One hundred years after the death of the writer and novelist Giovanni Verga (1922) and his relationship with public health: a glimpse of the past in the era of the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Background: In 1922 the famous Italian novelist Giovanni Verga died in Catania (Italy). In Verga's works there are many suggestions to the world of medicine, in particular the diseases described in the poor society of southern Italy of that time. One of the most common diseases described by Verga was cholera. Methods: The authors researched and reviewed Verga's works, detecting references to public health. These are topical issues in the current period of the COVID pandemic. In Verga's works the theme of hygiene, epidemiology, and infectious diseases occur. There are many hints related to medicine, especially as far as the typical diseases of poor society and the difficult social environments of the time are concerned. One of the most common diseases described by Verga was cholera but also malaria and tuberculosis occur. Results: It was estimated that 69,000 people died of cholera in Sicily, of whom 24,000 in Palermo. The public health situation in Italy was difficult. Verga denounces people's ignorance and the survival of past beliefs. Conclusion: Verga describes a culturally and economically humble society, in a region characterized by large class gaps. It draws a difficult picture of the public health situation in the second half of the 19th Century and people's daily lives. The authors believe that today it is important that the centenary of Verga's death be an opportunity to read his works, also from a medical historical point of view.

History of medicine in medical education: new Italian pathways.

Objective: There is little doubt that there are currently obstacles in measuring the impact of the history of medicine within medical training. Consequently, there is a clear need to support a vision that can historicize Euro-Western medicine, leading to a greater understanding of how the medical world is a distinct form of reality for those who are about to immerse themselves in the study of medicine. Methods: History teaches that changes in medicine are due to the processes inherent to the interaction among individuals, institutions, and society rather than individual facts or individual authors. Results: Therefore, we cannot ignore the fact that the expertise and know-how developed during medical training are the final product of relationships and memories that have a historical life that is based social, economic, and political aspects. Conclusion: Moreover, these relationships and memories have undergone dynamic processes of selection and attribution of meaning, as well as individual and collective sharing, which have also been confronted with archetypes that are still able to influence clinical approaches and medical therapy today.

Pain and its management: Dante's Divine Comedy.

Dante Alighieri died in 1321; therefore, 2021 is the 700th anniversary of his death. His best known work is the Divine Comedy, which explores Dante's journey through the three realms of the underworld. Each realm is associated with three different sensations: Inferno, bodily (pain); Purgatorio, acoustic (music); and Paradiso, visual (light). The progression of the painful experiences and the resolution through music and light mirror the modern understanding of pain and its management. Music has both direct and indirect benefits and can help with coping. Sunlight promotes well-being and self-awareness.

From Baltimore to Italy: The contribution of Grace Baxter (1869-1954) to the development of Italian nursing.

The recent discovery of unpublished documents in the archives of the Camerata hospital, (Florence, I) sheds light on an important chapter in the history of nursing education and the role played by Grace Baxter (1869-1954), of English parentage but born and lived in Florence. The introduction of professional nurses was part of the international movement for the emancipation of women that included education for an active role in society. Her contribution, with other women, to the history of Italian nursing resulted in the secularisation the profession away from the attitudes of the nuns, permeation of relevant ethical standards, and the beginning of professionalisation of nurses in Italy in accordance with Florence Nightingale's teaching.

Dino Buzzati's 50th death anniversary: an appraisal of medicine and infectivology's influence on his literary production.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: This paper, in the 50th anniversary of the author's death, examines the overall impact and influence of medicine, in particular of infectious diseases, on the literary production of Italian writer and novelist Dino Buzzati (1906-1972). METHODS: Analysis of literary sources and historical study. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Buzzati's literary world is great fun for the reader, being both intriguing and anxiety forming at the same time. One finishes reading his books only to discover the one truth which overturns everything that seemed to be true. In particular, in his short stories, which stem mostly from episodes taken from everyday life, the plot suddenly comes to life. The atmosphere becomes surreal, and in a moment the incredible happens. Behind the apparent lightness of the fairytale narrative there lies hidden the important issues addressed by the author. He uses the hospital as a metaphor for a categorised life, in which we are at risk of no longer being masters of ourselves, in which we suffer a continuous steady drip that makes us head downwards day after day, floor after floor. We will come back up, but not today, tomorrow perhaps, or at the latest, the day after tomorrow. Corte on the second floor hopes, and screams to give strength to his hope, that he will soon return to the top, towards the seventh floor.

In Search of a Lost Father: Adrien Proust (1834-1903), An Almost Forgotten Public Health Pioneer.

OBJECTIVES: In this communication, we wish to remember the important historical role played by Marcel Proust's father, the now mostly forgotten Achille-Adrien Proust (1834-1903). STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: His career, scientific interests and, above all, his brilliant intuitions and suggestions in the fight against cholera in the 19th century are recalled. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: His role in the promotion of a globally effective vision of public hygiene and health is stressed as a bright example for modern physicians fighting contemporary epidemics.

Intertwining art, religion and anatomy: did Michelangelo Buonarroti influence Berengario da Carpi's representation of a maternal death?

AIM: To confirm that the sixteenth century surgeon-anatomist, Jacopo Berengario da Carpi, used a woman who died of a ruptured uterus as a model for a woodcut of female genital anatomy, and that the presentation was based on the cloak in Michelangelo's Creation of Adam after visiting the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican whilst he was in Rome. METHOD: Analysis of the woodcut for evidence of a uterus at term, and comparison with the shape of the cloak in the Creation of Adam, coupled with Berengario's own description. RESULTS: The size of the uterus is that in the 38th to 40th week of pregnancy, further supported by striations of the endometrial surface, rather than the smooth surface of the non-gravid. By rotating the woman's image 90° counterclockwise, the outline of the woman's cloak becomes almost perfectly superimposed over God's cloak. CONCLUSION: In the woodcut, the open belly of the model shows typical features of the full-term uterus. The use of God's cloak softens the features. At the same time, it exemplifies the creative power of God and describes the birth of humanity in both theological and physiological ways. Intertwining art, religion and anatomy, Michelangelo and Berengario allow scholars to appreciate the concepts of divinity and humanity at multiple levels.

SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) and the Teaching of Ignaz Semmelweis and Florence Nightingale: a Lesson of Public Health from History, after the "Introduction of Handwashing" (1847).

Ignác Fülöp Semmelweis (1818-1865) and Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) were two important personalities in the history of medicine and public health. They dealt with the problem of handwashing. Semmelweis is also known as the "father of hand hygiene"; just in 1847 he discovered the etiology and prophylaxis of puerperal sepsis and imposed a new rule mandating handwashing with chlorine for doctors. He also tried to persuade European scientific community of the advantages of handwashing. During the Crimean War, in Scutary (Turkey), Florence Nightingale strengthened handwashing and other hygiene practices in the war hospital where she worked and her handwashing practices reached a reductions in infections. Unfortunately the hygiene practices promoted by Semmelweis and Nightingale were not widely adopted. In general handwashing promotion stood still for over a century. During current pandemic SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) one of the most important way to prevent the spread of the virus is still to wash the hands frequently.

Why paleomedicine is useful for medical education.

What is the place of medico-historical cases in the professional practice of the disciplinary field of medicine and biology? How can these patients from the past be used for teaching and continuing medical education? How to justify their place in biomedical publications? In this article, we explain all the legitimacy of paleomedicine, and the need to intensify such research in the form of a well-individualised branch of paleopathology and the history of medicine.

Gender medicine: its historical roots.

Gender medicine as a subject began with Bernadine Healy's 1991 article 'The Yentl Syndrome' which showed that women had worse outcomes following heart attacks since their symptoms are different from men. Since then gender-specific clinical research protocols have been progressively included so that evidence for guidelines can be better informed such that women are then less disadvantaged and care become more personalised. This paper traces back the historical roots of gender bias in medicine in Western culture, which is reflected in the pictorial arts and writings of each historical period, beginning with Hippocrates. It describes the changes that have led to attempts at improving the place of women, and the treatments of disease, on an equal footing with men, precipitated by Healy's paper.

President John F Kennedy's medical history: coeliac disease and autoimmune polyglandular syndrome type 2.

President John F. Kennedy (JFK) had a complex medical history that is now thought to be an autoimmune polyglandular syndrome type 2 with Addison's disease and hypothyroidism. He also had gastrointestinal symptoms from adolescence, which now fit well with coeliac disease. In addition, he had a chronic back problem, which contributed to a chronic pain syndrome. This review looks at JFK's various diseases and focusses on the history of coeliac disease, as well as its presentation. JFK's Irish ancestry supports the hypothesis of a coeliac disease started early in his youth.

Tudor military surgery and the management of Sir Martin Frobisher's gunshot wound: Comparison with current treatment.

Sir Martin Frobisher (ca 1535-1594), the famous Elizabethan explorer and privateer, sustained a bullet to the outer plate of his ilium from a low-velocity bullet wound fired at close range from an arquebus, an early form of musket. The bullet was removed, but he subsequently died from gas gangrene. This paper looks at the management of this injury in Tudor times and compares it to current practice. The arrival of gunpowder and the seriousness of the resulting injuries spurred innovation in surgical practice, such that at the time of Frobisher's death, the Tudor military surgeon had considerable expertise and skill. The wound, treated properly, was not serious, but his first surgeon failed to remove the wadding that the bullet took with it. This was recognised as an error at the time. A Tudor surgeon today would note that the surgical management has not really changed since their time, even though they did not understand infection and bacterial contamination. Guidelines on managing gunshot wounds, and most research, is focussed on high-velocity injuries where removal of foreign material (clothing) is mentioned. Low-velocity injuries are treated as "outpatients" and the importance of removing foreign material, especially when the bullet is left in situ, is not mentioned. The inexperienced surgeon of today risks making the same error as Frobisher's surgeon.