Plagues and artistic votive expressions (ex voto) of popular piety.

In past centuries, epidemics, the scourge of humankind, caused pain, anger, uncertainty of the future, social as well as economic disorder and a significant impact on their victims, involving also their spiritual sphere. The latter effect led to undoubted effects on participation in the religious and social life of communities. The custom of preparing artistic votive expressions has been lost in the mists of time and evidence of ex voto gifts, offered by believers to pagan gods, has been found in prehistoric archaeological sites. Furthermore, several finds from the Ancient Greek and Roman worlds may be observed in our museums. These remains are generally ceramic and metal artifacts, reproducing limbs and other body parts which had been healed. These elements, according to the belief of those making the offerings, had benefited from the miraculous intervention of a thaumaturgical deity. With the advent of Christianity, some pre-existing religious practices were endorsed by the new religion. Believers continued to demonstrate their gratitude in different ways either to miracle-working saints or to the Virgin Mary, because they thought that, thanks to an act of faith, their own health or that of a family member would benefit from the direct intervention of the divine entities to whom they had prayed. In the Ancient Greek world, it was believed that the god Asclepius could directly influence human events, as testified by the popularity of shrines and temples to the god, especially at Epidaurus. In the Christian world as well, particular places have been detected, often solitary and secluded in the countryside or in the mountains, where, according to tradition, direct contact was established between the faithful and Saints or the Virgin Mary Herself. Manifestations occurred by means of miracles and apparitions, thereby creating a direct link between the supernatural world and believers. Religious communities, in these extraordinary places, responded to the call through the building of shrines and promotion of the cult. Over time, the faithful reached these places of mystery, performing pilgrimages with the aim of strengthening their religious faith, but also with the purpose of seeking intercession and grace. In this case, the request for clemency assumed spiritual characteristics and also became a profession of faith. Accordingly, the shrines in the Christian world are places where supernatural events may occur. In these environments the believer resorted to faith, when medicine showed its limits in a tangible way. For the above reasons, while epidemics were occurring, the requests for clemency were numerous and such petitions were both individual and collective. In particular, by means of votive offerings (ex voto) the believers, both individually and collectively, gave the evidence of the received grace to the thaumaturgical Saint. Through the votive act, a perpetual link between the believer and the Saints or Holy Virgin was forged and a strong request for communion was transmitted. The aim of the present study is to describe the role played by votive tablets (ex voto) in the last 500-600 years, as visible evidence of human suffering. From this perspective, these votive expressions may assume the role of markers because, in accordance with the expressions of popular faith, they allow us to follow the most important outbreaks that have caused distress to Christian communities.

El leucoma de Giuseppe Amico / Giuseppe Amicos leukoma

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The art of surgery.

, Published online in Wiley Online Library (www.bjs.co.uk). DOI: 10.1002/bjs.10863 In times when art usually depicted perfection, Caravaggio (1571-1610) painted everyday reality. He used people walking the streets of Rome to represent holy figures. Caravaggio loved many women. He killed a man in a duel and had to flee from Rome to avoid being 'beheaded by anybody who saw him'. In this biblical scene he painted, Judith Beheading Holofernes, Judith is a portrait of Fillide Melandroni, the reason for the duel. Holofernes is a self-portrait. Judith looks cruel, in mourning clothes, seeking revenge for the assassination of her lover. The maidservant, almost an evil spirit, has a voluminous thyroid goitre, and she seems to encourage the revenge of Fillide. Read more about Caravaggio and this painting in an essay online.

"Something Wasn't Clean": Black Midwifery, Birth, and Postwar Medical Education in All My Babies.

Set in rural Georgia, the 1953 health film All My Babies: A Midwife's Own Story was a government-sponsored project intended as a training tool for midwives. The film was unique to feature a black midwife and a live birth at a time when southern health officials blamed midwives for the region's infant mortality rates. Produced by the young filmmaker George Stoney, All My Babies was praised for its educational value and, as this article demonstrates, was a popular feature in postwar medical education. Yet as it drew acclaim, the film also sparked debates within and beyond medical settings concerning its portrayal of midwifery, birth, and health care for African Americans. In tracing the controversies over the film's messages and representations, this article argues that All My Babies exemplified the power and limits of health films to address the complexities of race and health during an era of Jim Crow segregation.

Chris Cornell, the Black Hole Sun, and the Seasonality of Suicide.

PURPOSE: Seattle-inspired rock and roll superstar Chris Cornell died by suicide in May 2017. In the northern hemisphere, May represents the peak of the widely replicated but still unexplained seasonal spring rhythm in suicide. Years earlier, Cornell had suffered openly from recurrent bouts of severe depression, and his early musical lyrics do indeed suggest an enduring sensitivity to the vicissitudes of depressed and suicidal states. Cornell's most famous song, Black Hole Sun, suggests a mixed mood state, the incidence of which also peaks in the spring. The present work explores Cornell's May suicide from a chronobiologic perspective. METHODS: Review of Cornell's lyrics and literature on suicide. RESULTS: Cornell's lyrics contain clear indicators of mixed depressive and seasonal imagery, highlighting 3 fundamental axioms of suicidology: (1) the yearly suicide rhythm peaks in May in the northern hemisphere, (2) mixed depressive states are particularly lethal, and (3) the suicide risk increases dramatically when recovering from depression and mood turns mixed. CONCLUSIONS: Cornell, in his life and music, left us with a novel and important hypothesis about the spring seasonality of suicide, namely, that the yearly suicide risk becomes maximal when winter turns to spring and there emerges a deadly mixed mood state under a May photoperiod, i.e., the suicide risk is maximal when a Black Hole Sun occurs in May. It is hoped that Cornell's legacy and sensitive hypothesis inspire research into the etiology and treatment of the spring seasonality of suicide risk and mixed mood states. LIMITATIONS: The Cornell hypothesis was formulated based in part on several speculative inferences regarding the course of his functioning just prior to his suicide.

Mascotas felinas, medicina y arte. / [Pet cats, medicine and art].

The author in this short text remembers the passing of a beloved pet cat. Cats are beautiful animals and wonderful companions. They evolved together with humans in Africa, subsequently spread over the five continents with them, and became the subject of many human cultural activities, including art, poetry and religion. Abandoned and roaming free, cats readily return to the wild, potentially acquiring many zoonotic infections. Surprisingly, feline company is increasingly used for therapy of mental and other illnesses such as cardiovascular disorders. Responsible ownership and good veterinary care of these marvelous animals under the One Health paradigm are essential to their well-being as well as to that of humans. They are an ethical and small price to pay for the affectively rewarding relationships humans have with these endearing and evocative animals.