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At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources
PubMed1997

Brother-sister marriage in Roman Egypt.

According to official census returns from Roman Egypt (first to third centuries CE) preserved on papyrus, 23.5% of all documented marriages in the Arsinoites district in the Fayum (n = 102) were between brothers and sisters. In the second century CE, the rates were 37% in the city of Arsinoe and 18.9% in the surrounding villages. Documented pedigrees suggest a minimum mean level of inbreeding equivalent to a coefficient of inbreeding of 0.0975 in second century CE Arsinoe. Undocumented sources of inbreeding and an estimate based on the frequency of close-kin unions (corrected downwards to 30% for Arsinoe) indicate a mean coefficient of inbreeding of F = 0.15-0.20 in Arsinoe and of F = 0.10-0.15 in the villages at the end of the second century CE. These values are several times as high as any other documented levels of inbreeding. A schematic estimate of inbreeding depression in the offspring of full sibling couples indicates that fertility in these families had to be 20-50% above average to attain reproduction at replacement level. In the absence of information on the amount of genetic load in this population, this estimate may be too high.

Censuses↗
PubMed2004

Phylogeography: English elm is a 2,000-year-old Roman clone.

The outbreak of Dutch elm disease in the 1970s ravaged European elm populations, killing more than 25 million trees in Britain alone; the greatest impact was on Ulmus procera, otherwise known as the English elm. Here we use molecular and historical information to show that this elm derives from a single clone that the Romans transported from Italy to the Iberian peninsula, and from there to Britain, for the purpose of supporting and training vines. Its highly efficient vegetative reproduction and its inability to set seeds have preserved this clone unaltered for 2,000 years as the core of the English elm population--and the preponderance of this susceptible variety may have favoured a rapid spread of the disease.

DNA, Chloroplast↗
PubMed2002

Perspectives and reflections on integrated digestive surgery.

The history of the integration of surgery is both extensive and complex involving internecine machinations that have, over time, variously encompassed the alchemical, religious, technological and biological phases of societal development. Thus, the discipline has evolved from a mystic rite through a guild phase to its current eristic status as a therapeutic modality considered by some as an art form as opposed to a quasi-scientific endeavour of often unpredictable beneficial effect. This brief prolepsis provides an exposition of the evolution of surgeons and surgical thought proceeding from Galen in 3rd century Rome through Paré of Renaissance France, Billroth of fin de siècle Vienna, to Kocher and Whipple of Bern and New York respectively. It is apparent that in surgery, ontogeny may not readily recapitulate phylogeny and thus the need for a contemporary revaluation of integration within a novel educational nexus that encompasses the burgeoning matrix of biotechnological, ethical and fiduciary revolution is a critical requirement. Such an exercise must embody contemporary scientific and educational advance with evolving societal goals that include ethical variances, fiduciary issues and alterations in individual perceptions of life quality at both the medical and personal level. An incorporation of the basic tenets of digestive surgery as well as a delineation of its potential direction is both a vital and necessary exercise to ensure the attainment of appropriate future goals of medical, ethical, societal, scientific and educational validity. Current medical and surgical training programmes and the sub-specialization system are archaic, cumbersome, cost ineffective and, for the most part, represent endless computations and permutations of intellectually antiquated and stultifying processes designed more than a hundred years ago. As such, the maieutic skills as well as the clinical vista available for the delivery of visceral disease care bear little relation to the needs and desires of contemporary society, whether medical or lay. Indeed, the century old notion of surgery and medicine as mutually exclusive disciplines that embraced diagnosis and therapy as divergent events needs to be cast aside to facilitate the development of a new model of disease management (organ specific). Specifically, training programmes require to be shortened (educational node) and their focus dramatically reconfigured (focus module) to ensure the establishment of a unified group of specialists (cluster convergent) each interfaced in delivery of a particular skill (component specific) to the resolution of a disease affecting a specific organ system. In this fashion, a time sensitive training programme producing educationally pre-focused physicians can be implemented to deliver time effective care in a cost contained environment with maximization of expertise and comprehensive interdisciplinary integration of knowledge, experience and skill (cluster care module). As such, digestive surgery itself should cease to be regarded as an end in itself or separate entity, but rather as representative of one facet in the delivery of a multifaceted integrated health care modality focused on the digestive tract.

Digestive System Surgical Procedures↗
PubMed2002

Bacteria in two-millennia-old cheese, and related epizoonoses in Roman populations.

A tremendous volcanic eruption destroyed all the life around Mount Vesuvius during the night between 24 and 25 August, 79 AD. Two famous towns, Pompeii and Herculaneum, were completely buried under volcanic products. At Herculaneum, about 25m of volcanic mud killed about 250 people who had fled to the beaches in an attempt to escape (Bisel, S. C.,Rivista di Studi Pompeiani, 1, 123-124, 1987). An anthropological examination of the skeletons of these "fugitives" reveals the bone lesions typical of brucellosis in 17.4% of adults (Capasso, L., International Journal of Osteoarchaelogy, 9, 277-288, 1999). This very high incidence of brucellosis was theoretically linked to the consumption of ovine milk and its derivates, which is also indicated by both literary and figurative sources. A single carbonized cheese was found in Herculaneum; its analysis clearly reveals the excellent state of preservation of the milk curds. For the first time, we demonstrate the presence of a variety of bacteria, possibly Lactobacillus, that also includes cocco-like forms that seem to be morphologically and dimensionally consistent with Brucella. The long interval spent by the organic remains under the volcanic mud and high temperatures they suffered preclude the possibility of identifying the bacteria through molecular methods.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Between horror and hope: gladiator's blood as a cure for epileptics in ancient medicine.

Between the first and the sixth century a single theological and several medical authors reported on the consumption of gladiator's blood or liver to cure epileptics. The origins of the sacred or apoplectic properties of blood of a slain gladiator, likely lie in Etruscan funeral rites. Although the influence of this religious background faded during the Roman Republic, the magical use of gladiators' blood continued for centuries. After the prohibition of gladiatorial combat in about 400 AD, an executed individual (particularly had he been beheaded) became the "legitimate" successor to the gladiator. Occasional indications in early modern textbooks on medicine as well as reports in the popular literature of the 19th and early 20th century document the existence of this ancient magical practice until modern times. Spontaneous recovery of some forms of epilepsy may be responsible for the illusion of therapeutic effectiveness and for the confirming statements by physicians who have commented on this cure.

Blood↗