The anatomy and physiology of the optic nerve: historical notes.

Abstract The authors outline the historical development of anatomical and physiological acquisitions on the optic nerve. From the first descriptions of Alcmaeone of Crotone (6th century B.C.) through the Aristotelean school, we arrive at the systemization of Claudius Galen. After the medioeval parenthesis, it fell to Vesalius to give a new impulse to anatomical research. Varolio and Eustachi describe the exact point of origin of the optic nerves. Later observations involve both anatomists and physiologists. The question of the transmission of sensory messages is described (Willis, von Haller), as is the microscopic structure of the optic nerve (Zinn, von Leeuwenhoek). After the description of the decussation of the fibers of the optic nerve in the optic chiasma, research into this cranial nerve has an increasingly neurophysiological and neurochemical orientation, continuing until the recent discovery of axoplasmic flow

Summer staging areas of non-breeding Short-toed Snake Eagles Circaetus gallicus

Immature Short-toed Snake Eagles hatched in Spain leave their Sahelian wintering grounds to spend the summer in northern Africa.Funding was provided by Diputación Provincial de Alicante and by Fundación Migres through a collaboration project with the Asociación Eólica de Tarifa

Children's Hospital Management in the COVID-19 Era: The Reorganization of a Tertiary Care Pediatric Emergency Department in Northern Italy

In the Veneto Region, an exponential spread of patients affected by 2019 novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has been observed after February 21st. Since then, we have been evaluating children suspected or confirmed for SARS-CoV-2 infection. A protocol for pediatric hospital reorganization and children management has been developed, since the beginning of the epidemic. A pre-triage area has been created at the immediate entrance of the pediatric emergency room, for all uncritical pediatric patients. According to the epidemiologic and clinical risk factors, all children/adolescents have been addressing to one of the four different pathways created. The strict application of this protocol has been leading to quickly identification, isolation, and management of all positive children, preventing SARS-CoV-2 intrahospital spread

The Fight Against Tuberculosis in the Mid-nineteenth Century: The Pivotal Contribution of Edoardo Maragliano (1849-1940)

The second half of the nineteenth century saw the development of new medical "specialties", which, like the idea of constitutional disease, had a profound influence on medical practice. Against this lively "backdrop", Edoardo Maragliano played a central role in medicine's "renaissance" in Italy. Having graduated in medicine in 1870 at the University of Naples, he worked as an assistant in the University Medical Clinic. After beginning his academic career as professor of pathology at the Faculty of Medicine in Genoa in 1877, he became full professor of internal medicine in 1881. While he studied all fields of internal medicine, his research focused mainly on tuberculosis.His experiments in the medical clinic enabled Maragliano to announce the possibility of immunization against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Although criticized for using an inactivated vaccine, Maragliano continued to advocate vaccination with any type of vaccine.In the Senate of the Kingdom of Italy, Maragliano actively debated social, economic and sanitary questions, without neglecting his duties as a physician and professor. As an officer during the First World War, he organized military health services and taught medicine at the Military University of Padua.In 1924, Maragliano created the first Italian specialty school in the study of tuberculosis, which provided physicians with specific training in the diagnosis, therapy and prevention of the disease. His scientific zeal and his vision of modern medicine prompted the introduction of new specializations, such as radiology and, especially, pneumology, which led to the creation of one of Europe's most renowned medical schools