#TBT Spotlight on Dr. Riojun Kinosita

Please note that on July 17, 2017 we corrected a error in the third paragraph of the original post. The original text indicated that the name of the chemical was “bitter yellow”; it should have indicated “butter yellow”, per the 1971 Scope article.

In the summer of 1971, after a 50 year career in cancer research, Riojun Kinosita, M.D., Ph.D., was honored with a retirement celebration hosted by the medical center staff at City of Hope. At the time of his retirement, Kinosita had spent 20 years working at City of Hope and was the chair emeritus of Experimental Pathology.

Kinosita, born in 1893, made many contributions to the field of cancer research from the 1920s to the late 1970s. He studied at both the Imperial University Medical School in Tokyo and at Cambridge, Freiburg im Breisgau in Germany, and London. He also helped to “cultivate the next generation of leaders in Japanese cancer research” as a professor of pathology at Imperial University in first Hokkaido and then Osaka. (Ohno, 1978, 871).

Some of the research accomplishments that Kinosita achieved throughout his career included findings about carcinogens. He “demonstrated [in 1934] that a chemical called butter yellow, used to color food, induced cancer of the liver.” Kinosita also “reported, [in 1936 at the Japanese Pathology Society], that other substances, including tobacco tar, could cause cancer.” (Scope, 1971, 5). Furthermore, Kinosita headed the City of Hope Cancer Research Institute  that was dedicated on July 18, 1952.  (The Torch of Hope, 1952, 1). The institute contained “laboratories for experimental pathology, histology, biochemistry, microbiology, tissue culture, as well as rooms for animal breeding, medical illustrations, instruments, statistics, a library, and a conference room.” (Ibid).

References retrieved from the City of Hope Archives

(1952, June-July). Cancer research institute at City of Hope to be formally dedicated on Friday, July 18. The Torch of Hope of the City of Hope. (4)6, 1.

(1971, July/August). Dr. Kinosita feted on his retirement. Scope, 5.

Ohno, Susumu (1978, March). Obituary: Riojun Kinosita. American Association for Cancer Research. Cancer Research (38), 870-871.

#TBT Spotlight on Dr. Ernest Beutler

This summer marks 40 years since Ernest Beutler, M.D. was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors for a scientist in the United States.

Beutler was born in 1928 to physician parents in Berlin, Germany but the family soon immigrated to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1935. Beutler went on to complete degrees at the University of Chicago and residency training in internal medicine at the University of Chicago hospitals. During his time at the University of Chicago, under the mentorship of Leon Jacobson, Beutler became interested in clinical hematology.

In 1953, during the Korean War, Beutler volunteered for the U.S. Army Medical Corps where he treated and studied malaria patients. After completing the Malaria Research Project and work on the biological warfare project, Beutler ended up back at the University of Chicago as a faculty member in the hematology division of the department of medicine.

Beutler worked at City of Hope for 20 years (1959-1979) before moving to Scripps Clinical Research Foundation as the chair of the Department of Clinical Research (1979-2008).

Throughout his 54 years of research, Beutler

contributed to improvements in diagnostic tests, treatment, and our understanding of the pathogenesis of hematological disorders, including inherited and acquired anemias; red cell enzyme abnormalities, notably glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency; iron deficiency; inherited iron overload disorders (e.g., hemochromatosis); glycolipid (lysosomal) storage diseases, especially Gaucher disease; and several types of leukemia. (Lichtman, 2012, 1).

References Retrieved from the City of Hope Archives

(1976, June/July). Dr. Ernest Beutler Honored by Nat’l. Academy of Sciences. Scope (14)4, 1.

Lichtman, M. A. (2012).  Ernest Beutler 1928-2008: A biographical memoir. Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences.

#TBT Spotlight on Dr. Susumu Ohno

On this month in 1966, Susumu Ohno, D.V.M., Ph.D., was announced chair of the Department of Biology at City of Hope by Paul L. Wermer M.D. Ohno was born on February 1, 1928, in Seoul, Korea. Although his father wanted him to pursue medicine, his first degree was from the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology in veterinary medicine. After completing his veterinary degree, Ohno pursued two doctorates in pathology and cytogenetics at the Hokkaido University. Ohno’s graduate work in immunology led to appointments at UCLA and eventually, in 1952, at City of Hope. Ohno made many contributions to science including:

1. Devised cinematographic techniques for the studying of living bone marrow.
2. [Findings in] chromosomal function, particularly with respect to sex determination.
3. Assign[ment] of musical notes to nucleotides, converting the sequences into musical passages. This made it possible to appreciate the repeating nature of the motifs in the DNA sequence. (Beutler, 2002, 6-9).

References Retrieved from the City of Hope Archives

(1966, July). Dr. Susumu Ohno named new chairman of medical center biology department. Scope (3)6, 1.

Beutler, E. (2002).  Susumu Ohno 1928-2000: A biographical memoir. Washington, D.C.: National Academies of Sciences.

“Federal Safety Standards Implemented at City of Hope” June, 1972

In June of 1972, Scope ran an article about the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) coming into effect. This new act was put in place “to assure that every employer covered under the act furnish[ed] to his employees a place of employment which [was] free from recognized hazards that [were] causing or [were] likely to cause death or series physical harm to his employees.”

City of Hope had a Safety Committee in place prior to the act, but ensuring full compliance with the new federal safety standards became a new part of its jobs. The committee was comprised of staff from nursing, personnel, employee health services, maintenance, security, administration, and housekeeping.

The article also printed the suggested safety guidelines from the Department of Labor and the American Hospital Association.

1. Take the law in conjunction with hospital safety and the welfare of yourself and fellow employees seriously.
2. Eliminate or report all obvious safety hazards in your work area to the Hospital Safety Committee.
3. Department heads and supervisory personnel should review their operations carefully and report to the Safety Committee any questionable violations.
4. Be ‘safety conscious’ on the job. Assign someone the responsibility of coordinating health and safety programs within your department.

June is National Safety Month and it is just as important today as it was in the 1970s to be educated on safety protocols while at work and at home. Look through some of the safety topics that are available through MedlinePlus to learn more:

• First Aid
• Disaster Preparation and Recovery
• Insects Bites and Stings
• CPR
• Germs and Hygiene
• Ergonomics
• Biking Safely

Additional resources for healthcare workers:

• Slip, Trip, and Fall Prevention for Healthcare Workers
• Occupational Health for Healthcare Providers

Furthermore, the library also has access to the electronic and print versions of both the Basic Life Support: Provider Manual and the Pediatric Advanced Life Support: Provider Manual.

If you are interested in finding more resources on safety topics contact us at library@coh.org or ext. 68497.

Nursing–Operating Room: Team Work is Their Motto, 1965

In 1991, the American Nurses Association designated May 6 to 12 as “National Nurses Week.” Today marks the final day of National Nurses Week 2016, and we are commemorating this by highlighting a “spotlight” article from the October 1965 issue of Scope.

At that time, the “Operating Room Nurses Staff” consisted of one administrative nurse and a staff of 12 men and women.