Vampires in the village Žrnovo on the island of Korčula: following an archival document from the 18th century

Središnja tema rada usmjerena je na raščlambu spisa pohranjenog u Državnom arhivu u Mlecima (fond: Capi del Consiglio de’ Dieci: Lettere di Rettori e di altre cariche) koji se odnosi na događaj iz 1748. godine u korčulanskom selu Žrnovo, kada su mještani – vjerujući da su se pojavili vampiri – oskvrnuli nekoliko mjesnih grobova. U radu se podrobno iznose osnovni podaci iz spisa te rečeni događaj analizira u širem društvenom kontekstu i prate se lokalna vjerovanja.The main interest of this essay is the analysis of the document from the State Archive in Venice (file: Capi del Consiglio de’ Dieci: Lettere di Rettori e di altre cariche) which is connected with the episode from 1748 when the inhabitants of the village Žrnove on the island of Korčula in Croatia opened tombs on the local cemetery in the fear of the vampires treating. This essay try to show some social circumstances connected with this event as well as a local vernacular tradition concerning superstitions

Development of a severity score for CRPS

The clinical diagnosis of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) is a dichotomous (yes/no) categorization necessary for clinical decision-making. However, such dichotomous diagnostic categories do not convey an individual's subtle and temporal gradations in severity of the condition, and have poor statistical power when used as an outcome measure in research. This study evaluated the validity and potential utility of a continuous type score to index severity of CRPS. Psychometric and medical evaluations were conducted in 114 CRPS patients and 41 non-CRPS neuropathic pain patients. Based on the presence/absence of 17 clinically-assessed signs and symptoms of CRPS, an overall CRPS Severity Score (CSS) was derived. The CSS discriminated well between CRPS and non-CRPS patients (p < .001), and displayed strong associations with dichotomous CRPS diagnoses using both IASP diagnostic criteria (Eta = 0.69) and proposed revised criteria (Eta = 0.77-0.88). Higher CSS was associated with significantly higher clinical pain intensity, distress, and functional impairments, as well as greater bilateral temperature asymmetry and thermal perception abnormalities (p's < .05). In an archival prospective dataset, increases in anxiety and depression from pre-surgical baseline to 4 weeks post-knee arthroplasty were found to predict significantly higher CSS at 6- and 12-month follow-up (p's < .05). Results indicate the CSS corresponds with and complements currently accepted dichotomous diagnostic criteria for CRPS, and support its validity as an index of CRPS severity. Its utility as an outcome measure in research studies is also suggested, with potential statistical advantages over dichotomous diagnostic criteria. (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of International Association for the Study of Pain.Neurological Motor Disorder

Effector function of human tumor-specific CD8 T cells in melanoma lesions: a state of local functional tolerance.

Although tumor-specific CD8 T-cell responses often develop in cancer patients, they rarely result in tumor eradication. We aimed at studying directly the functional efficacy of tumor-specific CD8 T cells at the site of immune attack. Tumor lesions in lymphoid and nonlymphoid tissues (metastatic lymph nodes and soft tissue/visceral metastases, respectively) were collected from stage III/IV melanoma patients and investigated for the presence and function of CD8 T cells specific for the tumor differentiation antigen Melan-A/MART-1. Comparative analysis was conducted with peripheral blood T cells. We provide evidence that in vivo-priming selects, within the available naive Melan-A/MART-1-specific CD8 T-cell repertoire, cells with high T-cell receptor avidity that can efficiently kill melanoma cells in vitro. In vivo, primed Melan-A/MART-1-specific CD8 T cells accumulate at high frequency in both lymphoid and nonlymphoid tumor lesions. Unexpectedly, however, whereas primed Melan-A/MART-1-specific CD8 T cells that circulate in the blood display robust inflammatory and cytotoxic functions, those that reside in tumor lesions (particularly in metastatic lymph nodes) are functionally tolerant. We show that both the lymph node and the tumor environments blunt T-cell effector functions and offer a rationale for the failure of tumor-specific responses to effectively counter tumor progression