Uterine torsion and fetal mummification in a cow.
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[Buddhist mummies in Japan].
The mummy of priest Kochi (preserved at Saishoji Temple, Teradomari, Niigata Pref.) has become famous, since it appeared in the book "Snow Country Tales" written by Bokushi Suzuki in 1841 (Fig. 1). In a country of high humidity, such as Japan, the belief that mummification could not, and did not, exist would not be altogether unfounded, but rather more a matter of common sense. There are two dozen Buddhist mummies in this country. It was not known until 1961 that a reliable source of artificial mummification has existed in Japan. The Japanese Buddhist mummies, apart from those of the Fujiwara family, a powerful clan of northeast Japan in the 12th century, dated mostly from the 17th to the 19th century as given in Table 1. Three principal types of mummification described by Vreeland, Jr. and Cockburn (1980) could be identified in the Japanese Buddhist mummies: type I, natural mummification; type II, intentional natural; and type III, artificial. Matsumoto (1990) classified the mummies into four groups, based on their ideological backgrounds: group A, mummies of the priests having faith in the Amitabha (the Supreme Buddha presiding over the Pure Land in the West); group B, sokushin-butsu mummies of the priests belonging to the Shingon sect of Japanese Buddhism founded by Kukai (Kobo-daishi); group C, nyujo mummies of the priests having faith in the Maitreya (the Buddha presiding over the Pure Land in the North, or the Buddha of the future); and group D, other mummies. These mummies of groups A, B, C and D are respectively listed in Table 2. Previous papers have shown that the mummies of the groups A, C and D belonged to the mummification of type I (natural mummification) or type II (intentional natural), whereas those of only the group B were of type III (artificial). The mummies of groups A to D were given as follows. a) Mummies of group A. The four mummies of the Fujiwara family in the Amitabha faith (preserved at Chusonji Temple, Hiraizumi, Iwate Pref.), which were laid in daisies for Buddhist images at golden Konjikido, a model of the Western Pure Land of Amitabha, did not bear any evidence of Ainu character in their physical traits. Of these, the mummy of Yasuhira Fujiwara, of which the head and neck were severely injured by swords, showed that it had been decapitated. This decapitated head had suffered mutilations: i.e. a long iron nail had been driven into the forehead, and the both auricles and the nose had been cut off.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Buddhism↗
Organic chemistry of embalming agents in Pharaonic and Graeco-Roman mummies.
Chemical treatments were an essential element of ancient Egyptian mummification. Although the inorganic salt natron is recognized as having a central role as a desiccant, without the application of organic preservatives the bodies would have decomposed in the humid environment of the tombs. The nature of the organic treatments remains obscure, because the ancient Egyptians left no written record of the process. Secondary textual evidence for mummification is provided by Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, Strabo and Pliny. The most important account is that of Herodotus (about 450 yr bc), although archaeological evidence shows that by this time the process had declined significantly and the best results had been achieved centuries before. His account mentions myrrh, cassia, palm wine, 'cedar oil' (still widely disputed) and 'gum'; however, it is vague with respect to the specific natural products used. Here we report the results of chemical investigations of a substantial collection of samples of tissues, wrappings and 'resinous/bituminous' materials from provenanced and dated Egyptian mummies. We focused on examples of the 'classic' mummy-making culture of the Pharaonic or dynastic period, from which we can begin to track the development of mummification chronologically.
Adult↗
Nasal endoscopy and CT study of Pharaonic and Roman mummies.
In ancient Egypt mummifications were first carried out around 3000 BC. The visceral organs (lungs, stomach, liver and bowel) were removed from the body, cleansed, desiccated and placed in four canopic jars. The brain was removed from the body but was not preserved. Exactly how removal of the brain was accomplished is not clear. This study investigated the route of brain removal during mummification. Nasal endoscopy was carried out on 20 Pharaonic and Roman mummies. CT examination was performed on 2 mummy heads. In all mummies a communication between the cranial and nasal cavities was found passing through the posterior ethmoids and cribriform plates. The cranial cavity was empty. Our results demonstrate that brain removal during mummification was performed endonasally by trained personnel with a good knowledge of anatomy, using special instruments capable of creating a clean-cut endonasal craniotomy.
Egypt↗
A forensic case study of a naturally mummified brain from the bushveld of South Africa.
The present study reports our observations of a naturally mummified human brain found in the bushveld of South Africa. This case extends the geographic and climatic ranges in which mummified brains have been found, and it represents an additional case where no human activity has led to the mummification. The mummified brain was c. one fifth the size of a normal human brain, while the gyral and sulcal patterns of a typical human brain were clear. CT scanning of the brain revealed that subcortical structures, normally evident in this type of imaging, were not discernable, indicating a slow mummification process. Histological examination of the tissue revealed near complete degradation of the microanatomical structure, with only putative Nissl bodies remaining as identifiable neural microstructures. The specimen appears to have survived several veld fires, as well as a high annual rainfall, and a high relative humidity. It is thought that specific conditions amenable to brain mummification, but not other soft tissues, occurred in the skull of this specimen in the weeks postmortem.
Adult↗
The use of cloprostenol for the termination of pregnancy and the expulsion of mummified fetus in cattle.
Misalliance and mummification are two indications for treatment with cloprostenol. Of 56 animals mated accidentally that were treated with 0-5 mg cloprostenol, 12 were more than 150 days pregnant and of those, nine required more than one treatment. The animals treated early in pregnancy aborted promptly and completely whereas two, considered to be 200 days pregnant at the first treatment, failed to respond at all. There were no reports of retained fetal membranes or any adverse side effects. Eight cases of fetal mummification were also submitted for treatment. All aborted within three to five days, the fetus being removed manually per vaginam in each case. Serial blood progesterone assays indicated that successful treatment was associated with leutolysis in all cases. It was concluded that cloprostenol may successfully be used for the treatment of misalliance and mummification of the fetus.
Abortifacient Agents↗
Mummified ossified melanocytic naevus.
Ossification rarely occurs within melanocytic naevi. As far as we know, mummification (presence of shadow cells) has never been described within these lesions. We report herein the case of a benign naevus associating ossification and mummification; this case suggests that, similarly to pilomatricomas, osteoma formation within melanocytic naevi may develop as a result of mummification.
Adult↗
A histological comparison of direct pulp capping agents in primary canines.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the pulpal response to four calcium hydroxide preparations in primary teeth. Data indicated the calcium hydroxide-saline paste induced more inflammation and produced a greater zone of mummification than the three commercial preparations studied. Unintentional deep impaction of the medicament or dentinal chips increased inflammation for all categories. All medicaments produced a superficial necrosis (mummification) of the pulp. The greatest degree of mummification was seen with the calcium hydroxide-saline paste. The calcium hydroxide-saline paste produced a thick dentinal bridge, located deeper in the pulp when compared with the commercial agents. Commercial agents produced narrower but sufficiently high-quality dentinal bridges. This study indicates that direct pulp capping of exposures in primary teeth is a viable procedure. The newer commercial agents may be preferred, as they produce minimal inflammation, satisfactory dentinal bridging, and preservation of most of the vital pulp tissue.
Calcium Hydroxide↗
Brief communication: twentieth-century replication of an Egyptian mummy: implications for paleopathology.
Replication in a modern human cadaver of ancient Egyptian mummification focused on tools used by ancient Egyptian embalmers, the use of natron (a mixture of sodium carbonate, bicarbonate, and chloride) in the preparation of the mummy, surgical procedures in the removal of the viscera and brain, and histologic examination of the viscera. The first three areas have been reported separately (Brier and Wade [1997] ZAS 124:89-100). In this paper, we demonstrate a degree of histologic preservation comparable to that seen in Egyptian mummies, indicating the effectiveness of ancient mummification and that the histologic appearance of such mummies is little altered by the passage of millennia.
Aged↗
Seven Chinchorro mummies and the prehistory of northern Chile.
The mummification methods of an ancient maritime population on the northern coast of Chile are reviewed and the findings in an additional seven individuals are reported. Members of this cultural group, Chinchorro, practiced a selective, elaborate form of artificial mummification which persisted more than 4,000 years. Its complexity diminished with time, gradually disappearing after 2,000 B.C. One of the seven individuals herein reported is a rather poorly but spontaneously ("naturally") preserved body that may represent the oldest mummy reported to date--about 9,000 years old. Chemical reconstruction of their diet demonstrates that the principal component was derived from marine resources with only minor supplementation from terrestrial hunting as well as food gathering from river mouth vegetal sources, confirming the marine dependence of their adaptational strategy.
Adult↗
Observations on the pathogenesis of porcine parvovirus infection.
Differences in the pathogenesis of porcine parvovirus (PPV) were shown when pregnant gilts were infected by the oral and intramuscular (i.m.) routes. By the oral route, PPV took 23-32 days to cross the placenta following infection of the dam, as compared to 15 days by the i.m. route, Successful transplacental infection occurred following oral infection of dams only in the second third of gestation, whilst i.m. infection resulted in infection of foetuses in both first and second thirds of gestation. Foetal infection resulted in death and mummification only where infection of foetuses occurred before onset of immune competence--estimated at 70 days gestation. Infected foetuses either died before onset of immune competence, or survived to mount an immune response with subsequent death or survival to farrowing. It is suggested in discussion that reproductive failure due to PPV, characterised by mummification or occasional stillbirth, is associated in nature with oral infection, and occurs only when dams are infected in the first part of the midthird of gestation.
Animals↗
Plasma pregnancy-associated glycoprotein-1 (PAG-1) concentrations during gestation in Neospora-infected dairy cows.
The aim of this study was to determine whether plasma pregnancy-associated glycoprotein-1 (PAG-1) concentrations in pregnancy are affected by persistent Neospora caninum infection in dairy cows. The data analyzed were derived from 22 multiparous cows: 16 N. caninum-seropositive and 6 N. caninum-seronegative animals (used as controls). Three of the 16 seropositive cows aborted during the study period and the corresponding data were analyzed separately. Pregnancy diagnoses were performed on day 40 post-insemination by transrectal ultrasound, and by palpation per rectum on days 90, 120, 150, 180 and 210. Blood samples were collected from each animal immediately before each pregnancy diagnosis, and then at parturition or at the time of abortion detection. Plasma was tested for antibodies against N. caninum and PAG-1 concentrations were determined by radioimmunoassay. In non-aborting animals, the effects of neosporosis (seropositive versus seronegative), N. caninum antibody levels, semen providing bull, sex of the newborn, and day of gestation on PAG-1 concentrations were evaluated by GLM repeated measures analysis of variance. The effect of the gestation period (first half versus second half) on the N. caninum antibody titer was established by the Student's t-test in seropositive cows. A significant positive effect of gestation day on PAG-1 concentrations was observed (d.f.=6; F=12.6; P<0.0001). For all cows, PAG-1 concentrations increased steadily during the course of gestation, with peak concentrations recorded at parturition. Neosporosis (P=0.493), N. caninum antibody levels (P=0.921), sex of the newborn (P=0.856) and semen providing bull (P=0.087) had no effect on plasma PAG-1 concentration. There was a significant 52% increase (P<0.0001) in N. caninum antibody titers during the second half of gestation compared to the first half. The fates of the three aborting cows were abortion on gestation day 215 in one, and fetus mummification diagnosed on gestation days 180 and 210, respectively, in the remaining two cows. A luteolytic dose of prostaglandin was applied 30 days after mummification diagnosis in these last two cows, and fetus expulsion was detected on days 215 and 250, respectively. Two of the aborted fetuses were submitted to laboratory analysis and the presence of N. caninum was confirmed by specific PCR. In the cows with a mummified fetus, PAG-1 concentrations were low or undetectable when the diagnosis was made. These findings suggest that N. caninum infection has no effect on placental function in chronically infected, cows not suffering abortion, while PAG-1 measurements in aborting animals provide a useful indication of feto-placental status.
Animals↗
The effect on reproductive performance of porcine parvovirus infection in a susceptible pig herd.
An acute episode of reproductive failure occurred following natural introduction of porcine parvovirus to a susceptible herd of 48 breeding sows. Serological data gave a close estimate of the time that infection spread through the herd, and enabled a correct forecast of the reproductive failure that followed. Severe fetal mummification was seen over a three-week period. Epidemiological data is presented strongly linking in utero parvovirus infection with the mummification that occurred, and the significance of this data is discussed in connection with the present knowledge of transplacental porcine parvovirus infection.
Animals↗
[Mummified Hodgkin and Reed-Sternberg cells in EBV positive and EBV negative Hodgkin's lymphomas, Bcl-2 positivity and evaluation of survival].
Mummified tumour cells in Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) are a special type of programmed cellular death, which differs from apoptosis in several respects. The common feature with apoptosis is the death of individual tumour cells. The number of mummified cells is many times higher than the number of cells in apoptosis. The authors examined a group of 24 cases of EBV positive and 24 cases of EBV negative HL and assessed the so-called mummification index. The value of the mummification index was 10.4 in EBV positive and 8.2 in EBV negative HL. The difference of values was not marked and therefore it may be concluded that latent EBV infection does not influence the numbers of mummified cells. Using statistical methods (the log-rank test) the authors evaluated survival and differences between groups of EBV positive and EBV negative HL. In the course of 16.6 years no statistically significant difference was found between the two groups of HL. By means of the chi2 individual stages of the disease were compared and no significant differences between groups were recorded. Expression of Bcl-2 protein in tumour cells in HL was small and positivity was not found in mummifying cells. Bcl-2 protein was assessed in 24 EBV positive HL and 37 cases of EBV negative HL. In the first group the authors recorded positive findings in six cases, in the second group in five cases.
Adolescent↗
[Forensic medical examination of abrasions in the study of mummified tissues in experiment].
Morphological and biophysical characteristics of abrasions and intact skin were studied during the process of their mummification at temperatures from 40 to 70 degrees C. The time after which the injuries become undetectable because color of the skin and injuries coincides, was determined. Changes in configuration and area of abrasions while drying are described. The rate of mummification and duration of the latter were established by dielectric indices of abrasions and skin at 10 cm wave length.
Forensic Pathology↗
[Unexplained findings in anthropologic study material from Egypt. Addenda to Herodotus' "Historian", Lib. II, 86-88 and Egyptian "Sparagmos"?].
The authors report on recently excavated mummified human remains from Buto and Minshat Abu Omar in the Nile Delta (Lower Egypt). There is evidence that besides the conventional mummification techniques described for example by Herodotus rather invasive methods have been applied, i.e. maceration and dissection of the soft tissue, partly followed by modelling the skeleton with a thin layer of mud. This practise remembers of certain mutilated anthropological material of predynastic origin discovered towards the end of the last century by W.M. Flinders Petrie, which additionally seems to show significant parallels to ancient Egyptian mythological and religious texts (Pyramid texts, Coffin texts, Book of the Dead, etc.). Probably the presented findings, dated between 700 B.C. and 400 A.D., must be explained as a local rebirth of an archaic but non-specific Egyptian custom, preceding the inauguration of mummification in Egypt. The main task of this paper is to introduce important new material and to ask those missions also involved in archaeological fieldwork in Egypt for paying special attention to this subject.
Bone and Bones↗
Surgical management of multiple limb gangrene following dehydration in children.
Multiple limb gangrene and auto-amputation without arterial vascular occlusive disease is uncommon. Seven such paediatric patients were managed at King Edward VIII Hospital, Durban, during the 6-year period ending in 1989. The spectrum and degree of limb gangrene ranged from phalangeal necrosis to distal limb mummification affecting one or more limbs. The most affected child had gangrene and mummification of all limbs as well as gangrene of the ear lobes and the tip of the nose. The main associated factor was severe fluid loss--2 children had received herbal enemas, with resultant hypotension, hypoperfusion, hypernatraemia and acidosis, which, it is postulated, led to peripheral thrombosis and the ensuing gangrene. It is suggested that aggressive fluid therapy, including low molecular weight dextran and correction of the metabolic derangement, should form the main thrust of the therapeutic endeavour. Once gangrene is established, surgical debridement and rehabilitation is all that is possible. Using this procedure only 2 patients died in the acute resuscitation phase.
Arm↗
Considerations for use of descriptive epidemiology to investigate fetal loss in dairy cows.
Various descriptive approaches were taken in a prospective investigation to characterize fetal loss in cows on a California dairy. The methods and observations were offered for consideration by practitioners engaged in dairy herd health medicine. For 4,732 pregnancies followed from 2,163 cows in a 6.5 year period, the respective proportions (percentage) of cows aborting (1--cumulative proportion not aborting by 260 days) and abortion densities (abortions per 10,000 cow-days-at-risk) were 10.63 and 6.29 for all fetal deaths, 9.36 and 5.49 for deaths resulting in fetal expulsion, and 1.39 and 0.80 for deaths resulting in mummification. The greatest risk of fetal death (119 deaths/10,000 fetuses/d) was observed between 98 and 105 days of gestation, and median age at fetal death ranged from 99.0 to 105.5 days. Abortion density for fetal deaths resulting in mummification for cows conceiving during September (1.61/10,000 fetuses/d) and October (1.63/10,000 fetuses/d) was tenfold greater than that for cows conceiving in February (0.16/10,000 fetuses/d) and was twice that of the overall rate (0.84/10,000 fetuses/d). For cohorts of nonculled cows, abortion rate increased after 5 years of age, after 5 pregnancies, or after 4 calvings. For cows with at least one previous abortion, the proportion aborting (14.50%) was higher than that for cows without a previous abortion (12.14%). For a given gravidity, abortion rate was higher among cows that had experienced a previous abortion, compared with those that had not. These methods and observations may help provide a logical foundation on which to base clinical hypotheses regarding causes of abortion, and they may offer insight into pitfalls of bias and confounding to be anticipated.
Abortion, Habitual↗