When I use a word . . . . Medical aphorisms

Abstract

An aphorism attributed to Albert Einstein—“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler”—appears to have been derived from a longer passage in his 1933 Herbert Spencer Lecture, given in Oxford and titled “On the Method of Theoretical Physics,” in which he suggested that theories should not be so simple as to “surrender the adequate representation of a single datum experience.”Aphorisms are supposed to illustrate truisms in short, pithy maxims. However, they are not always short or pithy and do not always illustrate truisms. For example, an aphorism attributed to William Osler begins with an important injunction (“Listen to the patient …”) but continues with a misleading assertion (“… he is telling you the diagnosis”). The patient’s tale is generally incomplete and needs to be supplemented by careful questioning and followed by careful observation, examination, and investigation. The aphorism might therefore be rewritten, less pithily but more accurately: “Listen to what the patient tells you, both spontaneously and on careful questioning; the patient’s tale is the first step on the road to a complete diagnosis.”

Powerpenia Should be Considered a Biomarker of Healthy Aging

“…Notably, the term powerpenia has not been used before in the literature. We contend that the use of the prefix power-will intuitively lead individuals to the meaning of the concept, and thus justifies the proposal of a neologism term [21]. The term power has only been considered as a medical subject heading in PubMed in terms of a psychological dimension, suggesting that skeletal muscle power is not a topic considered in biomedical and health-related contexts, contrary to muscle strength (but not dynapenia) and sarcopenia.…”