Today’s rheumatological paleopathology

Al lettore più attento non sarà certo sfuggito come negli ultimi tempi Reumatismo abbia dato spazio ad alcuni contributi su temi di Paleopatologia (1), fra i quali, ad esempio, una rassegna sistematica sulle più sofisticate metodiche di cui si avvale oggi questa disciplina (2). Anche nel presente numero di Reumatismo viene proposto uno studio che illustra alcuni aspetti, in particolare quelli eziologici, della storia delle artriti erosive e di altre artropatie, attraverso una campionatura – oggi diremmo “randomizzata” – di ossa di vertebrati precipitati accidentalmente, a partire da 110.000 anni fa, in una grotta del Wyoming (USA), una sorta di trappola naturale (“Natural Trap Cave”)..

Today's rheumatological paleopathology

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Some historical notes on popliteal cysts

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Gout and kidney during XVII and XIX centuries

The authors briefly describe the history of gout, mainly focusing their attention on the renal involvement. They report some works and theories on gout of great ancient physicians, such as Paracelsus, Sydenham, Boerhaave, Van Swieten and Morgagni

Girolamo Fabrici d\u2019Acquapendente\u2019s \u201cnasogastric tube\u201d Strategies for artificial nutrition between the XVI and XVII centuries

The contribution focuses on the idea proposed by Girolamo Fabrici d\u2019Acquapendente to use a nasogastric tube to feed patients who are unable to open their mouths and independently take food and drinks

Some historical notes on popliteal cysts

Popliteal cysts, more appropriately those involving the gastrocnemio-semimembranous bursa, are traditionally known as “Baker’s cysts”, since in 1877 the English surgeon William Morrant Baker published a paper on this topic (“On the formation of synovial cysts in the leg in connection with disease of the knee-joint”). As a matter of facts, some authors described popliteal cysts before Baker. In particular, in 1856 a French physician, E.Foucher, performed a clinical and experimental study on 18 patients, focusing on some important aspects on the semeiology and pathophysiology of popliteal cysts. In 1861, Pietro Antivari, a physician from Friuli, a northeastern region of Italy, graduated at the University of Padova by producing an interesting paper on the popliteal cysts (“Dell’idrope delle borse mucose poplitee con tre osservazioni”). In the present historical note we report in full one out of three cases described by Pietro Antivari

The 1918 Influenza Pandemic Versus COVID-19: A Historical Perspective From an Italian Point of View

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has a major precedent almost exactly a century ago: the world-famous H1N1 influenza virus pandemic, sometimes known to the general public as the Spanish flu. From a history of medicine perspective, it is possible to underline many potential common traits between the two. In this article, hygiene and prophylaxis strategies are analyzed in a review of the most popular Italian general medical journals at the time of Spanish flu, Il Policlinico being the most representative of them. The analysis included 40 original journal articles as well as important references to the most influential coeval national manuals and international journals. The main issues in the context of public hygiene are prophylaxis with quinine and quinine derivatives, vaccinations, face masks, disinfection, and social distancing. We draw a comparison between these and the most recent international World Health Organization and Italian national guidelines on the topic. Sadly, little has changed since those times in terms of most of the prevention techniques, even with technical improvements, showing how shortsighted doctors and physicians can be when dealing with medical history. (Am J Public Health. 2021;111(10):1815-1823. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306412)

Harvey e Padova

Il volume ripercorre la storia di Harvey e della scoperta della circolazione sanguigna attraverso ricerche original