[From the struggle for freedom to the denial of evidence: history of the anti-vaccination movements in Europe]. / Dalla lotta per la libertà alla negazione dell'evidenza: storia dei movimenti anti-vaccinisti in Europa.

The 1853 Vaccination Act, adopted in England during XIX century, was the first law about compulsory vaccination in Europe. The Act caused a violent movement of opposition with the birth of Victorian anti-vaccination. The modern anti-vaccination movement was born in 1998 following a paper of Andrew Wakefield published in the Lancet. In this paper Wakefield illustrated a study of twenty patients and concluded that the administration of the MMR vaccine caused autism and some forms of colitis. The publication was later disowned by almost all authors. However the study of Wakefield caused a reduction of compliance to the anti-MMR vaccination in the United Kingdom, resulting in lower coverage and new outbreaks. The theorethical principles of anti-vaccinationists of 19th and 20th century were: the hypothesis that vaccines cause illnesses; the presence of toxic substances in the vaccine; the violation of freedom Personal and People's; the ineffectiveness of vaccinations. Moreover, anti-vaccinationists always refused the scientific methods and the peer-review of their scientific studies.

The virtues of balm in late medieval literature.

This article argues that balm, or balsam, was, by the late medieval period, believed to be a panacea, capable of healing wounds and illnesses, and also preventing putrefaction. Natural history and pharmacological texts on balm from the ancient and late antique periods emphasized specific qualities of balm, especially its heat; these were condensed and repeated in medieval encyclopedias. The rarity and cost of balsam, from antiquity through the medieval period, and the high rate of counterfeiting also demonstrate its high demand and significance in medicine and religious ritual. Travel writing and itineraria from the early and central medieval periods added a new layer to ideas about the capabilities of balsam: that it originated from a Christian miracle and was a particularly Christian plant.

Mercury, vaccines, and autism: one controversy, three histories.

The controversy regarding the once widely used mercury-containing preservative thimerosal in childhood vaccines has raised many historical questions that have not been adequately explored. Why was this preservative incorporated in the first place? Was there any real evidence that it caused harm? And how did thimerosal become linked in the public mind to the "autism epidemic"? I examine the origins of the thimerosal controversy and their legacy for the debate that has followed. More specifically, I explore the parallel histories of three factors that converged to create the crisis: vaccine preservatives, mercury poisoning, and autism. An understanding of this history provides important lessons for physicians and policymakers seeking to preserve the public's trust in the nation's vaccine system.

[Characteristics of pharmaceuticals in "Heji Jufang"].

Dosage forms, methods of preparation, and methods of taking drugs for formulas described in "Heji Jufang" were investigated and the following results were obtained.1) Powders and pills (processed medicines), which are dosage forms seldom used in conventional traditional Chinese medicine, are often seen in "Heji Jufang". On the other hand, the fact that decoction (non-processed medicines), which is the principal dosage form in traditional Chinese medicine, seldom appears became apparent. In addition, a method of taking the drug by boiling down the powder was frequently seen.2) When decoction formulas are described in "Heji Jufang", the herbal medicines are often classified into two sections, a preceding section and latter one. The herbal medicines as prepared at a pharmacy are listed in the preceding section, while "standard household items" to add during home preparation are assumed to be described in the latter section.3) In "Heji Jufang", there is a rare method of taking drugs where boiling water is poured on powder consisting of aromatic herbal medicine before use. Many of these formulas are found in "Yinshan Zhengyao", which contains food and drink of the Arab region.4) "Heji Jufang" contains confections prepared with honey and powders of crude drugs. This dosage form is often seen in Indian and Arab medicine and was rarely seen in medical books before "Heji Jufang" in China.5) Thus, results 1-4 suggest that "Heji Jufang" was published in accordance with the development of processed medicines. It is believed that Arab medicine influenced the development of processed medicines in China.

D. Joaquín Cusí Furtunet:primer farmacéutico especialista en la preparación de medicamentos oftalmológicos / Joaquín Cusí Furtunet: the first pharmaceutical specialist in preparing ophthalmic drugs

El objetivo principal de este estudio monográfico se dirige a procurar evitar el olvido, y a reconocer, así como a agradecer, el esfuerzo decidido de un farmacéutico español y catalán, muy vocacional, para en contrar las formulaciones medicamentosas más activas y más cómodas para los pacientes. Don Joaquín Cusí Furtunet, centró su mayor interés en la investigación y en el análisis tecnológico farmacéutico para conseguir, inicialmente, fórmulas magistrales de principios terapéuticos, y luego, especia lidades farmacéuticas, que se prescribieran como medicamentos seguros, eficaces y de calidades óptimas. A pesar de las condiciones de atraso científico de aquellos años, esto supuso un avance considerable en su época, pues todavía se utilizan algunas de las formulaciones desarrolladas por él. Este farmacéutico estudioso, inteligente e imaginativo, caracterizado por su voluntad férrea y su constancia en lograr cotas atas de progreso profesional, comenzó instalando una farmacia en Figueres (ciudad de Girona), aunque muchos de sus compañeros de curso lo hicieran en Barcelona. Desde Figueres irradió la importancia de sus trabajos hasta muchas partes del mundo y llegó a establecer los Laboratorios Norte de España, que luego se denominarían Laboratorios Cusí, reconocidos internacionalmente. También, don Joaquín Cusí Furtunet fue un coleccionista importante, especialmente de libros y de objetos relacionados con la Farmacia y la Medicina. Con las piezas interesantes de sus colecciones, y con la boti ca Antigua del Real Monasterio de Santa María La Mayor de Nájera (La Rioja), constituyó el importante Museo Cusí, famoso en todo el mundo (AU)

Studies of organic residues from ancient Egyptian mummies using high temperature-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and sequential thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

The techniques of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and sequential thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TD-GC-MS) and pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC-MS) have been utilised to characterise the constituents of tissue-derived or applied organic material from two Pharaonic Egyptian mummies with a view to identifying embalming practices/substances. The results obtained using TD-GC-MS revealed a series of monocarboxylic acids with the C16:0, C18:1 and C18:0 components dominating in both mummies. The thermal desorption products related to cholesterol, i.e., cholesta-3,5,7-triene and cholesta-3,5-diene (only in Khnum Nakht), were detected in both mummies. Khnum Nakht also contained a number of straight chain alkyl amides (C16-C18) and an alkyl nitrile (C18). Other products included the 2,5-diketopiperazine derivative (DKP) of proline-glycine (pro-gly) which was a major component (7.9%) in Khnum Nakht but only a very minor component in Horemkenesi. Py-GC-MS of samples of both specimens yielded a series of alkene/alkane doublets (Horemkenesi C6-C18, Khnum Nakht C6-C24) which dominated their chromatograms. Series of methyl ketones in the C9-C19 chain length range were also present, with C5-C7 cyclic ketones occurring in Horemkenesi only. These ketones are indicative of covalent bond cleavage, probably of polymerised acyl lipids. Nitrogenous products included nitriles (C9-C18) which were significant in both samples, and amides which were only detected in Khnum Nakht. Also present amongst the pyrolysis products were three steroidal hydrocarbons, cholest-(?)-ene, cholesta-3,5,7-triene and cholesta-3,5-diene. High temperature-GC-MS of trimethylsilylated lipid extracts yielded similar monocarboxylic acids to that obtained using TD-GC-MS, while a series of alpha, omega-dicarboxylic acids and a number of mono- and di-hydroxy carboxylic acids not seen in the thermal desorption or pyrolysis GC-MS analyses were significant constituents in both mummy samples. Overall, the use of GC-MS and sequential TD-GC-MS and Py-GC-MS has demonstrated in both mummies the presence of a complex suite of lipids and proteinaceous components whose compositions indicates extensive alteration via oxidative and hydrolytic processes during long-term interment. None of the classical embalming resins was detected but an exogenous origin for at least a proportion of these components cannot be discounted since fats, oils and gelatin have been proposed as embalming agents in mummification. The combined approach of sequential TD- and Py-GC-MS has potential for application to the characterisation of embalming materials in mummies. Most importantly these techniques virtually eliminate any destruction of the mummified bodies thereby allowing the scope of investigations of ancient Egyptian funerary practices to be significantly extended.