Talk:Rafiqul Islam (scientist)

The Daily Star misunderstands The Lancet

Newspaper The Daily Star writes in its obituary for Rafiqul Islam that, "British medical journal The Lancet called ORS potentially the most important medical advance of the 20th century." That is inaccurate.

The newspaper misapprehends an editorial in the August 5, 1978 issue of The Lancet, which says "The discovery that sodium transport and glucose transport are coupled in the small intestine, so that glucose accelerates absorption of solute and water, was potentially the most important medical advance this century. It opened the way to oral hydration treatment for severe diarrhœa." The journal distinguishes between discovery of how the body works (coupling in the small intestine) and the subsequent capitalizing on that understanding to develop treatments (such as ORS).

The editorial cites an earlier article, in the January 11, 1975 issue of The Lancet, which describes the discovery that "sodium transport and glucose transport are coupled in the small intestine, so that glucose accelerates the absorption of solute and water" as being "the work of many clinicians and biophysicists over several decades". It cites work by 17 people, going back to 1949, but not R. Islam. It goes on to say that "a practical treatment regimen using glucose/electrolyte solutions by mouth was devised", and cites 12 papers published between 1966 and 1974, with 38 authors. Assuming M. R. Islam and R. Islam both refer to Rafiqul Islam, he was an author on two of those papers, although not the principal author.

His work was important, but The Lancet didn't describe his work as "the most important invention of medical science in the twentieth century", so that quote has been removed from the article. --Worldbruce (talk) 19:43, 15 January 2019 (UTC)

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