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Edward Rubenstein

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Edward Rubenstein
Born(1924-12-05)December 5, 1924
Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
DiedMarch 11, 2019(2019-03-11) (aged 94)
Alma materUniversity of Cincinnati
AwardsMember of the Institute of Medicine (1981)
Member of Major Materials Facilities Committee, The Governing Board of the National Research Council (1984)
Master of the American College of Physicians (1986)
Kaiser Award for Innovative and Outstanding Contributions to Medical Education (1989)
Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1992)
Albion Walter Hewlett Award Recipient (1993)
British Medical Association Award for Editor of Best Book Published Worldwide (Molecular Medicine) (1995)
American College of Physicians Laureate (2002)
Scientific career
FieldsMolecular biology, physics, medicine, chemistry
InstitutionsStanford University
National Research Council (United States)

Edward Rubenstein (December 5, 1924 – March 11, 2019)[1] was an American doctor of internal medicine, with major contributions in the fields of medical education, research (physics, biophysics and biochemistry), and the arts.

Mechanisms of blood clotting

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Edward Rubenstein was an Internal Medicine physician, with areas of expertise which included clotting disorders that predispose to pulmonary embolism.[2][3]

Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Project

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In the early 1970s Stanford University marked a landmark period in particle physics research with the creation of the colliding beam storage ring, called the Stanford Positron Electron Accelerating Ring (SPEAR) in 1972. Among the famous discoveries were the J/psi and tau particles. A byproduct of the ring's operation was an intense beam of synchrotron radiation. Rubenstein and his colleagues E. Barrie Hughes and Robert Hofstadter posited that there may be numerous applications of this intensely powerful, tuneable, and linearly polarized radiation to biomedical imaging, including intravenous coronary arteriography. They devised a synchrotron radiation based imaging system which has been used worldwide.[4][5]

Rubenstein proposed that the polarized synchrotron light which is emitted by relativistic electrons orbiting neutron stars (linear in the plane of rotation, with opposite helicity above and below the plane) would selectively photolyze chiral molecules floating on grains in nearby space. This mechanism would produce an enantiomeric excess of either right- or left-handed molecules which can be delivered to Earth by passing comets.[6]

Nonprotein amino acids

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In addition, Rubenstein pioneered research on the consequences of the misincorporation of nonprotein amino acids, especially the lower homologue of proline, azetidine-2-carboxylic acid (Aze). This compound eludes the gate-keeping function of the prolyl tRNAs, and enters a wide range of proteins. For instance, the central region in a consensus epitope of myelin basic protein consists of the sequence: proline, arginine, threonine, proline, proline, proline. Dairy milk from cattle fed sugar beet byproducts is high in Aze, therefore infants fed such milk are exposed to Aze in their diets.[7][8]

Editorships and authorships

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Rubenstein contributed numerous book publications in the medical and physics literature. The volume entitled Introduction to Molecular Medicine was selected by the British Medical Association as the Best Book Published in Medicine in 1995.

Editorships

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  • Editorial advisory board, Current Contents / Clinical Practice, 1973-1986.
  • Founding editor-in-chief, Scientific American MEDICINE, 1978-1994.
  • Editor, Synchrotron Radiation Handbook, Vol. IV, North-Holland Publishing Co., 1990.
  • Co-editor, Synchrotron Radiation in Life Sciences, Oxford University Press, 1994.
  • Series editor, Molecular Medicine, Scientific, American, Inc., New York, 1994.

Textbooks

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  • Rubenstein E. Intensive Medical Care: Edward Rubenstein McGraw Hill, 1971.
  • Tavares BM, Rubenstein E, Scott, AA, Paras M, Wilson A, Ney W. Tratamento Intensivo Technicas de Atendimento, Rio de Janeiro, 1975.
  • Ebashi S, Rubenstein E, Koch M. Volume Editors, Handbook on Synchrotron Radiation, North-Holland Physics Publishing, Amsterdam, 1990.
  • Huxley H, Ebashi S, Mitsui T, Schmahl G, Rubenstein E, Goodhead DT, Sasaki T, eds. Synchrotron Radiation in the Life Sciences, Volume 2, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1994.
  • Rubenstein E. Introduction to Molecular Medicine, Scientific American Medicine, New York, 1994.
  • Haber E. ed., Rubenstein E, vol. ed. Molecular Cardiovascular Medicine, Scientific American Medicine, New York, 1995.
  • Bishop JM, Weinberg RA, eds., Rubenstein E., vol. ed. Molecular Oncology, Scientific American Medicine, New York, 1996.
  • Martin JB, ed., Rubenstein E, vol. ed. Molecular Neurology, Scientific American Medicine, New York, 1998.

References

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  1. ^ Erickson, Mandy. "Retired Stanford professor Edward Rubenstein, pioneer in intensive care medicine, dies at 94". Stanford Medicine News Center. Retrieved 2019-04-03.
  2. ^ Rubenstein, Edward (1962). "Blood Clotting: The Force of Retraction". Science. 138 (3547): 1343–1344. Bibcode:1962Sci...138.1343R. doi:10.1126/science.138.3547.1343. PMID 13982964. S2CID 73383.
  3. ^ Rubenstein, Edward (1967). "Studies on Clot Tensile Strength". Thromb Diath Haemorrh. 17 (3/04): 552–60. doi:10.1055/s-0038-1654179. PMID 5589302. S2CID 37528878.
  4. ^ Rubenstein, E; Hughes, EB; Campbell, LE; Hofstadter, R; Kirk, RL; Krolicki, TJ; Stone, JP; Wilson, S; Zeman, HD; Brody, WR; Macovski, A; Thompson, AC (1981). "Synchrotron Radiation and its Application to Digital Subtraction". Proc. SPIE. 0314. doi:10.1117/12.933021. S2CID 123396159.
  5. ^ Rubenstein, E; Hofstadter, R; Zeman, HD; Thompson, AC; Otis, JN; Brown, GS; Giacomini, JC; Gordon, HJ; Kernoff, RS; Harrison, DC; Thomlinson, W (1986). "Transvenous Coronary Angiography in Humans using Synchrotron Radiation". Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 83 (24): 9724–9728. Bibcode:1986PNAS...83.9724R. doi:10.1073/pnas.83.24.9724. PMC 387213. PMID 3467334.
  6. ^ Rubenstein, E; Bonner, WA; Noyes, HP; Brown, GS (1983). "Supernovae and Life". Nature. 306 (5939): 118. Bibcode:1983Natur.306..118R. doi:10.1038/306118a0. S2CID 4319740.
  7. ^ Rubenstein, Edward (2008). "Misincorporation of the Proline Analogue Azetidine-2-Carboxylic Acid in the Pathogenesis of Multiple Sclerosis: A Hypothesis". J Neuropathol Exp Neurol. 67 (11): 1035–1040. doi:10.1097/nen.0b013e31818add4a. PMID 18957898.
  8. ^ Morgan, AA; Rubenstein, E (2013). "Proline: The Distribution, Frequency, Positioning, and Common Functional Role of Proline and Polyproline Sequences in the Human Proteome". PLOS ONE. 8 (1): e53785. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...853785M. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0053785. PMC 3556072. PMID 23372670.