Leonardo Da Vinci, investigador anatomista, a 500 años de su muerte (1452-1519) / Leonardo Da Vinci, anatomist researcher, 500 years after his death (1452-1519)

Leonardo Da Vinci fue autor de ilustraciones científicas. Se lo considera un pionero en el estudio de la anatomía humana en el siglo XV. Sus dibujos elevan la disección al nivel de una obra de arte. (AU)

Leonardo was author of scientific illustrates. He was a Pioneer in anatomy human study in the XV century. His drawing elevated the dissection to a level of art work. (AU)

Historia de la seguridad del paciente. Hitos principales, desde los albores de la civilización hasta los primeros retos globales y el estudio IBEAS / History of patient's Safety. From the dawn of civilization to the WHO Global Patient Safety Challenges and IBEAS study

Se realiza una breve historia de la seguridad del paciente en la atención médica, desde los albores de las civilizaciones hasta los primeros retos Globales de la OMS y el Estudio IBEAS. (AU)

A brief history of patient safety is made in the medical attention, from the dawn of civilizations up to the first Global challenges of the WHO and the IBEAS Study. (AU)

Dog distemper: imported into Europe from South America?.

According to Charles Frédéric Heusinger (1853), dog distemper had been imported from Peru into Spain in the course of the 17th century. The disease was well described in 1746 by Ulloa in his work Relación histórica del viaje a la América meridional. During the course of the 1760s, the disease was reported in Spain, followed by England, Italy (1764) and Russia (1770). In 1763, 900 dogs died in a single day in Madrid. In 1844, Karle succeeded in the first experimental transmission of the disease by brushing the lips of young dogs with the discharge from sick animals. The causal agent of the disease was only discovered in 1905, when the virus was isolated by Henri Carré. In the meantime, Edward Jenner, who thought that the disease was a pox-like affection, claimed that it could be prevented by inoculation of the vaccinia virus.

[Vestibular nerves and nuclei throughout history]. / Los nervios y núcleos vestibulares en la historia.

Throughout the evolution of the concepts concerning the peripheral nerves, different ideas have dominated at different moments in history. The studies and demonstrations conducted in an attempt to further our knowledge of our own constitution and working at the same time enabled us to gain a better understanding of the make-up and specific functioning of the vestibular nerves, together with their central connecting elements in the brainstem: the vestibular nuclei. It may be that the first references to vestibular nerves are now lost in time, yet the Ancient Greeks already attempted to understand their functional nature by carrying out studies essentially focused on neuroanatomical aspects, but heavily influenced by philosophical concepts. It was not until the 18th century that researchers came to understand that there were differences between the vestibular nerve and the cochlear nerve --until then they were believed to be one single nerve. Another century went by before attempts were made to clarify the role it plays in balance and not in hearing. The differences between the distinct vestibular nuclei situated between the medulla oblongata and the pons were established in the 19th and 20th centuries when a number of authors, backed by previous microscopic studies, contributed to clarifying the fuzzy limits of cells separating the four classic nuclear groups and four others taken as being accessory.

A monument to Lazarus: the leprosy hospital of Rio de Janeiro.

Soon after the Portuguese made landfall in 1500, Europeans and, later, African slaves introduced leprosy, and Saint Lazarus, the patron saint of its victims, into Brazil. Social and political pressure mounted by the middle of the eighteenth century in the city of Rio de Janeiro to remove those unfortunates from the city's streets even before the move of Brazil's capital in 1763. Frei Antôniom the bishop of Rio, founded the venerable hospital that year in the neighborhood of São Cristóvão, He requested that the Irmandade do Santissimo Sacramento da Candelária provide oversight and administration. The brotherhood continues to honor its covenant of 239 years ago. The history of this hospital provides insight into the complex relationships that existed between the citizenry and church and state. Rio's leprosy hospital, now the Hospital Frei Antônio, had an important role in the evolution of the health care professions, progress in medical science, and the genesis of the hygienic movement in Brazil. This study also contributes to the history of a disease that persists in 2002 Brazil as a public health issue.

[On the origin and spread of cutaneous and mucosal leishmaniasis, based on pre- and post- colombian historical source]. / Sobre a origem e dispersão das leishmanioses cutânea e mucosa com base em fontes históricas pré e pós-colombianas.

Drawing from four sixteenth-century sources, the article reports some apparent incidents of American Tegumentary Leishmaniasis within the territory of the Andes. Reinterpretation of these sources affords a look at the longstanding issue of the origin of espundia,or mucosal Leishmaniasis (ML). The study reinforces the hypothesis that ML originated in the western Amazon region, from there climbing into the high forests and later into hot inter-Andean lands via Bolivia's and Peru's borders with Brazil, above al through human migration. dating to archeological times, this process intensified during the Inca period under the social policies of the mitmaq or mitimaes. These events transpired within the historical and social context of the fall of the Inca Empire and the advent of Spanish colonization.

Maya medicine in the biological gaze: bioprospecting research as herbal fetishism.

The relationship of human societies to territory and natural resources is being drastically altered by a series of global agreements concerning trade, intellectual property, and the conservation and use of genetic resources. Through a characteristic style of collective appropriation of their tropical ecosystems, Maya societies have created local institutions for governing access to their common resources. However, new mechanisms of global governance require access to Maya biodiversity for world commercial interests. The Chiapas Highland Maya already face this prospect in the International Cooperative Biodiversity Group drug discovery project, which proposes to use Maya medical knowledge to screen plants for potential pharmaceuticals. The ethnobiological focus of the project emphasizes the naturalistic aspects of Maya medicine, primarily the use of herbal remedies. This biological gaze decontextualizes the situated knowledge of Maya healers, ignoring the cultural context in which they create and apply that knowledge. The search for raw materials for the production of universal medical technology results in symbolic violence to the cultural logic of Maya peoples. Only the full recognition of Maya peoples' collective rights to territory and respect for their local common-resource institutions will provide ultimate protection for their cultural and natural patrimony.

[Men and women: imagery about sterility in Portuguese America]. / Homens e mulheres: o imaginário sobre a esterilidade na América portuguesa.

This paper discusses old usages and beliefs about sterility in Colonial Brazil. Treated as a curse usually befallen women, sterility was struggled with symbolism and phytotherapy, aiming to "unbock" or "remove the spell" from the craddle of creation.

[Epidemic constitution: old and new theories and practices in epidemiology]. / Constituição epidêmica: velho e novo nas teorias e práticas da epidemiologia.

The article analyzes the importance of the concept of epidemic constitution, whose presence has been recurrently identified in Hippocratic thinking throughout the history of epidemiology. In general terms, constitution relates epidemics to geographic and atmospheric conditions. The outstanding point in the article is the view of epidemics as phenomena associated to disruption in the harmony of nature, here understood as a whole beyond geographic dimensions. The permanence of Hippocratic thinking does not imply continuity. The concept of epidemic constitution has been discontinuous and structurally different throughout history. The power of the concept lies on its philosophical foundations: physis. Pre-Socratic ideas gain special significance for the understanding of the crisis of modern times and introduces new elements for the interpretation and conceptualization of constitution in epidemiology.

Mental disorder among the Incas in ancient Peru.

The work of the chroniclers served as a source of information about the occurrence of mental diseases among the Incas. From this source it appears that melancholy was by far the most important disease among mental disorders. The disease did not only affect the common Incas: melancholy was rather frequent among the family of the Inca emperor. Like other diseases, mental diseases were treated by the Incas with a mixture of magic and empirical medicinal products. The latter were mainly of botanical nature, but also some minerals were applied to treat depressive disorders. Some typical syndromes of contemporary folk medicine, such as susto and related ailments, were not mentioned by the chroniclers.

Genética precolombina y la actualidad / Prehispanic genetics and today

Contenido: El poblador precolombino; Genética precolombina; Sincronización de nutrición y procreación; Antecedentes del matrimonio; El matrimonio inca; Oportunidad de la gestación; Prácticas exóticas genéticas; Planificación familiar precolombina; Genética y lactancia; Genética, estímulo e inteligencia; Aprendizaje, disyuntiva; Invocación a obstetras y progenitores

[Hygiene and body odors across time]. / Acerca de la higiene y los olores corporales a través de los tiempos.

Since Ancient Times, the Middle Ages and Modern times, there have been references to hygiene and body smells as well. According to each time there is a change in hygienic criteria and methods to avoid or diminish these annoying smells. Several beliefs and also science give their explanation to the different evolutionary stages of this process.

[History of orthopedics]. / Historia de la ortopedia.

Functional Jaws Orthopedics has become of great importance and development, because of the evolution of orthodontics, not only treating dental malpositions but also referring these anomalies to the rest of the body, in an anatomic-functional whole.