Medical eponyms versus acronyms: what medical terminology is most beneficial to learn? A question of goals.

Appropriate use of medical terminology is one of the core conditions for successful communication in monolingual and multilingual healthcare communities. The modern scientific language is based on the descriptive terminology. However, it is often the case that the advantages of descriptive terminology are at odds with the ability to express complex concepts in just a few words. To solve this practicality problem it is customary to coin abbreviations and acronyms preferred to traditional eponyms. Today eponyms are considered ambiguous and non-descriptive, linked to the terminology of the past. The overview of this study demonstrates that the current habit of using acronyms can increase the scientific descriptive capacity compared to eponyms. On the other hand, acronyms remain ambiguous and more ephemeral than eponyms. Furthermore, eponyms are not as descriptive as acronyms, but they still carry important information for a medical student. If you truly believe in the importance of Medical Humanities in the medical curriculum, two aspects cannot be overlooked. First, eponyms bring students closer in an almost subliminal way to the history of medicine and the non-strictly technical-scientific field of medicine. Second, medicine is a complex science applied to humans and must strive to keep the patient at the center of its interests. Patients and their families preferably ask us to use eponyms. Which terminology to choose for medical students? The teachers have the last word.

The last battle of Alessandro Farnese (1545-1592).

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Alessandro Farnese (1545-1592), 3rd Duke of Parma and Piacenza, one of the most important generals and politicians of his age. He died after a rapid deterioration of his health. The available documents testify that the Duke suffered for a long time from various health problems, such as jaundice, intestinal disorders, gout, dropsy but very little is known about the cause(s) of his death. The aim of this article is to offer for the first time a complete clinical interpretation of Alessandro Farnese's last months of life Methods: A collection of descriptions of symptoms and signs described by his court physician and by the leading biographers of Farnese has been compiled. This collected medical evidence has been interpreted in the light of current medical knowledge, to obtain a final interpretation. RESULTS: The results led us to consider liver diseases, neoplastic diseases (especially pancres) and infectious diseases (including typhus and malaria) as causes or contributing causes of death. CONCLUSIONS: The accurate autopsy description, in association with the anamnestic information provided by the historical documents studied, suggests that Alessandro Farnese was a hepatopathic patient suffering from spontaneous bacterial peritonitis. In the pre-antibiotic era, the pathological organ alterations described certainly have at least contributed to making the infectious episode (that the autopsy describes of pulmonary origin) fatal.

Oral status of a noble European couple from the 16th century: A morphologic analysis of the teeth of Alessandro Farnese and his wife Maria D'Aviz.

Objective. To report the results of dental morphological analysis performed on the remains of two European nobles (Duke Alessandro Farnese and his wife Maria D'Aviz) who lived in the 16th century, together with hypotheses on their nutrition and oral hygiene habits. Design and results. The remains of Alessandro Farnese (1545-1592) and Princess Maria D'Aviz (1538-1577) were exhumed in Parma, Italy, in the context of an historical investigation into their possible causes of death. The skulls were examined and analysed through direct inspection, high-detailed photographs and radiographs. Ante mortem tooth loss (AMTL), postmortem tooth loss (PMTL), Scott and Smith dental wear indexes and the Kerr periodontal index were used to assess the dental and periodontal status of the couple. Alessandro Farnese suffered from severe dental wear while it was presumed that Maria D'Aviz was affected by periodontal disease and tooth decay. Conclusions. Based on the findings of the present analysis, we hypothesise that Alessandro Farnese's diet was mainly based on hard and unrefined foods, also suggested by limited historical reports. It is likely that Maria D'Aviz's nutrition was based on sugar-enriched foods.

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321): an "infernal" endocrinological observation.

The year 2021 marks the 700th anniversary of Dante's death. Is it appropriate to celebrate this anniversary in a journal of endocrinology? The answer is yes-the motivation for this being found in the giants that Dante, in his Divine Comedy, places around the well that divides Circle 8 from Circle 9 of Hell. The "Supreme Poet" describes one of the giants (Nimrod, a Biblical character) as having a large and elongated face with a body of gargantuan proportions. Such a description immediately calls to mind the characteristics of acromegalic prognathism, the huge stature being the most pathognomonic aspect. Is it possible that the sharp eye of Dante had observed such a feature in people affected by actual gigantism?

COVID-19 and Spanish flu-18: review of medical and social parallelisms between two global pandemics.

The intrusion of infectious diseases in everyday life forces humans to reassess their attitudes. Indeed, pandemics are able catalyze rapid transitions in scientific knowledge, politics, social behaviors, culture and arts. The current Coronavirus diesease-19 (COVID-19) outbreak has driven an unprecedented interest toward the influenza pandemic of 1918. The issue is whether history can shed light on the best preventive response and future scenarios. The aim of this review is to highlight the parallelism between the two pandemics. Starting from epidemiology and clinical features, but further focusing on social and cultural issues, it is possible to unreveal great similarities. Their outbreak pattern lead to hypothesize a similar duration and death burden in absence of effective vaccines or innovative treatments for COVID-19. Thus, then as now, preventive medicine represents the first and most effective tool to contain the course of the pandemic; being treatments available only supportive. At the same time,both pandemics shared the same pattern of narration (e.g. scapegoating) and the same impact on minorities in high-income countries. Furthermore, visual art responded to pandemic issues in 2020 in the form of Graffiti art, while similar role was ruled by Expressionism movement during the Spanish flu. Photography also was capable to document both catastrophic scenarios. Thus, it is possible to find a lot of clinical and social similarities between the two pandemics. Nevertheless, if the Spanish flu was not unforseen, COVID-19 spillover was partially predictable and its global impact will hopefully not be overshadowed by a major crisis such as World War I.

Flaminio Rota: Fame and Glory of a 16th Century Anatomist without Scientific Publications.

Academic activity is intrinsically composed of two aspects: teaching and research. Since the 20th century, the aphorism "publish or perish" has overwhelmingly established itself in the academic field. Research activity has absorbed more attention from the professors who have neglected teaching activity. In anatomical sciences, research has focused mainly on ultrastructural anatomy and biochemical aspects, far removed from the topics addressed to medical students. Will today's anatomists be rewarded by their choice? To generate a forecast, we should entrust what history has already taught us. For this analysis, an example was taken, concerning the fate that history reserved for the anatomy teachers of the University of Bologna in the second half of the 16th century. Thanks to Vesalius (1514-1564), experimentation on the human body replaced the old dogmatic knowledge, and didactic innovation was one with research. Some figures were highly praised despite their poor scientific production. The present article focuses on the figure of Flaminio Rota, who was highly esteemed by his colleagues in spite of no significant scientific activity. Reasons for this paradox are examined. Then, history also whispers to us: publish, but without perishing in the oblivion of students.

How do students approach the study of the History of Medicine? Some considerations after the final exams at the first year and fourth year.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Reports about the teaching of the History of Medicine in universities worldwide can be found easily in medical literature. They are often comparative studies in which the opinions provided by the professors are collected and the teaching programs are compared. Our study focuses instead on the relationship between the students and the discipline, what they look for from it, and how their interest changes with the progress of the course of study. METHODS: The final tests of the students of two Italian universities, Parma and Bologna, were analyzed, in which the candidate had the ability to choose the topic of discussion and to outline his personal analysis. The course year in which the final examination was faced is different: in the first year in Bologna, in the fourth year in Parma. RESULTS: This survey show that in both universities most students have carried out autonomous research regardless of the educational material made available to them. This attitude can be interpreted as a real interest in the history of medicine, widening their search throughout all the fields of the discipline. CONCLUSIONS: These results seem to suggest to teachers of History of Medicine to convey to their students the methodology of historical and epistemological research, giving the student to the pupils the opportunity to become passionate about history in the way he/she prefers. (www.actabiomedica.it).

THE HISTORY OF SYPHILIS IN THE XVI CENTURY AND THE PIVOTAL ROLE OF LUIGI LUIGINI IN THE RENAISSANCE / [LA STORIA DELLA SIFILIDE NEL XVI SEC. E IL RUOLO CENTRALE DI LUIGI LUIGINI NEL RINASCIMENTO]

Syphilis is the prime example of a "new disease" which triggered a transnational (European) discussion among physicians. It appeared between the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Modern Times (at the beginning of the sixteenth century), a time in which medicine was changing from a dogmatic to an experimental discipline. The main changes were in the field of anatomy: in 1543, the same year of the astronomy-disrupting work by Nicolas Copernicus, the new less dogmatic and more empirical approach to anatomy by Andreas Vesalius was published. Nevertheless, in the Renaissance, medicine remains a tradition-bound discipline, proud of its millennial history and its superiority over the empirical, non-academic healers. When syphilis appeared in Europe, several explanations were elaborated. In the mid-16th century, an Italian doctor Luigi Luigini (born in 1526) published in Venice a collection of all the works on syphilis that appeared until 1566. He wanted to entrust to colleagues, contemporary and future, a compendium of all that was known about the "new" disease (the Latin term Novus means both "new" and "strange"). According to the most authors of the collection, the disease is in fact "new" and "strange". Some authors of the collection find it impossible that authorities like Hippocrates and Galen overlooked it. Luigini's work shows the authors' effort to absorb syphilis in the corpus of academic medicine and affirm the authority of academic physicians against the empirical healers.

The avid eaters of lives. New and old infectious diseases in Italy at the time of World War I: a historical overview of military medicine and public health.

World War I hit Italy from different perspectives. The one here described under an historical point of view regards the health of military and civil population, with a special focus on infective diseases. The 20th Century was the fuse of degeneration and eugenetics theories; which grew in the melée of war and technological innovation. Indeed, war is interestingly depicted as an entity capable of emphasizing the differences between those who wore a uniform and those who did not. As a matter of fact, some infections spared the civilian population while others felt with greater vengeance on this subgroup. Moreover, the incidence of different feared diseases was brought back to the rates of the late 19th Century. Thanks to a statistician, Giorgio Mortara (1885-1967) the impact of infective diseases in Wolrd War I on Italian demography is well established. Moreover, different military and civilian sources contribute to enrich the picture of the consequences of war. In conclusion World War I could see considered as a litmus paper. The litmus paper of successes and failures of italian public health management to face new medical challenges exacerbated by the crisis.

The Greek hero Achilles and his mysterious death: transdisciplinary analysis of the gouty hypothesis.

Achilles is a character of Greek mythology whose deeds are mainly told in the Iliad by Homer. Achilles distinguishes himself on the battlefield of Troy with his dexterity and strength, appearing invincible, yet he dies wounded by an arrow in his heel. How could an arrow shot to the heel kill anybody, no matter whether vulnerable or invulnerable? Many researchers have tried to give a medical explanation to this mythological conundrum starting from a literary interpretation of the Homeric text: poisoning, infection, allergy, haemophilia or thyroid storm. In a way, the oldest medical interpretation was suggested by Lucian of Samosata (ca. 120 to after 180 AD). In his parodic tragedy "Gout", he claimed that the warrior actually died of gout. In this article we consider the gouty hypothesis and analyse the clinical aspects that support it.

El Alamein: the battle in the battle. How infectious disease management changed the fate of one of the most important battle of the World War II.

El Alamein, on Egypt's Mediterranean coast, was the theater of war for one of the most important and decisive battles of the Second World War. The Allied victory in November 1942 opened the end of the Western Desert Campaign. The battle revived the morale of the Allies, being the first big success against the Axis since Operation Crusader in late 1941. The German threat to Egypt, the Suez Canal and the Middle Eastern and Persian oil fields was eliminated and the doors for Mediterranean advance were opened. Fighting in the desert under extreme human conditions exposed all the involved armies to health hazards going beyond those arising from common battle injuries. The outcome of the battle was influenced by a gap in morbidity and mortality derived from different approaches in infectious disease management between armies. The attention of the British for medical research, pharmacological experimentation, hygiene strategies and prevention may have been as important as warfare strategies in deciding the fate of the battle. Examples of some of these advances include wound nursing, control of endemic diseases, surveillance of difficult hygienic conditions, prevention of faecal-oral transmission diseases. During El Alamein Battle soldiers on both fronts where engaged in two wars: the first one, vertical, was against the enemy uniform; the second one, horizontal, was against invisible enemies called pathogens. Only surviving the horizontal war meant preserve enough units and morale in order to win El Alaman Battle.

A new era for medical liability in Italy: back to positivism.

In 2017, the italian Chamber of Deputies approved the law n. 24 of 2017 (so-called "Gelli") on professional liability of healthcare professionals. One of the most significant innovations contained in the "Gelli" Law is a new provision in case of medical malpractice ('imperizia'), where the healthcare professional will avoid liability if he or she can show that they have acted in accordance with recommended guidelines published under law. In the absence of these guidelines the professional must adhere to principles of good practice.1 Guidelines  provided by the law aim to standardize medical acts. They are based on the principles of evidence-based medicine, an approach to medical practice aimed at optimizing the decision-making process. In literature many physicians and jurists have commented, in a discordant manner, the choices of the Legislator. In this article a historical perspective is proposed, finding analogies between the principles of the "Gelli" law and positivist thought. The evolution that Positivism has had in the medical field has been analyzed, in particular studying the evolution of the thought of the Italian physician and strong positivist Paolo Mantegazza (1831-1910). In light of the facts it is concluded that the physician must always keep in mind that medicine is a science applied to man, and any medical act must be a consequence of a doctor-patient concordance that inevitably takes into consideration every single individual in his uniqueness. Thus, although difficult the next step of the legislator should be to favor the establishment of high-quality medical-patient relationships. In any case, if the physician has been most careful in managing a good relationship with each individual patient and in understanding her/his situation before performing medical acts, she/he may perhaps fear less potential judicial repercussions.

The Relationship between Blood Circulation and Exercise Headache before and after the Publication of De Motu Cordis (1628): Comparison between the Scientific Thought of Girolamo Mercuriale (1530-1606) and Bernardino Ramazzini (1633-1714).

The relationship between physical activity, sports and headache is a topic of growing interest as testified by a variety of recently published papers. This correlation dates back to the Classical Age. The aim of this study is to understand how the concept of headache of vascular origin has evolved after the publication of the book De motu cordis by William Harvey (1578-1657). We analyzed and compared the books De arte gymnastica written by Girolamo Mercuriale (1601 edition) and De Morbis Artificum Diatriba written by Bernardino Ramazzini (1713 edition) focusing our attention on headache in the sportsman. By studying the De morbis artificum diatriba, it is clear that its description of the etiopathogenesis of exercise headache of cardiovascular origin is much more complete and precise than the one provided in De arte gymnastica. The limits of scientific knowledge of his time put Mercuriale at disadvantage, since cardiovascular physiology was not elucidated until 1628 with the publication of De motu cordis.

De morbo gallico omnia quae extant apud omnes medicos cuiuscunque nationis: the sixteenth-century collection of Luigi Luigini.

In recent decades, a rising rate of syphilis infection, often in association with HIV, has been recorded in Europe. In the first years following their appearance, syphilis and HIV shared the character of "new", challenging and serious diseases. The prime example of a "new disease", syphilis appeared between the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Renaissance period, a time in which medicine was changing from a dogmatic to an experimental discipline. Luigi Luigini's collection of all the works on syphilis that had appeared to date (1566) offers a unique and significant insight into the discussion of the novelty of this disease, even after half a millennium.

St. Catherine of Siena (1347-1380 AD): one of the earliest historic cases of altered gustatory perception in anorexia mirabilis.

St. Catherine of Siena suffered from an extreme form of holy fasting, a condition classified as anorexia mirabilis (also known as inedia prodigiosa). Historical and medical scholarships alike have drawn a comparison between this primaeval type of anorexia with a relatively common form of eating disorder among young women in the modern world, anorexia nervosa. St. Catherine's condition was characterised by a disgust for sweet taste, a condition also described in anorexia nervosa, and characterised by specific neurophysiological changes in the brain. St. Catherine's case may be considered one of the oldest veritable descriptions of altered gustation (dysgeusia). Moreover, a more compelling neurophysiological similarity between anorexia mirabilis and anorexia nervosa may be proposed.

Gout in Duke Federico of Montefeltro (1422-1482): a new pearl of the Italian Renaissance.

The article examines the truthfulness of historical accounts claiming that Renaissance Duke Federico of Montefeltro (1422-1482) suffered from gout. By direct paleopathological assessment of the skeletal remains and by the philological investigation of historical and documental sources, primarily a 1461 handwritten letter by the Duke himself to his personal physician, a description of the symptoms and Renaissance therapy is offered and a final diagnosis of gout is formulated. The Duke's handwritten letter offers a rare testimony of ancient clinical self-diagnostics and Renaissance living-experience of gout. Moreover, the article also shows how an alliance between historical, documental and paleopathological methods can greatly increase the precision of retrospective diagnoses, thus helping to shed clearer light onto the antiquity and evolution of diseases.

Giovanni Boccaccio's (1313-1375) disease and demise: The final untold tale of liver and heart failure.

Giovanni Boccaccio's fatal disease(s) and cause of death have long remained a mystery. Now, for the first time, a thorough multidisciplinary reassessment has finally been carried out. By combining philological and clinical approaches, it is at last possible to suggest a solid retrospective diagnosis based upon a study of his correspondence, poetry and iconography, as well as references to his physical decay in coeval and later sources. It would appear that he suffered over the last three years of his life from hepatic and cardiac failure, conditions that resulted in edema and potentially even hepatic carcinoma. Focusing on an unusually well-documented case from the Middle Ages, this analysis of exceptionally high informative value reconstructs the symptoms of his medical conditions and finally permits us to clarify and explain the historical feaures, presentations and evolutionary history of the case at hand.