Subject(s)
Leprosy/history , Leprosy/pathology , History, Medieval , Humans , Italy , Leprosy/mortality , Mycobacterium leprae/pathogenicityABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: A paleopathological study was carried out on the she skeletal remains of Cardinal Carlo de' Medici (1595-1666), son of the Grand Duke Ferdinando I (1549-1609) and Cristina from Lorraine (1565-1636), to investigate the articular pathology described in the archival sources. METHODS: The skeletal remains of Carlo, buried in the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence, have been exhumed and submitted to macroscopic and radiological examination. RESULTS: The skeleton of Carlo revealed a concentration of different severe pathologies. Ankylosis of the cervical column, associated with other facial and spine anomalies suggests a diagnosis of congenital disease: the Klippel-Feil syndrome. In addition, the cervical segment presents the results of the tuberculosis (Pott's disease) from which the Cardinal suffered in his infancy. The post-cranial skeleton shows an ankylosing disease, mainly symmetrical and extremely severe, involving the large as well as small articulations, and characterized by massive joint fusion, that totally disabled the Cardinal in his last years of life. CONCLUSIONS: The final diagnosis suggests an advanced, ankylosing stage of rheumatoid arthritis.
Subject(s)
Arthritis, Rheumatoid/history , Klippel-Feil Syndrome/history , Tuberculosis, Spinal/history , Arthritis, Rheumatoid/complications , Arthritis, Rheumatoid/pathology , Cervical Vertebrae/diagnostic imaging , Cervical Vertebrae/pathology , History, 16th Century , History, 17th Century , Humans , Italy , Klippel-Feil Syndrome/complications , Klippel-Feil Syndrome/pathology , Male , Paleopathology , Radiography , Tuberculosis, Spinal/complications , Tuberculosis, Spinal/pathologyABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To investigate quantitatively in young adults the relationship between long-term cumulative nearwork, degradation of dynamic accommodative ability and the presence of asthenopic symptoms. METHODS: Subjects consisted of 87 young students and office workers between 18 and 31 years of age with uncorrected visual acuity of 20/30 or better in each eye. The amounts of nearwork, dynamic accommodative facility, and level of asthenopic symptoms were measured for each subject. RESULTS: Total cumulative nearwork time was negatively correlated with accommodative facility and positively correlated with the number of asthenopic symptoms. Furthermore, significant correlations were found between total nearwork time and blurred vision, and blurred vision and reduced accommodative facility. Moreover, the sub-category of "hours spent reading over the years" was found to be significantly correlated with decreased accommodative facility. CONCLUSIONS: The correlations suggest a relationship between cumulative amount of nearwork, decreased accommodative facility and asthenopia.
Subject(s)
Accommodation, Ocular , Asthenopia/etiology , Work , Adolescent , Adult , Computers , Humans , Reading , Regression Analysis , Surveys and Questionnaires , Vision, Binocular/physiology , Visual AcuityABSTRACT
Mumps virus was isolated from the cervico-vaginal secretions of a 31-year-old woman presenting with mild signs of oophoritis accompanied by xantholeucorrhoea. The serological finding of mumps-specific IgM antibodies was further evidence confirming the casual link between mumps virus and ovarian pathology. Rarely, ovarian involvement may be the only manifestation of mumps infection. The importance of this diagnosis and its relationship to the possible development of secondary oligomenorrhoea and early menopause is discussed.
