Women Physicians in Byzantium.

Women were allowed to practice the medical profession during the Byzantine Empire. The presence of female physicians was not an innovation of the Byzantine era but actually originated from ancient Greece and Rome. The studies and the training of women doctors were apparently equivalent to those of their male colleagues. The principal medical specialties of the female doctors were gynecology and midwifery. Byzantine legislation treated relatively equally both female and male doctors. For this reason, it can be assumed that the presence of female doctors was correlated with the position of women in Byzantine society. However, there is not sufficient information in the literature to clarify whether female and male doctors used to earn equal payment for the same service.

Female genital mutilation and infections: a systematic review of the clinical evidence.

AIM: Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a common practice especially performed in women with no anaesthesia or antibiotics and in absence of aseptic conditions. The aim of this systematic review is to explore and analyze for first time in the current literature, the clinical evidence related to the presence of infections in the practice of FGM. METHOD: A systematic search of PubMed and Scopus was performed. A combination of the terms "female circumcision", "genital mutilation", "genital cutting" and "infection" were used. Studies reporting data on the infections related to patients with FGM were included. RESULTS: A total of 22,052 patients included, in the study, from African countries. The age ranged from 10 days to 20 years. The procedure was done by physicians, paramedical staff, and other specialties. Type I FGM was performed in 3,115 women while 5,894, 4,049 and 93 women underwent Type II, Type III and unknown type of FGM, respectively. Different types of infections were identified including UTIs, genitourinary tract infections, abscess formation and septicemia or even HIV infection. Moreover, most infections were identified in Type III FGM. The isolated pathogens in the different type of infections, were HIV, Clostridium tetani, Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Treponema pallidum, Candida albicans, Trichomonas vaginalis, HSV-2, Pseudomonas pyocyanea, Staphylococcus aureus. The univariate risk of infection ranged from 0.47 to 5.2. CONCLUSION: A variety of infections can occur after FGM. The management of these complications in a low-income economy can be a great burden for the families.

Temporal trends in the impact factor of European versus USA biomedical journals.

BACKGROUND: The impact factors of biomedical journals tend to rise over time. We sought to assess the trend in the impact factor, during the past decade, of journals published on behalf of United States (US) and European scientific societies, in four select biomedical subject categories (Biology, Cell Biology, Critical Care Medicine, and Infectious Diseases). METHODS: We identified all journals included in the above-mentioned subject categories of Thomson Reuters Journal Citation Reports® for the years 1999, 2002, 2005, and 2008. We selected those that were published on behalf of US or European scientific societies, as documented in journal websites. RESULTS: We included 167 journals (35 in the subject category of Biology, 79 in Cell Biology, 27 in Critical Care Medicine, and 26 in Infectious Diseases). Between 1999 and 2008, the percentage increase in the impact factor of the European journals was higher than for the US journals (73.7±110.0% compared with 39.7±70.0%, p = 0.049). Regarding specific subject categories, the percentage change in the factor of the European journals tended to be higher than the respective US journals for Cell Biology (61.7% versus 16.3%), Critical Care Medicine (212.4% versus 65.4%), Infectious Diseases (88.3% versus 48.7%), whereas the opposite was observed for journals in Biology (41.0% versus 62.5%). CONCLUSION: Journals published on behalf of European scientific societies, in select biomedical fields, may tend to close the "gap" in impact factor compared with those of US societies. WHAT'S ALREADY KNOWN ABOUT THIS TOPIC?: The impact factors of biomedical journals tend to rise through years. The leading positions in productivity in biomedical research are held by developed countries, including those from North America and Western Europe. WHAT DOES THIS ARTICLE ADD?: The journals from European biomedical scientific societies tended, over the past decade, to increase their impact factor more than the respective US journals.

Venetian rule and control of plague epidemics on the Ionian Islands during 17th and 18th centuries.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, measures were taken by the Venetian administration to combat plague on the Ionian Islands. At that time, although the scientific basis of plague was unknown, the Venetians recognized its infectious nature and successfully decreased its spread by implementing an information network. Additionally, by activating a system of inspection that involved establishing garrisons along the coasts, the Venetians were able to control all local movements in plague-infested areas, which were immediately isolated. In contrast, the neighboring coast of mainland Greece, which was under Ottoman rule, was a plague-endemic area during the same period. We conclude that even in the absence of scientific knowledge, close observation and social and political measures can effectively restrain infectious outbreaks to the point of disappearance.

Conception, complicated pregnancy, and labour of gods and heroes in Greek mythology.

Pregnancy and labour are holy moments in a woman's life. Even in Greek mythology we can find descriptions of them. We searched in the Greek myths to find descriptions of labours of ancient heroes and gods. We identified descriptions of extracorporeal fertilization, superfecundation, ectopic pregnancy, preterm labour, prolonged pregnancy and Caesarean section. The use of imagination could help the reader to find similarities in present or future developments in the field of obstetrics. It could be concluded that various aspects of modern obstetrical practice are described in Greek mythology.