Michael Flannery | University of Alabama at Birmingham (original) (raw)
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Papers by Michael Flannery
Case reports in medicine, 2012
A middle age male with type 2 diabetes mellitus presented with urinary symptoms. Blood and urine ... more A middle age male with type 2 diabetes mellitus presented with urinary symptoms. Blood and urine cultures were consistent with Methicillin Resistant Staphylcoccal Aureus (MRSA). A computed tomography demonstrated mutiple prostatic microabscessess. No other hematogenous source was identified. Transurethral prostatic drainage and intravenous Vancomycin followed by oral doxcycline led to clinical success for this likely Community acquired case of MRSA (CA-MRSA). We discuss our case report and discuss the current literature on the trends, causation, diagnosis and treatment of MRSA induced prostatic abscess.
Religions
Charles Scott Sherrington (1857–1952) is widely acclaimed as the most important neurophysiologist... more Charles Scott Sherrington (1857–1952) is widely acclaimed as the most important neurophysiologist in history. He became a legend in his own time, coined the term “synapse”, and in 1932 received the Nobel Prize in medicine for his discoveries on the function of neurons. By the time he presented the Gifford Lectures 1937–38, he represented the best that science had to offer on behalf of the relationship of the mind to the natural world. The lectures, including one never publicly presented, were published as Man on His Nature (1941). Here neurology meets theology at the busy and often treacherous intersection of science and religion. Examining Sherrington’s views in some detail, the standard rendering of Sherrington as a theist cannot be sustained by their contents; he ends up as at least a humanist and perhaps an atheist. Views by neurologists and philosophers of mind some seventy to eighty years later are compared and contrasted with Sherrington’s. Although expectations of a material...
Bulletin of the Medical Library Association, 2001
This paper argues that historical works in pharmacy are important tools for the clinician as well... more This paper argues that historical works in pharmacy are important tools for the clinician as well as the historian. With this as its operative premise, delineating the tripartite aspects of pharmacy as a business enterprise, a science, and a profession provides a conceptual framework for primary and secondary resource collecting. A brief history and guide to those materials most essential to a historical collection in pharmacy follows. Issues such as availability and cost are discussed and summarized in checklist form. In addition, a glossary of important terms is provided as well as a list of all the major U.S. dispensatories and their various editions. This paper is intended to serve as a resource for those interested in collecting historical materials in pharmacy and pharmaco-therapeutics as well as provide a history that gives context to these classics in the field. This should provide a rationale for selective retrospective collection development in pharmacy.
Religions
Despite his impeccable academic pedigree, a protégé of Josiah Royce and a friend and student of W... more Despite his impeccable academic pedigree, a protégé of Josiah Royce and a friend and student of William James, John Elof Boodin is nearly forgotten today among American philosophers; hence, an essential aspect of his thought lost to history is his contribution to process theology. The leading features of process thought demonstrate Boodin’s connections to this unique theology and show it to have been established early on, as early as 1900 and 1904. This places Boodin’s writing on process philosophy/theology well before Alfred North Whitehead, the putative pioneer in modern process metaphysics, by more than twenty years, and co-extensive with Henri Bergson, who influenced Whitehead. Nevertheless, when Boodin is discussed today, it is usually as an early pragmatist rather than as a process philosopher. The central claim of this essay argues that Boodin is best understood as a pragmatically influenced process theist, one of the first in a modern context. This historiographical revision...
Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 2013
Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913), naturalist and explorer of South America and the Malay Archipe... more Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913), naturalist and explorer of South America and the Malay Archipelago, secured his place in history by independently discovering the theory of natural selection. His letter outlining the theory was sent from Ternate in eastern Indonesia and received at Down House, according to Charles Darwin (1809-82), on June 18, 1858, prompting the now-famed evolutionist to rush his languishing manuscript to press. Wallace's contributions to evolutionary biology, biogeography, and anthropology are well known, but his medical views have received far less attention. Within the context of a strident populist antivaccination movement and an ominous elitist eugenics campaign, Wallace took his stand, which revealed itself in a libertarianism that defended traditional socialist constituencies (the working poor, the lumpenproletariat, and feminist reformers) against state-mandated medical interventions. Rather than viewing Wallace as a heterodox contrarian, this article argues that his positions were logical outgrowths of his medical libertarianism and evolutionary and social theories.
Pharmacy in history, 2013
Metascience, 2018
J. David Archibald proposes to examine Charles Darwin through a fresh-albeit not unique-lens. ''I... more J. David Archibald proposes to examine Charles Darwin through a fresh-albeit not unique-lens. ''I do not claim novelty for any of the specifics I present here,'' he writes, ''rather, I attempt to emphasize the importance of Darwin's use of historical biogeography as his earliest major proof of evolution'' (xii). But this book actually has two interrelated goals: one is to locate the field of biogeography centrally within Darwin's theory of evolution through his magnum opus On the Origin of Species (1859); another is to use biogeography as a ''scientific'' cudgel with which to wage the author's war with metaphysics and religion. Darwin is his starting point. The importance of biogeography, the study of the distribution of species in geographical space and geological time, in modern biology is unquestionable. It serves as the foundation for convergent evolution and explains why certain creatures are found in one environment and not in others, establishing major faunal boundary lines (e.g., Huxley, Wallace, Lydekker) and zoogeographical realms. Biogeography certainly formed an important aspect of Darwin's evolutionary theory since chapters eleven and twelve of Origin are devoted to the topic and the two preceding chapters on the geological record and the succession of animals form prefatory statements on it. But biogeography as a central element in Darwin's theory, as Archibald suggests, is more debatable. As Jim Endersby (2009) points out in his masterful edition of Darwin's Origin, the geographical distribution of species was a major topic for nineteenth-century geologists and naturalists with Robert Brown, Augustin-Pyramus and Alphonse de Candolle, Joseph Hooker, and Alexander von Humboldt wrestling with its anomalies (419). Darwin had his trailblazers. The centrality of biogeography to Darwin's theory of evolution, insists Archibald, lies in the fossil record he observed
Theoretical biology forum, 2017
This essay responds to Peter T. Saunders's call to go Beyond the neo-Darwinist Paradigm. Whil... more This essay responds to Peter T. Saunders's call to go Beyond the neo-Darwinist Paradigm. While there is much to commend in his analysis, especially his suggestion that the extended evolutionary synthesis (EES) may not go far enough, he leaves the question of whether this should involve mere revision or total replacement open. A historiographical review reveals significant problems stemming from certain positivist assumptions and commitments within neo-Darwinian orthodoxy and the EES over and above any scientific considerations. As such, mere tweaking of the existing paradigm or its extension will do little to remedy the intellectual prejudices currently plaguing it. A complete overhaul is suggested by applying the López Ontological Demarcation Design (LODD) principle with biology in a multidisciplinary, non-reductionist philosophical framework. Building on the concept of Organismic-Systems Biology (OSB), a component of General Systems Theory (GTS) associated with polymathic biol...
Journal of the Medical Library Association JMLA
Journal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA, 2003
Journal of Pharmacy Teaching, 2001
Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 2014
Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 2004
ABSTRACT
Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 2012
Concerns about the anthropogenic ecological degradation of the planet—deforestation, species enda... more Concerns about the anthropogenic ecological degradation of the planet—deforestation, species endangerment, pollution, and an increasing carbon footprint—have prompted numerous studies calling for wide-ranging, comprehensive global programs. In this regard, Tim Flannery's effort in Here on Earth to enlist Alfred Russel Wallace, a nineteenth-century naturalist, in the service of a twentieth-century idea falls prey to presentism on the grounds of a conceptual misunderstanding and incomplete or interpolated primary data.
Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 2006
Case reports in medicine, 2012
A middle age male with type 2 diabetes mellitus presented with urinary symptoms. Blood and urine ... more A middle age male with type 2 diabetes mellitus presented with urinary symptoms. Blood and urine cultures were consistent with Methicillin Resistant Staphylcoccal Aureus (MRSA). A computed tomography demonstrated mutiple prostatic microabscessess. No other hematogenous source was identified. Transurethral prostatic drainage and intravenous Vancomycin followed by oral doxcycline led to clinical success for this likely Community acquired case of MRSA (CA-MRSA). We discuss our case report and discuss the current literature on the trends, causation, diagnosis and treatment of MRSA induced prostatic abscess.
Religions
Charles Scott Sherrington (1857–1952) is widely acclaimed as the most important neurophysiologist... more Charles Scott Sherrington (1857–1952) is widely acclaimed as the most important neurophysiologist in history. He became a legend in his own time, coined the term “synapse”, and in 1932 received the Nobel Prize in medicine for his discoveries on the function of neurons. By the time he presented the Gifford Lectures 1937–38, he represented the best that science had to offer on behalf of the relationship of the mind to the natural world. The lectures, including one never publicly presented, were published as Man on His Nature (1941). Here neurology meets theology at the busy and often treacherous intersection of science and religion. Examining Sherrington’s views in some detail, the standard rendering of Sherrington as a theist cannot be sustained by their contents; he ends up as at least a humanist and perhaps an atheist. Views by neurologists and philosophers of mind some seventy to eighty years later are compared and contrasted with Sherrington’s. Although expectations of a material...
Bulletin of the Medical Library Association, 2001
This paper argues that historical works in pharmacy are important tools for the clinician as well... more This paper argues that historical works in pharmacy are important tools for the clinician as well as the historian. With this as its operative premise, delineating the tripartite aspects of pharmacy as a business enterprise, a science, and a profession provides a conceptual framework for primary and secondary resource collecting. A brief history and guide to those materials most essential to a historical collection in pharmacy follows. Issues such as availability and cost are discussed and summarized in checklist form. In addition, a glossary of important terms is provided as well as a list of all the major U.S. dispensatories and their various editions. This paper is intended to serve as a resource for those interested in collecting historical materials in pharmacy and pharmaco-therapeutics as well as provide a history that gives context to these classics in the field. This should provide a rationale for selective retrospective collection development in pharmacy.
Religions
Despite his impeccable academic pedigree, a protégé of Josiah Royce and a friend and student of W... more Despite his impeccable academic pedigree, a protégé of Josiah Royce and a friend and student of William James, John Elof Boodin is nearly forgotten today among American philosophers; hence, an essential aspect of his thought lost to history is his contribution to process theology. The leading features of process thought demonstrate Boodin’s connections to this unique theology and show it to have been established early on, as early as 1900 and 1904. This places Boodin’s writing on process philosophy/theology well before Alfred North Whitehead, the putative pioneer in modern process metaphysics, by more than twenty years, and co-extensive with Henri Bergson, who influenced Whitehead. Nevertheless, when Boodin is discussed today, it is usually as an early pragmatist rather than as a process philosopher. The central claim of this essay argues that Boodin is best understood as a pragmatically influenced process theist, one of the first in a modern context. This historiographical revision...
Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 2013
Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913), naturalist and explorer of South America and the Malay Archipe... more Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913), naturalist and explorer of South America and the Malay Archipelago, secured his place in history by independently discovering the theory of natural selection. His letter outlining the theory was sent from Ternate in eastern Indonesia and received at Down House, according to Charles Darwin (1809-82), on June 18, 1858, prompting the now-famed evolutionist to rush his languishing manuscript to press. Wallace's contributions to evolutionary biology, biogeography, and anthropology are well known, but his medical views have received far less attention. Within the context of a strident populist antivaccination movement and an ominous elitist eugenics campaign, Wallace took his stand, which revealed itself in a libertarianism that defended traditional socialist constituencies (the working poor, the lumpenproletariat, and feminist reformers) against state-mandated medical interventions. Rather than viewing Wallace as a heterodox contrarian, this article argues that his positions were logical outgrowths of his medical libertarianism and evolutionary and social theories.
Pharmacy in history, 2013
Metascience, 2018
J. David Archibald proposes to examine Charles Darwin through a fresh-albeit not unique-lens. ''I... more J. David Archibald proposes to examine Charles Darwin through a fresh-albeit not unique-lens. ''I do not claim novelty for any of the specifics I present here,'' he writes, ''rather, I attempt to emphasize the importance of Darwin's use of historical biogeography as his earliest major proof of evolution'' (xii). But this book actually has two interrelated goals: one is to locate the field of biogeography centrally within Darwin's theory of evolution through his magnum opus On the Origin of Species (1859); another is to use biogeography as a ''scientific'' cudgel with which to wage the author's war with metaphysics and religion. Darwin is his starting point. The importance of biogeography, the study of the distribution of species in geographical space and geological time, in modern biology is unquestionable. It serves as the foundation for convergent evolution and explains why certain creatures are found in one environment and not in others, establishing major faunal boundary lines (e.g., Huxley, Wallace, Lydekker) and zoogeographical realms. Biogeography certainly formed an important aspect of Darwin's evolutionary theory since chapters eleven and twelve of Origin are devoted to the topic and the two preceding chapters on the geological record and the succession of animals form prefatory statements on it. But biogeography as a central element in Darwin's theory, as Archibald suggests, is more debatable. As Jim Endersby (2009) points out in his masterful edition of Darwin's Origin, the geographical distribution of species was a major topic for nineteenth-century geologists and naturalists with Robert Brown, Augustin-Pyramus and Alphonse de Candolle, Joseph Hooker, and Alexander von Humboldt wrestling with its anomalies (419). Darwin had his trailblazers. The centrality of biogeography to Darwin's theory of evolution, insists Archibald, lies in the fossil record he observed
Theoretical biology forum, 2017
This essay responds to Peter T. Saunders's call to go Beyond the neo-Darwinist Paradigm. Whil... more This essay responds to Peter T. Saunders's call to go Beyond the neo-Darwinist Paradigm. While there is much to commend in his analysis, especially his suggestion that the extended evolutionary synthesis (EES) may not go far enough, he leaves the question of whether this should involve mere revision or total replacement open. A historiographical review reveals significant problems stemming from certain positivist assumptions and commitments within neo-Darwinian orthodoxy and the EES over and above any scientific considerations. As such, mere tweaking of the existing paradigm or its extension will do little to remedy the intellectual prejudices currently plaguing it. A complete overhaul is suggested by applying the López Ontological Demarcation Design (LODD) principle with biology in a multidisciplinary, non-reductionist philosophical framework. Building on the concept of Organismic-Systems Biology (OSB), a component of General Systems Theory (GTS) associated with polymathic biol...
Journal of the Medical Library Association JMLA
Journal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA, 2003
Journal of Pharmacy Teaching, 2001
Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 2014
Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 2004
ABSTRACT
Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 2012
Concerns about the anthropogenic ecological degradation of the planet—deforestation, species enda... more Concerns about the anthropogenic ecological degradation of the planet—deforestation, species endangerment, pollution, and an increasing carbon footprint—have prompted numerous studies calling for wide-ranging, comprehensive global programs. In this regard, Tim Flannery's effort in Here on Earth to enlist Alfred Russel Wallace, a nineteenth-century naturalist, in the service of a twentieth-century idea falls prey to presentism on the grounds of a conceptual misunderstanding and incomplete or interpolated primary data.
Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 2006