Social stratification reflected in bone mineral density and stature: Spectral imaging and osteoarchaeological findings from medieval Norway.

This study presents skeletal material from five medieval burial sites in Eastern Norway, confined to one royal burial church, one Dominican monastery, and three burial sites representing parish populations. We combine osteological analysis and Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry, studying the remains of 227 individuals (102 females and 125 males) employing young, middle, and old adult age categories. The aim is to assess bone mineral density as a skeletal indicator of socioeconomic status including stature as a variable. We detected that socioeconomic status significantly affected bone mineral density and stature. Individuals of high status had higher bone mineral density (0.07 g/cm2, p = 0.003) and taller stature (1.85 cm, p = 0.017) than individuals from the parish population. We detected no significant relationship between young adult bone mineral density and socioeconomic status (p = 0.127 and 0.059 for females and males, respectively). For males, high young adult bone mineral density and stature varied concordantly in both status groups. In contrast, females of high status were significantly taller than females in the parish population (p = 0.011). Our findings indicate quite different conditions during growth and puberty for the two groups of females. The age-related pattern of bone variation also portrayed quite different trajectories for the two socioeconomic status groups of both sexes. We discuss sociocultural practices (living conditions during childhood and puberty, as well as nutritional and lifestyle factors in adult life), possibly explaining the differences in bone mineral density between the high-status and parish population groups. The observation of greater differences in bone mineral density and stature for females than males in the medieval society of Norway is also further discussed.

[Spotted typhoid fever in the Iceland of the sagas?]. / Flekktyfus på sagatidens Island?

In spite of Iceland's geographically isolated position, epidemics of infectious diseases obviously occurred from the very beginning, brought to the island by the first Norwegian settlers and their cattle in the 9th century. People living close together in small farming communities were of course exposed to infection, which must have been common in the narrow Icelandic farmhouses. People had very little understanding or knowledge of protection against contagion, and the whole family, often sleeping together in the same bed, would be an easy prey to contagion. Epidemics were often regarded as caused by supernatural, evil forces, and two of the Icelandic sagas in particular - Grette's Saga and the Eyrbyggja Saga - give an account that may well be the first ever description of an epidemic, perhaps of spotted typhoid fever, in the history of medicine. In these sagas, the accounts are presented as ghost stories. The disease is caused by the faeces of infected lice, and leads to severe haemorrages in the skin and intestine. It also affects the central nervous system and has a high mortality rate.

[Anatomy of the cervical spine]. / Cervikalcolumnas anatomi.

BACKGROUND: Knowledge of biomechanics and the cervical spine's anatomy has become more topical as the incidence of whiplash neck disorders has increased. Unfortunately, injuries after traffic accidents are often brought to court, where the medical expert's knowledge is of utmost importance to ensure a correct medical evaluation. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The article is based on information identified through non-systematic searches of PubMed and on the author's experience as a professor of anatomy. RESULTS: The cervical spine is particularly vulnerable to forces perpendicular to the length axis. Stability depends largely on the soft tissue. Injuries of soft tissue (especially in ligaments and intervertebral discs) may lead to instability and periosteal reaction with subsequent new formation of bone. INTERPRETATION: The cervical spine is a relatively weak and vulnerable part of the body. One should consider locally restricted new formations of tissue with corresponding height reduction of the intervertebral disc as a sign of genuine injury.

What can a baby's skull withstand? Testing the skull's resistance on an anatomical preparation.

A fall scenario is often given to explain the reason for a head injury to an infant. Mostly the examining doctor or forensic expert has to rely on his own experience and to appraise the situation to be consistent or not with his finds. An experiment carried out on an anatomical preparation showed that the skull of a newborn baby was able to repeatedly resist forces of up to 1000 N before breaking in. Even then the fracture lines followed the bony spikes (spiculae) from the ossification centers of the skull bones. If fractures are running across these spiculae there is reason to believe that high local force has been used, and a blow against a sharp edge must be considered.

[Forbidden anatomy]. / Forbudt anatomi.

Since centuries anatomists have used any course of action in order to get hold of material for dissections, and at the same time avoid prosecution for grave robbery, at times the only way to get hold of cadavers. Stealing newly dead people from the churchyards and offering them for sale to anatomical institutions was not uncommon in the 19th century. "Resurrectionists"--as these thieves were called, as they made the dead "alive"--were seen as necessary for the teaching of anatomy in Victorian Britain. In the 1820s a scandal was revealed in Scotland, when it was discovered that some people even committed murder to make money from supplying anatomists with human cadavers. Two men, William Burke and William Hare, became particularly notorious because of their "business" with the celebrated anatomist Robert Knox in Edinburgh.