Medicalizing Topography: The French Army and Mediterranean Climates, 1760-1860.

This article details how the French army employed medical topography as a tool of military occupation throughout the Mediterranean world from the mid-eighteenth to mid-nineteenth century. It departs from other works by focusing exclusively on medical topography's military applications. Medical topographies charted the connections between health and the environment by observing a location's features, such as soil, air, and water quality, as well as elevation, prevailing winds, common local diseases, sources of potential contagion, and the cleanliness of urban environments. Because a medical-topographic study took time to write and implement, its findings provided little utility during active conflict. Only after the fighting ceased during a campaign could the army make use of a medical topography's findings by taking measures such as draining swamps, relocating hospitals in unhealthy environments, and issuing climate-appropriate gear.

Cet article examine la façon dont l'armée française utilisait la topographie médicale en tant qu'outil d'occupation militaire pendant les dix-huitième et dix-neuvième siècles dans le monde Méditerranéen. Il se détache des autres travaux en se concentrant exclusivement sur les applications militaires de l'étude. Les études topographiques-médicales analysaient des liens entre l'environnement et la santé. Ces études permettaient l'observation minutieuse et l'enregistrement des caractéristiques d'un lieu, comme par exemple : son élévation, les vents dominants, la qualité de terre, d'eaux, et d'air, la propreté des centres urbaines, et des maladies locales ainsi que leurs origines. Parce que ces études exigeaient du temps d'écrire et d'implémenter, elles n'ont pas eu une grande utilité pratique pendant une campagne. Cependant, après la cessation des hostilités, l'armée a mis en pratique les résultats de ces études. Elle a vidé des marais, déménagé des hôpitaux malsains, et distribué du matériel adapté à l'environnement.

"Sexual Development": Timing Puberty in German Enlightenment Medicine (1778-99).

From the mid-eighteenth century onward, French vitalists started to re-theorize the bodily clock of maturation. Archaic notions of precocity as an ill omen and ancient constructions of sexual timing as ethnic markers now acquired an increasingly physiological profile. Regulatory conceptions of sexual and psychosexual "development" widely animated German literature in the closing decades of the century. Here is evidence of new interdisciplinary problematizations of pubescence (Mannbarkeit) as the coordination in time of the mental apparatus (Seele, Character) and the sex drive (Geschlechtstrieb). New developmental-physiological frames for sexual maturity and psychosexuality readily extended to the fate of Nationalcharacter, sponsoring various roundtables concerning etiological questions.

À partir du milieu du XVIIIe siècle, les vitalistes français ont commencé à théoriser à nouveau l'horloge corporelle de la maturation. Les représentations archaïques de la précocité, considérée comme un mauvais présage, et les anciennes constructions du calendrier sexuel, perçues sous l'angle des marqueurs ethniques, ont acquis un profil de plus en plus physiologique. De fait, les conceptions réglementaires du « développement ¼ sexuel et psychosexuel ont largement animé la littérature allemande au cours des dernières décennies du XVIIIe siècle. On y trouve des preuves de nouvelles problématisations interdisciplinaires de la puberté (Mannbarkeit) en tant que coordination dans le temps de l'appareil mental (Seele, Character) et de la libido (Geschlechtstrieb). Les nouveaux cadres développementaux et physiologiques de la maturité sexuelle et de la psychosexualité ont également influencé le Nationalcharacter, qui a parrainé diverses tables rondes sur les questions étiologiques.

Highest ocean heat in four centuries places Great Barrier Reef in danger.

Mass coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) in Australia between 2016 and 2024 was driven by high sea surface temperatures (SST)1. The likelihood of temperature-induced bleaching is a key determinant for the future threat status of the GBR2, but the long-term context of recent temperatures in the region is unclear. Here we show that the January-March Coral Sea heat extremes in 2024, 2017 and 2020 (in order of descending mean SST anomalies) were the warmest in 400 years, exceeding the 95th-percentile uncertainty limit of our reconstructed pre-1900 maximum. The 2016, 2004 and 2022 events were the next warmest, exceeding the 90th-percentile limit. Climate model analysis confirms that human influence on the climate system is responsible for the rapid warming in recent decades. This attribution, together with the recent ocean temperature extremes, post-1900 warming trend and observed mass coral bleaching, shows that the existential threat to the GBR ecosystem from anthropogenic climate change is now realized. Without urgent intervention, the iconic GBR is at risk of experiencing temperatures conducive to near-annual coral bleaching3, with negative consequences for biodiversity and ecosystems services. A continuation on the current trajectory would further threaten the ecological function4 and outstanding universal value5 of one of Earth's greatest natural wonders.

Sieyès's Constitutional Jury, the Pennsylvania Council of Censors, and the Debate on the Conservative Power in the French Revolution.

Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès's 1795 proposal for a Constitutional Jury is usually portrayed as the first proposal for an institution to control the constitutionality of laws, and thus the ancestor of the modern constitutional court. Challenging this view, this article resituates the Constitutional Jury in a broader transatlantic tradition concerned with creating a conservative power, a non-judicial and explicitly political constitutional guardian, and demonstrates the influence of the 1776 Pennsylvania Council of Censors on Sieyès's Constitutional Jury. Drawing upon the insights provided by this tradition, it then reevaluates the history of constitutionalism and the contemporary crisis of constitutional guardianship.

The arsenic eaters of Styria, the toxicophagi.

INTRODUCTION: From at least the fifteenth to late nineteenth centuries, peasants in the Austrian province of Styria ate up to several hundred milligrams of arsenic trioxide or sulfide daily or weekly for periods up to a number of years. Taking these doses of arsenic was believed to increase muscular power and enhance the beauty and sexual attractiveness of peasant girls. There do not appear to be contemporaneous records of the known consequences of chronic arsenic exposure. The historical records of arsenic eating there are reviewed and appear to be valid. The benefits are subjective judgements by arsenic eaters. The lack of objective reports of the anticipated external and internal clinical and pathological effects of arsenic poisoning depends on a smaller number of clinical accounts and autopsy reports and the general medical literature of those times, so it is weaker, but it is consistent. CAN THE CLAIMED BENEFITS OF ARSENIC EATING AND THE APPARENT ABSENCE OF HARMFUL TOXIC EFFECTS BE TRUE?: Why the arsenic eaters did not show the well-known consequences of prolonged exposure to high doses of arsenic is not known. Possible explanations include increases in detoxifying metabolism in the consumers due to induced genomic changes and selection in people and in the gut microbiome, as shown in other populations. Whether these effects would suffice to protect people against their high doses of arsenic has not been explored. CONCLUSION: Although the nature and mechanisms of arsenic toxicity have been extensively described, much still remains to be discovered.

The Genesis of Multidisciplinary Health Professionals Teams for Pain Management. A History from the Hellenic Antiquity to Modern Palliative Medicine.

The aim of our article is to highlight the history of pain management. The multidisciplinary team (MDT) concept in confronting pain was first conceptualized by the Hippocratics, and has evolved through time and become a trend in medicine over recent decades. Documentary research was conducted to unveil the story of the evolution of MDTs. From the early 1950's the idea of an MDT approach to deal with various types of pain was sporadically introduced in medicine. Studies encouraged health institutions to support this concept by providing health professionals with training, alongside the necessary facilities and resources. Specialized care programs started with Dame Cicely Mary Strode Saunders as one of the pioneers. CONCLUSIONS: Team work and continuous interdisciplinary treatment of pain have rendered MDTs essential for health systems. Barriers in flexibility, information flow and personal issues give rise to the need for better organization and training. Pain and terminal disease palliation call for MDTs, and educated leaders to run them. Present and future health MDTs are considered necessary in all medical fields.

History of biological, mechanistic, and clinical understanding of concussion.

The history behind the biological, mechanistic, and clinical insights into concussion provides awareness of the current understanding and future areas for study. Although the initial description of concussion appeared in the 10th century, the potential long-term structural consequences were first defined by Harrison Martland, M.D., who performed a postmortem study of former boxers in 1928. He found evidence of perivascular microhemorrhage that he believed eventually evolved into a "replacement gliosis" underlying a clinical syndrome that he named "punch drunk," which was characterized by acute confusion with chronic cognitive and physical symptoms developing in those with prolonged exposure. Further research into the potential long-term consequences of repetitive concussions, particularly in athletics and the military, led to an understanding of chronic traumatic encephalopathy. To ameliorate possible long-term risks, research has been focused on preventative and therapeutic measures for concussion. In this review article, the authors present the history of concussion and the long-term sequelae of repeated head injury. Specifically, they consider how the understanding of concussion has evolved from antiquity into the modern era, and how this change in understanding of head injury has led to an appreciation of the fact that its long-term implications sometimes manifest as the clinical and histopathological entity of chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

Differential pathogenicity and lethality of bubonic plague (1720-1945) by sex, age and place.

COVID-19 brought back to the attention of the scientific community that males are more susceptible to infectious diseases. What is clear for other infections-that sex and gender differences influence both risk of infection and mortality-is not yet fully elucidated for plague, particularly bubonic plague, although this knowledge can help find specific defences against a disease for which a vaccine is not yet available. To address this question, we analysed data on plague from hospitals in different parts of the world since the early eighteenth century, which provide demographic information on individual patients, diagnosis and course of the disease in the pre-antibiotic era. Assuming that the two sexes were equally represented, we observe a worldwide prevalence of male cases hospitalized at any age, a result which seems better explained by gender-biased (thus cultural) behaviours than biological sex-related factors. Conversely, case fatality rates differ among countries and geographic macro-areas, while globally, lethality appears slightly prevalent in young females and older adults (regardless of sex). Logistic regression models confirm that the main risk factor for bubonic plague death was the geographical location of the cases and being older than 50 years, whereas sex only showcased a slight trend.

Between Innovation and Resistance: The Role of Guilds in Early Modern Italian Ribbon Manufacturing.

The historiographical debate about the influence of guilds on economic development and innovation lacks consensus. Scholars are divided: some argue that guilds fostered a positive environment for technological innovation through privileges that ensured profits for inventors, while others underline the guilds' role in stifling innovation to protect their interests. This article undertakes a comparative analysis of ribbon manufacturing in early modern Italy, a sector known for its technology transfer across Europe. It finds that the nature of the guild and its specific privileges crucially determined technology transfer and innovation acceptance. In addition, the redistribution of profits within guilds was vital to the innovative process. The article concludes that the key to technology transfer and innovation lay in preserving the guilds' profit monopolies and internal stability.

Historical Patterns in the Intergenerational Transmission of Lifespan and Longevity: A Research Note on U.S. Cohorts Born Between 1700 and 1900.

This research note examines historical trends in lifespan inequality and the intergenerational transmission of lifespan and longevity in the United States over the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. We contribute to the literature by expanding the estimates of the familial component beyond parent-child associations to include multigenerational and horizontal classes of relatives of different sexes. We also examine how lifespan inequality and the role of the family in lifespan and longevity changed over time. We address the challenge of studying extended family networks in historical times by leveraging recent online crowdsourced genealogical data. Results confirm the presence of a familial component for all classes of relatives considered and highlight a stronger association for horizontal than for vertical relationships. Despite decreasing lifespan inequality, we find no evidence of decreased familial lifespan stratification throughout history. If anything, the results suggest a strengthening of the parent-child association. Finally, the results contribute to the debate on the representativeness and usability of crowdsourced genealogical data by emphasizing the importance of sample selection based on the quality of the information collected.

[A brief history of the use of Gypsum in orthopedics].

Humans processed gypsum for their everyday use at least 7000 years ago. They have been using fixed limb methods for fracture treatment for nearly 5000 years. Hippocrates recognized the importance of the splint and the "roller bandage" for fracture treatment, and made the bandage hard by adding wax, pitch, lard or resin to the multi-layer cloth bandage, but not gypsum. Arabian physician El Zahrawi (936 -1013) also described a clay glue mixture, and flour and egg white as fracture fixation materials. From 970, Persian physician Muwafak used gypsum as the exclusive material for fracture fixation. The rudimentary form of modern plaster bandages was developed in the mid-19th century and spread widely after that, using methods from the Russian Pyrogov by soaking canvas in a gypsum slurry and Dutchman Massson wrapped gypsum powder in cotton cloth strips.

Proto-Endocrinological Theories of Masculinity/Femininity (1490-1904).

From the mid-seventeenth century, resorption of a testicular "ferment" and resorption of some part of the semen constituted reputable accounts of secondary sexual characteristics. Only in the early twentieth century was the latter, "recrementitious secretion" theory, explicitly considered superseded by one of internal secretion, an advance ushering in the hormone era. A reconstruction of these proto-endocrinological concepts is offered onward from the first, 1490 print edition of Galen's On Semen. Early modern physicians picking up from Galen deliberated widely on the medium and pathway of male and female testicular influences on "the entire body," including the mind, causing "femininity" and "masculinity" in physical, mental-temperamental, and behavioral terms. A switch is discernible from "heat and strength" (Galen) to blood-borne "virility" or testicular vapor (such as proposed in 1564 by Tomás Rodrigues da Veiga), to iatrochemical postulations of a "seminal ferment" (suggested in the late 1650s, perhaps independently, by Thomas Willis at Oxford and Lambert van Velthuysen in Utrecht), finally to a "seminal recrement" or "reabsorbed semen" concept soon after (emergent in the posthumous work of Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, among others). During the late eighteenth century, mounting controversy surrounded both the very idea of that concept and the involved anatomical pathways, informed by multiple experiments.

History and evolution of surgical treatment for spasticity: a journey from neurotomy to selective dorsal rhizotomy.

The evolution of neurosurgical approaches to spasticity spans centuries, marked by key milestones and innovative practitioners. Probable ancient descriptions of spasmodic conditions were first classified as spasticity in the 19th century through the interventions of Dr. William John Little on patients with cerebral palsy. The late 19th century witnessed pioneering efforts by surgeons such as Dr. Charles Loomis Dana, who explored neurotomies, and Dr. Charles Sherrington, who proposed dorsal rhizotomy to address spasticity. Dorsal rhizotomy rose to prominence under the expertise of Dr. Otfrid Foerster but saw a decline in the 1920s due to emerging alternative procedures and associated complications. The mid-20th century saw a shift toward myelotomy but the revival of dorsal rhizotomy under Dr. Claude Gros' selective approach and Dr. Marc Sindou's dorsal root entry zone (DREZ) lesioning. In the late 1970s, Dr. Victor Fasano introduced functional dorsal rhizotomy, incorporating electrophysiological evaluations. Dr. Warwick Peacock and Dr. Leila Arens further modified selective dorsal rhizotomy, focusing on approaches at the cauda equina level. Later, baclofen delivered intrathecally via an implanted programmable pump emerged as a promising alternative around the late 1980s, pioneered by Richard Penn and Jeffrey Kroin and then led by A. Leland Albright. Moreover, intraventricular baclofen has also been tried in this matter. The evolution of these neurosurgical interventions highlights the dynamic nature of medical progress, with each era building upon and refining the work of significant individuals, ultimately contributing to successful outcomes in the management of spasticity.

An eternal hunt for glaucoma.

In the first issue of Graefe's Archive from 1854, Albrecht von Graefe wrote about glaucoma. Glaucoma comes from the Greek word "glaukos," gleaming, which was first used by Homer around 800 BCE. Since then, glaukos and glaucoma have taken on many different meanings. The terms blindness, cataract and glaucoma were used interchangeably and twisted together in incomprehensible contexts. Over 2500 years of glaucoma theories were upset by the discovery of the ophthalmoscope in 1851. The first reports of increased intraocular pressure appeared in the mid-seventeenth century, but it took over 200 years for this elevated pressure to be accepted by the ophthalmological community. The discovery of glaucoma simplex in 1861 was an important step forward. What did doctors know about glaucoma before 1850 and why did it take so long to classify glaucoma in its various categories? And why is it that we still do not know what the cause is for primary open angle glaucoma? I will try to answer some of these questions after a historical overview.

Watercolor spreading in Bridget Riley's and Piet Mondrian's op-art placed in the context of recent watercolor studies.

The watercolor effect (WCE) is a striking visual illusion elicited by a bichromatic double contour, such as a light orange and a dark purple, hugging each other on a white background. Color assimilation, emanating from the lighter contour, spreads onto the enclosed surface area, thereby tinting it with a chromatic veil, not unlike a weak but real color. Map makers in the 17th century utilized the WCE to better demarcate the shape of adjoining states, while 20th-century artist Bridget Riley created illusory watercolor as part of her op-art. Today's visual scientists study the WCE for its filling-in properties and strong figure-ground segregation. This review emphasizes the superior strength of the WCE for grouping and figure-ground organization vis-à-vis the classical Gestalt factors of Max Wertheimer (1923), thereby inspiring a notion of form from induced color. It also demonstrates that a thin chromatic line, flanking the inside of a black Mondrian-type pattern, induces the WCE across a large white surface area. Phenomenological, psychophysical, and neurophysiological approaches are reviewed.

The ambiguous relationship between food and health across the centuries.

Since the Palaeolithic Age food has been closely linked to the development of the human species, meeting our energy needs and fuelling our cell metabolism. Without food there can be no life. However, over the centuries food and our eating habits have also had a damaging effect, whether through deficiencies, excesses, direct toxic effects or as a vector of pathogenic agents. The human species has known two major food revolutions: one at the start of the Neolithic Age and the other very recently in the years following the Second World War. In this article we will be looking at the ambiguous relationship between food and human health as well as the health of our planet.

The History of Orthopedics in the Long Term: From General Medicine to Medical Specialties.

A thorough literature search was done in PubMed and Google Scholar as well as in physical books in libraries to summarize the literature on the history and evolution of medicine and orthopedics. The philosophical ideas that emerged in ancient Greece served as a foundation for the development of medicine. In the 5th century BC, the schools of Knidos and Kos emerged as influential centers for the development of medical thinking. The field of orthopedics can be traced back to early human civilizations. Ancient Egyptians perpetuated the tradition of employing splinting techniques. Hippocrates provided insights for the diagnosis, correction and treatment of many musculoskeletal entities. The field of medicine experienced a period of limited advancement during the Middle Ages. The Renaissance provided for the foundation of modern orthopedics and important contributions to the understanding and implementation of antisepsis. The discovery of x-ray and advancements in infection control and anesthesia have shown substantial progress in the domain of orthopedics and have contributed to the development of orthopedic subspecialization. Orthopedic surgery holds a historical lineage deeply entrenched in ancient practices and early human civilizations. Physicians specializing in orthopedics should be aware of the historical origins of their discipline and continue to evolve through further subspecialization and enhanced research.

[Sir Charles Bell (1774-1842) and his contribution to neurology (the 250th anniversary of the birth)]. / Ser Charl'z Bell (1774­1842) i ego vklad v nevrologiyu (k 250-letiyu so dnya rozhdeniya).

Sir Charles Bell (1774-1842) is Scottish physiologist, surgeon, artist, philosopher and anatomist. Throughout his professional career, Charles Bell made a number of important discoveries and published a large number of scientific papers. Bell first presented a detailed description of the clinical picture of facial palsy (later named after him) and a number of other neurological disorders, as well as important information about referred pain and reciprocal inhibition. Exploring the physical expression of emotions, Bell described the anatomical basis of facial expressions, which became the basis and incentive for Charles Darwin's work in this direction. Being a talented artist, the scientist himself illustrated his publications. Bell was one of the first to integrate scientific research in neuroanatomy with clinical practice. His most significant discoveries are collected in the book «The Nervous System of the Human Body¼ (1830). A number of neurological conditions and patterns were named after him.