/oss/taxonomy/term/4659/all en /oss/article/medical-student-contributors-history/tuberculin-under-your-skin <p>Throughout its lifetime, tuberculosis (or TB) has gone by <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/tb/worldtbday/history.htm#:~:text=TB%20in%20humans%20can%20be,China%20(2%2C300%20years%20ago).">many names</a>. The ancient Greeks called it “phthisis”. In the 1700s, it was “the white plague”. And in the 1800s, it was “consumption” – perhaps because of how the rapid weight loss caused by TB seems to consume the patient. Tuberculosis is not just of historical interest; it is still with us today and is a <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tuberculosis">modern global crisis</a>.</p> Fri, 14 Jul 2023 10:00:00 +0000 Maya McKeown, B.Sc. 9567 at /oss /oss/article/covid-19-health/placebos-used-vaccine-trials-do-not-please-everyone <p>Against what does a vaccine need to be tested in the context of a clinical trial? The answer that pops immediately to mind is “a placebo.” In the medical sciences, things get compared to placebos to see if they have inherent potency or if it’s all about the theatre and natural circumstances surrounding them. And because placebos are frequently thought of as sugar pills and saline injections, it’s understandable that some people look at vaccine trials and are puzzled as to why, in specific cases, the experimental vaccine was not compared to an injection of a saline solution.</p> Fri, 03 Jul 2020 20:24:05 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 8329 at /oss