Armond S. Goldman Bücher

In 1921, at age 39, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) was struck by a serious illness that left his legs permanently paralyzed. FDR's illness was diagnosed by his doctors as "infantile paralysis" (paralytic polio), and that diagnosis was universally accepted. Over eight decades later, Dr. Armond S. Goldman and his colleagues discovered that a very different disease - Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) - nearly unknown in the US in 1921 - was the most likely cause of FDR's illness. A great controversy ensued, which continues to this day. Prisoners of Time tells the complete story of FDR's illness, how he nearly died, how Eleanor saved his life, why FDR's doctors got the diagnosis wrong, the first clues that FDR did not have polio, how it was determined that FDR likely had GBS, why the polio misdiagnosis has persisted, and why getting the diagnosis correct matters. The misdiagnosis of FDR's 1921 illness is a case study of how doctors can only diagnose what they know, how millions of people can accept myth as fact, and how new research can correct the historical record. Readers are invited to enjoy the intriguing story and form their own conclusions, based on the evidence presented.

Four years ago the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) brought together a group of scientists to Belmont, Maryland to examine the status of human milk banking. During those deliberations, the idea was generated to organize a series of research conferences concerning human lactation and the composition and biological effects of human milk. The first one, organized by Robert G. Jensen from the University of Connecticut and Margaret C. Neville from the University of Colorado, dealt with methodologic issues. An additional meeting to explore the effects of maternal and environmental factors upon human lactation and the composition of human milk was organized by Margit Hamosh from Georgetown University and me, and was held in January, 1986 in Oaxaca, Mexico. Those meetings provided the foundation for the design of the present conference, 'The Effects of Human Milk Upon the Recipient Infant'. In addition to a grant from the NICHD, the conference was generously supported by Milupa AG from the Federal Republic of Germany; Wyeth Limited and Mead Johnson of Canada; and Ross Laboratories, Heinz USA, the Mead Johnson Nutritional Group, Wyeth International Limited, Gerber Products Company, the La Leche League International, Glaxo Incorporated and Sandoz Pharmaceutical Corporation from the United States.