Gli scheletri della fossa comune di viale Sabotino a Milano: le vittime della peste manzoniana?

Demographic and paleopathological studies are an important resource for the analysis of earlier populations, and can furnish useful information for the reconstruction of epidemic events, where emergencies make it impossible to have good information about the more general health of the population. The current study concerns the find of a mass grave in Milan, near the ‘Spanish’ wallls of the seventeenth century, the period during which the plague of 1630 exploded in the city. On the basis of the hypothesis that the individuals found were victims of this epidemic anthropological and paleopatholical analyses were carried out on the skeletal remains. Anthropological analyses have revealed a minimal number of 240 individuals. The population was heterogeneous in sex and age with a high mortality in peripartum, adolescential and people between 36 and 65 years old, as in the demographic structure of ancient society. The paleopathological investigations have shown nutritional deficits, chronic anemia, debilitating congenital diseases, dental pathologies indicative of a low level of oral hygene, arthritis and lesions even in the case of adolescents. A highly important find is the presence of syphilis and tuburculosis, infective diseases with social re-percussions. Anthropological and paleopathological investi-gations have thus given us precious information on the health of the population of Milan during the critical period of the epidemi

Sexual dimorphism of canine volume: A pilot study

Sex assessment is a crucial part of the biological profile in forensic and archaeological context, but it can be hardly performed in cases of commingled and charred human remains where DNA tests often are not applicable. With time literature have analyzed the sexual dimorphism of teeth (and especially canines), but very few articles take into consideration the teeth volume, although with time several technologies have been introduced in order to assess 3D volume (CT-scan, laser scanner, etc.).This study aims at assessing the sexual dimorphism of dental and pulp chamber volumes of a sample of canines. Cone beam computed tomography analyses were performed by 87 patients (41 males and 46 females, aged between 15 and 83years) for clinical purposes, and were acquired in order to measure canine volumes. Results show that the dental volume amounted to 0.745cm3 (SD 0.126cm3) in males, 0.551cm3 (SD 0.130cm3) with a statistically significant difference (p <0.01). A diagnostic threshold of 0.619cm3 was stated, which provides a percentage of correct answer of 80.5% in the chosen sample. The novel method was then applied with success to 7 archaeological: where in all the cases the results were concordant with those provided by the assessment of the cranium and pelvis.The study adds a contribution to the wide analysis of dental sexual dimorphism confirming the statistically significant differences of volume between males and females and providing a method for the diagnosis of sex applicable to forensic cases

Ca' Granda, an avant-garde hospital between the Renaissance and Modern age. A unique scenario in European history

The Ospedale Maggiore, known as Ca’ Granda, was founded in 1456 by will of Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, and was considered for almost five centuries a model for Milanese, Italian and even European healthcare. Attracting patients from all over Europe, the Ca’ Granda distinguished itself for the introduction of new treatments and innovative health reforms. In the burial ground of the hospital still lie the bodies of the deceased patients, who came from the poorest strata of the population. The study of their remains aims to give back a general identity and a story to each of these persons as well as reconstruct a fraction of the sixteenth century population of Milano as concerns lifestyle and disease and examine practises and therapy of this exceptional hospital. It is estimated that about two million commingled bones and articulated skeletons rest in the crypt, together with other types of findings (e.g., ceramic, coins, clothing). These remains are the object of a large project involving various disciplines ranging from humanities to hard sciences. The aim of this paper is to bring this historical gem to the attention of scholars and provide a glimpse of what its contents have already revealed

Le donne e le rughe

Women take a lot of care of facial look. In this study the importance of facial wrinkles in women was asseessed. 690 Italian women were recruited and asked about the appearance of the first facial wrinkle. The 48% of women feels the first facial wrinkle as a negative sensation, for the 20% it is a maturity sign and the 32% thinks that facial wrinkles are not an important problem. The Italian women feel as negative the wrinkles around their mouth (51 %), their eyes (48%) and their neck (34%). Two third of women tries to oppose to facial wrinkles using creams or going to dermatologist or to beautician. Only the 9% of women is in favour of plastic surgery