What Do Teenagers Know About a Healthy Lifestyle?

In order to clarify the degree of awareness of adolescents about a healthy lifestyle, we conducted a social survey of 441 adolescent girls in social networks using the GOOGLE Forms questionnaire. The purpose of this study was to identify the main factors influencing the choice of a healthy lifestyle, as well as the degree of enlightenment of this contingent in determining the most effective methods for improving health and preventing diseases. We also examined the influence of family, school, environment and mass media on the formation of a healthy lifestyle among adolescent girls. The age of the respondents ranged from 13 to 19 years, the average age was 15.9± 1.2 year

Differential diagnosis of a probable case of non-adult thalassaemia from 4th century AD Romano-British Colchester, UK

Our current understanding of immigration and diasporic disease in Roman Britain has been greatly enhanced by the recent identification of thalassaemia in the non-adult skeletal record. The wide phenotypic variation in the clinical expression of β-thalassaemia, however, means that additional cases may go unrecognised. A probable diagnosis for β-thalassaemia intermedia or a mild form of major in a 1.0-1.5 year old skeleton from Butt Road, Colchester, dating to the 4th century AD is discussed here. The assessment was undertaken using macroscopic and radiographic analysis. Several conditions were apparent, including trauma and probable β-thalassaemia and active vitamin D deficiency. Diagnosis proved difficult due to the challenges that non-adult thalassaemia poses for identification in the skeletal record, as in the absence of the cranium only ‘rib-within-a-rib’ is currently considered as pathognomonic of the condition. This case demonstrates the variations in expression of this type of genetic anaemia and adds emphasis to a more widespread presence of this important condition in Roman Britain

Poundbury Camp in context – a new perspective on the lives of children from urban and rural Roman England

Objectives The current understanding of child morbidity in Roman England is dominated by studies of single sites/regions. Much of the data are derived from third to fifth century AD Poundbury Camp, Dorchester, Dorset, considered an unusual site due to high levels of non-adult morbidity. There is little understanding of children in rural areas, and whether Poundbury Camp was representative of Romano-British childhood. Materials and methods The study provides the first large scale analysis of child health in urban and rural Roman England, adding to the previously published intra-site analysis of non-adult paleopathology at Poundbury Camp. Age-at-death and pathology prevalence rates were reassessed for 953 non-adults (0–17 years) from five major urban, six minor urban, and four rural sites (first to fifth century AD). The data were compared to the results from 364 non-adults from Poundbury Camp. Results Rural sites demonstrated higher levels of infant burials, and greater prevalence of cribra orbitalia in the 1.1–2.5 year (TPR 64.3%), and 6.6–10.5 year cohorts (TPR 66.7%). Endocranial lesions were more frequent in the minor urban sample (TPR 15.9%). Three new cases of tuberculosis were identified in urban contexts. Vitamin D deficiency was most prevalent at Poundbury Camp (CPR 18.8%), vitamin C deficiency was identified more frequently in rural settlements (CPR 5.9%). Discussion The Poundbury Camp data on morbidity and mortality are not representative of patterns in Roman England and other major urban sites. Rural children suffered from a distinct set of pathologies described as diseases of deprivation, prompting reconsideration of how Romano-British land management affected those at the bottom of the social hierarchy

Health inequalities in the classical city. A biocultural approach to socioeconomic differentials in the polis of Athens during the Classical, Hellenistic and Imperial Roman periods

L’application des méthodes issues de l’anthropologie politique, économique et biologique offre la possibilité d’appréhender des groupes sociaux qui sont jusqu’à présent restés marginalisés. Ainsi, la comparaison de paramètres liés à l’anémie infantile dans deux cimetières du centre urbain d’Athènes permet de remettre en cause nos impressions concernant non seulement l’interprétation des lésions osseuses, mais aussi la société des cités et son dynamisme aux époques classique, hellénistique et romaine. Les femmes sont plus fréquemment atteintes d’anémie, ce qui semble indépendant du statut socio-économique et du contexte chronologique. Bien que ce groupe soit donc également plus affecté par cette pathologie à l’époque romaine, ce sont surtout les hommes qui permettent de mettre en évidence des différences significatives en rapport avec le contexte socio-économique. À l’époque classique, les hommes appartenant à l’élite sociale souffrent moins que les autres d’épisodes de stress pendant la croissance. Plus tard cependant, leur condition décline pour ressembler davantage à celle des hommes (et des femmes) de basse condition. À l’époque impériale, les différences liées au genre et au statut socio-économique s’atténuent.The application of methods that originate from political, economic and biological anthropology provides the opportunity to approach social groups that have thus far remained marginalised. Thus the comparison of health parameters related to childhood anemia in two cemeteries from the urban center of Athens offers the possibility to retract our impressions concerning not only the interpretation of the osseous lesions but also of the society of the polis and its fluidity during the Classical, Hellenistic and Imperial Roman times. Women have higher frequencies of anemic lesions and this appears to be independent of socioeconomic status and chronological period. Even though this group as well is more affected during the Imperial Roman period, it is principally men who demonstrate significant differences in relation to socioeconomic parameters. In the Classical period men of the elite are affected less from stress episodes during growth. Later, however, their condition declines and resembles more that of men (and women) of the lower socioeconomic strata. During the Imperial Roman period differences based on gender and socioeconomic group are minimised

Thalassemia: Macroscopic and radiological study of a case

Differentiation of the genetic and the acquired anaemias, particularly in areas of the world where they may co-exist, has been a challenge for palaeopathologists for over 100 years. In this paper we present macroscopic and radiographic skeletal lesions that are associated with the thalassemias in a 14-year-old girl from a modern reference collection of the University of Athens. This individual is of known sex, age, cause of death, place and dates of birth and death. The case is examined in terms of epidemiology, growth, distribution and severity of lesions and differential diagnosis. The entire skeleton is affected by marrow hyperplasia: lesions of the axial skeleton are extreme, and the appendicular skeleton is severely affected as well. The odontofacial manifestations that are diagnostic of thalassemia and differentiate it from other anaemias are present and include: maxillary and mandibular hyperplasia, reduced sinuses, displacement of maxillary dental structures, overbite, and generalised osteopenia. The development of extreme bone lesions and the 'advanced' age-at-death of this individual is explained as either the result of thalassemia major under a low transfusion regimen that was the norm during her lifetime, or to a form of thalassemia intermedia that allows survival to later life at the expense of gross skeletal alterations. The present status of skeletal studies in Greece does not support the identification of a genetic anaemia in past populations. The potential contribution of the current analysis in differentiating the anaemias in antiquity is evaluated. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

A modern, documented human skeletal collection from Greece

The University of Athens Human Skeletal Reference Collection has been created recently and consists of 225 skeletons. The Athens Collection is housed at the Department of Animal and Human Physiology, at the University of Athens, Greece. Documentation that includes age, sex, occupation, and cause of death exists for almost all of the remains in the collection. The remains belong to individuals who lived mainly in the second half of the twentieth century and come from cemeteries in the area of Athens. The demographic composition of the collection, and a description of the documentary and supporting data are presented. This recently established modern collection is of high value for palaeopathologists, skeletal biologists and forensic anthropologists. The importance of such collections for teaching and research is discussed. © 2007 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved

Revisiting the Tomb: Mortuary Practices in Habitation Areas in the Transition to the Late Bronze Age at Kirrha, Phocis.

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