{"id":49957,"date":"2021-03-29T18:58:23","date_gmt":"2021-03-29T17:58:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=49957"},"modified":"2021-04-09T19:05:22","modified_gmt":"2021-04-09T18:05:22","slug":"jeffrey-aronson-when-i-use-a-word-self-experimentation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2021\/03\/29\/jeffrey-aronson-when-i-use-a-word-self-experimentation\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeffrey Aronson: When I Use a Word . . . Self-experimentation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Self-experimentation, or autoexperimentation, is as old as experiments themselves. I have previously <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2021\/01\/08\/jeffrey-aronson-when-i-use-a-word-medical-anniversaries-in-2021\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">mentioned<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> the case of Daniel Alcides Carri\u00f3n, a medical student, who in 1885 had himself inoculated with an extract from a Peruvian wart (verruga peruana) and died from Oroya fever, since then also called Carrion&#8217;s disease (enfermedad de Carri\u00f3n). Lawrence K Altman gives many other examples in his book <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Who Goes First<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (Random House, 1987).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In his book <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Self-Experimenters. Sources for Study<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, Arsen P Fiks defined self-experimentation as \u201cThe conscious and deliberate implementation of an experiment, fully prepared in advance, done by a person on himself or herself\u201d. It might also be <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/324548\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">defined<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, more succinctly, as an experiment in which the experimenter and the subject are one and the same.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In 2014 I suggested to the organizers of the Cheltenham Science Festival that a session on self-experimentation might be of interest. They agreed, and invited Barry Marshall, winner, with Robin Warren, of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, who was in the country at the time, to take part. I therefore gave an introductory talk on Nobel Prizes won because of findings through self-experimentation. The 12 examples I chose are shown below.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-49958\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/03\/aronson_29_march_1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"492\" height=\"370\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/03\/aronson_29_march_1.jpg 492w, https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/03\/aronson_29_march_1-300x226.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 492px) 100vw, 492px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-49959\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/03\/aronson_29_march_2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"344\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/03\/aronson_29_march_2.jpg 480w, https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/03\/aronson_29_march_2-300x215.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-49961\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/03\/aronson_29_march_3again.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"496\" height=\"340\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/03\/aronson_29_march_3again.jpg 496w, https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/03\/aronson_29_march_3again-300x206.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 496px) 100vw, 496px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-49962\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/03\/aronson_29_march_4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"482\" height=\"336\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/03\/aronson_29_march_4.jpg 482w, https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/03\/aronson_29_march_4-300x209.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-49963\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/03\/aronson_29_march_5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"487\" height=\"338\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/03\/aronson_29_march_5.jpg 487w, https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/03\/aronson_29_march_5-300x208.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 487px) 100vw, 487px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-49964\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/03\/aronson_29_march_6.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"472\" height=\"340\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/03\/aronson_29_march_6.jpg 472w, https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/03\/aronson_29_march_6-300x216.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 472px) 100vw, 472px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">I mention all this because my survey of biomedical words listed in the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oxford English Dictionary<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> has arrived at those first cited in 1989, and the list includes <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Helicobacter<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (Table 1). In<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/6134060\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> 1983<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Barry Marshall and Warren cultured the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Helicobacter<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> organism from the human stomach, where it had been previously seen but ignored. They named it <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Campylobacter pyloridis<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, but the name contained two mistakes. They had first assumed that the genitive case of the postclassical Latin word pylorus, from the Greek \u03c0\u03c5\u03bb\u03c9\u03c1\u03cc\u03c2, a porter or gatekeeper, was \u201cpyloridis\u201d, as if it were a noun of the third declension, like \u201cgottis\u201d, whose genitive is \u201cglottidis\u201d; however, \u201cpylorus\u201d is of the second declension, and its genitive is \u201cpylori\u201d. They therefore <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.microbiologyresearch.org\/docserver\/fulltext\/ijsem\/37\/1\/ijs-37-1-68.pdf?expires=1616968856&amp;id=id&amp;accname=sgid026300&amp;checksum=545EA6665BC15F5A5C5F43CF6A8F5E92\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">changed the name<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Campylobacter pylori<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Table 1.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Biomedical words (n=11) in the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">OED<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> for which the earliest citations are from 1989 (out of a total of 152; I have found two antedatings (10 and 118 years)<\/span><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-49965\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/03\/aronson_29_march_7.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"356\" height=\"187\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/03\/aronson_29_march_7.jpg 356w, https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/03\/aronson_29_march_7-300x158.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 356px) 100vw, 356px\" \/><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">*Antedatings: oversupination (<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC5878514\/pdf\/glasgowmedj75292-0058.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">1871<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">); polysomnographer (<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/3424675\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">1979<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">) <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Although the organism resembled <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Campylobacter<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> organisms on light microscopy, more careful studies showed that the new organism was not of the same genus and that it deserved a name of its own. The name was therefore changed again, in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.microbiologyresearch.org\/content\/journal\/ijsem\/10.1099\/00207713-39-4-397?crawler=true\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">1989<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, to <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Helicobacter pylori<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, on account of the organism\u2019s appearance in the stomach (helical) and in vitro (rod-like).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Marshall told the story of his self-experimentation in his <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nobelprize.org\/prizes\/medicine\/2005\/marshall\/biographical\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nobel Prize lecture<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and in Cheltenham. Having failed to produce a model by infecting an animal, he decided to infect himself. He drank a broth containing <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Helicobacter pylori<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. After three days he developed symptoms of acute gastritis, confirmed at endoscopy. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Helicobacter pylori<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> was cultured from a biopsy and after 14 days he started to take antibiotics. The symptoms resolved.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The term \u201cself-experimentation\u201d is not to be found in the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oxford English Dictionary<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The earliest instance that I have found is from 1862, although there is an earlier instance still, used in the sense of \u201cself-reflection\u201d, from 1859.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Self-experimentation has also been <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/quantifiedself.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/deGroot-2017.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">referred to<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> variously as a \u201cself-directed N-of-1 study\u201d, self-tracking, self-quantifying, self-surveillance, sousveillance, personal science, personal informatics, body hacking, and, perhaps most appropriately, &#8220;extreme navel-gazing&#8221;. This type of activity is part of the so-called \u201cquantified self\u201d movement, in which users take advantage of modern technology, typically involving wearable sensors, to track their own functions, such as how much exercise they take or their quality of sleep. Such studies do not usually include therapeutic interventions, although they might. This differs from typical N-of-1 studies\u2014double-blind, placebo-controlled studies to determine the effects of specific interventions in single individuals. Both of these also differ from self-experimentation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">These terms have also been confused with what has been called \u201cpersonalized medicine\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/3457185\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Personalized<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201d in this context originally meant much the same as \u201cindividualized\u201d, in the sense of tailoring therapy to individual needs, without stipulating any particular method of doing so. The term was then <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/10551559\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">applied specifically<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to the use of genetic information to guide therapeutic interventions, such as predicting likely effective dosage regimens or identifying individuals who would either benefit or be harmed by an intervention. Now? Well the analysis below, inspired by the style of Jules Pfeiffer, summarizes current terminology.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-49966\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/03\/aronson_29_march_8.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"735\" height=\"328\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/03\/aronson_29_march_8.jpg 735w, https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/03\/aronson_29_march_8-300x134.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/03\/aronson_29_march_8-640x286.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 735px) 100vw, 735px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><em><strong>Jeffrey Aronson<\/strong>\u00a0is a clinical pharmacologist, working in the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine in Oxford&#8217;s Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences. He is also president emeritus of the British Pharmacological Society.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><strong>Competing interests:<\/strong> None declared.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2020\/11\/13\/jeffrey-aronson-when-i-use-a-word-the-food-of-paradise\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-49967 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/03\/aronson_29_march_9.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"630\" height=\"1442\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/03\/aronson_29_march_9.jpg 630w, https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/03\/aronson_29_march_9-131x300.jpg 131w, https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2021\/03\/aronson_29_march_9-447x1024.jpg 447w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Self-experimentation, or autoexperimentation, is as old as experiments themselves. I have previously mentioned the case of Daniel Alcides Carri\u00f3n, a medical student, who in 1885 had himself inoculated with an [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2021\/03\/29\/jeffrey-aronson-when-i-use-a-word-self-experimentation\/\">More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":38359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5762],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jeff-aronsons-words"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Jeffrey Aronson: When I Use a Word . . . 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