1,721,009 research outputs found
A depiction of poliomyelitis in a 17th -century Piedmontese fresco?
No full textIntroduction: A potential representation of poliomyelitis is investigated in an Italian artwork. Materials and methods: A 17th century Piedmontese fresco is analyzed by combining historico-medical, palaeopathological and clinical approaches. Alternative diagnoses are considered. Results, discussion and conclusions: The man appearing in the fresco holding a crutch is characterized by an atrophic left leg reminiscent of poliomyelitic atrophic. Other congenital anomalies or cerebrovascular causes appear less likely. A reflection on the difficulty of retrospectively diagnosis poliomyelitis is offered
What to keep and what to return from blended anatomical education: an assessment from sport sciences students
Full text linkGross anatomy classes are considered a crucial component of biomedical education worldwide. However, the most effective way to teach anatomy to students is still up for debate. It is important to evaluate the curriculum, teaching methods, delivery quality, and infrastructure to improve the teaching and learning experience. In recent years technical improvements changed how anatomy is delivered to students and questioned the possible over-coming of dissection as the main instrument in anatomical education
Picasso’s Science and Charity and the evolution of the medical art
No full textThe present article reflects on the evolution of clinical medicine throughout time by commenting on Picasso's painting Science and Charity (1897) through a biomedical lens. The two souls of medicine, namely the cold scientific one and the compassionate one, are examined in their dichotomy and their relationship with today's concepts of cure and well-being
Inflammation Beats Cholesterol: A Comment on the Unequivocal Driver of Cardiovascular Disease Risk
Full text linkDespite advancements in the current standard of care, cardiovascular diseases continue to hold the top spot as the leading cause of mortality worldwide. The development of atherosclerosis is the most common culprit behind ailments such as myocardial infarction, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease. Consequently, it imposes a significant burden on life expectancy, quality of life, morbidity, and societal costs. Both increased cholesterol levels and the activation of the inflammatory cascade are known as cardiovascular risk facts. Their relative weight is in the spotlight of curent biomedical research. Newly published data shed light on the role of inflammation in determining cardiovascular risk irrespective of cholesterol levels and cholesterol-lowering therapies
Aspetti paleopatologici
No full textUn’antica regina egizia avvolta nel mistero. Un’esistenza segnata dalle oscure trame politiche di uno dei maggiori intrighi internazionali dell’antichità – l’affaire Daḫamunzu –, la sua successiva scomparsa dalle fonti storiche e archeologiche, la controversa attribuzione della sua identità a una mummia scoperta dall’esploratore padovano Belzoni, la dubbia suggestione di una patologia intravista nelle sue raffigurazioni artistiche,le possibilità offerte dalla ricerca genetica, la fortuna del personaggio nell’arte cinematografica: a tutte queste (e ad altre) domande cerca di fornire risposte il saggio di Habicht e Galassi, egittologo il primo, antropologo e paleopatologo il secondo, adottando un approccio multidisciplinare che, con rigore, analizza una figura complessae affascinante a un tempo
The "Lost Caravaggio": a probable case of goiter in seventeenth-century Italy
No full textMost human cancers, including myeloma, are preceded by a precursor state. There is an unmet need for in vivo models to study the interaction of human preneoplastic cells in the bone marrow microenvironment with non-malignant cells. Here, we genetically humanized mice to permit the growth of primary human preneoplastic and malignant plasma cells together with non-malignant cells in vivo. Growth was largely restricted to the bone marrow, mirroring the pattern in patients with myeloma. Xenografts captured the genomic complexity of parental tumors and revealed additional somatic changes. Moreover, xenografts from patients with preneoplastic gammopathy showed progressive growth, suggesting that the clinical stability of these lesions may in part be due to growth controls extrinsic to tumor cells. These data demonstrate a new approach to investigate the entire spectrum of human plasma cell neoplasia and illustrate the utility of humanized models for understanding the functional diversity of human tumors
Dyspepsia in the middle ages: a reference in Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron (14th century AD)?
Full text linkThe short story tells of the renowned Italian bandit Ghino di Tacco (ca. 1270-ca. 1303-13, Figure 1) who captures and imprisons the then-abbot of Cluny as the latter is headed to thermal waters near Siena to cure his stomach ailments, a practice commonly recommended by the medicine of those times. Ghino, having learned of the prelate’s discomfort, eschews the baths and instead treats the patient in his own way over the next several weeks or more (4).
Ghino orders the abbot to fast, allowing him each day no more than two slices of toasted bread and a large glass of Vernaccia da Corniglia wine (due fette di pane arrostito e un gran bicchiere di vernaccia da Corniglia), claiming that he had studied medicine as a young man and knew that there was "no better medicine for stomach ailments" (niuna medicina al mal dello stomaco esser miglior) (4)
Discovery of the first recorded use of "gout" as a medical term in history before AD 1000
No full textHere we trace what, to the best of our knowledge, is the
first mention of gutta. It can be found in the Vita Wiboradae
virginis et martyris, “The Life of Saint Wiborada”, describ
ing a member of the Swabian nobility, anchoress and Benedictine nun (Fig. 1) at the Abbey of St. Gall (Switzerland),
who suffered martyrdom during the Hungarian invasion of
St Gall in 926. Her two biographies (Vitae) [4, 5] were both
written by monks at the same Abbey: the former was begun
by Hartmannus around 960 and finished by Ekkeard the
Elder (died 973), and the latter composed around 1075 by
Herimannus (or following the St. Gall manuscript, Hepidan
nus)—in the literature the two authors appear sometimes to
be confused or even identified with each other
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