Pain and Infernal Pain in the Verses of Dante Alighieri

The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, and its initial part of Inferno, includes several medical terms and descriptions, whose accuracy sometimes overcomes that of a layman. The genial poet has used locutions illustrating pain and sorrow more than forty times in Inferno alone, with words like dolor, dolente and doloroso, that have caused perplexity among translators. The panoply of translations – here we are dealing only with the English versions – will prove that not only the contextual meaning but also the historical setting might create interpretative difficulties. Without obviously giving medical value for granted to all verses that include words like dolor and its derivates, however Dante’s work has been as well under the focus of medical scholars, with many publications of interest. Through comparing the original text mainly with the Oxford’s English version, we have tried to bring into the reader’s attention the painful sensations that Dante abundantly inflicted upon his characters, as an indirect way to test the poet’s perception of this strange and infernal sensation

A Historical Approach to Alcohol Abuse

Alcohol consuming is so present in human history to the extent that it has become ‘a universal language’. Under this point of view, studying historical trends regarding alcohol consume, geographical profile of its abuse, political approaches at the level of public health in different countries and epochs, might be of interest toward understanding the actual situation. Alcohol beverages have been considered positively due to the unproven belief that they have curative and medicinal characteristics. The oldest recipe describing the way of preparing an alcoholic drink is for the beer, dating more than 3800 years before, written over a stone plaque. The entire text is a hymn for Ninkasi, the Sumerian goddess of beer. Other authors suggest that wine has been part of the menu since six millennia, with archeological uncovering of Hajji Firuz Neolithic house that yielded the six wine jars in Tepe, ancient Persia. Different options have been tested with the aim of controlling the production and trading of these beverages, with all advantages and disadvantages that these implemented options present

Child abuse remains mundane even under symbolic disguise: highlights from an Albanian post WWII movie

Artistic work during communist regime in Albania has been a strictly controlled area, due to censorship and ideological limitations. However, the creative genius of some individuals was able to transmit religious images in a disguised form, particularly when themes were permissive to ambiguous messages. Depicting child abuse was a taboo for the everyday life, but not when focusing on certain historical periods that were purposefully stigmatized from the state propaganda. Some snapshots and images from the movie ‘Red poppies on the wall’, shot in 1976, will reveal how the director and the working team operated on Christian symbols to showcase their working philosophy. Thus, sketching the abusive environment of an orphanage within the frames of a remote Roman punishment model, did nothing more, rather than confirmed the main concern that was tormenting authors while trying to delimit the events in time. The abused child is a reality beyond time, ideology and religion, and as such artworks dealing with it have their deserved professional space

Albanian Doctors Through the Movie Lens

The medical profession has been surrounded from mixed feelings of admiration, mysticism, as well as of fear and refusal. Authors and enthusiastic directors have dedicated serials and movies to the physicians’ everyday work, in their ebbs and tides. Albanian cinema produced a score of titles dedicated to the medical profession, with some movies focusing on the physician as the principal role, and some others more peripherally. The physician as a movie character underwent serious changes in the way the directors and scripts defined it, and maybe even in the way the general audience perceived the same. Changes in this modeling of physician’s character were part of the maturation process of the Albanian cinematography that has otherwise been strongly politicized from scholars; this trend could as well, or mainly, be related to the intrinsic alterations of the Albanian society from the immediate post WWII, until the fall of the totalitarian regime

Consumption of Anti-Epileptic Drugs in Primary Health Care in Albania, 2004-2016

BACKGROUND: Epilepsy is a serious neurological condition requiring sometimes lifelong pharmacological treatment, and continuous specialist monitoring. AIM: To investigate the use of Anti-Epileptic Drugs (AEDs) in epilepsy, with focus on the exposure of AEDs, differences and changes in prescription patterns over time; to evaluate the relation between the consumption data of AED and the level of epileptic morbidity for the period 2004-2016. STUDY DESIGN: Official data regarding the consumption of AEDs within Albania were collected retrospectively. Every year of the period, 2004-2016 has been considered separately. METHODS: The data were assembled from Health Insurance Institute (HII) in Tirana, Albania and analysed for the period 2004-2016. The consumption of drugs was expressed as several Defined Daily Dose (DDDs)/1000 inhabitants/day. Also, for all the period under study 2004-2016, we analysed the data of import and domestic production of drugs, which represent the real consumption of drugs in the country. These data were subsequently involved in a comparative analysis with the utilisation data according to the HII, as well as through performing international comparisons of the consumption of AEDs drugs. RESULTS: Epilepsy morbidity data indicate that there exists a correlation statistically significant between this disease and the trend of consumption of AEDs. CONCLUSION: The present study suggests that the level of consumption for AEDs in Albania is very low when compared globally; with a decrease in the consumption of classic antiepileptic drugs and a parallel increase in the consumption of new generation drugs

Potrošnja antipsihotika u primarnoj zdravstvenoj zaštiti u Albaniji od 2004. do 2016. godine

The era of new antipsychotics that started with Clozapine and the ever growing number of newly patented drugs have strongly influenced the pattern of drug use and consumption among psychiatric patients. Authors present a study aiming to assess exclusively the out-of-hospital antipsychotic drug consumption within Albania, during a period covering thirteen years [2004-2016]. Data were obtained from official sources [Health Insurance Institute] that registers and eventually reimburses all prescriptions in this field. Some outflows from the officially reimbursement scheme has been as well reported, due to circulating (but not yet registered) new drugs. A significant trend towards the decrease of consumption of old, typical antipsychotics is seen; in favour of new and modern drugs whose side effects profile is obviously a better one. Also, Albania has a lower figure of overall out-of-hospital antipsychotic usage when compared with other countries. Under-diagnosing and under-treatment might be some of the factors leading to such a fact, together with accessibility of psychiatric care and society stigma that still deeply impregnate the today Albanian society.Razdoblje novih antipsihotika koje je započelo s klozapinom i sve većim brojem novopatentiranih lijekova snažno je utjecalo na obrazac uporabe i korištenja lijekova u psihijatrijskih pacijenata. Istraživači predstavljaju istraživanje čiji je cilj procijeniti isključivo izvanbolničku potrošnju antipsihotika u Albaniji u razdoblju od trinaest godina (2004-2016). Podaci su dobiveni iz službenih izvora (Zavoda za zdravstveno osiguranje) koji registriraju i u konačnici pokrivaju trošak svih propisanih lijekove u ovome području. Objavljeni su i određeni odljevi iz sustava službene nadoknade troškova, a zbog korištenja novih (no ne i registriranih) lijekova. Primijećen je značajan trend smanjenja potrošnje starih, tipičnih antipsihotika; u korist novijih i modernijih lijekova čiji je profil nuspojava očigledno bolji. U usporedbi s drugim državama, Albanija ima niže brojke ukupnog izvanbolničkog korištenja antipsihotika. Nedovoljno dijagnosticiranje i liječenje mogli bi biti neki od čimbenika koji objašnjavaju takvo stanje, zajedno s pristupačnošću psihijatrijske skrbi i društvenom stigmom koja je i danas duboko ukorijenjena u albansko društvo

A right to die: a comparing discourse of case laws in United States of America, European court of human rights, United Kingdom and Albania

As human beings we are bound up with the medical profession. It is certain that at some point in our life we rely on their help. Even if such help is avoided throughout life, some life activities involve recourse to medical care. During the exercise of its activity the medical profession is faced with many ethical dilemmas, where the solution is not in the law, where choice and decision making become difficult in terms of ethics and where they must rely on their values and judgments. That’s why the involvement of the medical profession in everyone’s lives makes the understanding of the law governing the medical profession extremely important. Patient rights are part of human rights. This article’s aim is to present one important patient right - the right to die. Whilst is accepted the increasing role of the medical profession in determining the shape of the law in medical care, this article focuses on understanding how different courts deal with cases involving the right to die. The article offers a framework on patient’s right to die in the United States of America, Europe, United Kingdom and Albania

Ethical assessment of the culture clash as a universal occurrence

The debate on culture clash necessitates a theoretical framework, and three perspectives that merit attention are homogenization, polarization, and hybridization theories. These intersecting paths lead to the hypothesis that all civilizations could assimilate into the Western model as it is currently conceived. Culture clash is approached from multiple angles due to the widely held belief that rejecting culturally novel concepts is unethical. However, imposing new rules and customs will inevitably encounter innate resistance, as evidenced by numerous examples. The exchange of behavioral models does exist, with one of globalization's main tenets being the universality of values – including the uprooting of what we refer to as primitive manners. Nevertheless, anthropology and cultural research have witnessed intergenerational and long-term survival of elements that contemporary civilization believed it had overcome or at least suppressed deep within the subconscious mind. This article will offer an essayistic approach to certain forms of culture clash

Recent advances on acute paraplegia

AbstractParaplegia and spinal cord injuries are issues of major concern to the actual medicine. But recent advances have raised hopes for a better prognosis, which has always been poor or infaust since medicine was practiced. However and interestingly enough, some concepts and definitions on the occurrence have survived for millennia. Once encountered as an issue, traumatic or non-traumatic paraplegia needs a multidisciplinary approach and a careful staging of the problem. Different scales are available with Frankel's and American Spinal Injury Association most widely used as alternatives or complementary tools. The authors discuss therapeutic options with a special focus on the stem cell therapy which has seen an impressive increase on the number of trials for a successful treatment. Sourcing and yielding of stem cells are made possible through a number of techniques, with material aspirated from bone marrow or adipose tissue, which are used along with other sources of neuronal precursors such as olfactory ensheathing cells. Nevertheless, large and multicenter studies are still lacking. However, with the quality of the ongoing work and research, the optimistic attitude seems warranted. Meanwhile, other rehabilitation and medical care interventions, always at hand, need to be applied in every individual suffering from paraplegia and spinal cord injury