1,721,223 research outputs found
The cemetery of Alghero (1582-1583). The bioarchaeological study
No full textThe book presents a bioarchaeological analysis of the individuals exhumed from the cemetery of Alghero (Sardinia, Italy), which is associated with the plague outbreak that ravaged the city in 1582-1583. This cemetery revealed a particular burial typology, consisting in long and narrow trenches, each containing multiple inhumations, which attests a catastrophic event, such as an epidemic with high mortality in a short period of time. Given the rarity of human remains from epidemic contexts and buried in trenches, the skeletal sample from Alghero represents valuable material that offers a bioarchaeological picture of a post-medieval population which faced a plague episode. In fact, no other Italian plague cemeteries have been examined through a detailed bioarchaeological analysis, representing a model and a comparison for future researches.
The author examines a series of parameters, starting from the demographic profile of the sample, constituted by 181 individuals from 15 trenches, and the taphonomic analysis, and then analyzing stature, dental pathologies, stress indicators, degenerative joint disease, entheseal changes and other pathologies. The study is intended to illuminate a cross section of the Sardinian society during the 16th century in a coastal city through a holistic view, which interweaves the documentary evidence for plague, funerary responses and population health status at the time. The main objective is therefore to examine a population which lived during a period of plague, revealing its lifestyle, activity pattern and illnesses and providing a significant contribution to bioarchaeology, paleopathology, and archaeology of the Italian territory
Surgical pain management at the medical School of Salerno (11th-13th centuries)
No full textBefore the advent of general anesthesia, only poorly effective remedies were known to relieve pain. Although classical medical authorities describe a number of elaborate surgical techniques, no references about some forms of anesthesia are reported. Only the authors of pharmaceutical or botanical texts mention the use of substances, especially mandrake, to induce sleep in the patient. The first and most detailed evidences of general anesthesia described in medical texts of the western world can be found at the Medical School of Salerno. However, the use of substances aimed to relieve pain or to induce sleep during surgery is mentioned only by the authors of pharmaceutical or botanical texts and not by surgeons. Furthermore, the efficacy of these preparations to produce a profound and lasting sleep is doubtful. The general impression is that surgeons knew how to relieve pain, but considered it a necessary appendix of surgery and therefore an incisive effort to eliminate it was not pursued
Due scarabei inediti a nome delle divine adoratrici di Ammone Amenardis e Shepenupet
No full textNel lavoro vengono decsritti due scarabei appartenenti ad una collezione privata che riportano i nomi di due personaggi rilevanti della XXV dinastia: le divine Adoratrici di Ammone Amenardis e Shepenupet
An 18th century Tuscan pharmacy: analysis of the library
Full text linkThe archival documents of San Luca Hospital, which has long been the most important welfarist institution of the Republic of Lucca (Tuscany), are stored in the Record Offices of Lucca. The hospital was served by a pharmacy, where the medicaments were prepared for patients and for the needs of other institutions in the city. Three different inventories, dating back to 1719, 1749 and 1784, report on a list of books hosted in the pharmacy. The identification and analysis of the works available in the library have allowed to reconstruct the tendencies of pharmacy thoughts and practices in Lucca during the 18th century. The library of
the pharmacy of San Luca Hospital revealed the persistence of ancient medicine and of the pharmacy tradition, based mainly on the use of the simples. However, the influence of iatrochemistry, which following the paracelsian theories contributed to convert pharmacy from a botanical science to a chemical discipline, increased in the second half of the century, when the library was enriched with more recent works. The analysis of the inventories demonstrates the presence of both the galenic-arabic and chemical tradition, therefore reflecting an 18th century pharmacy supplied with a composite literature
I regolamenti medici. Le attrezzature medico-scientifiche
No full textNell’archivio di Stato di Lucca sono conservati documenti originali sullo Spedale di San Luca che permettono di conoscere in dettaglio il funzionamento e l’organizzazione della struttura, a partire all’incirca dalla metà del Settecento. Nel capitolo si analizzano in dettagli questi documenti
Su un caso di trapanazione multipla tra I “Martiri di Otranto”
No full textNella Cappella dei Martiri della cattedrale di Otranto sono conservati i resti scheletrici di centinaia di abitanti della città, uccisi il 14 agosto 1480 dalle milizie turche guidate da Gedik Ahmet Pascià; secondo la tradizione il massacro avvenne a seguito del rifiuto degli Otrantini a convertirsi all’Islam. I martiri sono stati beatificati nel 1771 e canonizzati il 12 maggio 2013 da Papa Francesco.
Tra i resti scheletrici, disposti dietro cinque grandi vetrate, è stata notata la presenza di una calotta cranica con 16 perforazioni perfettamente rotondeggianti e di varie dimensioni; di queste, 8 attraversano tutto lo spessore del tavolato cranico, mentre 8 sono perforazioni incomplete che non raggiungono il tavolato interno. Non si osserva alcuna traccia di reazione ossea intorno alle lesioni, indicando un intervento peri-mortem o post-mortem.
Le lesioni osservate sono il risultato di una trapanazione multipla effettuata con uno strumento dotato di una grande punta arrotondata; questo tipo di strumento non poteva produrre rondelle ossee, ma solo polvere d’osso. Sebbene non sia possibile stabilire con certezza le ragioni di queste trapanazioni multiple, possono essere avanzate diverse ipotesi, dalla chirurgia sperimentale ad una procedura per ottenere reliquie. Tuttavia, l’analisi della letteratura storico-medica attesta, a partire dal Rinascimento, l’uso di polvere di cranio umano come ingrediente per la cura dell’epilessia; alcuni autori suggeriscono l’utilizzo dell’osso polverizzato di individui deceduti di morte violenta e non sepolti, come è appunto il caso dei martiri di Otranto.
Pertanto il cranio di Otranto potrebbe rappresentare un’evidenza unica di trapanazione multipla effettuata per ottenere polvere d’osso da usare come ingrediente in preparazioni terapeutiche
The “Gout of the Medici”: Making the modern diagnosis using paleopathology
No full textDocumentary sources show that painful joint disease afflicted several members of the Medici family, which
dominated Renaissance Florence in Italy. The term frequently reported in contemporary archives to indicate
these morbid episodes is “gout.” Paleopathology allows us to verify the nosological information obtained from the written documents and to clarify the nature of the rheumatological condition that afflicted the Medici.
A paleopathological study carried out on the skeletal remains of several members of the Medici family buried
in the basilica of S. Lorenzo in Florence demonstrated that the “gout” of the Medici was truly a uric acid gout only in Ferdinand I (1549–1609), whose left foot showed peculiar lesions. Genetic and environmental factors, with particular regard to diet, may have been involved in the etiology of this disease, which in Ferdinand was associated with diffuse idiopatic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH). DISH was observed also in the column of Cosimo the Elder (1389–1464) and Cosimo I (1519–1574); a link between the incidence of DISH and high social status, especially in terms of lifestyle and nutritional patterns, has been suggested and the present study seems to further confirm this association. Finally, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) was diagnosed in Cosimo the Elder, Piero “the Gouty” (1416–1469) and Cardinal Carlo (1596–1666); as for Carlo, macroscopic and radiological findings were supported by molecular results which revealed that he was bearing the specificity HLA-DR4 predisposing to RA. The coexistence of DISH and RA attested in Cosimo the Elder can be interpreted as coincidental.
In conclusion, the term “gout” as used in Renaissance texts has to be regarded as the clinical manifestation of a number of different joint diseases. In the case of the Medici family in Florence, these included DISH,
rheumatoid arthritis and uric acid gout
I tumori in Paleopatologia: l'evidenza dalle mummie
No full textThe relative abundance of neoplastic lesions documented so far in paleopathological literature, distributed over a wide lapse of time and in different geographic areas, demonstrates that a number of tumours affected past populations. Nevertheless, if dozens of cases of tumors
affecting the skeleton are reported, only a few records are documented in soft tissues. The rarity of tumors in mummies is a debated problem; short life span of past populations, scarcity of mummified remains arrived to us in comparison with skeletal remains and technical difficulties to detect neoplastic lesions in ancient tissues seem to be the main reasons of the rarity of findings.
It is important to pay maximum attention to any little sign of neoplastic lesion in ancient human remains, in order to increase our limited knowledge about the type of tumours and relative incidence afflicting our ancestors.
Comparison with modern data could help understand the evolution patterns of cancer in the history of Mankind
Pulverized human skull in pharmacological preparations: possible evidence from the “martyrs of Otranto” (southern Italy,1480)
Full text linkEthnopharmacological relevance
Ever since the Late Medieval Ages historico-medical literature has attested the use of cranium humanun as an ingredient in pharmacological preparations for the treatment of epilepsy. Some authors suggest the use of pulverized bone obtained from individuals who died a violent death and were not buried.
Materials and methods
The skeletal remains of hundreds of male inhabitants from Otranto, killed by the Ottomans in a mass execution on 14 August, 1480, are preserved in the Chapel of Martyrs in Otranto Cathedral (Apulia, southern Italy). The so-called “martyrs of Otranto” were beatified in 1771 and canonized by Pope Francis on 12 May, 2013. A cranial vault with 16 holes of different sizes, with regular rounded shape, was noticed among the skeletal remains, symmetrically arranged behind five large rectangular windows. Eight of the 16 holes, which exposed the diploe without reaching the endocranial surface, are incomplete perforations, while 8 holes are complete perforations; no evidence of bone reaction is visible.
Results
The lesions are the result of a multiple trepanation performed by using an instrument equipped with a large rounded tip. This tool could not produce bone discs, but only bone powder. It is impossible to establish with certainty the reasons for these multiple trepanations, but several hypotheses can be advanced, ranging from experimental surgery to a procedure designed to obtain relics. However, saint bones are very likely to have been regarded as having medicinal properties. As a matter of fact the martyrs of Otranto died a violent death and were not buried, and the pulverized bone obtained from their skulls might have been considered a particularly powerful ingredient for pharmacological preparations, as attested in the historico-medical literature.
Conclusions
The skull of Otranto might represent a unique evidence of multiple trepanations carried out to obtain bone powder as ingredient for therapeutic preparations.</br
The paleopathological evidence on the origins of human tuberculosis: a review
Full text linkTuberculosis (TB) has been one of the most important infectious diseases affecting mankind and still represents a plague on a global scale. In this narrative review, the origins of tuberculosis are outlined, according to the evidence of paleopathology. In particular, the first cases of human TB in ancient skeletal remains are presented, together with the most recent discoveries resulting from the paleomicrobiology of the tubercle bacillus, which provide innovative information on the history of TB. The paleopathological evidence of TB attests the presence of the disease starting from Neolithic times. Traditionally, it was thought that TB has a zoonotic origin, being acquired by humans from cattle during the Neolithic revolution. However, the biomolecular studies proposed a new evolutionary scenario demonstrating that human TB has a human origin. The researches show that the disease was present in the early human populations of Africa at least 70000 years ago and that it expanded following the migrations of Homo sapiens out of Africa, adapting to the different human groups. The demographic success of TB during the Neolithic period was due to the growth of density and size of the human host population, and not the zoonotic transfer from cattle, as previously hypothesized. These data demonstrate long coevolution of the disease and its human host. Understanding the changes of TB through time thanks to the advances in the field of paleopathology can help to solve the problems of the present and understand the future evolution of TB
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