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PubMedDate not supplied

Methodology and application of gc-ms to study altered organic binding media from objects of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

Within the Kunsthistorisches Museum (KHM), Vienna, three off-line GC-MS analytical procedures for the identification of natural organic media have been refined, tested, and validated on a series of reference materials (partly artificially aged) to apply this knowledge for investigations of original, historic works of art from the museum's collections. At first, a set of artificially aged mockups has been prepared and a reference database has been built up for the identification of drying oils, resins, waxes, proteins and polysaccharides. Some interesting observations concerning the alteration of the composition of these organic media during different ageing steps are presented in the following text. In addition, some selected examples for the application of the refined techniques for the analysis of real samples from various museum objects are shown.

Art↗
PubMed1993

Genetic skeletal dysplasias in the Museum of Pathological Anatomy, Vienna.

Skeletal material in the Museum of Pathological Anatomy, Vienna, has been appraised in order to modify existing descriptive designations and to establish diagnoses of specific genetic disorders. In this way osseous material relating to classical genetic syndromes has been identified and will be available for further study. Among the skeletons of adults in the museum, the following genetic conditions could be diagnosed: achondroplasia, Marfan syndrome, cleidocranial dysostosis, and diaphyseal aclasia. In adult sisters with dwarfism and a rickety bone disorder, the final diagnosis was uncertain. Infantile bone dysplasias, genetic conditions involving the skull, and malformation syndromes which are all represented in the museum are currently being analyzed.

Achondroplasia↗
PubMed2006

Role of anatomy in our contemporary age and the history of the Anatomy Museum of Naples.

This work analyzes the significance of anatomical knowledge in the contemporary age through the history of a prestigious institution, the Anatomy Museum of Naples. The museum's past was ineluctably linked not only to the local sociopolitical events but also to the scientific developments of medicine. The museum is an academic place where the importance of the anatomic science in the contemporary age both in the scientific and in the cultural fora is evident.

Anatomy↗
PubMed2006

Temporal and spatial changes in mercury concentrations in the North Atlantic as indicated by museum specimens of glacier lanternfish Benthosema glaciale (Pisces: Myctophidae).

Museum specimens of glacier lanternfish Benthosema glaciale were used to investigate long-term variations in mercury concentration of mesopelagic organisms from the North Atlantic. B. glaciale is an abundant mesopelagic fish species in the boreal and sub-polar pelagic regions of the North Atlantic, playing an important role in the cycling of energy in the oceanic food webs of these systems. We used 35 museum specimens of lanternfish, collected from the Gulf Stream biogeographic region between 1936 and 1993, to test for long-term variations in mercury concentrations. In addition, we studied the mercury concentrations throughout the geographical range of the species, using 105 specimens collected around 1970s. Mercury concentrations were similar over time; however there was evidence of a noteworthy increase in mercury contamination during the World War II (1941) followed by a general decrease with lowest concentrations being found in 1954 and 1993. Significant differences were found between the different studied areas, probably reflecting different degrees of anthropogenic contamination. The results presented here indicate that museum myctophids may be suitable for the assessment of historical changes in mercury contamination of marine ecosystems.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Mould exposure in museum personnel.

In the basement archives of a local arts and crafts museum where the books and bookkeeping registers were handled, a woman on the museum staff had had ten attacks of fever, chill, nausea and cough during one year. The symptoms appeared at the end of the working day and disappeared after one to three days at home. No symptoms could be detected during the summer holidays. The books stored in the basement archives had earlier been stored in a small house with a leaky roof, which had led to the growth of mould on the books. When the books were handled at the museum, they were still covered with mould. The exposure measurements showed 10(6) CFU/m3 and a total of 10(8) microorganisms/m3.

Air Microbiology↗
PubMed1994

The use of museum specimens to reconstruct the genetic variability and relationships of extinct populations.

In this review, we discuss the use of DNA from museum specimens to address conservation genetic questions. We provide four examples from our previous studies of the northern hairy-nosed wombat, African wild dog, Ethiopian wolf and red wolf. These species were genetically surveyed using two molecular approaches: first, analysis of short sequences in the mitochondrial genome using species-specific primers, and second, analysis of hypervariable microsatellite loci. The studies demonstrate that museum-derived DNA adds an important dimension to the genetic study of extant populations. Inaccessible populations can be studied, and both the loss of genetic variation and its distribution over space and time can be better understood. Finally, analysis of additional museum material provides definitive evidence for a hybrid origin of the red wolf.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

Scenes from the museum: the hermaphrodite monkey and stage management at La Specola.

How can a natural history collection be turned into an instrument of public education? What should an institution serving such a purpose look like? Everyday scenes from the Royal Museum of Physics and Natural History in Florence, founded in 1775, highlight the practical problems with transforming a museum in such a fashion. Naturalists employed at the Royal Museum took measures to control both its "frontstage" (the public exhibition) and its "backstage" (the offices and workshops) in an effort to secure the integrity of the educational and scientific mission of the new institution.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Analysis of pesticide residues on museum objects repatriated to the Hupa tribe of California.

In the past, it was common practice for museum professionals and private collectors to apply a variety of pesticide agents to objects in their collections to preserve them from depredations by microorganisms, fungi, and other pests. The Native American Graves Repatriation and Protection Act allows federally recognized tribes to request that museums return objects taken from their ancestors. Given that poor records were kept on the treatment of individual objects, it is unknown whether specific objects are contaminated with these pesticide agents. Although chemical analysis represents the only reliable means to determine the types and levels of pesticides on these objects, surprisingly few publications document the extent of this contamination in museum collections. This paper reports on the determination of arsenic, mercury, and several organic pesticides on 17 objects that were recently repatriated to the Hupa tribe in northern California. Four samples were taken from each object: two for arsenic and mercury analysis via flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry and two for organic pesticide analysis via gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Percent levels (wt/wt) of mercury were detected on many samples, and 0.001 to 0.183% (wt/wt) levels of p-dichlorobenzene, naphthalene, thymol, lindane, and/or DDT were detected on many of the samples. These results indicate that Hupa tribal members should not wear these objects in religious ceremonies, proper precautions should be followed when dealing with potentially contaminated objects, and that more serious consideration should be given to this issue at a national level.

Arsenic↗
PubMed2001

The distribution of soiling by coarse particulate matter in the museum environment.

Soiling measurements are needed to address strategies to control dust and determine its sources. There is no widely recognized method for dust monitoring in museums, but we used sticky samplers to collect deposited coarse particulate matter, and both manual microscopic observations and image analysis for determining soiling potential in the museum environment. We adopt fractional area covered by deposited particles as a surrogate for soiling and the covering rate (unit: s-1) as a measure of the rate of soiling. It was clear that visitor flow was a major contributor to soiling, such that soiling mechanisms in different museums could be compared after measurements were normalised on a per capita basis. The proximity of visitors to objects was another important factor with the soiling declining with distance from visitor pathways (a half-distance of about 0.5 m), which suggests soiling of objects on open display could be reduced by increasing the distance from visitors.

Air Pollution, Indoor↗
PubMed2000

Museum specimen data predict crop damage by tropical rodents.

Museum collections constitute a massive store of information on biological diversity. We used museum specimen data to generate ecological niche models that provide predictions of geographic distributions of native rodent pest species and agricultural census data that summarize the geographic distribution of nine crops in the state of Veracruz, Mexico, as well as crop losses between planting and harvest. Herein, we show that crop damage is related significantly to the predicted presence of rodent species for seven of nine crops. Museum collections may thus provide important baseline information for designing land-use and agricultural pest-management programs.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Museums, friends, and lovers in the New South: Laura's Web, 1909-1931.

Laura Bragg, a member of the first graduating class at Simmons College, journeyed to Charleston as a New Woman in 1909. As the first woman director of a major scientific museum in the United States, Bragg transformed the Charleston Museum into a public education institution and became an innovative leader in museum education. This article documents Bragg's contributions within the context of antebellum culture where the Southern Belle was placed on a Victorian pedestal and Boston marriages were an unknown phenomenon. Using extensive and hitherto unpublished correspondence, the authors detail Bragg's lesbian relationships and describe her network within the homosexual male community during the era of the Charleston Renaissance.

Female↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Cathedrals to sciences or temples of knowledge? The museums of natural sciences of Cordoba, Argentina, by the end of the 19th century].

The museums of Botany, Mineralogy and Zoology of the Facultad de Ciencias Físico-Matemáticas were created along with a world wide phenomenon, defined by some authors as the "museum movement," in a time the basics of this movement were being restructured. Thus, this work intends to go over the building stage of the natural history museums in a peripheral domain --- Cordoba by the end of the 19th century --- in order to partially understand this transition process. The strategy is to analyze the collections and find out how and why they were gathered. Two other aspects are also relevant: the human resources and the funds these institutions were granted.

Argentina↗
PubMed1997

Association of enzyme inhibition with methods of museum skin preparation.

Enzyme inhibition is commonly encountered when using molecular biological techniques on museum-prepared animal skin samples, and this problem is exacerbated by a lack of information on how particular skins have been prepared for preservation. This report: (i) demonstrates that while some methods of museum preparation inhibit both proteinase K digestion and the PCR, others do not; (ii) describes a change in buffer conditions that reduces proteinase K enzyme inhibition during tissue digestion: and (iii) uses electron-dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDXA) to show that the preparation methods for museum-preserved skin are often more complex than the treatment description provided with samples and also suggests that some of these descriptions are incorrect.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Memorial museum to Academician O.V. Palladin (on the 25th anniversary of the foundation].

In the article the short information about A.V. Palladin Memorial Museum, displaying some documentary materials on the life, scientific, scientific-administrative and enlightenment activity of the founder of the Institute of Biochemistry and Ukrainian Biochemical school, President of UkSSR Academy of Sciences (1946-1962), outstanding scientist and public figure, Academician Alexander Vladimirovich Palladin (1885-1972). The Museum created according to the Resolution of the UkSSR Soviet of Ministers due to the efforts of the Institute personnel, is officially considered as an affiliate of the State Historical Museum of Kiev and acquired a wide-spread reputation as a center of propagation and study of the history of Ukraine biochemical science, its achievements, contribution of the native scientists into the world treasury of the life sciences.

Biochemistry↗
PubMed2001

[The importance to nineteenth century hospital medicine of an anatomic specimen of severely traumatized vertebrae. Scientific history at the Museum of Pathologic Anatomy in the Hospital of Trieste].

The museum of pathological anatomy, established in Trieste in 1847, a few years after the opening of the general hospital, keeps a sole pathological finding of "lethal vertebral trauma" dated 1903 and prepared by one of the fathers of Trieste's pathological anatomy, Enrico Ferrari (1874-1970). This museum object recalls a clinical sensitivity in traumatology going back to Simone Pertot (1845-1907), the first pathologist of Trieste, but also the clinical observations of one of Billroth's disciples, the triestine Arthur Menzel (1844-1878), head of the i.v. Surgery Division. Giving this museum object its historical scientific genesis means answering the following questions: Why does the pathologist provide clinical medicine with such a preparation? In other words, what pragmatic meaning does it have? What is its function? In the practical clinical activity of the above-mentioned hospital's medicine, the state of disease finds its meaning in concepts like diagnosis and prognosis and, therefore, the same epicritic function of the pathologic sample representing vertebral trauma. Its "clinical" meaning is in the pathologist's and clinician's ability at elaborating a pathognomonic sign which is able to put forth, at the patient's bedside, the physiopathological laws determining the seriousness of the trauma taking place in the organism.

History, 19th Century↗
PubMed2001

[The role of the pathological anatomy museum: past glory, present crisis, and future prospects].

Scientific Museum and in particular pathology Museum were in the past an important landmark for Pathology and in general for Medicine. At present they are in a critical stage due to the technological progress, because they are considered by now obsolete compared to other didactic supports, so as for example CD-ROM or virtual presentations. In opposite these old collections are still very precious for Medicine, because they show old diseases, now disappeared or very rare, thanks to the therapeutic and diagnostic progresses. Furthermore they are very useful for teaching of Pathology to medical students and also to laboratory's technicians. The specimens may be used also for organisation of exhibitions, in graduate courses or medical updating courses, for a better popularisation of Anatomy or of some diseases of large environmental or social impact. For all these reasons we propose the creation of renewed museum structures and a protocol for the restoration of the specimens, which are often damaged owing to time and negligence.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

[The Pathology museum of Trieste. From medical arachaeology to revitalization].

Abandoned in the attic of Trieste's Ospedale Maggiore--which since 1872 housed the hospital's Department of Pathological Anatomy, then known as the Prosettura--is a "museum" of pathology that comprises a heterogeneous collection of anatomic specimens: traumatic, inflammatory and neoplastic lesions, as well as specimens of tattooed skin and hymens. All this material, most of which dates back to the end of the nineteenth and to the start of the twentieth century, will soon be recovered and displayed in a museum. Because this operation has given rise to an interesting discussion on the very significance--both present and past--of this kind of museum, we believe it necessary to extend the debate to those in charge of similar collections and to all our colleagues in the medical profession. It is our opinion that this operation may be justified and meaningful, provided that each specimen is presented with adequate reference to its historical and scientific context.

History, 19th Century↗
PubMed2005

[Three views from overseas: the museum as a setting for educational outreach in the sciences].

During their first visit to Brazil, in 2001, Michel Van Praet, Jean Davallon, and Daniel Jacobi - French researchers in the field of museology - discussed the complex nature of the museum experience. Professor Van Praet underscores the unique character of natural history museums and offers an evaluation of his work as head of the restoration project at Paris's Grande Gallery of Evolution, inaugurated in 1994. Professor Davallon discusses the contribution of semiotics and reception theory in analyzing how an exhibit communicates and how meaning is constructed within it. Dr. Jacobi defines some characteristics of the dissemination of science at museums and points to problems encountered in achieving this end.

Brazil↗