For the History of Cholera in Italy. The pandemia of 1854-55 in Tuscany and the Cholera cemetery of Benabbio (LU)

The cholera, endemic in Bengal, in the early 19th century spread in the West thanks to the revolution in transportation resulted from the steam engine. Tuscany was struck in 1835 and then, even more violent, in 1854-55. Thanks to Pietro Betti, Superintendent for health of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, we have a detailed description of the epidemic and a precise estimate of the deaths. 26,327 individuals died in 1855. The disease penetrated in Tuscany by Liguria in July 1854; from the ports of Avenza and Livorno spread towards the Interior of the region, until Florence, and quietened down in December 1854. Then cholera rekindled in devastating form in March-April of 1855, starting from the area immediately west of Florence, a district rich in activities related to the water cycle, and retraced the route in reverse order made last year, always following the way of the Arno and the new railway line opened in 1848: in august-september the cholera was spread to all the Tuscany. The area of Lucca is one of the hardest hit in the region. Between 2007 and 2010, the Division of Paleopathology of the University of Pisa undertook the archaeological exploration of the cholera cemetery of Benabbio, a mountain village near Lucca, where cholera lashed between August and October of 1855 causing 46 deaths in a population of around 900 inhabitants. The excavation made it possible to detect for the first time the material characteristics of a cholera cemetery. The findings provide a new source for anthropologically reading the reaction of a community facing the mortality crisis, between acceptance of regulations imposed by the authorities and local strategies

An English Grammar and a bilingual Glossary acting as complementary Tools for a CLIL-based Course

This paper describes how two complementary tools, an English grammar and a bilingual (Italian- English) glossary, can be expanded by University students attending a CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) course in which a funerary archaeology lecturer, an English language instructor and an archaeologist work together, integrating content and language. This work is part of a wider project carried out at the Division of Palaeopathology, History of Medicine and Bioethics, and approved by the University of Pisa. Starting from a sample of Italian and English monographic texts and other publications in printed or electronic form dealing with the subject of funerary archaeology and other related research areas (anthropology, field archaeology, anatomy and chemistry, which can provide new insights into past civilizations, cultures and practices so far undiscovered), we have extracted separate, preliminary lists of specialized terms. The students working alone, in pairs or in groups, are asked to expand these lists, tracking down additional words with their definitions and example sentences drawn from other authoritative sources. The information with specification of the authors and detailed bibliographical references should be written in independent appropriately labelled files, and sent to the computer analyst responsible for the computer software editing. The reading of various definitions at different levels of depth will enable the user to understand better, have a clearer and more exhaustive picture of a particular word, concept, or phenomenon. The glossary, addressed to the students who are at the same time creators and users of the product, can also be of interest to professors, scholars or translators who need to dispose of the specialised terms of funerary archaeology in a language other than their own. Many of the definitions and other types of useful information can be exploited to illustrate the different grammar points and structures of an easy-to-use on-line English intermediate-level grammar book, to study the grammar not in isolation but in meaningful contexts and real-life situations, to encourage the learners to become active explorers of the language. This ongoing grammar can be a valuable resource for students with minimum linguistic knowledge and competence, but also be useful to those wishing to improve the English language, enhancing their learning proficiency. Implementation of the two complementary products - grammar and glossary - will proceed together, contributing to the learning of funerary archaeology on the part of the students, both learners and creators of the two tools. As we know, the possibilities offered by the computer in terms of space, links, cross-references, etc. make it possible to organize and customize the material, meeting as much as possible the users\u27 needs. The technological tools increasingly available in the educational context support both the subject and language teacher in making the learning process easier and more engaging, helping clarify certain concepts in a non-traditional way in order to accomplish various instructional objectives

Step-by-step Organization of a University CLIL Course

This paper reports on the organization of CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) University courses in funerary archaeology held at the Division of Palaeopathology of Pisa University. We outline the different steps involved in the practical implementation of the proposed approach, which include choice of topic, linguistic content, tasks and strategies, and we describe the ways in which CLIL can be used both in the classroom and in archaeological fieldwork excavations for teaching of the discipline and practical experience with leading scholars in the field. Each two-hour lesson slot is divided into four parts, devoted to both the receptive (reading, listening) and productive (writing, speaking) skills, which constantly expose the students to language, helping them understand the contents of the discipline. It is necessary to take into account the additional difficulties students attending the courses might have, which are due to their having to learn basic and academic language skills and new subject concepts at the same time. All the material relevant to the course is simplified and adapted to the needs and language of the students, who are supported by authentic materials in the form of text-books, articles, tutorials, illustrations, audio and video recordings, and by a number of activities ranging from gap-filling exercises, matching words with their definitions, jumbled sentences, sentence formation, preparation of posters, powerpoint demonstrations. The trainees are also involved in increasing an ongoing bilingual English-Italian glossary and contextualized English grammar. Working individually, then in pairs and in small groups, they are responsible for the different areas of the discipline. Funerary archaeology is the study of death, ancient burials and human skeletal remains, body disposal, etc., and includes skeleton anthropology, bone diagenesis, taphonomic anthropology, as well as other features comprising excavation phases, techniques and tools employed, field archaeology

Renaissance mercurial therapy in the mummies of Saint Domenico Maggiore in Naples: a palaeopathological and palaeotoxicological approach

AbstractThis study was designed to evaluate the use of mercury therapy in the Italian noble classes of the Renaissance through the toxicological analysis of hair content. Mercury has stability and a long half-life in hair, representing a great resource not only for forensic toxicological analysis but also for archaeological research on mercurial exposure in past populations. The hair of fourteen mummified individuals of the Aragon and vice-royal court of Naples, buried in the Neapolitan Basilica of Saint Domenico Maggiore (15–18th centuries), was analysed by atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) and flame emission spectroscopy (FES). Out of the fourteen individuals, four presented mercury concentrations in the hair washing liquid indicating external perimortem application (in one case clearly linked to embalming, in three cases probably associated with topical therapeutic practices), three showed no traces of mercury, and seven had mercury values in hair ranging from 411 to 47 ppm, which indicate prolonged exposure in life to the metal. The historical identification of most of the mummified bodies with important nobles of Naples has allowed to compare the toxicological analyses with the nosography of the individuals and with the palaeopathological results deriving from the direct study of their bodies. Prolonged exposure in life to the metal was most likely due to mercurial anti-syphilitic therapy, as a consequence of its indiscriminate use in Renaissance therapies and, indirectly, as an effect of the extraordinary spread of venereal syphilis in the Italian upper classes during the "epidemic" phase of the disease

La Val di Lima ai tempi di Pancio da Controne (1275/80-1340): note sul paesaggio e la viabilità medievali

Studio della viabilità nella Val di Lima medievale con particolare riferimento alle strutture ospedalier

Luni, Lucca e l’Appennino nel Medioevo: ospedali e strade tra città e montagna

L’uomo medievale era per eccellenza un homo viator. Tuttavia se le ragioni che mettevano l’uomo in cammino sono sostanzialmente individuabili nelle tre fondamentali attività del pellegrinaggio religioso, della mercatura e della spedizione militare, dobbiamo ammettere che al di fuori di queste tre categorie ci sono i molti che si spostavano quotidianamente, saltuariamente o anche poche volte nella vita, per varie esigenze concrete, ci sono i pastori nella transumanza (verticale e orizzontale) e nel pascolo vagante, i fedeli verso luoghi di culto locali, i contrabbandieri, gli emarginati. Una complessità che sbaglieremmo nel continuare a sottostimare: le strade sono solo uno dei modi per muoversi, e la rete stradale rintracciabile (ovvero solitamente le direttrici più importanti) esclude molti luoghi di spostamento, dove circolano persone, animali, oggetti, idee. In questo contributo, dunque, cercheremo di praticare un’archeologia della mobilità, soprattutto nella consapevolezza che gli elementi da noi analizzati, ospedali e in seconda battuta monasteri, rappresentano solo un tassello, da inserire in una riflessione più ampia e più articolata. Luni e Lucca sono due città medievali segnate profondamente dalla vicinanza dell’Appennino, delle sue strade e dei suoi valichi. Situate entrambe allo sbocco di valli fluviali che penetrano a fondo la catena e che costituiscono naturali direttrici da e per l’Italia settentrionale, data la loro vicinanza hanno intessuto nei secoli un intenso rapporto di reciprocità “stradale”, rappresentando, con le loro specificità, due nodi stradali di grande rilevanza: Luni anche per la sua ubicazione marittima, Lucca per la sua funzione di collettore di vie terrestri e fluviali. L’ambito geografico è quindi dato dai territori delle due città nel Medioevo, che abbiamo identificato con l’estensione delle diocesi, togliendo nel caso di Lucca le enclave meridionali situate a sud dell’Arno. L’ambito cronologico è invece esteso fino a tutto il XIII secolo, con lo scopo precipuo di comprendere un periodo nel quale le fonti scritte ci restituiscono più compiutamente il fenomeno ospedaliero

A human MMTV-like betaretrovirus linked to breast cancer has been present in humans at least since the copper age

The betaretrovirus Mouse Mammary Tumor Virus (MMTV) is the well characterized etiological agent of mammary tumors in mice. In contrast, the etiology of sporadic human breast cancer (BC) is unknown, but accumulating data indicate a possible viral origin also for these malignancies. The presence of MMTVenv-like sequences (MMTVels) in the human salivary glands and saliva supports the latter as possible route of interhuman dissemination. In the absence of the demonstration of a mouse-man transmission of MMTV, we considered the possibility that a cross-species transmission could have occurred in ancient times. Therefore, we investigated MMTVels in the ancient dental calculus, which originates from saliva and is an excellent material for paleovirology. The calculus was collected from 36 ancient human skulls, excluding any possible mouse contamination. MMTV-like sequences were identified in the calculus of 6 individuals dated from the Copper Age to the 17th century. The MMTV-like sequences were compared with known human endogenous betaretroviruses and with animal exogenous betaretroviruses, confirming their exogenous origin and relation to MMTV. These data reveal that a human exogenous betaretrovirus similar to MMTV has existed at least since 4,500 years ago and indirectly support the hypothesis that it could play a role in human breast cancer

A 13th-century cystic echinococcosis from the cemetery of the monastery of Badia Pozzeveri (Lucca, Italy)

Objective: To differentially diagnose a calcified formation recovered from a 13th century AD grave from the Tuscan monastery of Badia Pozzeveri, Lucca, Italy. Materials: A calcified formation from the thoraco-abdominal region of a skeleton buried in the monastery cemetery. Methods: Cone Beam Computed Tomography, Scanning Electron Microscope and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy. Results: A hollow, calcified ovoid formation was identified as typical of a hydatid cyst, permitting the diagnosis of cystic echinococcosis in a 35-45year-old female. Conclusions: The study reveals the circulation of the parasite Echinococcus granulosus in the region of Lucca in late medieval Tuscany. Significance: This finding is the fourth case of cystic echinococcosis from an archaeological context in Italy and provides insight into environmental conditions that appear to have affected members of a community, irrespective of social status. Limitations: Caution and the application of multiple analyses must be exercised in the differential diagnosis to discriminate among calcified formations. Suggestions for further research: Analysis of stable isotopes of the calcified formation, such as 15N and 13C, in order to compare them with isotopic values of the host individual and to further confirm the parasitic origin of the find

Neurotoxins during the Renaissance. Bioarcheology of Ferrante II of Aragon (1469–1496) and Isabella of Aragon (1470–1524)

Abstract We show that statistical modeling of analytical results is useful in providing insights into metabolism and disease in bioarcheology. Our results also imply that during the Renaissance in Europe widespread pollution of the biosphere with heavy metals such as mercury and lead affected the Italian nobility at that time. The activity of biologic clocks which control metabolism and autonomic nervous system (ANS) function can be gleaned from the analysis of hair. This provides a means of assessing the health of individuals who lived some six centuries before the present and allows the reconstruction of disease from archived tissues such as hair

TEXTAROSSA: Towards EXtreme scale Technologies and Accelerators for euROhpc hw/Sw Supercomputing Applications for exascale

To achieve high performance and high energy efficiency on near-future exascale computing systems, three key technology gaps needs to be bridged. These gaps include: energy efficiency and thermal control; extreme computation efficiency via HW acceleration and new arithmetics; methods and tools for seamless integration of reconfigurable accelerators in heterogeneous HPC multi-node platforms. TEXTAROSSA aims at tackling this gap through a co-design approach to heterogeneous HPC solutions, supported by the integration and extension of HW and SW IPs, programming models and tools derived from European research.This work is supported by the TEXTAROSSA project G.A. n.956831, as part of the EuroHPC initiative.Peer ReviewedArticle signat per 51 autors/es: Giovanni Agosta, Daniele Cattaneo, William Fornaciari, Andrea Galimberti, Giuseppe Massari, Federico Reghenzani, Federico Terraneo, Davide Zoni, Carlo Brandolese (DEIB – Politecnico di Milano, Italy, [email protected]) | Massimo Celino, Francesco Iannone, Paolo Palazzari, Giuseppe Zummo (ENEA, Italy, [email protected]) | Massimo Bernaschi, Pasqua D’Ambra (Istituto per le Applicazioni del Calcolo (IAC) - CNR, Italy, [email protected]) | Sergio Saponara, Marco Danelutto, Massimo Torquati (University of Pisa, Italy, [email protected]) | Marco Aldinucci, Yasir Arfat, Barbara Cantalupo, Iacopo Colonnelli, Roberto Esposito, Alberto R. Martinelli, Gianluca Mittone (University of Torino, Italy, [email protected]) | Olivier Beaumont, Berenger Bramas, Lionel Eyraud-Dubois, Brice Goglin, Abdou Guermouche, Raymond Namyst, Samuel Thibault (Inria - France, [email protected]) | Antonio Filgueras, Miquel Vidal, Carlos Alvarez, Xavier Martorell (BSC - Spain, [email protected]) | Ariel Oleksiak, Michal Kulczewski (PSNC, Poland, [email protected], [email protected]) | Alessandro Lonardo, Piero Vicini, Francesca Lo Cicero, Francesco Simula, Andrea Biagioni, Paolo Cretaro, Ottorino Frezza, Pier Stanislao Paolucci, Matteo Turisini (INFN Sezione di Roma - Italy, [email protected]) | Francesco Giacomini (INFN CNAF - Italy, [email protected]) | Tommaso Boccali (INFN Sezione di Pisa - Italy, [email protected]) | Simone Montangero (University of Padova and INFN Sezione di Padova - Italy, [email protected]) | Roberto Ammendola (INFN Sezione di Roma Tor Vergata - Italy, [email protected])Postprint (author's final draft