University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine - Hippocratean Yearbook (Pittsburgh, PA)

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£ ' ■ J U N I O R S CLASS OF 1954

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THE CLASSICAL 54 SYNDROME DHFINITIC ' lN : Tins is a disease, prcv.ilcin thrciui liout the ai;es. wliieh lias atfeeted a select ijroup ot individuals fortunate (?) enoutjh tci acquire it. Characterized .it first by anxiousncss, dreamini;. fearing, hoping, and praying for its on.set, tliis syndrome le.ives those it att.ieks with .mxiousness, dreams, fears, hopes, ,ind prayers that they can withstand its course ,ind fulfill its endowments. INCIDENCE: The unique fe.iture of this syndrome is th.it it .itfects hut one- hundred individu.ils. These one-hundred people arc those enrolled in the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, the class of 19.i4. Other syndromes of this type affect thousands of people, but only this sselect few were chosen to be the recipients of this particular one. This group ranges from Aarons to Zeedick; its ratio of male to female is 97 to ? (les jeuncs filles de la classe) . Geographically the va.st majority affected were from Pennsylvania. MORBID ANATOMY: Textbooks, of all sizes .ind merit, .ire the fund.iment.il pathological units. These have been supplemented by lectures, demonstrations, movies (snooze!), slides (more snooze!), and laboratories. Variation in their leader, location, length, .md content expl.iin the multiplicity of patliologic pictures. The primary morphologic m.inifestation is apparently focal injury to the nerve cells throughout the body. This resul ts in elation in some of the individuals, melancholia in others, and manic- depression in most. The entire disease process la.sts four years. The first two are devoted primarily to the depressive stage with the onset of the syndrome, the initial injury, and its major pathology. The la.st two ye.irs result in the manic stage with a progression of the di.sca.se, its climax, and demi.se. At this writing three of the four years have pa.s.sed. LABORATt RY blNDINCS: These ,iiv the te.itures of the first two ye.irs in the course of this affection. In the beginning there were the l.ibor.itories of gro.ss and microscopic anatomy. The findings here will never (?) be forgotten. These labs affected the class in many and v.iried w.iys. Dave Goodm.m, for example, .scurried hither and yon from di.ssecting t.ible to dissecting t.ible. one fine tl.iy, in ,i v.nn .ittempt to find th.it elusive right spleen ( we are bilaterally symmetrical. aren t we? ) Font.ma and Episcopo (the fungi boys) never did find the Inferior Ven.i Cava. The hundreds o slides in Histo contained .such ,i m.ize of little dots ,uid lines th.it most of the cla.ss decided to wait till Path to learn the former material ( stippling will never do! ). Gray sent Bodek. Michaels, and Pincus spinning along with most of the rest of the class. Ashor and Atwell will testify, too. th.it those little b.iby-pigs, so nicely sliced u| prepared, and .served, wvren ' t as appetizing as they were cracked up to be. Physiological Chemistry had its uriniferous aspects, and Russ Ander.son may still have that twenty- four hour specimen he .so tenaciously preserved in his refrigerator .it home over the enforced vacation of the big snmv. And it was all too true that Fusia and Gaylor weren ' t the only ones to Gram stain their fingers more often th.in tho.se bugs th.it cont.imin.ited everything and anything in the Bacteriology lab. As spring and the end of the Hr.st year arrived, all the members of this di.sea.se. bedraggled and li.iggard. did .in excellent job of drowning their sorrows in the free-flowMiig beer ,it North P.irk. This first year, filled with anxiety and apprehension, w.is a dillicult hurdle to overcome; it was, perhaps, the most difficult year, m.iinly because of Us uncert.iinty. But. .it l.ist. it w.is over. .ukI tlie class was one-fourth M.D. 46