L'astragalo di Dario

After hunting, the king of Persians Darius I gets off a horse in a quite rough way and gets a sprain in which the astragalus becomes dislocated. The wise Egyptian physicians on duty at his court cannot heal the shooting pain which keeps him awake for a week. By chance, Democedes, the famous physician from Croton, happens to be at Persian court as a slave and Darius, finding out about it, doesn’t esitate to commit himself to his healing which turns out to be providential. This tale, which in its richest and most interesting version came to us thanks to the Greek historian Herodotus, allows not only a reflection upon the ancient therapeutical approaches to the sprains, thanks to the comparison with Hippocratic treaties on fractures and articulations, but also some anatomical considerations on the interaction between astragalus and the articulations it is connected with

Maschile e femminile nella trasmissione dei caratteri ereditari. Da Atene a Sparta

The selection of individuals through eugenic criteria was a widespread habit in the ancient Greek society, especially at Sparta where εὐγενέτης is a very meaningful word: it expresses both the social high rank of Spartiates and the physical perfection the community requires. Not surprisingly the same term referred to animals means “well breeding”. However, though in Athens the patrilineal transfer of hereditary characters has a higher juridical value, according to the oldest embryological beliefs, at Sparta woman’s role in the eugenic determination of the race turns out to be more active and not limited to that of mere container. Thereafter, came the necessity of physical training and of a diet during pregnancy to offer the community a healthy birth. As the male trains himself for war and his glory consists in returning victorious or dying for his fatherland, similarly also the Spartan woman prepares to her utmost challenge, that is: her delivery, which may even lead to death

Children in Greco-Roman society. Age, development, work and nosological relevance. A historico-medical perspective

The definition of childhood in historical studies is as recent a problem as the attention devoted by scholars to this age group. A reflection on the nomenclature used in Greek and Latin literary, epigraphic, legal and properly medical sources and the comparison with paleopathological studies allows us to interpret the historical perception of childhood in terms of incompleteness. In the Hippocratic and Galenic tradition this incompleteness unites children to fragile and marginalized categories, namely women and the elderly, but above all it does not recognize their specific diseases, delaying the birth of pediatrics for centuries

Commentary on Raphael's The Transfiguration

Historical sources about Raphael’s death provide different hypotheses about its cause. Continuous fever is the only symptom described. Raphael’s lucidity in managing his last affairs exclude syphilis, made widespread by the French army. The same applies to malaria, which was endemic in Rome. Not even the reference to bloodletting helps us,1 as it was a longstanding therapy to reduce fever. The most prudent hypothesis is an infectious diseas

Influence of ewe feeding systems on carcass quality of suckling lambs

Numerous studies have evidenced significant differences in the carcass and meat quality of grass-fed and concentrate-fed lambs. The main differences regard carcass fatness (Murphy et al., 1994), subcutaneous fat colour (Prache and Theriez, 1999), meat colour (Priolo et al., 2002a) and fatty acid composition (Enser et al., 1998). The use of grazing in lamb feeding favours the presence of substances in the meat which are beneficial to human health. Different methods, based on the spectrophotometric properties of fat have been proposed to verify the origin of the product (Priolo et al., 2002b). The objective of the present study is to verify if and to what extent the carcass quality of suckling lambs is affected by ewe feeding systems

Interdisciplinary rehabilitation in morbidly obese subjects: an observational pilot study.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: To assess the clinical effectiveness of a interdisciplinary rehabilitation programme (CR), in a population of morbidly obese subjects we have undertaken a observational study. METHODS: The study included fifty-nine adult subjects (18 M, 60+/-10 years, BMI 47+/-8) with sleep-disturbance related symptoms and disabilities. Assessment and correction of sleep disordered breathing (SDB) abnormalities, improvement of exercise tolerance, body weight and associated psychological features were the aims of this CR, which has been carried out over a 1 month period.Lung functions, apnea/hypopnea index (AHI), 6-minute walking distance (6MWD), body weight (BW), quality of life by means of Sat-P questionnaire and serum metabolic data has been recorded at baseline (TO), at the end (Ti) and 6 months after (T2) the CR. RESULTS: The percentage of patients with AHI > 10 declined from 65% (at TO) to 20% (at both T1 and T2). 6MWD and BW significantly improved (p < 0.005) at T1 and still maintained at T2; a significant relationship (r = 0.379, p < 0.01) has been found between changes of BW and 6MWD recorded in between TO and T2. Sat-P item scores dealing with sleep efficiency, problem solving, and social interactions improved (p < 0.01) at T1 and still maintained at T2. CONCLUSIONS: This hospital-based CR provides indication for effectiveness in advanced morbidly obese subjects and warrants further controlled trials to confirm the results

Impact of comprehensive pulmonary rehabilitation on anxiety and depression in hospitalized COPD patients.

To prospectively evaluate the effect of inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation (iPR) on anxiety and depression as outcome measures in patients with COPD, we studied 149 consecutive adults COPD referred to our iPR after an exacerbation. Patients were divided according to the GOLD staging into: Group 1 (stage 2a, n = 48, FEV1 63 +/- 9% pred.), Group 2 (stage 2b, n = 53, FEV1 42 +/- 6% pred.) and Group 3 (stage 3, n = 48, FEV1 25 +/- 7% pred.). The iPR consisted of twelve 3-hours daily sessions. Hospital Anxiety Depression (HAD) Scale as well as 6-minute walk (6MWD) with evaluation of dyspnea (D) and leg fatigue (F) at rest and end of effort, and health related quality of life by means of St. George Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) were assessed before (T0) and after (T1) the iPR. 6MWD, D and F at end of effort and SGRQ total score similarly improved (p < 0.001) in all groups after iPR. The mean level of HAD-anxiety (from 9.1 +/- 4.0 to 7.7 +/- 3.5, from 9.0 +/- 4.6 to 7.2 +/- 4.6 and from 8.1 +/- 4.1 to 6.7 +/- 4.3 in group 1,2 and 3 respectively) and HAD-depression (from 9.4 +/- 3.5 to 8.2 +/- 3.5, from 9.1 +/- 4.2 to 8.2 +/- 4.5 and from 9.0 +/- 4.0 to 7.4 +/- 4.5 respectively) similarly changed (p < 0.0001) over time in all groups. The total percentage of patients with abnormal score (> 10) of HAD-anxiety (from 31% to 21%) and HAD-depression (from 30% to 22%) significantly decreased (p < 0.05) after the iPR. Inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation may improve levels of anxiety and depression as well as symptoms, exercise capacity and health related quality of life in moderate to severe COPD patients after an acute exacerbation

Interdisciplinary rehabilitation in morbidly obese subjects: an observational pilot study

Background and aim. To assess the clinical effectiveness of a interdisciplinary rehabillitation programme (CR), in a population of morbidly obese subjects we have undertaken a observational study. Methods. The study included fifty-nine adult subjects (18 M, 60±10 years, BMI 47±8) with sleep-disturbance related symptoms and disabilities. Assessment and correction of sleep disordered breathing (SDB) abnormalities, improvement of exercise tolerance, body weight and associated psychological features were the aims of this CR, which has been carried out over a 1 month period.Lung functions, apnea/hypopnea index (AHI), 6-minute walking distance (6MWD), body weight (BW), quality of life by means of Sat-P questionnaire and serum metabolic data has been recorded at baseline (T0), at the end (T1) and 6 months after (T2) the CR. Results. The percentage of patients with AHI>10 declined from 65% (at T0) to 20% (at both T1 and T2). 6MWD and BW significantly improved (p<0.005) at T1 and still maintained at T2; a significant relationship (r=0.379, p<0.01) has been found between changes of BW and 6MWD recorded in between T0 and T2. Sat-P item scores dealing with sleep efficiency, problem solving, and social interactions improved (p<0.01) at T1 and still maintained at T2. Conclusions. This hospital-based CR provides indication for effectiveness in advanced morbidly obese subjects and warrants further controlled trials to confirm the results