Dermatology in Ancient Rome: Medical ingredients in Ovid's "Remedies for female faces".

BACKGROUND: In Roman medicine, face packs, plasters, unguents, and peelings were part of the therapy of dermatological diseases, but also served cosmetic purposes. Ancient medical textbooks inform us about the ingredients for these applications. Beyond medical literature, other genres contain information about dermatological applications. The Roman poet Ovid (43 BC-17 AD) wrote a didactic poem recording five recipes for topical applications for female faces (Medicamina faciei femineae). Researchers debate the relation of Ovid's poem to Roman medicine: Does the poem contain therapeutical or cosmetical information, or is it mere belles lettres? AIMS: The objective of the paper is to conduct a medico-historical classification of Ovid's poem by determining whether the ingredients of Ovid's recipes were thought to be effective by the authors of Roman medical textbooks. METHODS: First, translation and identification of the ingredients were carried out. Second, comparison of the ingredients' functions regarding the therapy of dermatological diseases in two important Roman medical textbooks was realized. For this purpose, several commentaries on the text of Ovid were used and a keyword search in Roman medical textbooks was performed. RESULTS: Ovid's five recipes contain 23 ingredients. All ingredients can be found in medical textbooks. We find that 14 of these ingredients serve cosmetic purposes, 17 serve the therapy of dermatological diseases, and 13 serve both. CONCLUSION: Ovid's recipes contain drugs that were considered effective by the authors of Roman medical textbooks. These drugs were recommended both for therapeutic and cosmetic purposes by the same authors. Therefore, Ovid's didactic poem is not mere belles lettres, but contains serious medical and cosmetical information. As far as we know, it is the first Roman text that contains dermatological recipes.

Changing Narratives and Persisting Tensions: Conflicts between Chinese and Western Medicine and Professional Profiles in Chinese Films and Literature, 1949-2009.

This paper analyses the shifting images of Chinese medicine and rural doctors in the narratives of literature and film from 1949 to 2009 in order to explore the persisting tensions within rural medicine and health issues in China. Popular anxiety about health services and the government's concern that it be seen to be meeting the medical needs of China's most vulnerable citizens - its rural dwellers - has led to the production of a continuous body of literary and film works discussing these issues, such as Medical Practice Incident, Spring Comes to the Withered Tree, Chunmiao, and Barefoot Doctor Wan Quanhe. The article moves chronologically from the early years of the Chinese Communist Party's new rural health strategies through to the twenty-first century - over these decades, both health politics and arts policy underwent dramatic transformations. It argues that despite the huge political investment on the part of the Chinese Communist Party government in promoting the virtues of Chinese medicine and barefoot doctors, film and literature narratives reveal that this rustic nationalistic vision was a problematic ideological message. The article shows that two main tensions persisted prior to and during the Cultural Revolution, the economic reform era of the 1980s, and the medical marketisation era that began in the late 1990s. First, the tension between Chinese and Western medicine and, second, the tension between formally trained medical practitioners and paraprofessional practitioners like barefoot doctors. Each carried shifting ideological valences during the decades explored, and these shifts complicated their portrayal and shaped their specific styles in the creative works discussed. These reflected the main dilemmas around the solutions to rural medicine and health care, namely the integration of Chinese and Western medicines and blurring of boundaries between the work of medical paraprofessionals and professionals.

Machado de Assis' Original Sin.

Machado de Assis (1839-1908) suffered from temporal lobe epilepsy, probably with origin in the non-dominant hemisphere. The evidence for this is provided by the detailed reports of the characteristics of his seizures by his contemporaries and by his correspondence with other writers. He was treated with bromides and homeopathy. It is unclear whether his neurological disorder influenced his artistic performance. What is evident is that he was deeply ashamed of the disease - he avoided the word "epilepsy" and just wrote about it in his personal correspondence with friends in the last years of his life. Though controversial, he had no clear traces of personality disorders linked to his temporal lobe epilepsy. Despite all his adversities, including being "mulatto," having a stutter, being of humble origins, and epileptic in a period when there was no efficacious therapy and a profound stigma associated with the disease, Machado de Assis became one of the most important Brazilian writers of all times.

A critical appraisal of 11th century treatise by Ibn Sina (Avicenna) on the anatomy of the vascular system: Comparison with modern anatomic descriptions.

Ibn Sina (also known as Avicenna in the West) was the most famous physician and medical scientist of the medieval era. His book, the Canon of Medicine comprised a vast collection of medical information ranging from basic medical sciences to specialised medical fields. Herein, we present an analysis of the cardiovascular system, particularly giving an in-depth comparison of the structural and functional anatomy of the arteries and veins of the body as described by Avicenna in the Canon of Medicine and comparing them to modern extant anatomical literature.

A historical evaluation of Chinese tongue diagnosis in the treatment of septicemic plague in the pre-antibiotic era, and as a new direction for revolutionary clinical research applications.

Chinese tongue diagnosis was initially developed to quickly and efficiently diagnose and prescribe medicine, while at the same time allowing the doctor to have minimal contact with the patient. At the time of its compiling, the spread of Yersinia pestis, often causing septicaemia and gangrene of the extremities, may have discouraged doctors to come in direct contact with their patients and take the pulse. However, in recent decades, modern developments in the field of traditional Chinese medicine, as well as the spread of antibiotics in conjunction with the advancements of microbiology, have overshadowed the original purpose of this methodology. Nevertheless, the fast approaching post-antibiotic era and the development of artificial intelligence may hold new applications for tongue diagnosis. This article focuses on the historical development of what is the world's earliest tongue diagnosis monograph, and discusses the directions that such knowledge may be used in future clinical research.

The medieval Persian manuscript of Afyunieh: the first individual treatise on the opium and addiction in history.

According to historical evidence, the abuse of opium has been reported all over the globe-specifically throughout Eastern nations-since the sixteenth century. Before that, opium had mostly been applied as medication. Reference has been made in traditional Persian medical literature to the method of cultivation, properties, side effects and toxicity. In sixteenth century Iran, during the reign of the Safavids, opium abuse began. It was from then that prominent Persian scholars started to think of solutions to this societal problem. One of the most famous scholars was Imad al-Din Mahmud ibn Mas'ud Shirazi, who composed a book concerning addiction-Afyunieh, a comprehensive book on the topic of opium and all issues of opium. Furthermore, he recommended methods for reducing opium dose as well as substitution with other medications that had a narrower range of side effects, in order to eradicate dependency upon opium and opium-derived materials. This is most likely the first book that comprehensively addressed opium and discussed drug rehabilitation methodology, in traditional Persian medical literature. In this historical review, the authors have introduced the book Afyunieh, which presents methods for treating addiction to and giving up opium; the text comprises a synthesis of the author's opinions, professional experience and references to the work of other famous physicians.

The Phenomenon of Pathological Dissociation in the Ancient Chinese Medicine Literature.

Dissociative symptoms and disorders have been reported in many different cultures. If pathological dissociation is naturally occurring and related to adverse experiences, such phenomena should have been witnessed and portrayed before the modern age. To investigate whether this is the case, the author made use of the rich ancient Chinese medicine literature and looked for descriptions of pathological dissociation in medical documents written by ancient Chinese medical practitioners. In this paper, the author presents six cases selected from the ancient Chinese medicine literature. The phenomenon of pathological dissociation is observed in these cases. This is the first report of case descriptions of pathological dissociation documented in Chinese cultures before 1900.

[Differences on Acupuncture Reinforcing and Reducing Theory Between Neijing and Nanjing].

Reinforcing and reducing manipulation is the elite of traditional acupuncture needling methods. Abundant records could be found in Neijing(The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon) and Nanjing (The Classic on Medical Problems) at early times. In the present paper, the author collates and compares the recordation of reinforcing and reducing acupuncture manipulation in these two classics on the basis of the principle and connotation of the two manipulations and from three key factors as stimulus location,manipulation technique and needling time. Based on objective analysis of the original text,distinct differences were found in above three aspects. Therefore, the conclusion is that Neijing and Nanjing resemble different medical school of thoughts at an early phase of acupuncture theories.

[Qi Runs Through Acupuncture Needle Stimulation and Pulse Diagnosis:Our Considerations About Connotations of Qi in Acupuncture-Diagnosis-Treatment Scriptures in Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon].

The ancient classic work Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon has abundant expositions about the relationship between the acupuncture needle manipulation and pulse diagnosis. However, the relevant imparting and inheritance situations are relatively weaker nowadays probably due to the rapid development of modern diagnosis-therapeutic techniques and some faults or careless omission in understanding classical medical works. Qi, a core concept of the abundant expositions in Inner Canon, has seldom been thoroughly interpreted about its connotations. For this reason, in the present paper, the authors make a careful explanation about the connotations of Qi in Inner Canon from 1) the concept of Qikou (a superficial window of the body reflecting the functional state of internal organs), 2) pulse conditions, 3) its relationship with meridian-collateral diagnosis, and 4) the link between acupuncture needle stimulation and pulse diagnosis based on the scriptures and words description in combination with many scholars' doctrines, trying to explore its profound significance. In addition, the authors also expound its association with the effectiveness of distant treatment of acupuncture and the characteristics in relation to ancient medical scholars' thoughts.

[The worlds of gods in medicine]. / Götterwelten in der Heilkunde.

BACKGROUND: A number of designations for diseases, medicines and human body structures derive from classical mythology. To date, these eponyms have not been systematically investigated. OBJECTIVES: This paper provides an overview of this fringe component of medical vocabulary, looks at the history of several terms and formulates hypotheses as to why such creative etymologies have come into being. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In addition to relevant texts on ancient mythology, a variety of medical textbooks from the early modern period were analyzed. RESULTS: Between the 16th and the 20th centuries some 30 figures from Greek and Roman literature made their way into the terminology of medical sciences. A few of these expressions can be encountered in clinical use (e. g., Caput Medusae, Proteus, Oedipus complex) and remain official anatomical (atlas, Achilles tendon) or pharmaceutical nomenclature (atropine, morphine). The choice of these designations has often been similarity of form or analogies in function. Classical eponyms have gained acceptance on account of their succinctness, conciseness and scholarly veneer. Finally, this vocabulary shares its origin with other relevant terminology. CONCLUSIONS: In clinical classes, mythological designations can serve as a point of departure for digressions into literary, art and medical history in order to provide an understanding of cultural traditions and enhance education.

Trauma management in Homer's Iliad.

Homer's Iliad is one of the highest intellectual products of the early ancient Greek civilisation. A plethora of medical information lies within Iliad's 24 rhapsodies, and a total of 147 injuries are described. The present study records and evaluates all cases of trauma management included in this epic poem. Not only Iliad's original text but also all myths related to Iliad from the five-volume Greek Mythology by Ioannis Kakridis were meticulously studied to locate the injured person, the type of trauma, the care provider and the type of given care as well as the outcome of each case. A total of 21 cases were found and evaluated with a 5% mortality rate. The majority of these injuries were caused by an arrow (43%) and were located to the upper extremity (43%). Injuries of the head, neck and trunk were not treated as all of them were lethal. Many of the recorded trauma management techniques can be correlated to modern medicine. Furthermore, the role and skills of military doctors and paramedics, mentioned by Homer, is discussed.

[Evolution of Classification Methods and Nomenclature of Clinical Disorders Treated by Acupuncture and Moxibustion in the 20th Century].

Through systematic review of the literature on the treatment of different clinical conditions or illnesses with acupuncture and moxibustion therapies in the 20th century, the authors of the present paper analyzed the evolution process of classification of related clinical disorders. It was found that the classification and nomenclature of clinical disorders or illnesses are defined in terms of traditional Chinese medicine or western medicine, which undergoes an evolutionary process from western medicine to Chinese medicine and back to western medicine. This evolution process is due to the intrinsic requirement' of clinical practice such as thinking ways of diagnosis and treatment or to be influenced by extrinsic factors including introduction of western medicine at the Republic period, policies of"advanced studies of traditional Chinese physcians" and "western medicine doctors" lear-ning from traditional Chinese medicine, and the leading role of western medicine,etc. The former issue about the diagnosis and treatment of clinical problems needs being researched further.

Colchis - Iberian Medicine or Cura Mediana

This paper reviews the ancient traditions about Colchis. It considers the legends of the Argonauts and the Golden Fleece, of Medea and the plant lore which is well established in Georgia. Many remedies and poisons are native to the area. Hippocrates is said to have visited Colchis to study local healing traditions, describing the country, with its rich flora and fauna as well as its diseases. Thus, Medea can be considered a pioneer of cosmetics, haematology, surgery and toxicology leading the way for the development of modern medicine.

[Investigation of potential toxic factors for fleece-flower root： from perspective of processing methods evolution].

In recent years, the rapid growth of reports on fleece-flower root-caused liver damages has drawn wide attention of both at home and abroad, however, there were rare literature on toxicology of fleece-flower root in ancient Chinese medicine. But why there are so many reports on toxicology of fleece-flower root now compared with the ancient literature? As a typical tonic medicine, the clinical utility of fleece-flower root was largely limited by its standardization and reliability of processing methods in ancient Chinese medicine. The ancient processing methods of fleece-flower root emphasized nine times of steaming and nine times of drying, while the modern processes have been simplified into one time of steaming. Whether the differences between ancient and modern processing methods are the potential cause of the increased events of fleece-flower root-caused liver damages. We will make deep analysis and provide new clues and perspectives for the research on its toxicity. This article, therefore, would discuss the affecting factors and key problems in toxicity attenuation of fleece-flower root on the basis of sorting out the processing methods of fleece-flower root in ancient medical books and modern standards, in order to provide the reference for establishing specification for toxicity attenuation of fleece-flower root.

[Formation and evolution of commodity specification and grade of traditional Chinese medicine].

As an important reference index to evaluate the quality of Chinese medicinal materials, the commodity specification and grade of traditional Chinese medicine has an effect on the medicinal material's price, can promote "high quality and high price" of the traditional Chinese medicine, prompt market transactions more convenient and standard, and has a great significance to the development of the whole traditional Chinese medicine industry. The formation of traditional Chinese medicine specifications and grades experienced a long historical development process. In order to provide the reference for modification of the product specifications and grades standards and management of traditional Chinese medicine products, the author consulted a large number of materia medica books and related references, sorted and analyzed the historical development process. The author divided the formation and development process into four stages, including germination stage before the Southern and Northern Dynasties, development stage of Tang and Song Dynasty, mature period of the Ming and Qing Dynasties and the inheritance development stage since the foundation of the People's Republic. The author believes that the clinical curative effect is the driving force to promote the development of commodity specifications and grades. In addition, the national pharmaceutical policy, international status, the level of science and technology also influence the development of commodity specifications and grades in some extents. Finally, the author provides three piece of suggestions for the modification of the product specifications and grades standards, according to the historical development rule.

[Herbal textural and original plants research on medicines from Salvia in China].

On the basis of review and study on literatures of Chinese medicine, combining the history of medicinal plants of Salvia in China, and investigating the morphological description, geography distribution and therapeutic effects, herbal textural research were carried on the medicinal plants from Salvia. The results showed that the original plant of Danshen is S. miltiorrhiza and related species, the original plant of Dian Danshen is S. yunnanensis, the original plant of Li Zhi Cao is S. plebeia, the original plant of Shi Jian Chuan is Bidens pilosa. or S.chinensis, the original plant of Shu Wei Cao is S. japanica, the original plant of Ye Xia Hong is S. kiangsiensis. And the article aimed to point out the relationship of medicinal plants from Salvia and provided new insight and proof to explore the new natural medicine from medicinal plants of Salvia.