National Nurses United

and salamanders, vertebrates, that are able to withstand highly toxic environments. But according to evolutionary biologists, these adaptions have their costs, both to the species itself and to those farther up the food chain. All of this naturally prompts the question, "How are humans evolving in response to these selection pressures, these antibiotics, toxins, and chemicals?" Some would say we are not (e.g. we're dying), while others would say that, however slowly or unnotice- ably, humans are still evolving. Monosson's last chapter deals with the latest research frontier of epigenetics, the study of how our bio- chemical environment helps determine the expression of our genes. For example, identical twins sharing the same exact DNA may be exposed to different environmental influences that chemi- cally mark the genes, turning them on or off, and may lead to dif- ferent outcomes. One of the big questions epigeneticists are grappling with is whether these chemical markers are hereditable between genera- tions and, if they are, what are the ramifications? "Whether or not epigenetics is a game-changer for evolution, it ought to be a game- changer for how we think about chemicals and chemical exposures," writes Monosson. "With a little bit of knowledge and foresight, we can strive to prevent harm before harm becomes imprinted upon our genomes for years to come." —Lucia Hwang We Band of Angels: The Untold Story of the American Women Trapped on Bataan By Elizabeth M. Norman Random House Trade Paperback, 2013 Pay no attention to the corny title. We Band of Angels is a terrific book, and any registered nurse or lover of history will, from the book's first pages, be completely engrossed by Elizabeth Norman's thoroughly researched and expertly told story about a group of World War II Army and Navy Nurse Corps nurses stationed in the Philippines who were the first group of military women to not only see combat but survive for three years as Japanese prisoners of war. This book has everything: nursing, danger, drama, suspense, humor, despair, romance, heartbreak, and honor. First published in 1999, and now updated to include details about the 2012 passing of Milly Dalton, the last surviving nurse POW, Norman's book provides an unflinching and unsentimental portrayal of a group of 77 women subjected to extraordinarily hor- rific circumstances, but who found strength in themselves and one another, and particularly in their identity and work as registered nurses. (For those of you with teenage grandkids or nieces and nephews, Abrams Books for Young Readers is putting out a book called Pure Grit: How American World War II Nurses Survived Battle and Prison Camp in the Pacific which largely tells the same story, but at an age-appropriate level of language, detail, and with a lot more photos.) The story opens on the tropical paradise setting of the Philippines, where many young, independent nurses and other military personnel What the Apothecary Ordered: Questionable Cures Through the Ages Edited by Caroline Rance Old House Books, 2014 Thank god for modern medicine. This novelty book reminds us what used to pass for healing in ancient times. Divided into chapters that detail cures for deadly dis- eases, cosmetic issues, reproductive health, everyday trou- bles, and mental health concerns, this book will have you alternately howling with laughter and clearing your throat in disgust. Many of the medicinal recipes feature concoc- tions made from the dung from various livestock, human bodily fluids, and heavy metals like mercury. Others are lit- tle more than superstitious instructions. Interspersed among the "cures" are fascinating illustrations, medicine labels and advertisements, and illuminated text pages. Caroline Rance, the editor, is also curator and editor of thequackdoctor.com, a blog which "investigates the sto- ries behind the advertised medicines of the Victorian era." This particular volume has plenty of remedies from that period, as well as from medieval times and the era of Pliny the Elder, a Roman naturalist and philosopher living in the first century A.D. We'll just leave you with one "excellent" remedy for "the piles" (inflamed hemorrhoids) recommended by the 1659 book Culpeper's School of Physick: "Take a grey Cat, and cut her throat, then flea her and roast her, and save her grease, boil the blood and the grease together, and anoint the Piles with it as hot as you can endure it; this seems to me pretty rational, because a Cat is a Beast of Saturn." —Lucia Hwang J U LY | A U G U S T 2 0 1 4 W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G N A T I O N A L N U R S E 25

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