Knowledge and perception of leprosy amongst high school students in Italy: A survey

This study explores knowledge and perception of leprosy among adolescent Italian high school students. It primarily aimed to survey their knowledge and educate them about the social stigma linked with this infection, both past and present; it also introduced them to the academic research process. Adolescents were selected for the survey to compare the data with a previous survey of adults. The survey was part of an outreach program included in a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions project on medical care for people with leprosy buried in leprosaria cemeteries in medieval Europe

Study of Dental Occlusion in Ancient Human Remains: A Methodological Approach

The anthropological dental and maxillary study in human skeletal remains usually refers to alterations or conditions of the oral cavity. These alterations could have repercussions on life style, dietary habits and diseases. In this particular context, dental occlusion is not often analyzed due to the fragmented condition of the remains, and especially due to the lack of methodology adapted to study ancient remains. The aim of this study is to propose an anthropological method based on clinical dental practice. In the method presented in this work, odontological parameters such as overjet, overbite, and Angle\u27s Classification of Malocclusion, are evaluated

First archaeological evidence for ginger consumption as a potential medicinal ingredient in a late medieval leprosarium at St Leonard, Peterborough, England

Leprosy was one of the most outwardly visible diseases in the European Middle Ages, a period during which leprosaria were founded to provide space for the sick. The extant documentary evidence for leprosy hospitals, especially in relation to diet, therapeutic, and medical care, is limited. However, human dental calculus stands to be an important source of information as it provides insight into the substances people were exposed to and accumulated in their bodies during their lives. In the present study, microremains and DNA were analysed from the calculus of individuals buried in the late medieval cemetery of St Leonard, a leprosarium located in Peterborough, England. The results show the presence of ginger (Zingiber officinale), a culinary and medicinal ingredient, as well as evidence of consumption of cereals and legumes. This research suggests that affected individuals consumed ingredients mentioned in medieval medical textbooks that were used to treat regions of the body typically impacted by leprosy. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study which has identified Zingiber officinale in human dental calculus in England or on the wider European continent

Multipronged dental analyses reveal dietary differences in last foragers and first farmers at Grotta Continenza, central Italy (15,500–7000 BP)

This paper provides results from a suite of analyses made on human dental material from the Late Palaeolithic to Neolithic strata of the cave site of Grotta Continenza situated in the Fucino Basin of the Abruzzo region of central Italy. The available human remains from this site provide a unique possibility to study ways in which forager versus farmer lifeways affected human odonto-skeletal remains. The main aim of our study is to understand palaeodietary patterns and their changes over time as reflected in teeth. These analyses involve a review of metrics and oral pathologies, micro-fossils preserved in the mineralized dental plaque, macrowear, and buccal microwear. Our results suggest that these complementary approaches support the assumption about a critical change in dental conditions and status with the introduction of Neolithic foodstuff and habits. However, we warn that different methodologies applied here provide data at different scales of resolution for detecting such changes and a multipronged approach to the study of dental collections is needed for a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of diachronic changes

The necropolis of Can Reiners (7th c. AD, Mallorca, Spain): demography, health, and lifestyle

El presente estudio se centra en la reconstrucción de la dieta, el estilo de vida y la salud de la población que vivió en torno al siglo VII c. AD en la costa norte de la isla de Mallorca (España). Los restos óseos proceden de la necrópolis de Can Reiners, situada sobre el antiguo foro de la ciudad romana de Pollentia. En la excavación que se llevó a cabo entre 1980 y 1988 se localizaron más de 200 sepulturas de cuatro tipologías diferentes. Esta tesis analiza el material osteológico de las 156 sepulturas que contenían restos humanos en las que se identificaron un total de 226 esqueletos. El análisis demográfico mostró un 63.9% de individuos adultos y un 36.1% de subadultos. En cuanto a los adultos, solamente un 15.8% se diagnosticaron como maduros, mientras que no se identificó ningún individuo senil. Entre la población, el 37% eran hombres y el 25.5% mujeres, mientras que en un 37.5% de los individuos no se pudo determinar el sexo. Se observó pues un desequilibrio en la mortalidad entre ambos sexos, siendo la proporción (masculino/femenino = 1,5) favorable a los varones. La tasa bruta de mortalidad de los individuos Can Reiners era de un 37.59% y la expectativa de vida al nacer de 26.6 años aproximadamente. Así pues, los resultados de los análisis de este conjunto mostraron una alta mortalidad y una baja esperanza de vida que se ajusta a los valores esperados para las poblaciones antiguas. Por otro lado, las bajas frecuencias de patologías tales como osteoartrosis y traumatismos están de acuerdo con los datos demográficos. También se analizaron otros aspectos bioantropológicos singulares, no habitualmente analizados en los estudios antropológicos. Se elaboró un nuevo método para el estudio de la maloclusión basado en la práctica clínica dental pero adecuado al estudio de restos antiguos, normalmente muy fragmentados. Los resultados mostraron que la normoclusión dentaria está presente en el 70% de la muestra. Además los individuos de Can Reiners presentaron características oclusales parecidas a las poblaciones antiguas (p.e. alto desgaste y molar relación clase III) pero también a las modernas (p.e. apiñamiento, mordida cruzada). Finalmente se obtuvieron otros datos interesantes sobre la población a través del análisis de los microrestos contenidos en el cálculo dental. Para ello, la investigación siguió dos pasos. El primer paso se centró en la caracterización de las semillas de los cereales cultivados en el Mediterráneo –que proporcionan el mayor contenido de almidón (aproximadamente 70%) y son una de las principales fuentes de carbohidratos de la dieta humana- con el fin de disponer de datos empíricos para la identificación de los elementos que se pudieran hallar en el análisis posterior. El segundo paso consistió en el análisis microscópico de diferentes muestras de cálculo dentales procedentes de los individuos de la necrópolis de Can Reiners. Los resultados mostraron la presencia de distintos tipos de granos de almidón, indicando la utilización de diversos cultivos de cereales en la isla. Otros restos botánicos como esporas y granos de polen, ofrecen también información sobre el entorno en el que vivieron estos individuos. La identificación de estos microrestos ha demostrado ser una poderosa herramienta para la reconstrucción de la dieta, los hábitos y el entorno físico y social de las poblaciones antiguas.The present study focused on the reconstruction of the diet, lifestyle and health of the individuals that lived around 7th c. AD in the northern coast of the island of Mallorca (Spain). The skeletal remains came from the Necropolis of Can Reiners, located above the ancient forum of the Roman city of Pollentia. The excavation, conducted between 1980 and 1988, unearthed more than 200 burials of four different typologies. This thesis analyzed the osteological material of 156 of these burials, that contained a total of 226 individuals. Demographic analysis showed that the sample is composed of 63.9% of adults and 36.1% of non-adults. Regarding adults only 15.8% of the individuals were mature and no senile were present. Among the population, 37% were males, 25.5% females and 37.5% individuals of unknown sex. We observed that the mortality was not balanced between sexes, being the sex ratio (male/female=1.5) favorable to males. The crude mortality rate for Can Reiners individuals is 37.59% and the life expectancy at birth was approximately 26.6 years. Therefore, results of the analysis of our sample showed a high mortality and low life expectancy, which conforms to the expected values for ancient populations such as this one. Therefore, the low frequencies of pathologies such as osteoarthritis and traumas agree with the demographic data. We also analyzed other original bioanthropological aspects of the population. We elaborated a new method based on clinical dental practice suitable for fragmented skeletal remains in order to study the presence of malocclusion in ancient skeletal material. Our findings exhibited that the individuals of Can Reiners showed occlusal characteristics of ancient (such as high dental wear and molar relationship Class III) and modern (crowding, crossbite, among others) populations, although the normocclusion was present in 70% of the sample. Finally interesting data were discovered through the analysis of the microremains observed within the dental calculus. In this context the research followed two steps. Step one focused on the characterization of several cereal seeds cultivated in the Mediterranean -since they are the plant organ with the highest starch content (about 70%) and one of the major sources of carbohydrates of the human diet- in order to eventually identify them in the microscopic analysis. Step two consisted in the microscopic analysis of different dental calculi sampled from skeletal remains recovered from the necropolis of Can Reiners. Within the sampled dental calculi the presence of different starch grains pointed to the use of various cereals crops in the island. Other botanical remains, such as spores and pollen grains, indicated the environment where they lived. The identification of these remains could be a powerful instrument for the reconstruction of the ancient diet, habits and the physical and social environment of the ancient populations