Votive Offerings from Floresti Orthodox Monastery in Romania: An Ophthalmological Lesson from the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries CE.

Since Antiquity, votive offerings were deposited in temples dedicated to deities in order to fulfil a special request of a supplicant. Later, in Orthodox churches, votive offerings entered in the form of anatomical ex-voto or tamata, metallic effigies that realistically represented the disease-affected portion of the body. In this paper, we show four tamata from eighteenth-nineteenth century identified in the museum of the Orthodox monastery of Floresti (Romania); votive offerings that represent ocular pathologies. Even if the supplicants did not have a medical background and often did not fully understand their diseases, the votive offerings demonstrate their ability to observe pathological changes, at the same time emphasising the importance of their faith in the healing process.

The brainstem and its neurosurgical history.

Brainstem is one of the most complex structures of the human body, and has the most complex intracranial anatomy, which makes surgery at this level the most difficult. Due to its hidden position, the brainstem became known later by anatomists, and moreover, brainstem surgery cannot be understood without knowing the evolution of ideas in neuroanatomy, neuropathology, and neuroscience. Starting from the first attempts at identifying brainstem anatomy in prehistory and antiquity, the history of brainstem discoveries and approach may be divided into four periods: macroscopic anatomy, microscopic anatomy and neurophysiology, posterior fossa surgery, and brainstem surgery. From the first trepanning of the posterior fossa and later finger surgery, to the occurrence of safe entry zones, this paper aims to review how neuroanatomy and brainstem surgery were understood historically, and how the surgical technique evolved from Galen of Pergamon up to the twenty-first century.

NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL GROUNDS IN THE AWAKE BRAIN SURGERY.

Traditionally, the awake cerebral neurosurgical interventions are carried out when the primary motor areas and the areas involved in language are concerned. This procedure is also known as mapping (Intraoperative Brain Mapping). The intraoperative neuropsychological protocol supposes the setting of a list of steps and tasks that the patient must perform during the surgery, taking into account the lesion localization (both the cortical and the subcortical structures), the cognitive functions involved and the individual particularities of each patient. As a result of the high validity of certain tests, we propose a common minimal set of tests, which can allow a minimal standardization and replicability.

Intraorbital foreign body.

Penetrating orbitocranial injuries caused by intraorbital foreign body are a rare cause of morbidity being most common among young people. The term intraorbital foreign body refers to a foreign body that occurs within the orbit but outside the ocular globe. We report the case of a 12-year-old male child who sustained a right cranial facial trauma due to accidental fall on a piece of wood, which penetrated intraorbitally. Native cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI -1.5 T) revealed the presence of an intraorbital foreign body, 6 cm long and 1.5 cm wide, near the orbital apex. In our patient, early surgical extraction of the foreign body had a decisive role on his full recovery. In this case, although a large foreign body penetrated the entire length of the orbit, it did not cause damage to any intraorbital structure. Vision and right ocular globe function had an excellent prognosis.

[Family income--nutrition correlation in a group of Negresti Vaslui preschool children]. / Relatia venitul familiei--alimentatie la un lot de prescolari din orasul Negresti judetul vaslui.

UNLABELLED: Growth and development are influenced by genetic and environmental factors. From the environmental factors, nutrition plays a key role and is income dependent. OBJECTIVES: Assessing food intake according to family financial status. MATERIAL AND METHOD: A study was conducted on 134 preschool children (ages from 3 to 7 years of age) from a Negresti kindergarten. Questionnaires were filled by parents for weekly food intake and family financial situation. Statistical analysis used Pearson test. RESULTS: According to income the group is structured in: very low income (32.8%), low income (28.3%), average income (26.8%) and above average income (12.1%). The majority of the families provides milk to their children (58.9%), varying from 54.5% (very low income) to 63.1% (low income). Poultry is present in the diet mainly for 2-3 times per week (45.5%) going from 36.8% in low income families to 55.5% in average income families. Daily fruit intake is present in 59.7% of families, varying from 45.4% (very low income) to 68.7% (above average income). Recorded differences have no statistic significance. CONCLUSION: Families income is different but the nutrition provided to children is similar, being strongly influenced by traditional nutritional habits.