Tuberculosis and survival in past populations: A paleo-epidemiological appraisal.

Historical assessments of the last two centuries consistently placed tuberculosis as the leading cause of mortality. However, for earlier periods, we can only calculate the frequencies of archaeological bone lesions, which tell us little about the real impact of the disease on mortality. These lesions are usually observed in individuals who have developed immune resistance, which is visible as healed osteo-articular lesions. This study aimed to test the differential impacts of tuberculosis, cribra orbitalia and cribra femoris on adult survival and sex-based survival. We analyzed 28 French adult samples from the Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. The age-at-death of 1480 individuals was estimated using cementochronology. Survival curves and median age-at-death were calculated to test new hypotheses that challenge the parasitic and deficiency theories of bone stress markers. Comparisons between carriers and non-carriers provided new information concerning the plausible causes of bone stress markers related to infections and TB. The most likely hypothesis is skeletal demineralization and osteoclastic resorption, which are usually observed close to tubercular granuloma or distant from active lesions. The bone marrow niche of Mycobacterium tuberculosis within CD271(+) BM-MSCs stem cells is the proposed explanation for the localized cortical resorption that is observed in bone stress markers.

The ancient city of Rome, its empire, and the spread of tuberculosis in Europe.

The formation of the Roman Empire constituted an unprecedented joining of Mediterranean and European lands and peoples, centering on the capital of Rome. During the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire (ca. 200B.C.-ca. 200 A.D.) urbanization and population growth led to conditions favorable to the spread of tuberculosis throughout Italy and especially within Rome itself. Trade and military expansion would have acted as vehicles for the further extension of tuberculosis to the provinces via direct transmission from Italian-born Romans to the native populations. However, an alternative explanation may better explain the increase in the number of archeological cases of tuberculosis with the start of the Roman era. A literature review of Roman-era cases and their locations suggests that the development of an urban, Roman way of life resulted in significant increases in prevalence in regions where tuberculosis had previously been endemic only at a low level.

Migrant remittances and household wellbeing in urban Zimbabwe.

Evidence from household surveying in December 2005 in Harare and Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, indicates that a wide network of international migrant remitters are ameliorating the economic crisis in Zimbabwe by sending monetary and in-kind transfers to over 50 per cent of urban households. The research combines quantitative measurement of scale and scope, with demographic and qualitative narrative to build a holistic picture of the typography of receiving and non-receiving households. A complex set of interrelated variables helps to explain why some households do and others do not receive income and goods from people who are away, and the economic and social extent of their subsequent benefit from them. Moreover, the mixed methods approach is designed to capture inter-household and likely macroeconomic effects of how households receive their goods and money; and of how they subsequently exchange (if applicable), store and spend it. Evidence emerges of a largely informal, international social welfare system, but one which is not without adverse inter-household effects for some. These include suffering exclusion from markets suffering from inflationary pressures, not least as a result of other people's remittances. This paper explores the role of remittances, within this internationalised informal welfare system which we can map from our household survey, in reframing vulnerability and marginalization differentially among and between our subject households.

The limits of scientific planning: Doxiadis and the Tehran Action Plan.

Tehran after the Second World War experienced a modernization drive and rapid population growth. In 1972, the Greek planner, Constantinos Doxiadis, who had already undertaken major housing and planning projects in Iran, was invited to prepare an action plan for the city, to guide the future investment for easing the city's problems. Doxiadis saw cities as nightmares, but advocated that a holistic scientific analysis and a naturalist approach to urban growth management could address their problems. In applying his ideas to Tehran, however, the limits of his ideas of scientific planning became evident, not only through contextual pressures, such as lack of time and data, but also through the planning consultant's approach, in which commercial considerations and the application of readymade solutions could shape the outcome. Rather than working with the context, Doxiadis followed the modernist tenet of breaking with the past, proposing the creation of West Tehran, an alternative to the city where all future growth should take place on a utopian basis. The radical nature of his proposals, his death, and a turbulent revolution aborted the impact of his action plan on Tehran, while faith in modernist scientific planning was widely being abandoned.

Desplazamiento y aislamiento. Alienados mentales en la ciudad de Medellín. 1878-1930 / Displacement and isolation. Mental illness in the city of Medellin. 1878-1930

La observación sobre la ciudad de Medellín en el contexto de la historia urbana, generó un sorprendente cuadro de temas sobre higiene y salud pública, entre los que encontramos el caso de los alienados mentales y los dispositivos de control propuestos por las autoridades civiles y los médicos. De 1880 hasta 1950 Medellín vivió el proceso de modernización, que la convirtió en polo de atracción de los desplazamientos de población al interior de la provincia de Antioquia. El Ferrocarril garantizó desde los pueblos vecinos la movilización masiva de población, entre la que llegaron no pocos alienados mentales. A finales del siglo XIX, las autoridades crearon la Casa de Alienados para dar asilo a estas personas, esta institución se convirtió a comienzos del siglo XX en Manicomio Departamental y a mediados del siglo XX en el Hospital Mental de Antioquia. El aislamiento de los locos da cuenta del comienzo del proceso de constitución e institucionalización del saber psicopatológico, de la autoridad médica y la medicalización de la demencia en Antioquia a comienzos del siglo XX (AU)

The observation in the city of Medellín within the framework of urban history generated a surprising picture of subjects in hygiene and public health, among which we found the case of mental illness and the control systems proposed by civilian authorities and doctors. In Medellín, between 1880 and 1950, the modernization process went on, turning its pole of attraction on population displacements to the interior of the province of Antioch. As a result of Railroad I, there was a massive mobility of population from the neighboring towns, including some mentally ill people. At the end of the 19th century, the authorities created a house of asylum for these people, which became the Mental Hospital in the middle of the 20th century. The isolation of the mentally ill people reports both medical authority and the beginning of the constitution process and institutionalization of the psychopathology and medicalization of mental diseases in Antioquia at the beginning of the 20th century (AU)

[Displacement and isolation. Mental illness in the city of Medellín. 1878-1930]. / Desplazamiento y aislamiento. Alienados mentales en la cuidad de Medellín. 1878-1930.

The observation in the city of Medellín within the framework of urban history generated a surprising picture of subjects in hygiene and public health, among which we found the case of mental illness and the control systems proposed by civilian authorities and doctors. In Medellín, between 1880 and 1950, the modernization process went on, turning its pole of attraction on population displacements to the interior of the province of Antioch. As a result of Railroad I, there was a massive mobility of population from the neighboring towns, including some mentally ill people. At the end of the 19th century, the authorities created a house of asylum for these people, which became the Mental Hospital in the middle of the 20th century. The isolation of the mentally ill people reports both medical authority and the beginning of the constitution process and institutionalization of the psychopathology and medicalization of mental disease in Antioquia at the beginning of the 20th century.

"New Sport" in the street: self-defence, security and space in belle epoque Paris.

Near the turn of the twentieth century, traditional self-defence methods (for example, jiu-jitsu) were revamped into a more accessible and practical set of techniques and tactics for everyday use in urban public space. Framed as a "new sport" with broad public utility, early urban self-defence developed against the backdrop of heightening fears of violent crime and a burgeoning politics of security, as well as tensions provoked by the increasingly common appearance of unchaperoned, middle-class women in public. Self-defence masters pitched their innovations in an inclusive rhetoric, always with separate lessons for men and women and their respective spaces of risk. This article places modern self-defence practices in tension with historical transformations in the urban landscape, arguing that urban self-defence posited a certain subjective relation to the city that tapped simultaneously into the desire for empowerment, fantasies of criminal danger and a law-and-order tone that shaded into urban vigilantism.

[Public health in eastern Skania 1860-1899--a study based on district medical officer's reports]. / Folkhälsan i ostra skåne 1860-1899--en studie utifrån provinsialläkarrapporter.

During the last decades of the 19th century Sweden changed from being a developing to a developed country. It was a period when many people emigrated to America and Denmark, due to miserable times. The aim was to investigate the status and development of the public health in the eastern part of the province Skane, Sweden, during the years 1860 to 1899. The investigation included a study of differences in health between city and countryside, men and women, and health problems now and then. The official reports of provincial doctors (general practitioners) from Brosarp (1860-1899) and city doctors from Kristianstad (1883-1899) were studied. The reports included conscription reports, tables of illnesses and deaths, and an annually summarized health report of the district. The district of Brosarp was a very poor area, due to its topographical location. The poverty brought illness, but not as much as could be expected. The infant mortality rate was lower than for the rest of the country. The long distances between the villages impeded the transmission of infectious diseases. The health situation in Kristianstad was also affected by its topographical location. The humid and densely populated city was a hotbed for infections. Sanitary improvements in both Brosarp and Kristianstad resulted in a better health situation at the end of the 19th century. There were several similarities between the studied areas and the developing countries of today, for example regarding malnutrition, traditional medicine and problems with contaminated drinking water. Compared to the health problems of today, poverty and infectious diseases were greater problems during the studied period of time, while problems related to diet and alcohol drinking were similar. More research is needed to relate the public health in Brosarp and Kristianstad to that in other Swedish districts during the same period of time.

Social differentials in the decline of infant mortality in Sweden in the twentieth century: the impact of politics and policy.

This article describes some of the policies behind the decline of infant mortality in Sweden during the 20th century, from very high levels and large social differentials at the turn of the 19th century to one of the lowest levels in the world by 1950. Political commitment to reducing infant mortality and disparities between groups, a more equitable distribution of economic resources, and a successful combination of universal social and health policies most benefiting the least advantaged families and their children contributed to this favorable development.

[Non-conventional medical practice in the city of Valencia in the 16th and 17th centuries]. / La prácticas médicas extraacadémicas en la ciudad de Valencia durante los siglos XVI y XVII.

The aim of this study is to provide an example of medical pluralism and of the different resources against disease available to the inhabitants of the city of Valencia in the 16th century and the first half of the 17th century. The work considers conventional health care and in particular details of extra-academic medical practices, i.e. both empirical and religious alternatives that were neither regulated nor based on Galenism. The study analyses examples of folk healing, the sale of miracle cures and recourse to the saints or spells, among others.

Negotiating with Dharma Pinnu: towards a social history of smallpox in colonial Orissa.

This paper explores the social complexities associated with the history of smallpox in colonial Orissa in Eastern India. It focuses on tribal communities while taking into account their interactions with non-tribal communities and colonialism. This research grapples with the phenomenon of of the Hinduisation of tribes and the way this implies an acceptance as well as a rejection of the various aspects of non-tribal, Hindu society. Thus, I examine the specific elements of non-tribal groups inoculation, black magic, and subversive cults, demonstrating the close affinities some of these features have with tribal communities.

[With human and divine means: the fight against disease and death in 18th century Alicante]. / Con medios humanos y divinos: la lucha contra la enfermedad y la mueret en Alicante en el silgo XVIII.

The nucleus of this work is the wide spectrum of means available to the inhabitants of the city of Alicante in the 18th century to fight against disease. Alongside healthcare professionals properly trained as physicians, surgeons, barbers or midwives, there were both other healers of heterogeneous types and religious resources. The study considers, in a comprehensive and articulated way, the whole repertoire of therapeutic and healthcare alternatives provided to the inhabitants of Alicante. The interpretation of the results is carried out taking into account the historiographical framework developed in recent years that considers the medical marketplace as an economic and cultural concept.

Fractures in medieval Scotland.

The prevalence of fractures in medieval Scotland is assessed, particular attention being given to excavations of cemeteries beside three Carmelite cemeteries, at Aberdeen, Perth and Linlithgow, and another one at Whithorn Abbey. In the friaries the prevalence of fractures was 7.6% and in Whithorn it was 5.0%. These figures are comparable with an estimated prevalence of 7.2% for individuals between 0 and 65 years in present day Scotland. Males were more at risk of fractures than females, but a small group from both genders had been struck on the head by weapons. A study from a rural cemetery in England indicates that both male and female peasants had a much higher risk of fractures than their urban counterparts.