Faculty Bibliography

Major pandemics have tremendous effects on society. They precipitated the early decline of the Western Roman Empire and helped spread Christianity. There are countless such examples of infectious diseases altering the course of history. The impact of epidemics on education however is less well documented. This present historical account of the past 800 years looks specifically at how some aspects of education were shaped from the early medieval epidemics such as leprosy and the Black Plague to the Spanish Flu and COVID-19. Leprosy changed religious education, and the Black Plague may have contributed to the rise of medical schools, hospitals, public health education, and led to the implementation of lazarettos and the quarantine. The smallpox epidemic helped usher in public health education for immunization, while the 1918 Spanish Flu precipitated the rise of education by correspondence, and recently COVID-19 has catapulted remote digital learning to the forefront of higher education.

Quackery in medicine is as old as medicine itself. In times of crisis desperate patients often believe extraordinary claims. In the annals of pain killer quack medicine, elixirs, nostrums and liniments hold a special position. The College of Dentistry at NYU received a collection of 234 bottles of nostrums and liniments dating from approximately 1850 through 1940. In this paper, the FOURTH in a series of articles featuring "Elixirs of the Past" we bring to light four more samples claiming to have magnetic properties: Dr. J.R. Miller's Magnetic Balm, Havens' Electromagnetic Liniment, Headman's Magnetic Liniments, and Magnetic Cream. It goes without saying that none of these had any magnetic properties. In 1906, Congress enacted The Pure Food and Drug Act to prohibit exaggerated or unsubstantiated claims in the marketing and labeling of household products and to control the use of potentially harmful ingredients. The modern-day use of internet advertisements to make unsupported claims is in some ways even more brazen than the advertisements from a century ago.

Quackery in medicine is as old as medicine itself. In times of crisis, desperate patients often believe extraordinary claims. In the annals of pain-killer quack medicine, snake oil, elixirs, nostrums and Indian liniments hold a special position. NYU College of Dentistry (NYUCD) has a collection of 234 bottles of such medicines dating from the mid-1800s through 1940. This paper is the fifth in a series of articles featuring "Elixirs of the Past" in which we bring to light six more samples with claims to traditional Chinese or American Indian medicine using snake oil: Virex Compound, Rattlesnake Bill's Oil, Electric Indian Liniment, The King of All Indian Oils, Millerhaus Antiseptic Oil and Celebrated Indian Lotion. The six examples are just a few quack medications linked to fraud, overdose, addiction or death. In 1906, Congress enacted The Pure Food and Drug Act and reinforced it with the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938, to stop unsubstantiated medicinal claims and control the use of addictive and dangerous substances. The modern-day use of social media to advertise quack medicine is in some ways even more brazen than selling patent medicine a century ago.

Quackery in medicine is as old as medicine itself. In times of crisis, desperate patients often believe extraordinary claims. In the annals of pain-killer quack medicine, elixirs, nostrums and liniments hold a prominent position. NYU College of Dentistry (NYUCD) has a collection of 234 bottles of such medicines dating from the mid-1800s through 1940. This paper is the second in a series of articles featuring "Elixirs of the Past" in which we bring to light five more samples containing opium: Dr. B.J. Kendall's Instant Relief for Pain, Dr. Munn's Elixir of Opium, Dill's Balm of Life, Foley's Pain Relief, and Brown's Instant Relief for Pain. These are just five examples out of countless syrups, nostrums, balm or liniments that contained narcotics and were linked to overdose, addiction and sometimes death. In 1906, Congress enacted The Pure Food and Drug Act to stop unsubstantiated medicinal claims and control the use of addictive substances. The modern-day use of internet advertisements to make unsupported claims is in some ways even more brazen than the advertisements from a century ago. Indeed, the recent widespread use of prescription painkillers, along with the resulting epidemic in opiate addiction that has caused upwards of 50,000 deaths is a case in point.

Quackery in medicine is as old as medicine. In times of crisis desperate patients believe in extraordinary claims. In the annals of pain killer quack medicine, elixirs, nostrums and liniments hold a special position. The College of Dentistry at NYU received a collection of 234 bottles of quack medicine dating from approximately 1850 through 1940. In this paper, the THIRD in a series of articles featuring "Elixirs of the Past", we focus on five particularly notable samples claiming to have "electric" properties: Electric Brand Oil Compound, Hunt's Lightening Oil, Electric Indian Liniment, Regent's Electric Liniment and Haven's Electro-magnetic Liniment. Needless to say, none of these contained electricity or even electrolytes for that matter. In 1906, Congress enacted The Pure Food and Drug Act to prohibit exaggerated or unsubstantiated claims in the marketing and labeling of household products and to control the use of potentially harmful ingredients. The modern-day use of internet advertisements to make unsupported claims is in some ways even more brazen than the advertisements from a century ago.

Zika virus (ZIKV) is an emerging virus belonging to the genus Flavivirus. ZIKV infection is a significant health concern, with increasing numbers of reports of microcephaly cases in fetuses and Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) in adults. Interestingly, chemosensory disturbances are also reported as one of the manifestations of GBS. ZIKV infects several human tissues and cell types in vitro and in vivo. However, there is no study demonstrating ZIKV infection and replication in chemosensory cells, including olfactory and taste cells. Taste papilla and olfactory cells are chemosensory receptor cells with unique histological, molecular, and physiological characteristics. Here we examined ZIKV infection (PRVABC59) in cultured human olfactory epithelial cells (hOECs) and fungiform taste papilla (HBO) cells in vitro, as well as in vivo mouse taste and olfactory epithelial and olfactory bulb tissues. Interestingly, while HBO cells showed resistance to ZIKV replication, hOECs were highly susceptible for ZIKV infection and replication. Further, we demonstrated the presence of ZIKV particles and expression of viral proteins in olfactory epithelium, as well as in olfactory bulb, but not in taste papillae, of immunocompromised mice (ifnar^/-) infected with the PRVABC59 strain of ZIKV. These observations suggest that chemosensory cells in the olfactory neuroepithelium and olfactory bulb may be important tissues for ZIKV replication and dissemination.

Quackery in medicine is as old as medicine. In times of crisis desperate patients believe in extraordinary claims. In the annals of pain killer quack medicine, elixirs, nostrums and liniments hold a preeminent position. The College of Dentistry at NYU received a collection of 237 bottles of nostrums and liniments dating from approximately 1850 through 1940. In this paper we inaugurate a series of articles featuring "Elixirs of the Past". We start this series with four samples, Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup, Dr. Grove's Anodyne for Infants, Jadway's Elixir for Infants and Kopp's, four of many teething syrups that contained narcotics and were linked to infant death at the end of the 19th century. In 1906 Congress introduced The Pure Food and Drug Act to stop unsubstantiated claims. Companies were fined in court cases and finally compelled to remove narcotics and stop making unsubstantiated claims. Unmasking past claims hopefully stops quacks of today. Nevertheless, far more unfounded and extraordinary claims are being made today, using social media, perhaps more brazenly than one hundred years ago.

The aim of this study was to assess the development of personalized dentistry in the curricula of North American dental schools from 2014 to 2017. In 2014, a web-based survey on personalized medicine/dentistry (PM/PD) was distributed to academic deans of all U.S. (n=65) and Canadian (n=10) dental schools with graduating classes. The results (n=42; 56% response rate) showed that few schools had plans for implementation of PM/PD at the time, even though the majority of respondents reported feeling that PM/PD should be taught in the curriculum and will impact clinical practice in the future. A three-year follow-up survey in 2017, sent to the same 75 schools, was designed to reassess the teaching/practice of PM/PD in dental schools in both didactic and clinical curricula. In the results of the 2017 survey (n=30; 40% response rate), the majority of respondents reported feeling that PM/PD should be taught in dental curricula. However, while most respondents indicated their schools did not teach PM/PD as a portion of their didactic curricula, they reported that specific pertinent PM/PD topics were taught as part of other courses in their curricula. The 2017 survey also evaluated the use of seven genetics-based and eight non-genetics-based PM/PD diagnostics in the schools' clinical curricula. Overall, non-genetics-based diagnostics were used more often than genetics-based diagnostics, and the use of genetics-based diagnostics was more prevalent in postgraduate than predoctoral clinics. Personalized dentistry will inevitably be part of the dental professional's future and should be reflected in basic science research, clinical settings, and dental school curricula in both predoctoral and postgraduate programs.