251 research outputs found
Paleonutrition and Paleopathology: Food and Disease at the Renaissance Courts of Naples and Florence
No full textThe study concerns 25 individuals from the Basilica of S. Domenico Maggiore in Naples (15th-17th centuries) and of 20 individuals from the Medici Chapels of the Basilica of S. Lorenzo in Florence (16th-17th centuries). The isotopes clearly reflect the large intake not only of meat but also of marine foods by the Italian aristocratic classes, especially from southern Italy, in the 15th-17th centuries. I present three important “clinical” cases. The left foot of Ferdinando I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (15491609), shows, at the peri-articular and articular surface of the interphalangeal joint of the hallux dorsum a lesion typical of chronic gout. High values of δ15N demonstrate a diet very rich in meat from terrestrial animals. This isotopic profile well correlates with the frequent attacks of gout referred by court chroniclers and with the diagnosis of chronic gout of the left big toe revealed by the paleopathological study. The skull of Don Filippino de’ Medici (1577-1582) shows nonsevere external hydrocephaly. The δ15N isotope values of don Filippino reveal a diet very rich in proteins of animal origin. The hereditary prince, was a frail and sickly child, affected by rickets. Probably for this reason, his parents and the court doctors forced him to eat more meat, considered at that time “the first source of physical strength”. Autopsy of the mummy of Ferrante I d’Aragona, king of Naples (1431-1494), revealed a moderately differentiated colon adenocarcinoma extensively infiltrating the muscles of the small pelvis. Ancient DNA amplification of the neoplastic cells by PCR in the mummy of Ferrante I evidenced a typical point mutation of the K-ras gene codon. The portraits of Ferrante reveal growing obesity from youth to maturity. Examination of the mummy of Ferrante, confirms his obesity. The paleonutritional data, with their high level of δ15N, show a massive intake of animal proteins. The alimentary “environment” of the Neapolitan court of the XV century and the sovereign’s habits, with his abundance of natural endogenous alkylating agents, well explain the K-ras mutation causing the tumor which killed the Aragonese king over five centuries ago
Paleonutrition and paleopathology: Food and disease at the renaissance courts of Naples and Florence
No full textPaleonutrition of the rural Italian population from the Middle Ages to the Contemporary Age: isotopic analysis of some Tuscan skeletal samples
No full textThe studies on paleodiet through stable isotope evidence of carbon (δ13C)and nitrogen (δ15N) content in bone collagen represent a line of investigation widely practiced in archaeology and anthropology. The application of this method in prehistoric American and European skeletal series, as well as in historical age groups, has provided new investigative tools to reconstruct environment, food economies, access to resources and social characterization of human groups in the past. This method was recently applied by the Division of Paleopathology of University of Pisa, in collaboration with the second University of Naples, in several samples from rural Tuscan cemeteries. These skeletal series are different in chronology, related to contexts of the Medieval (11th-14th century) and Post Medieval Ages (19th century), from the inner Apennine and the hilly Tuscany. The comparison of sites with different settling characteristics (Parish cemeteries, graveyards of Castle), as well as within a site with individuals occupying different spatial hierarchical positions (in proximity or away from the church), provides useful data to interpret the diet as social indicator. Our analysis also offers some insights to interpret correctly the meaning of results in relation to the material characteristics of burials, settlements and of the written sources. Finally isotope models allow us o advance some hypotheses on food and diet in different human groups
Chiral boson field theory for neutral and charged edge excitations of Laughlin liquids in smooth confining potentials
No full textA microscopic construction of the chiral boson edge field theory for neutral and charged excitations of generalized Laughlin's states in smooth confining potentials for two-edge geometries is described. This is done by taking account of the topological degrees of freedom of the two chiral fields, which obey a joint constraint due to overall neutrality. This establishes a thorough correspondence with some traits of the heterotic string construction. © 1998 Elsevier Science B.V
Trial wave functions for quantum Hall edge states
No full textTrial wave functions for Laughlin's liquids in the presence of confining potentials are considered. They lead to a description of fractional quantum Hall edge states as a prototype of the chiral Luttinger liquid. Their reliability is confirmed by Monte Carlo simulation of the equivalent classical plasma. © 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved
Focus Point on Past and Present: Recent Advances in the Investigation of Ancient Materials by Means of Scientific Instrumental Techniques
No full textMortar radiocarbon dating: Cryo2sonic sample preparation procedure. method and applications
No full textThe absolute chronology of archaeological contexts is mainly based on the radiocarbon dating of organic materials. This analytical approach often provides misleading results when the goal is to find a surprising relationship between organic matter and archaeological structures. Thus, discovering new radiocarbon dating methodologies on mortar samples, represents one of the main “open problems” involving the entire radiocarbon community. Mortars are heterogeneous building materials composed of a mixture of inorganic and/or organic binders, and inert with sandy dimensions. Indeed, the lime binder in mortar can be used to date archaeological structures, since the carbon dioxide absorbed during the setting of the mortar probably reflects the14C content existing in the atmosphere at that time. The main sources of carbon dioxide, that potentially contribute to a biasing in the final measure, are: the residues of primary carbonates (calcination relics) originating from the incomplete limestone combustion during the process of producing lime; aggregates containing carbonates used as inert materials during the production phases of the mortar; and newly formed carbonates precipitated after the interaction between running water or rain. Therefore, the preparation of the samples must eliminate the contamination (aggregate, calcination relics or crystallization of new calcite) which must be separated from the carbon belonging to the original binder. The methods, now more commonly used for the preparation of mortar samples, consist of a mechanical pre-treatment or a chemical treatment. This paper illustrates the so-called Cryo2Sonic procedure, and how it has been improved over time (previously it was “CryoSonic”), and developed with the use of other complementary techniques. Moreover, various case studies will be presented in which this radiocarbon dating protocol has been applied to mortars of different structures belonging to different phases and historical contexts. The results have not always been good, as there are many sources of contamination from the different origins of CO2. Our goal is to eliminate contamination as much as possible, or at least try to limit the effect of CO2 contamination
Approximate holomorphic representation for lowest Landau level wave functions in a cylindrically symmetrical electric field
No full textThe single particle aspects of an approximation scheme for electrons in the presence of a cylindrically symmetrical electric field whose symmetry axis has the same direction as that of a uniform magnetic field are considered. The approximation, previously proposed in the realm of the fractional quantum Hall effect, is tested numerically for a particular electric field interpolating between a bulk vanishing value and an edge harmonic field, and proved to be reliable if two conditions are obeyed
EXACT SOLUTION OF THE ANDERSON LATTICE MODEL WITH INFINITE-RANGE HOPPING
No full textWe present the exact solution of the Anderson lattice model, under the assumption of constant hopping amplitudes between any pair of lattice sites. Special care is devoted to the behaviour of the double occupation density for correlated electrons and to the occurrence of a metal-insulator transition driven by variations of the electron density. © 1995
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