phase procurements Small Business Set-Aside, FAR 19.502 (a) & (b). Rule 2 applies, DFARS 219.1502-2.

This is a BRAC 05 Medical MILCON project consist of design and construction of a new 20,000 + or GSF museum. The primary facility includes a building, special foundations, building information systems, fire protection and alarm systems and connection to Energy Monitoring and Control Systems (EMCS). Comprehensive interior design is required. Anti-terrorist Force Protection (ATFP) measures and intrusion detection system (IDS) are required. ADA compliance and LEED silver rating is to be provided. Heating, air conditioning and moisture control will be self contained system. Commissioning is required.

Supporting facilities to include utilities, external lighting, signage, ATFP features, paving, curbs, walks, storm water management and site improvement features.

EVALUATION CRITERIA WILL BE PART OF THE SOLICITATION.

Submission Requirements:
After issuance of solicitation:
Submit responses in person to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, City Crescent Building, ATTN: Mary Tully, Room 7000, 10 South Howard Street, Baltimore, MD 21201; or by mail to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, ATTN: Mary Tully CENAB-CT, P.O. Box 1715, Baltimore, MD 21203-1715. Facsimile transmissions will not be accepted. All deliveries, packages, etc. of more than one box or container must be bound together by tape or other means.

All responsible sources may submit a proposal which shall be considered by the agency. You must be registered in the (CCR) Central Contractor Registration to be considered for award of a Federal contract. Registration can be found at Website: http:/ccr.gov. Or call CCR at 1-888-227-2423. A paper form for registration may be obtained from the DOD Electronic Commerce Information Center at 1-800-334-3414.

The solicitation will be provided in an electronic format, free of charge, to all registered plan holders. The media through which the Government chooses to issue this solicitation will be the Internet only, or CD to pre-qualified offerors. This solicitation will not be issued in paper. No phone or fax request for copy of Request For Proposal will be accepted. Contractors requests for this solicitation will be performed through Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) System.

Project Manager: Alexandra Crawford (410) 962-2830
DTL: Joan Pamperien (410) 962-2616
Contracting P.O.C.: Mary Tully (410) 779-7542

Contracting Office Address:

US Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore, 10 South Howard Street, Baltimore, MD 21203

Place of Performance:

US Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore 10 South Howard Street, Baltimore MD
21203
US

Point of Contact(s):

Mary Tully, 410-779-7542

US Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore

Influenza photo used by New York Times

Our most published photograph, influenza cases at Camp Funston during WW1 (NCP 1603) was published again yesterday in the New York Times. You can see the story at

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/09/health/09docs.html

The Doctor's World

Is This a Pandemic? Define 'Pandemic'

By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN, M.D.

Published: June 9, 2009

After decades of warnings about another influenza pandemic, health officials have failed to make clear to the public what they mean by that word.

New Posts of Old Daguerrotypes

Not a history of medicine thing, but here's a very nice online collection of daguerreotypes from the American Antiquarian Society.

Forensic Bone Histology Course offered by Museum

Description from the AskAFIP website.  The website can be found by following the “Education” tab on the left-side column at www.askafip.org .

 

Forensic Bone Histology Course (5197) July 13, 2009 - July 15, 2009 COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Mass fatality incidents such as acts of terrorism and mass transit accidents often leave human remains fragmented and burned, making identification efforts problematic.  Fragmentary remains prove difficult to identify as human, not to mention estimating the biological age, sex, ancestry and stature from those fragments.  Due to the small size of skeletal fragments, important macroscopic indicators used in establishing a biological profile may be lost.  

With advancements in bone microscopy, researchers have developed techniques that mitigate these problematic cases, as well as improve the overall evaluation of human remains when fragmentation is not an issue.  Through the analysis of bone microstructure it is possible to differentiate human from non-human bone tissue, estimate age-at-death, and identify potentially individuating characteristics, such as dietary deficiencies and disease processes.

This course addresses the application of bone histology to forensic case work through lecture and hands-on activities utilizing bone slides and microscopes.  After attending this course the participant will be familiar with basic microscope instrumentation and bone histomorphology. This knowledge leads to an understanding of how to differentiate human from nonhuman fragments of bone, estimate age-at-death, and evaluate biasing factors of bone microstructure, such as taphonomic effects.  

NOTE:  Each participant will be given the syllabus on CD.  There will be no printed syllabi.

CME CREDITS:  19

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

• Bone cellular biology
• Basic microscope instrumentation
• Slide preparation techniques
• Bone histomorphology and histomorphometry
• Differentiate human from nonhuman bone
• Estimate age-at-death
• Evaluate taphonomic effects on bone microstructure 

TARGET AUDIENCE:
Anthropologists, Pathologists, Forensic Scientists and anyone interested in bone mircostructure LOCATION:
The course willl be held at Building 53 (Radiologic Pathology Center), located on Walter Reed Army Medical Center campus, across from the National Museum of Health and Medicine (NMHM).  For directions to the facility, visit the museum's website at http://nmhm.washingtondc.museum/about/directions.html 

RECOMMENDED LODGING:

Crowne Plaza Washington DC/Silver Spring

8777 Georgia Avenue

Silver Spring, MD  20910

301-589-0800

Rooms have been reserved at a reduced rate of $149 single/double or the prevailing government per diem until 6 July 2009.  Reservations received after this date will be filled on a space available basis.  When contracting the hotel to make your reservation to make your reservation, inform them that you are attending the Urological Pathology and Radiology Course.

Complimentary Shuttle is available to and from the campus.

FACULTY DISCLOSURE:
In accordance with the Essentials and Standards of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education, the authors involved in this continuing medical education activity are required to complete Disclosure Declarations.  The authors of this course do not have any financial interest, arrangement, or affiliation with organizations that may have a direct or indirect interest in the subject matter of this course. U.S. CITIZENS:
US citizens must provide, PRIOR TO THE COURSE, a clear copy of your birth certificate or the first two pages of your passport.  You will be unable to attend the course without this information. You may receive the syllabus and related material, but no refunds. NON-U.S. CITIZENS:
PRIOR TO THE COURSE, non-US citizens must mail or fax a one of the following:  (1)  a clear copy of the first two pages of your passport with number showing  (2)   a clear copy of your green card with number showing  (3)  a copy of your visa and the DS-2019 form Send to: Department of Medical Education, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, 6825 16th St, NW, Washington, DC 20306-6000 Fax: (202) 782-5020.  You will be unable to attend the course without this information.  You may receive the syllabus and related material, but no refunds.  If you are sponsored by an ECFMG organization, please verify your status as current and active by including a letter from the program director with your registration form.  If you are affiliated with your country’s government/military, please write to the Office of the Surgeon General, DASG-HCZ-IP, 5109 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, Virginia 22041-3258 [FAX: (703) 681-3429] and provide:  (1) a copy of the application from the course announcement and  (2) a letter from your personnel office certifying full-time employment.  All non-US citizens must make checks or international money orders payable to the American Registry of Pathology.  All payments must be in US dollars and be accompanied by the course application. Send to the Department of Medical Education at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, DC 20306-6000.

Steampunk Anatomy

From the blog e-l-i-s-e, a different take on anatomical illustration. Make sure you click through to the original blog for more.

Obituary for AFIP's Dr. Scofield ran in Post

Henry H. 'Hank' Scofield Navy Oral Pathologist, Professor
-- Matt Schudel

Washington Post (June 6 2009)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/05/AR2009060503549_5.html

After several postings in the Dental Corps, Capt. Scofield received a doctorate in oral pathology from Georgetown University in the late 1950s. He was chairman of the oral pathology department at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology from 1963 to 1966.

 

Darn! Missed this for BAW

If only we'd known about this for Brain Awareness Week. It just shows what using your head will get you: your very own brain to sit in.

Lecture by Kazuo Kawasaki this week in Washington, DC

While we have artificial organs and devices related to extra-corporeal circulation in the Historical Collection of artifacts (ranging from the Kolff-Brigham artificial kidney currently on display to a heart-lung machine), we don't yet have examples of Kazuo Kawasaki's stellar medical designs.




Most are familiar with his eyewear, but I am tracking his work integrating medical science (in which he has a Ph.D.) and product design.

Although we might be as likely to see his 1989 titanium wheelchair in a modern art museum than rolling down the sidewalk, I am interested to learn how Kawasaki approaches the subject of personal experience, design and disability. Kawasaki himself uses a wheelchair and has heart trouble.

Hear Design Made in Japan: from Eyeglasses to the Artificial Heart this Thursday, June 11th, at 6:30 at the Japan Information and Culture Center, Embassy of Japan, in Washington, DC. The lecture is free, but reservations are required.

www.us.emb-japan.go.jp/jicc/events.htm

Andrea Seabrook's been twittering us

http://twitter.com/RadioBabe - for a story on NPR she says. I noticed because we're seeing a spike in interest in the Flickr photos again, and some atypical ones too. As of this afternoon: 1,407 items / 819,807 views.

Another upload to the Internet Archive

We uploaded another document to the Internet Archive yesterday: Proceedings of the Seventh Saranac Symposium on Pneumoconiosis. It's an important part of the 250+ boxes of the Arthur J. Vorwald Collection.  Vorwald was an industrial medicine investigator who pioneered in asbestosis research.

Sour Candy Body Fluids

In the interest of propriety, I'll let you read about it yourself. But what a great product for your inner 6th-grade boy.

Microscopes, illustrated

We had a request a couple of weeks ago for scans from old Bausch & Lomb microscope catalogs. This can't really do it justice, but hopefully you'll get the idea of how beautiful the engraving is from an 1893 catalog.

Dissection book interview on NPR

Curator and author Jim Edmondson writes in about his book of dissection photographs, noting:

Check out the interview on Dissection, with Ira Flatow of NPR's Science Friday:

 

http://www.sciencefriday.com/about/listen/

 

http://podcastdownload.npr.org/anon.npr-podcasts/podcast/510221/104742886/npr_104742886.mp3?_kip_ipx=1717569029-1243648443

 

 

The book has been getting amazing press coverage:

http://www.case.edu/origins/news/edmonson.htm

 

And within the last month it soared to #162 on Amazon.com...

Boxing and bones?

This photograph made me chuckle. This NCP image dates back to 1870 and displays soldiers from the Medical Detachment, U.S. Army Hospital in Fort Riley, Kansas. The soldiers "boxing" (obviously a not-so-candid shot) in the foreground first intrigued me, but it wasn't until I scanned the background that I really had to "lol", if you will. On the laps of two soldiers sits a human skeleton, whose skull has been positioned in a way that allows for him/her to watch the match. Why the skeleton on the lap, you ask? Well, perhaps the mysterious "guest" is the loser of the last boxing match (cue in the "mwah ha ha" courtesy of Vincent Price.) Or, perhaps sheer proximity to the hospital compelled the soldiers to shoot this interesting photo. Either way, it's a keeper.

Theresa Butler retiring today

Long-time Museum Staff Assistant Theresa Strong-Butler is retiring today after 40 years of government service, almost 20 of that at the Museum. Theresa filled one of those behind-the-scenes rolls that every museum needs, but you don't hear about. She ordered keys, supplies, and the like for the Museum and handled other administrative tasks. We wish her well as she pursues a new career in 'retirement'.

"Red Cross Work on Mutilés at Paris - 1918"

We just uploaded this 1918 film to the Internet Archive. Everything says it uploaded fine, but as I can't actually view it from work, I'll have to take their word for it.

See it here.

DAVID MACAULAY: Author Talk & Book Signing

When: Friday, June 12, 2009 (1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.)

Saturday, June 13, 2009 (10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.) & (1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.)

Where: National Museum of Health and Medicine

What: Join David Macaulay for a discussion about his new book, "The Way We Work," as he illuminates the most important machine of all -- the human body. Your body is made up of various complex systems, and Macaulay is a master at making the complex understandable. He shows how the parts of the body work together, from the mechanics of a hand, to the process by which the heart pumps blood, to the chemical exchanges necessary to sustain life. A book signing will follow the discussion.

This event is being held in conjunction with NMHM's temporary exhibition, "David Macaulay Presents: The Way We Work, Getting to Know the Amazing Human Body," which features the famous author's original artwork for the book.

Bring your kids along! This event, as well as the exhibit, is great for teaching children about the human body.

Cost: FREE!

Parking is available. Photo ID required.

Information: nmhminfo@afip.osd.mil or (202) 782-2200

www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum

David Macaulay bio:

Born on December 2, 1946, Macaulay was eleven when his family moved from England to the United States. An early fascination with simple technology and a love of model-making and drawing ultimately led him to study architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design. He received his degree in 1969 after spending his fifth year with RISD's European Honors Program in Rome. Macaulay is probably best known for a very thick book called "The Way Things Work" (1988), an exhaustively researched compendium of the intricate workings involved in almost anything that functions. It was followed by "Black and White," winner of the 1991 Caldecott Medal. Over the next decade, Macaulay published eight additional books, and in 2003 he began a volume about the workings of the human body—the results of which comprise this exhibition. In 2006, Macaulay was named a MacArthur fellow.

Able and Baker--the Space Monkeys

Today is the day, 50 years ago, that the space monkeys Able and Baker were shot into space for 9 minutes of weightlessness before they returned to earth. Able is close to my heart, as one of my favorite specimens in the musuem's collections. When vets were removing electrodes from Able, her heart stopped beating as she lay on the operating table. Able's body was sent to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology for a necropsy. I went down to Otis Historical Archives today and rummaged through about 3 boxes that contained slides, films, x-rays, notes, diagrams and an autopsy report. Little Able weighed 5 lbs. at autopy and was 1-1/2 years old. It was amazing to read the first-hand descriptions, although the slides made me wish I hadn't peeked--necropsies of cute little monkeys are not so pleasant.

She did her duty and became a hero in our nation's space race. We have Able's skeleton in our Anatomical Collections--the Smithsonian has her pelt. She's not currently on display.

I hope you'll enjoy Baker & Able's story on NPR's site: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104578202

Leprosy found in 4000 year old skeleton

We've got a lot of material on leprosy here, so this article is pretty interesting -

A Skeleton 4,000 Years Old Bears Evidence of Leprosy

By NICHOLAS WADE

Published: May 27, 2009

The oldest known skeleton showing signs of leprosy has been found in India and may help solve the puzzle of where the disease originated.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/science/27leprosy.html

1512 alchemy book avaible online at NLM

NLM's History of Medicine Division is proud to announce that a new Turning the Pages Project has been released on the TTP kiosks in the Library and on the Web: http://archive.nlm.nih.gov/proj/ttp/books.htm. 

The project features Hieronymus Brunschwig's Liber de Arte Distillandi, printed in Strasbourg in 1512.  The book is a practical manual on chemical, alchemical, and distillation devices and techniques used to manufacture drug therapies, and it includes a number of hand-colored woodcuts featuring scenes of laboratories, distillation devices, and doctor patient scenes. 

Special thanks to Anne Rothfeld, who curated the project, and Michael Chung, Glenn Pearson, and George Thoma, who created another visually beautiful project through their incomparable programming skills.  Also special thanks to Roxanne Beatty for encoding the files for the gallery page.

 

Michael J. North, northm@mail.nih.gov
Head of Rare Books & Early Manuscripts
History of Medicine Division
National Library of Medicine
8600 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, MD  20894

Recycling

We've found maps, or portions thereof, on the backs of some of Frank Mack's "Skeeter" malaria cartoons I've been scanning. Cool stuff.

Yester-Day in the Life of an Archivist

Yesterday due to heavy rains, we had some minor flooding in the Museum. The Archives is in the "new" (1971) wing, which attaches to the old (1955) building, and water can get between the walls so we had some bubbling up through about 5 square feet of rug. Other areas in the Museum saw some slight leaks too. Let's hope the rain lightens up for the rest of the week.

AFIP's Armed Forces Medical Examiner featured in NY Times

Here's a really good article about some of our colleagues (at least for 2 more years until BRAC goes through) - "Autopsies of War Dead Reveal Ways to Save Others," By DENISE GRADY, New York Times May 26, 2009. I hadn't heard about the collapsed lung problem and solution, but isn't that great how Dr. Harcke spotted that?

And this bit is lovely - "“He was one of the most compassionate people throughout this whole process that I dealt with from the Department of Defense,” Mrs. Sweet said of Captain Mallak." I don't really know Craig Mallak all that well as OAFME's off in Rockville, MD but it's nice to read something that positive about someone.