Redefining the treponemal history through pre-Columbian genomes from Brazil.

The origins of treponemal diseases have long remained unknown, especially considering the sudden onset of the first syphilis epidemic in the late 15th century in Europe and its hypothesized arrival from the Americas with Columbus' expeditions1,2. Recently, ancient DNA evidence has revealed various treponemal infections circulating in early modern Europe and colonial-era Mexico3-6. However, there has been to our knowledge no genomic evidence of treponematosis recovered from either the Americas or the Old World that can be reliably dated to the time before the first trans-Atlantic contacts. Here, we present treponemal genomes from nearly 2,000-year-old human remains from Brazil. We reconstruct four ancient genomes of a prehistoric treponemal pathogen, most closely related to the bejel-causing agent Treponema pallidum endemicum. Contradicting the modern day geographical niche of bejel in the arid regions of the world, the results call into question the previous palaeopathological characterization of treponeme subspecies and showcase their adaptive potential. A high-coverage genome is used to improve molecular clock date estimations, placing the divergence of modern T. pallidum subspecies firmly in pre-Columbian times. Overall, our study demonstrates the opportunities within archaeogenetics to uncover key events in pathogen evolution and emergence, paving the way to new hypotheses on the origin and spread of treponematoses.

Elevated genetic risk for multiple sclerosis emerged in steppe pastoralist populations.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neuro-inflammatory and neurodegenerative disease that is most prevalent in Northern Europe. Although it is known that inherited risk for MS is located within or in close proximity to immune-related genes, it is unknown when, where and how this genetic risk originated1. Here, by using a large ancient genome dataset from the Mesolithic period to the Bronze Age2, along with new Medieval and post-Medieval genomes, we show that the genetic risk for MS rose among pastoralists from the Pontic steppe and was brought into Europe by the Yamnaya-related migration approximately 5,000 years ago. We further show that these MS-associated immunogenetic variants underwent positive selection both within the steppe population and later in Europe, probably driven by pathogenic challenges coinciding with changes in diet, lifestyle and population density. This study highlights the critical importance of the Neolithic period and Bronze Age as determinants of modern immune responses and their subsequent effect on the risk of developing MS in a changing environment.

Genetic continuity and change among the Indigenous peoples of California.

Before the colonial period, California harboured more language variation than all of Europe, and linguistic and archaeological analyses have led to many hypotheses to explain this diversity1. We report genome-wide data from 79 ancient individuals from California and 40 ancient individuals from Northern Mexico dating to 7,400-200 years before present (BP). Our analyses document long-term genetic continuity between people living on the Northern Channel Islands of California and the adjacent Santa Barbara mainland coast from 7,400 years BP to modern Chumash groups represented by individuals who lived around 200 years BP. The distinctive genetic lineages that characterize present-day and ancient people from Northwest Mexico increased in frequency in Southern and Central California by 5,200 years BP, providing evidence for northward migrations that are candidates for spreading Uto-Aztecan languages before the dispersal of maize agriculture from Mexico2-4. Individuals from Baja California share more alleles with the earliest individual from Central California in the dataset than with later individuals from Central California, potentially reflecting an earlier linguistic substrate, whose impact on local ancestry was diluted by later migrations from inland regions1,5. After 1,600 years BP, ancient individuals from the Channel Islands lived in communities with effective sizes similar to those in pre-agricultural Caribbean and Patagonia, and smaller than those on the California mainland and in sampled regions of Mexico.

The Emergence and Effects of the First Anatomy Theatres in Western Europe / El Surgimiento y los Efectos de las Primeras Salas de Anatomía en Europa Occidental

SUMMARY: The spread of the idea that the human body should be learned from cadavers, especially under the leadership of Vesalius, and the strong support of this idea among surgeons and medical students of that period, led to the emergence of anatomy theatres, particularly in the rich centres of Western Europe. Anatomy theatres have become prestigious places that make contributions to financial income for the cities they are located in. They have contributed to the importance of universities with the students they attract. Anatomy has become a more visual and international science because of the spread of anatomical drawings in scientific medical books, the newly invented printing press making it easier to print more books and the increasing interest of the people of the period. Learning medicine has become easier with the spread of visual anatomy books and cadaver studies. Cadaver studies and anatomy theatres, which started to become widespread under the leadership of brave science warriors such as Vesalius, who lived in the Renaissance period, became the subject of the paintings of painters of the period such as Rembrandt under the name anatomy activities. It is beneficial and necessary for society to keep in memory what this period brought to the world of anatomy and the present with its historical processes.

La difusión de la idea de que el cuerpo humano se debe aprender a partir de cadáveres, especialmente bajo el liderazgo de Vesalius, y el fuerte apoyo de esta idea entre los cirujanos y estudiantes de medicina de ese período, condujo al surgimiento de las salas de anatomía, particularmente en los ricos centros de Europa Occidental. Las salas de anatomía se han convertido en lugares de prestigio que contribuyen a los ingresos económicos de las ciudades en las que están ubicados y han contribuido a la importancia de las universidades con los estudiantes que atraen. La anatomía se ha convertido en una ciencia más visual e internacional debido a la difusión de los dibujos anatómicos en los libros médicos científicos, la imprenta recién inventada que facilita la impresión de libros y el creciente interés de la gente de la época. Aprender medicina se ha vuelto más fácil con la difusión de libros de anatomía visual y estudios de cadáveres. Los estudios de cadáveres y las salas de anatomía, que comenzaron a generalizarse bajo el liderazgo de valientes guerreros de la ciencia como Vesalius, que vivió en el Renacimiento, se convirtieron en el tema de las pinturas de artistas de la época como Rembrandt bajo el nombre de actividades de anatomía. Es beneficioso y necesario que la sociedad guarde en la memoria lo que este período trajo al mundo de la anatomía y el presente con sus procesos históricos.

Skull Anatomy in "Saint Jerome in the Wilderness" by Leonardo da Vinci.

As a result of a detailed study of "Saint Jerome in the Wilderness", we found that Leonardo described the skull in this work in an original way. A portion of the skull's face is visible in St Jerome's chest and abdomen projection. This image shows the orbit, the frontal bone, the nasal aperture and the zygomatic process. In our opinion, Leonardo described the skull in the painting with his usual originality.

Artificial intelligence's interpretation of the neuroanatomical aspect of Peter Paul Rubens's copy of "The Battle of Anghiari" by Leonardo da Vinci.

We tested to see how Ruben's copy of "The Battle of Anghiari" by Leonardo da Vinci would be interpreted by AI in a neuroanatomical aspect. We used WOMBO Dream, an artificial intelligence (AI)-based algorithm that creates images based on words and figures. The keyword we provided for the algorithm was "brain" and the reference image was Ruben's drawing. AI interpreted the whole drawing as a representation of the brain. The image generated by the algorithm was similar to our interpretation of the same painting.

Entwined African and Asian genetic roots of medieval peoples of the Swahili coast.

The urban peoples of the Swahili coast traded across eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean and were among the first practitioners of Islam among sub-Saharan people1,2. The extent to which these early interactions between Africans and non-Africans were accompanied by genetic exchange remains unknown. Here we report ancient DNA data for 80 individuals from 6 medieval and early modern (AD 1250-1800) coastal towns and an inland town after AD 1650. More than half of the DNA of many of the individuals from coastal towns originates from primarily female ancestors from Africa, with a large proportion-and occasionally more than half-of the DNA coming from Asian ancestors. The Asian ancestry includes components associated with Persia and India, with 80-90% of the Asian DNA originating from Persian men. Peoples of African and Asian origins began to mix by about AD 1000, coinciding with the large-scale adoption of Islam. Before about AD 1500, the Southwest Asian ancestry was mainly Persian-related, consistent with the narrative of the Kilwa Chronicle, the oldest history told by people of the Swahili coast3. After this time, the sources of DNA became increasingly Arabian, consistent with evidence of growing interactions with southern Arabia4. Subsequent interactions with Asian and African people further changed the ancestry of present-day people of the Swahili coast in relation to the medieval individuals whose DNA we sequenced.

Bertie y Hamlet, dos príncipes en abismo / Two Princes in Abyss

El recurso de la narrativa literaria permite analizar el film "El discurso del Rey" desde una perspectiva diferente a las disponibles. Se trata de leerlo a partir del concepto de puesta en abismo (mis en abyme), encontrando una escena dentro de la escena, en la que la segunda ofrece las pistas para inteligir claves de la primera. Este recurso se aplica a dos pasajes clave del film, permitiendo así analizarlo como una ficción clínica y comprender mejor las vicisitudes psicológicas del personaje y sus posibles salidas

The resource of literary narrative allows us to analyze the film "The King's Speech" from a different perspective than those currently available. It is a matter of reading it from the concept of "mis en abyme", finding a scene within the scene, in which the second offers the clues to understand the keys of the first. This resource is applied to two key passages of the film, thus allowing it to be analyzed as a clinical fiction and to better understand the psychological vicissitudes of the character and the possible ways out of it

A pan-European art trade in the late middle ages: Isotopic evidence on the master of Rimini enigma.

The identity of artists and localisation of workshops are rarely known with certainty before the mid-15th century. We investigated the material used by one of the most prolific and enigmatic medieval sculptors, the Master of the Rimini Altarpiece or Master of Rimini, active around 1420-40. The isotope fingerprints (Sr, S and O) of a representative corpus of masterpieces but also minor artworks, attributed to the Master of Rimini and his workshop, are virtually identical, demonstrating the unity of the corpus and a material evidence behind the stylistic and iconographic ascriptions. The material used is exclusively Franconian (N-Bavarian) alabaster, 600 km distant from the supposed zone of activity of the Master of Rimini workshop according to recent literature. The same material was later used by the prominent Late Medieval German carver Tilman Riemenschneider, active in Würzburg after 1483, whose small corpus of alabaster sculptures we have been able to characterize almost entirely. Based on these findings, we propose here an alternative to the prevailing hypothesis of a Flemish or N-French workshop being founded on similarities of the Rimini sculpture with motives in Flemish and French painting. Our scenario, returning to the initial proposal of a German localisation of the Master of Rimini workshop, assumes the migration of an artist, perhaps trained in the Low Countries or strongly inspired by the Flemish art, to Southern Germany where he founded a highly productive export workshop, well situated on the crossroads of medieval trade, with a pan-European radiance. This study sheds a spotlight on the on the trade networks of luxury goods, the raw material used for their production, and the high-end art market in Europe as well as on international migration of artists and styles, at the eve of the Renaissance.

[Textual research on varieties of Draconis Sanguis].

This paper reviewed the historical evolution of the varieties of Draconis Sanguis in traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) and discussed several doubts. Draconis Sanguis used in ancient Europe and Arabia was derived from Dracaena plants, and that originating from Southeast Asia entered the market in the 16 th century. Draconis Sanguis was introduced into China in the 5 th century at the latest and was once mixed with shellac for use. Draconis Sanguis in the Tang Dynasty and before was the resin of Dracaena plants. Scholars in the Song Dynasty have known that Draconis Sanguis came from the resin of tall trees, but their understanding of origin plants was inconsistent with the facts. The origin of Draconis Sanguis in the Song Dynasty was basically determined to be Mirbat(Maliba), Cengtan, and Somali, as well as Socotra Archipelago. About 1371-1416, Draconis Sanguis prepared from Daemonorops draco was imported into China, and was recorded earlier in The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores(Ying Ya Sheng Lan) and Code of Great Ming Dynasty(Da Ming Hui Dian). Draconis Sanguis prepared from Dracaena plants was still authentic for a long time after the import of that from D. draco into China. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Dian Zhi(1625), a lost edition of Materia Medica in Southern Yunnan(Dian Nan Ben Cao), Textual Research on Reality and Titles of Plants(Zhi Wu Ming Shi Tu Kao), and other local chronicles recorded that a new type of Draconis Sanguis(Mu Xue Jie) was produced in Yuanjiang, Yunnan province. The New Yunnan Chronicles of the Republic of China recorded the production of another type of Draconis Sanguis(Qi Lin Jie) in Xishuangbanna. However, the authenticity of the above two types has been difficult to confirm. In modern times, Draconis Sanguis prepared from D. draco gradually became the mainstream variety. In the 1970 s, Dracaena cochinchinensi was found in Yunnan and other provinces, and Draconis Sanguis from D. cochinchinensi was developed. This study is expected to provide a solid and reliable literature support for the research and development of Draconis Sanguis, enrich historical materials, and provide new clues for follow-up research.

The medieval cell doctrine: Foundations, development, evolution, and graphic representations in printed books from 1490 to 1630.

The medieval cell doctrine was a series of related psychological models based on ancient Greco-Roman ideas in which cognitive faculties were assigned to "cells," typically corresponding to the cerebral ventricles. During Late Antiquity and continuing during the Early Middle Ages, Christian philosophers attempted to reinterpret Aristotle's De Anima, along with later modifications by Herophilos and Galen, in a manner consistent with religious doctrine. The resulting medieval cell doctrine was formulated by the fathers of the early Christian Church in the fourth and fifth centuries. Printed images of the doctrine that appeared in medical, philosophical, and religious works, beginning with "graphic incunabula" at the end of the fifteenth century, extended and evolved a manuscript tradition that had been in place since at least the eleventh century. Some of these early psychological models just pigeonholed the various cognitive faculties in different non-overlapping bins within the brain (albeit without any clinicopathologic evidence supporting such localizations), while others specifically promoted or implied a linear sequence of events, resembling the process of digestion. By the sixteenth century, printed images of the doctrine were usually linear three-cell versions with few exceptions having four or five cells. Despite direct challenges by Massa and Vesalius in the sixteenth century, and Willis in the seventeenth century, the doctrine saw its most elaborate formulations in the late-sixteenth and early-seventeenth centuries with illustrations by the Paracelsan physicians Bacci and Fludd. Overthrow of the doctrine had to await abandonment of Galenic cardiovascular physiology from the late-seventeenth to early-eighteenth centuries.

Differential diagnosis of a thyroid mass, facial malar rash and ptosis on the flora in the primavera by Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510).

PURPOSE: The Primavera is considered amongst the greatest and controversial artistic masterpieces worldwide painted by renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli. The aim was to identify any underlying medical foundations for the painting. METHODS: Observational study. RESULTS: The painting reveals, a 'butterfly' malar rash, bilateral ptosis and a clear neck swelling consistent with a goitre in the figure of Flora. This could be explained by concomitant Graves' disease and systemic lupus erythematosus, or other presentations of multiple autoimmune syndrome. CONCLUSION: These findings highlight the likely presentation of the earliest pictorial depictions of thyroid disease with systemic lupus erythematosus and emphasize the exactitude of depiction demonstrated by Botticelli in renaissance era.

Leonardo da Vinci and dental anatomy.

Leonardo da Vinci, the Renaissance polymath, is still recognized today-above all for his oil paintings and mechanical inventions. His anatomical studies have attracted less attention, even though he devoted over 30 years of his life to them. This paper outlines Leonardo's career and research methods and focuses on the importance of his medical images for anatomical research and teaching. Following a short presentation of the state of (dental) medicine in the early Renaissance period, it offers a description of five of his cranial drawings that show the anatomy of the teeth, the nervous and vascular system on inner and outer tables of the skull and the paranasal sinuses in great detail. Leonardo da Vinci had obviously discovered and depicted the maxillary sinus 150 years before the anatomist Nathaniel Highmore, who is usually credited with this discovery. Other anatomical drawings by Leonardo address the correct human dental formula and describe the morphology of the four types of teeth. His handwritten notes show that he recognized the connection between tooth form and function. Finally, this paper evaluates the influence of these discoveries and innovations on the development of dentistry and its establishment as a scientific discipline. There is no doubt that Leonardo da Vinci's preoccupation with the anatomy of the maxillofacial region influenced the development of anatomy and dentistry, even though he never published his anatomical research.