Meteor Beliefs Project: The Palladium in ancient and early Medieval sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McBeath, A. Alistair; Gheorghe, A. D.

2004-08-01

An examination of the, apparently meteoritic, object, anciently called the Palladium after the Greek goddess Pallas Athene, is presented, as discussed in various ancient and early medieval sources. Although made of wood, the Palladium was believed to have fallen from the sky. In myths, it was a powerful totemic object, first at the legendary city of Troy, then later at Rome, and had magically protective properties associated with it. Despite its implausibly meteoritic nature, the Palladium can be suggested as supporting the case for ancient meteorite worship.

Sex-related risks of trauma in medieval to early modern Denmark, and its relationship to change in interpersonal violence over time.

PubMed

Milner, G R; Boldsen, J L; Weise, S; Lauritsen, J M; Freund, U H

2015-06-01

Skeletons from three Danish cemeteries, Sortebrødre, Tirup, and St. Mikkel, that collectively held 822 adults (>15 years) and spanned the medieval to early modern periods (ca. AD 1100-1610) show that men, in general, experienced more bone fractures than women. Men were three times more likely to have healed cranial vault and ulnar shaft fractures than women, with many of these bones presumably broken in interpersonal violence. More women, however, broke distal radii, presumably often the result of falls. Both sexes suffered more cranial fractures than modern Danes, with the proportional difference for men and women being about the same. The difference in cranial trauma frequencies between historic-period and modern Danes has implications for a decline over the past several centuries in interpersonal violence that scholars in other disciplines have inferred from historical sources. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Solar and Calendrical Symbolism in the Early Medieval Finnish Church Murals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ridderstad, Marianna

2015-05-01

The earliest church murals of the first stone churches in Finland were painted at the time when Christianity had only just become the official faith in the region and the old ethnic religion was still widely practiced. The 'pagan' motifs of these Early Medieval Finnish church murals reflect the complexity of the religious beliefs in this transition phase. The church actively transformed the festivals of the vernacular religion by giving Christian meanings to the symbols and rituals, as well as by replacing the ethnic deities with Christian figures. The solar symbolism and the calendrical motifs of the church murals are interpreted as imagery largely based on the Christianized remnants of the pre-Christian annual festivals. The earliest church murals thus provide important insight into the pre-Christian religious beliefs of late Iron Age Finland. Many of the motifs and symbols represented in the murals are related to the annual fertility cult and the solar goddess as one of its central figures.

Posterior archaeomagnetic dating for the early Medieval site Thunau am Kamp, Austria

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schnepp, Elisabeth; Lanos, Philippe; Obenaus, Martin

2014-05-01

The early medieval site Thunau am Kamp consists of a hill fort and a settlement with large burial ground at the bank of river Kamp. All these features are under archaeological investigation since many years. The settlement comprises many pit houses, some with stratigraphic order. Every pit house was equipped with at least one cupola oven and/or a hearth or fireplace. Sometimes the entire cupola was preserved. The site was occupied during the 9th and 10th AD according to potshards which seem to indicate two phases: In the older phase ovens were placed in the corner of the houses while during the younger phase they are found in the middle of the wall. In order to increase the archaeomagnetic data base 14 ovens have been sampled. They fill the temporal gap in the data base for Austria around 900 AD. Laboratory treatment included alternation field and thermal demagnetisations as well as rock magnetic experiments. The baked clay with was formed from a loess sediment has preserved stable directions. Apart from one exception the mean characteristic remanent magnetization directions are concentrated around 900 AD on the early medieval part of the directional archaeomagnetic reference curve of Austria (Schnepp & Lanos, GJI, 2006). Using this curve archaeomagnetic dating with RenDate provides ages between 800 and 1100 AD which are in agreement with archaeological dating. In one case archaeomagnetic dating is even more precise. Together with the archaeological age estimates and stratigraphic information the new data have been included into the database of the Austrian curve. It has been recalculated using a new version of RenCurve. The new data confine the curve and its error band considerably in the time interval 800 to 1100 AD. The curve calibration process also provides a probability density distribution for each structure which allows for posterior dating. This refines temporal errors considerably. Usefulness of such an approach and archaeological implications will be

Alchemical poetry in medieval and early modern Europe: a preliminary survey and synthesis. Part II - Synthesis.

PubMed

Kahn, Didier

2011-03-01

This article provides a preliminary description of medieval and early modern alchemical poetry composed in Latin and in the principal vernacular languages of western Europe. It aims to distinguish the various genres in which this poetry flourished, and to identify the most representative aspects of each cultural epoch by considering the medieval and early modern periods in turn. Such a distinction (always somewhat artificial) between two broad historical periods may be justified by the appearance of new cultural phenomena that profoundly modified the character of early modern alchemical poetry: the ever-increasing importance of the prisca theologia, the alchemical interpretation of ancient mythology, and the rise of neo-Latin humanist poetry. Although early modern alchemy was marked by the appearance of new doctrines (notably the alchemical spiritus mundi and Paracelsianism), alchemical poetry was only superficially modified by criteria of a scientific nature, which therefore appear to be of lesser importance. This study falls into two parts. Part I provides a descriptive survey of extant poetry, and in Part II the results of the survey are analysed in order to highlight such distinctive features as the function of alchemical poetry, the influence of the book market on its evolution, its doctrinal content, and the question of whether any theory of alchemical poetry ever emerged. Part II is accompanied by an index of the authors and works cited in both parts.

The virtues of balm in late medieval literature.

PubMed

Truitt, Elly R

2009-01-01

This article argues that balm, or balsam, was, by the late medieval period, believed to be a panacea, capable of healing wounds and illnesses, and also preventing putrefaction. Natural history and pharmacological texts on balm from the ancient and late antique periods emphasized specific qualities of balm, especially its heat; these were condensed and repeated in medieval encyclopedias. The rarity and cost of balsam, from antiquity through the medieval period, and the high rate of counterfeiting also demonstrate its high demand and significance in medicine and religious ritual. Travel writing and itineraria from the early and central medieval periods added a new layer to ideas about the capabilities of balsam: that it originated from a Christian miracle and was a particularly Christian plant.

Two medieval plague treatises and their afterlife in early modern England.

PubMed

Keiser, George R

2003-07-01

This study of an adaptation of the popular John of Burgundy plague treatise by Thomas Moulton, a Dominican friar, ca. 1475, and a translation of the so-called Canutus plague treatise by Thomas Paynell, printed 1534, shows how the medieval traditions they represent were carried forward, well into the sixteenth century, and also subjected to change in light of religious, moral, and medical concerns of early modern England. The former had a long life in print, ca. 1530-1580, whereas Paynell's translation exists in one printed version. Moulton's adaptation differs from its original and from the Canutus treatise in putting great emphasis on the idea that onsets of plague were acts of divine retribution for human sinfulness. In this respect, Moulton reshaped the tradition of the medieval plague treatise and anticipated the religious and social construction of plague that would take shape in the first half of the sixteenth century. Its long history in print indicates that Moulton's treatise expressed the spirit of that construction and probably influenced the construction as well. The contrasting histories of the two treatises attest not only to the dramatic change brought about by religious and social forces in the sixteenth century, but to a growing recognition of the value of the printing press for disseminating medical information-in forms that served social and ideological ends.

Medieval Japan. Grade 7 Model Lesson for Standard 7.5. World History and Geography: Medieval and Early Modern Times. California History-Social Science Course Models.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zachlod, Michelle, Ed.

California State Standard 7.5 is delineated in the following manner: "Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of medieval Japan." Seventh-grade students describe the significance of Japan's proximity to China and Korea and the influence of these countries on Japan; discuss the reign of…

Medieval Europe. Grade 7 Model Lesson for Standard 7.6. World History and Geography: Medieval and Early Modern Times. California History-Social Science Course Models.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zachlod, Michelle, Ed.

California State Standard 7.6 is delineated in the following manner: "Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the civilizations of Medieval Europe." Seventh-grade students study the geography of Europe and the Eurasian land mass; describe the spread of Christianity north of the Alps and…

Osseous Frame Index calculations of the early medieval South-West Germany.

PubMed

Jasch, Isabelle; Langer, Antje; Boley, Moritz; Mumm, Rebekka; Riesenberg, Martin; Mann, Robert; Wahl, Joachim

2018-05-15

The proper description of former populations is one of the most difficult tasks in anthropology. Archaeological material is often limited due to fragmented and sometimes poorly preserved bone material resulting in incomplete data. Published skeletal raw data are available from the past, but much of this data is either unavailable or not used for scientific studies. The authors seek to elicit more information about prehistoric times by using this dataset to introduce a new method. The purpose is to provide an approach to reconstruct a former population in respect to robusticity and health status. For this in the pilot study the Body Mass Index (BMI) and Frame Index (FI) of early medieval South-West Germany have been analysed. The FI, in contrast to the BMI, has not yet been used for robusticity analysis utilizing only skeletal remains. As far as we know, this is the first time that the FI has been calculated using archaeological material. Due to unknown soft-tissue thickness we introduce the Osseous Frame Index (OFI). The measured OFI reveals new insights in (pre-)historic populations and allows comparisons with modern reference samples. Our OFI calculations are relatively similar to modern calculations. Males have a higher robusticity than females, slightly increasing during life-time compared to females. These calculations provide a better historical understanding of human body composition.

Alchemical poetry in medieval and early modern Europe: a preliminary survey and synthesis. Part I--Preliminary survey.

PubMed

Kahn, Didier

2010-11-01

This article provides a preliminary description of medieval and early modern alchemical poetry composed in Latin and in the principal vernacular languages of western Europe. It aims to distinguish the various genres in which this poetry flourished, and to identify the most representative aspects of each cultural epoch by considering the medieval and early modern periods in turn. Such a distinction (always somewhat artificial) between two broad historical periods may be justified by the appearance of new cultural phenomena that profoundly modified the character of early modern alchemical poetry: the ever-increasing importance of the prisca theologia, the alchemical interpretation of ancient mythology, and the rise of neo-Latin humanist poetry. Although early modern alchemy was marked by the appearance of new doctrines (notably the alchemical spiritus mundi and Paracelsianism), alchemical poetry was only superficially modified by criteria of a scientific nature, which therefore appear to be of lesser importance. This study falls into two parts. Part I provides a descriptive survey of extant poetry, and in Part II the results of the survey are analysed in order to highlight such distinctive features as the function of alchemical poetry, the influence of the book market on its evolution, its doctrinal content, and the question of whether any theory of alchemical poetry ever emerged. Part II is accompanied by an index of the authors and works cited in both parts.

Marine Climate Archives across the Medieval Climate Anomaly-Little Ice Age Transition from Viking and Medieval Age Shells, Orkney, Scotland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Surge, D. M.; Barrett, J. H.

2013-12-01

Proxy records reconstructing marine climatic conditions across the transition between the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA; ~900-1350 AD) and Little Ice Age (LIA; ~1350-1850) are strongly biased towards decadal to annual resolution and summer/growing seasons. Here we present new archives of seasonal variability in North Atlantic sea surface temperature (SST) from shells of the European limpet, Patella vulgata, which accumulated in Viking and medieval shell and fish middens at Quoygrew on Westray, Orkney. SST was reconstructed at submonthly resolution using oxygen isotope ratios preserved in shells from the 12th and mid 15th centuries (MCA and LIA, respectively). MCA shells recorded warmer summers and colder winters by ~2 degrees C relative to the late 20th Century (1961-1990). Therefore, seasonality was higher during the MCA relative to the late 20th century. Without the benefit of seasonal resolution, SST averaged from shell time series would be weighted toward the fast-growing summer season, resulting in the conclusion that the early MCA was warmer than the late 20th century by ~1°C. This conclusion is broadly true for the summer season, but not true for the winter season. Higher seasonality and cooler winters during early medieval times may result from a weakened North Atlantic Oscillation index. In contrast, the LIA shells have a more a variable inter-annual pattern. Some years record cooler summers and winters relative to the MCA shells and late 20th century, whereas other years record warmer summers and cooler winters similar to the MCA shells. Our findings provide a new test for the accuracy of seasonal amplitudes resulting from paleoclimate model experiments.

Reported weather events in medieval Hungary: the 11th-15th centuries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kiss, Andrea

2017-04-01

In the presentation an overview of weather events, documented in contemporary written sources - available both in private and institutional evidence -, is provided: geographically the study covers the Hungarian kingdom (occasionally also with sources from the medieval Croatian kingdoms) that included most parts of the Carpathian Basin. Even if the temporal coverage extends the high and late medieval period between 1000 to 1500, most of the data comes from the late medieval times, with special emphasis on the 15th century. Most of the information is available regarding cold spells (e.g. early and late frosts), but especially cold winter periods. Nevertheless, contemporary documentary evidence - mainly legal documentation (charters), official and private correspondence, partly narratives and town accounts - also consists of evidence concerning other, weather-related extreme events such as (thunder)storms, floods and droughts. Apart from the discussion of the availability and type of these events, based on the relative frequency of occurrence we can define periods when a higher frequency and magnitude of weather-related events were reported that is mainly not dependent on changing source densities. These detectable periods (e.g. the early and mid-14th, early and late 15th centuries) are also a further, separate topic of discussion in the presentation.

Ancient genomes reveal a high diversity of Mycobacterium leprae in medieval Europe

PubMed Central

Bonazzi, Marion; Reiter, Ella; Urban, Christian; Taylor, G. Michael; Velemínský, Petr; Marcsik, Antónia; Pálfi, György; Boldsen, Jesper L.; Nebel, Almut; Mays, Simon; Benjak, Andrej

2018-01-01

Studying ancient DNA allows us to retrace the evolutionary history of human pathogens, such as Mycobacterium leprae, the main causative agent of leprosy. Leprosy is one of the oldest recorded and most stigmatizing diseases in human history. The disease was prevalent in Europe until the 16th century and is still endemic in many countries with over 200,000 new cases reported annually. Previous worldwide studies on modern and European medieval M. leprae genomes revealed that they cluster into several distinct branches of which two were present in medieval Northwestern Europe. In this study, we analyzed 10 new medieval M. leprae genomes including the so far oldest M. leprae genome from one of the earliest known cases of leprosy in the United Kingdom—a skeleton from the Great Chesterford cemetery with a calibrated age of 415–545 C.E. This dataset provides a genetic time transect of M. leprae diversity in Europe over the past 1500 years. We find M. leprae strains from four distinct branches to be present in the Early Medieval Period, and strains from three different branches were detected within a single cemetery from the High Medieval Period. Altogether these findings suggest a higher genetic diversity of M. leprae strains in medieval Europe at various time points than previously assumed. The resulting more complex picture of the past phylogeography of leprosy in Europe impacts current phylogeographical models of M. leprae dissemination. It suggests alternative models for the past spread of leprosy such as a wide spread prevalence of strains from different branches in Eurasia already in Antiquity or maybe even an origin in Western Eurasia. Furthermore, these results highlight how studying ancient M. leprae strains improves understanding the history of leprosy worldwide. PMID:29746563

Ancient genomes reveal a high diversity of Mycobacterium leprae in medieval Europe.

PubMed

Schuenemann, Verena J; Avanzi, Charlotte; Krause-Kyora, Ben; Seitz, Alexander; Herbig, Alexander; Inskip, Sarah; Bonazzi, Marion; Reiter, Ella; Urban, Christian; Dangvard Pedersen, Dorthe; Taylor, G Michael; Singh, Pushpendra; Stewart, Graham R; Velemínský, Petr; Likovsky, Jakub; Marcsik, Antónia; Molnár, Erika; Pálfi, György; Mariotti, Valentina; Riga, Alessandro; Belcastro, M Giovanna; Boldsen, Jesper L; Nebel, Almut; Mays, Simon; Donoghue, Helen D; Zakrzewski, Sonia; Benjak, Andrej; Nieselt, Kay; Cole, Stewart T; Krause, Johannes

2018-05-01

Studying ancient DNA allows us to retrace the evolutionary history of human pathogens, such as Mycobacterium leprae, the main causative agent of leprosy. Leprosy is one of the oldest recorded and most stigmatizing diseases in human history. The disease was prevalent in Europe until the 16th century and is still endemic in many countries with over 200,000 new cases reported annually. Previous worldwide studies on modern and European medieval M. leprae genomes revealed that they cluster into several distinct branches of which two were present in medieval Northwestern Europe. In this study, we analyzed 10 new medieval M. leprae genomes including the so far oldest M. leprae genome from one of the earliest known cases of leprosy in the United Kingdom-a skeleton from the Great Chesterford cemetery with a calibrated age of 415-545 C.E. This dataset provides a genetic time transect of M. leprae diversity in Europe over the past 1500 years. We find M. leprae strains from four distinct branches to be present in the Early Medieval Period, and strains from three different branches were detected within a single cemetery from the High Medieval Period. Altogether these findings suggest a higher genetic diversity of M. leprae strains in medieval Europe at various time points than previously assumed. The resulting more complex picture of the past phylogeography of leprosy in Europe impacts current phylogeographical models of M. leprae dissemination. It suggests alternative models for the past spread of leprosy such as a wide spread prevalence of strains from different branches in Eurasia already in Antiquity or maybe even an origin in Western Eurasia. Furthermore, these results highlight how studying ancient M. leprae strains improves understanding the history of leprosy worldwide.

Some Early Optics: Classical and Medieval. Experiment No. 6.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Devons, Samuel

Information related to the history of optics with emphasis on the classical and medieval periods is presented. Notes are included on experiments dealing with refraction at a plane interface between two media; refraction by transparent spheres; light, color, and reflection by transparent spheres. (Author/SA)

Testing Drugs and Trying Cures: Experiment and Medicine in Medieval and Early Modern Europe.

PubMed

Leong, Elaine; Rankin, Alisha

2017-01-01

This article examines traditions of testing drugs (as substances) and trying cures (on patients) in medieval and early modern Europe. It argues that the history of drug testing needs to be a more central story to overall histories of scientific experiment. The practice of conducting thoughtful-and sometimes contrived-tests on drugs has a rich and varied tradition dating back to antiquity, which expanded in the Middle Ages and early modern period. Learned physicians paired text-based knowledge (reason) with hands-on testing (experience or experiment) in order to make claims about drugs' properties or effects on humans. Lay practitioners similarly used hands-on testing to gain knowledge of pharmaceutical effects. Although drug testing practices expanded in scale, actors, and sites, therpublished a work extolling the virtues of drugs froe was significant continuity from the Middle Ages to the eighteenth century.

The stars and the state: Astronomy, astrology, and the politics of natural knowledge in early medieval Japan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buhrman, Kristina Mairi

This dissertation examines the social factors involved in the practices of observational astrology (Ch. tianwen, Jp. tenmon ) and calendrical astronomy (Ch. lifa, Jp. rekihō) at the Japanese court. The production and monopolization of astrological and astronomical knowledge had, from the time of the Han Dynasty in China, been part of the state bureaucracy and one of the signs of legitimate rule. In the seventh century, Japan too had imported and implemented these state sciences of the Chinese-style imperium. However, by the twelfth century, while state control of astronomical knowledge continued to operate at a surface level, within the Japanese court bureaucracy dissent and debate reigned. A number of lineages and factions cooperated or competed over astronomical and astrological facts, which resulted in a situation where there was no unified "truth" about the stars accepted by the majority of elite members of the court. The political fragmentation and factionalism that characterized the early medieval Japanese state was also to be found in knowledge about the natural world circulating at court. The major reason for this fragmentation of knowledge was the diversity of the population that produced this same knowledge, a population that did not share either a common identity or definition of practice. Astrological and astronomical knowledge was no longer produced solely by the technical bureaucrats whose offices had been established in the eighth-century Chinese-style law codes (Jp. ritsuryō)—instead, these officials contested with other legitimate but non-official purveyors of natural knowledge: Buddhist monks and court scholars and mathematicians prominent among them. Furthermore, the statements of fact produced by all three of these factions were subject to critique and revision by members of the top echelon of the court bureaucracy, the elite nobility. Clearly there were no

Population-Area Relationship for Medieval European Cities

PubMed Central

Lobo, José; Bettencourt, Luís M. A.; Ortman, Scott G.; Smith, Michael E.

2016-01-01

Medieval European urbanization presents a line of continuity between earlier cities and modern European urban systems. Yet, many of the spatial, political and economic features of medieval European cities were particular to the Middle Ages, and subsequently changed over the Early Modern Period and Industrial Revolution. There is a long tradition of demographic studies estimating the population sizes of medieval European cities, and comparative analyses of these data have shed much light on the long-term evolution of urban systems. However, the next step—to systematically relate the population size of these cities to their spatial and socioeconomic characteristics—has seldom been taken. This raises a series of interesting questions, as both modern and ancient cities have been observed to obey area-population relationships predicted by settlement scaling theory. To address these questions, we analyze a new dataset for the settled area and population of 173 European cities from the early fourteenth century to determine the relationship between population and settled area. To interpret this data, we develop two related models that lead to differing predictions regarding the quantitative form of the population-area relationship, depending on the level of social mixing present in these cities. Our empirical estimates of model parameters show a strong densification of cities with city population size, consistent with patterns in contemporary cities. Although social life in medieval Europe was orchestrated by hierarchical institutions (e.g., guilds, church, municipal organizations), our results show no statistically significant influence of these institutions on agglomeration effects. The similarities between the empirical patterns of settlement relating area to population observed here support the hypothesis that cities throughout history share common principles of organization that self-consistently relate their socioeconomic networks to structured urban spaces. PMID

Population-Area Relationship for Medieval European Cities.

PubMed

Cesaretti, Rudolf; Lobo, José; Bettencourt, Luís M A; Ortman, Scott G; Smith, Michael E

2016-01-01

Medieval European urbanization presents a line of continuity between earlier cities and modern European urban systems. Yet, many of the spatial, political and economic features of medieval European cities were particular to the Middle Ages, and subsequently changed over the Early Modern Period and Industrial Revolution. There is a long tradition of demographic studies estimating the population sizes of medieval European cities, and comparative analyses of these data have shed much light on the long-term evolution of urban systems. However, the next step-to systematically relate the population size of these cities to their spatial and socioeconomic characteristics-has seldom been taken. This raises a series of interesting questions, as both modern and ancient cities have been observed to obey area-population relationships predicted by settlement scaling theory. To address these questions, we analyze a new dataset for the settled area and population of 173 European cities from the early fourteenth century to determine the relationship between population and settled area. To interpret this data, we develop two related models that lead to differing predictions regarding the quantitative form of the population-area relationship, depending on the level of social mixing present in these cities. Our empirical estimates of model parameters show a strong densification of cities with city population size, consistent with patterns in contemporary cities. Although social life in medieval Europe was orchestrated by hierarchical institutions (e.g., guilds, church, municipal organizations), our results show no statistically significant influence of these institutions on agglomeration effects. The similarities between the empirical patterns of settlement relating area to population observed here support the hypothesis that cities throughout history share common principles of organization that self-consistently relate their socioeconomic networks to structured urban spaces.

Patterns and prevalence of violence-related skull trauma in medieval London.

PubMed

Krakowka, Kathryn

2017-11-01

This study aims to identify the patterns and prevalence of violence-related skull trauma (including the cranium and mandible) among a large sample of skeletons from medieval London (1050-1550 AD). In total, data from 399 skulls, representing six different sites from across medieval London, were analyzed for evidence of trauma and assessed for the likelihood that it was caused by violence. The sites include the three parish cemeteries of St Nicholas Shambles (GPO75), St Lawrence Jewry (GYE92), and St Benet Sherehog (ONE94); the two monastic houses of London Blackfriars (PIC87) and St Mary Graces (MIN86); and the early inmate cemetery from the medieval hospital of St Mary Spital (NRT85). The overall findings suggest that violence affected all aspects of medieval London society, but how that violence was characterized largely depended on sex and burial location. Specifically, males from the lay cemeteries appear to have been the demographic most affected by violence-related skull injuries, particularly blunt force trauma to the cranial vault. Using both archaeological and historical evidence, the results suggest that violence in medieval London may have been more prevalent than in other parts of medieval England, particularly rural environments, but similar to other parts of medieval Europe. However, more studies focusing on medieval trauma, and violence specifically, need to be carried out to further strengthen these results. In particular, males from the lay cemeteries were disproportionately affected by violence-related trauma, especially blunt force trauma. It perhaps indicates a means of informal conflict resolution as those of lower status did not always have the newly established medieval legal system available to them. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Duration and severity of Medieval drought in the Lake Tahoe Basin

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kleppe, J.A.; Brothers, D.S.; Kent, G.M.; Biondi, F.; Jensen, S.; Driscoll, N.W.

2011-01-01

Droughts in the western U.S. in the past 200 years are small compared to several megadroughts that occurred during Medieval times. We reconstruct duration and magnitude of extreme droughts in the northern Sierra Nevada from hydroclimatic conditions in Fallen Leaf Lake, California. Stands of submerged trees rooted in situ below the lake surface were imaged with sidescan sonar and radiocarbon analysis yields an age estimate of ∼1250 AD. Tree-ring records and submerged paleoshoreline geomorphology suggest a Medieval low-stand of Fallen Leaf Lake lasted more than 220 years. Over eighty more trees were found lying on the lake floor at various elevations above the paleoshoreline. Water-balance calculations suggest annual precipitation was less than 60% normal from late 10th century to early 13th century AD. Hence, the lake’s shoreline dropped 40–60 m below its modern elevation. Stands of pre-Medieval trees in this lake and in Lake Tahoe suggest the region experienced severe drought at least every 650–1150 years during the mid- and late-Holocene. These observations quantify paleo-precipitation and recurrence of prolonged drought in the northern Sierra Nevada.

Representations of Lancet or Phlebotome in Serbian Medieval Art.

PubMed

Pajić, Sanja; Jurišić, Vladimir

2015-01-01

The topic of this study are representations of lancet or phlebotome in frescoes and icons of Serbian medieval art. The very presence of this medical instrument in Serbian medieval art indicates its usage in Serbian medical practices of the time. Phlebotomy is one of the oldest forms of therapy, widely spread in medieval times. It is also mentioned in Serbian medical texts, such as Chilandar Medical CodexNo. 517 and Hodoch code, i.e. translations from Latin texts originating from Salerno-Montpellier school. Lancet or phlebotome is identified based on archaeological finds from the Roman period, while finds from the Middle Ages and especially from Byzantium have been scarce. Analyses of preserved frescoes and icons has shown that, in comparison to other medical instruments, lancet is indeed predominant in Serbian medieval art, and that it makes for over 80% of all the representations, while other instruments have been depicted to a far lesser degree. Examination of written records and art points to the conclusion that Serbian medieval medicine, both in theory and in practice, belonged entirely to European traditions of the period.

Exploring the Middle Ages with the Medieval Map.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parry, Joseph D.

1998-01-01

Illustrates how medieval maps provide a means for studying the Middle Ages by allowing students to explore the ideology and representations of the medieval world conveyed by the maps. Explains that students also can compare the maps with literature from the same time period to further analyze the representations of the culture. (CMK)

Magna Carta: Teaching Medieval Topics for Historical Significance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Metzger, Scott Alan

2010-01-01

The Middle Ages are an immensely important era in the Western experience. Unfortunately, medieval studies are often marginalized or trivialized in school curriculum. With the approach of the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta, the famous charter of rights from medieval England, one has a timely and useful example for considering what a focus on…

Dental enamel defects in German medieval and early-modern-age populations.

PubMed

Lang, J; Birkenbeil, S; Bock, S; Heinrich-Weltzien, R; Kromeyer-Hauschild, K

2016-11-01

Aim of this study was to investigate the frequency and type of developmental defects of enamel (DDE) in a medieval and an early-modern-age population from Thuringia, Germany. Sixty-six skeletons subdivided into 31 single burials (12 th /13 th c.) and 35 individuals buried in groups (15 th /16 th c.) were examined. DDE were classified on 1,246 teeth according to the DDE index. Molar-incisor-hypomineralisation (MIH), a special type of DDE, was recorded according to the European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry (EAPD) criteria. DDE was found in 89.4% of the individuals (single burials 90.3% and group burials 88.6%). Hypoplastic pits were the most frequent defect in primary teeth and linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) in permanent teeth. 13 individuals (24.1%) showed at least one hypomineralised permanent tooth, 12.2% had MIH on at least one first permanent molar and 10.0% in permanent incisors. Second primary molars were affected in 8.0% of the children and juveniles. No individual suffered from affected molars and incisors in combination. Endogenous factors like nutritional deficiencies and health problems in early childhood could have been aetiological reasons of DDE and MIH. The frequency of DDE and MIH might have been masked by extended carious lesions, dental wear and ante-mortem tooth loss.

Abu-Sahl al-Masihi (died circa 1010 AD): The Persian physician in the early medieval era.

PubMed

Taghavi-Shirazi, Maryam; Ghods, Roshanak; Hashem-Dabaghian, Fataneh; Zargaran, Arman

2018-01-01

In the early medieval era, in the time which is called the Islamic Golden Age, medicine flourished through the practice of Persian physicians (9th to 12th century AD). Abu-Sahl al-Masihi (died circa 1010 AD) was one of the physicians in that period who had great influence on the progress of medicine by his own writings as well as his influence on great scholars like Biruni and Avicenna as their teacher. He was a polymath and had many writings in various fields of science, in particular medical sciences. Some of his manuscripts in medicine were Al-Mia fil-Tibb (Book of the Hundred), Kitab al-Teb al-Koli (The General Medicine), Ezhar al-Hekmat Allah Ta'ala fi Khalgh al-Ensan (God's Mystery on the Creation of Man), Resalat al-Adwiya (Treatise of Drugs), Osool Elm Nabz (the Principles of Pulse), and Resala f ī Taḥqiq Amral-Waba' (On the determination of the matter of infectious diseases). As a sign of his impact in Persian medicine, many later physicians (until 19th century) referred to and cited his works in their manuscripts several times.

The Live Chicken Treatment for Buboes: Trying a Plague Cure in Medieval and Early Modern Europe.

PubMed

Heinrichs, Erik A

2017-01-01

This article traces a seven-hundred-year history of one puzzling treatment for plague buboes that used the rumps of chickens to draw out the bubo's poisons. It traces the origin of the recipe to Avicenna's Canon and explores how medieval and early modern physicians altered the treatment and explained its workings up to the early eighteenth century. Much of the analysis focuses on the variants of the recipe that German physicians created as they adapted or elaborated on older recipes. This article argues that most variations of the treatment likely resulted from physicians trying ideas on paper, rather than in practice, as they attempted to unlock the mysteries of the plague's underlying poisons. Starting in the sixteenth century, however, evidence suggests that practice began to play an important role in the adaptation and interpretation of the "live chicken" recipes.

The origins of intensive marine fishing in medieval Europe: the English evidence.

PubMed

Barrett, James H; Locker, Alison M; Roberts, Callum M

2004-12-07

The catastrophic impact of fishing pressure on species such as cod and herring is well documented. However, the antiquity of their intensive exploitation has not been established. Systematic catch statistics are only available for ca.100 years, but large-scale fishing industries existed in medieval Europe and the expansion of cod fishing from the fourteenth century (first in Iceland, then in Newfoundland) played an important role in the European colonization of the Northwest Atlantic. History has demonstrated the scale of these late medieval and post-medieval fisheries, but only archaeology can illuminate earlier practices. Zooarchaeological evidence shows that the clearest changes in marine fishing in England between AD 600 and 1600 occurred rapidly around AD 1000 and involved large increases in catches of herring and cod. Surprisingly, this revolution predated the documented post-medieval expansion of England's sea fisheries and coincided with the Medieval Warm Period--when natural herring and cod productivity was probably low in the North Sea. This counterintuitive discovery can be explained by the concurrent rise of urbanism and human impacts on freshwater ecosystems. The search for 'pristine' baselines regarding marine ecosystems will thus need to employ medieval palaeoecological proxies in addition to recent fisheries data and early modern historical records.

The origins of intensive marine fishing in medieval Europe: the English evidence.

PubMed Central

Barrett, James H.; Locker, Alison M.; Roberts, Callum M.

2004-01-01

The catastrophic impact of fishing pressure on species such as cod and herring is well documented. However, the antiquity of their intensive exploitation has not been established. Systematic catch statistics are only available for ca.100 years, but large-scale fishing industries existed in medieval Europe and the expansion of cod fishing from the fourteenth century (first in Iceland, then in Newfoundland) played an important role in the European colonization of the Northwest Atlantic. History has demonstrated the scale of these late medieval and post-medieval fisheries, but only archaeology can illuminate earlier practices. Zooarchaeological evidence shows that the clearest changes in marine fishing in England between AD 600 and 1600 occurred rapidly around AD 1000 and involved large increases in catches of herring and cod. Surprisingly, this revolution predated the documented post-medieval expansion of England's sea fisheries and coincided with the Medieval Warm Period--when natural herring and cod productivity was probably low in the North Sea. This counterintuitive discovery can be explained by the concurrent rise of urbanism and human impacts on freshwater ecosystems. The search for 'pristine' baselines regarding marine ecosystems will thus need to employ medieval palaeoecological proxies in addition to recent fisheries data and early modern historical records. PMID:15590590

The Mission of the University: Medieval to Postmodern Transformations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scott, John C.

2006-01-01

Mission transformation, multiplicity, and complexity are analyzed. The medieval university emphasizes "teaching." Thereafter, the early modern university adopts "nationalization" (service to the nation-state). The formative U.S. college advances "democratization." Simultaneously, the German university promotes research. The modern American…

[Cotyla quid? On the early history of late medieval medical volume calculations].

PubMed

Bergmann, Axel

2005-01-01

As can be made evident chiefly by their comparative numerical examination, the Egyptian pyramids (the step pyramids being excluded for the present purpose) have been, from the beginning up to the Egyptian fashion in early Imperial Rome, designed and built with the additional intention of physically manifesting a volume of pi x 10k x (average value) 0.96824 cm3, where k is either a positive integer or zero, and where pi is a short product, following very restrictive formation rules which to some extent are traceable in the papyrus Rhind, of prime numbers. Conceptually (but not really as to the Hin at least) this establishes the capacity units 1 [2]Heqat = 9682.4 cm3 and 1 Hin = 484.12 cm3 already for the Old Kingdom. It is shown further that the Attic Medimnos as introduced in the course of finishing Solon's reforms is identical with the Egyptian volume system's standard unification: pisigma = 2 x 3 x 5 x 7 x 11 x 23, and k = 0, so that 1 Medimnos = about 51443 cm3. Accordingly and by means of some adjacent considerations a Kotyle / Cotyla of 269 cm3 +/- 1 cm3 is established for the Hellenistic, early Arabic, and Medieval Latin medicine.

THE ORIGIN OF THE CONCEPT OF NEUROPATHIC PAIN IN EARLY MEDIEVAL PERSIA (9TH-12TH CENTURY CE).

PubMed

Heydari, Mojtaba; Shams, Mesbah; Hashempur, Mohammad Hashem; Zargaran, Arman; Dalfardi, Behnam; Borhani-Haghighi, Afshin

2015-01-01

Neuropathic pain is supposed to be a post-renaissance described medical entity. Although it is often believed that John Fothergill (1712-1780) provided the first description of this condition in 1773, a review of the medieval Persian medical writings will show the fact that neuropathic pain was a medieval-originated concept. "Auojae Asab" [Nerve-originated Pain] was used as a medical term in medieval Persian medical literature for pain syndromes which etiologically originated from nerves. Physicians like Rhazes (d. 925 CE), Haly Abbas (d. 982 CE), Avicenna (d. 1037 CE), and Jorjani (d. 1137 CE) have discussed multiple aspects of nerve-originated pain including its classification, etiology, differentiating characteristics, different qualities, and pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatments. Recognizing medieval scholars' views on nerve-originated pain can lighten old historical origins of this concept.

Early Medieval Muslim Graves in France: First Archaeological, Anthropological and Palaeogenomic Evidence

PubMed Central

Pemonge, Marie-Hélène; Hubert, Christophe; Groppi, Alexis; Houix, Bertrand; Deguilloux, Marie-France; Breuil, Jean-Yves

2016-01-01

The rapid Arab-Islamic conquest during the early Middle Ages led to major political and cultural changes in the Mediterranean world. Although the early medieval Muslim presence in the Iberian Peninsula is now well documented, based in the evaluation of archeological and historical sources, the Muslim expansion in the area north of the Pyrenees has only been documented so far through textual sources or rare archaeological data. Our study provides the first archaeo-anthropological testimony of the Muslim establishment in South of France through the multidisciplinary analysis of three graves excavated at Nimes. First, we argue in favor of burials that followed Islamic rites and then note the presence of a community practicing Muslim traditions in Nimes. Second, the radiometric dates obtained from all three human skeletons (between the 7th and the 9th centuries AD) echo historical sources documenting an early Muslim presence in southern Gaul (i.e., the first half of 8th century AD). Finally, palaeogenomic analyses conducted on the human remains provide arguments in favor of a North African ancestry of the three individuals, at least considering the paternal lineages. Given all of these data, we propose that the skeletons from the Nimes burials belonged to Berbers integrated into the Umayyad army during the Arab expansion in North Africa. Our discovery not only discusses the first anthropological and genetic data concerning the Muslim occupation of the Visigothic territory of Septimania but also highlights the complexity of the relationship between the two communities during this period. PMID:26910855

Early medieval stone-lined graves in Southern Germany: analysis of an emerging noble class.

PubMed

Rott, Andreas; Turner, Nils; Scholz, Ulrike; von Heyking, Kristin; Immler, Franziska; Peters, Joris; Haberstroh, Jochen; Harbeck, Michaela

2017-04-01

Stone-lined graves, which first appear in Bavarian territory during the 7 th century AD, are assumed to be tombs of emerging nobility. While previous research on stone-lined grave goods supports their status as elite burials, an important factor defining nobility-kinship-has not been examined so far. Morphological analysis of the commingled skeletal remains of 21 individuals from three archaeological sites was carried out. Radiocarbon dating was conducted on these individuals to gain information on usage intervals of these graves. To test whether stone-lined graves can be considered family graves, analyses of mitochondrial HVR I, Y-chromosomal and autosomal STRs were carried out. Morphological examination revealed a surplus of males buried in stone-lined graves and radiocarbon dating points to usage of the tombs for several generations. According to aDNA analysis, kinship can be assumed both between and within stone-lined graves. Taken together, these results hint at burials of family members with high social status being inhumed at the same site, in some cases even the same grave, for several generations. They also suggest, for the first time, that an early medieval linear cemetery was structured according to biological kinship. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

DEVELOPMENT OF RASASASTRA IN MEDIEVAL PERIOD*

PubMed Central

Sharma, Harishankar

1985-01-01

The paper deals with the historical development of Rasasastra in Medieval period. Knowledge of Rasa has been in existence from the time immemorial. Exploration of natural resources for the benefit of human beings is the object of this therapy. It is a medical science recognized during vedic periods for the betterment of even Devas. Medieval period can be treated as a golden age for the development of this science. Looking at its aim and objects, methodology and therapeutics, it was recognized as a medical science with an independent philosophical background in 14th century, by Madhavacharya in his Sarva Darsana Samgraha. PMID:22557472

Flank eruptions of Mt Etna during the Greek-Roman and Early Medieval periods: New data from 226Ra-230Th dating and archaeomagnetism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Branca, Stefano; Condomines, Michel; Tanguy, Jean-Claude

2015-10-01

In this paper, we present new data from 226Ra-230Th dating and archaeomagnetism with the aim of improving the knowledge of the flank eruptions that occurred at Mt Etna during the Greek-Roman and Early Medieval periods, as defined in the new geological map of the volcano. The combination of the two dating techniques demonstrates that three major flank eruptions occurred on the lower north and west flanks during Greek-Roman epochs, producing large scoria cones and extensive lava flows. In particular, the Mt Ruvolo and Mt Minardo events highly impacted the territory of the west flank, notably by damming the Simeto River. The new data of the Millicucco and Due Monti lava flows, on the lower north-east flank, indicate a younger age than their stratigraphic ages quoted in the 2011 geological map, since they occurred around 700 and 500 AD, respectively. None of the large flank eruptions occurring on the lower slopes of Etna during the Early Medieval age are reported in the historical sources. Overall, our paper shows that a comprehensive assessment of eruptions at Mount Etna in the last three millennia can only be achieved through a multidisciplinary approach.

The Pleasure of Discovery: Medieval Literature in Adolescent Novels Set in the Middle Ages.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barnhouse, Rebecca

1999-01-01

Discusses three recent novels for young adults set in medieval times, illustrating several ways that modern writers incorporate medieval material into fiction. Argues that pairing such novels with medieval texts such as "Beowulf" and "The Canterbury Tales" offers opportunities to explore traditional literary topics while providing a gateway into…

Medieval monsters, in theory and practice.

PubMed

2014-01-01

The past two decades have witnessed a plethora of studies on the medieval monster. These studies have contributed significantly to our understanding of religion, art, literature, and science in the Middle Ages. However, a tendency to treat the medieval monster in purely symbolic and psychological terms ignores the lived experiences of impaired medieval people and their culture's attitudes toward them. With the aid of recent insights provided by disability studies, this article aims to confront "real" medieval monsters--e.g., physically impaired human beings--in both their human and monstrous aspects.

Midwestern Medieval Illuminations Archives.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Purdue Univ., Lafayette, IN. Audio-Visual Center.

This catalog lists the slides of medieval manuscript illuminations available at the Midwestern Medieval Illuminations Archives at the Purdue University Audio-Visual Center. Instructions are provided for ordering slides from the Center. Slide sets are listed by title, with citations including catalog number, rental price, producer/vendor code,…

Cervical spine surgery in the ancient and medieval worlds.

PubMed

Goodrich, James Tait

2007-01-01

The early historical literature on cervical spine surgery lacks printed material for review, and we can rely only on pathological material from the prehistoric period that has survived as a result of anthropological investigations. After the introduction of Egyptian and early Hellenic medicine, some written material became available. This paper reviews these materials, from both books and manuscripts, in an effort to understand the development of cervical spine surgery from the perspectives of the personalities involved and the early surgical practices used. The review thus considers the following five eras of medicine: 1) prehistoric; 2) Egyptian and Babylonian; 3) Greek and early Byzantine; 4) Middle Eastern; and 5) medieval.

Temporal Trends in Vertebral Size and Shape from Medieval to Modern-Day

PubMed Central

Junno, Juho-Antti; Niskanen, Markku; Nieminen, Miika T.; Maijanen, Heli; Niinimäki, Jaakko; Bloigu, Risto; Tuukkanen, Juha

2009-01-01

Human lumbar vertebrae support the weight of the upper body. Loads lifted and carried by the upper extremities cause significant loading stress to the vertebral bodies. It is well established that trauma-induced vertebral fractures are common especially among elderly people. The aim of this study was to investigate the morphological factors that could have affected the prevalence of trauma-related vertebral fractures from medieval times to the present day. To determine if morphological differences existed in the size and shape of the vertebral body between medieval times and the present day, the vertebral body size and shape was measured from the 4th lumbar vertebra using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and standard osteometric calipers. The modern samples consisted of modern Finns and the medieval samples were from archaeological collections in Sweden and Britain. The results show that the shape and size of the 4th lumbar vertebra has changed significantly from medieval times in a way that markedly affects the biomechanical characteristics of the lumbar vertebral column. These changes may have influenced the incidence of trauma- induced spinal fractures in modern populations. PMID:19279681

Technical Standards and Medieval Manuscripts.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hollas, Eric

Even though medieval manuscripts represent the most voluminous surviving artifact from the Middle Ages, the very nature of this resource presents challenges for usage. In an effort to preserve medieval manuscripts and to create broader and more economical access to their contents, many libraries have in recent decades sought to provide filmed…

Dental occlusion analysis in the Mesolithic-Neolithic Age, Bronze Age, and Roman to Medieval times in Serbia: Tooth size comparison in skeletal samples.

PubMed

Pajević, Tina; Glišić, Branislav

2017-05-01

Anthropological studies have reported that tooth size decreases in the context of diet changes. Some investigations have found a reverse trend in tooth size from the prehistoric to the modern times. The aims of this study were to analyze tooth size in skeletal samples from Mesolithic-Neolithic Age, Bronze Age, and Roman to Medieval times to determine sex differences and establish a temporal trend in tooth size in the aforementioned periods. Well-preserved permanent teeth were included in the investigation. The mesiodistal (MD) diameter of all teeth and buccolingual (BL) diameter of the molars were measured. Effects of sex and site were tested by one-way ANOVA, and the combined effect of these factors was analyzed by UNIANOVA. Sexual dimorphism was present in the BL diameters of all molars and MD diameters of the upper first and the lower third molar. The lower canine was the most dimorphic tooth in the anterior region. The MD diameter of most teeth showed no significant difference between the groups, (sample from: Mesolithic-Neolithic Age-group 1; Bronze Age-group 2; Roman times-group 3; Medieval times-group 4), whereas the BL diameters of the upper second and the lower first molar were the largest in the first group. Multiple comparisons revealed a decrease in the BL diameter of the upper second and the lower first molar from the first to the later groups. Lower canine MD diameter exhibited an increase in the fourth group compared to the second group. On the basis of the MD diameter, a temporal trend could not be observed for most of the teeth. The lower canine exhibited an increase in the MD diameter from the prehistoric to the Medieval times. Changes of BL diameter were more homogeneous, suggesting that the temporal trend of molar size decreased from the Mesolithic-Neolithic to Medieval times in Serbia. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Systematic analysis of animals used in medieval Azerbaijan medicine.

PubMed

Alakbarli, Farid

2006-06-01

In order to study the special composition of animals used in the medieval medicine of Azerbaijan, a wide range of medieval sources on medicine and pharmacognosy from the collection of the Institute of Manuscripts of the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences in Baku has been studied. About 40 medieval sources from the 10-18th centuries including 17 manuscripts in Turkic, Persian and Arabic have been selected as the objects of this study. As a result, 150 species of animals described in medieval Azerbaijani books on medicine and pharmacy have been identified. Many of the identified animals are mammals, (47 species or 31% of total number of identified species). The medieval authors describe 12 species of reptiles and 4 species of Amphibians (frogs, toads, salamanders and tree-frogs (Hyla arborea). 15 species of fishes described in medieval manuscripts have been identified. The identified molluscs are cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis), mussel (Mytilus edulis), octopus (Octopus vulgaris) and snail (Helix pomatia). Most crustaceans used in medieval Azerbaijan medicine belong to Decopoda. Medieval manuscripts contain numerous names of various worms and insects (ants, flies, beetles, etc.), however their exact identification is rather difficult. As usual, medieval authors unite a number of species under one name and do not give sufficient information about their morphology. Results of the research create grounds for the idea that the recommendations of the medieval authors on the medicinal application of animals can be applied to modern medicine once they have been experimentally and clinically tested.

Socio-cultural factors in dental diseases in the Medieval and early Modern Age of northern Spain.

PubMed

Lopez, Belen; Pardiñas, Antonio F; Garcia-Vazquez, Eva; Dopico, Eduardo

2012-02-01

The aim of this study is to present, discuss and compare the results of pathological conditions in teeth from skeletal remains found in the northern part of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain) in four Medieval cemeteries (late 15th century) and three cemeteries from the Modern Age (late 18th century). The final objective was to evaluate the impact of socioeconomic and cultural changes that took place during the early Modern Age in Spain, on oral health. Dental caries and antemortem tooth loss were considered as indicators of dental disease. A significant increase of both dental caries and antemortem tooth loss occurred in Modern Age individuals when compared to Medieval values, as reported for other regions. Increased trade with other continents may explain this deterioration of dental health, as food exchanges (mainly with America) contributed to diet changes for the overall population, including higher carbohydrate consumption (introduction of potatoes) at the expense of other vegetables. A sex-specific increase of dental disease with age, and a significantly higher prevalence of carious lesions in Modern Age females than in males, were also found. These changes can be explained by women having had limited access to dental care after the Middle-Modern Age transition, as a consequence of socio-cultural and political changes. In these changes, an increasing influence of the Catholic Church in Spanish society has to be noted, as it can contribute to the explanation of the unequal dental health of men and women. Women were socially excluded from dental care by regulations inspired by religious precepts. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

[Theory and practice in medieval surgery].

PubMed

Riha, Ortrun

2006-01-01

(To what extent) are medieval surgical texts realistic? Were they written as guidelines for everyday work, or are they documents of scientific education? Both is true, as the example of the famous Red Powder shows: all ingredients are based on medical theory, and we can be rather sure that most medieval surgeons knew the recipe. Nevertheless, we have great difficulties in comparing medieval and contemporary "experience". Neither can we identify the drugs (e. g. castoreum), nor the diseases they were used for (at least not for certain), nor do we know what was regarded as improvement or success. Instead, we may reconstruct some medieval patterns of interpretation and perception in the field of medicine. Thus, this article may be read as a contribution to the current discussion in the history of mentalities and in cultural studies.

"Fossils" of practical medical knowledge from medieval Cairo.

PubMed

Lev, Efraim; Amar, Zohar

2008-09-02

To asses the scientific value of the practical medical fragments found in the Cairo Genizah (10th century), as a useful source for ethnopharmacological purposes (in exposing rare and usually inaccessible original medieval practical knowledge of medicinal substances to present-day researchers), and to reconstruct the practical drugs and their uses. A methodology distinguishing between theoretical (about 1500 fragments) and practical medical knowledge (about 230 fragments) was created and used. The information regarding the practical medicinal substances was extracted from prescriptions (140), lists of drugs (70) and few letters of physicians. The reconstructed lists of practical (278) and theoretical (414) drugs allow us to recognize and quantify the gap between them in medieval times (136). We propose that the data obtained from ancient prescriptions is comparable to ethnopharmacological surveys. The finding of plants such as myrobalan, saffron, licorice, spikenard and lentisk, all of which have scientifically proven anti-microbial/bacterial and anti-fungal activity, sheds a helpful light on the medical decision-making of the medieval practitioners in respect of the plants they applied as drugs. With the wealth of information meticulously assembled from these time capsules we expect to make a significant contribution to contemporary efforts at locating modern drugs in ancient roots and gauging their feasibility.

Sex differentials in frailty in medieval England.

PubMed

DeWitte, Sharon N

2010-10-01

In most modern populations, there are sex differentials in morbidity and mortality that favor women. This study addresses whether such female advantages existed to any appreciable degree in medieval Europe. The analyses presented here examine whether men and women with osteological stress markers faced the same risks of death in medieval London. The sample used for this study comes from the East Smithfield Black Death cemetery in London. The benefit of using this cemetery is that most, if not all, individuals interred in East Smithfield died from the same cause within a very short period of time. This allows for the analysis of the differences between men and women in the risks of mortality associated with osteological stress markers without the potential confounding effects of different causes of death. A sample of 299 adults (173 males, 126 females) from the East Smithfield cemetery was analyzed. The results indicate that the excess mortality associated with several osteological stress markers was higher for men than for women. This suggests that in this medieval population, previous physiological stress increased the risk of death for men during the Black Death to a greater extent than was true for women. Alternatively, the results might indicate that the Black Death discriminated less strongly between women with and without pre-existing health conditions than was true for men. These results are examined in light of previous analyses of East Smithfield and what is known about diet and sexually mediated access to resources in medieval England. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Medieval Romances: "Perceval" to "Monty Python."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jehle, Dorothy M.

A selection of romances from medieval literature can be used successfully in undergraduate literature classes to trace the appearance and relevance of medieval themes, motifs, and characters in works of modern poetry, fiction, and film. New scholarly editions, historiographies, translations, and modernizations give both teachers and students more…

Two medieval doctors: Gilbertus Anglicus (c1180-c1250) and John of Gaddesden (1280-1361).

PubMed

Pearn, John

2013-02-01

Biographies of medieval English doctors are uncommon and fragmentary. The two best-known English medieval physicians were Gilbertus Anglicus and John of Gaddesden. This paper brings together the known details of their lives, compiled from extant biographies and from internal references in their texts. The primary records of their writings exist in handwritten texts and thereafter in incunabula from the time of the invention of printing in 1476. The record of the lives of these two medieval physicians can be expanded, as here, by the general perspective of the life and times in which they lived. Gilbertus Anglicus, an often-quoted physician-teacher at Montpellier, wrote a seven-folio Compendium medicinae in 1271. He described pioneering procedures used later in the emergent disciplines of anaesthetics, cosmetic medicine and travel medicine. Gilbertus' texts, used extensively in European medical schools, passed in handwritten copies from student to student and eventually were printed in 1510. John of Gaddesden, an Oxford graduate in Arts, Medicine and Theology, wrote Rosa Anglica, published circa 1314. Its detailed text is an exemplar of the mixture of received Hippocratic and Galenic lore compounded by medieval astronomy and religious injunction, which mixture was the essence of medieval medicine. The writings of both these medieval English physicians formed part of the core curriculum that underpinned the practice of medicine for the next 400 years.

[Neurology in medieval regimina sanitatis].

PubMed

de Frutos González, V; Guerrero Peral, A L

2011-09-01

In medical medieval literature some works about dietetics stand out. Dietetics, as a separate branch of medicine, includes not only food or drinks, but other environmental factors influencing on health. They are known as regimina sanitatis or salutis, and specially developed in the Christian west. They generally consisted of a balance between the Galenic "six non-natural things"; factors regulating health and its protection: environment, exercise, food, sleep, bowel movements and emotions. After reviewing the sources and defining the different stages of this genre, we have considered three of the most out-standing medieval regimina, the anonymous Regimen sanitatis salernitanum, Arnaldo de Vilanova's Regimen sanitatis ad regem aragonum and Bernardo de Gordon's Tractatus of conservatione vite humane. In them we review references to neurological disease. Though not independently considered, there is a significant presence of neurological diseases in the regimina. Dietetics measures are proposed to preserve memory, nerves, or hearing, as well as for the treatment of migraine, epilepsy, stroke or dizziness. Regimina are quiet representative among medical medieval literature, and they show medieval physicians vision of neurological diseases. Dietetics was considered useful to preserve health, and therapeutics was based on natural remedies. 2010 Sociedad Española de Neurología. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Late Holocene lowland fluvial archives and geoarchaeology: Utrecht's case study of Rhine river abandonment under Roman and Medieval settlement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Dinter, Marieke; Cohen, Kim M.; Hoek, Wim Z.; Stouthamer, Esther; Jansma, Esther; Middelkoop, Hans

2017-06-01

Fluvial lowlands have become attractive human settling areas all around the world over the last few millennia. Because rivers kept changing their course and networks due to avulsion, the sedimentary sequences in these areas are archives of both fluvial geomorphological and archaeological development. We integrated geological and archaeological datasets to demonstrate the concurrence of the gradual abandonment of a major Rhine channel (Utrecht, The Netherlands), the development of human habitation in the area, and the interactions between them. The Utrecht case study highlights the stage-wise abandonment of a natural river channel, due to avulsion, coincident with intensifying human occupation in Roman and Early Medieval times (1st millennium AD). The analyses make maximum use of very rich data sets available for the study area and the tight age control that the geo-archaeological dataset facilitates, offering extra means of time-control to document the pacing of the abandonment process. This allows us to quantify change in river dimensions and meander style and to provide discharge estimates for successive stages of the abandonment phase over a 1000-year period of abandonment succession, from mature river to eventual Late Medieval overbuilt canal when the Rhine branch had lost even more discharge. Continued geomorphic development during this period - which includes the 'Dark Ages' (450-1000 AD) - appears to have been crucial in the development of Utrecht from Roman army fortress to Medieval ecclesial centre. The settlement dynamics in and around the city of Utrecht changed during the various phases of abandonment. In the bifurcating network of river branches forming the Rhine-Meuse delta, the main Rhine branch hosted the Roman limes military border and transport route. The Rhine- Vecht bifurcation at Utrecht provided an excellent location to raise a Roman fort. Continued geomorphic activity during abandonment in Early Medieval times was characterised by enhanced

Akhawayni (?-983 AD): A Persian neuropsychiatrist in the early medieval era (9th-12th Century AD).

PubMed

Zargaran, Arman; Kordafshari, Gholamreza; Hosseini, Seyyed Rouhollah; Mehdizadeh, Alireza

2016-05-01

The early medieval era is also called the Islamic Golden Age because of the significant rise in sciences, including medicine. Abū Bakr Rabi' ibn Ahmad Akhawayni Bukhāri (better known as Akhawayni) was one of the notable medical practitioners in his lifetime. His fame was in neuroscience and he became known as Pezeshk-e-Divanegan (Physician to the Insane). His only surviving book, Hidāyat al-Muta'allimin fi al-Tibb (The Students' Handbook of Medicine), is the first medical textbook in Persian, after Islam. Akhawayni gathered and categorized available knowledge on neuropsychiatry and added his own. He was the first to describe sleep paralysis and to suggest pragmatic rather than supernatural treatment. He was also the first to present fever cure and his descriptions of meningitis (Lisarghos in Hidāyat), mania, psychosis (Malikhulia), dementia (Ghotrab), etc., are close to current concepts. © IMechE 2014.

Ocular anatomy in medieval arabic medicine. A review.

PubMed

Laios, Konstantinos; Moschos, Marilita M; George, Androutsos

2016-01-01

In medieval Arabic medicine Ophthalmology had a central role. Ocular anatomy was described in many ophthalmological treatises of the physicians of the time. These physicians followed the doctrines of Galen according ocular anatomy, nevertheless their contribution to the history of ocular anatomy was the presentation of ocular anatomical sketches in their manuscripts for the fist time in medical history.

Fracture trauma in a medieval British farming village.

PubMed

Judd, M A; Roberts, C A

1999-06-01

Farming is among the three most hazardous occupations in modern society and perhaps also held a similar position during the medieval period. The goal of this study was to determine if there is a significant difference in frequencies and patterns of longbone fracture trauma observed between rural and urban activity bases that distinguish farming as a particularly dangerous occupation during the medieval period. The longbones of 170 individuals excavated from Raunds, a rural medieval British site (10th-12th centuries AD) were examined for fractures and compared to data collected from four contemporary British medieval sites, one rural and three urban. The fracture frequency for the Raunds individuals (19.4%) was significantly different from the urban sites (4.7-5.5%). Female fractures were characterized by injury to the forearm, while the males were predisposed to diverse fracture locations. Clinical research provided a source of documented farm-related trauma from North America and Europe where the crops and animals raised, the manual chores performed, and the equipment used in traditional or small-scale farms have changed little in form or function since the medieval period. Nonmechanized causes of injury contribute to approximately 40% of all modern farm-related injuries and are attributed to falls from lofts and ladders, animal assaults and bites, and falls from moving vehicles. These hazardous situations were also present in the medieval period and may explain some of the fracture trauma from the rural sites. A high fracture frequency for both medieval males and females is significantly associated with farming subsistence when compared to craft-orientated urban dwellers.

"Quid dant artes nisi luctum?": Learning, Ambition, and Careers in the Medieval University.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ferruolo, Stephen C.

1988-01-01

Focusing on the medieval university during its formative years (late 1100s and early 1200s), the author addresses questions such as "How did the ambitions of students and masters influence the organization and curriculum of these new institutions?" Concludes that society was served by these universities despite the indication that the…

Further Evidence for Medieval Faulting along the Puerto Rico Trench

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Atwater, B. F.; Ten Brink, U. S.; Fuentes, Z.; Halley, R. B.; Spiske, M.; Tuttle, M. P.; Wei, Y.

2013-12-01

Has the Antilles Subduction Zone produced thrust or outer-rise earthquakes east of Hispaniola? An affirmative answer is suggested by tiered evidence for overwash 120 km south of the Puerto Rico Trench. The evidence comes from Anegada, British Virgin Islands, 200 km east-northeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico. PREVIOUS FINDINGS* suggested that a medieval overwash event had greater geologic effects at Anegada than did a Lisbon(?) event, and that both events outrank recent storms. The medieval overwash, in AD 1200-1450, dislodged brain corals from a reef, moved them as much as 500 m across a shallow subtidal flat, and scattered them as solitary boulders as much as 1000 m inland. Gentler overwash in 1650-1800, called Lisbon(?) because it may represent the 1755 tsunami, laid down a sheet of sand and island-derived shells as much as 1500 m from the north shore. A recent hurricane of category 4 left no durable geologic record other than sandy fans within 40 m of the south shore. NEW FINDINGS reinforce the ranking medieval > Lisbon(?) > storm: (1) The medieval event washed ashore marine shells that the Lisbon(?) event did not. An articulated marine bivalve (Codakia orbicularis), probably deposited live, is part of an overwash fan 400 m inland from Windlass Bight. The shell dates to the same time window as the medieval coral boulders. Additional articulated Codakia shells and a conch shell adjoin the buried base of one of these coral boulders 1500 m south of the fringing reef from which the coral was probably derived. (2) Lisbon(?) overwash used breaches that the medieval event had cut through beach ridges of the north shore. The re-use is marked by sand: on the muddy floor of a partly filled breach, on an organic soil in another such breach, and on a pre-existing fan south of an area of beach-ridge dissection. The buried organic soil, inset into a old breach, is 500 m inland from an area, near Cow Wreck High Point, where young beach ridges may have been breached for the first

MEDIEVAL STUDIES.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

MARTONFFY, ANDREA PONTECORVO; AND OTHERS

A CURRICULUM GUIDE ON MEDIEVAL STUDIES IS PRESENTED, INCLUDING TEACHER MATERIALS AND STUDENT PROBLEM SETS. THE TEACHER MATERIALS DESCRIBE AND EXPLAIN THE ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, AND POLITICAL ASPECTS OF MANORIAL LIFE--THE PREDOMINANT FORM OF AGRICULTURAL LIFE IN NORTHERN FRANCE, ENGLAND, AND GERMANY DURING THE PERIOD FROM APPROXIMATELY 800 TO 1300 A.D.…

"Pur sarripu pursa trutin": monster-fighting and medicine in early medieval Scandinavia.

PubMed

Hall, Alaric

2009-01-01

This paper seeks evidence among our extensive Scandinavian mythological texts for an area which they seldom discuss explicitly: the conceptualisation and handling of illness and healing. Its core evidence is two runic texts (the Canterbury Rune-Charm and the Sigtuna Amulet) which conceptualise illness as a "purs" ("ogre, monster"). The article discusses the semantics of "purs," arguing that illness and supernatural beings could be conceptualised as identical in medieval Scandinavia. This provides a basis for arguing that myths in which gods and heroes fight monsters provided a paradigm for the struggle with illness.

Medieval Theatre: It's More Fun than It Looks.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fitzhugh, Mike

1996-01-01

Explores production ideas for plays other than works by Shakespeare, including medieval plays such as the "Wakefield Noah" by the Wakefield Master. Lists some questions to consider when deciding to perform a medieval play. (PA)

Melancholia in medieval Persian literature: The view of Hidayat of Al-Akhawayni

PubMed Central

Dalfardi, Behnam; Yarmohammadi, Hassan; Ghanizadeh, Ahmad

2014-01-01

“Melancholia” seems to be the oldest term used to describe the manifestations of depression. Throughout the history of medicine, melancholia has been the focus of consideration of many scholars who have provided varying definitions of this disorder and its manifestations. This continual process has resulted in the gradual development of the concept of melancholia over time. Persian scholars were among the scientists who have studied the melancholia and contributed to its concept. One figure, Al-Akhawayni Bukhari (?-983 AD), a Persian physician whose reputation was based on the treatment of patients with mental problems, investigated this disorder. He described Melancholia and explained its clinical manifestations and treatment methods. Al-Akhawayni provided an early classification of the patients suffering from this disorder. Since the medieval Persian concept of melancholia is not well-known, this paper aims to review Al-Akhawayni’s 10th century knowledge on melancholia which can represent the early concept of this disorder in the Near East. PMID:25019055

Melancholia in medieval Persian literature: The view of Hidayat of Al-Akhawayni.

PubMed

Dalfardi, Behnam; Yarmohammadi, Hassan; Ghanizadeh, Ahmad

2014-06-22

"Melancholia" seems to be the oldest term used to describe the manifestations of depression. Throughout the history of medicine, melancholia has been the focus of consideration of many scholars who have provided varying definitions of this disorder and its manifestations. This continual process has resulted in the gradual development of the concept of melancholia over time. Persian scholars were among the scientists who have studied the melancholia and contributed to its concept. One figure, Al-Akhawayni Bukhari (?-983 AD), a Persian physician whose reputation was based on the treatment of patients with mental problems, investigated this disorder. He described Melancholia and explained its clinical manifestations and treatment methods. Al-Akhawayni provided an early classification of the patients suffering from this disorder. Since the medieval Persian concept of melancholia is not well-known, this paper aims to review Al-Akhawayni's 10(th) century knowledge on melancholia which can represent the early concept of this disorder in the Near East.

Stressing out in medieval Denmark: An investigation of dental enamel defects and age at death in two medieval Danish cemeteries.

PubMed

Gamble, Julia A; Boldsen, Jesper L; Hoppa, Robert D

2017-06-01

The influence of early life stress on later life experiences has become a major focus of research in medicine and more recently in bioarchaeology. Dental enamel, which preserves a record of childhood stress events, represents an important resource for this investigation when paired with the information from adult skeletal remains, such as age at death. The purpose of this research was to use a life history approach to the exploration of sex differences in the relationship between childhood stress and adult longevity by examining accentuated striae of Retzius (AS). A medieval Danish sample (n=70) drawn from the rural cemetery of Sejet and the urban cemetery of Ole Wormsgade was considered for AS and age at death. The results suggest sex differences in survivorship, with more stress being associated with reduced survivorship in males and increased survivorship in females. A consideration of AS formation time also suggests a difference in the impact of developmental timing between males and females. These results are interpreted in terms of differential frailty and selective mortality, drawing in both biomedical and cultural perspectives. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Education and Learning in the Early Middle Ages: New Perspectives and Old Problems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Contreni, John J.

1989-01-01

Discusses various scholarly views of education and learning in the early middle ages and identifies some problems confronting scholars investigating this period. Points out new perspectives relative to the role of education during this time. Asserts that future study of early medieval education will benefit from focusing on the minds of masters…

Population genomic analysis of elongated skulls reveals extensive female-biased immigration in Early Medieval Bavaria

PubMed Central

Veeramah, Krishna R.; Rott, Andreas; Groß, Melanie; López, Saioa; Kirsanow, Karola; Sell, Christian; Blöcher, Jens; Link, Vivian; Hofmanová, Zuzana; Peters, Joris; Trautmann, Bernd; Gairhos, Anja; Haberstroh, Jochen; Päffgen, Bernd; Hellenthal, Garrett; Haas-Gebhard, Brigitte; Harbeck, Michaela; Burger, Joachim

2018-01-01

Modern European genetic structure demonstrates strong correlations with geography, while genetic analysis of prehistoric humans has indicated at least two major waves of immigration from outside the continent during periods of cultural change. However, population-level genome data that could shed light on the demographic processes occurring during the intervening periods have been absent. Therefore, we generated genomic data from 41 individuals dating mostly to the late 5th/early 6th century AD from present-day Bavaria in southern Germany, including 11 whole genomes (mean depth 5.56×). In addition we developed a capture array to sequence neutral regions spanning a total of 5 Mb and 486 functional polymorphic sites to high depth (mean 72×) in all individuals. Our data indicate that while men generally had ancestry that closely resembles modern northern and central Europeans, women exhibit a very high genetic heterogeneity; this includes signals of genetic ancestry ranging from western Europe to East Asia. Particularly striking are women with artificial skull deformations; the analysis of their collective genetic ancestry suggests an origin in southeastern Europe. In addition, functional variants indicate that they also differed in visible characteristics. This example of female-biased migration indicates that complex demographic processes during the Early Medieval period may have contributed in an unexpected way to shape the modern European genetic landscape. Examination of the panel of functional loci also revealed that many alleles associated with recent positive selection were already at modern-like frequencies in European populations ∼1,500 years ago. PMID:29531040

Limitations imposed by wearing armour on Medieval soldiers' locomotor performance.

PubMed

Askew, Graham N; Formenti, Federico; Minetti, Alberto E

2012-02-22

In Medieval Europe, soldiers wore steel plate armour for protection during warfare. Armour design reflected a trade-off between protection and mobility it offered the wearer. By the fifteenth century, a typical suit of field armour weighed between 30 and 50 kg and was distributed over the entire body. How much wearing armour affected Medieval soldiers' locomotor energetics and biomechanics is unknown. We investigated the mechanics and the energetic cost of locomotion in armour, and determined the effects on physical performance. We found that the net cost of locomotion (C(met)) during armoured walking and running is much more energetically expensive than unloaded locomotion. C(met) for locomotion in armour was 2.1-2.3 times higher for walking, and 1.9 times higher for running when compared with C(met) for unloaded locomotion at the same speed. An important component of the increased energy use results from the extra force that must be generated to support the additional mass. However, the energetic cost of locomotion in armour was also much higher than equivalent trunk loading. This additional cost is mostly explained by the increased energy required to swing the limbs and impaired breathing. Our findings can predict age-associated decline in Medieval soldiers' physical performance, and have potential implications in understanding the outcomes of past European military battles.

Limitations imposed by wearing armour on Medieval soldiers' locomotor performance

PubMed Central

Askew, Graham N.; Formenti, Federico; Minetti, Alberto E.

2012-01-01

In Medieval Europe, soldiers wore steel plate armour for protection during warfare. Armour design reflected a trade-off between protection and mobility it offered the wearer. By the fifteenth century, a typical suit of field armour weighed between 30 and 50 kg and was distributed over the entire body. How much wearing armour affected Medieval soldiers' locomotor energetics and biomechanics is unknown. We investigated the mechanics and the energetic cost of locomotion in armour, and determined the effects on physical performance. We found that the net cost of locomotion (Cmet) during armoured walking and running is much more energetically expensive than unloaded locomotion. Cmet for locomotion in armour was 2.1–2.3 times higher for walking, and 1.9 times higher for running when compared with Cmet for unloaded locomotion at the same speed. An important component of the increased energy use results from the extra force that must be generated to support the additional mass. However, the energetic cost of locomotion in armour was also much higher than equivalent trunk loading. This additional cost is mostly explained by the increased energy required to swing the limbs and impaired breathing. Our findings can predict age-associated decline in Medieval soldiers' physical performance, and have potential implications in understanding the outcomes of past European military battles. PMID:21775328

Renewing Audience Response in Study of Medieval Literature.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harrington, David V.

Although modern readers often find the interpretation of medieval literature difficult, they should be encouraged to use their imagination to resolve the dilemmas they encounter. Often, these are the same issues with which medieval audiences had to wrestle and which the poets intended to raise. W. Iser's and H. R. Jauss's principles of…

Infant feeding practice in medieval Japan: stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of human skeletons from Yuigahama-minami.

PubMed

Tsutaya, Takumi; Shimomi, Akina; Nagaoka, Tomohito; Sawada, Junmei; Hirata, Kazuaki; Yoneda, Minoru

2015-02-01

A longer breastfeeding duration provides various positive effects in subadult health because of abundant immunological factors and nutrients in human breast milk, and decreases the natural fertility of a population through lactational amenorrhea. In this study, we measured stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios in the bone collagen of three adults and 45 subadults from the Yuigahama-minami site (from 12th to 14th century) in Kamakura, the early medieval capital of Japan. Marine foods, C3 -based terrestrial foods, and freshwater fish are the primarily protein sources for adults. The changes in the nitrogen isotope ratios of subadults suggest that the relative dietary protein contribution from breast milk started to decrease from 1.1 years of age and ended at 3.8 years. The age at the end of weaning in the Yuigahama-minami population was greater than that in the typical non-industrial populations, a premodern population in the Edo period Japan, and medieval populations in the UK. Skeletons of townspeople from medieval Kamakura indicate severe nutritional stress (e.g., enamel hypoplasia and cribra orbitalia), yet this longer duration of breastfeeding did not compensate adverse effects for nutritional deficiency. The longer breastfeeding period may have been a consequence of complementary food shortage and bad health of subadults. Kamakura experienced urbanization and population increase in the early medieval period. The younger age-at-death distribution and high nutritional stresses in the Yuigahama-minami population and later weaning, which is closely associated with longer inter-birth interval for mothers, suggests that Kamakura developed and increased its population by immigration during urbanization. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Medieval Pictorial Art and Medieval Spanish Literature: A Case in Point for the Use of the Visual Arts in the Literature Class.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bergstrom, Stanford E.

1991-01-01

An exploration of the connection between literature and the visual arts and its application in the foreign language literature class includes an illustration of how a medieval literary Spanish masterpiece becomes more clear when the text is compared with medieval pictorial art pieces. (four references) (Author/CB)

Medieval Literacy Outside the Academy: Popular Practice and Individual Technique.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glenn, Cheryl

1993-01-01

Argues that medieval popular literacy can provide a crucial link for understanding alternative literacies. Claims that medieval practices explain some contemporary literacy practices, especially those outside the academy. (HB)

Fragile external phenotype of modern human proximal femur in comparison with medieval bone.

PubMed

Sievänen, Harri; Józsa, László; Pap, Ildiko; Järvinen, Markku; Järvinen, Tero A; Kannus, Pekka; Järvinen, Teppo L

2007-04-01

Proximal femur macroanatomy of 118 medieval and 67 contemporary adults, 84 contemporary elderly, and 48 contemporary hip fracture cases was evaluated. Within approximately 1000 years, the femoral neck axis has become longer, and its cross-section has become proportionally smaller and more oval in shape. These changes in the present external phenotype alone account for approximately 50% higher fall-induced stress compared with the medieval situation. Bones, as whole skeletal structures, adapt to mechanical stresses they customarily experience. Because the present, mechanized lifestyle apparently deprives our skeletons of vigorous, habitual physical exertion, we studied whether the proximal femur phenotype has evolved vulnerable to fragility fractures by time. Proximal femur macroanatomy of 118 medieval and 67 contemporary adults, 84 contemporary elderly, and 48 contemporary hip fracture cases was evaluated. Using direct measurements of external bone dimensions and geometric properties, we estimated the fall-induced stress as an index of hip fragility. Within approximately 1000 years, the femoral axis length has become substantially longer (analysis of covariance, body height adjusted, p < 0.001), whereas the neck circumference has not increased. The macroanatomy was found similar between the contemporary adult and elderly groups. In hip fracture cases, however, the femoral axis length was further lengthened (p < 0.001), but the circumference was somewhat smaller (p = 0.001). Consequently, the estimated fall-induced stress can be approximately 1.5-fold today compared with the medieval times (p < 0.001), and the secular trend seemed to be worse in women (sex-time interaction, p = 0.001). The modern, relatively slender phenotype of the proximal femur alone seems to increase the fall-induced stress considerably, and when this phenotype coincides the osteoporotic, internally deteriorated femoral neck structure, fracture risk is imminent. This mechanically compromised

Early stage of weathering of medieval-like potash-lime model glass: evaluation of key factors.

PubMed

Gentaz, Lucile; Lombardo, Tiziana; Loisel, Claudine; Chabas, Anne; Vallotto, Marta

2011-02-01

Throughout history, a consequent part of the medieval stained glass windows have been lost, mostly because of deliberate or accidental mechanic destruction during war or revolution, but, in some cases, did not withstand the test of time simply because of their low durability. Indeed, the glasses that remain nowadays are for many in a poor state of conservation and are heavily deteriorated. Under general exposure conditions, stained glass windows undergo different kinds of weathering processes that modify their optical properties, chemistry, and structure: congruent dissolution, leaching, and particle deposition (the combination of those two leading together to the formation of neocrystallisations and eventually crusts). Previous research has studied the weathering forms and the mechanisms from which they are originated, some others identified the main environmental parameters responsible for the deterioration and highlighted that both intrinsic (glass composition) and extrinsic (environmental parameters) factors influence glass degradation. Nevertheless, a clear quantification of the impact of the different deterioration extrinsic factors has not been performed. By analysing the results obtained with model glass (durable and nondurable) exposed in the field, this paper proposes a simple mathematical computation evaluating the contribution of the different weathering factors for the early stages of exposure of the stained glasses. In the case of non durable glass, water runoff was identified as the main factor inducing the leaching (83.4 ± 2.6% contribution), followed by gas (6.4 ± 1.5%) and particle deposition (6.8 ± 2.2%) and adsorbed water (3.4 ± 0.6%). Moreover, it was shown that the extrinsic stimuli superimposes with the impact of glass composition to the weathering. Those results show that the role played by dry deposition, even if less important than that of the wet deposition, cannot be neglected.

Pedo-sedimentary record of human-environment interaction in ditches and waterlogged depressions on tableland (roman and early medieval period) : micromorphological cases studies from Marne-la-Vallée area (Paris Basin, France)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cammas, C.; Blanchard, J.; Broutin, P.; Berga, A.

2012-04-01

On lœss derived soils located on the Stampien plateau from the Paris Basin (France), archaeological anthroposols and ancient cultivated soils are only preserved in very few places. Recent archaeological excavations showed the presence of a pattern of roman ditches and waterlogged depressions (« mares ») under the actual cultivated horizon (Ap). This presence strongly suggests extensive past agricultural practices and water management. An original system of ditches was found Near Marne-la-Vallée (France). It is composed of two parts, one being large ditches characterized by flat bottom and sometimes water layered deposits, called « fossés collecteurs » by the archaeologists, and the orher being smaller ditches with colluvial deposits. Our objectives was to use archaeological and micromorphological studies in order to study i) the agricultural function of these ditches and depressions, ii) their evolution with time. Observations conducted on the infilling of a « fossé collecteur » at Bussy-Saint-Georges suggest that it was not part of a drainage system, but that it was a linear water controlled system, with a ramp in one part, and a basin or a tank in another, and that it was used for others anthropic activities. In the same area, a large waterlogged depression was studied, and micromorphological analysis helped to elucidate its pedo-sedimentary formation processes. At the bottom, massive silty clayey matrix retained water. Thin layers composed of silt and clay (indicating low energy flows and decantation), sometimes impregnated and hardened by iron, alternated with silty deposit (indicating higher ernergy water layered deposits). The thin, non porous and iron impregnated crusts helped to raise the depression level, as well as, most likely the water table during roman period, maintaining waterlogging conditions. At the beginning of the early medival period, a slightly peaty event was discriminated. Higher in the profile, in more redoxic conditions

Migration to the medieval Middle East with the crusades.

PubMed

Mitchell, Piers D; Millard, Andrew R

2009-11-01

During the 12th and 13th centuries thousands of people moved from Europe to the Middle East to fight, undertake pilgrimage, or settle and make a new life. The aim of this research is to investigate two populations from the Crusader kingdom of Jerusalem, by determining who was born in Europe and who came from the Middle East. Oxygen and strontium stable isotope analyses were conducted on the enamel of teeth from skeletal remains excavated from Crusader contexts. Twenty individuals from the coastal city of Caesarea (10 high status and 10 low status), and two local Near Eastern Christian farmers from the village of Parvum Gerinum (Tel Jezreel) were analyzed as a control sample. Results were compared with known geographic values for oxygen and strontium isotopes. The population of the city of Caesarea appears to have been dominated by European-born individuals (probably 19/20, but at least 13/20), with few locals. This was surprising as a much higher proportion of locals were expected. Both controls from the farming village of Parvum Gerinum had spent their childhood in the area of the village, which matches our understanding of limited mobility among poor Medieval farmers. This is the first time that stable isotope analysis has been applied to the study of the migration of peoples between Medieval Europe and the Middle East at the time of the crusades. In view of these findings, we must now rethink past estimations of population social structure in Levantine coastal Medieval cities during the Crusader period.

Skin pathology and medical prognosis in medieval Europe: the secrets of Hippocrates.

PubMed

Ackerman Smoller, L

2000-12-01

This article analyzes a medieval text known as The Secrets of Hippocrates. Neither secret (because of its wide circulation in manuscript and print) nor by Hippocrates, the work offered readers a means of offering a prognosis of impending death based on observable signs on the skin. Although the aphorisms that make up the text make little sense in a modern medical understanding, the Secrets of Hippocrates fits well within three medieval traditions: the tradition of secrets literature, the medieval medical tradition, and the tradition of medieval Christian views about the body. First, like other books of secrets, a genre to whose conventions the text closely adheres, the Secrets of Hippocrates offered a shortcut to socially useful knowledge: the ability to offer an accurate medical prognosis. Second, the treatise corresponded to the medieval physician's concern for the so-called nonnaturals, such as diet and exercise. Third, it fit with a medieval Christian notion that sickness and sin were related, as were sin and ugliness. Just as a leper's deformities were a window to his sinful soul, so skin pathologies could clue a medieval physician to the lethal disease hidden inside the body.

The Role of Women in Medieval Europe: A Unit of Study for Grades 10-12.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Himmell, Rhoda

This unit is one of a series that represents specific moments in history from which students focus on the meanings of landmark events. This unit consists of lessons focused on selected topics in medieval history that define and describe the roles of women. The lessons examine the roles of women in the Early Middle Ages with particular emphasis on…

Geriatric management in medieval Persian medicine

PubMed Central

Emami, Morteza; Sadeghpour, Omid; Zarshenas, Mohammad M.

2013-01-01

In Iran, a large group of patients are elderly people and they intend to have natural remedies as treatment. These remedies are rooted in historical of Persian and humoral medicine with a backbone of more than 1000 years. The current study was conducted to draw together medieval pharmacological information related to geriatric medicine from some of the most often manuscripts of traditional Persian medicine. Moreover, we investigated the efficacy of medicinal plants through a search of the PubMed, Scopus and Google Scholar databases. In the medieval Persian documents, digestible and a small amount of food such as chicken broth, honey, fig and plum at frequent intervals as well as body massage and morning unctioning are highly recommended. In the field of pharmacotherapy, 35 herbs related to 25 families were identified. Plants were classified as tonic, anti-aging, appetizer, memory and mood enhancer, topical analgesic and laxative as well as health improvement agents. Other than historical elucidation, this paper presents medical and pharmacological approaches that medieval Persian practitioners applied to deal with geriatric complications. PMID:24381461

The siting and environmental change of a high medieval monastery in central German highlands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Büdel, Christian; Tintrup, Angela; Baumhauer, Roland

2017-04-01

The geology of central German highlands is dominated by Triassic sandstones of the Bunter sandstone unit (German: Buntsandstein). These rocks commonly lack of minerals and they are unsuitable for beneficial agriculture. Early settlers in the Spessart highlands in central Germany therefore preferred patches of Pleistocene loess accumulation for the siting of their residences. The occurrence and distribution of this preferred loess-sites at high medieval times is of high interest and still under discussion. The investigated monastery site of Elisabethenzell was founded, developed and abandoned during a short medieval period and in an exposed and delimited area. The investigation of its environmental history and landscape offers insights to the careful decision of the former settlers. Both, historical maps and the data from laser altimetry were assessed in order to compile a comprehensive overview of the monasteries situation. In addition, pedologic, sedimentologic and geomorphologic prospections were conducted and all data was assessed using a geographic information system (GIS). At selected sites ramming core probes, and sections helped to determine specific soil and sediment characteristics. The results show subsoils of mineral-poor sandstones and Pleistocene periglacial layers with a thickness of up to 4-6 meters. The constructional elements of the monastery take advantage of the shape of the Pleistocene landforms, which was observed together with a local melioration of the mostly acidic Cambisols. This is provided by the delimited occurrence of loamy loesses in relictic Luvisols. The meliorated soils coincide with a better availability of water, which is due to the local geomorphology and higher clay contents in underlying Miocene and Pliocene sediments. As a consequence, medieval agriculture and gardening is likely and the landforms reveal preferable areas offering a confined gradation as well as evidence for the prevention of soil erosion. A prospection of soil

Herbal diuretics in medieval Persian and Arabic medicine.

PubMed

Shoja, Mohammadali M; Tubbs, R Shane; Bosmia, Anand N; Fakhree, Mohammad A A; Jouyban, Abolghasem; Balch, Margaret Wood; Loukas, Marios; Khodadoust, Kazem; Khalili, Majid; Eknoyan, Garabed

2015-06-01

In accord with the notions of humoralism that prevailed in medieval medicine, therapeutic interventions, including diuretics, were used to restore the disturbed balance among the four humors of the human body: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. Most diuretics were derived from plants. The primary textual reference on herbal diuretics was Dioscorides's De Materia Medica, which was written during the first century CE. The authors reviewed the medieval medical texts written in Persian and Arabic and compiled a list of 135 herbal diuretics used by the medieval medical authorities for treating various ailments. Between the 8th and 11th centuries CE, Middle Eastern physicians systematically reviewed extant books on medicine and pharmacotherapy and compiled new and expanded lists of herbal medicines, diuretics in particular. Furthermore, they introduced new chemical methods of extraction, distillation, and compounding in the use of herbal medicines. Several herbal remedies now are considered as potentially safe and affordable alternatives to chemical pharmaceuticals. Thus, research on medieval herbal therapies may prove to be relevant to the practice of current cardiovascular and renal pharmacotherapy. The authors propose that modern research methods can be employed to determine which of these agents actually are effective as diuretics.

Turf wars: what can modern medicine learn from medieval guilds?

PubMed

McLean, Thomas R

2005-01-01

Medieval guilds for a time grew wealthy under a system of work rules that granted them a virtual trade monopoly, but such protection was worthless in the face of innovations in communications and commerce. Many medical specialists have grown wealthy under a guild system based on board certification. Unfortunately, creation of a vascular medicine board is unlikely to resolve the ongoing turf wars between cardiologists, radiologists, and vascular surgeons. Moreover, if medical specialists (who are facing innovations in the form of the Internet and telemedicine) wish to avoid the fate of the medieval guilds, a more flexible system based on individual competency is needed. While credentialing based on individual competence is good for specialists, it creates increased liability for hospitals because specialist credentialing will become more discretionary and less ministerial.

The Gendered Nose and its Lack: "Medieval" Nose-Cutting and its Modern Manifestations.

PubMed

Skinner, Patricia

2014-01-01

Time magazine's cover photograph in August 2010 of a noseless Afghan woman beside the emotive strap line, "What happens if we leave Afghanistan," fuelled debate about the "medieval" practices of the Taliban, whose local commander had instructed her husband to take her nose and ears. Press reports attributed the violence to the Pashtun tradition that a dishonored husband "lost his nose." This equation of nose-cutting with tradition begs questions not only about the Orientalist lens of the western press when viewing Afghanistan, but also about the assumption that the word "medieval" can function as a label for such practices. A study of medieval nose-cutting suggests that its identification as an "eastern" practice should be challenged. Rather clearer is its connection with patriarchal values of authority and honor: the victims of such punishment have not always been women, but this is nevertheless a gendered punishment of the powerless by the powerful.

An issue of blood: the healing of the woman with the haemorrhage (Mark 5.24B-34; Luke 8.42B-48; Matthew 9.19-22) in early medieval visual culture.

PubMed

Baert, Barbara; Kusters, Liesbet; Sidgwick, Emma

2012-09-01

The textual and visual tradition of the story of the woman with the haemorrhage (Mark 5.24b-34parr), the so-called Haemorrhoissa, is related in a specific way to Christ's healing miracles but also to conceptions of female menstrual blood. We notice that with regard to the specific 'issue of blood' of the Haemorrhoissa, there is a visual lacuna in the specific iconography that developed around the story from early Christian times: in the transposition from text to image, there is no immediate depiction of her bleeding. However, the early medieval reception of the story also became an important catalyst for uterine taboos, menstruation and tits relation to magical healing, understood as a system of health practices. In this context, the dissemination of the motif in everyday material culture clearly points to a deep-rooted connection to uterine and menstrual issues. The paper considers both expressions and their-anthropologically framed-relation to this female 'issue of blood', which the Haemorrhoissa came to embody and epitomise literally, as well as figuratively.

Human Parasites in Medieval Europe: Lifestyle, Sanitation and Medical Treatment.

PubMed

Mitchell, Piers D

2015-01-01

Parasites have been infecting humans throughout our evolution. However, not all people suffered with the same species or to the same intensity throughout this time. Our changing way of life has altered the suitability of humans to infection by each type of parasite. This analysis focuses upon the evidence for parasites from archaeological excavations at medieval sites across Europe. Comparison between the patterns of infection in the medieval period allows us to see how changes in sanitation, herding animals, growing and fertilizing crops, the fishing industry, food preparation and migration all affected human susceptibility to different parasites. We go on to explore how ectoparasites may have spread infectious bacterial diseases, and also consider what medieval medical practitioners thought of parasites and how they tried to treat them. While modern research has shown the use of a toilet decreases the risk of contracting certain intestinal parasites, the evidence for past societies presented here suggests that the invention of latrines had no observable beneficial effects upon intestinal health. This may be because toilets were not sufficiently ubiquitous until the last century, or that the use of fresh human faeces for manuring crops still ensured those parasite species were easily able to reinfect the population. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Corruption as a Legacy of the Medieval University: Financial Affairs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Osipian, Ararat L.

2004-01-01

Looking back upon the centuries one would suspect that in earlier ages universities of medieval France and Italy were very different from the multiplicity of organizational and institutional forms of higher education institutions in modern times, and yet one would be surprised how much these old "universitas" and modern universities have…

Illustration of the heart and blood vessels in medieval times.

PubMed

Khalili, Majid; Shoja, Mohammadali M; Tubbs, R Shane; Loukas, Marios; Alakbarli, Farid; Newman, Andrew J

2010-08-06

Throughout history, illustrations had played a key role in the promotion and evolution of medicine by providing a medium for transmission of scientific observations. Due to religious prohibitions, color drawings of the human body did not appear in medieval Persia and during the Islamic Golden Age. This tradition, however, has been overlooked with the publication of the first color atlas and text of human anatomy, Tashrihi Mansuri (Mansur's Anatomy), by Mansur ibn Ilyas in the fourteenth century AD. Written in Persian and containing several vivid illustrations of the human body, this book gained widespread attention by both scholars and lay persons. In this article, a brief history of Mansur's Anatomy and an English translation of selected sections from this book regarding the heart and blood vessels are presented. Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

New astronomical references in two Catalonian late medieval documents.

PubMed

Martínez, María José; Marco, Francisco J

2014-01-01

In 2008, after 13 years of preparation, the Generalitat of Catalunya finished the publication of the 10 volumes of the Dietaris de la Generalitat de Catalunya. The Dietaris, as well as a closely related source, the llibre de Jornades 1411/1484 de Jaume Safont, cover the period of 1411 to 1539. In this article, we examine astronomical references contained in these two sources, and place them in their historical context. Our main focus lies on astronomical phenomena that have not previously been published in the astronomical literature. In fact, relatively few astronomical records are accessible in Spanish medieval and early modern history, and our paper intends to fill this gap partially.

Some more earthquakes from medieval Kashmir

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmad, Bashir; Shafi, Muzamil

2014-07-01

Kashmir has the peculiarity of having written history of almost 5,000 years. However, the description of earthquakes in the archival contents is patchy prior to 1500 a.d. Moreover, recent search shows that there exist certain time gaps in the catalogs presently in use especially at medieval level (1128-1586 a.d.). The presence of different ruling elites in association with socioeconomic and political conditions has in many ways confused the historical context of the medieval sources. However, by a meticulous review of the Sanskrit sources (between the twelfth and sixteenth century), it has been possible to identify unspecified but fair number (eight seismic events) of earthquakes that do not exist in published catalogs of Kashmir or whose dates are very difficult to establish. Moreover, historical sources reveal that except for events which occurred during Sultan Skinder's rule (1389-1413) and during the reign of King Zain-ul-Abidin (1420-1470), all the rediscovered seismic events went into oblivion, due mainly to the fact that the sources available dedicated their interests to the military events, which often tended to overshadow/superimpose over and even concealed natural events like earthquakes, resulting in fragmentary accounts and rendering them of little value for macroseismic intensity evaluation necessary for more efficient seismic hazard assessment.

Seasonal climate variability in Medieval Europe (1000 to 1499)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pfister, C.

2009-04-01

In his fundamental work on medieval climate Alexandre (1987) highlighted the significance of dealing with contemporary sources. Recently, long series of temperature indices for "summer" and "winter" were set up by Shabalova and van Engelen (2003) for the Low Countries, but the time resolution is not strictly seasonal. This paper worked out within the EU 6th Framework Project "Millennium" draws on critically reviewed documentary evidence from a spatially extensive area of Western and Central Europe (basically England, France, BENELUX, Western Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Hungary and todays Czech Republic. The narrative evidence is complemented with dendro-climatic series from the Alps (Büntgen et al. 2006). Each "climate observation" is georeferenced which allows producing spatial displays of the data for selected spaces and time-frames. The spatial distribution of the information charts can be used as a tool for the climatological verification of the underlying data. Reconstructions for winter (DJF) and summer (JJA) are presented in the form of time series and charts. Cold winters were frequent from 1205 to 1235 i.e. in the "Medieval Warm Period" and in the Little Ice Age (1306-1330; 1390-1470). Dry and warm summers prevailed in Western and Central Europe in the first half of the 13th century. During the Little Ice Age cold-wet summers (triggered by volcanic explosions in the tropics) were more frequent, though summer climate remained highly variable. Results are discussed with regard to the "Greenhouse Debate" and the relationship to glacier fluctuations in the Alps is explored. References -Alexandre, Pierre, 1987: Le Climat en Europe au Moyen Age. Contribution à l'histoire des variations climatiques de 1000 à 1425. Paris. -Büntgen, Ulf et al. 2006: Summer Temperature Variation in the European Alps, AD. 755-2004, J. of Climate 19 5606-5623. - Pfister, Christian et al. 1998: Winter air temperature variations in Central Europe during the Early and

Harris lines of the tibia across centuries: a comparison of two populations, medieval and contemporary in Central Europe.

PubMed

Ameen, S; Staub, L; Ulrich, S; Vock, P; Ballmer, F; Anderson, S E

2005-05-01

To determine the incidence of Harris lines in two medieval populations which inhabited the Canton of Berne, in Central Switzerland, and to compare the results with those of a contemporary population living in the same geographical area. A simplified method is described for measuring the age of the individual at the time of formation of Harris lines, with possible future applications. Radiographs of 112 well-preserved tibiae of skeletons of two medieval populations from the eighth to fifteenth centuries were reviewed for the incidence of Harris lines. The results were compared with those of 138 current patients living in the same geographic location in Central Switzerland. Age and gender of the medieval individual were determined using known anthropological methods. Age of bone at the time of formation of Harris lines was estimated according to the method of Maat. Harris lines were found in 88 of 112 (80%) of the examined medieval skeletons and in 28 of 138 (20%) of the living individuals. Higher incidences of Harris lines were found at the age of 2 years and at ages between 8 and 12 years in both populations. No gender difference was found regarding the incidence of Harris lines. In both populations the occurrence of Harris lines was associated with certain diseases such as degenerative bone disease, trauma, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, peripheral vascular diseases, rickets and bony deformities. A high incidence of Harris lines was found in the medieval population, perhaps reflecting difficult living and hygienic conditions, but also the poor care and neglect of the children population. Measuring the age of the individual at the time of formation of Harris lines is simple and may have future clinical applications in the paediatric population for medico-legal purposes. The application of Harris lines as a marker in follow-up of osteoporosis may need further evaluation.

Mobility histories of 7th-9th century AD people buried at early medieval Bamburgh, Northumberland, England.

PubMed

Groves, S E; Roberts, C A; Lucy, S; Pearson, G; Gröcke, D R; Nowell, G; Macpherson, C G; Young, G

2013-07-01

Early Medieval England is described historically as a time when people migrated from the Continent to English shores. This study tests the hypothesis that those buried in the Bowl Hole cemetery, Bamburgh, Northumberland were nonlocally born, because of its royal status. Ninety-one male and female adult, and nonadult, skeletons were studied. Isotope ratios of strontium ((87) Sr/(86) Sr) and oxygen (δ(18) O) were generated for 78 individuals (28 females, 27 males, five "adults," 18 nonadults). The mean Sr value for human enamel was 0.71044, standard deviation (sd) 0.001, and the mean O (δw) value is -5.9‰, sd 1.6‰. Additionally, animal tooth enamel (mean Sr value 0.710587, sd 0.001; mean O value -6.5‰, sd 1.5‰), local soil (mean Sr value 0.709184, sd 0.0006), snail shells (mean Sr value 0.708888, sd 0.0001), and soil samples from a 5 km transect heading inland (mean Sr value 0.709121, sd 0.0003), were analyzed for an indication of the isotopic composition of bioavailable Sr in the modern environment and to assess the impact of sea-spray; water samples from a well, local rivers, and standing water were analyzed for local δ(18) O values (mean O value -6.4‰, relative to VSMOW, sd 2.8‰). Over 50% of those buried at Bamburgh were nonlocal. All ages and both sexes produced "nonlocal" signatures; some suggested childhood origins in Scandinavia, the southern Mediterranean or North Africa. Stature and other indicators of health status indicated differences in quality of life between local and migrant groups. These differences did not extend to burial practices. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The use of strontium and barium analyses for the reconstruction of the diet of the early medieval coastal population of Gdańsk (Poland): A preliminary study.

PubMed

Szostek, Krzysztof; Głab, Henryk; Pudło, Aleksandra

2009-01-01

Barium and strontium analyses yield an important perspective on temporal shifts in diet in relation to social and environmental circumstances. This research focuses on reconstructing dietary strategies of individuals in the early medieval (12-13th century) population of Gdańsk on the coast of the Baltic Sea. To describe these strategies where seafood rich in minerals was included in the diet, levels of strontium, barium, calcium and phosphorus were measured in first permanent molars of adult men and women whose remains were excavated from the churchyard in the city centre. Faunal remains from the excavation were analysed as an environmental background with respect to the content of the above-mentioned elements. The impact of diagenesis on the odontological material under study was also determined by an analysis of the soil derived from the grave and non-grave surroundings. For verification of diagenetic processes, the calcium/phosphorus index was used. Strontium, calcium, phosphorus and barium levels were determined with the spectrophotometric method using the latest generation plasma spectrophotometer Elan 6100 ICP-MS. From the results of the analysis of taphonomic parameters such as the soil pH, potential ion exchange in the grave surroundings and the Ca/P ratio, it can be inferred that diagenetic factors had little impact on the studied material. From this pilot study we can conclude that in the early Middle Ages in the Baltic Sea basin, seafood was included in the diet from early childhood and at the same time the diet contained calcium-rich milk products (also rich in minerals). The lack of sex differences may indicate the absence of a sex-specific nutritional strategy in childhood and early adolescence.

Archeological Applications of XAFS: Prehistorical Paintings And Medieval Glasses

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Farges, F.; Chalmin, E.; Vignaud, C.

2006-10-27

High-resolution manganese and iron K-edges XANES spectra were collected on several samples of archeological interest: prehistorical paintings and medieval glasses. XANES spectra were collected at the ID21 facility (ESRF, Grenoble, France) using a micro-beam device and at the 11-2 beamline (SSRL, Stanford, USA) using a submillimetric beam. The medieval glasses studied are from gothic glass windows from Normandy (XIVth century). The aim of this study is to help understand the chemical durability of these materials, exposed to weathering since the XIVth century. They are used as analogues of weathered glasses used to dump metallic wastes. These glasses show surficial enrichmentmore » in manganese, due to its oxidation from II (glass) to III/IV (surface), which precipitates as amorphous oxy-hydroxides. Similarly, iron is oxidized on the surface and forms ferrihydrite-type aggregates. The prehistorical paintings are from Lascaux and Ekain (Basque country). We choose in that study the black ones, rich in manganese to search for potential evidences of some 'savoir-faire' that the Paleolithic men could have used to realize their paint in rock art, as shown earlier for Fe-bearing pigments. A large number of highly valuable samples, micrometric scaled, were extracted from these frescoes and show large variation in the mineralogical nature of the black pigments used, from an amorphous psilomelane-type to a well-crystallized pyrolusite. Correlation with the crystals morphology helps understanding the know-how of these early artists.« less

Social representations of memory and gender in later medieval England.

PubMed

Kane, Bronach

2012-12-01

Social representations in later medieval culture have attracted little attention amongst psychologists, pre-dating the development of the so-called 'public sphere' in the eighteenth century. In addition, the association of pre-modern societies with 'traditional' modes of communication in social psychology places implicit limits on areas that may be studied through the lens of social representation theory. This article analyses the way in which knowledge circulated in late medieval society, noting initially the plural nature of representations of events and marginal groups, and the myriad channels through which beliefs were consolidated. In later medieval England perceptions of the past depended on collective and group memory, with customary rights and local histories forged through 'common knowledge', hearsay and the opinions of 'trustworthy men' of the village. The final section of this commentary provides an analysis of testimony from the late medieval church courts, in which witnesses articulated gender ideologies that reflected perceptions drawn from everyday life. Social representations of women were thus deployed in ecclesiastical suits, on the one hand supporting evidence of female witnesses and on the other justifying misogynistic stereotypes of women's behaviour.

The Image of Medieval Woman

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wade, Marjorie D.

1978-01-01

California State University offered a course concerning the roles and positions of women in medieval society as depicted in Middle High German literature. The course was open to all undergraduate students and required no prerequisites or knowledge of German. The content and structure of the course are outlined. (SW)

Leprosy in Medieval Denmark--osteological and epidemiological analyses.

PubMed

Boldsen, Jesper L

2009-12-01

A total of 3033 skeletons from 11 medieval Danish cemeteries and 99 skeletons from the North Scandinavian medieval site of Westerhus were examined for seven lesions indicative of leprosy. The seven lesions are: rounding to the edge of the nasal aperture, degeneration of spina nasalis anterior, degeneration of the alveolar process of the pre-maxilla, porosity or perforation of the palatine process of maxilla, sub-periostal exostoses on the fibula, general swelling of the shaft of the fibula, and degeneration of the 5th metatarsal bone. The dichotomous scores of these lesions were used to estimate sensitivity and specificity of the lesion scores in relation to leprosy and to estimate sample point prevalence of leprosy at death among adults. In turn the estimates of sensitivity and specificity were used to calculate an individual comprehensive statistic, lamda, indicating leprosy status. Among adults the lamda statistic did not associate with age at death, but this cannot be taken as a sign of lack of selective mortality for leprosy but a combination of the opposing effects of long waiting time before developing leprosy related lesions and short survival with these lesions. In urban communities sufferers of leprosy were institutionalized when the leprosarium was established (in Odense around 1275); in rural communities this did not happen but the pattern of burial does indicate an internal segregation of sufferers. In the early Middle Ages (AD 1150-1350) the point prevalence at death among adults of leprosy was higher in rural (25-40 percent) than in urban (10-20 percent) communities, and villages close to town showed lower frequencies of leprosy than villages situated further away from these centers. Leprosy declined in the late Middle Ages, first in towns and cities, later in rural communities. In Odense and Malmö it appears that leprosy was effectively eliminated by 1350 whereas there were still sufferers of leprosy at Øm Kloster around 1550. Leprosy appears to

Accentuated lines in the enamel of primary incisors from skeletal remains: A contribution to the explanation of early childhood mortality in a medieval population from Poland.

PubMed

Żądzińska, Elżbieta; Lorkiewicz, Wiesław; Kurek, Marta; Borowska-Strugińska, Beata

2015-07-01

Physiological disruptions resulting from an impoverished environment during the first years of life are of key importance for the health and biological status of individuals and populations. Studies of growth processes in archaeological populations point to the fact that the main causes of childhood mortality in the past are to be sought among extrinsic factors. Based on this assumption, one would expect random mortality of children, with the deceased individuals representing the entire subadult population. The purpose of this study is to explore whether differences in early childhood survival are reflected in differences in deciduous tooth enamel, which can provide an insight into the development of an individual during prenatal and perinatal ontogeny. Deciduous incisors were taken from 83 individuals aged 2.0-6.5 years from a medieval inhumation cemetery dated AD 1300-1600. Prenatal and postnatal enamel formation time, neonatal line width, and the number of accentuated lines were measured using an optical microscope. The significantly wider neonatal line and the higher frequency of accentuated lines in the enamel of the incisors of children who died at the age of 2-3 years suggest the occurrence of stronger or more frequent stress events in this group. These results indicate that in skeletal populations mortality was not exclusively determined by random external factors. Individuals predisposed by an unfavorable course of prenatal and perinatal growth were more likely to die in early childhood. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A glimpse into the early origins of medieval anatomy through the oldest conserved human dissection (Western Europe, 13(th) c. A.D.).

PubMed

Charlier, Philippe; Huynh-Charlier, Isabelle; Poupon, Joël; Lancelot, Eloïse; Campos, Paula F; Favier, Dominique; Jeannel, Gaël-François; Bonati, Maurizio Rippa; de la Grandmaison, Geoffroy Lorin; Hervé, Christian

2014-05-12

Medieval autopsy practice is very poorly known in Western Europe, due to a lack of both descriptive medico-surgical texts and conserved dissected human remains. This period is currently considered the dark ages according to a common belief of systematic opposition of Christian religious authorities to the opening of human cadavers. The identification in a private collection of an autopsied human individual dated from the 13(th) century A.D. is an opportunity for better knowledge of such practice in this chrono-cultural context, i.e. the early origins of occidental dissections. A complete forensic anthropological procedure was carried out, completed by radiological and elemental analyses. The complete procedure of this body opening and internal organs exploration is explained, and compared with historical data about forensic and anatomical autopsies from this period. During the analysis, a red substance filling all arterial cavities, made of mercury sulfide (cinnabar) mixed with vegetal oil (oleic and palmitic acids) was identified; it was presumably used to highlight vascularization by coloring in red such vessels, and help in the preservation of the body. Of particular interest for the description of early medical and anatomical knowledge, this "human preparation" is the oldest known yet, and is particularly important for the fields of history of medicine, surgery and anatomical practice.

Soil archives of a Fluvisol, part II. Archaeostratigraphical model of the subsurface of the medieval city centre of Vlaardingen, the Netherlands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kluiving, Sjoerd; De Ridder, Tim; van Dasselaar, Marcel; Prins, Maarten

2017-04-01

In Medieval times the city of Vlaardingen (the Netherlands) was strategically located on the confluence of three rivers, the Meuse, the Merwede and the Vlaarding. A church of early 8th century was already located here. In a short period of time Vlaardingen developed into an international trading place, the most important place in the former county of Holland. Starting from the 11th century the river Meuse threatened to flood the settlement. These floods have been registered in the archives of the fluvisol and were recognised in a multidisciplinary sedimentary analysis of these archives. To secure the future of this vulnerable soil archive an extensive interdisciplinary research (76 mechanical drill holes, grain size analysis (GSA), thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), archaeological remains, soil analysis, dating methods, micromorphology, and microfauna has started in 2011 to gain knowledge on the sedimentological and pedological subsurface of the mound as well as on the well-preserved nature of the archaeological evidence. Pedogenic features are recorded with soil descriptive, micromorphological and geochemical (XRF) analysis. The soil sequence of 5 meters thickness exhibits a complex mix of 'natural' as well as 'anthropogenic layering' and initial soil formation that enables to make a distinction for relatively stable periods between periods with active sedimentation. In this paper the results of this large-scale project are demonstrated in a number of cross-sections with interrelated geological, pedological and archaeological stratification. Distinction between natural and anthropogenic layering is made on the occurrence of chemical elements phosphor and potassium. A series of four stratigraphic / sedimentary units record the period before and after the flooding disaster. Given the many archaeological remnants and features present in the lower units, we know that the medieval landscape was drowned while it was inhabited in the 12th century AD. After a final

Analysis of medieval mtDNA from Napole cemetery provides new insights into the early history of Polish state.

PubMed

Płoszaj, Tomasz; Jędrychowska-Dańska, Krystyna; Masłowska, Alicja; Kozłowski, Tomasz; Chudziak, Wojciech; Bojarski, Jacek; Robaszkiewicz, Agnieszka; Witas, Henryk W

2017-02-01

Contemporary historical anthropology and classical archaeology are concerned not only with such fundamental issues as the origins of ancient human populations and migration routes, but also with the formation and development of inter-population relations and the mixing of gene pools as a result of inter-breeding between individuals representing different cultural units. The contribution of immigrants to the analysed autochthonous population and their effect on the gene pool of that population has proven difficult to evaluate with classical morphological methods. The burial of one individual in the studied Napole cemetery located in central Poland had the form of a chamber grave, which is typical of Scandinavian culture from that period. However, this fact cannot be interpreted as absolute proof that the individual (in the biological sense) was allochtonous. This gives rise to the question as to who was actually buried in that cemetery. The ancient DNA results indicate that one of the individuals had an mtDNA haplotype typical of Iron Age northern Europe, which suggests that he could have arrived from that area at a later period. This seems to indirectly confirm the claims of many anthropologists that the development of the early medieval Polish state was significantly and directly influenced by the Scandinavians.

Experimental Analyses of Yellow Tuff Spandrels of Post-medieval Buildings in the Naples Area

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Calderoni, B.; Cordasco, E. A.; Lenza, P.

2008-07-08

Experimental analyses have been carried out on tuff masonry specimens in order to investigate the structural behaviour of historical buildings in the Naples area (Southern Italy). Spandrels of post-medieval buildings (late XVI to early XX century) have been analysed, with emphasis on morphological characteristics according to chronological indicators. Results of the experimentation on scaled models (1:10) are discussed and the better behaviour of historical masonry typologies on respect to the modern one is highlighted. Comparison with theoretical formulations of ultimate shear resistance are provided too.

[Disciplinary non-consolidation. On the original of medieval archaeology in the 1920s and the 1930s].

PubMed

Link, Fabian

2014-01-01

This article investigates the roots of the sub-discipline medieval archaeology that emerged in German-speaking universities in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1930s, research practices crucial for the formation of medieval archaeology, such as the investigation of medieval castles and peasant houses, became more prominent in the humanities, especially in the context of vilkisch research. After the Nazis took power in Germany, they encouraged such research because it built a scientific basis for their nationalist policy. This politically motivated funding did not result in a new discipline, in contrast to research fields such as prehistory and folklore studies. In this article, I propose two explanations for why medieval archaeology did not emerge as an interdisciplinary research field in the 1930s and 1940s, even though the course was set for its development. First, for archaeologists, art historians, and regional medieval historians, research objects such as medieval castles were semantically too indeterminate. Archaeologists would investigate a castle as a building completely destroyed and buried under rubble, while art historians would be interested in its building technique, and regional medieval historians in its written record. Second, disciplines that were important for the creation of medieval archaeology, such as prehistoric archaeology, art history, and regional medieval history, structurally did not allow for the emergence of an interdisciplinary research field in the 1930s. In particular, prehistoric archaeology, which was crucial for the development of medieval archaeology, itself was not fully institutionalized at universities in the 1930s. This institutionalization process prevented the emergence and development of an interdisciplinary research field such as medieval archaeology To demonstrate this argument, I draw on two examples of investigations of castles, one in Nazi Germany and the other in the German-speaking part of Switzerland.

Medieval Stars in Melk Abbey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beck, P. G.; Zotti, G.

2012-05-01

Melk Abbey, a marvel of European high baroque architecture, is one of the most frequently visited tourist attractions in Austria, attracting 450 000 visitors each year. The monastery's museum presents selected aspects of Benedictine life in Melk since the monastery's foundation in 1089. After the church, the library is the second-most important room in a Benedictine monastery. Due to the wide scientific interests and contacts of the medieval monks, these libraries also contain manuscripts on mathematics, physics and astronomy. In 2009, the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009), the annual library exhibition was fully dedicated to astronomical manuscripts and early prints from the past 1000 years. Following earlier research work on astronomical manuscripts in Melk's library, we were invited to organise the exhibition. In addition, we also presented a lecture series and provided more background in an accompanying book. Because of positive feedback from the visitors, the exhibition was extended until March 2011. In the two years of its duration, the exhibition was seen by more than 900 000 visitors. In this article, we describe the background to the scientific project, how the exhibition was organised and lessons learned from this project.

Cereal production, high status and climate in Medieval Iceland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erlendsson, Egill; Riddell, Scott

2017-04-01

At Hrísbrú (formerly the medieval Mosfell estate) in the Mosfell Valley, southwest Iceland, archaeologists have excavated a medieval skáli (hall) proposed to be the high status residence of a chieftain. This is indicated by the size of the skáli, artefacts (foreign goods), archaeofaunal (cattle/sheep bone) ratios and macrobotanical remains (cereal grain). The analysis of pollen from nearby natural contexts suggests that cereals were grown locally. Using multiple profile palynological approach, this paper examines if the apparent cereal production is representative of high status in the Icelandic context. First as a correlate by confirming that cereals were grown in association with the archaeological features characteristic of high status; secondly, as an indicator in its own right through comparison with other palynological datasets from inferred lower status farms. The presence or absence of cereal-type pollen (cf. barley) and other arable correlates was examined for each site. The results suggest that medieval cereal cultivation in the Mosfell Valley was confined to the landholding of the medieval Mosfell estate. This feature is seen as an attribute of the locale's greater status in relation to the other farms in Mosfell Valley. The abandonment of cereal cultivation at the Mosfell estate around AD 1200 is probably associated with interactions between changes in the nation's social power structure and how marginal cereal production in Iceland was (and is) in terms of climate.

Traditional healing with animals (zootherapy): medieval to present-day Levantine practice.

PubMed

Lev, Efraim

2003-03-01

Animals and products derived from different organs of their bodies have constituted part of the inventory of medicinal substances used in various cultures since ancient times. This article reviews the history of healing with animals in the Levant (the Land of Israel and parts of present-day Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan, defined by the Muslims in the Middle Ages as Bilad al-Sham) throughout history. Intensive research into the phenomenon of zootherapy in the Levant from early medieval to present-day traditional medicine yielded 99 substances of animal origin which were used medicinally during that long period. Fifty-two animal extracts and products were documented as being used from the early Muslim period (10th century) to the late Ottoman period (19th century). Seventy-seven were recorded as being used in the 20th century. Seven main animal sources have been exploited for medical uses throughout history: honey, wax, adder, beaver testicles, musk oil, coral, and ambergris. The first three are local and relatively easy to obtain; the last four are exotic, therefore, rare and expensive. The use of other materials of animal origin came to an end in the course of history because of change in the moral outlook of modern societies. Among the latter we note mummy, silkworm, stinkbug, scarabees, snail, scorpion, and triton.

Neuropsychiatric phenomena in the medieval text Cantigas de Santa Maria.

PubMed

Gondim, Francisco De Assis Aquino; Griesbach, Sarah H; Thomas, Florian P

2015-05-12

To discuss the neuropsychiatric phenomena described in Cantigas de Santa Maria (Canticles of St. Mary [CSM]). CSM is a collection of 427 canticles composed in Galician-Portuguese between 1252 and 1284 at the Court of King Alfonso X the Wise of Spain (1221-1284). The canticles (of which 9 are repeated) include devotional and liturgical poems and 353 narrative stories consisting mainly of depictions of Marian miracles. Most are set to music and many are illustrated. We reviewed the canticles for description of miracles and other neuropsychiatric phenomena. Two neurologists reached a consensus about the descriptions. Of the 353 miracles, 279 medically relevant facts (from 187 canticles) and 25 instances of resurrection were reported. Possible neuropsychiatric conditions were described in 98 canticles. Physicians were mentioned in 16 narratives. The most common neurologic conditions detailed were blindness (n = 17), dystonia, weakness, and deformities (n = 20). Other common conditions included psychosis (n = 15), speech disorder/deaf-mutism (n = 12), infections (n = 15), sexual dysfunction/infertility/obstetrical-gynecologic issues (n = 18), head trauma (n = 5), ergotism/St. Anthony's fire (n = 7), and others. There were 9 instances of prodromic mystical experiences/hallucinations heralding death. While limited by retrospection and interpretation of neuropsychiatric phenomena in the medieval context, these short accounts are among the first descriptions of neuropsychiatric conditions in early Portuguese/Galician. They reflect how medieval societies used rational and irrational approaches to understand occurrences in their lives. © 2015 American Academy of Neurology.

XRF and UV-Vis-NIR analyses of medieval wall paintings of al-Qarawiyyin Mosque (Morocco)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fikri, I.; El Amraoui, M.; Haddad, M.; Ettahiri, A. S.; Bellot-Gurlet, L.; Falguères, C.; Lebon, M.; Nespoulet, R.; Ait Lyazidi, S.; Bejjit, L.

2018-05-01

Medieval wall painting fragments, taken at the medieval Mosque of al-Qarawiyyin in Fez, have been investigated by means of X-ray fluorescence and UV-Vis-NIR diffuse reflectance spectroscopies. The analyses permitted to determine the palette of pigments used by craftsmen of the time. Hematite or red ochre were used to obtain red brown colours, calcite for white, copper-based pigments for blue and blue-grey shades while a mixture of cinnabar, lead-based pigments and hematite was adopted to make red-orange colours. Furthermore, the analysis of mortars (external layer and plaster) on these wall painting samples revealed that they are composed mainly by calcite and sometimes by additional compounds such as quartz and gypsum.

Reconstructed materia medica of the Medieval and Ottoman al-Sham.

PubMed

Lev, Efraim

2002-05-01

This article presents the results of a study of the medicinal uses of natural substances in medieval and Ottoman al-Sham (the Levant). It involved a meticulous survey of a wide range of historical sources spanning approximately 1100 years and including medical and pharmacological literature, travelogues, geographical and agricultural literature, dictionaries, archives, the Genizah and other medieval sources. Our main goal was to arrive at a reconstruction of the unwritten materia medica of the medieval and Ottoman Levant. Of the many and varied medicinal substances on which we were able to extract information, we were able to identify 286. These are presented according to the following classification: 234 species of plants (81.8%); 27 species of animals (9.5%); 15 kinds of minerals (5.2%) and 10 substances of other or mixed origin (3.5%). Analysis of the data showed that the region under study served as the geographic origin of the majority of the substances, only a minority of the materials was imported. The main reason for this is the geographic location of the Levant as a junction between three continents, as a cultural meeting point and as trade center. Finally, our data revealed that the al-Sham region was an independent source of production and marketing of medicinal substances during the medieval and Ottoman periods.

The Case for Medieval Drama in the Classroom: An Approach through Performance.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lieblein, Leanore; Pare, Anthony

1983-01-01

Argues that medieval drama in performance suggests a number of important issues about the nature of literature, particularly about the way narrative and dramatic art can express the life of a community. Presents a series of exercises that start with familiar, nonthreatening situations in order to approach the richness of medieval plays and the…

The Medieval Climate Anomaly and Byzantium: A review of the evidence on climatic fluctuations, economic performance and societal change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xoplaki, Elena; Fleitmann, Dominik; Luterbacher, Juerg; Wagner, Sebastian; Haldon, John F.; Zorita, Eduardo; Telelis, Ioannis; Toreti, Andrea; Izdebski, Adam

2016-03-01

At the beginning of the Medieval Climate Anomaly, in the ninth and tenth century, the medieval eastern Roman empire, more usually known as Byzantium, was recovering from its early medieval crisis and experiencing favourable climatic conditions for the agricultural and demographic growth. Although in the Balkans and Anatolia such favourable climate conditions were prevalent during the eleventh century, parts of the imperial territories were facing significant challenges as a result of external political/military pressure. The apogee of medieval Byzantine socio-economic development, around AD 1150, coincides with a period of adverse climatic conditions for its economy, so it becomes obvious that the winter dryness and high climate variability at this time did not hinder Byzantine society and economy from achieving that level of expansion. Soon after this peak, towards the end of the twelfth century, the populations of the Byzantine world were experiencing unusual climatic conditions with marked dryness and cooler phases. The weakened Byzantine socio-political system must have contributed to the events leading to the fall of Constantinople in AD 1204 and the sack of the city. The final collapse of the Byzantine political control over western Anatolia took place half century later, thus contemporaneous with the strong cooling effect after a tropical volcanic eruption in AD 1257. We suggest that, regardless of a range of other influential factors, climate change was also an important contributing factor to the socio-economic changes that took place in Byzantium during the Medieval Climate Anomaly. Crucially, therefore, while the relatively sophisticated and complex Byzantine society was certainly influenced by climatic conditions, and while it nevertheless displayed a significant degree of resilience, external pressures as well as tensions within the Byzantine society more broadly contributed to an increasing vulnerability in respect of climate impacts. Our

The Medieval Climate Anomaly and Byzantium: A review of the evidence on climatic fluctuations, economic performance and societal change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xoplaki, Elena; Fleitmann, Dominik; Luterbacher, Juerg; Wagner, Sebastian; Haldon, John F.; Zorita, Eduardo; Telelis, Ioannis; Toreti, Andrea; Izdebski, Adam

2016-04-01

At the beginning of the Medieval Climate Anomaly, in the ninth and tenth century, the medieval eastern Roman empire, more usually known as Byzantium, was recovering from its early medieval crisis and experiencing favourable climatic conditions for the agricultural and demographic growth. Although in the Balkans and Anatolia such favourable climate conditions were prevalent during the eleventh century, parts of the imperial territories were facing significant challenges as a result of external political/military pressure. The apogee of medieval Byzantine socio-economic development, around AD 1150, coincides with a period of adverse climatic conditions for its economy, so it becomes obvious that the winter dryness and high climate variability at this time did not hinder Byzantine society and economy from achieving that level of expansion. Soon after this peak, towards the end of the twelfth century, the populations of the Byzantine world were experiencing unusual climatic conditions with marked dryness and cooler phases. The weakened Byzantine socio-political system must have contributed to the events leading to the fall of Constantinople in AD 1204 and the sack of the city. The final collapse of the Byzantine political control over western Anatolia took place half century later, thus contemporaneous with the strong cooling effect after a tropical volcanic eruption in AD 1257. We suggest that, regardless of a range of other influential factors, climate change was also an important contributing factor to the socio-economic changes that took place in Byzantium during the Medieval Climate Anomaly. Crucially, therefore, while the relatively sophisticated and complex Byzantine society was certainly influenced by climatic conditions, and while it nevertheless displayed a significant degree of resilience, external pressures as well as tensions within the Byzantine society more broadly contributed to an increasing vulnerability in respect of climate impacts. Our

The National Standards and Medieval Music in Middle School Choral and General Music.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hawkins, Patrick; Beegle, Amy

2003-01-01

Discusses how medieval music can be utilized in the choral and general music classroom to teach middle school students and to address the National Standards for Music Education. Provides background information on medieval music, ideas for lessons, and a glossary of key terms. (CMK)

A glimpse into the early origins of medieval anatomy through the oldest conserved human dissection (Western Europe, 13th c. A.D.)

PubMed Central

Huynh-Charlier, Isabelle; Poupon, Joël; Lancelot, Eloïse; Campos, Paula F.; Favier, Dominique; Jeannel, Gaël-François; Bonati, Maurizio Rippa; de la Grandmaison, Geoffroy Lorin; Hervé, Christian

2013-01-01

Introduction Medieval autopsy practice is very poorly known in Western Europe, due to a lack of both descriptive medico-surgical texts and conserved dissected human remains. This period is currently considered the dark ages according to a common belief of systematic opposition of Christian religious authorities to the opening of human cadavers. Material and methods The identification in a private collection of an autopsied human individual dated from the 13th century A.D. is an opportunity for better knowledge of such practice in this chrono-cultural context, i.e. the early origins of occidental dissections. A complete forensic anthropological procedure was carried out, completed by radiological and elemental analyses. Results The complete procedure of this body opening and internal organs exploration is explained, and compared with historical data about forensic and anatomical autopsies from this period. During the analysis, a red substance filling all arterial cavities, made of mercury sulfide (cinnabar) mixed with vegetal oil (oleic and palmitic acids) was identified; it was presumably used to highlight vascularization by coloring in red such vessels, and help in the preservation of the body. Conclusions Of particular interest for the description of early medical and anatomical knowledge, this “human preparation” is the oldest known yet, and is particularly important for the fields of history of medicine, surgery and anatomical practice. PMID:24904674

78 FR 28274 - Culturally Significant Objects Imported for Exhibition Determinations: “Medieval Treasures from...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-05-14

... DEPARTMENT OF STATE [Public Notice 8321] Culturally Significant Objects Imported for Exhibition Determinations: ``Medieval Treasures from Hildesheim'' SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of the following... exhibition ``Medieval Treasures from Hildesheim,'' imported from abroad for temporary exhibition within the...

Medieval Universities, Legal Institutions, and the Commercial Revolution. NBER Working Paper No. 17979

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cantoni, Davide; Yuchtman, Noam

2012-01-01

We present new data documenting medieval Europe's "Commercial Revolution'' using information on the establishment of markets in Germany. We use these data to test whether medieval universities played a causal role in expanding economic activity, examining the foundation of Germany's first universities after 1386 following the Papal Schism. We…

Medieval orthopaedic history in Germany: Hieronymus Brunschwig and Hans von Gersdorff.

PubMed

Hernigou, Philippe

2015-10-01

Hans von Gerssdorff and Hieronymus Brunschwig, who flourished in Germany in the latter half of the fifteenth century, have both left early printed treatises on Surgery which give excellent woodcuts showing pictures of instruments, operations, and costumes, at the end of the medieval period. Hieronymus Brunschwig or Hieronymus Brunschwygk (ca. 1450 - ca. 1512), was a German surgeon (wundartzot), alchemist and botanist. He was notable for his methods of treatment of gunshot wounds. His most influential book was the Buch der Cirurgia. Gersdorff(1455-1529) was a military surgeon who gained wide experience during 40 years of campaigning and was an expert in the treatment of battlefield injuries. His work covers anatomy, surgery, leprosy, and glossaries of anatomical terms, diseases, and medications.

Medieval European medicine and Asian spices.

PubMed

Nam, Jong Kuk

2014-08-01

This article aimed to explain the reasons why Asian spices including pepper, ginger, and cinnamon were considered as special and valuable drugs with curative powers in the Medieval Europe. Among these spices, pepper was most widely and frequently used as medicine according to medieval medical textbooks. We analyzed three main pharmacology books written during the Middle Ages. One of the main reasons that oriental spices were widely used as medicine was due to the particular medieval medical system fundamentally based on the humoral theory invented by Hippocrates and Galen. This theory was modified by Arab physicians and imported to Europe during the Middle Ages. According to this theory, health is determined by the balance of the following four humors which compose the human body: blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. Each humor has its own qualities such as cold, hot, wet, and dry. Humoral imbalance was one of the main causes of disease, so it was important to have humoral equilibrium. Asian spices with hot and dry qualities were used to balance the cold and wet European diet. The analysis of several major medical textbooks of the Middle Ages proves that most of the oriental spices with hot and dry qualities were employed to cure diverse diseases, particularly those caused by coldness and humidity. However, it should be noted that the oriental spices were considered to be much more valuable and effective as medicines than the local medicinal ingredients, which were not only easily procured but also were relatively cheap. Europeans mystified oriental spices, with the belief that they have marvelous and mysterious healing powers. Such mystification was related to the terrestrial Paradise. They believed that the oriental spices were grown in Paradise which was located in the Far East and were brought to the Earthly world along the four rivers flowing from the Paradise.

Trends in mortality and biological stress in a medieval polish urban population.

PubMed

Betsinger, Tracy K; DeWitte, Sharon

2017-12-01

Urbanization in pre-modern populations may have had a variety of consequences related to population crowding. However, research on the effects of urbanization have provided inconsistent results regarding the biological impact of this transition on human populations. The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that urbanization caused an increase in overall biological stress in a medieval (10th-13th centuries AD) Polish population. A human skeletal sample (n=164) was examined for the presence of porotic hyperostosis, cribra orbitalia, linear enamel hypoplasia, periosteal reaction, and specific infectious diseases. Prevalence rates were compared among three temporal samples: initial urbanization, early urbanization, and later urbanization. Results indicate no significant trends for any of the pathological conditions. Cox proportional hazards analyses, however, revealed a significant increase in the risk of death over time, which supports the hypothesis. These results reflect the necessity of using multiple analyses to address bioarchaeological questions. The lack of significant results from skeletal indicators may be due to an earlier urbanization trend in the population. This study illustrates that the association of urbanization with elevated biological stress is complicated and dependent on various factors, including culture and time period. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Bone fractures as indicators of intentional violence in the eastern Adriatic from the antique to the late medieval period (2nd-16th century AD).

PubMed

Slaus, Mario; Novak, Mario; Bedić, Zeljka; Strinović, Davor

2012-09-01

To test the historically documented hypothesis of a general increase in deliberate violence in the eastern Adriatic from the antique (AN; 2nd-6th c.) through the early medieval (EM; 7th-11th c.) to the late-medieval period (LM; 12th-16th c.), an analysis of the frequency and patterning of bone trauma was conducted in three skeletal series from these time periods. A total of 1,125 adult skeletons-346 from the AN, 313 from the EM, and 466 from the LM series-were analyzed. To differentiate between intentional violence and accidental injuries, data for trauma frequencies were collected for the complete skeleton, individual long bones, and the craniofacial region as well as by type of injury (perimortem vs. antemortem). The results of our analyses show a significant temporal increase in total fracture frequencies when calculated by skeleton as well as of individuals exhibiting one skeletal indicator of deliberate violence (sharp force lesions, craniofacial injuries, "parry" fractures, or perimortem trauma). No significant temporal increases were, however, noted in the frequencies of craniofacial trauma, "parry" fractures, perimortem injuries, or of individuals exhibiting multiple skeletal indicators of intentional violence. Cumulatively, these data suggest that the temporal increase in total fracture frequencies recorded in the eastern Adriatic was caused by a combination of factors that included not only an increase of intentional violence but also a significant change in lifestyle that accompanied the transition from a relatively affluent AN urban lifestyle to a more primitive rural medieval way of life. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

"It's Like 'Lord of the Rings,' Sir. but Real!": Teaching, Learning and Sharing Medieval History for All

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eldridge, Chris

2016-01-01

Medieval history is on the rise. Among the many recent reforms in the history curriculum is a requirement for medieval themes at GCSE and across the country the new linear A-level offers fresh opportunities for teachers to look beyond the traditional diet of Tudors and modern history. The huge divide between us and the medieval mind can make the…

Frequency analysis of the delta32ccr5 HIV resistance allele in a medieval plague mass grave.

PubMed

Kremeyer, Barbara; Hummel, Susanne; Herrmann, Bernd

2005-03-01

The 32 basepair deletion in the gene for the human chemokine receptor CCR5 (delta32ccr5) conferring resistance against HIV-1 infection is present in Caucasian populations. The mutant allele is believed to have originated by a single mutational event in historic times and to have reached its present population frequency of an average 10 % in Europe through selective pressure by a pathogenic agent. Because of their great impact on European populations, the medieval Plague epidemics have been considered as a possible candidate. To test this hypothesis, we studied the delta32ccr5-frequency in 35 individuals from a mass grave containing victims of the 14th century Plague pandemic in Lübeck, Northern Germany, and compared them to the frequency in a control group from the same burial site, dating from the time before the first Plague pandemic. If the delta32ccr5 allele conferred an at least partial resistance against the medieval Plague, its frequency would be expected to be lower in those that died in the pandemic, than it was in the local population before the arrival of the Plague. The CCR5 locus could be typed successfully for 14 Plague victims and for 20 individuals from the medieval control group. We found a delta32ccr5 allelic frequency of 14.2% and 12.5%, respectively. The difference between these figures is not statistically significant. Furthermore, they are comparable to the delta32ccr5 frequency for nowadays Northern Europe. We therefore conclude that the medieval Plague pandemic has not contributed to an increase in the allelic frequency of the mutant delta32ccr5 allele and that, if there has been a positive selection of this allele, it is likely to have occurred before the 14th century and thus before the arrival of the Plague in Europe.

Opisthorchiasis in infant remains from the medieval Zeleniy Yar burial ground of XII-XIII centuries AD

PubMed Central

Slepchenko, Sergey Mikhailovich; Gusev, Alexander Vasilevich; Ivanov, Sergey Nikolaevich; Svyatova, Evgenia Olegovna

2015-01-01

We present a paleoparasitological analysis of the medieval Zeleniy Yar burial ground of the XII-XII centuries AD located in the northern part of Western Siberia. Parasite eggs, identified as eggs of Opisthorchis felineus, were found in the samples from the pelvic area of a one year old infant buried at the site. Presence of these eggs in the soil samples from the infant’s abdomen suggests that he/she was infected with opisthorchiasis and imply consumption of undercooked fish. Ethnographic records collected among the population of the northern part of Western Siberia reveal numerous cases of feeding raw fish to their children. Zeleniy Yar case of opisthorchiasis suggests that this dietary custom has persisted from at least medieval times. PMID:26602874

'Where are the lesbians in Chaucer?' Lack, opportunity and female homoeroticism in Medieval Studies today.

PubMed

Sauer, Michelle M

2007-01-01

This article explores the study of lesbians in the Middle Ages and proposes that the unstable construct of lesbian poses a problem for traditional Medieval Studies that can lead to the development in Medieval Studies of more nuanced and productive theorizing.

On the distribution of trace element concentrations in multiple bone elements in 10 Danish medieval and post-medieval individuals.

PubMed

Lund Rasmussen, Kaare; Skytte, Lilian; D'imporzano, Paolo; Orla Thomsen, Per; Søvsø, Morten; Lier Boldsen, Jesper

2017-01-01

The differences in trace element concentrations among 19 different bone elements procured from 10 archaeologically derived human skeletons have been investigated. The 10 individuals are dated archaeologically and some by radiocarbon dating to the medieval and post-medieval period, an interval from ca. AD 1150 to ca. AD 1810. This study is relevant for two reasons. First, most archaeometric studies analyze only one bone sample from each individual; so to what degree are the bones in the human body equal in trace element chemistry? Second, differences in turnover time of the bone elements makes the cortical tissues record the trace element concentrations in equilibrium with the blood stream over a longer time earlier in life than the trabecular. Therefore, any differences in trace element concentrations between the bone elements can yield what can be termed a chemical life history of the individual, revealing changes in diet, provenance, or medication throughout life. Thorough decontamination and strict exclusion of non-viable data has secured a dataset of high quality. The measurements were carried out using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (for Fe, Mn, Al, Ca, Mg, Na, Ba, Sr, Zn, Pb and As) and Cold Vapor Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (for Hg) on ca. 20 mg samples. Twelve major and trace elements have been measured on 19 bone elements from 10 different individuals interred at five cemeteries widely distributed in medieval and renaissance Denmark. The ranges of the concentrations of elements were: Na (2240-5660 µg g -1 ), Mg (440-2490 µg g -1 ), Al (9-2030 µg g -1 ), Ca (22-36 wt. %), Mn (5-11450 µg g -1 ), Fe (32-41850 µg g -1 ), Zn (69-2610 µg g -1 ), As (0.4-120 µg g -1 ), Sr (101-815 µg g -1 ), Ba (8-880 µg g -1 ), Hg (7-78730 ng g -1 ), and Pb (0.8-426 µg g -1 ). It is found that excess As is mainly of diagenetic origin. The results support that Ba and Sr concentrations are effective provenance or dietary indicators. Migrating

Protracted fluvial recovery from medieval earthquakes, Pokhara, Nepal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stolle, Amelie; Bernhardt, Anne; Schwanghart, Wolfgang; Andermann, Christoff; Schönfeldt, Elisabeth; Seidemann, Jan; Adhikari, Basanta R.; Merchel, Silke; Rugel, Georg; Fort, Monique; Korup, Oliver

2016-04-01

River response to strong earthquake shaking in mountainous terrain often entails the flushing of sediments delivered by widespread co-seismic landsliding. Detailed mass-balance studies following major earthquakes in China, Taiwan, and New Zealand suggest fluvial recovery times ranging from several years to decades. We report a detailed chronology of earthquake-induced valley fills in the Pokhara region of western-central Nepal, and demonstrate that rivers continue to adjust to several large medieval earthquakes to the present day, thus challenging the notion of transient fluvial response to seismic disturbance. The Pokhara valley features one of the largest and most extensively dated sedimentary records of earthquake-triggered sedimentation in the Himalayas, and independently augments paleo-seismological archives obtained mainly from fault trenches and historic documents. New radiocarbon dates from the catastrophically deposited Pokhara Formation document multiple phases of extremely high geomorphic activity between ˜700 and ˜1700 AD, preserved in thick sequences of alternating fluvial conglomerates, massive mud and silt beds, and cohesive debris-flow deposits. These dated fan-marginal slackwater sediments indicate pronounced sediment pulses in the wake of at least three large medieval earthquakes in ˜1100, 1255, and 1344 AD. We combine these dates with digital elevation models, geological maps, differential GPS data, and sediment logs to estimate the extent of these three pulses that are characterized by sedimentation rates of ˜200 mm yr-1 and peak rates as high as 1,000 mm yr-1. Some 5.5 to 9 km3 of material infilled the pre-existing topography, and is now prone to ongoing fluvial dissection along major canyons. Contemporary river incision into the Pokhara Formation is rapid (120-170 mm yr-1), triggering widespread bank erosion, channel changes, and very high sediment yields of the order of 103 to 105 t km-2 yr-1, that by far outweigh bedrock denudation rates

Histological analysis on the medieval mummy in Korea.

PubMed

Shin, Dong Hoon; Youn, Minyoung; Chang, Byung Soo

2003-11-26

Recently, there have been some reports on the mummies from the medieval tombs in Korea, which were not made on purpose. Although these mummies could be an invaluable source for the studies on the physical state of medieval Koreans, there were not any reports on this subject until now. In this study, we first tried to investigate the various tissues using light- and electron-microscopic techniques. In the organs we have examined, even though the collagen fibers were profusely found within all of them, some types of cells, such as red blood cells, chondrocytes, hepatocyte and muscle cells, were also visible in various tissues. The histological characteristics of the current case seemed to be well matched with the previous study in general even though there were also somewhat different findings from the previous reports on the mummies. Although the cause of the mummification in Korea was not completely explained, we think that the cause in this case could be correlated with cultural aspects--not with natural conditions--because the mummies were only found in cases where the lime-soil barrier was maintained until their discovery, and which separated the inner space of the coffins from the outer space. As similar cases are frequently reported nowadays, invaluable data on the physical status of the medieval Koreans could be attainable if systemic investigation could be performed on similar cases which are found in the future.

Articular Eminence Inclination in Medieval and Contemporary Croatian Population

PubMed

Kranjčić, Josip; Šlaus, Mario; Vodanović, Marin; Peršić, Sanja; Vojvodić, Denis

2016-12-01

Articular eminence inclination (AEI) of the temporomandibular joint leads the mandible in its movements. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to determine AEI values in medieval (MP) and recent (RP) Croatian population. The study was carried out on two groups of specimens: first group with 30 MP human dry skulls, while the other, serving as control group consisted of 137 dry skulls. The AEI was measured on lateral digital skull images as the angle between the best fi t line drawn along the posterior wall of the articular eminence and the Frankfurt horizontal plane. No statistically significant (p>0.05) differences between the left and right side AEI were found between MP skulls and RP skulls. The mean value of MP AEI was 45.5˚, with a range of 20.9˚-64˚. The mean RP AEI value was steeper (61.99˚), with a range of 30˚-94˚. Difference between the mean MP and RP AEI values was statistically significant (p<0.05). Values of AEI vary a lot. Nonsignificant differences between the left and right side AEI confirmed the natural left-right side asymmetry. The values of AEI differ between the RP and MP groups, most probably due to different type of food consumption in medieval time, and consequently different masticatory loads and forces.

Sleep paralysis in medieval Persia – the Hidayat of Akhawayni (?–983 AD)

PubMed Central

Golzari, Samad EJ; Khodadoust, Kazem; Alakbarli, Farid; Ghabili, Kamyar; Islambulchilar, Ziba; Shoja, Mohammadali M; Khalili, Majid; Abbasnejad, Feridoon; Sheikholeslamzadeh, Niloufar; Shahabi, Nasrollah Moghaddam; Hosseini, Seyed Fazel; Ansarin, Khalil

2012-01-01

Among the first three manuscripts written in Persian, Akhawayni’s Hidayat al-muta’allemin fi al-tibb was the most significant work compiled in the 10th century. Along with the hundreds of chapters on hygiene, anatomy, physiology, symptoms and treatments of the diseases of various organs, there is a chapter on sleep paralysis (night-mare) prior to description and treatment of epilepsy. The present article is a review of the Akhawayni’s teachings on sleep paralysis and of descriptions and treatments of sleep paralysis by the Greek, medieval, and Renaissance scholars. Akhawayni’s descriptions along with other early writings provide insight into sleep paralysis during the Middle Ages in general and in Persia in particular. PMID:22701323

High-resolution paleoclimatology of the Santa Barbara Basin during the Medieval Climate Anomaly and early Little Ice Age based on diatom and silicoflagellate assemblages in Kasten core SPR0901-02KC

USGS Publications Warehouse

Barron, John A.; Bukry, David B.; Hendy, Ingrid L.

2015-01-01

Diatom and silicoflagellate assemblages documented in a high-resolution time series spanning 800 to 1600 AD in varved sediment recovered in Kasten core SPR0901-02KC (34°16.845’ N, 120°02.332’ W, water depth 588 m) from the Santa Barbara Basin (SBB) reveal that SBB surface water conditions during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) and the early part of the Little Ice Age (LIA) were not extreme by modern standards, mostly falling within one standard deviation of mean conditions during the pre anthropogenic interval of 1748 to 1900. No clear differences between the character of MCA and the early LIA conditions are apparent. During intervals of extreme droughts identified by terrigenous proxy scanning XRF analyses, diatom and silicoflagellate proxies for coastal upwelling typically exceed one standard deviation above mean values for 1748-1900, supporting the hypothesis that droughts in southern California are associated with cooler (or La Niña-like) sea surface temperatures (SSTs). Increased percentages of diatoms transported downslope generally coincide with intervals of increased siliciclastic flux to the SBB identified by scanning XRF analyses. Diatom assemblages suggest only two intervals of the MCA (at ~897 to 922 and ~1151 to 1167) when proxy SSTs exceeded one standard deviation above mean values for 1748 to 1900. Conversely, silicoflagellates imply extreme warm water events only at ~830 to 860 (early MCA) and ~1360 to 1370 (early LIA) that are not supported by the diatom data. Silicoflagellates appear to be more suitable for characterizing average climate during the 5 to 11 year-long sample intervals studied in the SPR0901-02KC core than diatoms, probably because diatom relative abundances may be dominated by seasonal blooms of a particular year.

Constructing Apprenticeship: A Contemporary Interpretation of Medieval Change.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pannabecker, John R.

1991-01-01

A social constructivist approach is used to study apprenticeship in the textile industry in medieval Paris. Issues of inertia, the dynamics of change, diversity, access to corporations, and the effect of social interactions and conflict on solving problems are examined. (SK)

On the threshold of adulthood: A new approach for the use of maturation indicators to assess puberty in adolescents from medieval England.

PubMed

Lewis, Mary; Shapland, Fiona; Watts, Rebecca

2016-01-01

This study provides the first large scale analysis of the age at which adolescents in medieval England entered and completed the pubertal growth spurt. This new method has implications for expanding our knowledge of adolescent maturation across different time periods and regions. In total, 994 adolescent skeletons (10-25 years) from four urban sites in medieval England (AD 900-1550) were analyzed for evidence of pubertal stage using new osteological techniques developed from the clinical literature (i.e., hamate hook development, cervical vertebral maturation (CVM), canine mineralization, iliac crest ossification, and radial fusion). Adolescents began puberty at a similar age to modern children at around 10-12 years, but the onset of menarche in girls was delayed by up to 3 years, occurring around 15 for most in the study sample and 17 years for females living in London. Modern European males usually complete their maturation by 16-18 years; medieval males took longer with the deceleration stage of the growth spurt extending as late as 21 years. This research provides the first attempt to directly assess the age of pubertal development in adolescents during the 10th-17th centuries. Poor diet, infections, and physical exertion may have contributed to delayed development in the medieval adolescents, particularly for those living in the city of London. This study sheds new light on the nature of adolescence in the medieval period, highlighting an extended period of physical and social transition. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Diabetes and related remedies in medieval Persian medicine

PubMed Central

Zarshenas, Mohammad M.; Khademian, Sedigheh; Moein, Mahmoodreza

2014-01-01

Diabetes Mellitus is a common metabolic disorder presenting increased amounts of serum glucose and will cover 5.4% of population by year 2025. Accordingly, this review was performed to gather and discuss the stand points on diagnosis, pathophysiology, non-pharmacological therapy and drug management of diabetes this disorder as described in medieval Persian medicine. To this, reports on diabetes were collected and analyzed from selected medical and pharmaceutical textbooks of Traditional Persian Medicine. A search on databases as Pubmed, Sciencedirect, Scopus and Google scholar was also performed to reconfirm the Anti diabetic activities of reported herbs. The term, Ziabites, was used to describe what is now spoken as diabetes. It was reported that Ziabites, is highly associated with kidney function. Etiologically, Ziabites was characterized as kidney hot or cold dystemperament as well as diffusion of fluid from other organs such as liver and intestines into the kidneys. This disorder was categorized into main types as hot (Ziabites-e-har) and cold (Ziabites-e-barid) as well as sweet urine (Bole-e-shirin). Most medieval cite signs of Ziabites were remarked as unusual and excessive thirst, frequent urination and polydipsia. On the management, life style modification and observing the essential rules of prevention in Persian medicine as well as herbal therapy and special simple manipulations were recommended. Current investigation was done to clarify the knowledge of medieval scientists on diabetes and related interventions. Reported remedies which are based on centuries of experience might be of beneficial for- further studies to the management of diabetes. PMID:24741508

Sex estimation standards for medieval and contemporary Croats

PubMed Central

Bašić, Željana; Kružić, Ivana; Jerković, Ivan; Anđelinović, Deny; Anđelinović, Šimun

2017-01-01

Aim To develop discriminant functions for sex estimation on medieval Croatian population and test their application on contemporary Croatian population. Methods From a total of 519 skeletons, we chose 84 adult excellently preserved skeletons free of antemortem and postmortem changes and took all standard measurements. Sex was estimated/determined using standard anthropological procedures and ancient DNA (amelogenin analysis) where pelvis was insufficiently preserved or where sex morphological indicators were not consistent. We explored which measurements showed sexual dimorphism and used them for developing univariate and multivariate discriminant functions for sex estimation. We included only those functions that reached accuracy rate ≥80%. We tested the applicability of developed functions on modern Croatian sample (n = 37). Results From 69 standard skeletal measurements used in this study, 56 of them showed statistically significant sexual dimorphism (74.7%). We developed five univariate discriminant functions with classification rate 80.6%-85.2% and seven multivariate discriminant functions with an accuracy rate of 81.8%-93.0%. When tested on the modern population functions showed classification rates 74.1%-100%, and ten of them reached aimed accuracy rate. Females showed higher classification rates in the medieval populations, whereas males were better classified in the modern populations. Conclusion Developed discriminant functions are sufficiently accurate for reliable sex estimation in both medieval Croatian population and modern Croatian samples and may be used in forensic settings. The methodological issues that emerged regarding the importance of considering external factors in development and application of discriminant functions for sex estimation should be further explored. PMID:28613039

The basis of the modern medical hygiene in the medieval Medical School of Salerno.

PubMed

Bifulco, Maurizio; Capunzo, Mario; Marasco, Magda; Pisanti, Simona

2015-01-01

The link between hygiene and the concept of transmission of infective diseases was established earlier than the birth of microbiology, thanks to the studies of two neglected physicians of maternity clinic, Ignác Fülöp Semmelweis and Oliver Holmes, in the mid-1800s. Surprisingly, centuries earlier, a medieval women physician, Trotula de Ruggiero, introduced for the first time the notion of diseases’ prevention, highlighting the importance of the association of personal hygiene, balanced nutrition and physical activity for better health. Moreover, she was particularly concerned of hands hygiene for the midwives during child birth, to preserve the good health of both the mother and the baby. She practiced inside the medieval Medical School of Salerno, whose main text, the “Regimen Sanitatis Salerni” has an entire part dedicated to hygiene, providing hygienic precepts that anticipate the concepts derived from the revolutionary discoveries in medical science only centuries later.

Medieval emergence of sweet melons, Cucumis melo (Cucurbitaceae).

PubMed

Paris, Harry S; Amar, Zohar; Lev, Efraim

2012-07-01

Sweet melons, Cucumis melo, are a widely grown and highly prized crop. While melons were familiar in antiquity, they were grown mostly for use of the young fruits, which are similar in appearance and taste to cucumbers, C. sativus. The time and place of emergence of sweet melons is obscure, but they are generally thought to have reached Europe from the east near the end of the 15th century. The objective of the present work was to determine where and when truly sweet melons were first developed. Given their large size and sweetness, melons are often confounded with watermelons, Citrullus lanatus, so a list was prepared of the characteristics distinguishing between them. An extensive search of literature from the Roman and medieval periods was conducted and the findings were considered in their context against this list and particularly in regard to the use of the word 'melon' and of adjectives for sweetness and colour. Medieval lexicographies and an illustrated Arabic translation of Dioscorides' herbal suggest that sweet melons were present in Central Asia in the mid-9th century. A travelogue description indicates the presence of sweet melons in Khorasan and Persia by the mid-10th century. Agricultural literature from Andalusia documents the growing of sweet melons, evidently casabas (Inodorous Group), there by the second half of the 11th century, which probably arrived from Central Asia as a consequence of Islamic conquest, trade and agricultural development. Climate and geopolitical boundaries were the likely causes of the delay in the spread of sweet melons into the rest of Europe.

[Evidence of health culture in medieval statute of Budva].

PubMed

Milovic Karic, Grozdana; Milovic, Dorde

2010-01-01

The Statute of Budva dates from the time of Nemanjics. This medieval document was approved at the time Budva was under venetian dominion and remained in force until the end of the Venetian Republic. During 17th century the Statute was translated into the Italian language. The document includes regulations which indicate a concern for the health of the public. Among the regulations is one which prohibit the sale of fisch outside the stalls of the fishmarket presumably to ensure the sale of only fresh fish. Another regulation prohibits the sale of dead animals, the sale of dog's meat instead od wether meat. There is also language indicating a concern for protecting the cleanliness of brooks, rivers and wells. Corporal punishment is mentioned but only with regard to whipping and beheading.

[Women, bodies, and Hebrew medieval medical literature].

PubMed

Navas, Carmen Caballero

2008-01-01

This essay explores different views on the female body articulated within Hebrew medieval texts on women's health care. It also investigates whether texts also integrate women's own perceptions of their bodies, and of their needs and care. I have analysed how this genre of Hebrew literature understood two key issues in the construction of sexed bodies: menstruation and cosmetics.

Bernard de Gordon (fl. 1270-1330): medieval physician and teacher.

PubMed

Pearn, John

2013-02-01

The Montpellier physician Bernard de Gordon flourished in the late Middle Ages in the era when university education first evolved in the training of European physicians. Fragmentary details of his life and medical influence are known from seven books, particularly his extensive (163 chapters) text Lilium Medicine and from Chaucer's reference to him in the Canterbury Tales. Chaucer lists Bernard de Gordon as one whose writings were part of the core curriculum of the best-trained European doctors of medieval Europe. Bernard de Gordon was one of that small group of medieval physicians who reverently followed Galenic lore which had endured for a thousand years yet who began to challenge its details and to experiment clinically with new methods of treatment. In his writings, Bernard de Gordon made the first reference to spectacles and to the hernial truss. His writings also contained detailed desiderata for the ethical best practice of medicine of his day, extending the principles of both Hippocrates and Haly ibn Abbas. Unlike many of the surviving writings of other medieval medical teachers, his texts have within them a tone of humility and acknowledged fallibility. Bernard de Gordon holds a small but significant place in the evolving pre-Renaissance chronology of medical professionalism.

SharedCanvas: A Collaborative Model for Medieval Manuscript Layout Dissemination

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sanderson, Robert D.; Albritton, Benjamin; Schwemmer, Rafael

2011-01-01

In this paper we present a model based on the principles of Linked Data that can be used to describe the interrelationships of images, texts and other resources to facilitate the interoperability of repositories of medieval manuscripts or other culturally important handwritten documents. The model is designed from a set of requirements derived from the real world use cases of some of the largest digitized medieval content holders, and instantiations of the model are intended as the input to collection-independent page turning and scholarly presentation interfaces. A canvas painting paradigm, such as in PDF and SVG, was selected based onmore » the lack of a one to one correlation between image and page, and to fulfill complex requirements such as when the full text of a page is known, but only fragments of the physical object remain. The model is implemented using technologies such as OAI-ORE Aggregations and OAC Annotations, as the fundamental building blocks of emerging Linked Digital Libraries. The model and implementation are evaluated through prototypes of both content providing and consuming applications. Although the system was designed from requirements drawn from the medieval manuscript domain, it is applicable to any layout-oriented presentation of images of text.« less

Carabelli's trait in contemporary Slovenes and inhabitants of a medieval settlement (Sredisce by the Drava River).

PubMed

Stamfelj, Iztok; Stefancić, Marija; Gaspersic, Dominik; Cvetko, Erika

2006-06-01

The objectives of this study were to determine the total frequency, expression and asymmetry of Carabelli's trait in permanent dentitions of contemporary Slovenes and a medieval skeletal population from northeastern Slovenia. A total of 254 dental casts from contemporary Slovene children were examined. The population of a medieval settlement (10th-15th centuries), was represented by 94 skeletons. A modification of the method of Alvesalo and associates was used to classify Carabelli's trait on a five-grade scale. The trait was expressed on the upper first molars of 79.7% of the contemporary subjects and 75.8% of the medieval sample. Positive expressions of the trait were found in 10.1% of the contemporary subjects and 15.2% of the medieval sample. While the observed total frequency of the trait in both samples is characteristic of Europeans, the rates of positive expressions are surprisingly low but consistent with data from a recently published worldwide literature survey. Both populations showed a low rate of left-right fluctuating asymmetry of the trait. This finding might reflect a pronounced ability of individuals in the medieval population to buffer unfavourable influences from the environment and a relatively low level of environmental stress in the contemporary population.

Nonmetric cranial trait variation and population history of medieval East Slavic tribes.

PubMed

Movsesian, Alla A

2013-12-01

The population history of the East Slavs is complicated. There are still many unanswered questions relating to the origins and formation of the East Slavic gene pool. The aims of the current study were as follows: (1) to assess the degree of biological affinity in medieval East Slavic tribes and to test the hypothesis that East Slavic peoples have a common origin; (2) to show their genetic connections to the autochthonous populations of the northern part of Eastern Europe (Baltic and Finno-Ugric tribes); and (3) to identify a genetic continuity between the bearers of Chernyakhov culture and medieval Eastern Slavs. In this study, nonmetric cranial trait data for medieval East Slavic tribes and comparative samples from unrelated groups were examined. Analyzes of phenotypic differentiation were based on Nei's standard genetic distance and hierarchical GST statistics. The results obtained suggest that the genetic affinity of the East Slavic tribes is due not only to inter-tribal gene flow, but is, more importantly, a result of their common population history. Evidence of gene flow from the Baltic and Finno-Ugric groups was showed in the gene pool of Eastern Slavs, as was genetic continuity between medieval East Slavic tribes and the populations of the preceding Chernyakhov culture. These findings support a "generalizing" hypothesis of East Slavic origin, in which a Slavic community was formed in some particular ancestral area, and subsequently spread throughout Eastern Europe. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Finding the lost arches of the Medieval Avignon's Bridge (Avignon, Provence, South France): a geoarchaeological approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghilardi, M.; Vella, M. A.; Hermitte, D.; Parisot, J. C.; Dussouillez, P.; Fleury, T. J.; Provansal, M.; Delanghe-Sabatier, D.; Demory, F.; Mathé, P. E.; Quesnel, Y.; Danos, S.; Balossino, S.; Delpey, Y.; Hartmann-Virnich, A.; Berthelot, M.

2012-04-01

This papers aims to precisely locate the medieval arches of the so called Avignon's (Saint Bénézet) Bridge (South France) and to reconstruct the fluvial dynamics of the Rhone River from Early Medieval Times to the 19th century. Until now, just four remnant arches are still visible (near Avignon) and it is estimated that 22 arches (which represents a total length of approximately 920 meters) were built to span over one of the largest French Rivers. The late roman and early mediaeval dates of several foundation poles extracted from the river bed might suggest the existence of an earlier bridge, though it remains uncertain if any of such an earlier structure was still visible when the first mediaeval bridge was built. The mediaeval bridge was erected from 1177 until 1185 (in less than 10 years), but modified a few decades later when stone arches were erected, thus raising the road level substantially. The structure of the bridge being vulnerable, seasonal floods proved a neverending threat and cause of damage which was frequently repaired with masonry or wood. Final abandon of the edifice could be placed in the late 1660s - Early 1670s according to historical sources. Questions arose about the location of the "lost arches" and evident flood events dated back to the Little Ice Age (e.g. 1500 to 1850) could be responsible of the partial destruction of the bridge. Few archaeological, architectural, historical and palaeoenvironmental works have been undertaken in order to determine the precise shape of the Saint Bénézet Bridge at certain stages of its history. Since 2010, a joint team composed by laboratories affiliated to the French Public Research Centre (CNRS) and to Universities of Avignon and of Aix-Marseille 1 is trying to link the different phases of constructions/destructions of the monument with the fluvial dynamics of the Rhone River for the concerned period (ANR PAVAGE). The geoarchaeological approach adopted comprises bathymetric surveys (SONAR and

Advice concerning pregnancy and health in late medieval Europe: peasant women's wisdom in The Distaff Gospels.

PubMed

Garay, Kathleen; Jeay, Madeleine

2007-01-01

This paper explores an area which has proven difficult for scholars to penetrate: women's popular wisdom concerning medical matters in the later medieval period. Contextualized within an examination of medieval medical texts both by and about women, our discussion focuses on a later 15th-century French work, The Distaff Gospels. This text, published recently in English for the first time since 1510, consists of more than 200 pieces of advice or "gospels," ostensibly conveyed to one another by a group of women who met together during the long winter evenings to spin. A significant portion of the advice might be considered "medical" in nature; it is grouped into two broad categories: pregnancy and health. We conclude that although our text is male mediated, it provides a reliable and valuable guide to peasant women's medical lore during this period.

DNA and bone structure preservation in medieval human skeletons.

PubMed

Coulson-Thomas, Yvette M; Norton, Andrew L; Coulson-Thomas, Vivien J; Florencio-Silva, Rinaldo; Ali, Nadir; Elmrghni, Samir; Gil, Cristiane D; Sasso, Gisela R S; Dixon, Ronald A; Nader, Helena B

2015-06-01

Morphological and ultrastructural data from archaeological human bones are scarce, particularly data that have been correlated with information on the preservation of molecules such as DNA. Here we examine the bone structure of macroscopically well-preserved medieval human skeletons by transmission electron microscopy and immunohistochemistry, and the quantity and quality of DNA extracted from these skeletons. DNA technology has been increasingly used for analyzing physical evidence in archaeological forensics; however, the isolation of ancient DNA is difficult since it is highly degraded, extraction yields are low and the co-extraction of PCR inhibitors is a problem. We adapted and optimised a method that is frequently used for isolating DNA from modern samples, Chelex(®) 100 (Bio-Rad) extraction, for isolating DNA from archaeological human bones and teeth. The isolated DNA was analysed by real-time PCR using primers targeting the sex determining region on the Y chromosome (SRY) and STR typing using the AmpFlSTR(®) Identifiler PCR Amplification kit. Our results clearly show the preservation of bone matrix in medieval bones and the presence of intact osteocytes with well preserved encapsulated nuclei. In addition, we show how effective Chelex(®) 100 is for isolating ancient DNA from archaeological bones and teeth. This optimised method is suitable for STR typing using kits aimed specifically at degraded and difficult DNA templates since amplicons of up to 250bp were successfully amplified. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Brief and precarious lives: infant mortality in contrasting sites from medieval and post-medieval England (AD 850-1859).

PubMed

Lewis, Mary E; Gowland, Rebecca

2007-09-01

This study compares the infant mortality profiles of 128 infants from two urban and two rural cemetery sites in medieval England. The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of urbanization and industrialization in terms of endogenous or exogenous causes of death. In order to undertake this analysis, two different methods of estimating gestational age from long bone lengths were used: a traditional regression method and a Bayesian method. The regression method tended to produce more marked peaks at 38 weeks, while the Bayesian method produced a broader range of ages and were more comparable with the expected "natural" mortality profiles.At all the sites, neonatal mortality (28-40 weeks) outweighed post-neonatal mortality (41-48 weeks) with rural Raunds Furnells in Northamptonshire, showing the highest number of neonatal deaths and post-medieval Spitalfields, London, showing a greater proportion of deaths due to exogenous or environmental factors. Of the four sites under study, Wharram Percy in Yorkshire showed the most convincing "natural" infant mortality profile, suggesting the inclusion of all births at the site (i.e., stillbirths and unbaptised infants). (c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Medieval iconography of watermelons in Mediterranean Europe.

PubMed

Paris, Harry S; Daunay, Marie-Christine; Janick, Jules

2013-09-01

The watermelon, Citrullus lanatus (Cucurbitaceae), is an important fruit vegetable in the warmer regions of the world. Watermelons were illustrated in Mediterranean Antiquity, but not as frequently as some other cucurbits. Little is known concerning the watermelons of Mediterranean Europe during medieval times. With the objective of obtaining an improved understanding of watermelon history and diversity in this region, medieval drawings purportedly of watermelons were collected, examined and compared for originality, detail and accuracy. The oldest manuscript found that contains an accurate, informative image of watermelon is the Tractatus de herbis, British Library ms. Egerton 747, which was produced in southern Italy, around the year 1300. A dozen more original illustrations were found, most of them from Italy, produced during the ensuing two centuries that can be positively identified as watermelon. In most herbal-type manuscripts, the foliage is depicted realistically, the plants shown as having long internodes, alternate leaves with pinnatifid leaf laminae, and the fruits are small, round and striped. The manuscript that contains the most detailed and accurate image of watermelon is the Carrara Herbal, British Library ms. Egerton 2020. In the agriculture-based manuscripts, the foliage, if depicted, is not accurate, but variation in the size, shape and coloration of the fruits is evident. Both red-flesh and white-flesh watermelons are illustrated, corresponding to the typical sweet dessert watermelons so common today and the insipid citron watermelons, respectively. The variation in watermelon fruit size, shape and coloration depicted in the illustrations indicates that at least six cultivars of watermelon are represented, three of which probably had red, sweet flesh and three of which appear to have been citrons. Evidently, citron watermelons were more common in Mediterranean Europe in the past than they are today.

Medieval iconography of watermelons in Mediterranean Europe

PubMed Central

Paris, Harry S.; Daunay, Marie-Christine; Janick, Jules

2013-01-01

Background and Aims The watermelon, Citrullus lanatus (Cucurbitaceae), is an important fruit vegetable in the warmer regions of the world. Watermelons were illustrated in Mediterranean Antiquity, but not as frequently as some other cucurbits. Little is known concerning the watermelons of Mediterranean Europe during medieval times. With the objective of obtaining an improved understanding of watermelon history and diversity in this region, medieval drawings purportedly of watermelons were collected, examined and compared for originality, detail and accuracy. Findings The oldest manuscript found that contains an accurate, informative image of watermelon is the Tractatus de herbis, British Library ms. Egerton 747, which was produced in southern Italy, around the year 1300. A dozen more original illustrations were found, most of them from Italy, produced during the ensuing two centuries that can be positively identified as watermelon. In most herbal-type manuscripts, the foliage is depicted realistically, the plants shown as having long internodes, alternate leaves with pinnatifid leaf laminae, and the fruits are small, round and striped. The manuscript that contains the most detailed and accurate image of watermelon is the Carrara Herbal, British Library ms. Egerton 2020. In the agriculture-based manuscripts, the foliage, if depicted, is not accurate, but variation in the size, shape and coloration of the fruits is evident. Both red-flesh and white-flesh watermelons are illustrated, corresponding to the typical sweet dessert watermelons so common today and the insipid citron watermelons, respectively. The variation in watermelon fruit size, shape and coloration depicted in the illustrations indicates that at least six cultivars of watermelon are represented, three of which probably had red, sweet flesh and three of which appear to have been citrons. Evidently, citron watermelons were more common in Mediterranean Europe in the past than they are today. PMID:23904443

Genome-wide comparison of medieval and modern Mycobacterium leprae.

PubMed

Schuenemann, Verena J; Singh, Pushpendra; Mendum, Thomas A; Krause-Kyora, Ben; Jäger, Günter; Bos, Kirsten I; Herbig, Alexander; Economou, Christos; Benjak, Andrej; Busso, Philippe; Nebel, Almut; Boldsen, Jesper L; Kjellström, Anna; Wu, Huihai; Stewart, Graham R; Taylor, G Michael; Bauer, Peter; Lee, Oona Y-C; Wu, Houdini H T; Minnikin, David E; Besra, Gurdyal S; Tucker, Katie; Roffey, Simon; Sow, Samba O; Cole, Stewart T; Nieselt, Kay; Krause, Johannes

2013-07-12

Leprosy was endemic in Europe until the Middle Ages. Using DNA array capture, we have obtained genome sequences of Mycobacterium leprae from skeletons of five medieval leprosy cases from the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Denmark. In one case, the DNA was so well preserved that full de novo assembly of the ancient bacterial genome could be achieved through shotgun sequencing alone. The ancient M. leprae sequences were compared with those of 11 modern strains, representing diverse genotypes and geographic origins. The comparisons revealed remarkable genomic conservation during the past 1000 years, a European origin for leprosy in the Americas, and the presence of an M. leprae genotype in medieval Europe now commonly associated with the Middle East. The exceptional preservation of M. leprae biomarkers, both DNA and mycolic acids, in ancient skeletons has major implications for palaeomicrobiology and human pathogen evolution.

A spectroscopic study of Brazilwood paints in medieval books of hours.

PubMed

Melo, Maria João; Otero, Vanessa; Vitorino, Tatiana; Araújo, Rita; Muralha, Vânia S F; Lemos, Ana; Picollo, Marcello

2014-01-01

In this work, microspectrofluorimetry was for the first time applied to the identification of the red organic lakes that are characteristic of the lavish illuminations found in 15(th) century books of hours. Microspectrofluorimetry identified those red paints, ranging from opaque pink to dark red glazes, as brazilwood lakes. An unequivocal characterization was achieved by comparison with reference paints produced following recipes from the medieval treatise The Book on How to Make Colours, and was further confirmed by fiber optic reflectance spectroscopy (FORS). For these treasured cultural objects, microspectrofluorimetry and FORS proved to be the only techniques that could identify, in situ or in microsamples, the chromophore responsible for the pinkish hues: a brazilein-Al(3+) complex. Additionally, a multi-analytical approach provided a full characterization of the color paints, including pigments, additives, and binders. Microspectroscopic techniques, based on infrared and X-ray radiation, enabled us to disclose the full palette of these medieval manuscripts, including the elusive greens, for which, besides malachite, basic copper sulfates were found; Raman microscopy suggested a mixture of brochantite and langite. Infrared analysis proved invaluable for a full characterization of the additives that were applied as fillers or whites (chalk, gypsum, and white lead) as well as the proteinaceous and polysaccharide binders that were found pure or in mixture.

"La Chanson de Roland" in the Elementary School Classroom: A Case for Medieval Literature and Young Language Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Petry, Karla L.

1981-01-01

Describes successful experiment in teaching of medieval literature to elementary French language classes in the Cincinnati public schools. Purpose was to strengthen linguistic awareness and expand social studies unit on medieval France. (BK)

A medieval physician: Amirdovlat Amasiatsi (1420-1495).

PubMed

Gurunluoglu, Aslin; Gurunluoglu, Raffi; Hakobyan, Tatevik

2016-01-01

We aimed to acquaint the reader with a medieval physician, Amirdovlat Amasiatsi, who lived and practiced in the 15th century Anatolia. Amirdovlat wrote several books on medicine mainly focusing on phytotherapy and pharmacology using medicinal plants, animal-derived products and minerals. All his works were written in Middle Armenian, spoken Armenian language of the time. In his writings, Amirdovlat described unique recipes that represent a portrayal of medical knowledge and practice at the time in Anatolia where he lived and worked. He discussed the physical and therapeutic properties as well as geographic distributions of various plants and minerals, using different languages, mainly Turkish, Greek, Arabic, French and Persian. Amirdovlat's works not only enhanced our understanding of Armenian medical practices but also provided great deal of information on those of Ancient Greco-Roman as well as Islamic world, demonstrating close relationship of Armenian medicine with Greco-Roman and Islamic medicine. Amirdovlat accomplished this by amalgamating the past and contemporary practices of his time. In this regard, Amirdovlat's works, in particular "Useless for the Ignorant", are very unique playing a significant role in preserving traditions and heritage of different cultures.

Medieval emergence of sweet melons, Cucumis melo (Cucurbitaceae)

PubMed Central

Paris, Harry S.; Amar, Zohar; Lev, Efraim

2012-01-01

Background Sweet melons, Cucumis melo, are a widely grown and highly prized crop. While melons were familiar in antiquity, they were grown mostly for use of the young fruits, which are similar in appearance and taste to cucumbers, C. sativus. The time and place of emergence of sweet melons is obscure, but they are generally thought to have reached Europe from the east near the end of the 15th century. The objective of the present work was to determine where and when truly sweet melons were first developed. Methods Given their large size and sweetness, melons are often confounded with watermelons, Citrullus lanatus, so a list was prepared of the characteristics distinguishing between them. An extensive search of literature from the Roman and medieval periods was conducted and the findings were considered in their context against this list and particularly in regard to the use of the word ‘melon’ and of adjectives for sweetness and colour. Findings Medieval lexicographies and an illustrated Arabic translation of Dioscorides' herbal suggest that sweet melons were present in Central Asia in the mid-9th century. A travelogue description indicates the presence of sweet melons in Khorasan and Persia by the mid-10th century. Agricultural literature from Andalusia documents the growing of sweet melons, evidently casabas (Inodorous Group), there by the second half of the 11th century, which probably arrived from Central Asia as a consequence of Islamic conquest, trade and agricultural development. Climate and geopolitical boundaries were the likely causes of the delay in the spread of sweet melons into the rest of Europe. PMID:22648880

Stable isotope evidence for sex- and status-based variations in diet and life history at medieval Trino Vercellese, Italy.

PubMed

Reitsema, Laurie J; Vercellotti, Giuseppe

2012-08-01

The medieval period in Europe was a time of unprecedented social complexity that affected human diet. The diets of certain subgroups-for example, children, women, and the poor-are chronically underrepresented in historical sources from the medieval period. To better understand diet and the distribution of foods during the medieval period, we investigated stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios of 30 individuals from Trino Vercellese, Northern Italy (8th-13th c.). Specifically, we examined diet differences between subgroups (males and females, and high- and low-status individuals), and diet change throughout the life course among these groups by comparing dentine and bone collagen. Our results show a diet based on terrestrial resources with input from C(4) plants, which could include proso and/or foxtail millet. Diets of low-status males differ from those of females (both status groups) and of high-status males. These differences develop in adulthood. Childhood diets are similar among the subgroups, but sex- and status-based differences appear in adulthood. We discuss the possibility of cultural buffering and dietary selectivity of females and high-status individuals. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Medieval Day at Reynolds: An Interdisciplinary Learning Event

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morrison, Nancy S.

2012-01-01

Medieval Day at Reynolds turned a typical Friday class day into an interdisciplinary learning event, which joined faculty and students into a community of learners. From classrooms issued tales of Viking and Mongol conquests, religious crusaders, deadly plague, and majestic cathedrals and art, all told by costumed faculty members with expertise in…

Long life, natural death. The learned ideal of dying in late medieval commentaries on Avicenna's Canon.

PubMed

van 't Land, Karine

2014-01-01

Within late medieval learned medicine, natural death functioned both as a theoretical concept and as a goal for practice. Late medieval commentaries on Avicenna's Canon are used as source material in this study, in order to investigate the ways in which these learned medical authors envisaged natural death. The findings are compared to descriptions of natural death by natural philosophers, and to ideals of dying in broader medieval culture. According to the physicians, natural death was caused by the extinction of innate heat, due to a lack of innate moisture. They discussed natural death in relation to regimen, as the right regimen protected the body's heat and moisture, and thus helped a patient to keep natural death aloof. So, in order to think about natural death, the physicians turned to the whole of life, during which heat dried out moisture and regimens ought to be followed. By contrast, natural philosophers tended to focus on the moment of death itself. The comparison of natural death with the Good Death in broad medieval culture highlights the amoral nature of the natural death.

Malocclusions in a juvenile medieval skull material.

PubMed

Larsson, E

1983-01-01

From a mostly medieval skull material--the "Schreiner collections" in Oslo--juvenile crania were selected as follows: Group A: Crania with complete and intact primary dentition. n = 20. Group B: Crania with early mixed dentition. Incisors only erupted or under eruption. n = 47. Group C: Crania with late mixed dentition. n = 14. The author recorded visually: Sagittal and transversal dental relation, frontal dental contact, anterior cross-bite, rotation and crowding. There was good basal stability. Sagittally 1 moderately postnormal dentition was recorded, transversally there were no anomalies. Slight anterior cross-bite was recorded in 1 case, anterior cross-bite of one and two lateral incisors respectively in 2 others, and tête-à-tête contact in 3 cases. Crowding was recorded in 6 cases, in one of them being general, in the others located solely in the mandibular incisor segment. Broken contact and more or less pronounced rotation occurred in these dentitions. Rotation was also recorded in 2 other cases. The prevalence of malocclusions of the type that can be related to continuing finger-sucking or sucking of dummylike objects was very low in this material. This observation prompted the author to discuss a hypothesis concerning the aetiology of dummy- and finger-sucking habits.

Judicial astrology in theory and practice in later medieval Europe.

PubMed

Carey, Hilary M

2010-06-01

Interrogations and elections were two branches of Arabic judicial astrology made available in Latin translation to readers in western Europe from the twelfth century. Through an analysis of the theory and practice of interrogations and elections, including the writing of the Jewish astrologer Sahl b. Bishr, this essay considers the extent to which judicial astrology was practiced in the medieval west. Consideration is given to historical examples of interrogations and elections mostly from late medieval English manuscripts. These include the work of John Dunstaple (ca. 1390-1453), the musician and astrologer who is known have served at the court of John, duke of Bedford. On the basis of the relatively small number of surviving historical horoscopes, it is argued that the practice of interrogations and elections lagged behind the theory.

A locator list of some medieval ophthalmological texts.

PubMed

Eldredge, L M

2007-01-01

At the turn of the last century, there was a flurry of interest in medieval ophthalmological texts. Many of these were edited by practising ophthalmologists, interested in learning and applying the techniques of their distant predecessors. The editions are often difficult to find, and I have listed them along with at least one library location.

What is “colonial” about medieval colonial medicine? Iberian health in global context

PubMed Central

McCleery, Iona

2015-01-01

Colonial medicine is a thriving field of study in the history of nineteenth- and twentieth-century medicine. Medicine can be used as a lens to view colonialism in action and as a way to critique colonialism. This article argues that key debates and ideas from that modern field can fruitfully be applied to the Middle Ages, especially for the early empires of Spain and Portugal (mid-fourteenth to mid-sixteenth centuries). The article identifies key modern debates, explores approaches to colonization and colonialism in the Middle Ages and discusses how medieval and modern medicine and healthcare could be compared using colonial and postcolonial discourses. The article ends with three case studies of healthcare encounters in Madeira, Granada and Hispaniola at the end of the fifteenth century. PMID:26550030

Intrapopulation variation in stature and body proportions: social status and sex differences in an Italian medieval population (Trino Vercellese, VC).

PubMed

Vercellotti, Giuseppe; Stout, Sam D; Boano, Rosa; Sciulli, Paul W

2011-06-01

The phenotypic expression of adult body size and shape results from synergistic interactions between hereditary factors and environmental conditions experienced during growth. Variation in body size and shape occurs even in genetically relatively homogeneous groups, due to different occurrence, duration, and timing of growth insults. Understanding the causes and patterns of intrapopulation variation can foster meaningful information on early life conditions in living and past populations. This study assesses the pattern of biological variation in body size and shape attributable to sex and social status in a medieval Italian population. The sample includes 52 (20 female, 32 male) adult individuals from the medieval population of Trino Vercellese, Italy. Differences in element size and overall body size (skeletal height and body mass) were assessed through Monte Carlo methods, while univariate non-parametric tests and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) were employed to examine segmental and overall body proportions. Discriminant Analysis was employed to determine the predictive value of individual skeletal elements for social status in the population. Our results highlight a distinct pattern in body size and shape variation in relation to status and sex. Male subsamples exhibit significant postcranial variation in body size, while female subsamples express smaller, nonsignificant differences. The analysis of segmental proportions highlighted differences in trunk/lower limb proportions between different status samples, and PCA indicated that in terms of purely morphological variation high status males were distinct from all other groups. The pattern observed likely resulted from a combination of biological factors and cultural practices. Copyright © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Portraits of Aging Men in Late Medieval Italy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cossar, Roisin

2012-01-01

Purpose: This essay examines the human experience of aging in the distant past by investigating a group of aging men during the 14th century in an Italian city, Bergamo, using notarial "documents of practice" from that community. Studying the aging process and its effects on the lives of people in the medieval era has three-fold…

The climatic context of major plague outbreaks in late medieval England

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pribyl, Kathleen

2017-04-01

The climatological triggers of major plague outbreaks in late medieval and early modern Europe remain unclear; recent studies have been inconclusive. Plague is primarily a rodent disease and due to the involvement of rodent hosts and insect vectors, the epidemiology of plague is complicated, but research on outbreaks in the Third Pandemic, which began in the late nineteenth century, has shown that in central and eastern Asia plague is linked to specific meteorological conditions. The disease adapts to a varied spectrum of ecological and climatological settings, which influence the development of plague waves, and due to Europe's geographical diversity, this paper focuses on one region, England, in its search for meteorological parameters contributing to plague outbreaks. The study period of this paper is defined by the arrival of Yersinia pestis in the British Isles in 1348 and the end of the fifteenth century. During this time, England's population dynamics were mortality-driven due to recurrent epidemic disease; and public health measures, such as quarantining, had not yet been introduced, hence the influence of social factors on the formation of major plague waves was very limited. The geographical and temporal focus of this study allows for the combination of the series of English major plague outbreaks, verified in the original texts, with the high-quality climate reconstructions based on both documentary sources and proxy data available for this region. The detailed analysis of the mechanisms contributing to English plague waves presented in this paper, reveals a complex interplay of time-lag responses and concurrent conditions involving temperature and precipitation parameters.

The Medieval Kingdom Topology: Peer Relations in Kindergarten Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bennett, Andrew; Derervensky, Jeffrey

1995-01-01

Examines the applicability of the medieval kingdom social role topology with kindergarten children and assesses the association between the social roles children assume and seven nonbehavioral variables. Confirmed hypotheses that the topology could be distilled from a sample of kindergarten children (n=173) and that specific nonbehavioral…

Symptom and Surface: Disruptive Deafness and Medieval Medical Authority.

PubMed

Hsy, Jonathan

2016-12-01

This essay examines constructions of deafness in medieval culture, exploring how deaf experience disrupts authoritative discourses in three textual genres: medical treatise, literary fiction, and autobiographical writing. Medical manuals often present deafness as a physical defect, yet they also suggest how social conditions for deaf people can be transformed in lieu of treatment protocols. Fictional narratives tend to associate deafness with sin or social stigma, but they can also imagine deaf experience with a remarkable degree of sympathy and nuance. Autobiographical writing by deaf authors most vividly challenges diagnostic models of disability, exploring generative forms of perception that deafness can foster. In tracing the disruptive force that deaf experience exerts on perceived notions of textual authority, this essay reveals how medieval culture critiqued the diagnostic power of medical practitioners. Deafness does not simply function as a symptom of an individual problem or a metaphor for a spiritual or social condition; rather, deafness is a transformative capacity affording new modes of knowing self and other.

Before depression: the medieval vice of acedia.

PubMed

Daly, Robert W

2007-01-01

Given renewed interest in the role of human action in the development of depression, I re-examine a tradition in the West which interpreted phenomena akin to the symptoms and signs of modern depression as "a spiritual disease." In medieval Europe, acedia was a vice, an undesirable trait of character acquired in the course of living a life. Persons suffering from the vice of acedia were implicated as agents in its development and to some extent responsible for overcoming it. In Part I of this paper, I note the contemporary interest of psychiatrists and others in this vice, consider the warrants for asserting that it is akin to some forms of depression, and recount, in brief, the history of this vice from the fourth to the fifteenth centuries. In Part II, I discuss how medieval scholars, confessors, and spiritual guides understood the question of responsibility for acedia and how they distinguished between this vice and melancholia. I argue that acedia was a vice that could be distinguished from melancholia and that, while akin to clinical depression, this vice should not be identified with depression. This investigation of and commentary on acedia is intended as a contribution to the contemporary discussion of the role of human agency in the development of depression and in its treatment.

The Desirability of Medieval Germany: Some Observations on an Introductory Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jillings, Lewis G.; Murdoch, Brian O.

1975-01-01

This paper discusses the problems and advantages of a course in Medieval Germany, including history, culture and literature along with language. Attention is given to issues and texts to be studied. (CHK)

Geometric Approaches to Quadratic Equations from Other Times and Places.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allaire, Patricia R.; Bradley, Robert E.

2001-01-01

Focuses on geometric solutions of quadratic problems. Presents a collection of geometric techniques from ancient Babylonia, classical Greece, medieval Arabia, and early modern Europe to enhance the quadratic equation portion of an algebra course. (KHR)

PIXE analysis of medieval silver coins

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Abdelouahed, H. Ben, E-mail: habdelou@cern.ch; Gharbi, F.; Roumie, M.

2010-01-15

We applied the proton-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) analytical technique to twenty-eight medieval silver coins, selected from the Tunisian treasury. The purpose is to study the fineness evolution from the beginning of the 7th to the 15th centuries AD. Each silver coin was cleaned with a diluted acid solution and then exposed to a 3 MeV proton beam from a 1.7 MV tandem accelerator. To allow the simultaneous detection of light and heavy elements, a funny aluminum filter was positioned in front of the Si(Li) detector entrance which is placed at 135{sup o} to the beam direction. The elements Cu, Pb,more » and Au were observed in the studied coins along with the major component silver. The concentration of Ag, presumably the main constituent of the coins, varies from 55% to 99%. This significant variation in the concentration of the major constituent reveals the economical difficulties encountered by each dynasty. It could be also attributed to differences in the composition of the silver mines used to strike the coins in different locations. That fineness evolution also reflects the poor quality of the control practices during this medieval period. In order to verify the ability of PIXE analytical method to distinguish between apparently similar coins, we applied hierarchical cluster analysis to our results to classify them into different subgroups of similar elemental composition.« less

Post-Cranial Traumatic Injury Patterns in Two Medieval Polish Populations: The Effects of Lifestyle Differences

PubMed Central

Agnew, Amanda M.; Betsinger, Tracy K.; Justus, Hedy M.

2015-01-01

Traumatic injuries can be used as general indicators of activity patterns in past populations. This study tests the hypothesis that contemporaneous (10th–12th century) rural and urban populations in medieval Poland will have a significantly different prevalence of non-violent fractures. Traumatic injuries to the post-cranial skeleton were recorded for 180 adults from rural Giecz and for 96 adults from urban Poznań-Śródka. They were statistically analyzed by body region and individual skeletal element. Results reveal that Giecz had a significantly higher rate of trunk fractures than Poznań-Śródka (Fisher’s exact, p<0.05). In particular, rib and vertebral fractures were more common in Giecz males and females than in their Poznań-Śródka counterparts. Traumatic injuries in the extremities were comparable between the two samples, suggesting similar risks of trauma to these regions. These results indicate that in early medieval Poland, activities associated with a rural lifestyle resulted in more injuries. These stress or accidental fractures, which are related to a high-risk setting, were not consistent with an urban lifestyle. Overall, agricultural populations like Giecz were engaged in a laborious lifestyle, reflected in a variety of injuries related to repetitive, high-risk activities. Although urban populations like Poznań engaged in craft specialization participated in repetitive activities, their lifestyle resulted in lesser fracture-risk. PMID:26068106

Integrated Geophysycal Prospecting in Late Antiquity and Early Medieval Sites in Italy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giannotta, Maria Teresa; Leucci, Giovanni; De Giorgi, Lara; Matera, Loredana; Persico, Raffaele; Muci, Giuseppe

2016-04-01

In this contribution, the results of some integrated geophysical prospecting (magnetometric and GPR) are exposed. This work has been performed in collaboration between archaeologists and geophysicists within the research project "History and Global Archaeology of the Rural Landascapes in Italy, between Late Antiquity and Medieval period. Integrated systems of sources, methodologies, and technologies for a sustainable development", financed by the Italian Ministry for Instruction, University and Research MIUR. In particular, the archaeological sites of Badia and San Giovanni in Malcantone, both in the Apulia Region (eastern-southern Italy) have been prospect. The sites have been identified on the basis of available documents, archaeological surveys and testimonies. In particular, we know that in Badia [1] it was probable the presence of an ancient roman villa of the late ancient period (strongly damaged by the subsequent ploughing activities). Whereas in San Giovanni there is still, today, a small chapel (deconsecrated) that was likely to be part of a previous larger church (probably a basilica of the early Christian period) restricted in the subsequent centuries (probably in more phases). The Saracen raids of the XVI centuries made the site ruined and abandoned. In both sites integrated prospecting have been performed [2-6] with a the integration of archaeological, magnetometer and a GPR data have provided some interesting results, allowing to overcome the difficulties relative to an extensive GPR prospecting, that could not be performed because of the intrinsic superficial roughness and/or the intensive ploughing activities. The prospecting activities, in particular, have added elements that seem to confirm the main archaeological hypothesis that motivate their performing, as it will be show at the conference. References [1] M. T, Giannotta, G. Leucci, R. Persico, M. Leo Imperiale, The archaeological site of Badia in terra d'Otranto: contribution of the

Dementia, personhood and embodiment: what can we learn from the medieval history of memory?

PubMed

Katz, Stephen

2013-05-01

Memory and dementia are historical ideas that preceded the development of modern neuroscientific, psychogeriatric and medical approaches to aging and cognitive impairment. This article explores the value of such historical ideas in order to understand the discourses and metaphors by which Western thought has individualized memory as the guarantor of rational personhood, while at the same, treating memory decline as a threat to healthy and successful aging. Discussion focuses on the relationship between memory and the body in the classical and medieval ars memoria (the art of memory) and in the early modern philosophies of personhood, particularly the work of John Locke. Conclusions consider the significance of Western culture's history of embodied memory as it moved from cosmic to individual to neurocognitive sites for our wider views about the treatment of dementia.

Recovery of a Medieval Brucella melitensis Genome Using Shotgun Metagenomics

PubMed Central

Kay, Gemma L.; Sergeant, Martin J.; Giuffra, Valentina; Bandiera, Pasquale; Milanese, Marco; Bramanti, Barbara

2014-01-01

ABSTRACT Shotgun metagenomics provides a powerful assumption-free approach to the recovery of pathogen genomes from contemporary and historical material. We sequenced the metagenome of a calcified nodule from the skeleton of a 14th-century middle-aged male excavated from the medieval Sardinian settlement of Geridu. We obtained 6.5-fold coverage of a Brucella melitensis genome. Sequence reads from this genome showed signatures typical of ancient or aged DNA. Despite the relatively low coverage, we were able to use information from single-nucleotide polymorphisms to place the medieval pathogen genome within a clade of B. melitensis strains that included the well-studied Ether strain and two other recent Italian isolates. We confirmed this placement using information from deletions and IS711 insertions. We conclude that metagenomics stands ready to document past and present infections, shedding light on the emergence, evolution, and spread of microbial pathogens. PMID:25028426

Medieval Music. Alfonso X & the Cantigas de Santa Maria.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McRae, Lee

This lesson introduces students to music in the Court of Alfonso X The Learned, Spanish king from 1252-1284. The readings provide information about King Alfonso, his political ambitions, and his contributions to Spanish medieval history. The lesson also introduces his establishment of laws with new legal codes and his remarkable collection of…

Medieval Cities of Europe: Click, Tweet, Map, and Present

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reyerson, Kathryn; Mummey, Kevin; Higdon, Jude

2011-01-01

During spring semester 2010, a long-standing upper-division lecture course, Medieval Cities of Europe, 500-1500 CE, underwent a course transformation. The goal was to address specific challenges with student engagement that the authors had experienced in the course in the past; their overarching strategy was to introduce technology into the course…

Three cases of feet and hand amputation from Medieval Estremoz, Portugal.

PubMed

Fernandes, Teresa; Liberato, Marco; Marques, Carina; Cunha, Eugénia

2017-09-01

Peri-mortem limb amputations are rarely reported in the paleopathological literature. The cases reported here concern severing of both hands and feet observed in three adult male skeletons, exhumed from the medieval Portuguese necropolis of Rossio do Marquês de Pombal, Estremoz, Portugal. The fact that they were found in the same site, in graves placed side by side, that all are young males, and that the three skeletons show similar perimortem injuries, make this a unique case meriting detailed analysis. Considering the lesions' location and pattern, as well as historical data, we hypothesize that this is a case of amputation as a consequence of judicial punishment. Estremoz was an important city in sustaining the Royal power at a regional scale during the medieval period. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Climatic changes during the early Medieval and recent periods inferred from δ13C and δ18O of Siberian larch trees

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sidorova, O. V.; Matthias Saurer, Rolf Siegwolf

2010-12-01

We report unique isotope datasets for δ13C and δ18O of wood and cellulose of larch trees (Larix cajanderi Mayr.) from Northeastern Yakutia [70°N-148°E] for the early Medieval (AD 900-1000) and recent (AD 1880-2004) periods. During the recent period June, July, and August air temperatures were positively correlated with δ13C and δ18O of wood and cellulose, while July precipitation was negatively correlated. The positive correlation with one of the warmest months (July) in Northeastern Yakutia could indicate high photosynthetic capacity, because warm and dry conditions cause stomatal closure and lower the isotopic fractionation, leading to less negative δ13C values. Because during July, the soil water is still frozen at a soil depth of 20-30 cm, the water accessibility for trees is limited, which can lead to drought situations. An increase in water availability allows for a higher stomatal conductance, resulting in lower δ13C values, leading to a negative relationship with summer precipitation. Furthermore, the vapor pressure deficit of July and August was significantly correlated with δ13C of wood and cellulose, indicating decreased stomatal conductance, an expression of moderate drought. This leads to reduced 13CO2 discrimination and less negative δ13C values. The simultaneous increase of δ18O also indicates a reduction in stomatal conductance under rather dry conditions or drought. Comparative analyses between mean isotope values for the AD 900-1000 and AD 1880-2004 periods indicate similar ranges of climatic conditions, with the exception of the period AD 1950-2004, which is characterized by increased summer drought. Whilst isotopic ratios in cellulose are reliably related to climatic variables, those in whole wood showed even stronger relationships during some periods. Strong positive correlations between δ18O of cellulose and Greenland ice-core data were detected for the beginning of the Medieval period (r=0.86; p<0.05), indicating the reliability

The Ebstorf Map: tradition and contents of a medieval picture of the world

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pischke, G.

2014-07-01

The Ebstorf Map (Wilke, 2001; Kugler, 2007; Wolf, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009a, b), the largest medieval map of the world whose original has been lost, is not only a geographical map. In the Middle Ages, a map contained mystic, historical and religious motifs. Of central importance is Jesus Christ, who, in the Ebstorf Map, is part of the earth. The Ebstorf Map contains the knowledge of the time of its creation; it can be used for example as an atlas, as a chronicle of the world, or as an illustrated Bible.

Connecting medieval megadroughts and surface climate in the Last Millennium Reanalysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erb, M. P.; Emile-Geay, J.; Anderson, D. M.; Hakim, G. J.; Horlick, K. A.; Noone, D.; Perkins, W. A.; Steig, E. J.; Tardif, R.

2016-12-01

The North American Drought Atlas shows severe, long-lasting droughts during the Medieval Climate Anomaly. Because drought frequency and severity over the coming century is an area of vital interest, better understanding the causes of these historic droughts is crucial. A variety of research has suggested that a La Niña state was important for producing medieval megadroughts [1], and other work has indicated the potential roles of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation [2] and internal atmospheric variability [3]. Correlations between drought and large-scale climate patterns also exist in the instrumental record [4], but understanding these relationships is far from complete. To investigate these relationships further, a data assimilation approach is employed. Proxy records - including tree rings, corals, and ice cores - are used to constrain climate states over the Common Era. By using general circulation model (GCM) output to quantify the covariances in the climate system, climate can be constrained not just at proxy sites but for all covarying locations and climate fields. Multiple GCMs will be employed to offset the limitations of imperfect model physics. This "Last Millennium Reanalysis" will be used to quantify relationships between North American medieval megadroughts and sea surface temperature patterns in the Atlantic and Pacific. 1. Cook, E. R., et al., Earth-Sci. Rev. 81, 93 (2007). 2. Oglesby, R., et al., Global Planet. Change 84-85, 56 (2012). 3. Stevenson, S., et al., J. Climate 28, 1865 (2015). 4. Cook, B. I., et al., J. Climate 27, 383 (2014).

[Subjectivity and objectivity, semiotics and diagnosis. An approach to the medieval concept of illness].

PubMed

Riha, O

1996-01-01

Relying on their patients' complaints, medieval physicians did not discriminate theoretically between sickness and health. As for the types of illness, there were two different concepts of disease: The semiotic tracts (sphygmology, uroscopy, hematoscopy) describe signs of dyscrasia and locus affectus, while the medical handbooks combine symptoms like fever, pain, nausea, constipation etc. with the signs of pulse, urine and blood. The term "diagnosis" should be used only for this latter type of disease. Because of the ancient model of humoral pathology and because of the deductive construction of symptomatology, "medieval" illnesses cannot be compared with "ours".

Living History with a Medieval Banquet in the Alhambra Palace.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shabbas, Audrey

1996-01-01

Recommends that students learn about Islamic civilization by presenting a "medieval banquet in the Alhambra Palace." Provides information about middle eastern culture and history that students could use to plan and produce the banquet. Includes a list of 26 "guests" who would be role-played by students. (CFR)

Repeated catastrophic valley infill following medieval earthquakes in the Nepal Himalaya.

PubMed

Schwanghart, Wolfgang; Bernhardt, Anne; Stolle, Amelie; Hoelzmann, Philipp; Adhikari, Basanta R; Andermann, Christoff; Tofelde, Stefanie; Merchel, Silke; Rugel, Georg; Fort, Monique; Korup, Oliver

2016-01-08

Geomorphic footprints of past large Himalayan earthquakes are elusive, although they are urgently needed for gauging and predicting recovery times of seismically perturbed mountain landscapes. We present evidence of catastrophic valley infill following at least three medieval earthquakes in the Nepal Himalaya. Radiocarbon dates from peat beds, plant macrofossils, and humic silts in fine-grained tributary sediments near Pokhara, Nepal's second-largest city, match the timing of nearby M > 8 earthquakes in ~1100, 1255, and 1344 C.E. The upstream dip of tributary valley fills and x-ray fluorescence spectrometry of their provenance rule out local sources. Instead, geomorphic and sedimentary evidence is consistent with catastrophic fluvial aggradation and debris flows that had plugged several tributaries with tens of meters of calcareous sediment from a Higher Himalayan source >60 kilometers away. Copyright © 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The ethics of heroism in medieval and American Indian tales.

PubMed

Scott, A

1990-01-01

Oral-traditional stories detail their heroes' growth through a narrative pattern of exile and return that places the heroes in situations repeatedly challenging their strength and resolve. Through the motif of the quest, medieval and American Indian tales alike reaffirm general psychological truths that bear upon our understanding of human nature. Stories about heroes are stories about us: about our desires to grow up, to defeat death, to prove ourselves in difficult situations, and to achieve recognition or admiration among our peers (Becker, 1973, p. 4). In this way, medieval and American Indian tales are about self-actualization. They maintain that "one has within oneself proclivity toward growth and unity of personality ... and an automatic thrust toward expression" of these qualities (Yalom, 1980, p. 9). All forms of literature, however, reflect ideas peculiar to their cultures. The ways in which these basic human truths are represented in medieval and American Indian tales suggest the differing religious or social concerns that have informed these truths and have given them shape. To a large degree, the medieval knight's view of "self" and "other" encompasses the view that Western humanity has had (and continues to have) of itself. This is a view conditioned upon the superiority of the "self" as measured against the inferiority of the "other," reinforced through existing social (hierarchial) and religious (Judeo-Christian) codes of behavior. Such codes are not only inadequate to the task of interpreting American Indian perceptions of "self" and "other," they are inimical to the ethical foundation underlying them. Scott Momaday remarks that "you cannot understand how the Indian thinks of himself in relation to the world around him unless you understand his conception of what is appropriate; particularly what is morally appropriate within the context of that relationship" (Basso, 1984, p. 46). For the American Indian hero, self-actualization is self

Resources for Popular Culture in Ancient, Medieval and Renaissance Humanities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schroeder, Fred E. H.

1996-01-01

Notes that there are few readily accessible resources for teachers who wish to include popular culture in their ancient, medieval, or renaissance history lessons. Goes on to partially remedy this situation by providing a review of print sources of information on popular culture. Also mentions useful films and artifacts. (DSK)

Christendom: A Simulation of Medieval European Society, 600-1300.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hayes, Wendy Pearl; Albaugh, Michelle Henderson; Lacey, Bill

This simulation allows students to experience what it was like to live in the medieval world. For three or four weeks, the classroom becomes a manor, a castle, a monastery, a town, or an army en route to Jerusalem to recapture the Holy Land from the Muslim hordes. The phases of the unit include: (1) feudalism; (2) manorialism; (3) knighthood; (4)…

The "Endura" of The Cathars' Heresy: Medieval Concept of Ritual Euthanasia or Suicide?

PubMed

Tsiamis, Costas; Tounta, Eleni; Poulakou-Rebelakou, Effie

2016-02-01

The aim of the study is to explore the medieval concepts on the voluntary death of severely sick people, as they emerge through the endura (endurance) of the heresy of the Cathars in France (twelfth to fourteenth centuries). The endura was the prerequisite act of repentance that would allow the fallen soul to return to heaven. The endura was a necessary act of repentance, after the performance of a ceremonial purification of the soul (consolamentum), and consisted of the patients' voluntary abstention from vital food. The consolamentum and endura could be performed in the final stage of a disease with the consent of the patients or their relatives. The role of the Cathar physician was only to determine the severity of the disease and the forthcoming death of the patient. The physician was not allowed to take steps that would deprive the life of the patient, and the performance of the ritual endura was duty of the spiritual leaders of the community. The modern ethical approach to this subject is dictated by the medieval belief on the salvation of the soul and tries to answer the question of whether the endura could be seen as a medieval concept of a ritual euthanasia or fell within the theological sin of suicide.

Time in Early Childhood: Creative Possibilities with Different Conceptions of Time

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Farquhar, Sandy

2016-01-01

Time is an important driver of pedagogy which is often overlooked in the busy atmosphere of an early childhood centre. Engaging philosophically with three different concepts of time, and drawing examples from literature and art to focus attention on how time is constituted in early childhood centres, this article argues that we inhabit the…

Analysis of medieval limestone sculpture from southwestern France and the Paris Basin by NAA

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Holmes, L.; Harbottle, G.

1994-12-31

Compositional characterization of limestone from sources known to medieval craftsmen and from the monuments they built can be used in conjunction with stylistic and iconographic criteria to infer geographic origin of sculptures that have lost their histories. Limestone from 47 quarrying locations in France and from numerous medieval monuments have been subjected to neutron activation analysis (NAA) to form the nucleus of the Brookhaven Limestone Database. Even though the method and techniques of NAA are well established, this paper briefly summarizes the parameters and experimental conditions useful for determining those concentration variables for which limestone from different sources exhibits significantmore » and reproducible differences.« less

Voluntarism and realism in medieval ethics.

PubMed Central

Haldane, J

1989-01-01

In contrast to other articles in this series on the history of moral philosophy the present essay is not devoted to expounding the views of a single author, or to examining a particular moral theory. Instead it discusses an important dispute between two medieval accounts of the relation between theological and moral propositions. In addition to its historical interest this debate is important both because it connects earlier and later ethical thought--being influenced by Greek moral theories and influencing subsequent European philosophy--and because it concerns issues that remain important to philosophers and to those who claim that their ethical beliefs are dictated by religious convictions. PMID:2926786

Genetic research at a fivefold children's burial from medieval Berlin.

PubMed

Rothe, Jessica; Melisch, Claudia; Powers, Natasha; Geppert, Maria; Zander, Judith; Purps, Josephine; Spors, Birgit; Nagy, Marion

2015-03-01

Berlin originated from the two twin cities Berlin and Cölln, which both were founded at the beginning of the 13th century. However the real date of their foundation as well as the origin of the first settlers is still unknown. On the Berlin site the historic city center is still visible in the Nikolaiviertel, but the medieval origin of Cölln disappeared almost completely. In 2007 a large scale excavation, which comprised an area of about 1700m(2) of the historical center of the St. Peters church, recovers the remains of Cölln's first citizens and span a period of 500 years of medieval population. Here we present the first genetic analysis of a fivefold children's burial from excavations in Berlin. The genetic data unveiled next to ancestry and eye color data also the kinship and the gender of the five individuals. Together with the archeological context the new gained information help to shed more light on the possible reasons for this burial. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

'A WONDERFULL MONSTER BORNE IN GERMANY': HAIRY GIRLS IN MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN GERMAN BOOK, COURT AND PERFORMANCE CULTURE.

PubMed

Katritzky, M A

2014-09-24

Human hirsuteness, or pathological hair growth, can be symptomatic of various conditions, including genetic mutation or inheritance, and some cancers and hormonal disturbances. Modern investigations into hirsuteness were initiated by nineteenth-century German physicians. Most early modern European cases of hypertrichosis (genetically determined all-over body and facial hair) involve German-speaking parentage or patronage, and are documented in German print culture. Through the Wild Man tradition, modern historians routinely link early modern reception of historical hypertrichosis cases to issues of ethnicity without, however, recognising early modern awareness of links between temporary hirsuteness and the pathological nexus of starvation and anorexia. Here, four cases of hirsute females are reconsidered with reference to this medical perspective, and to texts and images uncovered by my current research at the Herzog August Library and German archives. One concerns an Italian girl taken to Prague in 1355 by the Holy Roman Empress, Anna von Schweidnitz. Another focuses on Madeleine and Antonietta Gonzalez, daughters of the 'Wild Man' of Tenerife, documented at German courts in the 1580s. The third and fourth cases consider the medieval bearded Sankt Kümmernis (also known as St Wilgefortis or St Uncumber), and the seventeenth-century Bavarian fairground performer Barbara Urslerin. Krankhafter menschlicher Hirsutismus kann aufgrund unterschiedlicher Ursachen auftreten, zu denen u.a. genetische Veländerungen und Vererbung, verschiedene Krebserkrankungen und hormonelle Störungen gehören. Die moderne Hirsutismus-Forschung ist im 19. Jh. von deutschen Forschern initiiert worden. Die meisten europäischen frühneuzeitlichen Erscheinungen von Hypertrichose (dem genetisch bedingten Haarwuchs am gesamten Körper und im Gesicht) gehen auf deutschsprachige Eltern oder Förderer zurück und sind in Deutschland in den Druck gelangt. Bei Untersuchungen des Motivs des Wilden

An Introduction to the Medieval English: The Historical and Literary Context, Traces of Church and Philosophical Movements in the Literature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Behtash, Esmail Zare; Toroujeni, Seyyed Morteza Hashemi; Samani, Farzane Safarzade

2017-01-01

The Transition from Greek to medieval philosophy that speculated on religion, nature, metaphysics, human being and society was rather a rough transition in the history of English literature. Although the literature content of this age reflected more religious beliefs, the love and hate relationship of medieval philosophy that was mostly based on…

New evidence for the occurrence of Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) in medieval Britain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hetherington, David A.; Lord, Tom C.; Jacobi, Roger M.

2006-01-01

The presence of Eurasian lynx as a former native species in Britain during the Holocene is known from bones recovered from several sites. AMS radiocarbon dating of lynx bone recovered from two sites in the Craven area of northern England gave 1842 +/- 35 14C yr BP and 1550 +/- 24 14C yr BP, together representing the youngest dates for lynx from England, and in the case of the latter, the youngest for Britain as a whole. These dates support the view that the game animal whose occurrence in the nearby Lake District is described in the early 7th century Cumbric text Pais Dinogad, and whose translation to date has been problematic, is a lynx. The occurrence of lynx in early medieval Britain shows that earlier periods of climate change, previously blamed for the species' extinction in Britain, were not responsible. Instead, anthropogenic factors such as severe deforestation, declining deer populations, and persecution, are likely to have caused the extirpation of lynx in Britain. Consequently, the lynx qualifies as a candidate for reintroduction. Large-scale reafforestation, the growth of deer populations, and more positive attitudes towards carnivores in modern society, could permit the restoration of lynx to Britain, particularly in Scotland.

Adolescent health in medieval Serbia: signs of infectious diseases and risk of trauma.

PubMed

Djurić, M; Janović, A; Milovanović, P; Djukić, K; Milenković, P; Drasković, M; Roksandic, M

2010-04-01

Although pattern of health in adults has been frequently assessed in past human populations, health status of adolescents as a distinct life stage has usually been overlooked. Inconsistency in number and meaning of recognised age categories in anthropological literature, as well as chronological age ranges used to define them, further complicate the interpretation of adolescent health. In this study, we analysed signs of pathological conditions on skeletal remains of 81 adolescents from a medieval site of Stara Torina (northern Serbia). Diagnostic palaeopathological procedures comprised gross examination, digital radiography, and histological analysis. Skeletal signs of anaemia such as cribra orbitalia and other porotic phenomena as well as signs of non-specific bone infection were observed frequently, while evidence of bone trauma was recorded in a very low percentage of individuals. In addition, we recorded two conditions relatively rarely observed in palaeopathological contexts: a case of skull and vertebral asymmetry indicative of congenital muscular torticollis, and a case of a fibrous cortical defect on distal femur. Comparison with available information from other medieval adolescent samples from Serbia demonstrated that while mortality was relatively constant throughout the sample, Stara Torina showed a much higher occurrence of bone disease. Characteristics of observed skeletal conditions, supported by available historical reports, suggest that the health of medieval adolescents in the examined population was most significantly affected by infectious processes. Copyright 2010 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

The Monk's Tale: Nero's Nets and Caesar's Father -- An Inquiry into the Transformations of Classical Roman History in Medieval Tradition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Waller, Martha S.

1978-01-01

Discusses the lack of consistent accuracy about historical figures in Chaucer's "Monk's Tale." The story of Nero fishing in the Tiber with golden nets is corroborated by many other ancient and medieval authors; however, the reference to Julius Caesar as being of lowly birth is peculiar only to Chaucer and a few medieval English authors.…

High throughput, multiplexed pathogen detection authenticates plague waves in medieval Venice, Italy.

PubMed

Tran, Thi-Nguyen-Ny; Signoli, Michel; Fozzati, Luigi; Aboudharam, Gérard; Raoult, Didier; Drancourt, Michel

2011-03-10

Historical records suggest that multiple burial sites from the 14th-16th centuries in Venice, Italy, were used during the Black Death and subsequent plague epidemics. High throughput, multiplexed real-time PCR detected DNA of seven highly transmissible pathogens in 173 dental pulp specimens collected from 46 graves. Bartonella quintana DNA was identified in five (2.9%) samples, including three from the 16th century and two from the 15th century, and Yersinia pestis DNA was detected in three (1.7%) samples, including two from the 14th century and one from the 16th century. Partial glpD gene sequencing indicated that the detected Y. pestis was the Orientalis biotype. These data document for the first time successive plague epidemics in the medieval European city where quarantine was first instituted in the 14th century.

Maternal Genetic Composition of a Medieval Population from a Hungarian-Slavic Contact Zone in Central Europe.

PubMed

Csákyová, Veronika; Szécsényi-Nagy, Anna; Csősz, Aranka; Nagy, Melinda; Fusek, Gabriel; Langó, Péter; Bauer, Miroslav; Mende, Balázs Gusztáv; Makovický, Pavol; Bauerová, Mária

2016-01-01

The genetic composition of the medieval populations of Central Europe has been poorly investigated to date. In particular, the region of modern-day Slovakia is a blank spot in archaeogenetic research. This paper reports the study of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in ancient samples from the 9th-12th centuries originating from the cemeteries discovered in Nitra-Šindolka and Čakajovce, located in western Slovakia (Central Europe). This geographical region is interesting to study because its medieval multi-ethnic population lived in the so-called contact zone of the territory of the Great Moravian and later Hungarian state formations. We described 16 different mtDNA haplotypes in 19 individuals, which belong to the most widespread European mtDNA haplogroups: H, J, T, U and R0. Using comparative statistical and population genetic analyses, we showed the differentiation of the European gene pool in the medieval period. We also demonstrated the heterogeneous genetic characteristics of the investigated population and its affinity to the populations of modern Europe.

Maternal Genetic Composition of a Medieval Population from a Hungarian-Slavic Contact Zone in Central Europe

PubMed Central

Csákyová, Veronika; Szécsényi-Nagy, Anna; Csősz, Aranka; Nagy, Melinda; Fusek, Gabriel; Langó, Péter; Bauer, Miroslav; Mende, Balázs Gusztáv; Makovický, Pavol; Bauerová, Mária

2016-01-01

The genetic composition of the medieval populations of Central Europe has been poorly investigated to date. In particular, the region of modern-day Slovakia is a blank spot in archaeogenetic research. This paper reports the study of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in ancient samples from the 9th–12th centuries originating from the cemeteries discovered in Nitra-Šindolka and Čakajovce, located in western Slovakia (Central Europe). This geographical region is interesting to study because its medieval multi-ethnic population lived in the so-called contact zone of the territory of the Great Moravian and later Hungarian state formations. We described 16 different mtDNA haplotypes in 19 individuals, which belong to the most widespread European mtDNA haplogroups: H, J, T, U and R0. Using comparative statistical and population genetic analyses, we showed the differentiation of the European gene pool in the medieval period. We also demonstrated the heterogeneous genetic characteristics of the investigated population and its affinity to the populations of modern Europe. PMID:26963389

The Accreditation of Hildegard Von Bingen as Medieval Female Technical Writer

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rauch, Susan

2012-01-01

Although scholars have acknowledged technical texts written during the Middle-Ages, there is no mention of "technical writer" as a profession except for Geoffrey Chaucer, and historically absent is the accreditation of medieval female writers who pioneered the field of medical-technical communication. In an era dominated by identifiable medieval…

Human intestinal parasites in crusader Acre: Evidence for migration with disease in the medieval period.

PubMed

Mitchell, Piers D; Anastasiou, Evilena; Syon, Danny

2011-12-01

The aim of this research is to highlight the role of ancient parasites as evidence for human migration in past populations. The material analysed was soil sediment from the excavation of a medieval cesspool in the city of Acre, in Israel. Archaeological stratigraphy and radiocarbon dating of a fragment of animal bone from the cesspool confirm its use in the 13th century CE, during the crusader period. At that time Acre was located in the Frankish Kingdom of Jerusalem. Soil samples from the cesspool were analysed and eggs of the roundworm (Ascaris lumbricoides) and fish tapeworm (Diphyllobothrium latum) were identified. The fish tapeworm has only been found in the mainland Near East once before, in a latrine of the crusader Order of St. John (Knights Hospitaller). It has been absent in all earlier cesspools, latrines and coprolites so far studied in the region. In contrast to its rarity in the Levant, the fish tapeworm was common in northern Europe during the medieval period. The presence of fish tapeworm eggs in a crusader period cesspool in Acre suggests its use by crusaders or pilgrims from northern Europe who travelled to the Levant carrying these parasites in their intestines. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ancient DNA analysis might suggest external origin of individuals from chamber graves placed in medieval cemetery in Pień, Central Poland.

PubMed

Płoszaj, Tomasz; Jędrychowska-Dańska, Krystyna; Zamerska, Alicja; Drozd-Lipińska, Alicja; Poliński, Dariusz; Janowski, Andrzej; Witas, Henryk

2017-12-01

The participation of immigrants during early days in Poland of Piast's dynasty is a debated issue among archaeologists and anthropologists alike. Such hypotheses were formulated on the basis of, amongst others, the discovery of early medieval chamber graves characterized by construction features typical of the Scandinavian culture area. Archaeological and anthropological studies to date have not provided an unequivocal answer as to whether the individuals interred in those graves were autochthons who adopted a different burial rite, or perhaps immigrants from foreign lands. To characterize the gene pool of this population we analyzed the C/T allele of the nuclear gene LCT-13910 as well as fragments of the mitochondrial genome from individuals buried in very richly furnished chamber graves at the medieval cemetery in Pień. The obtained results for the nuclear allele and mtDNA do not corroborate the Scandinavian origin of the analyzed population. Moreover, we did not find haplogroup I, which is the one typical of populations that historically inhabited the north of Europe; and the frequency of the LCT-13910 T allele was similar to that of past and present Polish populations. On the other hand, we identified the atypical haplogroup C5c1, which suggests Asian origin of the studied individuals and confirms our previous reports concerning ancient human migrations from Asia to the territory of present-day Poland. While our findings do not conclusively disprove a Scandinavian lineage of the studied population, they certainly shed some new light on the origin of the individuals buried in chamber graves, which may be very different from the one initially proposed by archaeologists.

Genetic analysis of 7 medieval skeletons from Aragonese Pyrenees

PubMed Central

Núńez, Carolina; Sosa, Cecilia; Baeta, Miriam; Geppert, Maria; Turnbough, Meredith; Phillips, Nicole; Casalod, Yolanda; Bolea, Miguel; Roby, Rhonda; Budowle, Bruce; Martínez-Jarreta, Begońa

2011-01-01

Aim To perform a genetic characterization of 7 skeletons from medieval age found in a burial site in the Aragonese Pyrenees. Methods Allele frequencies of autosomal short tandem repeats (STR) loci were determined by 3 different STR systems. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y-chromosome haplogroups were determined by sequencing of the hypervariable segment 1 of mtDNA and typing of phylogenetic Y chromosome single nucleotide polymorphisms (Y-SNP) markers, respectively. Possible familial relationships were also investigated. Results Complete or partial STR profiles were obtained in 3 of the 7 samples. Mitochondrial DNA haplogroup was determined in 6 samples, with 5 of them corresponding to the haplogroup H and 1 to the haplogroup U5a. Y-chromosome haplogroup was determined in 2 samples, corresponding to the haplogroup R. In one of them, the sub-branch R1b1b2 was determined. mtDNA sequences indicated that some of the individuals could be maternally related, while STR profiles indicated no direct family relationships. Conclusions Despite the antiquity of the samples and great difficulty that genetic analyses entail, the combined use of autosomal STR markers, Y-chromosome informative SNPs, and mtDNA sequences allowed us to genotype a group of skeletons from the medieval age. PMID:21674829

Sex determination in skeletal remains from the medieval Eastern Adriatic coast – discriminant function analysis of humeri

PubMed Central

Bašić, Željana; Anterić, Ivana; Vilović, Katarina; Petaros, Anja; Bosnar, Alan; Madžar, Tomislav; Polašek, Ozren; Anđelinović, Šimun

2013-01-01

Aim To investigate the usefulness of humerus measurement for sex determination in a sample of medieval skeletons from the Eastern Adriatic Coast. Additional aim was to compare the results with contemporary female population. Methods Five humerus measurements (maximum length, epicondylar width, maximum vertical diameter of the head, maximum and minimum diameter of the humerus at midshaft) for 80 male and 35 female medieval and 19 female contemporary humeri were recorded. Only sufficiently preserved skeletons and those with no obvious pathological or traumatic changes that could affect the measurements were included. For ten samples, analysis of DNA was performed in order to determine sex using amelogenin. Results The initial comparison of men and women indicated significant differences in all five measures (P < 0.001). Discriminant function for sex determination indicated that as much as 85% of cases could be properly categorized, with better results in men (86%) than women (80%). Furthermore, the comparison of the medieval and contemporary women did not show significant difference in any of the measured features. Sex results obtained by anthropological and DNA analysis matched in all 10 cases. Conclusion The results indicate that humerus measurement in Croatian medieval population may be sufficient to determine the sex of the skeleton. Furthermore, it seems that secular changes have not substantially affected contemporary population, suggesting that the results of this study are transferable to contemporary population as well. PMID:23771758

The Relations between Astronomy and Music in Medieval Armenia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vardumyan, Arpi

2015-07-01

In Middle Ages Astronomy and Music were included in the four sciences, together with Mathematics and Geometry. From ancient times philosophers thought that harmony lies in the basis of world creation. The Earth was in the centre of the Universe, and the seven planets went around it, the Sun and the Moon in their number. Harmony was also in the basis of music, with seven sounds due to seven planets. It was considered that owing to harmonic rotation cosmic universal music appears, and it is not attainable for human ear as it is used to it. Medieval connoisseurs of music therapy believed that for healing a person his astrological data must first be cleared out, in order to define in which musical mode should sound the melody in order to treat him/her. Comparing music with astrology they considered easier to practise the first one because the celestial luminaries are much higher and farther from people.

Soil archives of a Fluvisol: Subsurface analysis and soil history of the medieval city centre of Vlaardingen, the Netherlands - an integral approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kluiving, Sjoerd; De Ridder, Tim; Van Dasselaar, Marcel; Roozen, Stan; Prins, Maarten; Van Mourik, Jan

2016-04-01

In Medieval times the city of Vlaardingen (the Netherlands) was strategically located on the confluence of three rivers, the Meuse, the Merwede and the Vlaarding. A church of early 8th century was already located here. In a short period of time Vlaardingen developed into an international trading place, the most important place in the former county of Holland. Starting from the 11th century the river Meuse threatened to flood the settlement. These floods have been registered in the archives of the fluvisol and were recognised in a multidisciplinary sedimentary analysis of these archives. To secure the future of this vulnerable soil archive currently an extensive interdisciplinary research (76 mechanical drill holes, grain size analysis (GSA), thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), archaeological remains, soil analysis, dating methods, micromorphology, and microfauna has started in 2011 to gain knowledge on the sedimentological and pedological subsurface of the mound as well as on the well-preserved nature of the archaeological evidence. Pedogenic features are recorded with soil descriptive, micromorphological and geochemical (XRF) analysis. The soil sequence of 5 meters thickness exhibits a complex mix of 'natural' as well as 'anthropogenic layering' and initial soil formation that enables to make a distinction for relatively stable periods between periods with active sedimentation. In this paper the results of this large-scale project are demonstrated in a number of cross-sections with interrelated geological, pedological and archaeological stratification. Distinction between natural and anthropogenic layering is made on the occurrence of chemical elements phosphor and potassium. A series of four stratigraphic / sedimentary units record the period before and after the flooding disaster. Given the many archaeological remnants and features present in the lower units, we assume that the medieval landscape was drowned while it was inhabited in the 12th century AD. After a

Sinusitis in people living in the medieval ages.

PubMed

Teul, Iwona; Lorkowski, Jacek; Lorkiewicz, Wieslaw; Nowakowski, Dariusz

2013-01-01

Breathing vitally serves body homeostasis. The prevalence of upper airway infections is often taken as an indicator of overall health status of a population living at a given time. In the present study we examined the unearthed remains of skulls from the XIII-XV century inhabitants searching for signs of maxillary sinusitis. Maxillary sinuses of the skulls of 92 individuals were inspected macroscopically and, if necessary, endoscopically. Osseous changes, including the pitting and abnormal spicule formation were present in 69 cases (75.0 %). It was found that, overall, dental infection was a major cause of maxillary sinusitis (18.8 %). Severe bone changes were observed in the adults' skulls, but were also present in the sinus walls of children's skulls. Post-inflammatory changes were manifest as remodeling and damage to the sinus walls. The results indicate that both children and adults of the Middle Ages suffered from chronic sinusitis. These observations confirm that the climate, environment, and lifestyle of the medieval populations contributed to the morbidity of the upper respiratory tract.

Did medieval trade activity and a viral etiology control the spatial extent and seasonal distribution of Black Death mortality?

PubMed

Bossak, Brian H; Welford, Mark R

2009-06-01

Recent research into the world's greatest recorded epidemic, the Medieval Black Death (MBD), has cast doubt on Bubonic Plague as the etiologic agent. Prior research has recently culminated in outstanding advances in our understanding of the spatio-temporal pattern of MBD mortality, and a characterization of the incubation, latent, infectious, and symptomatic periods of the MBD. However, until now, several mysteries remained unexplained, including perhaps the biggest quandary of all: why did the MBD exhibit inverse seasonal peaks in mortality from diseases recorded in modern times, such as seasonal Influenza or the Indian Plague Epidemics of the early 1900 s? Although some have argued that climate changes likely explain the observed differences between modern clinical Bubonic Plague seasonality and MBD mortality accounts, we believe that another factor explains these dissimilarities. Here, we provide a synthetic hypothesis which builds upon previous theories developed in the last ten years or so. Our all-encompassing theory explains the causation, dissemination, and lethality of the MBD. We theorize that the MBD was a human-to-human transmitted virus, originating in East-Central Asia and not Africa (as some recent work has proposed), and that its areal extent during the first great epidemic wave of 1347-1350 was controlled hierarchically by proximity to trade routes. We also propose that the seasonality of medieval trade controlled the warm-weather mortality peaks witnessed during 1347-1350; during the time of greatest market activity, traders, fairgoers, and religious pilgrims served as unintentional vectors of a lethal virus with an incubation period of approximately 32 days, including a largely asymptomatic yet infectious period of roughly three weeks. We include a description of the rigorous research agenda that we have proposed in order to subject our theory to scientific scrutiny and a description of our plans to generate the first publicly available

‘A Wonderfull Monster Borne in Germany’: Hairy Girls in Medieval and Early Modern German Book, Court and Performance Culture*

PubMed Central

Katritzky, MA

2014-01-01

Human hirsuteness, or pathological hair growth, can be symptomatic of various conditions, including genetic mutation or inheritance, and some cancers and hormonal disturbances. Modern investigations into hirsuteness were initiated by nineteenth-century German physicians. Most early modern European cases of hypertrichosis (genetically determined all-over body and facial hair) involve German-speaking parentage or patronage, and are documented in German print culture. Through the Wild Man tradition, modern historians routinely link early modern reception of historical hypertrichosis cases to issues of ethnicity without, however, recognising early modern awareness of links between temporary hirsuteness and the pathological nexus of starvation and anorexia. Here, four cases of hirsute females are reconsidered with reference to this medical perspective, and to texts and images uncovered by my current research at the Herzog August Library and German archives. One concerns an Italian girl taken to Prague in 1355 by the Holy Roman Empress, Anna von Schweidnitz. Another focuses on Madeleine and Antonietta Gonzalez, daughters of the ‘Wild Man’ of Tenerife, documented at German courts in the 1580s. The third and fourth cases consider the medieval bearded Sankt Kümmernis (also known as St Wilgefortis or St Uncumber), and the seventeenth-century Bavarian fairground performer Barbara Urslerin. Krankhafter menschlicher Hirsutismus kann aufgrund unterschiedlicher Ursachen auftreten, zu denen u.a. genetische Veränderungen und Vererbung, verschiedene Krebserkrankungen und hormonelle Störungen gehören. Die moderne Hirsutismus-Forschung ist im 19. Jh. von deutschen Forschern initiiert worden. Die meisten europäischen frühneuzeitlichen Erscheinungen von Hypertrichose (dem genetisch bedingten Haarwuchs am gesamten Körper und im Gesicht) gehen auf deutschsprachige Eltern oder Förderer zurück und sind in Deutschland in den Druck gelangt. Bei Untersuchungen des Motivs des

Special object extraction from medieval books using superpixels and bag-of-features

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Ying; Rushmeier, Holly

2017-01-01

We propose a method to extract special objects in images of medieval books, which generally represent, for example, figures and capital letters. Instead of working on the single-pixel level, we consider superpixels as the basic classification units for improved time efficiency. More specifically, we classify superpixels into different categories/objects by using a bag-of-features approach, where a superpixel category classifier is trained with the local features of the superpixels of the training images. With the trained classifier, we are able to assign the category labels to the superpixels of a historical document image under test. Finally, special objects can easily be identified and extracted after analyzing the categorization results. Experimental results demonstrate that, as compared to the state-of-the-art algorithms, our method provides comparable performance for some historical books but greatly outperforms them in terms of generality and computational time.

High Throughput, Multiplexed Pathogen Detection Authenticates Plague Waves in Medieval Venice, Italy

PubMed Central

Tran, Thi-Nguyen-Ny; Signoli, Michel; Fozzati, Luigi; Aboudharam, Gérard; Raoult, Didier; Drancourt, Michel

2011-01-01

Background Historical records suggest that multiple burial sites from the 14th–16th centuries in Venice, Italy, were used during the Black Death and subsequent plague epidemics. Methodology/Principal Findings High throughput, multiplexed real-time PCR detected DNA of seven highly transmissible pathogens in 173 dental pulp specimens collected from 46 graves. Bartonella quintana DNA was identified in five (2.9%) samples, including three from the 16th century and two from the 15th century, and Yersinia pestis DNA was detected in three (1.7%) samples, including two from the 14th century and one from the 16th century. Partial glpD gene sequencing indicated that the detected Y. pestis was the Orientalis biotype. Conclusions These data document for the first time successive plague epidemics in the medieval European city where quarantine was first instituted in the 14th century. PMID:21423736

The little ice age and medieval warm period in the Sargasso Sea

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Keigwin, L.D.

1996-11-29

Sea surface temperature (SST), salinity, and flux of terrigenous material oscillated on millennial time scales in the Pleistocene North Atlantic, but there are few records of Holocene variability. Because of high rates of sediment accumulation, Holocene oscillations are well documented in the northern Sargasso Sea. Results from a radiocarbondated box core show that SST was {approximately} 1{degree}C cooler than today {approximately} 400 years ago (the Little Ice Age) and 1700 years ago, and {approximately} 1{degree}C warmer than today 1000 years ago (the Medieval Warm Period). Thus, at least some of the warming since the Little Ice Age appears to bemore » part of a natural oscillation. 39 refs., 4 figs., 1 tab.« less

Becoming Artifacts Medieval Seals, Passports and the Future of Digital Identity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chango, Mawaki

2012-01-01

What does a digital identity token have to do with medieval seals? Is the history of passports of any use for enabling the discovery of Internet users' identity when crossing virtual domain boundaries during their digital browsing and transactions? The agility of the Internet architecture and its simplicity of use have been the engines of its…

A Medieval Irish Treatise on Astronomy Recalled, with a Memoir of its Translator and Editor, Maura Power (1887-1916)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bruck, M. T.; Conway-Piskorski, M.

1998-01-01

A 15th century treatise on astronomy in Irish, an adaptation of a Latin translation of an older Arabic text, was transcribed and published together with an English translation and commentaries under the title An Irish Astronomical Tract in 1914. This work is familiar to Celtic language scholars but is little known among astronomers. Here we briefly describe the text, and include a memoir of its editor and translator Maura Power, a young woman who combined a specialist knowledge of the Irish language with an understanding of medieval science. We also recall two other Irish scholars - the geologist Maxwell Close and the astronomer John Ellard Gore - who played their part in recognizing the value of this early Irish scientific text.

Toward a Foundation of Library Philosophy: Comparing the Medieval and Modern Library.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buschman, John

Through a comparison of the historical perspectives of medieval and modern libraries, this paper is designed to clarify the purpose and goals of the library, and to promote a public and intellectual debate to guide future developments. The Middle Ages were chosen because libraries possessed an importance and centrality to learning, civilization,…

Actively Engaging Students in Culture, Gender, and Class Issues in Medieval Literature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Donnelly, Colleen E.

2017-01-01

Students often find it difficult to understand literature of another era and a world that differs from their own. From interacting with illuminated manuscript pages to conducting a mock trial, this article discusses ways in which visual and active learning techniques can be used to engage students in medieval literature and culture.

Women performers and prostitutes in Medieval India.

PubMed

Bano, Shadab

2012-01-01

Music and dance, the esoteric performing arts, were markers of culture in medieval India. A number of these differing forms developed into well-recognized and reputed arts over time. The practitioners were, accordingly, regarded as agents of refinement and culture. At the same time, music and dance were also among the most popular forms of entertainment and physical pleasure. This aspect remained crucial in classifying musicians, singers and dancers as entertainers, alongside prostitutes. While the labelling together might have reduced the status of performers at times, the labelling hardly remained fixed. Certain practitioners, even if involved in practices otherwise considered immoral, could remain within the elite circle, while for others the ‘evil’ characteristics got emphasized. There were, within the class of women who prostituted themselves, courtesans trained in the skills of music and dancing and educated in the fine arts, who were treated more as embodiments of culture. These categories—artists, skilled entertainers, courtesans—were quite fluid, with the boundaries seemingly fused together. Still, there were certainly some distinctions among the categories and those did not totally disappear, affording sanctity and purity to certain kinds of performers and allowing them to claim distinctiveness. Notably, the class of courtesans clearly stood apart from the common prostitutes. The attempt in this article is to look at different categories of women performers and prostitutes, their apparent coalescing boundaries and specialities as a separate group, their societal position, their shifting roles and the changes that affected their status. In this, it is worthwhile to consider the state’s attitude towards them, besides societal views that remained quite diverse.

The doctrine of signatures in the medieval and Ottoman Levant.

PubMed

Lev, Efraim

2002-06-01

This study traces the use of the Doctrine of Signatures among medieval and Ottoman physicians and its subsequent appearance in the pharmacological literature of the Levant. Close examination of the historical sources of the Levant seems to support the claim that although this theory did not originate in the region, it was certainly practised there. These sources have revealed 23 substances with medicinal uses based on the Doctrine, bearing witness to the extent of its influence at the time. The main categories of the Doctrine uncovered were: similarity between the substance used and the human organ; resemblance in shape or behaviour to a specific animal; correlation between the colour of a substance and the colour of the symptoms; similarities between the substance and the patient's symptoms and the use of a substance that might produce symptoms of a particular disease in a healthy person to remedy those same symptoms in one who is sick.

Influence of solar activity on the state of the wheat market in medieval England

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pustil'Nik, Lev A.; Din, Gregory Yom

2004-09-01

The database of professor Rogers (1887), which includes wheat prices in England in the Middle Ages, was used to search for a possible influence of solar activity on the wheat market. Our approach was based on the following: (1) Existence of the correlation between cosmic ray flux entering the terrestrial atmosphere and cloudiness of the atmosphere. (2) Cosmic ray intensity in the solar system changes with solar activity, (3) Wheat production depends on weather conditions as a nonlinear function with threshold transitions. (4) A wheat market with a limited supply (as it was in medieval England) has a highly nonlinear sensitivity to variations in wheat production with boundary states, where small changes in wheat supply could lead to bursts of prices or to prices falling. We present a conceptual model of possible modes for sensitivity of wheat prices to weather conditions, caused by solar cycle variations, and compare expected price fluctuations with price variations recorded in medieval England. We compared statistical properties of the intervals between wheat price bursts during the years 1249-1703 with statistical properties of the intervals between the minima of solar cycles during the years 1700-2000. We show that statistical properties of these two samples are similar, both for characteristics of the distributions and for histograms of the distributions. We analyze a direct link between wheat prices and solar activity in the 17th century, for which wheat prices and solar activity data (derived from 10Be isotope) are available. We show that for all 10 time moments of the solar activity minima the observed prices were higher than prices for the corresponding time moments of maximal solar activity (100% sign correlation, on a significance level < 0.2%). We consider these results a direct evidence of the causal connection between wheat prices bursts and solar activity.

Lineage interests and nonreproductive strategies : An evolutionary approach to medieval religious women.

PubMed

Hill, E

1999-06-01

The nonreproductive role of religious women in the European Middle Ages presents the ideal forum for the discussion of elite family strategies within a historical context. I apply the evolutionary concept of kin selection to this group of women in order to explain how a social formation in which religious women failed to reproduce benefited medieval noble lineages. After a brief review of the roles of noble women in the later Middle Ages, I identify two benefits that nonreproductive women provided within a patrilineal inheritance system. First, spatial segregation and Christian ideology together served to curtail the production of offspring who could pose a threat to lineage interests. Second, cloistered noble women served as a strong political and economic bloc that could further lineage interests within a religious context. Finally, I discuss the evolutionary basis for the formation of groups of nonreproductive women. Using the foundation provided by animal behavioral studies, I apply the twin concepts of cooperative breeding and parental manipulation to noble lineages of the medieval period.

The Medieval Climate Anomaly and Little Ice Age in Chesapeake Bay and the North Atlantic Ocean

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cronin, T. M.; Hayo, K.; Thunell, R.C.; Dwyer, G.S.; Saenger, C.; Willard, D.A.

2010-01-01

A new 2400-year paleoclimate reconstruction from Chesapeake Bay (CB) (eastern US) was compared to other paleoclimate records in the North Atlantic region to evaluate climate variability during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) and Little Ice Age (LIA). Using Mg/Ca ratios from ostracodes and oxygen isotopes from benthic foraminifera as proxies for temperature and precipitation-driven estuarine hydrography, results show that warmest temperatures in CB reached 16-17. ??C between 600 and 950. CE (Common Era), centuries before the classic European Medieval Warm Period (950-1100. CE) and peak warming in the Nordic Seas (1000-1400. CE). A series of centennial warm/cool cycles began about 1000. CE with temperature minima of ~. 8 to 9. ??C about 1150, 1350, and 1650-1800. CE, and intervening warm periods (14-15. ??C) centered at 1200, 1400, 1500 and 1600. CE. Precipitation variability in the eastern US included multiple dry intervals from 600 to 1200. CE, which contrasts with wet medieval conditions in the Caribbean. The eastern US experienced a wet LIA between 1650 and 1800. CE when the Caribbean was relatively dry. Comparison of the CB record with other records shows that the MCA and LIA were characterized by regionally asynchronous warming and complex spatial patterns of precipitation, possibly related to ocean-atmosphere processes. ?? 2010.

Precambrian Time - The Story of the Early Earth

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lindsey, D.A.

2007-01-01

The Precambrian is the least-understood part of Earth history, yet it is arguably the most important. Precambrian time spans almost nine-tenths of Earth history, from the formation of the Earth to the dawn of the Cambrian Period. It represents time so vast and long ago that it challenges all comprehension. The Precambrian is the time of big questions. How old is the Earth? How old are the oldest rocks and continents? What was the early Earth like? What was the early atmosphere like? When did life appear, and what did it look like? And, how do we know this? In recent years, remarkable progress has been made in understanding the early evolution of the Earth and life itself. Yet, the scientific story of the early Earth is still a work in progress, humankind's latest attempt to understand the planet. Like previous attempts, it too will change as we learn more about the Earth. Read on to discover what we know now, in the early 21st century.

Detection and strain typing of ancient Mycobacterium leprae from a medieval leprosy hospital.

PubMed

Taylor, G Michael; Tucker, Katie; Butler, Rachel; Pike, Alistair W G; Lewis, Jamie; Roffey, Simon; Marter, Philip; Lee, Oona Y-C; Wu, Houdini H T; Minnikin, David E; Besra, Gurdyal S; Singh, Pushpendra; Cole, Stewart T; Stewart, Graham R

2013-01-01

Nine burials excavated from the Magdalen Hill Archaeological Research Project (MHARP) in Winchester, UK, showing skeletal signs of lepromatous leprosy (LL) have been studied using a multidisciplinary approach including osteological, geochemical and biomolecular techniques. DNA from Mycobacterium leprae was amplified from all nine skeletons but not from control skeletons devoid of indicative pathology. In several specimens we corroborated the identification of M. leprae with detection of mycolic acids specific to the cell wall of M. leprae and persistent in the skeletal samples. In five cases, the preservation of the material allowed detailed genotyping using single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and multiple locus variable number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA). Three of the five cases proved to be infected with SNP type 3I-1, ancestral to contemporary M. leprae isolates found in southern states of America and likely carried by European migrants. From the remaining two burials we identified, for the first time in the British Isles, the occurrence of SNP type 2F. Stable isotope analysis conducted on tooth enamel taken from two of the type 3I-1 and one of the type 2F remains revealed that all three individuals had probably spent their formative years in the Winchester area. Previously, type 2F has been implicated as the precursor strain that migrated from the Middle East to India and South-East Asia, subsequently evolving to type 1 strains. Thus we show that type 2F had also spread westwards to Britain by the early medieval period.

Detection and Strain Typing of Ancient Mycobacterium leprae from a Medieval Leprosy Hospital

PubMed Central

Taylor, G. Michael; Tucker, Katie; Butler, Rachel; Pike, Alistair W. G.; Lewis, Jamie; Roffey, Simon; Marter, Philip; Lee, Oona Y-C; Wu, Houdini H. T.; Minnikin, David E.; Besra, Gurdyal S.; Singh, Pushpendra; Cole, Stewart T.; Stewart, Graham R.

2013-01-01

Nine burials excavated from the Magdalen Hill Archaeological Research Project (MHARP) in Winchester, UK, showing skeletal signs of lepromatous leprosy (LL) have been studied using a multidisciplinary approach including osteological, geochemical and biomolecular techniques. DNA from Mycobacterium leprae was amplified from all nine skeletons but not from control skeletons devoid of indicative pathology. In several specimens we corroborated the identification of M. leprae with detection of mycolic acids specific to the cell wall of M. leprae and persistent in the skeletal samples. In five cases, the preservation of the material allowed detailed genotyping using single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and multiple locus variable number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA). Three of the five cases proved to be infected with SNP type 3I-1, ancestral to contemporary M. leprae isolates found in southern states of America and likely carried by European migrants. From the remaining two burials we identified, for the first time in the British Isles, the occurrence of SNP type 2F. Stable isotope analysis conducted on tooth enamel taken from two of the type 3I-1 and one of the type 2F remains revealed that all three individuals had probably spent their formative years in the Winchester area. Previously, type 2F has been implicated as the precursor strain that migrated from the Middle East to India and South-East Asia, subsequently evolving to type 1 strains. Thus we show that type 2F had also spread westwards to Britain by the early medieval period. PMID:23638071

Frail or hale: Skeletal frailty indices in Medieval London skeletons

PubMed Central

Crews, Douglas E.

2017-01-01

To broaden bioarchaeological applicability of skeletal frailty indices (SFIs) and increase sample size, we propose indices with fewer biomarkers (2–11 non-metric biomarkers) and compare these reduced biomarker SFIs to the original metric/non-metric 13-biomarker SFI. From the 2-11-biomarker SFIs, we choose the index with the fewest biomarkers (6-biomarker SFI), which still maintains the statistical robusticity of a 13-biomarker SFI, and apply this index to the same Medieval monastic and nonmonastic populations, albeit with an increased sample size. For this increased monastic and nonmonastic sample, we also propose and implement a 4-biomarker SFI, comprised of biomarkers from each of four stressor categories, and compare these SFI distributions with those of the non-metric biomarker SFIs. From the Museum of London WORD database, we tabulate multiple SFIs (2- to 13-biomarkers) for Medieval monastic and nonmonastic samples (N = 134). We evaluate associations between these ten non-metric SFIs and the 13-biomarker SFI using Spearman’s correlation coefficients. Subsequently, we test non-metric 6-biomarker and 4-biomarker SFI distributions for associations with cemetery, age, and sex using Analysis of Variance/Covariance (ANOVA/ANCOVA) on larger samples from the monastic and nonmonastic cemeteries (N = 517). For Medieval samples, Spearman’s correlation coefficients show a significant association between the 13-biomarker SFI and all non-metric SFIs. Utilizing a 6-biomarker and parsimonious 4-biomarker SFI, we increase the nonmonastic and monastic samples and demonstrate significant lifestyle and sex differences in frailty that were not observed in the original, smaller sample. Results from the 6-biomarker and parsimonious 4-biomarker SFIs generally indicate similarities in means, explained variation (R2), and associated P-values (ANOVA/ANCOVA) within and between nonmonastic and monastic samples. We show that non-metric reduced biomarker SFIs provide alternative

Timing of Orphanhood, Early Sexual Debut, and Early Marriage in Four Sub-Saharan African Countries

PubMed Central

Chae, Sophia

2014-01-01

According to a growing body of literature, some orphans are at heightened risk of early sexual debut and early marriage. This study examines a rarely explored aspect of orphanhood: the timing and type of parental death and their relationship to these outcomes. The study also explores whether education mediates orphans’ risk of early sexual initiation and early marriage. The data are drawn from the 2004 National Survey of Adolescents, which includes interviews with 12–19-year-old adolescents in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi, and Uganda. Results from discrete-time event history analysis indicate that female double orphans, regardless of timing of orphanhood, have greater odds of early sexual debut than do nonorphans. Education explains little of their increased risk. In contrast, male orphans of any type reveal no increased vulnerability to early sexual debut. Uganda is the only country where female orphans, specifically double orphans and those who are paternal orphans before age 10, have greater odds of early marriage, with education accounting for a small portion of the risk. PMID:23719999

SOME ASPECTS OF HEALTH CARE IN MEDIEVAL INDIA

PubMed Central

Rao, B. Rama

1992-01-01

It appears that from medieval period onwards the subjects having practical application were given more importance than the philosophical and theoretical aspects. But the physicians were keen observes and new drugs and information were added and the effect of religion, astrology and other systems is also seen. While the womenfolk used to collect from the nearby forests, drugs that were useful for common ailments, some drugs were also imported from other countries. Specialization in certain diseases or practices was prevalent and the physicians enjoyed a high status and respect in the society. Several such other aspects are dealt with in this article. PMID:22556577

Genetics of the peloponnesean populations and the theory of extinction of the medieval peloponnesean Greeks

PubMed Central

Stamatoyannopoulos, George; Bose, Aritra; Teodosiadis, Athanasios; Tsetsos, Fotis; Plantinga, Anna; Psatha, Nikoletta; Zogas, Nikos; Yannaki, Evangelia; Zalloua, Pierre; Kidd, Kenneth K; Browning, Brian L; Stamatoyannopoulos, John; Paschou, Peristera; Drineas, Petros

2017-01-01

Peloponnese has been one of the cradles of the Classical European civilization and an important contributor to the ancient European history. It has also been the subject of a controversy about the ancestry of its population. In a theory hotly debated by scholars for over 170 years, the German historian Jacob Philipp Fallmerayer proposed that the medieval Peloponneseans were totally extinguished by Slavic and Avar invaders and replaced by Slavic settlers during the 6th century CE. Here we use 2.5 million single-nucleotide polymorphisms to investigate the genetic structure of Peloponnesean populations in a sample of 241 individuals originating from all districts of the peninsula and to examine predictions of the theory of replacement of the medieval Peloponneseans by Slavs. We find considerable heterogeneity of Peloponnesean populations exemplified by genetically distinct subpopulations and by gene flow gradients within Peloponnese. By principal component analysis (PCA) and ADMIXTURE analysis the Peloponneseans are clearly distinguishable from the populations of the Slavic homeland and are very similar to Sicilians and Italians. Using a novel method of quantitative analysis of ADMIXTURE output we find that the Slavic ancestry of Peloponnesean subpopulations ranges from 0.2 to 14.4%. Subpopulations considered by Fallmerayer to be Slavic tribes or to have Near Eastern origin, have no significant ancestry of either. This study rejects the theory of extinction of medieval Peloponneseans and illustrates how genetics can clarify important aspects of the history of a human population. PMID:28272534

Mysteries of Antiquity: Lessons To Engage Middle School Students in Ancient/Medieval History.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fischer, Max W.

This instructional packet is intended to help classroom instructors introduce fascinating quandaries rarely featured in history textbooks about the ancient and medieval eras. Most of the 13 lesson plans require only 1 or 2 class periods to complete, permitting the teacher to enhance the presentation of a particular unit without fear of devoting…

Social Perception of Infertility and Its Treatment in Late Medieval Italy: Margherita Datini, an Italian Merchant's Wife.

PubMed

Nam, Jong Kuk

2016-12-01

Because the perception of infertility in medieval Europe ranged from the extremely religious view of it as a malediction of God or the devil's work, to the reasonable medical conception of it as a sort of disease to treat, it is very difficult to determine the general attitudes of ordinary people towards infertility. This article seeks to elucidate the common social perception of infertility and its treatment in late medieval Europe by analyzing the case of Margherita Datini, an Italian merchant's wife who lived in the 1400s. It relies heavily on the documents left by her and her husband, Francesco Datini; the couple left many records, including letters of correspondence between them. Margherita and those around her regarded infertility not as the devil's curse or a punishment by God but as a disease that can be cured. Margherita and her husband, Francesco, tried hard to cure their infertility. They received treatment and prescriptions from several doctors while also relying on folk remedies, religious therapies, and even magical remedies. The comparative analysis of Datini documents, medical books, and theoretical treatises or prescriptive essays by clerics suggests that the general perception of infertility in medieval Europe was located between the extremely religious and modern medical conceptions of it.

D/H Ratios From Sierra Nevada Varved Lake Sediments Record Decadal Hydroclimate Variability During The Medieval Period

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roach, L. D.; Cayan, D. R.; Sessions, A. L.; Charles, C. D.; Anderson, R. S.

2009-12-01

Assessment of the risks of persistent drought requires multiple realizations of decadal and centennial scale hydroclimate variability that extend beyond the relatively short period of instrumental record. Much remains to be learned about the so called “mega droughts” in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, where various lines of evidence point toward the occurrence of severe, decades-long droughts during Medieval times, approximately 900-1400 AD. Here we present a continuous, decadal scale record of hydroclimate variability in the Sierra Nevada Mountains that extends through the heart of the purported Medieval mega droughts. Previous work on the stable hydrogen isotope (D/H) ratios of refractory plant lipid compounds stored in lake sediments demonstrated that these compounds reflect the D/H values of lake water and/or shallow ground water--reservoirs both fed by local precipitation. Lake sediment D/H can therefore reflect the processes that determine D/H of precipitation, including temperature, humidity and moisture source. We have measured D/H of aquatic and terrestrial plant fatty acids extracted from a suite of sediment cores collected at Swamp Lake (elevation: 1554m), in Yosemite National Park, along the Sierra Nevada crest. Measurements with biennial resolution were made for two time periods: the 20th century and the 13th-15th centuries. D/H fluctuations in 20th century sediment contain relatively strong decadal structure. Comparison with instrumentally recorded climate variability reveals that lower D/H concentrations are associated with years of higher than normal annual precipitation, cooler than normal wintertime temperatures, and positive April 1 Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) anomalies throughout the Sierra Nevada, (and conversely for elevated D/H concentrations). The range of variability is approximately 50‰. These associations may be driven by the variable mass-balance impact of evaporation on the isotopic composition of lake water and shallow groundwater

[Study of dental attrition in a medieval adult population from Southwest France].

PubMed

Esclassan, R; Boimond, L; Sevin, A; Donat, R; Lucas, S; Grimoud, A M

2009-02-01

The aim of the authors was to study dental attrition in a medieval sample of paired mandibles and maxillas from the Southwest France (IX to XV century). We selected 58 adult individuals with maxillas and mandibles in good state of conservation, 29 women and 29 men from the medieval collection of Vilarnau-d'Amont (Western Pyrenees, France). Attrition was graded according to the Brabant index. We found a high prevalence of attrition in this sample. The first molars (M1) were the maxillary and mandibular teeth most concerned by attrition. The most frequent attrition level was level 2, with dentin exposure. We did not find any significant difference of tooth wear between maxillary and mandibular teeth, even if maxillary teeth seemed to be more worn. There was symmetry of attrition between the left and right side. There was no significant difference between men and women. Working on paired mandibles and maxillas showed that attrition in the middle age was a global phenomenon, intermaxillary and symmetric. It was much more severe than today, rapidly evolving and generalized because of the abrasive quality of food, cooking, chewing habits, and intensity of chewing pressure.

Timely Healthcare Checkup Catches Melanoma Early

MedlinePlus

... please turn Javascript on. Feature: Skin Cancer Timely Healthcare Checkup Catches Melanoma Early Past Issues / Summer 2013 ... left the Congress and starting working as a healthcare consultant, when I finally decided to have a ...

Facial skeleton asymmetry and its relationship to mastication in the Early Medieval period (Great Moravian Empire, Mikulčice, 9th-10th century).

PubMed

Ibrová, Alexandra; Dupej, Ján; Stránská, Petra; Velemínský, Petr; Poláček, Lumír; Velemínská, Jana

2017-12-01

The aim of this study was to analyse the relationship of mastication and directional asymmetry (DA) of upper facial skeleton in Early Medieval sample from the Mikulčice settlement (Czech Republic). The settlement is divided into two burial areas of presumably different socioeconomic status: the castle and the sub-castle. The material consisted of 193 individuals (125 castle, 68 sub-castle). The relationship of facial skeleton DA and mastication was analysed by examining tooth wear and mandibular shape by means of 3D geometric morphometrics. Tooth wear of premolars and molars was evaluated using appropriate scoring systems. 3D coordinates of 35 mandibular landmarks were scanned using MicroScribe G2X digitizing system. The results did not reveal any significant differences in tooth wear DA or mandible DA values between burial areas or sexes. Mandibular shape, however, differed significantly between burial areas and sexes. Directional changes of mandibular landmarks supported a right chewing side preference in the sample. Significant relationship between upper facial skeleton DA and mandible DA was recorded. Differences in subsistence between burial areas and sexes did not translate into differences in mandible DA and dental wear. However, mandibular shape analysis revealed prominence of areas affected by masticatory muscles in individuals from the castle. Higher consumption of tough material, such as meat, has been proposed as possible explanation. The right side was found to be preferential for chewing. The relationship between upper facial skeleton DA and mandible DA was concluded to be the result of the compensatory and adaptive function of mandible. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Combined GPR and ERT exploratory geophysical survey of the Medieval Village of Pancorbo Castle (Burgos, Spain)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fernández-Álvarez, José-Paulino; Rubio-Melendi, David; Quirós Castillo, Juan Antonio; González-Quirós, Andrés; Cimadevilla-Fuente, David

2017-09-01

Ground-penetrating Radar (GPR) and Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) have been fruitfully employed for archaeological purposes. An area at the Pancorbo medieval site in Burgos (Spain) has been jointly explored by GPR and ERT in the search for the buried remains of the Pancorbo medieval village. After data collection, quality control and merging, a shallow depth of interest was identified and studied in detail. 3D resistivity simulation, considering sensible geometrical structures of the targets helped discover anomalies present in the area. On the other hand, visual GPR inspection was considerably enhanced by trace energy attribute analysis which provided a plan view of the existing anomalies. Two posterior archaeological excavations have a very good correlation between the identified anomalies and the excavated remains. The survey also provides hints for the continuation of the excavation.

The Impact of Devegetated Dune Fields on North American Climate During the Late Medieval Climate Anomaly

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cook, B. I.; Seager, R.; Miller, R. L.

2011-01-01

During the Medieval Climate Anomaly, North America experienced severe droughts and widespread mobilization of dune fields that persisted for decades. We use an atmosphere general circulation model, forced by a tropical Pacific sea surface temperature reconstruction and changes in the land surface consistent with estimates of dune mobilization (conceptualized as partial devegetation), to investigate whether the devegetation could have exacerbated the medieval droughts. Presence of devegetated dunes in the model significantly increases surface temperatures, but has little impact on precipitation or drought severity, as defined by either the Palmer Drought Severity Index or the ratio of precipitation to potential evapotranspiration. Results are similar to recent studies of the 1930s Dust Bowl drought, suggesting bare soil associated with the dunes, in and of itself, is not sufficient to amplify droughts over North America.

Interdisciplinary landscape research in a medieval mound in one of the oldest Dutch towns, Vlaardingen, the Netherlands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Ridder, Tim; Kluiving, Sjoerd; van Dasselaar, Marcel

2013-04-01

In Medieval times the city of Vlaardingen (the Netherlands) was strategically located on the confluence of three rivers, the Meuse, the Merwede and the Vlaarding. A church of early 8th century was already located here. In a short period of time Vlaardingen developed into an international trading place, the most important place in the former county of Holland. Starting from the 11th century the river Meuse threatened to flood the settlement, and as a reaction to it inhabitants started to raise the surface. This resulted eventually in an enormous mound, surface: 200 by 250 meter, built up in a four to five meter thick sequence of clay and manure in which organic rests of former occupation are extremely well preserved, e.g. wooden posts, mesh walls, but also leather objects. Early 2002 graves were found in the city centre, dating 1000-1050, in which not only the wooden coffins, but also the straw that covered the deceased. In human teeth DNA appeared to be well preserved, classified as the oldest in the nation, turning the church hill into a large database of human DNA. To secure the future of this vulnerable soil archive currently an extensive interdisciplinary research (mechanical drilling, grain size, TGA, archeological remains, osteology, hydrology, dating methods, micromorphology, microfauna, molluscs, diatoms) has started in 2011 to gain knowledge on the internal structure of the mound as well as on the well-preserved nature of the archaeological evidence. In this presentation the results of this large-scale project are demonstrated in a number of cross-sections with interrelated geological and archaeological stratification. Results of GSA (including end-member analysis EMMA), TGA, XRF and micromorphology analyses are presented. Distinction between natural and anthropogenic layering is made on the occurrence of chemical elements phosphor and potassium. Results of this research are also applied in the construction of the 3D model of the subsurface (this session

PIXE and PGAA - Complementary methods for studies on ancient glass artefacts (from Byzantine, late medieval to modern Murano glass)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Constantinescu, Bogdan; Cristea-Stan, Daniela; Szőkefalvi-Nagy, Zoltán; Kovács, Imre; Harsányi, Ildikó; Kasztovszky, Zsolt

2018-02-01

Combined external milli-beam Particle Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) and Prompt Gamma Activation Analysis (PGAA) analysis was applied to characterize the composition of paste and colorants from some fragments of Byzantine bracelets (10th-12th Centuries AD), late medieval (17th-18th Centuries AD) and modern Murano glass pieces. As fluxes, PGAA revealed the samples are soda-lime glass, except four samples - two medieval vessel white shards and two dark Byzantine fragments of bracelets - which have potash flux. Aluminium was detected in various proportions in all samples indicating different sources for the added sand. The presence of Magnesium is relevant only in one bracelet fragment suggesting the use of plant (wood?) ash and confirming that the Byzantine bracelet is manufactured from the mixture of both types of glass (natron and plant ash based). PGAA also indicated the presence of low quantities of Cadmium, high level of Arsenic and Lead (possibly lead arsenate) in one medieval sample and of ZnO in Murano glass, and of CoO traces (maximum 0.1%) in all blue-colored Byzantine, late medieval to modern Murano glass artefacts. PIXE confirmed the use of small quantities of CoO for blue color, indicated Manganese combined with Iron for dark glass, Copper for green, Lead, Tin and an Arsenic compound (orpiment?) for yellow and in the case of modern Murano glass Selenium and Cadmium to obtain a reddish color. Despite PIXE - PIGE combination is probably the best one for glass analysis, our external milli-PIXE - PGAA methods proved to be adequate complementary tools to determine many chemical elements from glass composition - Si, Na, K, Ca, Al, Mg, various metallic oxides.

History of spine biomechanics: part I--the pre-Greco-Roman, Greco-Roman, and medieval roots of spine biomechanics.

PubMed

Naderi, Sait; Andalkar, Niteen; Benzel, Edward C

2007-02-01

The roots of spine biomechanics reside in the Antiquity and the Medieval and Renaissance periods. A review of historical treatises reveals detailed information regarding this often historically neglected discipline. Ancient medical, philosophical, and physical documents were reviewed, as they pertained to the historical foundation of spine biomechanics. These included medical case reports and observations of nature and motion by ancient philosophers and scientists. These documents heavily influenced the portion of the scientific literature that we now regard as "spine biomechanics" up through the Renaissance. The focus of Part I of this two-part series is placed on the ancient and medieval biomechanics-related literature and on associated literature that influenced the development of the field of modern spine biomechanics.

Three individuals, three stories, three burials from medieval Trondheim, Norway.

PubMed

Suppersberger Hamre, Stian; Ersland, Geir Atle; Daux, Valérie; Parson, Walther; Wilkinson, Caroline

2017-01-01

This article presents the life stories of three individuals who lived in Trondheim, Norway, during the 13th century. Based on skeletal examinations, facial reconstructions, genetic analyses, and stable oxygen isotope analyses, the birthplace, mobility, ancestry, pathology, and physical appearance of these people are presented. The stories are discussed within the relevant historical context. These three people would have been ordinary citizens, without any privileges out of the ordinary, which makes them quite rare in the academic literature. Through the study of individuals one gets a unique look into the Norwegian medieval society.

Three individuals, three stories, three burials from medieval Trondheim, Norway

PubMed Central

Ersland, Geir Atle; Daux, Valérie; Parson, Walther; Wilkinson, Caroline

2017-01-01

This article presents the life stories of three individuals who lived in Trondheim, Norway, during the 13th century. Based on skeletal examinations, facial reconstructions, genetic analyses, and stable oxygen isotope analyses, the birthplace, mobility, ancestry, pathology, and physical appearance of these people are presented. The stories are discussed within the relevant historical context. These three people would have been ordinary citizens, without any privileges out of the ordinary, which makes them quite rare in the academic literature. Through the study of individuals one gets a unique look into the Norwegian medieval society. PMID:28671986

Determination of the origin of the medieval glass bracelets discovered in Dubna, Moscow region, Russia using the neutron activation analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dmitrieva, S. O.; Frontasyeva, M. V.; Dmitriev, A. A.; Dmitriev, A. Yu.

2017-01-01

The work is dedicated to the determination of the origin of archaeological finds from medieval glass using the method of neutron activation analysis (NAA). Among such objects we can discover not only things produced in ancient Russian glassmaking workshops but also imported from Byzantium. The authors substantiate the ancient Russian origin of the medieval glass bracelets of pre-Mongol period, found on the ancient Dubna settlement. The conclusions are based on data about the glass chemical composition obtained as a result of NAA of 10 fragments of bracelets at the IBR-2 reactor (Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research).

Medieval Aridity in the Central Tropical Pacific

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Higley, M. C.; Conroy, J. L.; Schmitt, S.

2016-12-01

Reconstructing last millennium hydroclimate history in the tropical Pacific requires continuous, high temporal resolution archives of past moisture balance. Such records remain rare, particularly in the central tropical Pacific (CTP), where to date only one 1300-year terrestrial record of hydroclimate is available. Here we present a new brackish lake sediment record from Kiritimati Island (1.9° N, 157.4° W). 2000 years of geochemical and sedimentological data indicate centennial periods of fresher and more saline lake water. An episode of increased microbial mat development and gypsum precipitation marks the period 900 to 1250 CE, coincident with the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA), indicating a period of enhanced salinity and extended aridity. A shift from gypsum and microbial mats to carbonate sediment at the transition between the MCA and the Little Ice Age (LIA) supports the hypothesis of a southward shift in the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) at this time and increased precipitation over Kiritimati. The LIA does not appear anomalously wet in Kiritimati relative to the 20th century, and higher frequency variability in the Kiritimati sediment laminae indicates microbial mats continued to grow at multidecadal intervals until 1700 AD. The periodicity of sub-mm scale laminations within the buried microbial mats is highly variable, and indicates mat-carbonate laminae are too frequent to be related to seasonal or ENSO periodicity. Such laminae are likely related to the organization of microbial communities and organomineralization along environmental microgradients in microbial mats.

MKHITAR GOSH'S MEDIEVAL LAW CODE AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR ARMENIAN COMMUNITIES ABROAD.

PubMed

Davtyan, Susanna; Khachatryan, Mikayel; Johrian, Ara; Ghazaryan, Karen

2014-07-01

The Law Book of the medieval Armenian legal and economic thought is an exceptional work that encompasses valuable information of the Armenian nation's domestic life. Mkhitar Gosh was considered to be one of the most outstanding figures and lawyers (lawmakers) of all times. Armenian Law Code after Mkhitar Gosh is writhed at 12 century. One of the primary sources for the law code was Armenian customary law. This Code became moral code for guiding for hall Armenians over the world because of high moral spirit reflecting Armenian mentality. This article presents the brief history of extension of legal rules setting out in the Law Code. The Law Code was established and widely used not only in Armenia but also in a number of Armenian communities abroad (Russian, Poland, Georgia, Latvia, India etc.). Law Code was accepted by all Armenians. Moreover, it served for the development of legislation for a number of civilized European and Asian countries.

Wrestling with Stephen and Matilda: Planning Challenging Enquiries to Engage Year 7 in Medieval Anarchy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McDougall, Hannah

2013-01-01

McDougall found learning about Stephen and Matilda fascinating, was sure that her pupils would also and designed an enquiry to engage them in "the anarchy" of 1139-1153 AD. Pupils enjoyed exploring "the anarchy" and learning about it enhanced their knowledge and understanding of the medieval period considerably. However,…

Medieval and Renaissance anatomists: the printing and unauthorized copying of illustrations, and the dissemination of ideas.

PubMed

Lanska, Douglas J; Lanska, John Robert

2013-01-01

The vanguard that began to question Galenic anatomical dogma originated in northern Italy in the latter half of the thirteenth century, and not coincidentally this was where human dissection was introduced, which in turn eventually fostered the origins of realistic anatomical illustration in the late fifteenth century. With the advent of the printing press and moveable type at this time, printed books began to supersede hand-copied medieval manuscripts, and labor-intensive techniques were soon developed to integrate text and illustrations on the printed page. The same technology was used to pirate the illustrations of prior authors with varying fidelity. Specific medieval and Renaissance anatomical illustrations can often be traced from their inceptions through different stages of development to the final printed images, and then through subsequent pirated versions in various abridgements or other compendia. The most important milestone in the development of anatomy and anatomical illustration was the publication in 1543 by Andreas Vesalii of De humani corporis fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body), commonly referred to simply as the Fabrica. With this work, Vesalii succeeded in coordinating a publication production team (author, artists, block cutters, publisher, and typesetters) to achieve an unprecedented integration of scientific discourse, medical illustration, and typography. However, despite Vesalii's valiant efforts to prevent unauthorized duplication, the illustrations from the Fabrica were extensively plagiarized. Although Vesalii found such piracy frustrating and annoying, the long-term effect was to make Vesalii's ideas known to a wider readership and to help solidify his own revolutionary contributions to anatomy. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Neolithic and medieval virus genomes reveal complex evolution of hepatitis B

PubMed Central

Key, Felix M; Kühnert, Denise; Bosse, Esther; Immel, Alexander; Rinne, Christoph; Kornell, Sabin-Christin; Yepes, Diego; Franzenburg, Sören; Heyne, Henrike O; Meier, Thomas; Lösch, Sandra; Meller, Harald; Friederich, Susanne; Nicklisch, Nicole; Alt, Kurt W; Schreiber, Stefan; Tholey, Andreas; Herbig, Alexander; Nebel, Almut

2018-01-01

The hepatitis B virus (HBV) is one of the most widespread human pathogens known today, yet its origin and evolutionary history are still unclear and controversial. Here, we report the analysis of three ancient HBV genomes recovered from human skeletons found at three different archaeological sites in Germany. We reconstructed two Neolithic and one medieval HBV genome by de novo assembly from shotgun DNA sequencing data. Additionally, we observed HBV-specific peptides using paleo-proteomics. Our results demonstrated that HBV has circulated in the European population for at least 7000 years. The Neolithic HBV genomes show a high genomic similarity to each other. In a phylogenetic network, they do not group with any human-associated HBV genome and are most closely related to those infecting African non-human primates. The ancient viruses appear to represent distinct lineages that have no close relatives today and possibly went extinct. Our results reveal the great potential of ancient DNA from human skeletons in order to study the long-time evolution of blood borne viruses. PMID:29745896

Neolithic and Medieval virus genomes reveal complex evolution of Hepatitis B.

PubMed

Krause-Kyora, Ben; Susat, Julian; Key, Felix M; Kühnert, Denise; Bosse, Esther; Immel, Alexander; Rinne, Christoph; Kornell, Sabin-Christin; Yepes, Diego; Franzenburg, Sören; Heyne, Henrike O; Meier, Thomas; Lösch, Sandra; Meller, Harald; Friederich, Susanne; Nicklisch, Nicole; Alt, Kurt W; Schreiber, Stefan; Tholey, Andreas; Herbig, Alexander; Nebel, Almut; Krause, Johannes

2018-05-10

The hepatitis B virus (HBV) is one of the most widespread human pathogens known today, yet its origin and evolutionary history are still unclear and controversial. Here, we report the analysis of three ancient HBV genomes recovered from human skeletons found at three different archaeological sites in Germany. We reconstructed two Neolithic and one medieval HBV genomes by de novo assembly from shotgun DNA sequencing data. Additionally, we observed HBV-specific peptides using paleo-proteomics. Our results show that HBV circulates in the European population for at least 7000 years. The Neolithic HBV genomes show a high genomic similarity to each other. In a phylogenetic network, they do not group with any human-associated HBV genome and are most closely related to those infecting African non-human primates. These ancient virus forms appear to represent distinct lineages that have no close relatives today and possibly went extinct. Our results reveal the great potential of ancient DNA from human skeletons in order to study the long-time evolution of blood borne viruses. © 2018, Krause-Kyora et al.

Finding the Sacred Direction: Medieval Books on the Qibla

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rius, M.

2009-08-01

Medieval Islamic scholars wrote a great number of books on the qibla, the Sacred Direction. These books had a huge readership and provided instructions for finding the direction of Mecca by either exact or approximate means. In principle, the qibla was a purely religious subject, but in practice its determination required the use of astronomy as an applied science. As so often, religion and politics had many points of contact and, in this case, it was generally political considerations that prevailed. Finally, the analysis of nautical charts can offer new perspectives. As yet, modern scholarship has not established the link between this area of study and the classical literature on this subject.

Early Earth(s) Across Time and Space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mojzsis, S.

2014-04-01

The geochemical and cosmochemical record of our solar system is the baseline for exploring the question: "when could life appear on a world similar to our own?" Data arising from direct analysis of the oldest terrestrial rocks and minerals from the first 500 Myr of Earth history - termed the Hadean Eon - inform us about the timing for the establishment of a habitable silicate world. Liquid water is the key medium for life. The origin of water, and its interaction with the crust as revealed in the geologic record, guides our exploration for a cosmochemically Earth-like planets. From the time of primary planetary accretion to the start of the continuous rock record on Earth at ca. 3850 million years ago, our planet experienced a waning bolide flux that partially or entirely wiped out surface rocks, vaporized oceans, and created transient serpentinizing atmospheres. Arguably, "Early Earths" across the galaxy may start off as ice planets due to feeble insolation from their young stars, occasionally punctuated by steam atmospheres generated by cataclysmic impacts. Alternatively, early global environments conducive to life spanned from a benign surface zone to deep into crustal rocks and sediments. In some scenarios, nascent biospheres benefit from the exogenous delivery of essential bio-elements via leftovers of accretion, and the subsequent establishment of planetary-scale hydrothermal systems. If what is now known about the early dynamical regime of the Earth serves as any measure of the potential habitability of worlds across space and time, several key boundary conditions emerge. These are: (i) availability and long-term stability of liquid water; (ii) presence of energy resources; (iii) accessibility of organic raw materials; (iv) adequate inventory of radioisotopes to drive internal heating; (v) gross compositional parameters such as mantle/core mass ratio, and (vi) P-T conditions at or near the surface suitable for sustaining biological activity. Life could

Climate during the Roman and early-medieval periods in North-western Europe: a review of climate reconstructions from terrestrial archives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reichelmann, Dana F. C.; Gouw-Bouman, Marjolein T. I. J.; Hoek, Wim Z.; van Lanen, Rowin J.; Stouthamer, Esther; Jansma, Esther

2016-04-01

High-resolution palaeoclimate reconstructions are essential to identify possible influences of climate variability on landscape evolution and landscape-related cultural changes (e.g., shifting settlement patterns and long-distance trade relations). North-western Europe is an ideal research area for comparison between climate variability and cultural transitions given its geomorphological diversity and the significant cultural changes that took place in this region during the last two millennia (e.g., the decline of the Roman Empire and the transition to medieval kingdoms). Compared to more global climate records, such as ice cores and marine sediments, terrestrial climate proxies have the advantage of representing a relatively short response time to regional climatic change. Furthermore for this region large quantity of climate reconstructions is available covering the last millennium, whereas for the first millennium AD only few high resolution climate reconstructions are available. We compiled climate reconstructions for sites in North-western Europe from the literature and its underlying data. All these reconstructions cover the time period of AD 1 to 1000. We only selected data with an annual to decadal resolution and a minimum resolution of 50 years. This resulted in 18 climate reconstructions from different archives such as chironomids (1), pollen (4), Sphagnum cellulose (1), stalagmites (6), testate amoebae (4), and tree-rings (2). The compilation of the different temperature reconstructions shows similar trends in most of the records. Colder conditions since AD 300 for a period of approximately 400 years and warmer conditions after AD 700 become apparent. A contradicting signal is found before AD 300 with warmer conditions indicated by most of the records but not all. This is likely the result of the use of different proxies, reflecting temperatures linked to different seasons. The compilation of the different precipitation reconstructions also show similar

Medieval Armenian Costumes: A History of the Armenians from the 7th-14th Centuries.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Soghikian, Juanita Will

The booklet contains illustrations of 40 medieval Armenian costumes based upon statues and paintings of the 7th through the 14th centuries. Part of a series of seven instructional materials dealing with the history and culture of Armenian Americans, the booklet also provides a discussion of Armenian history and detailed descriptions of each…

How Do Early Career Agriculture Teachers Talk about Their Time?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lambert, Misty D.; Henry, Anna L.; Tummons, John D.

2011-01-01

This phenomenological study of early career agriculture teachers sought to determine the meaning early career agriculture teachers ascribe to their time. Seven teachers with a range of experience from mid-first year to beginning of sixth year were chosen. Interviews were used to make meaning of their time. Five themes were found in the…

Environmental imperatives reconsidered: demographic crises in western North America during the medieval climatic anomaly.

PubMed

Jones, T L; Brown, G M; Raab, L M; McVickar, J L; Spaulding, W G; Kennett, D J; York, A; Wlaker, P L

1999-04-01

Review of late Holocene paleoenvironmental and cultural sequences from four regions of western North America show striking correlations between drought and changes in subsistence, population, exchange, health, and interpersonal violence during the Medieval Climatic Anomaly (A.D. 800-1350). While ultimate causality is difficult to identify in the archaeological record, synchrony of the environmental and cultural changes and the negative character of many human responses--increased interpersonal violence, deterioration of long-distance exchange relationships, and regional abandonments--suggest widespread demographic crises caused by decreased environmental productivity. The medieval droughts occurred at a unique juncture in the demographic history of western North America when unusually large populations of both hunter-gathers and agriculturalists had evolved highly intensified economies that put them in unprecedented ecological jeopardy. Long-term patterns in the archaeological record are inconsistent with the predicted outcomes of simple adaptation or continuous economic intensification, suggesting that in this instance environmental dynamics played a major role in cultural transformations across a wide expanse of western North America among groups with diverse subsistence strategies. These events suggest that environment should not be overlooked as a potential cause of prehistoric culture change.

Droughts, dry spells, low water levels and their environmental-social consequences in late medieval Hungary (and Croatia)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kiss, Andrea; Nikolic, Zrinka

2016-04-01

Based on medieval, contemporary evidence, in the presentation 14th-15th-century droughts, dry spells and documented low water-level events of large rivers (e.g. Danube, Tisza) and their detected environmental and social consequences are discussed in more detail, with special emphasis on the years of 1361-1364, 1393-1394, 1440, the early 1540s, 1474, 1479-1480 and 1494. The poster presentation is centred around the following topics: - magnitude, intensity and frequency of droughts and dry spells (in comparison with famous 18th-19th-century drought periods); - provide information (and a comparison) on Central European parallels; - other natural hazards combined with drought and dry spells (e.g. convective events); - the relationship of multiannual water-deficits and locust invasions, their intensity and documented further impacts; - the consequences of droughts, dry spells and low water levels on society, with special emphasis on food production (e.g. bad harvests, grazing permissions, high prices, threatening food shortage), transportation problems (esp. salt transportation), military defence (Ottoman Turkish attacks) and their further social effects (e.g. land-ownership debates; royal intervention and export prohibition).

Environmental drivers of Yersinia pestis - a holistic perspective on Medieval Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buentgen, U.

2009-09-01

Recent studies have indicated some evidence for a link between climate variability and plague (Yersinia pestis) dynamics in Central Asia and during most of the 20th century. An intensification of plague outbreaks via population peaks in its host-species, the great gerbil (Rhombomys opimus) and its fleas (Xenopsylla spp) has been found to occur during periods of warmer spring and wetter summer climate. This is important, as human epidemics of plague ultimately originate in its wildlife reservoirs. Given the fact that Medieval Europe was strongly devastated by the Black Death - the second pandemic after the Justinian plague ~540AD, and that the worldwide highest quality and quantity of climate proxy data exist for Europe, we here present, for the first time, a holistic approach to enhance understanding of the mid-14th century Black Death. This is of primary importance not only for medical/epidemiological research, but also for other scientific communities, because the Black Death disease had a sustainable impact on the socio-economic development, culture, art, and religion of Medieval Europe. Palaeoclimatic records of annually resolved European temperature and drought variability are compiled, a high-resolution time-series of anthropogenic deforestation is utilized, documentary archives of socio-economic relevance are considered, and the animal-born plague bacterium is placed in the ecological web. Considering the European/North Atlantic sector and the last millennium, periods of high solar radiation and reduced volcanic activity shift the North Atlantic Oscillation into a generally positive mode, yielding towards warmer temperatures and an intensification of the hydrological cycle. We now argue that increased internal circulation resulted in an overall wetter and warmer climate ~1350AD, which most likely was able to promote the prevalence of existing and widespread Yersinia pestis bacillus. Resulting outbreaks of bubonic plague could have been also supported by the

Discourse on pulse in medieval Persia--the Hidayat of Al-Akhawayni (?-983 A D.).

PubMed

Khodadoust, Kazem; Ardalan, Mohammadreza; Ghabili, Kamyar; Golzari, Samad E J; Eknoyan, Garabed

2013-06-20

In a period of compilation, original observations and expansion (900-1100 A.D.), Persians described new clinical manifestations of the diseases and expanded the earlier knowledge of materia medica. In the epoch of the Arabic language domination in the scientific literature of this period, advent of medical authors to write in Farsi shined in the Persian principalities. Akhawayani Bokhari was by far the most outstanding scholar of the time who wrote one of the earliest pandects of medicine of the period, the Hidayat al-Mutallimin fi al-Tibb (Learner's Guide to Medicine) in new Persian. The Hidayat is a relatively short and simplified digest of medicine at the time providing a glimpse of high level of medical education at the Samanid period (819-999). The present article is a translation of the sections of the Hidayat related to the pulse and its characters and conditions affecting the pulse in an attempt to increase our knowledge of the medicine, and particularly the pulse examination throughout the medieval era. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Warm & wet or warm & dry? - A tree-ring based drought reconstruction from the European lowlands with emphasis on the medieval climate anomaly

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scharnweber, Tobias; Heinrich, Ingo; van der Maaten, Ernst; Heußner, Karl-Uwe; Wilmking, Martin

2016-04-01

Recent advances in reconstructing natural drought variability in Europe, such as the 'Old world drought atlas' (Cook et al., 2015), have sharpened our picture of historical hydroclimatic variability. However, our knowledge lacks high spatial resolution, especially for the northern non-arid regions. For example, it is still under debate if the so called medieval climate anomaly (MCA; ~950-1300 AD), a period of warm temperatures comparable to the contemporary warm phase, was likewise accompanied by increased drought occurrence, or, on the contrary, was rather wet (e.g. Kress et al., 2014). Here, we present a new millennial long drought reconstruction based on a unique dataset of tree rings from historical and modern beech wood from the northeastern European lowlands. Beech has a stable and strong regional summer drought signal over the calibration period of instrumental data (r>0.7 with drought index PDSI over 1900-2010) which, in contrast to other species such as oak, is consistent irrespective of the site/soil conditions the trees grew in. It can be assumed that during medieval times beech wood was available locally and not traded long distances. This strongly reduces the possibility that the new reconstruction mixes different signals of the possibly high spatial variability of precipitation. The extremely high replication of our chronology for the period 1000-1300 AD (peak in town foundations in NE-Germany) with more than 600 series enables a direct comparison with the well replicated recent period 1800-2010. In contrast to the results of Kress et al. (2014) for the Swiss Alps, but in accordance with the 'Old world drought atlas', our first results point at a rather dry and warm MCA in NE-Germany. In addition they support the observation that the hydroclimate of the twentieth century was highly variable compared with the last millennium. References Cook ER, Seager R, Kushnir Y, et al. (2015) Old World megadroughts and pluvials during the Common Era. Science

Margery Speaking from the Margins: The Subversiveness of Margery Kempe's Rhetoric for Medieval and Modern Audiences.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Herzog, Brad

Noting that different audiences have constructed widely varying interpretations of the figure and work of Margery Kempe ("The Book of Margery Kempe" dates from the beginning of the 15th century), this paper examines the subversiveness of Margery's rhetoric for medieval audiences and for modern audiences and students. The paper first…

Trepanation Procedures/Outcomes: Comparison of Prehistoric Peru with Other Ancient, Medieval, and American Civil War Cranial Surgery.

PubMed

Kushner, David S; Verano, John W; Titelbaum, Anne R

2018-06-01

More prehistoric trepanned crania have been found in Peru than any other location worldwide. We examine trepanation practices and outcomes in Peru over nearly 2000 years from 400 BC to provide a perspective on the procedure with comparison with procedures/outcomes of other ancient, medieval, and American Civil War cranial surgery. Data on trepanation demographics, techniques, and survival rates were collected through the scientific analysis of more than 800 trepanned crania discovered in Peru, through field studies and the courtesy of museums and private collections in the United States and Peru, over nearly 3 decades. Data on procedures and outcomes of cranial surgery ancient, medieval, and during 19th-century through the American Civil war were obtained via a literature review. Successful trepanations from prehistoric times through the American Civil War likely involved shallow surgeries that did not pierce the dura mater. Although there are regional and temporal variations in ancient Peru, overall long-term survival rates for the study series were about 40% in the earliest period (400-200 BC), with improvement to a high of 91% in samples from AD 1000-1400, to an average of 75%-83% during the Inca Period (AD 1400s-1500). In comparison, the average cranial surgery mortality rate during the American Civil war was 46%-56%, and short- and long-term survival rates are unknown. The contrast in outcomes highlights the astonishing success of ancient cranial surgery in Peru in the treatment of living patients. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Northern tropical Atlantic climate since late Medieval times from Northern Caribbean coral geochemistry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kilbourne, K. H.; Xu, Y.

2015-12-01

Paleoclimate reconstructions of different global climate modes over the last 1000 years provide the basis for testing the relative roles of forced and unforced variability climate system, which can help us improve projections of future climate change. The Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) has been characterized by a combination of persistent La Niña-like conditions, a positive North Atlantic Oscillation (+NAO), and increased Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). The northern tropical Atlantic is sensitive to each of these climate patterns, but not all of them have the same regional fingerprint in the modern northern tropical Atlantic. The relative influence of different processes related to these climate patterns can help us better understand regional responses to climate change. The regional response of the northern tropical Atlantic is important because the tropical Atlantic Ocean is a large source of heat and moisture to the global climate system that can feedback onto global climate patterns. This study presents new coral Sr/Ca and δ18O data from the northern tropical Atlantic (Anegada, British Virgin Islands). Comparison of the sub-fossil corals that grew during the 13th and 14th Centuries with modern coral geochemical data from this site indicates relatively cooler mean conditions with a decrease in the oxygen isotopic composition of the water consistent with lower salinities. Similar average annual cycles between modern and sub-fossil Sr/Ca indicate no change in seasonal temperature range, but a difference in the relative phasing of the δ18O seasonal cycles indicates that the fresher mean conditions may be due to a more northerly position of the regional salinity front. This localized response is consistent with some, but not all of the expected regional responses to a La Niña-like state, a +NAO state, and increased AMOC. Understanding these differences can provide insight into the relative importance of advection versus surface fluxes for

Influence of first-time mothers' early employment on severe early childhood caries in their child.

PubMed

Plutzer, Kamila; Keirse, Marc J N C

2012-01-01

Aim. To examine whether mothers' early employment status is related to the development of severe early childhood caries in their child. Methods. Questionnaire survey of 429 first-time mothers in metropolitan Adelaide, South Australia, and dental examinations of their child at 20 months of age. Results. At 20 ± 2.5 months of age, 5.6% of children exhibited caries defined as one or more demineralized or cavitated lesions on the upper incisors. Of the mothers, 52.2% had no paid employment, 39.6% were part-time and 8.2% full-time employed. Overall, mothers' participation in the workforce had no influence on the frequency of severe early childhood caries in their child, but there was a significant interaction with family structure. For mothers without employment there was no difference between single, and two-parent families, but children with an employed single mother more frequently had caries than those with a working mother in a two-parent family (P < 0.04). However, there were no significant differences in children's reported general health. Conclusions. The data indicate a need to explore strategies that may assist single mothers and especially those in the workforce to prevent severe early childhood caries in their child.

Warming and Cooling: The Medieval Climate Anomaly in Africa and Arabia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lüning, Sebastian; Gałka, Mariusz; Vahrenholt, Fritz

2017-11-01

The Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) is a well-recognized climate perturbation in many parts of the world, with a core period of 1000-1200 Common Era. Here we present a palaeotemperature synthesis for the MCA in Africa and Arabia, based on 44 published localities. The data sets have been thoroughly correlated and the MCA trends palaeoclimatologically mapped. The vast majority of available Afro-Arabian onshore sites suggest a warm MCA, with the exception of the southern Levant where the MCA appears to have been cold. MCA cooling has also been documented in many segments of the circum-Africa-Arabian upwelling systems, as a result of changes in the wind systems which were leading to an intensification of cold water upwelling. Offshore cores from outside upwelling systems mostly show warm MCA conditions. The most likely key drivers of the observed medieval climate change are solar forcing and ocean cycles. Conspicuous cold spikes during the earliest and latest MCA may help to discriminate between solar (Oort Minimum) and ocean cycle (Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, AMO) influence. Compared to its large share of nearly one quarter of the world's landmass, data from Africa and Arabia are significantly underrepresented in global temperature reconstructions of the past 2,000 years. Onshore data are still absent for most regions in Africa and Arabia, except for regional data clusters in Morocco, South Africa, the East African Rift, and the Levant coast. In order to reconstruct land palaeotemperatures more robustly over Africa and Arabia, a systematic research program is needed.

Applied Historical Astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stephenson, F. Richard

2014-01-01

F. Richard Stephenson has spent most of his research career -- spanning more than 45 years -- studying various aspects of Applied Historical Astronomy. The aim of this interdisciplinary subject is the application of historical astronomical records to the investigation of problems in modern astronomy and geophysics. Stephenson has almost exclusively concentrated on pre-telescopic records, especially those preserved from ancient and medieval times -- the earliest reliable observations dating from around 700 BC. The records which have mainly interested him are of eclipses (both solar and lunar), supernovae, sunspots and aurorae, and Halley's Comet. The main sources of early astronomical data are fourfold: records from ancient and medieval East Asia (China, together with Korea and Japan); ancient Babylon; ancient and medieval Europe; and the medieval Arab world. A feature of Stephenson's research is the direct consultation of early astronomical texts in their original language -- either working unaided or with the help of colleagues. He has also developed a variety of techniques to help interpret the various observations. Most pre-telescopic observations are very crude by present-day standards. In addition, early motives for skywatching were more often astrological rather than scientific. Despite these drawbacks, ancient and medieval astronomical records have two remarkable advantages over modern data. Firstly, they can enable the investigation of long-term trends (e.g. in the terrestrial rate of rotation), which in the relatively short period covered by telescopic observations are obscured by short-term fluctuations. Secondly, over the lengthy time-scale which they cover, significant numbers of very rare events (such as Galactic supernovae) were reported, which have few -- if any-- counterparts in the telescopic record. In his various researches, Stephenson has mainly focused his attention on two specific topics. These are: (i) long-term changes in the Earth's rate of

Near-field tsunami inferred from numerical modeling of medieval overwash at Anegada, British Virgin Islands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Y.; Ten Brink, U. S.; Atwater, B. F.; Tuttle, M. P.; Robert, H.; Feuillet, N.; Jennifer, W.; Fuentes, Z.

2012-12-01

In a comparison among numerical models of storms and tsunamis, only tsunami waves of nearby origin manage to wash over an area where coral heads of medieval age are scattered hundreds of meters inland from the north shore of Anegada, British Virgin Islands. This low-lying island faces the Puerto Rico Trench 120 km to the north. The island's north shore, fringed by a coral reef 100-1200 m offshore, displays geological evidence for two levels of overwash. The medieval overwash, dated to AD 1200-1450, was the higher one. It is evidenced by scores of coral boulders scattered hundreds of meters inland. Some of them crossed the area of the modern storm berm at Soldier Wash, continued across a broad limestone rise 3-4 m above sea level, and came to rest on lower ground farther inland. Coral heads in four other areas, also medieval or older, came to rest hundreds of meters inland from beach ridges now 2-4 m above sea level. The later, lower-elevation overwash, dated to AD 1650-1800, laid down a sheet of sand and shell that extends as much as 1.5 km inland. The hypothetical causes for each event, tested by numerical modeling, include (1) category IV and V hurricanes that differ in surge and wave heights; (2) the 1755 Lisbon earthquake or hypothetical medieval predecessor, at M 8.7 and M 9.0; (3) M 8.4 thrust earthquake along the Puerto Rico Trench between Hispaniola and Anegada; (4) M 8.7 thrust along the Puerto Rico Trench between Tortola and Antigua; (5) M 8.0 earthquake from normal faulting on the outer rise north of Anegada. The model output includes extent of onshore flooding, depth and velocity of overland flow, and energy lost by tsunami and hurricane waves as they cross the reef and continue across a shallow subtidal flat to Anegada's north shore. For the medieval overwash, the modeling is most conclusive in testing various explanations for the coral boulders inland of Soldier Wash. The simulated hurricane waves do not wash inland of the storm berm; the height of

Medicus Petrus Hispanus (c1205-77 Peter of Spain): a XIII century Pope and Author of a Medieval Sex Guide.

PubMed

Ambrose, Charles T

2013-05-01

Petrus Hispanus was the only practicing physician ever to become Pope (1276-77). By all accounts he was an interim choice when rival French and Italian Cardinals could not elect one of their own nationality. Although not clearly responsible for any major political actions by the Church, Petrus was famous for several centuries after his death because of his secular writings - a text on logic (Summulae logicales) and a handbook on medicine (Thesaurus pauperum). The latter is noteworthy because it contains two sections on coitus - how to enhance the sexual act and how to subdue sexual urges. Promoting coitus seems an odd topic for a medieval Catholic cleric-writer and raises the question as to whether the first section may have been added by a later copyist or editor, but an examination of a very early manuscript of the Thesaurus gives assurance that the two sexual sections were written by Petrus, probably around 1270.

Medieval times' influencing figure Rhaze's approach to head injuries in Liber Almansoris.

PubMed

Acıduman, Ahmet; Aşkit, Cağatay; Belen, Deniz

2014-12-01

To present the chapter "On wound of the head and fracture of the head bone" of Kitāb al-Manṣūrī / Liber Almansoris, which was one of the early works of Rhazes. Both Arabic (Süleymaniye Manuscript Library, Ayasofya collection, Nr. 3751 and Millet Library, Feyzullah Efendi collection, Nr. 1327) and the Latin (Basileae, 1544) texts of Kitāb al-Manṣūrī / Liber Almansoris were studied, and the 26th section of the 7th chapter, entitled "Fī al-shajja kasr al-'aẓm al-ra's / De plagis capitis et fractura cranei / On wound of the head and fracture of the head bone" was translated into English and English text created. Rhazes underlined removing bone fragments in depressed and separated fractures of cranium along with protection of the dura, but he did not describe any surgical technique in this chapter. Galen's contemplation for the care of the dura with its integrity and as well his proposal to remove the bone fragments for preventing the dura from injury were the golden standards at the time that Rhazes also followed in the treatment of skull fractures. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Historical Epidemics Cartography Generated by Spatial Analysis: Mapping the Heterogeneity of Three Medieval "Plagues" in Dijon

PubMed Central

Galanaud, Pierre; Galanaud, Anne; Giraudoux, Patrick

2015-01-01

Objectives This work was designed to adapt Geographical Information System-based spatial analysis to the study of historical epidemics. We mapped "plague" deaths during three epidemics of the early 15th century, analyzed spatial distributions by applying the Kulldorff's method, and determined their relationships with the distribution of socio-professional categories in the city of Dijon. Materials and Methods Our study was based on a database including 50 annual tax registers (established from 1376 to 1447) indicating deaths and survivors among the heads of households, their home location, tax level and profession. The households of the deceased and survivors during 6 years with excess mortality were individually located on a georeferenced medieval map, established by taking advantage of the preserved geography of the historical center of Dijon. We searched for clusters of heads of households characterized by shared tax levels (high-tax payers, the upper decile; low-tax payers, the half charged at the minimum level) or professional activities and for clusters of differential mortality. Results High-tax payers were preferentially in the northern intramural part, as well as most wealthy or specialized professionals, whereas low-tax payers were preferentially in the southern part. During two epidemics, in 1400–1401 and 1428, areas of higher mortality were found in the northern part whereas areas of lower mortality were in the southern one. A high concentration of housing and the proximity to food stocks were common features of the most affected areas, creating suitable conditions for rats to pullulate. A third epidemic, lasting from 1438 to 1440 had a different and evolving geography: cases were initially concentrated around the southern gate, at the confluence of three rivers, they were then diffuse, and ended with residual foci of deaths in the northern suburb. Conclusion Using a selected historical source, we designed an approach allowing spatial analysis of

Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age Signatures in the Distribution of Modern Ocean Temperatures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gebbie, G.; Huybers, P. J.

2017-12-01

It is well established both that global temperatures have varied overthe last millenium and that the interior ocean reflects surfaceproperties inherited over these timescales. Signatures of theMedieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age are thus to be expected in themodern ocean state, though the magnitude of these effects and whetherthey are detectable is unclear. Analysis of changes in temperatureacross those obtained in the 1870s as part of the theH.M.S. Challenger expedition, the 1990s World Ocean CirculationExperiment, and recent Argo observations shows a consistent pattern:the upper ocean and Atlantic have warmed, but the oldest waters inthe deep Pacific appear to have cooled. The implications of pressureeffects on the H.M.S. Challenger thermometers and uncertainties indepth of observations are non-negligible but do not appear tofundamentally alter this pattern. Inversion of the modern hydrographyusing ocean transport estimates derived from passive tracer andradiocarbon observations indicates that deep Pacific cooling could bea vestige of the Medieval Warm Period, and that warming elsewhere reflects thecombined effects of emergence from the Little Ice Age and modernanthropogenic warming. Implications for longterm variations in oceanheat uptake and separating natural and anthropogenic contributions to themodern energy imbalance are discussed.

Be Masters in that You Teach and Continue to Learn: Medieval Muslim Thinkers on Educational Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gunther, Sebastian

2006-01-01

This article is dedicated to shedding light on a spectrum of issues in educational thought in Islam, which may--due to their universal relevance--be of interest not only to specialists but also to a wider readership. It also provides an idea of the educational views and philosophies advocated by some great medieval Muslim thinkers which offer…

[Medicinal plants and symbols in the medieval mystic altarpiece].

PubMed

Fischer, Louis-Paul; Verilhac, Régine; Ferrandis, Jean-Jacques; Trépardoux, Francis

2011-01-01

The medieval mystic altarpiece towers above the altar table. It is linked to the evocation of a religious mystery beyond our faculty of reasoning. Symbolism of an enclosed garden evokes the image of the Heavenly Garden isolated by a wall from the rest of earthly world. In this mystic chiefly Rhenan altarpiece the enclosed garden is that of Virgin Mary who in the Middle Ages was likened to the spouse in the song of songs. The Blessed Virgin is painted with flowers, lily, rose, violet, lily of the valley. Most of these are medicinal plants in order to implore a faith healing for the believers. All in all about fifty plants are showed on Rhenan altarpieces and on 14th century mystic altarpieces almost contemporary of Issenheim's altarpiece, some Italian, some Rhenan.

Stable isotope ratio analysis of breastfeeding and weaning practices of children from medieval Fishergate House York, UK.

PubMed

Burt, Nicole M

2013-11-01

Rib collagen of 51 juveniles and 11 adult females from the late medieval Fishergate House cemetery site (York, UK) were analyzed using nitrogen and carbon stable isotope ratio analysis to determine the weaning age for this population and to reconstruct diet. The juveniles' ages ranged from fetal to 5-6 years, while the females were of reproductive age. Previous researchers suggested that the children from Fishergate House might have been weaned later than the medieval British norm of 2 years, based on a mortality peak at 4-6 years of age. The results show weaning was complete by 2 years of age, agreeing with previous British weaning studies. The adult female δ(15) N values have a mean of 11.4‰ ± 1.1‰ and the δ(13) C values have a mean of -19.4‰ ± 0.4‰. These findings are consistent with previous isotopic studies of female diet in York during this period, though slightly lower. The weaned juvenile nitrogen values were found to be higher than the adult females (12.4‰ ± 1.0‰ for δ(15) N and -19.7‰ ± 0.5‰ for δ(13) C), which might indicate a dependence on higher trophic level proteins such as marine fish or pork. Marine fish is considered a high status food and children are considered low-status individuals at this time, making this a particularly interesting finding. Weaning does not appear to coincide with peak mortality, suggesting environment factors may be playing a larger role in child mortality at Fishergate House. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

[Relevant factors of early puberty timing in urban primary schools in Chongqing].

PubMed

Luo, Yan; Liu, Qin; Wen, Yi; Liu, Shudan; Lei, Xun; Wang, Hong

2016-05-01

To investigate the status of puberty timing and relevant factors of early puberty timing in children from grade one to four in urban primary schools of Chongqing. According to the purposive sample method, four urban primary schools in Chongqing were selected and of which 1471 children from grade one to four who have obtained informed consent were recruited. Questionnaire survey on social-demographic characteristics and family environment (e.g., age, parents' relationship, diet and lifestyle, etc), and Pubertal Development Scale (PDS) survey and physical examination (measurements of height, weight, pubertal development status, etc) were conducted. P25, P50, P75 ages of each important pubertal event were calculated by probit regression. Univariate and multivariate analysis were used to analyze relevant factors. The detection rate of early puberty timing was 17.7%, and the median ages of the onset of breast and testicular development were 10.77 and 11.48 years old, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression showed that early puberty timing occurred more likely in girls than in boys (OR = 0.561, 95% CI 0.406-0.774), and bad relationship between parents (OR = 1.320, 95% CI 1.007-1.729) and hair-products-use (OR = 1.685, 95%, CI 1.028-2.762) were risk factors of early puberty timing. Early onset of puberty in urban Chongqing is still exist. Gender, parents' relationship, and hair-products-use have an essential impact on early puberty timing.

Mercury and sulphur among the High Medieval alchemists: from Rāzī and Avicenna to Albertus Magnus and pseudo-Roger Bacon.

PubMed

Newman, William R

2014-11-01

This essay challenges the often expressed view that the principles of metals, namely mercury and sulphur, were generally viewed by alchemists as being of a 'metaphysical' character that made them inaccessible to the tools and operations of the laboratory. By examining a number of Arabo-Latin and Latin alchemical texts in circulation before the end of the thirteenth century, the author presents evidence that most alchemists of the period considered mercury and sulphur to be materials subject to techniques of purification in the same way that naturally occurring salts and minerals could be freed of their impurities or dross. The article also points to the immense influence of Avicenna and Albertus Magnus in formulating the theory that mercury and sulphur were compounds of different materials, containing both fixed and unfixed components. Finally, the author briefly examines the relationship between this materialist approach to the principles and the chymical atomism of early modern authors who were deeply aware of medieval alchemical literature.

Persistent positive North Atlantic oscillation mode dominated the Medieval Climate Anomaly.

PubMed

Trouet, Valérie; Esper, Jan; Graham, Nicholas E; Baker, Andy; Scourse, James D; Frank, David C

2009-04-03

The Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) was the most recent pre-industrial era warm interval of European climate, yet its driving mechanisms remain uncertain. We present here a 947-year-long multidecadal North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) reconstruction and find a persistent positive NAO during the MCA. Supplementary reconstructions based on climate model results and proxy data indicate a clear shift to weaker NAO conditions into the Little Ice Age (LIA). Globally distributed proxy data suggest that this NAO shift is one aspect of a global MCA-LIA climate transition that probably was coupled to prevailing La Niña-like conditions amplified by an intensified Atlantic meridional overturning circulation during the MCA.

Holy smoke in medieval funerary rites: chemical fingerprints of frankincense in southern Belgian incense burners.

PubMed

Baeten, Jan; Deforce, Koen; Challe, Sophie; De Vos, Dirk; Degryse, Patrick

2014-01-01

Frankincense, the oleogum resin from Boswellia sp., has been an early luxury good in both Western and Eastern societies and is particularly used in Christian funerary and liturgical rites. The scant grave goods in late medieval burials comprise laterally perforated pottery vessels which are usually filled with charcoal. They occur in most regions of western Europe and are interpreted as incense burners but have never been investigated with advanced analytical techniques. We herein present chemical and anthracological results on perforated funerary pots from 4 Wallonian sites dating to the 12-14th century AD. Chromatographic and mass spectrometric analysis of lipid extracts of the ancient residues and comparison with extracts from four Boswellia species clearly evidence the presence of degraded frankincense in the former, based on characteristic triterpenoids, viz. boswellic and tirucallic acids, and their myriad dehydrated and oxygenated derivatives. Cembrane-type diterpenoids indicate B. sacra (southern Arabia) and B. serrata (India) as possible botanical origins. Furthermore, traces of juniper and possibly pine tar demonstrate that small amounts of locally available fragrances were mixed with frankincense, most likely to reduce its cost. Additionally, markers of ruminant fats in one sample from a domestic context indicate that this vessel was used for food preparation. Anthracological analysis demonstrates that the charcoal was used as fuel only and that no fragrant wood species were burned. The chars derived from local woody plants and were most likely recovered from domestic fires. Furthermore, vessel recycling is indicated by both contextual and biomarker evidence. The results shed a new light on funerary practices in the Middle Ages and at the same time reveal useful insights into the chemistry of burned frankincense. The discovery of novel biomarkers, namely Δ2-boswellic acids and a series of polyunsaturated and aromatic hydrocarbons, demonstrates the high

Holy Smoke in Medieval Funerary Rites: Chemical Fingerprints of Frankincense in Southern Belgian Incense Burners

PubMed Central

Baeten, Jan; Deforce, Koen; Challe, Sophie; De Vos, Dirk; Degryse, Patrick

2014-01-01

Frankincense, the oleogum resin from Boswellia sp., has been an early luxury good in both Western and Eastern societies and is particularly used in Christian funerary and liturgical rites. The scant grave goods in late medieval burials comprise laterally perforated pottery vessels which are usually filled with charcoal. They occur in most regions of western Europe and are interpreted as incense burners but have never been investigated with advanced analytical techniques. We herein present chemical and anthracological results on perforated funerary pots from 4 Wallonian sites dating to the 12–14th century AD. Chromatographic and mass spectrometric analysis of lipid extracts of the ancient residues and comparison with extracts from four Boswellia species clearly evidence the presence of degraded frankincense in the former, based on characteristic triterpenoids, viz. boswellic and tirucallic acids, and their myriad dehydrated and oxygenated derivatives. Cembrane-type diterpenoids indicate B. sacra (southern Arabia) and B. serrata (India) as possible botanical origins. Furthermore, traces of juniper and possibly pine tar demonstrate that small amounts of locally available fragrances were mixed with frankincense, most likely to reduce its cost. Additionally, markers of ruminant fats in one sample from a domestic context indicate that this vessel was used for food preparation. Anthracological analysis demonstrates that the charcoal was used as fuel only and that no fragrant wood species were burned. The chars derived from local woody plants and were most likely recovered from domestic fires. Furthermore, vessel recycling is indicated by both contextual and biomarker evidence. The results shed a new light on funerary practices in the Middle Ages and at the same time reveal useful insights into the chemistry of burned frankincense. The discovery of novel biomarkers, namely Δ2-boswellic acids and a series of polyunsaturated and aromatic hydrocarbons, demonstrates the

First-Time Mothers' Knowledge and Beliefs Regarding Early Communication Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, Vicki; Pearce, Wendy M.; Devine, Sue

2014-01-01

Limited literature exists in the Australian context about first-time mothers' knowledge of early communication milestones, their strategies to facilitate speech and language development and understanding of the relationship between early communication skills and future development. A cross-sectional online survey was administered to 53 first-time…

Group Time in Early Childhood Centers: An Exploratory Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McAfee, Oralie

To investigate the current status of group time in early childhood centers, a small-scale exploratory study was designed and executed. Results of interviews with 35 teachers and observations in five classrooms serving children ages 2 1/2 through kindergarten revealed that all classrooms had at least one group time or circle time, usually in the…

The Nature of Beauty: The Arts in Greece, Rome and the Medieval Period. Program for Gifted Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garton, Harry A.; Woodbury, Virginia Garton

One in a series of instructional units designed for gifted students, the booklet focuses on the arts in Greece, Rome, and the Medieval period. Narrative information on Greek pottery, sculpture, architecture, music, and dance is followed by lists of suggested activities for students and reference lists of texts and media. A similar unit on the…

Anatomical knowledge among medieval folk artists: osteological interpretation of two Dance of Death motifs

PubMed Central

Petaros, Anja; Čulina, Tatjana; Šuran, Andrea; Škrobonja, Ante

2013-01-01

Anatomy has a long history that started with dissection of animals and then expanded and flourished thanks to dissections performed on human bodies. Artists had a crucial role in uncovering the secrets of human anatomy. While most studies have focused on the influence of famous Renaissance artists on human anatomy studies, the anatomical drawings by pre-Renaissance artists and local craftsmen have remained in their shadow. One of the most popular artistic genres in which complete or parts of human skeletons appear is the Dance of Death (Danse Macabre). This article is an anthropological study of two medieval Dance of Death frescoes that are unusual in being relatively early as well as accurately datable. A comparative morphological analysis of the two late 15th century works present in Istria has been conducted. The two works were painted by two local masters and show how the artists filled the gaps in their knowledge of human anatomy mostly with insights into animal bones and imagination. Their artworks, even though only 16 years apart, demonstrate substantial differences in the representation of the skeletons. The article argues that the history of medicine and of art could make good use of osteology and physical anthropology in attempts to define and understand how anatomical knowledge developed among pre-Renaissance and post-Renaissance artists and local people. PMID:23763286

Anatomical knowledge among medieval folk artists: osteological interpretation of two Dance of Death motifs.

PubMed

Petaros, Anja; Culina, Tatjana; Suran, Andrea; Skrobonja, Ante

2013-08-01

Anatomy has a long history that started with dissection of animals and then expanded and flourished thanks to dissections performed on human bodies. Artists had a crucial role in uncovering the secrets of human anatomy. While most studies have focused on the influence of famous Renaissance artists on human anatomy studies, the anatomical drawings by pre-Renaissance artists and local craftsmen have remained in their shadow. One of the most popular artistic genres in which complete or parts of human skeletons appear is the Dance of Death (Danse Macabre). This article is an anthropological study of two medieval Dance of Death frescoes that are unusual in being relatively early as well as accurately datable. A comparative morphological analysis of the two late 15th century works present in Istria has been conducted. The two works were painted by two local masters and show how the artists filled the gaps in their knowledge of human anatomy mostly with insights into animal bones and imagination. Their artworks, even though only 16 years apart, demonstrate substantial differences in the representation of the skeletons. The article argues that the history of medicine and of art could make good use of osteology and physical anthropology in attempts to define and understand how anatomical knowledge developed among pre-Renaissance and post-Renaissance artists and local people. © 2013 Anatomical Society.

Spontaneous generation in medieval Jewish philosophy and theology.

PubMed

Gaziel, Ahuva

2012-01-01

The concept of life forms emerging from inanimate matter--spontaneous generation--was widely accepted until the nineteenth century. Several medieval Jewish scholars acknowledged this scientific theory in their philosophical and religious contemplations. Quite interestingly, it served to reinforce diverse, or even opposite, theological conclusions. One approach excluded spontaneously-generated living beings form the biblical account of creation or the story of the Deluge. Underlying this view is an understanding that organisms that generate spontaneously evolve continuously in nature and, therefore, do not require divine intervention in their formation or survival during disastrous events. This naturalistic position reduces the miraculous dimension of reality. Others were of the opinion that spontaneous generation is one of the extraordinary marvels exhibited in this world and, accordingly, this interpretation served to accentuate the divine aspect of nature. References to spontaneous generation also appear in legal writings, influencing practical applications such as dietary laws and actions forbidden on the Sabbath.

Pseudo-Conversions and Patchwork Pedigrees: The Christianization of Muslim Princes and the Diplomacy of Holy War.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Knobler, Adam

1996-01-01

Examines the historical fallacy, popular in western civilization from medieval to early modern times, that Muslim allies were somehow secretly Christian. These fallacies often served to explain Christian-Muslim diplomacy to the public at a time when Islam was portrayed as the enemy of Christianity. (MJP)

The late medieval kidney--nephrology in and about the fourteenth century.

PubMed

Eknoyan, Garabed

2012-01-01

The Late Medieval Period was a decisive period in the history of medicine. It was then that medical education was integrated into the universities that were coming into existence and when medicine made its transition from a menial trade to a regulated profession with a statutory basis of learning and graduation. It was also then that the necessities of understanding the fabric of the body was realized; for the first time in history, the study of anatomy and of human dissection were incorporated into the medical curriculum. This was a defining change whose subsequent expansion and evolution would bring about the study of function (physiology) and changes in disease (pathology). Few advances were made in the study of the kidney, which was considered part of the venous circulation, whose function was subservient to that of nutrition in eliminating excess fluid. Uroscopy flourished and reached unrealistic levels of dominance in the diagnosis, treatment, and prognostication of any and all diseases, especially in the hands of quacks and charlatans. Alchemy, a mysterious pseudo-science, blossomed into a discipline that nurtured experimentation and laid the rudimentary foundations of scientific study, chemistry, and pharmacology. It was also then that surgery took form as a specialty that actually provided much of the medical care of the period including that of the principal diseases of the kidney, obstruction and calculi, and thereby laid the foundations of what in time would become urology. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Kant's disputation of 1770: the dissertation and the communication of knowledge in early modern Europe.

PubMed

Chang, Kevin

2007-06-01

Kant's disputation of 1770 at his inauguration as the metaphysics professor at Königsberg is a good example of the nature of the early modern dissertation and its use as a means of communicating knowledge. The public disputation played an important part in the teaching, examination, publication and ceremonial life of the medieval university. Originally prepared as a text for the public disputation, the dissertation communicated the teachings of individual scholars and institutions and was used by eminent early modern scholars to introduce their ideas and findings. Kant's use of his 1770 disputation also reveals the different channels of communication, both private and public, that paid close attention to knowledge published in dissertations.

Background experiences, time allocation, time on teaching and perceived support of early-career college science faculty

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sagendorf, Kenneth S.

The purposes of this research were to create an inventory of the research, teaching and service background experiences of and to document the time allocation and time spent on teaching by early-career college science faculty members. This project is presented as three distinct papers. Thirty early-career faculty in the science disciplines from sixteen different institutions in their first year of employment participated in this study. For the first two papers, a new survey was developed asking participants to choose which experiences they had acquired prior to taking their current faculty position and asking them to document their time allocation and time spent on teaching activities in an average work week. In addition, a third component documents the support early-career college faculty in the sciences are receiving from the perspective of faculty members and their respective department chairpersons and identifies areas of disagreement between these two different groups. Twenty early-career college science faculty and their respective department chairpersons completed a newly-designed survey regarding the support offered to new faculty. The survey addressed the areas of feedback on performance, clarity of tenure requirements, mentoring, support for teaching and scholarship and balancing faculty life. This dissertation presents the results from these surveys, accounting for different demographic variables such as science discipline, gender and institutional category.

The influence of chronic conditions and the environment on pubertal development. An example from medieval England.

PubMed

Lewis, M E; Shapland, F; Watts, R

2016-03-01

Adolescence is a unique period in human development encompassing sexual maturation (puberty) and the physical and psychological transition into adulthood. It is a crucial time for healthy development and any adverse environmental conditions, poor nutrition, or chronic infection can alter the timing of these physical changes; delaying menarche in girls or the age of peak height velocity in boys. This study explores the impact of chronic illness on the tempo of puberty in 607 adolescent skeletons from medieval England (AD 900-1550). A total of 135 (22.2%) adolescents showed some delay in their pubertal development, and this lag increased with age. Of those with a chronic condition, 40.0% (n=24/60) showed delay compared to only 20.3% (n=111/547) of the non-pathology group. This difference was statistically significant. A binary logistic regression model demonstrated a significant association between increasing delay in pubertal stage attainment with age in the pathology group. This is the first time that chronic conditions have been directly associated with a delay in maturation in the osteological record, using a new method to assess stages of puberty in skeletal remains. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Isotope analyses to explore diet and mobility in a medieval Muslim population at Tauste (NE Spain)

PubMed Central

Guede, Iranzu; Zuluaga, Maria Cruz; Alonso-Olazabal, Ainhoa; Murelaga, Xabier; Pina, Miriam; Gutierrez, Francisco Javier; Iacumin, Paola

2017-01-01

The Islamic necropolis discovered in Tauste (Zaragoza, Spain) is the only evidence that a large Muslim community lived in the area between the 8th and 10th centuries. A multi-isotope approach has been used to investigate the mobility and diet of this medieval Muslim population living in a shifting frontier region. Thirty-one individuals were analyzed to determine δ15N, δ13C, δ18O and 87Sr/86Sr composition. A combination of strontium and oxygen isotope analysis indicated that most individuals were of local origin although three females and two males were non-local. The non-local males would be from a warmer zone whereas two of the females would be from a more mountainous geographical region and the third from a geologically-different area. The extremely high δ15N baseline at Tauste was due to bedrock composition (gypsum and salt). High individual δ15N values were related to the manuring effect and consumption of fish. Adult males were the most privileged members of society in the medieval Muslim world and, as isotope data reflected, consumed more animal proteins than females and young males. PMID:28472159

Glass import and production in Hispania during the early medieval period: The glass from Ciudad de Vascos (Toledo)

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

One hundred and forty-one glass fragments from medieval Ciudad de Vascos (Toledo, Spain) were analysed by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). The glasses fall into three types according to the fluxing agents used: mineral natron, soda-rich plant ash, and a combination of soda ash and lead. The natron glasses can be assigned to various established primary production groups of eastern Mediterranean provenance. Different types of plant ash glasses indicate differences in the silica source as well as the plant ash component, reflecting changing supply mechanisms. While the earlier plant ash groups can be related to Islamic glasses from the Near East, both in terms of typology and composition, the chemical signature of the later samples appear to be specific to glass from the Iberian Peninsula. This has important implications for our understanding of the emerging glass industry in Spain and the distribution patterns of glass groups and raw materials. The plant ash that was used for the Vascos glasses is rich in soda with low levels of potash, similar to ash produced in the eastern Mediterranean. It could therefore be possible that Levantine plant ash was imported and used in Islamic period glass workshops in Spain. Unlike central and northern Europe where an independent glass industry based on potassium-rich wood ash developed during the Carolingian period, the prevalence of soda ash and soda ash lead glass on the Iberian Peninsula indicates its commercial and technological interconnection with the Islamic east. Our study thus traces several stages leading to the development of a specifically Spanish primary glassmaking industry. PMID:28746419

Medieval monastic mortality: hazard analysis of mortality differences between monastic and nonmonastic cemeteries in England.

PubMed

DeWitte, Sharon N; Boulware, Jessica C; Redfern, Rebecca C

2013-11-01

Scholarship on life in medieval European monasteries has revealed a variety of factors that potentially affected mortality in these communities. Though there is some evidence based on age-at-death distributions from England that monastic males lived longer than members of the general public, what is missing from the literature is an explicit examination of how the risks of mortality within medieval monastic settings differed from those within contemporaneous lay populations. This study examines differences in the hazard of mortality for adult males between monastic cemeteries (n = 528) and non-monastic cemeteries (n = 368) from London, all of which date to between AD 1050 and 1540. Age-at-death data from all cemeteries are pooled to estimate the Gompertz hazard of mortality, and "monastic" (i.e., buried in a monastic cemetery) is modeled as a covariate affecting this baseline hazard. The estimated effect of the monastic covariate is negative, suggesting that individuals in the monastic communities faced reduced risks of dying compared to their peers in the lay communities. These results suggest better diets, the positive health benefits of religious behavior, better living conditions in general in monasteries, or selective recruitment of healthy or higher socioeconomic status individuals. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

How did Humans Adapt in the Eastern Farming-pastoral zone during the Medieval Warm Period?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jia, X.

2017-12-01

With its extremely warm climate, the "medieval warm period" is considered analogous to the climate change humans are likely to face due to future global warming. Thus, the ability of humans to adapt to an extremely warm climate during the medieval period in Eurasia's farming-pastoral zone has attracted some attention. The warmth of the climate during this period (900-1300 BC) is demonstrated by evidence of bamboo in charcoal remains and phytoliths found in the settlement sites and tomb murals of the Western Liao river basin in Northeast China. This warmth probably promoted agricultural diversification, as the presence of foxtail millet, broomcorn millet, wheat, barley, soybean, hemp, and buckwheat in this region can be seen in plant seeds and phytoliths found in archaeological sites. The bones of deer and birds also provide evidence of hunting, and the practice of animal husbandry is indicated in pig, dog, cattle, ovicaprid, horse and camel bones. Diversity in food structures is also shown in stable isotopes from human and animal bones. Competence in animal husbandry and hunting, and the availability of stable food resources may have contributed to the rise of the Liao people in military prowess and power, and promoted the expansion of Khitan-Liao culture.

Seasonal modulation of the Asian summer monsoon between the Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age: a multi model study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kamae, Youichi; Kawana, Toshi; Oshiro, Megumi; Ueda, Hiroaki

2017-12-01

Instrumental and proxy records indicate remarkable global climate variability over the last millennium, influenced by solar irradiance, Earth's orbital parameters, volcanic eruptions and human activities. Numerical model simulations and proxy data suggest an enhanced Asian summer monsoon during the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) compared to the Little Ice Age (LIA). Using multiple climate model simulations, we show that anomalous seasonal insolation over the Northern Hemisphere due to a long cycle of orbital parameters results in a modulation of the Asian summer monsoon transition between the MWP and LIA. Ten climate model simulations prescribing historical radiative forcing that includes orbital parameters consistently reproduce an enhanced MWP Asian monsoon in late summer and a weakened monsoon in early summer. Weakened, then enhanced Northern Hemisphere insolation before and after June leads to a seasonally asymmetric temperature response over the Eurasian continent, resulting in a seasonal reversal of the signs of MWP-LIA anomalies in land-sea thermal contrast, atmospheric circulation, and rainfall from early to late summer. This seasonal asymmetry in monsoon response is consistently found among the different climate models and is reproduced by an idealized model simulation forced solely by orbital parameters. The results of this study indicate that slow variation in the Earth's orbital parameters contributes to centennial variability in the Asian monsoon transition.[Figure not available: see fulltext.

Impact cratering calculations. Part 1: Early time results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thomsen, J. M.; Sauer, F. N.; Austin, M. G.; Ruhl, S. F.; Shultz, P. H.; Orphal, D. L.

1979-01-01

Early time two dimensional finite difference calculations of laboratory scale hypervelocity impact of 0.3 g spherical 2024 aluminum projectiles into homogeneous plasticene clay targets were performed. Analysis of resulting material motions showed that energy and momentum were coupled quickly from the aluminum projectile to the target material. In the process of coupling, some of the plasticene clay target was vaporized while the projectile become severely deformed. The velocity flow field developed within the target was shown to have features similar to those found in calculations of near surface explosion cratering. Specific application of Maxwell's analytic Z-Model showed that this model can be used to describe the early time flow fields resulting from the impact cratering calculations as well, provided the flow field centers are located beneath the target surface and most of the projectile momentum is dissipated before the model is applied.

Effectiveness of early part-time sick leave in musculoskeletal disorders.

PubMed

Martimo, Kari-Pekka; Kaila-Kangas, Leena; Kausto, Johanna; Takala, Esa-Pekka; Ketola, Ritva; Riihimäki, Hilkka; Luukkonen, Ritva; Karppinen, Jaro; Miranda, Helena; Viikari-Juntura, Eira

2008-02-25

The importance of staying active instead of bed rest has been acknowledged in the management of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). This emphasizes the potential benefits of adjusting work to fit the employee's remaining work ability. Despite part-time sick leave being an official option in many countries, its effectiveness has not been studied yet. We have designed a randomized controlled study to assess the health effects of early part-time sick leave compared to conventional full-day sick leave. Our hypothesis is that if work time is temporarily reduced and work load adjusted at the early stages of disability, employees with MSDs will have less disability days and faster return to regular work duties than employees on a conventional sick leave. The study population will consist of 600 employees, who seek medical advice from an occupational physician due to musculoskeletal pain. The inclusion requires that they have not been on a sick leave for longer than 14 days prior to the visit. Based on the physician's judgement, the severity of the symptoms must indicate a need for conventional sick leave, but the employee is considered to be able to work part-time without any additional risk. Half of the employees are randomly allocated to part-time sick leave group and their work time is reduced by 40-60%, whereas in the control group work load is totally eliminated with conventional sick leave. The main outcomes are the number of days from the initial visit to return to regular work activities, and the total number of sick leave days during 12 and 24 months of follow-up. The costs and benefits as well as the feasibility of early part-time sick leave will also be evaluated. This is the first randomised trial to our knowledge on the effectiveness of early part-time sick leave compared to conventional full-time sick leave in the management of MSDs. The data collection continues until 2011, but preliminary results on the feasibility of part-time sick leave will be available

Optimal timing for early surgery in infective endocarditis: a meta-analysis†

PubMed Central

Liang, Fuxiang; Song, Bing; Liu, Ruisheng; Yang, Liu; Tang, Hanbo; Li, Yuanming

2016-01-01

To systematically review early surgery and the optimal timing of surgery in patients with infective endocarditis (IE), a search for foreign and domestic articles on cohort studies about the association between early surgery and infective endocarditis published from inception to January 2015 was conducted in the PubMed, EMBASE, Chinese Biomedical Literature (CBM), Wanfang and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases. The studies were screened according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, the data were extracted and the quality of the method of the included studies was assessed. Then, the meta-analysis was performed using the Stata 12.0 software. Sixteen cohort studies, including 8141 participants were finally included. The results of the meta-analysis revealed that, compared with non-early surgery, early surgery in IE lowers the incidence of in-hospital mortality [odds ratio (OR) = 0.57, 95% confidence interval (CI) (0.42, 0.77); P = 0.000, I2 = 73.1%] and long-term mortality [OR = 0.57, 95% CI (0.43, 0.77); P = 0.001, I2 = 67.4%]. Further, performing operation within 2 weeks had a more favourable effect on long-term mortality [OR = 0.63, 95% CI (0.41, 0.97); P = 0.192, I2 = 39.4%] than non-early surgery. In different kinds of IE, we found that early surgery for native valve endocarditis (NVE) had a lower in-hospital [OR = 0.46, 95% CI (0.31, 0.69); P = 0.001, I2 = 73.0%] and long-term [OR = 0.57, 95% CI (0.40, 0.81); P = 0.001, I2 = 68.9%] mortality than the non-early surgery group. However, for prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE), in-hospital mortality did not differ significantly [OR = 0.83, 95% CI (0.65, 1.06); P = 0.413, I2 = 0.0%] between early and non-early surgery. We concluded that early surgery was associated with lower in-hospital and long-term mortality compared with non-early surgical treatment for IE, especially in NVE. However, the optimal timing of surgery remains unclear. Additional larger prospective clinical trials will be

Soil archives of a Fluvisol: subsurface analysis and soil history of the medieval city centre of Vlaardingen, the Netherlands - an integral approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kluiving, Sjoerd; de Ridder, Tim; van Dasselaar, Marcel; Roozen, Stan; Prins, Maarten

2016-06-01

The medieval city of Vlaardingen (the Netherlands) was strategically located on the confluence of three rivers, the Maas, the Merwede, and the Vlaarding. A church of the early 8th century AD was already located here. In a short period of time, Vlaardingen developed in the 11th century AD into an international trading place and into one of the most important places in the former county of Holland. Starting from the 11th century AD, the river Maas repeatedly threatened to flood the settlement. The flood dynamics were registered in Fluvisol archives and were recognised in a multidisciplinary sedimentary analysis of these archives. To secure the future of these vulnerable soil archives an extensive interdisciplinary research effort (76 mechanical drill holes, grain size analysis (GSA), thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), archaeological remains, soil analysis, dating methods, micromorphology, and microfauna) started in 2011 to gain knowledge on the sedimentological and pedological subsurface of the settlement mound as well as on the well-preserved nature of the archaeological evidence. Pedogenic features are recorded with soil description, micromorphological, and geochemical (XRF - X-ray fluorescence) analysis. The soil sequence of 5 m thickness exhibits a complex mix of "natural" as well as "anthropogenic" layering and initial soil formation that enables us to make a distinction between relatively stable periods and periods with active sedimentation. In this paper the results of this interdisciplinary project are demonstrated in a number of cross-sections with interrelated geological, pedological, and archaeological stratification. A distinction between natural and anthropogenic layering is made on the basis of the occurrence of the chemical elements phosphor and potassium. A series of four stratigraphic and sedimentary units record the period before and after the flooding disaster. Given the many archaeological remnants and features present in the lower units, in

Time and Temporality in Early Childhood Educators' Work

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nuttall, Joce; Thomas, Louise

2015-01-01

This article reports on the persistence and significance of notions of time and temporality in interviews with early childhood educators in Victoria and Queensland, Australia, in two studies designed to explore the concept of "pedagogical leadership". Interpretive analysis of the interview transcripts of the 19 participants identified…

Time scale controversy: Accurate orbital calibration of the early Paleogene

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roehl, U.; Westerhold, T.; Laskar, J.

2012-12-01

Timing is crucial to understanding the causes and consequences of events in Earth history. The calibration of geological time relies heavily on the accuracy of radioisotopic and astronomical dating. Uncertainties in the computations of Earth's orbital parameters and in radioisotopic dating have hampered the construction of a reliable astronomically calibrated time scale beyond 40 Ma. Attempts to construct a robust astronomically tuned time scale for the early Paleogene by integrating radioisotopic and astronomical dating are only partially consistent. Here, using the new La2010 and La2011 orbital solutions, we present the first accurate astronomically calibrated time scale for the early Paleogene (47-65 Ma) uniquely based on astronomical tuning and thus independent of the radioisotopic determination of the Fish Canyon standard. Comparison with geological data confirms the stability of the new La2011 solution back to 54 Ma. Subsequent anchoring of floating chronologies to the La2011 solution using the very long eccentricity nodes provides an absolute age of 55.530 ± 0.05 Ma for the onset of the Paleocene/Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), 54.850 ± 0.05 Ma for the early Eocene ash -17, and 65.250 ± 0.06 Ma for the K/Pg boundary. The new astrochronology presented here indicates that the intercalibration and synchronization of U/Pb and 40Ar/39Ar radioisotopic geochronology is much more challenging than previously thought.

Time scale controversy: Accurate orbital calibration of the early Paleogene

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Westerhold, Thomas; RöHl, Ursula; Laskar, Jacques

2012-06-01

Timing is crucial to understanding the causes and consequences of events in Earth history. The calibration of geological time relies heavily on the accuracy of radioisotopic and astronomical dating. Uncertainties in the computations of Earth's orbital parameters and in radioisotopic dating have hampered the construction of a reliable astronomically calibrated time scale beyond 40 Ma. Attempts to construct a robust astronomically tuned time scale for the early Paleogene by integrating radioisotopic and astronomical dating are only partially consistent. Here, using the new La2010 and La2011 orbital solutions, we present the first accurate astronomically calibrated time scale for the early Paleogene (47-65 Ma) uniquely based on astronomical tuning and thus independent of the radioisotopic determination of the Fish Canyon standard. Comparison with geological data confirms the stability of the new La2011 solution back to ˜54 Ma. Subsequent anchoring of floating chronologies to the La2011 solution using the very long eccentricity nodes provides an absolute age of 55.530 ± 0.05 Ma for the onset of the Paleocene/Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), 54.850 ± 0.05 Ma for the early Eocene ash -17, and 65.250 ± 0.06 Ma for the K/Pg boundary. The new astrochronology presented here indicates that the intercalibration and synchronization of U/Pb and 40Ar/39Ar radioisotopic geochronology is much more challenging than previously thought.

Pubertal timing and early sexual intercourse in the offspring of teenage mothers.

PubMed

De Genna, Natacha M; Larkby, Cynthia; Cornelius, Marie D

2011-10-01

Early puberty is associated with stressful family environments, early sexual intercourse, and teenage pregnancy. We examined pubertal timing and sexual debut among the 14-year-old offspring of teenage mothers. Mothers (71% Black, 29% White) were recruited as pregnant teenagers (12-18 years old). Data were collected during pregnancy and when offspring were 6, 10 and 14 years old (n = 318). Adolescents (50% male) compared the timing of their pubertal maturation to same-sex peers. There was a significant 3-way interaction effect of race, sex, and pubertal timing on sexual debut (n = 305). This effect remained significant in a model controlling for maternal age at first intercourse, substance use, exposure to trauma, authoritative parenting, and peer sexual activity (n = 255). Early maturation was associated with early sex in daughters, and may be one pathway for the inter-generational transfer of risk for teenage pregnancy among daughters of teenage mothers.

Multiscale Pigment Analysis of Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sestak, Erica; Manukyan, Khachatur; Wiescher, Michael; Gura, David

2017-09-01

Three medieval illuminated manuscripts (codd. Lat. b. 1; Lat. b. 2; Lat. e. 4), housed at the University of Notre Dame's Hesburgh Library, vary in style, pigments, scribes, and regions, despite all three being Psalters used in the Late Middle Ages. XRF and Raman spectroscopy, which provided the elemental and molecular composition of the pigments, respectively, were used to analyze the pigments' compositions in an attempt to narrow further the manuscripts' possible origins. This experimental investigation emphasizes the importance of understanding the history of the manuscript through their pigments. Codd. Lat. b. 1 and Lat. b. 2 are Latinate German Psalters from the fifteenth century likely used in Katharinenkloster in Nuremberg. While there are visible differences in style within each Psalter, the variations in some of the pigment compositions, such as the inconstant presence of zinc, suggest different admixtures. Cod. Lat. e. 4 is a Latinate English Psalter from the fourteenth century, and it was written by two scribes and illuminated by two distinct painters. It is currently being tested to determine whether there are any correlations between the scribes and painters. These physical analyses will clarify the origins and provenances of the manuscripts.

Glacier maxima in Baffin Bay during the Medieval Warm Period coeval with Norse settlement

PubMed Central

Young, Nicolás E.; Schweinsberg, Avriel D.; Briner, Jason P.; Schaefer, Joerg M.

2015-01-01

The climatic mechanisms driving the shift from the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) to the Little Ice Age (LIA) in the North Atlantic region are debated. We use cosmogenic beryllium-10 dating to develop a moraine chronology with century-scale resolution over the last millennium and show that alpine glaciers in Baffin Island and western Greenland were at or near their maximum LIA configurations during the proposed general timing of the MWP. Complimentary paleoclimate proxy data suggest that the western North Atlantic region remained cool, whereas the eastern North Atlantic region was comparatively warmer during the MWP—a dipole pattern compatible with a persistent positive phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation. These results demonstrate that over the last millennium, glaciers approached their eventual LIA maxima before what is considered the classic LIA in the Northern Hemisphere. Furthermore, a relatively cool western North Atlantic region during the MWP has implications for understanding Norse migration patterns during the MWP. Our results, paired with other regional climate records, point to nonclimatic factors as contributing to the Norse exodus from the western North Atlantic region. PMID:26665173

Pubertal Timing and Early Sexual Intercourse in the Offspring of Teenage Mothers

PubMed Central

De Genna, Natacha M.; Larkby, Cynthia; Cornelius, Marie D.

2011-01-01

Early puberty is associated with stressful family environments, early sexual intercourse, and teenage pregnancy. We examined pubertal timing and sexual debut among the 14-year-old offspring of teenage mothers. Mothers (71% Black, 29% White) were recruited as pregnant teenagers (12–18 years old). Data were collected during pregnancy and when offspring were 6, 10 and 14 years old (n = 318). Adolescents (50% male) compared the timing of their pubertal maturation to same-sex peers. There was a significant 3-way interaction effect of race, sex, and pubertal timing on sexual debut (n = 305). This effect remained significant in a model controlling for maternal age at first intercourse, substance use, exposure to trauma, authoritative parenting, and peer sexual activity (n = 255). Early maturation was associated with early sex in daughters, and may be one pathway for the inter-generational transfer of risk for teenage pregnancy among daughters of teenage mothers. PMID:21279428

Anatomy of the cranial nerves in medieval Persian literature: Esmail Jorjani (AD 1042-1137) and The treasure of the Khwarazm shah.

PubMed

Shoja, Mohammadali M; Tubbs, R Shane; Ardalan, Mohammad R; Loukas, Marios; Eknoyan, Garabed; Salter, E George; Oakes, W Jerry

2007-12-01

Esmail Jorjani was an influential Persian physician and anatomist of the 12th century who did most of his writing after his seventh decade of life. Jorjani's comprehensive textbook of medicine, Zakhirey-e Khwarazmshahi (The Treasure of the Khwarazm Shah) was written in approximately AD 1112 and is considered to be the oldest medical encyclopedia written in Persian. This was an essential textbook for those studying medicine during this time. We describe the life and times of Jorjani and provide a translation and interpretations of his detailed descriptions of the cranial nerves, which were written almost a millennium ago. Medieval Persian and Muslim scholars have contributed to our current knowledge of the cranial nerves. Some of these descriptions, such as the eloquent ones provided by Jorjani, were original and have gone mostly unknown to post-Vesalian European scholars.

Optimal timing for early surgery in infective endocarditis: a meta-analysis.

PubMed

Liang, Fuxiang; Song, Bing; Liu, Ruisheng; Yang, Liu; Tang, Hanbo; Li, Yuanming

2016-03-01

To systematically review early surgery and the optimal timing of surgery in patients with infective endocarditis (IE), a search for foreign and domestic articles on cohort studies about the association between early surgery and infective endocarditis published from inception to January 2015 was conducted in the PubMed, EMBASE, Chinese Biomedical Literature (CBM), Wanfang and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases. The studies were screened according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, the data were extracted and the quality of the method of the included studies was assessed. Then, the meta-analysis was performed using the Stata 12.0 software. Sixteen cohort studies, including 8141 participants were finally included. The results of the meta-analysis revealed that, compared with non-early surgery, early surgery in IE lowers the incidence of in-hospital mortality [odds ratio (OR) = 0.57, 95% confidence interval (CI) (0.42, 0.77); P = 0.000, I(2) = 73.1%] and long-term mortality [OR = 0.57, 95% CI (0.43, 0.77); P = 0.001, I(2) = 67.4%]. Further, performing operation within 2 weeks had a more favourable effect on long-term mortality [OR = 0.63, 95% CI (0.41, 0.97); P = 0.192, I(2) = 39.4%] than non-early surgery. In different kinds of IE, we found that early surgery for native valve endocarditis (NVE) had a lower in-hospital [OR = 0.46, 95% CI (0.31, 0.69); P = 0.001, I(2) = 73.0%] and long-term [OR = 0.57, 95% CI (0.40, 0.81); P = 0.001, I(2) = 68.9%] mortality than the non-early surgery group. However, for prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE), in-hospital mortality did not differ significantly [OR = 0.83, 95% CI (0.65, 1.06); P = 0.413, I(2) = 0.0%] between early and non-early surgery. We concluded that early surgery was associated with lower in-hospital and long-term mortality compared with non-early surgical treatment for IE, especially in NVE. However, the optimal timing of surgery remains unclear. Additional larger prospective clinical

Reconstruction of an aquatic food web: Viking Haithabu vs. Medieval Schleswig.

PubMed

von Steinsdorff, Katja; Grupe, Gisela

2006-09-01

In the last two decades, the analysis of stable isotopes of carbonate and collagen from archaeological bone finds became a useful tool in the reconstruction of ancient food webs. Nevertheless there is still only little information available about aquatic food webs, in particular concerning brackish water ecosystems. The Schlei Fjord in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, is such an ecosystem and was investigated to determine stable isotopic values for nitrogen, carbon and oxygen from bone collagen and carbonate in archaeological bone finds. Wild birds, mammals and fish bones from the Viking settlement Haithabu and the medieval town of Schleswig have been analyzed in this study to determine stable isotope values for marine and limnic species and to investigate possible isotopic gradients for mixing fresh water and salt water ecosystems.

A biological stone from a medieval cemetery in Poland.

PubMed

Gładykowska-Rzeczycka, Judyta J; Nowakowski, Dariusz

2014-01-01

A review of the literature shows that origination of biological stones as well as their pathogenesis mostly depend on the environmental factors. As a result, the structural spectrum of such calculi and their chemical composition are highly diversified. It is well known that biological stones are formed mostly in the digestive and urinary tracts. However, it has been demonstrated that this kind of stony structure can be also, though rarely, found in circulatory and reproductive systems, skin, mucosa, and tear ducts. Although in palaeopathology, the list of biological stones is enriched by stony tumours and/or discharges, it is very difficult to uncover the small size deposits in excavation material. In the literature such findings, originating from different countries and centuries, are few. The described stone was found among the bones of an adult individual in the medieval cemetery of Gdańsk (Poland). The SEM, X-ray spectrometer and chemical evaluation revealed that it was a bladder calculus.

A Biological Stone from a Medieval Cemetery in Poland

PubMed Central

Gładykowska-Rzeczycka, Judyta J.; Nowakowski, Dariusz

2014-01-01

A review of the literature shows that origination of biological stones as well as their pathogenesis mostly depend on the environmental factors. As a result, the structural spectrum of such calculi and their chemical composition are highly diversified. It is well known that biological stones are formed mostly in the digestive and urinary tracts. However, it has been demonstrated that this kind of stony structure can be also, though rarely, found in circulatory and reproductive systems, skin, mucosa, and tear ducts. Although in palaeopathology, the list of biological stones is enriched by stony tumours and/or discharges, it is very difficult to uncover the small size deposits in excavation material. In the literature such findings, originating from different countries and centuries, are few. The described stone was found among the bones of an adult individual in the medieval cemetery of Gdańsk (Poland). The SEM, X-ray spectrometer and chemical evaluation revealed that it was a bladder calculus. PMID:25275551

Thermodynamic model of natural, medieval and nuclear waste glass durability

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jantzen, C.M.; Plodinec, M.J.

1983-01-01

A thermodynamic model of glass durability based on hydration of structural units has been applied to natural glass, medieval window glasses, and glasses containing nuclear waste. The relative durability predicted from the calculated thermodynamics correlates directly with the experimentally observed release of structural silicon in the leaching solution in short-term laboratory tests. By choosing natural glasses and ancient glasses whose long-term performance is known, and which bracket the durability of waste glasses, the long-term stability of nuclear waste glasses can be interpolated among these materials. The current Savannah River defense waste glass formulation is as durable as natural basalt frommore » the Hanford Reservation (10/sup 6/ years old). The thermodynamic hydration energy is shown to be related to the bond energetics of the glass. 69 references, 2 figures, 1 table.« less

Johannitius (809-873 AD), a medieval physician, translator and author.

PubMed

Dalfardi, Behnam; Daneshfard, Babak; Nezhad, Golnoush Sadat Mahmoudi

2016-08-01

The medieval physician, translator and author Abū Zayd Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq al-'Ibādī, best known in the West as Johannitius, is considered the best translator of Greek texts, particularly medical writings, into Arabic. He made great inroads in the art of translation in the Islamic world. In addition to his own translations, Johannitius put significant effort into training pupils and passing knowledge about translation to succeeding generations. He was also a great writer, compiling over 100 books on different subjects, especially medical. Among his own works, the illustrious Kitab al-Ashr Maqalat fil-Ayn (Ten Treatises on the Eye) contains the oldest known illustration of the structure of the eye. It served as the primary source for Galen's theory of vision and subsequent use by Western scholars. © The Author(s) 2016.

Integration of Three-Dimensional Digital Models and 3d Gis: the Documentation of the Medieval Burials of Amiternum (l'aquila, Italy)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trizio, I.; Savini, F.; Giannangeli, A.

2018-05-01

This paper illustrates the results of an experimentation carried out by a multi-disciplinary research group made up of researchers from ITC-CNR of L'Aquila and of archaeologists of the University of L'Aquila. The research project carried out by the team is based on the analysis of the archaeological heritage (in particular, the documentation of some burials found in the medieval site of Amiternum, near L'Aquila). This starts from methods based on digital photogrammetric restitution, based on Structure from Motion (SfM) algorithms, and the generation of photorealistic textures in order to manage, in a 3D GIS environment, complex archaeological and anthropological data. The choice of technology to use is often determined by the specific needs of the survey, the purpose of the project, the budget and experience of the researchers, and the geometric characteristics of the assets, rather than the precision to be achieved. For the survey of the archaeological excavation of the medieval site of Amiternum, it was decided to use digital photogrammetry given that the objective was to document, with a rapid survey compatible with the times of an archaeological excavation the phases of image acquisition, processing and post processing of the site model. Furthermore, thanks to the integration of two technologies, digital photogrammetry and GIS, and the undisputed improvement in the management of 3D data by the GIS, three-dimensionality, in archeology in general, has become an indispensable component for site interpretation and for the documentation of the data.

Novel Algorithms Enabling Rapid, Real-Time Earthquake Monitoring and Tsunami Early Warning Worldwide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lomax, A.; Michelini, A.

2012-12-01

We have introduced recently new methods to determine rapidly the tsunami potential and magnitude of large earthquakes (e.g., Lomax and Michelini, 2009ab, 2011, 2012). To validate these methods we have implemented them along with other new algorithms within the Early-est earthquake monitor at INGV-Rome (http://early-est.rm.ingv.it, http://early-est.alomax.net). Early-est is a lightweight software package for real-time earthquake monitoring (including phase picking, phase association and event detection, location, magnitude determination, first-motion mechanism determination, ...), and for tsunami early warning based on discriminants for earthquake tsunami potential. In a simulation using archived broadband seismograms for the devastating M9, 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, Early-est determines: the epicenter within 3 min after the event origin time, discriminants showing very high tsunami potential within 5-7 min, and magnitude Mwpd(RT) 9.0-9.2 and a correct shallow-thrusting mechanism within 8 min. Real-time monitoring with Early-est givess similar results for most large earthquakes using currently available, real-time seismogram data. Here we summarize some of the key algorithms within Early-est that enable rapid, real-time earthquake monitoring and tsunami early warning worldwide: >>> FilterPicker - a general purpose, broad-band, phase detector and picker (http://alomax.net/FilterPicker); >>> Robust, simultaneous association and location using a probabilistic, global-search; >>> Period-duration discriminants TdT0 and TdT50Ex for tsunami potential available within 5 min; >>> Mwpd(RT) magnitude for very large earthquakes available within 10 min; >>> Waveform P polarities determined on broad-band displacement traces, focal mechanisms obtained with the HASH program (Hardebeck and Shearer, 2002); >>> SeisGramWeb - a portable-device ready seismogram viewer using web-services in a browser (http://alomax.net/webtools/sgweb/info.html). References (see also: http

A multi‐isotope investigation of diet and subsistence amongst island and mainland populations from early medieval western Britain

PubMed Central

Lamb, Angela L.; Chenery, Carolyn A.; Evans, Jane A.

2016-01-01

Abstract Objectives This is the first investigation of dietary practices amongst multiple early medieval populations (AD 500–1000) from Wales and the Isle of Man using carbon, nitrogen, and sulphur isotope analysis. The analysis will illuminate similarities or differences between the diets and subsistence strategies of populations occupying different geographical regions, specifically those living in marginal coastal regions in comparison to inland populations well‐connected to ecclesiastical centres and high‐status settlements. Materials and Methods One hundred and two human skeletons were sampled for carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis, and 69 human skeletons were sampled for sulphur isotope analysis from nine cemetery sites from western Britain (Isle of Man = 3, southwest Wales = 4, southeast Wales = 2). Thirteen faunal skeletons from St Patrick's Chapel (southwest Wales) were sampled for carbon, nitrogen, and sulphur isotope analysis. Results Human δ13C values range from −19.4‰ to −21.2‰ (δ13C mean=−20.4 ±0.4‰, 1σ, n = 86), and δ15N values range from 9.1‰ to 13.8‰ (δ15N mean = 10.8 ± 0.9‰, 1σ, n = 86). δ34S values range from 1.2‰ to 18.4‰ (δ34S mean = 11.6 ± 4.5‰, 1σ, n = 66). Significant differences were noted between the mean δ13C, δ15N and δ34S values according to geographic region: Isle of Man (δ13C = −20.7 ± 0.4‰, δ15N = 11.4 ±0.6‰, n = 13/86; δ34S mean = 17.1 ±0.6, n = 4/66), southwest Wales (δ13C = −20.5 ± 0.4‰, δ15N = 11.0 ±1‰, n = 32/86; δ34S = 16.1 ± 2.1, n = 21/66), and southeast Wales (δ13C =−20.3 ±0.4‰, δ15N = 10.4 ±0.7‰, n = 41/86; δ34S= 8.8 ±3‰, n = 41/66). Faunal δ13C values range from −23.1‰ to −21.2‰ (δ13C mean= −22.1 ±0.5‰, 1σ, n = 13), and δ15N values range from 6.3‰ to 9.8‰ (δ15N mean = 7.3 ± 1.1‰, 1σ, n = 13). δ34S values range from 4

Impact of the Medieval Climate Anomaly, Little Ice Age, and Recent Warming on Hydrology and Carbon Accumulation in the James Bay Lowland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holmquist, J. R.; Booth, R. K.; MacDonald, G. M.

2013-12-01

Reconstructing late-Holocene hydroclimatic variations can be useful to understand the sensitivity of peatland soil carbon (C) to climate change (Bunbury et al., 2012). We reconstructed water table depth (WTD), using testate amoebae, for a four-core north to south transect of the James Bay Lowland and Boreal Shield of Ontario, Canada, and compared WTD to long-term apparent rate of C accumulation (LARCA). The three southern sites indicate that WTD fluctuated relative to the mean, with a wetter Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) and drier Little Ice Age (LIA) (Fig. 1). However, the most northern site recorded a wet LIA and dry MCA (Fig. 1). All four cores recorded drying coincident with modern warming (Fig. 1). Increased Medieval moisture detected in the three southern sites is consistent with a geographic pattern of precipitation anomalies associated with La Niña-like conditions, which cause drought in the American southwest and central plains regions coupled with increased moisture in the Pacific Northwest and north of the Great Lakes (Feng et al., 2008; Seager et al., 2008). Despite the hydroclimatic sensitivity of the region, we observed no consistent relationship between variations in WTD and LARCA from the same cores. At these particular sites, at least, C accumulation has not been sensitive to the range of climatic variability associated with the MCA, LIA and recent warming. Bunbury, J., Finkelstein, S. A., & Bollmann, J. (2012). Holocene hydro-climatic change and effects on carbon accumulation inferred from a peat bog in the Attawapiskat River watershed, Hudson Bay Lowlands, Canada. Quaternary Research: 275-284. Feng, S., Oglesby, R. J., Rowe, C. M., Loope, D. B., & Hu, Q. (2008). Atlantic and Pacific SST influences on Medieval drought in North America simulated by the Community Atmospheric Model. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres (1984-2012), 113(D11). Seager, R., Burgman, R., Kushnir, Y., Clement, A., Cook, E., Naik, N., & Miller, J. (2008). Tropical

The Renaissance. Grade 7 Model Lesson for Standard 7.8. World History and Geography: Medieval and Early Modern Times. California History-Social Science Course Models.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zachlod, Michelle, Ed.

California State Standard 7.8 is delineated in the following manner: "Students analyze the origins, accomplishments, and diffusion of the Renaissance," in terms of the way in which the revival of classical learning and the arts affected a new interest in humanism; the importance of Florence in the early stages of the Renaissance and the…

Characterization of a Messer – The late-Medieval single-edged sword of Central Europe

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fajfar, Peter; Medved, Jožef; Klančnik, Grega

2013-12-15

Metallurgical characterization of a sword blade fragments dating from the second half of the 15th century found in central Slovenia was performed in order to determine its chemical composition, microstructure, microhardness, and to obtain insight into the methods of manufacture of a late-medieval Messer sword. As the artefact was broken, examinations were limited to six very small fragments that were allowed to be removed from the cutting edge, core and the back of the blade. Light optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, differential scanning calorimetry, thermodynamics approach and Vickers micro-hardness tests weremore » employed to analyze the microstructure and mechanical properties. The results show that the sword was manufactured from a single wrought iron billet. The surface of the sword was carburized. No evidence of quenching was found. The ferritic microstructure is concentrated in the core, and the pearlitic in the outer layer of the blade. All metal fragments contained non-metallic inclusions that were derived mostly from slag and some from hammer scale. - Highlights: • A metallurgical characterization of a medieval sword blade has been performed. • The carbon content decreased from the surface to the core of the blade. • The dominant microstructure in the outer layer is pearlite and in the core is ferrite. • The presence of lump shaped and elongated non-metallic inclusions was observed. • The sword was manufactured from a single wrought iron billet.« less

Cognitive Vulnerabilities Amplify the Effect of Early Pubertal Timing on Interpersonal Stress Generation During Adolescence

PubMed Central

Stange, Jonathan P.; Kleiman, Evan M.; Hamlat, Elissa J.; Abramson, Lyn Y.; Alloy, Lauren B.

2013-01-01

Early pubertal timing has been found to confer risk for the occurrence of interpersonal stressful events during adolescence. However, pre-existing vulnerabilities may exacerbate the effects of early pubertal timing on the occurrence of stressors. Thus, the current study prospectively examined whether cognitive vulnerabilities amplified the effects of early pubertal timing on interpersonal stress generation. In a diverse sample of 310 adolescents (M age = 12.83 years, 55 % female; 53 % African American), early pubertal timing predicted higher levels of interpersonal dependent events among adolescents with more negative cognitive style and rumination, but not among adolescents with lower levels of these cognitive vulnerabilities. These findings suggest that cognitive vulnerabilities may heighten the risk of generating interpersonal stress for adolescents who undergo early pubertal maturation, which may subsequently place adolescents at greater risk for the development of psychopathology. PMID:24061858

Medieval Warm Period Archives Preserved in Limpet Shells (Patella Vulgata) From Viking Deposits, United Kingdom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mobilia, M.; Surge, D.

2008-12-01

The Medieval Warm Period (700-1100 YBP) represents a recent period of warm climate, and as such provides a powerful comparison to today's continuing warming trend. However, the spatial and temporal variability inherent in the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) makes it difficult to differentiate between global climate trends and regional variability. The continued study of this period will allow for the better understanding of temperature variability, both regional and global, during this climate interval. Our study is located in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, which is a critical area to understand climate dynamics. The North Atlantic Oscillation and Gulf Stream heavily influence climate in this region, and the study of climate intervals during the MWP will improve our understanding of the behavior of these climate mechanisms during this interval. Furthermore, the vast majority of the climate archive has been derived from either deep marine or arctic environments. Studying a coastal environment will offer valuable insight into the behavior of maritime climate during the MWP. Estimated seasonal sea surface temperature data were derived through isotopic analysis of limpet shells (Patella vulgata). Analysis of modern shells confirms that growth temperature tracks seasonal variation in ambient water temperature. Preliminary data from MWP shells record a seasonal temperature range comparable to that observed in the modern temperature data. We will extend the range of temperature data from the 10th through 14th centuries to advance our knowledge of seasonal temperature variability during the late Holocene.

Evidence for the Continued Use of Medieval Medical Prescriptions in the Sixteenth Century: A Fifteenth-Century Remedy Book and its Later Owner

PubMed Central

Connolly, Margaret

2016-01-01

This article examines a fifteenth-century remedy book, Oxford, Bodleian Library, Rawlinson c. 299, and describes its collection of 314 medieval medical prescriptions. The recipes are organised broadly from head to toe, and often several remedies are offered for the same complaint. Some individual recipes are transcribed with modern English translations. The few non-recipe texts are also noted. The difference between a remedy book and a leechbook is explained, and this manuscript is situated in relation to other known examples of late medieval medical anthologies. The particular feature that distinguishes Oxford, Bodleian Library, Rawlinson c. 299 from other similar volumes is the evidence that it continued to be used during the sixteenth century. This usage was of two kinds. Firstly, the London lawyer who owned it not only inscribed his name but annotated the original recipe collection in various ways, providing finding-aids that made it much more user-friendly. Secondly, he, and other members of his family, added another forty-three recipes to the original collection (some examples of these are also transcribed). These two layers of engagement with the manuscript are interrogated in detail in order to reveal what ailments may have troubled this family most, and to judge how much faith they placed in the old remedies contained in this old book. It is argued that the knowledge preserved in medieval books enjoyed a longevity that extended beyond the period of the manuscript book, and that manuscripts were read and valued long after the advent of printing. PMID:26971594

Evidence for the Continued Use of Medieval Medical Prescriptions in the Sixteenth Century: A Fifteenth-Century Remedy Book and its Later Owner.

PubMed

Connolly, Margaret

2016-04-01

This article examines a fifteenth-century remedy book, Oxford, Bodleian Library, Rawlinson c. 299, and describes its collection of 314 medieval medical prescriptions. The recipes are organised broadly from head to toe, and often several remedies are offered for the same complaint. Some individual recipes are transcribed with modern English translations. The few non-recipe texts are also noted. The difference between a remedy book and a leechbook is explained, and this manuscript is situated in relation to other known examples of late medieval medical anthologies. The particular feature that distinguishes Oxford, Bodleian Library, Rawlinson c. 299 from other similar volumes is the evidence that it continued to be used during the sixteenth century. This usage was of two kinds. Firstly, the London lawyer who owned it not only inscribed his name but annotated the original recipe collection in various ways, providing finding-aids that made it much more user-friendly. Secondly, he, and other members of his family, added another forty-three recipes to the original collection (some examples of these are also transcribed). These two layers of engagement with the manuscript are interrogated in detail in order to reveal what ailments may have troubled this family most, and to judge how much faith they placed in the old remedies contained in this old book. It is argued that the knowledge preserved in medieval books enjoyed a longevity that extended beyond the period of the manuscript book, and that manuscripts were read and valued long after the advent of printing.

Area/latency optimized early output asynchronous full adders and relative-timed ripple carry adders.

PubMed

Balasubramanian, P; Yamashita, S

2016-01-01

This article presents two area/latency optimized gate level asynchronous full adder designs which correspond to early output logic. The proposed full adders are constructed using the delay-insensitive dual-rail code and adhere to the four-phase return-to-zero handshaking. For an asynchronous ripple carry adder (RCA) constructed using the proposed early output full adders, the relative-timing assumption becomes necessary and the inherent advantages of the relative-timed RCA are: (1) computation with valid inputs, i.e., forward latency is data-dependent, and (2) computation with spacer inputs involves a bare minimum constant reverse latency of just one full adder delay, thus resulting in the optimal cycle time. With respect to different 32-bit RCA implementations, and in comparison with the optimized strong-indication, weak-indication, and early output full adder designs, one of the proposed early output full adders achieves respective reductions in latency by 67.8, 12.3 and 6.1 %, while the other proposed early output full adder achieves corresponding reductions in area by 32.6, 24.6 and 6.9 %, with practically no power penalty. Further, the proposed early output full adders based asynchronous RCAs enable minimum reductions in cycle time by 83.4, 15, and 8.8 % when considering carry-propagation over the entire RCA width of 32-bits, and maximum reductions in cycle time by 97.5, 27.4, and 22.4 % for the consideration of a typical carry chain length of 4 full adder stages, when compared to the least of the cycle time estimates of various strong-indication, weak-indication, and early output asynchronous RCAs of similar size. All the asynchronous full adders and RCAs were realized using standard cells in a semi-custom design fashion based on a 32/28 nm CMOS process technology.

Advances in optics in the medieval Islamic world

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Al-Khalili, Jim

2015-04-01

This paper reviews the state of knowledge in the field of optics, mainly in catoptrics and dioptrics, before the birth of modern science and the well-documented contributions of men such as Kepler and Newton. The paper is not intended to be a comprehensive survey of the subject such as one might find in history of science journals; instead, it is aimed at the curious physicist who has probably been taught that nothing much of note was understood about the behaviour of light, beyond outdated philosophical musings, prior to the seventeenth century. The paper will focus on advances during the medieval period between the ninth and fourteenth centuries, in both the east and the west, when the theories of the Ancient Greeks were tested, advanced, corrected and mathematised. In particular, it concentrates on a multivolume treatise on optics written one thousand years ago by the Arab scholar, Ibn al-Haytham, and examines how it influenced our understanding of the nature of reflection and refraction of light. Even the well-informed physicist should find a few surprises here, which will alter his or her view of the debt we owe to these forgotten scholars.

Early tracheostomy in trauma patients saves time and money.

PubMed

Hyde, Glendon A; Savage, Stephanie A; Zarzaur, Ben L; Hart-Hyde, Jensen E; Schaefer, Candace B; Croce, Martin A; Fabian, Timothy C

2015-01-01

Patients suffering traumatic brain and chest wall injuries are often difficult to liberate from the ventilator yet best timing of tracheostomy remains ill-defined. While prior studies have addressed early versus late tracheostomy, they generally suffer from the use of historical controls, which cannot account for variations in management over time. Propensity scoring can be utilized to identify controls from the same patient population, minimizing impact of confounding variables. The purpose of this study was to determine outcomes associated with early versus late tracheostomy by application of propensity scoring. Patients requiring intubation within 48h and receiving tracheostomy from January 2010 to June 2012 were identified. Early tracheostomy (ET) was a tracheostomy performed by the fifth hospital day. ET patients were matched to late tracheostomy patients (LT, tracheostomy after day 5) using propensity scoring and compared for multiple outcomes. Cost for services was calculated using average daily billing rates at our institution. One hundred and six patients were included, 53 each in the ET (mean day tracheostomy=4) and the LT (mean day tracheostomy=10) cohorts. The average age was 47 years and 94% suffered blunt injury, with an average NISS of 23.7. Patients in the ET group had significantly shorter TICU LOS (21.4 days vs. 28.6 days, p<0.0001) and significantly fewer ventilator days (16.7 days vs. 21.9, p<0.0001) compared to the LT group. ET patients also had significantly less VAP (34% vs. 64.2%, p=0.0019). In the current era of increased health-care costs, early tracheostomy significantly decreased both pulmonary morbidity and critical care resource utilization. This translates to an appreciable cost savings, at minimum $52,173 per patient and a potential total savings of $2.8million/year for the entire LT cohort. For trauma patients requiring prolonged ventilator support, early tracheostomy should be performed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights

Early Childhood Maltreatment and Girls' Sexual Behavior: The Mediating Role of Pubertal Timing.

PubMed

Ryan, Rebecca M; Mendle, Jane; Markowitz, Anna J

2015-09-01

Although links between early childhood maltreatment and girls' sexual behavior in adolescence have been well established, it is unclear whether different forms of maltreatment are differentially associated with sexual outcomes and whether distinct mechanisms explain associations across maltreatment types. Using data from National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), the present study examines whether physical abuse, sexual abuse, and physical neglect in early childhood differentially predict girls' age at first intercourse and number of sexual partners in early adulthood. The study also tests whether early pubertal timing mediates the link between early maltreatment and sexual behavior (N = 6,364). Findings indicate that early sexual and physical abuse were equally predictive of earlier age at first intercourse and a greater number of sexual partners, but that only the sexual abuse-age at first intercourse link was mediated by early puberty. These results suggest that sexual abuse and physical abuse are associated with earlier and riskier sexual behavior in girls relative to no maltreatment and to similar degrees. However, only the link between sexual abuse and sexual behavior involves a biological mechanism manifested in early pubertal timing. Copyright © 2015 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Early Sexual Intercourse: Prospective Associations with Adolescents Physical Activity and Screen Time

PubMed Central

Wijtzes, Anne; van de Bongardt, Daphne; van de Looij-Jansen, Petra; Bannink, Rienke; Raat, Hein

2016-01-01

Objectives To assess the prospective associations of physical activity behaviors and screen time with early sexual intercourse initiation (i.e., before 15 years) in a large sample of adolescents. Methods We used two waves of data from the Rotterdam Youth Monitor, a longitudinal study conducted in the Netherlands. The analysis sample consisted of 2,141 adolescents aged 12 to 14 years (mean age at baseline = 12.2 years, SD = 0.43). Physical activity (e.g., sports outside school), screen time (e.g., computer use), and early sexual intercourse initiation were assessed by means of self-report questionnaires. Logistic regression models were tested to assess the associations of physical activity behaviors and screen time (separately and simultaneously) with early sexual intercourse initiation, controlling for confounders (i.e., socio-demographics and substance use). Interaction effects with gender were tested to assess whether these associations differed significantly between boys and girls. Results The only physical activity behavior that was a significant predictor of early sexual intercourse initiation was sports club membership. Adolescent boys and girls who were members of a sports club) were more likely to have had early sex (OR = 2.17; 95% CI = 1.33, 3.56. Significant gender interaction effects indicated that boys who watched TV ≥2 hours/day (OR = 2.00; 95% CI = 1.08, 3.68) and girls who used the computer ≥2 hours/day (OR = 3.92; 95% CI = 1.76, 8.69) were also significantly more likely to have engaged in early sex. Conclusion These findings have implications for professionals in general pediatric healthcare, sexual health educators, policy makers, and parents, who should be aware of these possible prospective links between sports club membership, TV watching (for boys), and computer use (for girls), and early sexual intercourse initiation. However, continued research on determinants of adolescents’ early sexual initiation is needed to further contribute to

1970 MLA Abstracts of Articles in Scholarly Journals, Volume I: General, English, American, Medieval and Neo-Latin, Celtic Literatures; and Folklore.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fisher, John H., Comp.; Achtert, Walter S., Comp.

The first volume of an annual series following the arrangement of the "MLA International Bibliography" includes sections on General, English, American, Medieval and Neo-Latin, Celtic literatures, and Folklore. A classified collection of 1,744 brief abstracts of journalarticles on the modern languages and literatures to be used in conjunction with…

Medieval Round Churches and the Shape of the Earth.

PubMed

Haagensen, Erling; Lind, Niels C

2015-12-01

There is a unique cluster of four medieval round churches, linked by a simple geometry, on Bornholm Island in the Baltic Sea. Why so many and why so close together? Immediate simple answers are "Just by chance" and "For no reason." Why are the churches round? "Defense." This essay proposes another hypothesis for this unique situation: the churches are astronomical observatories, meant to solve a scientific problem (Is the Earth really spherical?) and a practical problem (How far is it to sail west to the Orient?). The capacity and desire to find answers, together with other practical needs related to astronomy, can better explain these round churches' special architecture. The geometry that connects them fits the ideal pattern with an angular accuracy of 1 minute of a degree. The round churches may be the earliest astronomical observatories in Christian Europe; other hypotheses have been shown to be untenable. Their location provides for a good method to estimate the Earth's extent in the east-west direction, seemingly the earliest such measurements.

Pubertal Timing and Early Sexual Intercourse in the Offspring of Teenage Mothers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

De Genna, Natacha M.; Larkby, Cynthia; Cornelius, Marie D.

2011-01-01

Early puberty is associated with stressful family environments, early sexual intercourse, and teenage pregnancy. We examined pubertal timing and sexual debut among the 14-year-old offspring of teenage mothers. Mothers (71% Black, 29% White) were recruited as pregnant teenagers (12-18 years old). Data were collected during pregnancy and when…

Both "illness and temptation of the enemy": melancholy, the medieval patient and the writings of King Duarte of Portugal (r. 1433-38).

PubMed

McCleery, Iona

2009-06-01

Recent historians have rehabilitated King Duarte of Portugal, previously maligned and neglected, as an astute ruler and philosopher. There is still a tendency, however, to view Duarte as a depressive or a hypochondriac, due to his own description of his melancholy in his advice book, the Loyal Counselor. This paper reassesses Duarte's writings, drawing on key approaches in the history of medicine, such as narrative medicine and the history of the patient. It is important to take Duarte's views on his condition seriously, placing them in the medical and theological contexts of his time and avoiding modern retrospective diagnosis. Duarte's writings can be used to explore the impact of plague, doubt and death on the life of a well-educated and conscientious late-medieval ruler.

Galeata: chronic migraine independently considered in a medieval headache classification.

PubMed

Guerrero-Peral, Angel Luís; de Frutos González, Virginia; Pedraza-Hueso, María Isabel

2014-03-21

Chronic migraine is a quite recent concept. However, there are descriptions suggestive of episodic migraine since the beginning of scientific medicine. We aim to review main headache classifications during Classical antiquity and compared them with that proposed in the 11th century by Constantine the African in his Liber Pantegni, one of the most influential texts in medieval medicine. We have carried out a descriptive review of Henricum Petrum's Latin edition, year 1539. Headache classifications proposed by Aretaeus of Cappadocia, Galen of Pergamun and Alexander of Tralles, all of them classifying headaches into three main types, considered an entity (called Heterocrania or Hemicrania), comparable to contemporary episodic migraine.In ninth book of Liber Pantegni, headaches were also classified into three types and one of them, Galeata, consisted on a chronic pain of mild intensity with occasional superimposed exacerbations. In Liber Pantegni we have firstly identified, as a separate entity, a headache comparable to that we currently define as chronic migraine: Galeata.

Medieval Horse Stable; The Results of Multi Proxy Interdisciplinary Research

PubMed Central

Dejmal, Miroslav; Lisá, Lenka; Fišáková Nývltová, Miriam; Bajer, Aleš; Petr, Libor; Kočár, Petr; Kočárová, Romana; Nejman, Ladislav; Rybníček, Michal; Sůvová, Zdenka; Culp, Randy; Vavrčík, Hanuš

2014-01-01

A multi proxy approach was applied in the reconstruction of the architecture of Medieval horse stable architecture, the maintenance practices associated with that structure as well as horse alimentation at the beginning of 13th century in Central Europe. Finally, an interpretation of the local vegetation structure along Morava River, Czech Republic is presented. The investigated stable experienced two construction phases. The infill was well preserved and its composition reflects maintenance practices. The uppermost part of the infill was composed of fresh stabling, which accumulated within a few months at the end of summer. Horses from different backgrounds were kept in the stable and this is reflected in the results of isotope analyses. Horses were fed meadow grasses as well as woody vegetation, millet, oat, and less commonly hemp, wheat and rye. Three possible explanations of stable usage are suggested. The stable was probably used on a temporary basis for horses of workers employed at the castle, courier horses and horses used in battle. PMID:24670874

Extremely high frequency of autoimmune-predisposing alleles in medieval specimens*

PubMed Central

Witas, H.W.; Jędrychowska-Dańska, K.; Zawicki, P.

2007-01-01

The precise etiology and reasons for the increase in incidence of autoimmune disorders still remain unclear, and although both genetic and environmental factors have been proven to shape individual predisposition, it is not known which of the factors, if not both, is responsible for the boom observed during the last decades. In order to establish whether a higher frequency of autoimmune-predisposing alleles may explain this increase we took advantage of ancient DNA methodology to establish the genetic predisposition, conferred by cytotoxic T lymphocyte associated antigen-4 (CTLA4) +49A/G and human leukocyte antigens (HLA) DQB157, in population inhabiting Poland in the Middle Ages. After successful typing of 42 individuals from a 12th~14th’s century archeological burial site, we found that frequencies of the predisposing alleles in the medieval population were higher than they are at present, suggesting thus that the recently observed incidence increase results most probably from factors of other than genetic nature. PMID:17610332

Galeata: chronic migraine independently considered in a medieval headache classification

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Chronic migraine is a quite recent concept. However, there are descriptions suggestive of episodic migraine since the beginning of scientific medicine. We aim to review main headache classifications during Classical antiquity and compared them with that proposed in the 11th century by Constantine the African in his Liber Pantegni, one of the most influential texts in medieval medicine. Method We have carried out a descriptive review of Henricum Petrum's Latin edition, year 1539. Results Headache classifications proposed by Aretaeus of Cappadocia, Galen of Pergamun and Alexander of Tralles, all of them classifying headaches into three main types, considered an entity (called Heterocrania or Hemicrania), comparable to contemporary episodic migraine. In ninth book of Liber Pantegni, headaches were also classified into three types and one of them, Galeata, consisted on a chronic pain of mild intensity with occasional superimposed exacerbations. Conclusion In Liber Pantegni we have firstly identified, as a separate entity, a headache comparable to that we currently define as chronic migraine: Galeata. PMID:24655582

Performing the good death: the medieval Ars moriendi and contemporary doctors.

PubMed

Thornton, K; Phillips, C B

2009-12-01

Death is inevitable, but dying well is not. Despite the role of medical professionals as overseers of dying in contemporary society, there is comparatively little discourse among doctors about the constituents of a good death. In the 15th century, by contrast, the Ars moriendi portrayed normative medieval ideas about good and bad deaths. At a time when dying could be viewed as a performed battle against damnation, the Ars moriendi codified a set of moral precepts that governed the expression of autonomy, relations between the dying and the living and orientation towards God. In these images, dying well is a moral activity that results from active decisions by the dying person to turn from earthly preoccupations to contemplation of, and submission to, the divine. It is likely in contemporary society that there is a range of understandings of the "good death". While attitudes to personal autonomy may differ, reflectiveness and dying at home in the presence of family (expressed in the Ars moriendi), remain part of many modern notions of the good death. We argue that medical institutions continue to construct death as a performed battle against physical debility, even when patients may have different views of their preferred deaths. The dialectic approach of the Ars moriendi may offer a way for contemporary doctors to reflect critically on the potential dissonance between their own approach to death and the variety of culturally valorised "good deaths".

The role of Ibn Sina (Avicenna)'s medical poem in the transmission of medical knowledge to medieval Europe.

PubMed

Abdel-Halim, Rabie El-Said

2014-01-01

The Medical Poem ("Al-Urjuzah Fi Al-Tibb") of Ibn Sina (Avicenna, 980-1037), is the subject of this primary-source study evaluating its scientific value, poetics and pedagogical significance as well as assessing its role in the transmission of medical knowledge to Medieval Europe. In addition to one original manuscript and two modern editions, the English translation by Krueger was also studied. Ibn Sina's poem on medicine consisting of meticulously classified 1326 verses, can be considered as a poetic summary of his encyclopedic textbook: The Canon of Medicine; hence its popularity in the East then the West as a tool in the process of transmitting medical knowledge from master to student. Since first translated by Gerard of Cremona (1114-1187) in the middle of the 12(th) century, the Latinized poem was frequently published in Medieval Europe either independently or combined with the Latinized Canon of Medicine or with the Articella; the famous collection of Greco-Roman and Latinized Arabian medical treatises in use in the universities of Salerno, Montpelier, Bologna and Paris up to the 17(th) century. The study of the Krueger's English edition revealed few places where the full meanings of the original Arabic text were not conveyed. A list of those places is given together with the suggested corrections.

On the Early-Time Excess Emission in Hydrogen-Poor Superluminous Supernovae

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vreeswijk, Paul M.; Leloudas, Giorgos; Gal-Yam, Avishay; De Cia, Annalisa; Perley, Daniel A.; Quimby, Robert M.; Waldman, Roni; Sullivan, Mark; Yan, Lin; Ofek, Eran O.;

On The Early-Time Excess Emission In Hydrogen-Poor Superluminous Supernovae

DOE PAGES

Vreeswijk, Paul M.; Leloudas, Giorgos; Gal-Yam, Avishay; ...

2017-01-18

Here, we present the light curves of the hydrogen-poor superluminous supernovae (SLSNe I) PTF 12dam and iPTF 13dcc, discovered by the (intermediate) Palomar Transient Factory. Both show excess emission at early times and a slowly declining light curve at late times. The early bump in PTF 12dam is very similar in duration (~10 days) and brightness relative to the main peak (2-3 mag fainter) compared to that observed in other SLSNe I. In contrast, the long-duration ( > 30 days) early excess emission in iPTF 13dcc, whose brightness competes with that of the main peak, appears to be of amore » different nature. We construct bolometric light curves for both targets, and fit a variety of light-curve models to both the early bump and main peak in an attempt to understand the nature of these explosions. Even though the slope of the late-time decline in the light curves of both SLSNe is suggestively close to that expected from the radioactive decay of 56Ni and 56Co, the amount of nickel required to power the full light curves is too large considering the estimated ejecta mass. The magnetar model including an increasing escape fraction provides a reasonable description of the PTF 12dam observations. However, neither the basic nor the double-peaked magnetar model is capable of reproducing the light curve of iPTF 13dcc. A model combining a shock breakout in an extended envelope with late-time magnetar energy injection provides a reasonable fit to the iPTF 13dcc observations. Finally, we find that the light curves of both PTF 12dam and iPTF 13dcc can be adequately fit with the model involving interaction with the circumstellar medium.« less

ON THE EARLY-TIME EXCESS EMISSION IN HYDROGEN-POOR SUPERLUMINOUS SUPERNOVAE

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vreeswijk, Paul M.; Leloudas, Giorgos; Gal-Yam, Avishay

2017-01-20

We present the light curves of the hydrogen-poor superluminous supernovae (SLSNe I) PTF 12dam and iPTF 13dcc, discovered by the (intermediate) Palomar Transient Factory. Both show excess emission at early times and a slowly declining light curve at late times. The early bump in PTF 12dam is very similar in duration (∼10 days) and brightness relative to the main peak (2–3 mag fainter) compared to that observed in other SLSNe I. In contrast, the long-duration (>30 days) early excess emission in iPTF 13dcc, whose brightness competes with that of the main peak, appears to be of a different nature. Wemore » construct bolometric light curves for both targets, and fit a variety of light-curve models to both the early bump and main peak in an attempt to understand the nature of these explosions. Even though the slope of the late-time decline in the light curves of both SLSNe is suggestively close to that expected from the radioactive decay of {sup 56}Ni and {sup 56}Co, the amount of nickel required to power the full light curves is too large considering the estimated ejecta mass. The magnetar model including an increasing escape fraction provides a reasonable description of the PTF 12dam observations. However, neither the basic nor the double-peaked magnetar model is capable of reproducing the light curve of iPTF 13dcc. A model combining a shock breakout in an extended envelope with late-time magnetar energy injection provides a reasonable fit to the iPTF 13dcc observations. Finally, we find that the light curves of both PTF 12dam and iPTF 13dcc can be adequately fit with the model involving interaction with the circumstellar medium.« less

The Role of Nutrition in the Biological Adaptation of the Medieval Population of the Cis-Ural Perm Region (Archeological and Anthropological Evidence)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krylasova, Natalya B.; Brykhova, Natalya G.; Burova, Natalya D.

2016-01-01

The aim of this article is to reconstruct the nutrition system of the medieval inhabitants of the Perm Territory located in the western foothills of the Ural mountain range. The investigation is built on a comprehensive analysis of archaeological sources available and on the basis if anthropological materials with involvement of radioactive tracer…

From Archimedean Hydrostatics to Post-Aristotelian Mechanics: Galileo's Early Manuscripts De motu antiquiora (ca. 1590)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salvia, Stefano

2017-06-01

Galileo's early inquiries on motion and free fall in Pisa (1588-1592) can be regarded as a case study of multiple knowledge transfer at the very basic roots of modern mechanics. The treatise De motu, unpublished until 1890, is an original but unsuccessful attempt to go beyond Aristotelian physics by extending Archimedean hydrostatics to the dynamics of natural motion and reappraising the late-medieval impetus theory to account for violent motion and acceleration. I will discuss in particular why Galileo was forced to abandon his project before moving to Padua and how the manuscripts De motu provided him with a "research agenda" for further theoretical and experimental investigation.

Evaluation of Sr/Ca-based paleoclimate reconstructions in modern and Medieval Diploria strigosa corals in the northeastern Caribbean

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Y.; Pearson, S. P.; Kilbourne, K.

2013-12-01

Tropical sea surface temperature (SST) has been implicated as a driver of climate changes during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA, 950-1300 A.D.) but little data exists from the tropical oceans during this time period. We collected three modern and seven sub-fossil Diploria strigosa coral colonies from an overwash deposit on Anegada, British Virgin Islands (18.73 °N, 63.33 °W) in order to reconstruct climate in the northeastern Caribbean and Tropical North Atlantic during the MCA. The first step in our reconstruction was to verify the climate signal from this species at this site. We sub-sampled the modern corals along thecal walls with an average sampling resolution of 11-13 samples per year. Sr/Ca ratios measured in the sub-samples were calibrated to temperature using three different calibration techniques (ordinary least squares, reduced major axis, and weighted least squares (WLS)) on the monthly data that includes the seasonal cycles and on the monthly anomaly data. WLS regression accounts for unequal errors in the x and y terms, so we consider it the most robust technique. The WLS regression slope between gridded SST and coral Sr/Ca is similar to the previous two calibrations of this species. Mean Sr/Ca for each of the three modern corals is 8.993 × 0.004 mmol/mol, 9.127 × 0.003 mmol/mol, and 8.960 × 0.007 mmol/mol. These straddle the mean Diploria strigosa Sr/Ca found by Giry et al., (2010), 9.080 mmol/mol, at a site with nearly the same mean SST as Anegada (27.4 °C vs. 27.5 °C). The climatological seasonal cycles for SST derived from the modern corals are statistically indistinguishable from the seasonal cycles in the instrumental SST data. The coral-based seasonal cycles have ranges of 2.70 × 0.31 °C, 2.65 × 0.08 °C and 2.71 × 0.53 °C. These results indicate that this calibration can be applied to our sub-fossil coral data. We applied the WLS calibration to monthly-resolution Sr/Ca data from multiple sub-fossil corals dating to the medieval

[The application of the prospective space-time statistic in early warning of infectious disease].

PubMed

Yin, Fei; Li, Xiao-Song; Feng, Zi-Jian; Ma, Jia-Qi

2007-06-01

To investigate the application of prospective space-time scan statistic in the early stage of detecting infectious disease outbreaks. The prospective space-time scan statistic was tested by mimicking daily prospective analyses of bacillary dysentery data of Chengdu city in 2005 (3212 cases in 102 towns and villages). And the results were compared with that of purely temporal scan statistic. The prospective space-time scan statistic could give specific messages both in spatial and temporal. The results of June indicated that the prospective space-time scan statistic could timely detect the outbreaks that started from the local site, and the early warning message was powerful (P = 0.007). When the merely temporal scan statistic for detecting the outbreak was sent two days later, and the signal was less powerful (P = 0.039). The prospective space-time scan statistic could make full use of the spatial and temporal information in infectious disease data and could timely and effectively detect the outbreaks that start from the local sites. The prospective space-time scan statistic could be an important tool for local and national CDC to set up early detection surveillance systems.

Is Blast Injury a Modern Phenomenon?: Early Historical Descriptions of Mining and Volcanic Traumatic Brain Injury With Relevance to Modern Terrorist Attacks and Military Warfare.

PubMed

Bowen, Lauren N; Moore, David F; Okun, Michael S

2016-03-01

Given the recent interest in blast injury spurred by returning soldiers from overseas conflicts, we sought to research the early historical descriptions of blast injuries and their treatments. Consideration was given to specific descriptions of survivors of closed head injury and their treatment. A review of the medical and nonmedical literature was undertaken, with particular emphasis on pre-1800 descriptions of volcanic eruptions and mining accidents. Compilations of accounts of the Etna eruptions dating from 126 BC were translated into English, and early mining texts from the 1600s and 1700s were reviewed. Accumulations of flammable gases were recorded in many medieval sources and this knowledge of toxic gas which could lead to blast injury was known in the mining community by 1316. No direct attribution of injuries to blast forces was present in the historical record examined before the 1300s, although mining accounts in the 1600s detail deaths due to blast. No specific descriptions of survivors of a closed head injury were found in the mining and volcanic eruption literature. Descriptions and warnings of blast forces were commonly written about in the medieval and Renaissance mining communities. Personal narratives as early as 1316 recognize the traumatic effects of blast injury. No mining or volcanic blast descriptions before 1800 detailed severe closed head injury survivors, suggesting greater mortality than morbidity from blast injury in the premodern era. This review also uncovered that there was no historical treatment or remedy recommended to survivors of blast injury. Blast explosions resulting in injury or death were frequently described, although in simplistic terminology.

Perspectives in Linguistics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Waterman, John T.

Intended for the student of linguistics or the structural grammarian, who must develop an awareness of their intellectual heritage, the present work surveys the study of language in ancient times, the medieval and early modern periods, the nineteenth century, and the twentieth century to 1950. (This second edition includes additional material on…

Map Resource Packet: Course Models for the History-Social Science Framework, Grade Seven.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

California State Dept. of Education, Sacramento.

This packet of maps is an auxiliary resource to the "World History and Geography: Medieval and Early Modern Times. Course Models for the History-Social Science Framework, Grade Seven." The set includes: outline, precipitation, and elevation maps; maps for locating key places; landform maps; and historical maps. The list of maps are…

Knight Time.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stonyk, Richard

1998-01-01

Integrates a lesson on medieval European history with a class art project. Describes how students studied heraldry to design their own coat of arms and produce a relief sculpture shield depicting these arms. Lists materials needed and outlines the process of construction. (DSK)

Silver and tin plating as medieval techniques of producing counterfeit coins and their identification by means of micro-XRF

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hložek, M.; Trojek, T.

2017-08-01

Archaeological surveys and metal detector prospecting yield a great amount of coins from the medieval period. Naturally, some of these are counterfeit which an experienced numismatist can determine without using chemical methods. The production of counterfeit coins in the middle ages took place in castles, caves or other remote areas where waste from this activity can still be found today - copper sheets, technical ceramics and counterfeit coins. Until recently, it has been assumed that medieval counterfeit coins are made by silver-plating copper blanks using an amalgam. However, the performed analyses reveal that there are many more techniques of counterfeiting of coins. Other techniques were based on e.g. tin amalgam plating of the blanks or alloying so-called white metal with silver-like appearance from which the coins were minted. Current chemical analyses indicate that the coins were often tinned by hot dipping with no amalgamation. Micro-X-ray fluorescence analysis has been chosen as a suitable non-destructive method to identify present chemical elements in investigated artifacts and to quantify their concentrations. In addition, a quick technique telltale the plating was applied. This technique utilizes the detected fluorescence ratio Kα/Kβ of copper, which is the main ingredient of a lot of historical metallic materials.

Elucidating the mechanisms linking early pubertal timing, sexual activity, and substance use for maltreated versus nonmaltreated adolescents.

PubMed

Negriff, Sonya; Brensilver, Matthew; Trickett, Penelope K

2015-06-01

To test models linking pubertal timing, peer substance use, sexual behavior, and substance use for maltreated versus comparison adolescents. Three theoretical mechanisms were tested: (1) peer influence links early pubertal timing to later sexual behavior and substance use; (2) early maturers engage in substance use on their own and then select substance-using friends; or (3) early maturers initiate sexual behaviors which lead them to substance-using peers. The data came from a longitudinal study of the effects of child maltreatment on adolescent development (303 maltreated and 151 comparison adolescents; age, 9-13 years at initial wave). Multiple-group structural equation models tested the hypotheses across three time points including variables of pubertal timing, perception of peer substance use, sexual behavior, and self-reported substance use. Early pubertal timing was associated with substance-using peers only for maltreated adolescents, indicating the mediation path from early pubertal timing through substance-using peers to subsequent adolescent substance use and sexual behavior only holds for maltreated adolescents. Mediation via sexual behavior was significant for both maltreated and comparison adolescents. This indicates that sexual behavior may be a more universal mechanism linking early maturation with risky friends regardless of adverse life experiences. The findings are a step toward elucidating the developmental pathways from early puberty to risk behavior and identifying early experiences that may alter mediation effects. Copyright © 2015 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Drugs held and sold by pharmacists of the Jewish community of medieval (11-14th centuries) Cairo according to lists of materia medica found at the Taylor-Schechter Genizah collection, Cambridge.

PubMed

Lev, Efraim

2007-03-21

The importance of the Genizah for the research of the medieval Mediterranean communities, supplying information on almost every aspect of life, is well known among historian. Less known is that pharmacy was the most popular of all branches of the healing art in the medieval Jewish community of Cairo, according to the Genizah manuscripts. Sources for study of medieval practical drugs are extremely rare since most records naturally vanish over the years, and only some medical books, which contained theoretical pharmacology, have survived to the present day. Drugs lists enable us to understand medieval practical pharmacy and to reconstruct their inventories. This study reports on 71 original drugs lists that were found in the Genizah; they are different from merchants' letters dealing with commerce in drugs and give no instructions for the use or preparation of formulas as usually found in prescriptions. Twenty-six lists are written in Judeo-Arabic and 45 in Arabic, none of the lists is written in Hebrew. The longest list contains 63 identified substances. These lists were apparently used by pharmacists for professional and business purposes as inventories of drugs, records, orders, or even receipts. Two hundred and six different drugs are mentioned in the drugs lists of which 167 are of plant origin, 16 are of animal origin, and the remaining 23 are inorganic. The lists point directly to the place they occupied on the shelves of the pharmacies that could be found in the lanes and alleys of the Jewish quarter of Cairo. The most frequently mentioned substance were myrobalan (27), pepper and saffron (21), lentisk (15), almond, basil, rose, rosemary (14), cattle products, camphor and spikenard (13).

Biochemical methane potential (BMP) tests: Reducing test time by early parameter estimation.

PubMed

Da Silva, C; Astals, S; Peces, M; Campos, J L; Guerrero, L

2018-01-01

Biochemical methane potential (BMP) test is a key analytical technique to assess the implementation and optimisation of anaerobic biotechnologies. However, this technique is characterised by long testing times (from 20 to >100days), which is not suitable for waste utilities, consulting companies or plants operators whose decision-making processes cannot be held for such a long time. This study develops a statistically robust mathematical strategy using sensitivity functions for early prediction of BMP first-order model parameters, i.e. methane yield (B 0 ) and kinetic constant rate (k). The minimum testing time for early parameter estimation showed a potential correlation with the k value, where (i) slowly biodegradable substrates (k≤0.1d -1 ) have a minimum testing times of ≥15days, (ii) moderately biodegradable substrates (0.1times between 8 and 15 days, and (iii) rapidly biodegradable substrates (k≥0.2d -1 ) have testing times lower than 7days. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

["Lingue di seripi", "serpents' tongues" and "glossopetrae". Highlights from the history of popular "cult" medicine in early modern times].

PubMed

Freller, T

1997-01-01

In the 16th, 17th and 18th century "Glossopetrae", popularly known as "Lingue di Serpi", found on the Mediterranean island of Malta, were extensively used for medical purposes as antidotes. These fossil teeth, including specimens of the "Carcharodon Megalodon" (an extinct variant of the great white shark), were ground to powder or used as amulet pendants and "credence" and exported to pharmacies and shops in various cities of Europe. In antiquity, authors like Plinius or Solinus, excluding any religious connotations, had regarded "Glossopetrae" as objects "fallen from heaven on dark moonless nights". However, from the beginning of the 16th century the miraculous antidotic power of the specimens found at Malta was very strongly connected with the Pauline cult there. This cult owed ist origin to the excerpt of the shipwreck of the Apostle of the Gentiles on this island, as recorded in the New Testament. As in so many cases found in medieval and early modern medicine and pharmacy, the renown, collection, distribution and use of the antidote "Glossopetrae" or "Lingue di Serpi" was never limited to its real chemical and pharmaceutical properties. In the period of enlightenment and secular thinking mythic medicine as "Glossopetrae" had lost ist "magical" power. Consequently, with beginning of the late 18th century also the Maltese "Glossopetrae" featured in literature merely as exotic objects of curiosity or symbols of an age bound to medical superstition.

Elucidating the mechanisms linking early pubertal timing, sexual activity, and substance use for maltreated versus nonmaltreated adolescents

PubMed Central

Negriff, Sonya; Brensilver, Matthew; Trickett, Penelope K.

2015-01-01

Purpose To test models linking pubertal timing, peer substance use, sexual behavior, and substance use for maltreated versus comparison adolescents. Three theoretical mechanisms were tested: 1) peer influence links early pubertal timing to later sexual behavior and substance use, 2) early maturers engage in substance use on their own and then select substance-using friends, or 3) early maturers initiate sexual behaviors which leads them to substance-using peers. Methods The data came from a longitudinal study of the effects of child maltreatment on adolescent development (303 maltreated and 151 comparison adolescents; age: 9–13 years at initial wave). Multiple-group structural equation models tested the hypotheses across three timepoints including variables of pubertal timing, perception of peer substance use, sexual behavior, and self-reported substance use. Results Early pubertal timing was associated with substance-using peers only for maltreated adolescents, indicating the mediation path from early pubertal timing through substance-using peers to subsequent adolescent substance use and sexual behavior only holds for maltreated adolescents. Mediation via sexual behavior was significant for both maltreated and comparison adolescents. This indicates that sexual behavior may be a more universal mechanism linking early maturation with risky friends regardless of adverse life experiences. Conclusions The findings are a step toward elucidating the developmental pathways from early puberty to risk behavior and identifying early experiences that may alter mediation effects. PMID:26003577

The role of Ibn Sina (Avicenna)'s medical poem in the transmission of medical knowledge to medieval Europe

PubMed Central

Abdel-Halim, Rabie El-Said

2014-01-01

The Medical Poem (“Al-Urjuzah Fi Al-Tibb”) of Ibn Sina (Avicenna, 980-1037), is the subject of this primary-source study evaluating its scientific value, poetics and pedagogical significance as well as assessing its role in the transmission of medical knowledge to Medieval Europe. In addition to one original manuscript and two modern editions, the English translation by Krueger was also studied. Ibn Sina's poem on medicine consisting of meticulously classified 1326 verses, can be considered as a poetic summary of his encyclopedic textbook: The Canon of Medicine; hence its popularity in the East then the West as a tool in the process of transmitting medical knowledge from master to student. Since first translated by Gerard of Cremona (1114-1187) in the middle of the 12th century, the Latinized poem was frequently published in Medieval Europe either independently or combined with the Latinized Canon of Medicine or with the Articella; the famous collection of Greco-Roman and Latinized Arabian medical treatises in use in the universities of Salerno, Montpelier, Bologna and Paris up to the 17th century. The study of the Krueger's English edition revealed few places where the full meanings of the original Arabic text were not conveyed. A list of those places is given together with the suggested corrections. PMID:24669114

Medieval Cosmology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grant, E.; Murdin, P.

2000-11-01

During the early Middle Ages (ca 500 to ca 1130) scholars with an interest in cosmology had little useful and dependable literature. They relied heavily on a partial Latin translation of PLATO's Timaeus by Chalcidius (4th century AD), and on a series of encyclopedic treatises associated with the names of Pliny the Elder (ca AD 23-79), Seneca (4 BC-AD 65), Macrobius (fl 5th century AD), Martianus ...

The chemistry of gaseous acids in medieval churches in Cyprus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Loupa, G.; Charpantidou, E.; Karageorgos, E.; Rapsomanikis, S.

Indoor and outdoor concentrations of HCl, HNO 3, HCOOH and CH 3COOH were determined in two medieval churches in Cyprus, during July 2003 and March 2004. The high air exchange rate through the open windows and doors led to lower indoor, compared to outdoor, acid concentrations in July 2003. Indoor pollutant emissions and a low air exchange rate resulted in higher indoor compared to outdoors acid concentrations in both churches during March 2004. Indoor to outdoor inorganic acid ratios were higher than the corresponding indoor to outdoor organic acid ratios during July 2003, whilst the opposite trend was observed during March 2004. Direct acid emission from candle burning appears to play a major role in the observed indoor acid concentrations. Emissions of volatile organic compounds from other sources, like humans, cleaning products and incense, led also to formation or depletion of the gaseous acids via homogeneous photochemical, heterogeneous and dark reaction sequences. Chemical reaction pathways were extensively investigated and appear to explain the observed results. The apparent indoor acid deposition velocities ranged between 0.05 and 0.15 cm s -1.

Both “illness and temptation of the enemy”: melancholy, the medieval patient and the writings of King Duarte of Portugal (r. 1433–38)

PubMed Central

McCleery, Iona

2009-01-01

Recent historians have rehabilitated King Duarte of Portugal, previously maligned and neglected, as an astute ruler and philosopher. There is still a tendency, however, to view Duarte as a depressive or a hypochondriac, due to his own description of his melancholy in his advice book, the Loyal Counselor. This paper reassesses Duarte's writings, drawing on key approaches in the history of medicine, such as narrative medicine and the history of the patient. It is important to take Duarte's views on his condition seriously, placing them in the medical and theological contexts of his time and avoiding modern retrospective diagnosis. Duarte's writings can be used to explore the impact of plague, doubt and death on the life of a well-educated and conscientious late-medieval ruler. PMID:21874137

Two cases of neurogenic paralysis in medieval skeletal samples from Croatia.

PubMed

Novak, Mario; Čavka, Mislav; Šlaus, Mario

2014-12-01

Osteological changes consistent with neurogenic paralysis were observed in one male and one female skeleton recovered from two Croatian medieval sites - Virje and Zadar. Both skeletons display limb asymmetry typical of neurogenic paralysis that occurs during the childhood. The male skeleton displays atrophy and shortening of the right arm and the right femur, while the female skeleton exhibits identical changes on the right arm and both legs. Additionally, both skeletons exhibit scoliotic changes of the spine, and the female skeleton also displays bilateral hip dysplasia. Differential diagnosis included disorders such as cerebral palsy, poliomyelitis, cerebrovascular accident, and Rasmussen's encephalitis. These are the first cases of neurogenic paralysis (cerebral palsy and/or paralytic poliomyelitis) identified in Croatian archeological series. The Virje skeleton is only the third case of hemiplegia identified from archeological contexts (first with spinal scoliosis), while the Zadar skeleton represents the first case of triplegia reported in the paleopathological literature. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The effects of Medieval dams on genetic divergence and demographic history in brown trout populations

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Habitat fragmentation has accelerated within the last century, but may have been ongoing over longer time scales. We analyzed the timing and genetic consequences of fragmentation in two isolated lake-dwelling brown trout populations. They are from the same river system (the Gudenå River, Denmark) and have been isolated from downstream anadromous trout by dams established ca. 600–800 years ago. For reference, we included ten other anadromous populations and two hatchery strains. Based on analysis of 44 microsatellite loci we investigated if the lake populations have been naturally genetically differentiated from anadromous trout for thousands of years, or have diverged recently due to the establishment of dams. Results Divergence time estimates were based on 1) Approximate Bayesian Computation and 2) a coalescent-based isolation-with-gene-flow model. Both methods suggested divergence times ca. 600–800 years bp, providing strong evidence for establishment of dams in the Medieval as the factor causing divergence. Bayesian cluster analysis showed influence of stocked trout in several reference populations, but not in the focal lake and anadromous populations. Estimates of effective population size using a linkage disequilibrium method ranged from 244 to > 1,000 in all but one anadromous population, but were lower (153 and 252) in the lake populations. Conclusions We show that genetic divergence of lake-dwelling trout in two Danish lakes reflects establishment of water mills and impassable dams ca. 600–800 years ago rather than a natural genetic population structure. Although effective population sizes of the two lake populations are not critically low they may ultimately limit response to selection and thereby future adaptation. Our results demonstrate that populations may have been affected by anthropogenic disturbance over longer time scales than normally assumed. PMID:24903056

The effects of Medieval dams on genetic divergence and demographic history in brown trout populations.

PubMed

Hansen, Michael M; Limborg, Morten T; Ferchaud, Anne-Laure; Pujolar, José-Martin

2014-06-05

Habitat fragmentation has accelerated within the last century, but may have been ongoing over longer time scales. We analyzed the timing and genetic consequences of fragmentation in two isolated lake-dwelling brown trout populations. They are from the same river system (the Gudenå River, Denmark) and have been isolated from downstream anadromous trout by dams established ca. 600-800 years ago. For reference, we included ten other anadromous populations and two hatchery strains. Based on analysis of 44 microsatellite loci we investigated if the lake populations have been naturally genetically differentiated from anadromous trout for thousands of years, or have diverged recently due to the establishment of dams. Divergence time estimates were based on 1) Approximate Bayesian Computation and 2) a coalescent-based isolation-with-gene-flow model. Both methods suggested divergence times ca. 600-800 years bp, providing strong evidence for establishment of dams in the Medieval as the factor causing divergence. Bayesian cluster analysis showed influence of stocked trout in several reference populations, but not in the focal lake and anadromous populations. Estimates of effective population size using a linkage disequilibrium method ranged from 244 to > 1,000 in all but one anadromous population, but were lower (153 and 252) in the lake populations. We show that genetic divergence of lake-dwelling trout in two Danish lakes reflects establishment of water mills and impassable dams ca. 600-800 years ago rather than a natural genetic population structure. Although effective population sizes of the two lake populations are not critically low they may ultimately limit response to selection and thereby future adaptation. Our results demonstrate that populations may have been affected by anthropogenic disturbance over longer time scales than normally assumed.

Walter Odington's De etate mundi and the Pursuit of a Scientific Chronology in Medieval England.

PubMed

Nothaft, Carl Philipp

2016-01-01

This article deals with a forgotten treatise on the age of the world, written between 1308 and 1316 by Walter Odington, a monk of Evesham Abbey, otherwise known for his writings on alchemy and music theory. By tracing the sources and rationale behind Odington's arguments and comparing them with those of other medieval authors, the article attempts to shed new light on the state of chronological scholarship in England in the eleventh to fourteenth centuries, when astronomical and astrological methods were freely used to supplement or replace scriptural interpretation, yielding creative and unexpected results.

The Symbolism of Death in the Later Middle Ages.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Helgeland, John

1985-01-01

Discusses the gruesome images of death occurring in medieval art and letters. Suggests that the images are a form of symbolism based on body metaphors. By means of decomposing bodies, artists and poets symbolized the disintegration of medieval institutions and the transition to the early modern period in Europe. (JAC)

Approaches to the History of Patients: From the Ancient World to Early Modern Europe.

PubMed

Stolberg, Michael

2016-01-01

This chapter looks from an early modernist's perspective at some of the major questions and methodological issues that writing the history of patients in the ancient world shares with similar work on Patientengeschichte in medieval and early modern Europe. It addresses, in particular, the problem of finding adequate sources that give access to the patients' experience of illness and medicine and highlights the potential as well as the limitations of using physicians' case histories for that purpose. It discusses the doctor-patient relationship as it emerges from these sources, and the impact of the patient's point of view on learned medical theory and practice. In conclusion, it pleads for a cautious and nuanced approach to the controversial issue of retrospective diagnosis, recommending that historians consistently ask in which contexts and in what way the application of modern diagnostic labels to pre-modern accounts of illness can truly contribute to a better historical understanding rather than distort it.

First-time mothers' experiences of early labour in Italian maternity care services.

PubMed

Cappelletti, Giulia; Nespoli, Antonella; Fumagalli, Simona; Borrelli, Sara E

2016-03-01

The aim of this study is to explore first-time mothers' experiences of early labour in Italian maternity care services when admitted to hospital or advised to return home after maternity triage assessment. The study was conducted in a second-level maternity hospital in northern Italy with an obstetric unit for both low- and high-risk women. The participants included 15 first-time mothers in good general health with spontaneous labour at term of a low-risk pregnancy who accessed maternity triage during early labour, and were either admitted to hospital or advised to return home. A qualitative interpretive phenomenological study was conducted. A face-to-face recorded semi-structured interview was conducted with each participant 48-72h after birth. Four key themes emerged from the interviews: (a) recognising signs of early labour; (b) coping with pain at home; (c) seeking reassurance from healthcare professionals; and (d) being admitted to hospital versus returning home. Uncertainty about the progression of labour and the need for reassurance were cited by women as the main reasons for hospital visit in early labour. An ambivalent feeling was reported by the participants when admitted to hospital in early labour. In fact, while the women felt reassured in the first instance, some women subsequently felt dissatisfied due to the absence of one-to-one dedicated care during early labour. When advised to return home, a number of women reported feelings of disappointment, anger, fear, discouragement and anxiety about not being admitted to hospital; however, some of these women reported a subsequent feeling of comfort due to being at home and putting in place the suggestions made by the midwives during the maternity triage assessment. The guidance provided by midwives during triage assessment seemed to be the key factor influencing women׳s satisfaction when advised either to return home or to stay at the hospital during early labour. During antenatal classes and clinics

Medieval descriptions and doctrines of stroke: preliminary analysis of select sources. Part II: between Galenism and Aristotelism - Islamic theories of apoplexy (800-1200).

PubMed

Karenberg, A; Hort, I

1998-12-01

This second paper on medieval descriptions and doctrines of stroke reviews concepts outlined by famous Muslim physicians of the Middle Ages such as Rhazes, Haly Abbas, Avicenna, and Averroes. Contrary to a popular belief, Islamic neurological texts represent not only a bridge between ancient and western medieval medical knowledge, but also document remarkable advancements. Whereas statements on diagnosis and prognosis lack originality, the endeavors of physician-philosophers and medical authors led to substantial additions and important changes in theory. Such modifications include the integration of ventricular doctrine and particularly the attempt to unify Aristotelian and Galenic tenets which resulted in a complex discussion about the seats and causes of apoplexy. The fairly simple model handed down by Galenists of the Byzantine period was replaced by more detailed classifications, which proposed "cerebral" as well as "vascular" origins of the disease without suggesting a "cerebrovascular" etiology. Islamic therapeutic strategies included dietetic, pharmacological and surgical elements. The use of the cautery in "chronic apoplexy" was a special feature of Arabic surgery.

Mothers' Time with Infant and Time in Employment as Predictors of Mother-Child Relationships and Children's Early Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huston, Aletha C.; Rosenkrantz Aronson, Stacey

2005-01-01

This study tested predictions from economic and developmental theories that maternal time with an infant is important for mother-child relationships and children's development, using time-use diaries for mothers of 7- to 8-month-old infants from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care (N=1,053).…

Thought-Experiments about Gravity in the History of Science and in Research into Children's Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blown, E. J.; Bryce, T. G. K.

2013-01-01

This article examines the main strands of thinking about gravity through the ages and the continuity of thought-experiments, from the early Greeks, through medieval times, to Galileo, Newton and Einstein. The key ideas are used to contextualise an empirical study of 247 children's ideas about falling objects carried out in China and New Zealand,…

A Historical Review of Curriculum in American Higher Education: 1636-1900.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Denham, Thomas J.

The U.S. college curriculum has its origin in the medieval university of England. This classical education based on the seven liberal arts formed the basis for the early colonial colleges. From its earliest days, the curriculum was relevant in the preparation of students for the professions of the period. Over time, the curriculum evolved and…

Bringing Ancient History Back To Life: An Interview With Nancy Toff

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Curriculum Review, 2005

2005-01-01

Nancy Toff, editorial director of school and young adult publishing at Oxford University Press, is out to revolutionize the teaching of history in middle schools. In this interview, she discusses how two new Oxford series, the nine-book, The World in Ancient Times and the seven-book, The Medieval & Early Modern World, get away from the notion of…

Exploring the utility of real-time hydrologic data for landslide early warning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mirus, B. B.; Smith, J. B.; Becker, R.; Baum, R. L.; Koss, E.

2017-12-01

Early warning systems can provide critical information for operations managers, emergency planners, and the public to help reduce fatalities, injuries, and economic losses due to landsliding. For shallow, rainfall-triggered landslides early warning systems typically use empirical rainfall thresholds, whereas the actual triggering mechanism involves the non-linear hydrological processes of infiltration, evapotranspiration, and hillslope drainage that are more difficult to quantify. Because hydrologic monitoring has demonstrated that shallow landslides are often preceded by a rise in soil moisture and pore-water pressures, some researchers have developed early warning criteria that attempt to account for these antecedent wetness conditions through relatively simplistic storage metrics or soil-water balance modeling. Here we explore the potential for directly incorporating antecedent wetness into landslide early warning criteria using recent landslide inventories and in-situ hydrologic monitoring near Seattle, WA, and Portland, OR. We use continuous, near-real-time telemetered soil moisture and pore-water pressure data measured within a few landslide-prone hillslopes in combination with measured and forecasted rainfall totals to inform easy-to-interpret landslide initiation thresholds. Objective evaluation using somewhat limited landslide inventories suggests that our new thresholds based on subsurface hydrologic monitoring and rainfall data compare favorably to the capabilities of existing rainfall-only thresholds for the Seattle area, whereas there are no established rainfall thresholds for the Portland area. This preliminary investigation provides a proof-of-concept for the utility of developing landslide early warning criteria in two different geologic settings using real-time subsurface hydrologic measurements from in-situ instrumentation.

Anthropogenic contribution to the geological and geomorphological record: A case study from Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, UK

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jordan, Hannah; Hamilton, Ken; Lawley, Russell; Price, Simon James

2016-01-01

Reconstruction of artificial or anthropogenic topographies, sediment thicknesses and volumes provides a mechanism for quantifying anthropogenic changes to sedimentary systems in the context of the proposed Anthropocene epoch. We present a methodology for determining the volumetric contribution of anthropogenic deposits to the geological and geomorphological record and apply it to the Great Yarmouth area of Norfolk, UK. 115 boreholes, drilled to a maximum depth of 6 m below ground level, were used to determine the thickness and distribution of seven geo-archaeological units comprising natural and anthropogenic deposits in the central Great Yarmouth area. This was supplemented by additional depth information derived from 467 existing ground investigation boreholes and published 1:50 000 scale geological maps. The top and base of each geo-archaeological unit were modelled from elevations recorded in the borehole data. Grids were produced using a natural neighbour analysis with a 25 m cell size using MapInfo 8.0 Vertical Mapper 3.1 to produce palaeotopographical surfaces. Maximum, minimum and average elevations for each geo-archaeological unit generally increase with decreasing age with the exception of the Early-Medieval palaeotopographical surface which locally occurs at higher elevations than that of the younger Late-Medieval unit. The total sediment volume for the combined Modern, Post-Medieval, Late-Medieval and Early-Medieval geo-archaeological units is 10.91 × 105 m3. The total sediment volume for the Aeolian, River Terrace and Marine geo-archaeological units combined is 65.58 × 105 m3. Anthropogenic sedimentation rates were calculated to increase from 590 m3/yr during the Early-Medieval period, 1500 m3/yr during the Post-Medieval period and 2300 m3/yr during the Modern period. It is estimated that the combined anthropogenic geo-archaeological units contribute approximately 15% of the total volume of sediments that would have been traditionally considered

Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age Impacts on Prehistoric Human Migrations in the Eastern North American Arctic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Friesen, M.; Finkelstein, S. A.

2014-12-01

The eastern North American Arctic has a complex 5,000-year prehistory, during which many human population movements occurred over large distances. Archaeologists have interpreted these movements as resulting from many factors, however the effects of climate change are often hypothesized as primary drivers that can "push" human groups to leave some regions, or "pull" them to move to others. In this paper, we will examine climate change over the past millennium-and-a-half, and in particular at the two widespread, though variable, climate change events known as the Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age. We synthesize the latest paleoclimatological information on the timing and magnitude of these periods across the eastern Arctic, and assess the degree to which they coincide with current understanding of major population movements. In particular, we assess climate's potential impact on 1) the expansion of Late Dorset Paleo-Inuit to the High Arctic; 2) the migration of Thule Inuit from Alaska to the eastern Arctic; and 3) the abandonment of northern regions and new settlement of southern regions by Inuit in the mid-second millennium AD.

Investigations on human and animal remains from a medieval shaft well in Ayasuluk/Ephesos (Turkey).

PubMed

Kanz, Fabian; Pfeiffer-Taş, Şule; Forstenpointner, Gerhard; Galik, Alfred; Weissengruber, Gerald; Grossschmidt, Karl; Risser, Daniele U

2014-01-01

In course of the archaeological survey of Ayasuluk/Ephesos region (Turkey), a shaft well situated at the area of an extensive medieval bathing complex was excavated. In the stratum corresponding to the reign Mehmed II the well-preserved skeletons of two humans, an equine and a canine were recovered. Anthropological analysis of the human skeletons indentified two males aged 22 (± 3) and 36 (± 5) years. The skeleton of the younger individual showed signs of various antemortal conditions, including a well-healed fraction of right arc of the fifth lumbar vertebra, and a marked asymmetry of the shoulder joints. The older individual exhibited significant peri/postmortem injuries at the elbows, with evident signs of peeling and external burning. Also, the few elements of the cranium recovered showed also indications of burning. Archaeozoological characterization of the complete skeletons of the equine and canine established evidence of well cared-for animals of high value. The time of disposal of this group coincides with uprising of the formerly ruling Aydnoullar clan against the Ottomans in power. The human individuals recovered from the well may have been members of Aydnoullar tribe or men in service of the latter, suffering severe torture and/or mutilation for siding with the rebels after defeat.

Surveying Medieval Archaeology: a New Form for Harris Paradigm Linking Photogrammetry and Temporal Relations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Drap, P.; Papini, O.; Pruno, E.; Nucciotti, M.; Vannini, G.

2017-02-01

The paper presents some reflexions concerning an interdisciplinary project between Medieval Archaeologists from the University of Florence (Italy) and ICT researchers from CNRS LSIS of Marseille (France), aiming towards a connection between 3D spatial representation and archaeological knowledge. It is well known that Laser Scanner, Photogrammetry and Computer Vision are very attractive tools for archaeologists, although the integration of representation of space and representation of archaeological time has not yet found a methodological standard of reference. We try to develop an integrated system for archaeological 3D survey and all other types of archaeological data and knowledge through integrating observable (material) and non-graphic (interpretive) data. Survey plays a central role, since it is both a metric representation of the archaeological site and, to a wider extent, an interpretation of it (being also a common basis for communication between the 2 teams). More specifically 3D survey is crucial, allowing archaeologists to connect actual spatial assets to the stratigraphic formation processes (i.e. to the archaeological time) and to translate spatial observations into historical interpretation of the site. We propose a common formalism for describing photogrammetrical survey and archaeological knowledge stemming from ontologies: Indeed, ontologies are fully used to model and store 3D data and archaeological knowledge. Xe equip this formalism with a qualitative representation of time. Stratigraphic analyses (both of excavated deposits and of upstanding structures) are closely related to E. C. Harris theory of "Stratigraphic Unit" ("US" from now on). Every US is connected to the others by geometric, topological and, eventually, temporal links, and are recorded by the 3D photogrammetric survey. However, the limitations of the Harris Matrix approach lead to use another representation formalism for stratigraphic relationships, namely Qualitative Constraints

The "Prince of Medicine": Yūhannā ibn Māsawayh and the foundations of the western pharmaceutical tradition.

PubMed

De Vos, Paula

2013-12-01

This essay examines three medieval pharmaceutical treatises purportedly authored by Yūhannā ibn Māsawayh (anglicized to John Mesue) and traces their immense influence on the development of pharmacy in early modem Europe and the Hispanic world. Despite the importance of these works throughout the early modern period, Mesue is relatively unknown in the history of pharmacy and medicine, and his exact identity remains unclear. This essay argues that "Mesue" was most likely a pseudonym used by an unknown author of the Latin West and that the three works were crafted to meet the demands of the developing "medical marketplace" of late thirteenth-century Europe, where the manuscripts first appeared. At the same time, however, as the Arabic reference of the pseudonym suggests, these treatises were clearly products of the medieval Islamic world, including many innovations that would provide the basis for the theory and practice of pharmacy for centuries and arguably formed part of the artisanal epistemological influence on the Scientific Revolution.

Early adolescence behavior problems and timing of poverty during childhood: A comparison of lifecourse models.

PubMed

Mazza, Julia Rachel S E; Lambert, Jean; Zunzunegui, Maria Victoria; Tremblay, Richard E; Boivin, Michel; Côté, Sylvana M

2017-03-01

Poverty is a well-established risk factor for the development of behavior problems, yet little is known about how timing of exposure to childhood poverty relates to behavior problems in early adolescence. To examine the differential effects of the timing of poverty between birth and late childhood on behavior problems in early adolescence by modeling lifecourse models, corresponding to sensitive periods, accumulation of risk and social mobility models. We used the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (N = 2120). Poverty was defined as living below the low-income thresholds defined by Statistics Canada and grouped into three time periods: between ages 0-3 years, 5-7 years, and 8-12 years. Main outcomes were teacher's report of hyperactivity, opposition and physical aggression at age 13 years. Structured linear regression analyses were conducted to estimate the contribution of poverty during the three selected time periods to behavior problems. Partial F-tests were used to compare nested lifecourse models to a full saturated model (all poverty main effects and possible interactions). Families who experienced poverty at all time periods were 9.3% of the original sample. Those who were poor at least one time period were 39.2%. The accumulation of risk model was the best fitting model for hyperactivity and opposition. The risk for physical aggression problems was associated only to poverty between 0 and 3 years supporting the sensitive period. Early and prolonged exposure to childhood poverty predicted higher levels of behavior problems in early adolescence. Antipoverty policies targeting the first years of life and long term support to pregnant women living in poverty are likely to reduce behavior problems in early adolescence. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mortality Risk and Survival in the Aftermath of the Medieval Black Death

PubMed Central

DeWitte, Sharon N.

2014-01-01

The medieval Black Death (c. 1347-1351) was one of the most devastating epidemics in human history. It killed tens of millions of Europeans, and recent analyses have shown that the disease targeted elderly adults and individuals who had been previously exposed to physiological stressors. Following the epidemic, there were improvements in standards of living, particularly in dietary quality for all socioeconomic strata. This study investigates whether the combination of the selective mortality of the Black Death and post-epidemic improvements in standards of living had detectable effects on survival and mortality in London. Samples are drawn from several pre- and post-Black Death London cemeteries. The pre-Black Death sample comes from the Guildhall Yard (n = 75) and St. Nicholas Shambles (n = 246) cemeteries, which date to the 11th–12th centuries, and from two phases within the St. Mary Spital cemetery, which date to between 1120-1300 (n = 143). The St. Mary Graces cemetery (n = 133) was in use from 1350–1538 and thus represents post-epidemic demographic conditions. By applying Kaplan-Meier analysis and the Gompertz hazard model to transition analysis age estimates, and controlling for changes in birth rates, this study examines differences in survivorship and mortality risk between the pre- and post-Black Death populations of London. The results indicate that there are significant differences in survival and mortality risk, but not birth rates, between the two time periods, which suggest improvements in health following the Black Death, despite repeated outbreaks of plague in the centuries after the Black Death. PMID:24806459

Mortality risk and survival in the aftermath of the medieval Black Death.

PubMed

DeWitte, Sharon N

2014-01-01

The medieval Black Death (c. 1347-1351) was one of the most devastating epidemics in human history. It killed tens of millions of Europeans, and recent analyses have shown that the disease targeted elderly adults and individuals who had been previously exposed to physiological stressors. Following the epidemic, there were improvements in standards of living, particularly in dietary quality for all socioeconomic strata. This study investigates whether the combination of the selective mortality of the Black Death and post-epidemic improvements in standards of living had detectable effects on survival and mortality in London. Samples are drawn from several pre- and post-Black Death London cemeteries. The pre-Black Death sample comes from the Guildhall Yard (n = 75) and St. Nicholas Shambles (n = 246) cemeteries, which date to the 11th-12th centuries, and from two phases within the St. Mary Spital cemetery, which date to between 1120-1300 (n = 143). The St. Mary Graces cemetery (n = 133) was in use from 1350-1538 and thus represents post-epidemic demographic conditions. By applying Kaplan-Meier analysis and the Gompertz hazard model to transition analysis age estimates, and controlling for changes in birth rates, this study examines differences in survivorship and mortality risk between the pre- and post-Black Death populations of London. The results indicate that there are significant differences in survival and mortality risk, but not birth rates, between the two time periods, which suggest improvements in health following the Black Death, despite repeated outbreaks of plague in the centuries after the Black Death.

Early years neurosurgical training in the era of the European Working Time Directive.

PubMed

Kirkman, Matthew A; Watkins, Laurence D; Kitchen, Neil D; Sethi, Huma

2013-10-01

The past decade has seen significant changes to the face of neurosurgical training in the United Kingdom, driven in part by an increasing focus on patient safety and the introduction of Modernising Medical Careers and the European Working Time Directive (EWTD). Recent reforms to neurosurgical training over the past few years have resulted in creation of an 8-year 'run-through' training programme. In this programme, early years (ST1 and ST2) trainees often lack dedicated time for elective theatre lists and outpatient clinics. Further, any time spent in theatre and clinics is often with different teams. Here we describe a training model for early years trainees at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, who are given the responsibilities traditionally associated with a more senior trainee including dedicated weekly theatre and clinic time under the supervision of a single consultant, in addition to out of hours experience. The advantages and considerations for implementing this model are discussed, including the benefit of guidance under a single consultant in the early stages of training, along with key educational concepts necessary for understanding its utility. We feel that this is an effective model for junior neurosurgical training in the EWTD era, expediting the trainee's development of key technical and non-technical skills, with potentially significant rewards for patient, trainee and trainer. National implementation of this model should be considered.

Early diagnosis and multidisciplinary care reduce the hospitalization time and duration of tube feeding and prevent early obesity in PWS infants.

PubMed

Bacheré, N; Diene, G; Delagnes, V; Molinas, C; Moulin, P; Tauber, M

2008-01-01

To describe and evaluate the impact of very early diagnosis and multidisciplinary care on the evolution and care of infants presenting with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS). 19 infants diagnosed with PWS before the second month of life were followed by a multidisciplinary team. Median age at the time of analysis was 3.1 years [range 0.4-6.5]. The data were compared with data collected in 1997 from 113 questionnaires filled out by members of the French PWS Association. The patients from this latter data set were 12.0 years [range 4 months to 41 years] at the time of analysis, with a median age of 36 months at diagnosis. The duration of their hospitalization time was significantly reduced from 30.0 [range 0-670] to 21 [range 0-90] days (p = 0.043). The duration of gastric tube feeding was significantly reduced from 30.5 [range 0-427] to 15 [range 0-60] days (p = 0.017). Growth hormone treatment was started at a mean age of 1.9 +/- 0.5 years in 10 infants and L-thyroxine in 6 infants. Only 1 infant became obese at 2.5 years. Early diagnosis combined with multidisciplinary care decreases the hospitalization time, duration of gastric tube feeding and prevents early obesity in PWS infants. (c) 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Standardized Symptom Measurement of Individuals with Early Lyme Disease Over Time.

PubMed

Bechtold, Kathleen T; Rebman, Alison W; Crowder, Lauren A; Johnson-Greene, Doug; Aucott, John N

2017-03-01

Understanding the Lyme disease (LD) literature is challenging given the lack of consistent methodology and standardized measurement of symptoms and the impact on functioning. This prospective study incorporates well-validated measures to capture the symptom picture of individuals with early LD from time of diagnosis through 6-months post-treatment. One hundred seven patients with confirmed early LD and 26 healthy controls were evaluated using standardized instruments for pain, fatigue, depressive symptoms, functional impact, and cognitive functioning. Prior to antibiotic treatment, patients experience notable symptoms of fatigue and pain statistically higher than controls. After treatment, there are no group differences, suggesting that symptoms resolve and that there are no residual cognitive impairments at the level of group analysis. However, using subgroup analyses, some individuals experience persistent symptoms that lead to functional decline and these individuals can be identified immediately post-completion of standard antibiotic treatment using well-validated symptom measures. Overall, the findings suggest that ideally-treated early LD patients recover well and experience symptom resolution over time, though a small subgroup continue to suffer with symptoms that lead to functional decline. The authors discuss use of standardized instruments for identification of individuals who warrant further clinical follow-up. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Two case examples of pelvic fractures in medieval populations from central Europe.

PubMed

Hofmann, Maria Ines; Papageorgopoulou, Christina; Böni, Thomas; Rühli, Frank J

2010-01-01

Pelvic fractures are considered to be uncommon and difficult to treat, even in the modern medical literature. Serious and eventually life-threatening associated injuries may occur, requiring emergency abdominal, vascular or neurologic surgery. Pelvic fractures can also be managed non-operatively; however, a considerable dispute exists on the suitable management strategy. The treatment and healing of such injuries in the bioarchaeological record, is therefore of great interest for anthropological and medico-historical studies. Fractures of the pelvis are rarely reported in the anthropological literature either due to poor preservation of the innominate bone or lack of adequate examination. Here we present two cases of pelvic fractures observed on two adult male individuals from two European medieval sites. They differ in severity and in the pattern of healing. They are both adequately healed and probably had no acute life-threatening consequences, which gives us some insight into the medical knowledge and means of management of past populations.

An Evidence-Based Study on Medicinal Plants for Hemorrhoids in Medieval Persia

PubMed Central

Hashempur, Mohammad Hashem; Khademi, Fatemeh; Rahmanifard, Maryam; Zarshenas, Mohammad M.

2017-01-01

Hemorrhoids is one of the most common gastrointestinal diseases. There are several therapeutic options associated with some complications. Therefore, researchers look for traditional medicines as a potential resource for introduction of new natural drugs. The current study reports an evidence-based review of herbal remedies for hemorrhoids in traditional Persian medicine. A comprehensive survey about hemorrhoids on the most important manuscripts of traditional Persian medicine was done. Then, scientific data banks were searched for possible related properties of each herb in the conventional medicine. We reported some historical aspects of traditional Persian medicine view on classification, examination, and predisposing factors of hemorrhoids. In addition, we have reported 105 medicinal plants belonging to 51 families. More than half of the reported herbs exhibited anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects. Although lack of human studies regarding the mentioned herbs is noted, positive results from experimental findings can be considered for new drug discovery supported by traditional and medieval experiences. PMID:29228790

The physician and the other: images of the charlatan in medieval Islam.

PubMed

Pormann, Peter E

2005-01-01

Physicians have always tried to demarcate themselves from the Other, whom they labeled as a "charlatan." During the medieval period, Arabic physicians such as al-Rāzī attacked charlatans in their theoretical and deontological writings, and, like their Greek predecessors, called on the authorities to stamp out malpractice. Their advice was partly heeded, as can be seen from manuals on market inspection (hisba). Physicians accused their colleagues of quackery based on charges of incompetence or deceit, which must be seen partly as an attempt to protect themselves from potential competitors. Certain groups of society, including women and Jews, were an especially convenient target. Moreover, charlatans also appear in nonmedical texts such as al-Gaubarī's manual on tricksters and al-Harīrī's Assemblies or Maqāmāt. These accounts suggest that, despite the calls of the medical elite to exclude quacks from the marketplace, the latter were able to attract customers and continue to practice.

Investigation of Times of Minima of Selected Early-Type Eclipsing Binaries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mayer, Pavel; Wolf, Marek; Niarchos, P. G.; Gazeas, K. D.; Manimanis, V. N.; Chochol, Drahomír

2006-08-01

New precise times of minimum light for several early-type eclipsing binaries were obtained at three observatories. The changes of period of the following measured binaries are discussed: V1182 Aql, LY Aur, SZ Cam, FZ CMa, QZ Car, LZ Cen, V606 Cen, AH Cep and TU~Mus.

Early Life Factors and Adult Leisure Time Physical Inactivity Stability and Change.

PubMed

Pinto Pereira, Snehal M; Li, Leah; Power, Chris

2015-09-01

Physical inactivity has a high prevalence and associated disease burden. A better understanding of influences on sustaining and changing inactive lifestyles is needed. We aimed to establish whether leisure time inactivity was stable in midadulthood and whether early life factors were associated with inactivity patterns. In the 1958 British birth cohort (n = 12,271), leisure time inactivity (frequency, less than once a week) assessed at 33 and 50 yr was categorized as "never inactive," "persistently inactive," "deteriorating," or "improving." Early life factors (birth to 16 yr) were categorized into three (physical, social, and behavioral) domains. Using multinomial logistic regression, we assessed associations with inactivity persistence and change of factors within each early life domain and the three domains combined with and without adjustment for adult factors. Inactivity prevalence was similar at 33 and 50 yr (approximately 31%), but 17% deteriorated and 18% improved with age. In models adjusted for all domains simultaneously, factors associated with inactivity persistence versus never inactive were prepubertal stature (8% lower risk/height SD), poor hand control/coordination (17% higher risk/increase on four-point scale), cognition (16% lower/SD in ability) (physical); parental divorce (25% higher), class at birth (7% higher/reduction on four-point scale), minimal parental education (16% higher), household amenities (2% higher/increase in 19-point score (high = poor)) (social); and inactivity (22% higher/reduction in activity on four-point scale), low sports aptitude (47% higher), smoking (30% higher) (behavioral). All except stature, parental education, sports aptitude, and smoking were associated also with inactivity deterioration. Poor hand control/coordination was the only factor associated with improved status (13% lower/increase on four-point scale) versus persistently inactive. Adult leisure time inactivity is moderately stable. Early life factors are

Scent and synaesthesia: The medical use of spice bags in early China.

PubMed

Lu, Di; Lo, Vivienne

2015-06-05

The history of Chinese spices has received increasing attention in recent years, but little research been carried out on where they fit on the food-medicine continuum for early China, during the formation of the classical medical system. This paper describes how the synaesthetic qualities of spices attracted a particular analysis in that emerging system which serves to mark them as different to other medical materials and foodstuffs. We aim to clarify the special role created for spices to accommodate their boundary-crossing synaesthetic action on the body. This paper analyses the contents of several spice bags excavated in 1972 from a tomb that was closed in the second century BCE. It uses archaeological reports of material culture together with the early Chinese textual record, extant in both manuscripts and received texts, to bring out the role of spices in ritual, food and medicine. Noting that the flavours and aromas of early China were assigned physiological potency in the first centuries BCE, we argue that by medieval times the unique synaesthetic role that spices played in mediating the senses was systematically medicalised. While being deployed for the purpose of curing disease in medicine, they also remained within the realm of everyday healthcare, and religious practice, deployed both as aromatics to perfume the environment, attracting benign spirits, but also to ward off the agents of disease, as well as for enhancing health through their use in cookery. While foodstuffs entered the digestive system spices were all considered 'pungent' in the emerging clasical medical system. They acted on the body through the nose and lungs, making them neither food nor drug. This implicit categorisation medicalised spices which, like music, could affect the passions and lighten the spirit, codifying observations about the impact on the body of the ritual environment. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

Towards a High-resolution Time Scale for the Early Devonian

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dekkers, M. J.; da Silva, A. C.

2017-12-01

High-resolution time scales are crucial to understand Earth's history in detail. The construction of a robust geological time scale, however, inevitably becomes increasingly harder further back in time. Uncertainties associated with anchor radiometric ages increase in size, not speaking of the mere presence of suitable datable strata. However, durations of stages can be tightly constrained by making use of cyclic expressions in sediments, an approach that revolutionized the Cenozoic time scale. When precisely determined durations are stitched together, ultimately, a very precise time scale is the result. For the Mesozoic and Paleozoic an astronomical solution as a tuning target is not available but the dominant periods of eccentricity, obliquity and precession are reasonably well constrained for the entire Phanerozoic which enables their detection by means of spectral analysis. Eccentricity is time-invariant and is used as the prime building block. Here we focus on the Early Devonian, on its lowermost three stages: the Lochkovian, Pragian and Emsian. The uncertainties on the Devonian stage boundaries are currently in the order of several millions of years. The preservation of climatic cycles in diagenetically or even anchimetamorphically affected successions, however, is essential. The fit of spectral peak ratios with those calculated for orbital cycles, is classically used as a strong argument for a preserved climatic signal. Here we use primarily the low field magnetic susceptibility (MS) as proxy parameter, supported by gamma-ray spectrometry to test for consistency. Continuous Wavelet Transform, Evolutive Harmonic Analysis, Multitaper Method, and Average Spectral Misfit are used to reach an optimal astronomical interpretation. We report on classic Early Devonian sections from the Czech Republic: the Pozar-CS (Lochkovian and Pragian), Pod Barrandovem (Pragian and Lower Emsian), and Zlichov (Middle-Upper Emsian). Also a Middle-Upper Emsian section from the US

Timing of First Antenatal Care (ANC) and Inequalities in Early Initiation of ANC in Nepal.

PubMed

Paudel, Yuba Raj; Jha, Trishna; Mehata, Suresh

2017-01-01

The provision and uptake of quality and timely antenatal care (ANC) is an essential element of efforts to improve health outcomes for women and newborn babies. Antenatal consultations assist in early identification and treatment of complications during pregnancy. This study aimed to provide an information on distribution and inequalities in early initiation of ANC in Nepal. The distribution and inequalities in the early initiation of ANC were examined using Nepal Demographic and Health Surveys 2011. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression was used to assess inequalities. Overall, 70% of the women had started their first ANC at 4 month or earlier. Among participants who had never attended school, just more than half (52%) received first ANC at 4 months or earlier, while majority of participants (97%) who had received higher education received first ANC at recommended time. Similarly, 89% of those from richest quintile and 48% of those from poorest quintile received first ANC at recommended time. In adjusted analysis, women from richest wealth quintile were significantly more likely to initiate ANC early (AOR: 3.74, 95% CI: 2.31-6.05) compared to the poorest. Similarly, women with higher level education were significantly more likely (AOR: 11.40, 95% CI: 5.05-25.73) to initiate ANC early compared to women who had never attended school. A significantly lower odds of early ANC take up was observed among madhesi other caste (AOR: 0.56, 95% CI: 0.35-0.90) compared to brahmin/chhetri women. Women whose pregnancy was unwanted were significantly less likely to attend first ANC at 4 months or early (AOR: 0.73, 95% CI: 0.58-0.93) in comparison to women whose pregnancy was wanted. The differences in the recommended timing of initiation of ANC were evident among women with different educational, economic levels, and caste/ethnic groups. Rural women were less likely to have checkups as per guidelines. The findings suggest to a need of interventions to raise female

Seated at the Sabbath table with Rashi and Rambam.

PubMed

Stollar, Carol A

2009-03-01

The food habits of two renowned Jewish scholars of the early medieval period, Rashi and Rambam, are examined in light of their locale, religious practice, and the times in which they lived. Their contributions to Jewish life are noted and their understanding of their own food-related customs and nutritional principles are reviewed, as are the foods available to them.

Qutb al-Dīn Shīrāzī (1236-1311), Persian polymath physician in the medieval period.

PubMed

Nadim, Mostafa; Farjam, Mojtaba

2016-08-01

Qutb al-Dīn Shīrāzī, a great physician in the medieval period of the Iranian Islamic age, is also called Allāma (polymath) for his extraordinary expertise in almost all fields of contemporary sciences. The peaceful and cultural environment of his hometown and family contributed to his development despite a time of horror from Mongolian repeated invasions of the Islamic countries. Shīrāzī never ceased learning and researching and migrated widely in order to find scientists to learn from them. He worked in many centres as a teacher and researcher. He practised medicine and educated students, and his books on other fields of science reflect his comprehensive mastery of most of the basic sciences and the humanities. Shīrāzī 's social and political roles make him one of the paramount of Iranian elites who contributed to the re-establishment of the Iranian-Islamic civilisation after its destruction by the Mongolians in the thirteenth century. © The Author(s) 2016.

Listening to Students: Studying for a Part-Time Degree in Early Childhood Studies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burn, Elizabeth

For this study, 12 part-time students in an early childhood studies program were interviewed and videotaped concerning their personal stories as students. Initial analysis of their responses revealed main themes: (1) economic barriers to full-time degree study; (2) domestic responsibilities/gender issues (for example, the stress of juggling…

Medieval herbal iconography and lexicography of Cucumis (cucumber and melon, Cucurbitaceae) in the Occident, 1300-1458.

PubMed

Paris, Harry S; Janick, Jules; Daunay, Marie-Christine

2011-09-01

The genus Cucumis contains two species of important vegetable crops, C. sativus, cucumber, and C. melo, melon. Melon has iconographical and textual records from lands of the Mediterranean Basin dating back to antiquity, but cucumber does not. The goal of this study was to obtain an improved understanding of the history of these crops in the Occident. Medieval images purportedly of Cucumis were examined, their specific identity was determined and they were compared for originality, accuracy and the lexicography of their captions. The manuscripts having accurate, informative images are derived from Italy and France and were produced between 1300 and 1458. All have an illustration of cucumber but not all contain an image of melon. The cucumber fruits are green, unevenly cylindrical with an approx. 2:1 length-to-width ratio. Most of the images show the cucumbers marked by sparsely distributed, large dark dots, but images from northern France show them as having densely distributed, small black dots. The different size, colour and distribution reflect the different surface wartiness and spininess of modern American and French pickling cucumbers. The melon fruits are green, oval to serpentine, closely resembling the chate and snake vegetable melons, but not sweet melons. In nearly all manuscripts of Italian provenance, the cucumber image is labelled with the Latin caption citruli, or similar, plural diminuitive of citrus (citron, Citrus medica). However, in manuscripts of French provenance, the cucumber image is labelled cucumeres, which is derived from the classical Latin epithet cucumis for snake melon. The absence of melon in some manuscripts and the expropriation of the Latin cucumis/cucumer indicate replacement of vegetable melons by cucumbers during the medieval period in Europe. One image, from British Library ms. Sloane 4016, has a caption that allows tracing of the word 'gherkin' back to languages of the geographical nativity of C. sativus, the Indian

Assessing size and strength of the clavicle for its usefulness for sex estimation in a British medieval sample.

PubMed

Atterton, Thomas; De Groote, Isabelle; Eliopoulos, Constantine

2016-10-01

The construction of the biological profile from human skeletal remains is the foundation of anthropological examination. However, remains may be fragmentary and the elements usually employed, such as the pelvis and skull, are not available. The clavicle has been successfully used for sex estimation in samples from Iran and Greece. In the present study, the aim was to test the suitability of the measurements used in those previous studies on a British Medieval population. In addition, the project tested whether discrimination between sexes was due to size or clavicular strength. The sample consisted of 23 females and 25 males of pre-determined sex from two medieval collections: Poulton and Gloucester. Six measurements were taken using an osteometric board, sliding calipers and graduated tape. In addition, putty rings and bi-planar radiographs were made and robusticity measures calculated. The resulting variables were used in stepwise discriminant analyses. The linear measurements allowed correct sex classification in 89.6% of all individuals. This demonstrates the applicability of the clavicle for sex estimation in British populations. The most powerful discriminant factor was maximum clavicular length and the best combination of factors was maximum clavicular length and circumference. This result is similar to that obtained by other studies. To further investigate the extent of sexual dimorphism of the clavicle, the biomechanical properties of the polar second moment of area J and the ratio of maximum to minimum bending rigidity are included in the analysis. These were found to have little influence when entered into the discriminant function analysis. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

An Early Historical Play: The "Seinte Resurreccion"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perry, Anne Amari

1978-01-01

Analyzes the realistic characterization and plot construction of an anonymously written medieval French play. The play, which relates the story of Christ's resurrection, achieves historical realism by replacing music and chant with dialogue, using a logical plot, and limiting historical anachronism. (AV)

Dante's Divine Comedy revisited: what can modern psychoanalysts learn from a medieval "psychoanalysis"?

PubMed

Chessick, R D

2001-01-01

I realize after having gone over this material that I have done a sort of deconstruction of Dante's Divine Comedy which putatively attempts to raise the human vision to transcendent heights and to focus love on the love of God, but which along the way indulges in the very human aspects of pity, compassion, music, poetry, and the other arts, as well as reason and puzzlement. In this sense the poem is also an exposition of the value of the higher human faculties, which contrasts at times rather vividly with the apparently harsh autocratic fates that are assigned to some characters--who do not seem quite deserving of what is inflicted upon them. Here we have a collision between absolute faith in the judgment of God and human reason and compassion which sometimes seems to be unable to justify these judgments. In spite of the fact that Dante is trying to adhere to orthodox theology throughout, it is clear that his poetic soul has great difficulty in avoiding the depiction of characters for whom he has a secret sympathy. The central point of this study of The Divine Comedy is to emphasize how Dante, almost in spite of himself, expressed empathy and understanding for a variety of unfortunates either in the Inferno or in the Purgatorio. Virgil even scolds him for his compassion, arguing that God's justice is always correct and if God is angry at someone and punishes him or her, Dante should also be angry and not compassionate. Dante tries, but he cannot quite manage to do it. Translated into modern terminology, we can learn from this report of a medieval "psychoanalysis" an important lesson in our clinical work. Rigid adherence to rules such as those Freud himself proclaimed (although he never followed them), for instance in his famous demand that one be always opaque to the patient, and/or rigid adherence to one or another psychoanalytic theory, must be understood as a form of countertransference, a character flaw in the analyst. Each case demands its own approach and its

C4 -consumers in southern Europe: the case of Friuli V.G. (NE-Italy) during early and central Middle Ages.

PubMed

Iacumin, P; Galli, E; Cavalli, F; Cecere, L

2014-08-01

Isotope variations were studied in necropolises of the early (6th to 7th century CE) and central (10th to 11th century CE) medieval period located in Fruili-Venezia Giulia (Northeastern Italy). The two periods each shortly followed two great barbarian invasions that changed the politics and economy of Italy: the arrivals of Langobards in 578 CE and the Hungarian incursions from the end of the 9th to the first half of the 10th century. These events had a tragic effect on the economy of Friuli-Venezia Giulia: severe depopulation and the partial abandonment of the countryside with fall of agricultural production. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Biochemical evidence for minimal vegetation change in peatlands of the West Siberian Lowland during the Medieval Climate Anomaly and Little Ice Age

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Philben, Michael; Kaiser, Karl; Benner, Ronald

2014-05-01

Peatland vegetation is controlled primarily by the depth of the water table, making peat paleovegetation a useful climate archive. We applied a biochemical approach to quantitatively estimate the plant sources of peat carbon based on (1) neutral sugar compositions of Sphagnum, vascular plants, and lichens and (2) lignin phenol compositions of vascular plants. We used these biochemical indices to characterize vegetation change over the last 2000 years in four peat cores from the West Siberian Lowland (Russia) to investigate climate change during the Medieval Climate Anomaly and Little Ice Age. The vegetation was dominated by Sphagnum in all four cores, but was punctuated by several rapid but transient transitions to vascular plant dominance in the two cores from the southern West Siberian Lowland (<60°N latitude). Lichen contributions were evident at the end of the Medieval Climate Anomaly and during the Little Ice Age in the two cores from northern West Siberian Lowland (>60°N), possibly indicating permafrost development. However, there was no evidence for sustained vegetation change in response to either climatic event in cores from southern West Siberian Lowland. This suggests that these climatic events were relatively mild in the southern West Siberian Lowland, although the sensitivity of bog plant communities to climate change remains poorly understood.

Saving the Phenomena in Medieval Astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seeskin, K.

2011-06-01

Aristotle's theory of motion is based on two principles: (1) all motion to either from the midpoint of the Earth, toward it, or around it, and (2) circular motion must proceed around an immovable point. On this view, the heavenly bodies are individual points of light carried around by a series of concentric spheres rotating at a constant pace around the midpoint of the Earth. But even in Aristotle's day, it was known that this theory had a great deal of difficulty accounting for planetary motion. Ptolemy's alternative was to introduce epicycles and eccentric orbits, thus denying Aristotle's view of natural motion. There was no doubt that Ptolemy's predictions were far better than Aristotle's. But for the medievals, Aristotle's theory made better intuitive sense. Moreover, Ptolemy's theory raised the question of how one sphere could pass through another. What to do? The solution of Moses Maimonides (1138-1204) was to say that it is not the job of the astronomer to tell us how things actually are but merely to propose a series of hypotheses that allow us to explain the relevant data. This view had obvious theological implications. If astronomy could explain planetary motion in an acceptable way, there was reason to believe that the order or structure of the heavens is what it is by necessity. This suggests that God did not exercise any degree of choice in making it that way. But if astronomy cannot explain planetary motion, the most reasonable explanation is that we are dealing with contingent phenomena rather than necessary ones. If there is contingency, there is reason to think God did exercise a degree of choice in making the heavens the way they are. A God who exercises choice is much closer to the God of Scripture. Although Galileo changed all of this, and paved the way for a vastly different view of astronomy, the answer to one set of questions raises a whole different set. In short, the heavenly motion still poses ultimate questions about God, existence, and

Early, on-time, and late behavioural autonomy in adolescence: psychosocial correlates in young and middle adulthood.

PubMed

Pavlova, Maria K; Haase, Claudia M; Silbereisen, Rainer K

2011-04-01

Drawing on two nationally representative German studies (N(1) = 1744, N(2) = 759), we examined correlates of early, on-time, and late curfew autonomy, a retrospective indicator of behavioural autonomy, in young and middle adulthood (19-37 years of age). Adjustment in four domains was considered: educational attainment, externalizing problem behaviour, subjective well-being, and interpersonal relationships. The early group showed lower adjustment in multiple domains across young and middle adulthood. The late group reported a mixed pattern of adjustment at younger ages (lower externalizing problems, but lower positive affect, lower importance of peers, and lower likelihood to have a partner) and positive adjustment in all domains at older ages. Timing effects were controlled for sociodemographic characteristics and retrospective measures of early adversities, pubertal timing, disclosure to parents, and peer group affiliation in adolescence. Findings show that late behavioural autonomy in its correlates is not simply the opposite of early behavioural autonomy. Copyright © 2010 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Medical ‘Emplotment’ and Plotting Medicine: Health and Disease in Late Medieval Portuguese Chronicles

PubMed Central

McCleery, Iona

2011-01-01

In recent years, historians of medicine in the Middle Ages have tried to decode narratives of health and illness in their original context, attempting to uncover the meanings they may have had for the original audiences, rather than simply using these narratives to plot disease incidence. This article is a study of health, illness and traumatic injury in the chronicles of Fernão Lopes, who wrote in Portugal in the first half of the fifteenth century, focusing on the events of 1383–5, a period of civil war and foreign invasion. Arguing that Lopes made use of a series of medical ‘emplotments’ to construct his history, this study approaches medieval medicine in as broad a sense as possible engaging with the role of moral and bodily health in a dramatic tale of political ambition and national resurgence.

Comparing physical activity and sedentary time among overweight and nonoverweight preschoolers enrolled in early learning programs: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Tucker, Patricia; Maltby, Alana M; Burke, Shauna M; Vanderloo, Leigh M; Irwin, Jennifer D

2016-09-01

Establishing appropriate physical activity and sedentary behaviours during early childhood is important to ensure children accrue the many associated health benefits. While physical activity levels have been reported as low within early learning programs, little research has explored the physical activity and sedentary time of Canadian preschoolers classified as overweight within these facilities. The purpose of this study was to compare objectively measured physical activity and sedentary time among preschoolers classified as overweight and nonoverweight in early learning programs. Direct assessment of physical activity and sedentary time of 216 preschool-aged children was collected via Actical accelerometers during early learning hours, while body mass index percentile was calculated based on preschoolers' objectively measured height and weight. Results of three 3-way ANOVAs suggest that rates of moderate to vigorous physical activity, total physical activity, and sedentary time (p > 0.05) did not significantly differ based on weight status, sex, and type of early learning facility. This study is one of few that has examined differences in overweight and nonoverweight preschoolers' sedentary time, and adds to the limited research exploring physical activity levels among overweight and nonoverweight preschoolers during early learning hours. Given the high rates of sedentary time reported, programming within early learning facilities is necessary to support preschoolers, regardless of weight status, to achieve increased physical activity levels and decreased sedentary time.

She will give birth immediately. Pregnancy and childbirth in medieval Hebrew medical texts produced in the Mediterranean West.

PubMed

Navas, Carmen Caballero

2014-01-01

This essay approaches the medieval Hebrew literature on women's healthcare, with the aim of analysing notions and ideas regarding fertility, pregnancy and childbirth, as conveyed in the texts that form the corpus. Firstly, the work discusses the approach of written texts to pregnancy and childbirth as key elements in the explanation of women's health and the functioning of the female body. In this regard it also explores the role of this approach in the creation of meanings for both the female body and sexual difference. Secondly, it examines female management of pregnancy and childbirth as recorded in Hebrew medical literature. It pays attention to both the attitudes expressed by the authors, translators and copyists regarding female practice, as well as to instances and remedies derived from "local" traditions--that is, from women's experience--in the management of pregnancy and childbirth, also recorded in the texts. Finally, the paper explores how medical theories alien to, or in opposition to, Judaism were adopted or not and, at times, adapted to Jewish notions with the aim of eliminating tensions from the text, on the one hand, and providing Jewish practitioners with adequate training to retain their Christian clientele, on the other.

The Developmental Pathway From Pubertal Timing to Delinquency and Sexual Activity From Early to Late Adolescence

PubMed Central

Negriff, Sonya; Elizabeth, J. Susman; Trickett, Penelope K.

2013-01-01

There is strong evidence that early pubertal timing is associated with adolescent problem behaviors. However, there has been limited investigation of the mechanisms or developmental relationships. The present study examined longitudinal models incorporating pubertal timing, delinquency, and sexual activity in a sample of 454 adolescents (9–13 years old at enrollment; 47% females). Participants were seen for three assessments approximately 1 year apart. Characteristics of friendship networks (older friends, male friends, older male friends) were examined as mediators. Structural equation modeling was used to test these associations as well as temporal relationships between sexual activity and delinquency. Results showed that early pubertal timing at Time 1 was related to more sexual activity at Time 2, which was related to higher delinquency at Time 3, a trend mediation effect. None of the friendship variables mediated these associations. Gender or maltreatment status did not moderate the meditational pathways. The results also supported the temporal sequence of sexual activity preceding increases in delinquency. These findings reveal that early maturing adolescents may actively seek out opportunities to engage in sexual activity which appears to be risk for subsequent delinquency. PMID:21191640

The developmental pathway from pubertal timing to delinquency and sexual activity from early to late adolescence.

PubMed

Negriff, Sonya; Susman, Elizabeth J; Trickett, Penelope K

2011-10-01

There is strong evidence that early pubertal timing is associated with adolescent problem behaviors. However, there has been limited investigation of the mechanisms or developmental relationships. The present study examined longitudinal models incorporating pubertal timing, delinquency, and sexual activity in a sample of 454 adolescents (9-13 years old at enrollment; 47% females). Participants were seen for three assessments approximately 1 year apart. Characteristics of friendship networks (older friends, male friends, older male friends) were examined as mediators. Structural equation modeling was used to test these associations as well as temporal relationships between sexual activity and delinquency. Results showed that early pubertal timing at Time 1 was related to more sexual activity at Time 2, which was related to higher delinquency at Time 3, a trend mediation effect. None of the friendship variables mediated these associations. Gender or maltreatment status did not moderate the meditational pathways. The results also supported the temporal sequence of sexual activity preceding increases in delinquency. These findings reveal that early maturing adolescents may actively seek out opportunities to engage in sexual activity which appears to be risk for subsequent delinquency.

1970 MLA International Bibliography of Books and Articles on the Modern Languages and Literatures, Volume I: General, English, American, Medieval and Neo-Latin, Celtic Literatures; and Folklore.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meserole, Harrison T., Comp.

Volume 1 of the four-volume, international bibliography contains over 11,140 entries referring to books, Festschriften, analyzed collections, and articles which focus on General, English, American, medieval and neo-Latin, and Celtic literatures. A section of folklore is also included. The section on general literature includes: (1) aesthetics, (2)…

Geomorphic legacy of medieval Himalayan earthquakes in the Pokhara Valley

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schwanghart, Wolfgang; Bernhardt, Anne; Stolle, Amelie; Hoelzmann, Philipp; Adhikari, Basanta R.; Andermann, Christoff; Tofelde, Stefanie; Merchel, Silke; Rugel, Georg; Fort, Monique; Korup, Oliver

2016-04-01

The Himalayas and their foreland belong to the world's most earthquake-prone regions. With millions of people at risk from severe ground shaking and associated damages, reliable data on the spatial and temporal occurrence of past major earthquakes is urgently needed to inform seismic risk analysis. Beyond the instrumental record such information has been largely based on historical accounts and trench studies. Written records provide evidence for damages and fatalities, yet are difficult to interpret when derived from the far-field. Trench studies, in turn, offer information on rupture histories, lengths and displacements along faults but involve high chronological uncertainties and fail to record earthquakes that do not rupture the surface. Thus, additional and independent information is required for developing reliable earthquake histories. Here, we present exceptionally well-dated evidence of catastrophic valley infill in the Pokhara Valley, Nepal. Bayesian calibration of radiocarbon dates from peat beds, plant macrofossils, and humic silts in fine-grained tributary sediments yields a robust age distribution that matches the timing of nearby M>8 earthquakes in ~1100, 1255, and 1344 AD. The upstream dip of tributary valley fills and X-ray fluorescence spectrometry of their provenance rule out local sediment sources. Instead, geomorphic and sedimentary evidence is consistent with catastrophic fluvial aggradation and debris flows that had plugged several tributaries with tens of meters of calcareous sediment from the Annapurna Massif >60 km away. The landscape-changing consequences of past large Himalayan earthquakes have so far been elusive. Catastrophic aggradation in the wake of two historically documented medieval earthquakes and one inferred from trench studies underscores that Himalayan valley fills should be considered as potential archives of past earthquakes. Such valley fills are pervasive in the Lesser Himalaya though high erosion rates reduce

Between Charity and Education: Orphans and Orphanages in Early Modern Times

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacobi, Juliane

2009-01-01

In early modern times orphans have been children who could not expect sufficient support from their family because of lack of at least one parent, in most cases the father. This article will clarify of whom we are talking if we talk about orphans and what have been the conditions of living in a society which was organised by a high variety of…

The Role of Forcing and Internal Dynamics in explaining the 'Medieval Climate Anomaly'

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Goossee, Hugues; Crespin, Elisabeth; Dubinkina, Svetlana; Loutre, Marie-France; Mann, Michael E.; Renssen, Hans; Shindell, Drew

2012-01-01

Proxy reconstructions suggest that peak global temperature during the past warm interval known as the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA, roughly 950-1250 AD) has been exceeded only during the most recent decades. To better understand the origin of this warm period, we use model simulations constrained by data assimilation establishing the spatial pattern of temperature changes that is most consistent with forcing estimates, model physics and the empirical information contained in paleoclimate proxy records. These numerical experiments demonstrate that the reconstructed spatial temperature pattern of the MCA can be explained by a simple thermodynamical response of the climate system to relatively weak changes in radiative forcing combined with a modification of the atmospheric circulation, displaying some similarities with the positive phase of the so-called Arctic Oscillation, and with northward shifts in the position of the Gulf Stream and Kuroshio currents. The mechanisms underlying the MCA are thus quite different from anthropogenic mechanisms responsible for modern global warming.

Singular F(R) cosmology unifying early- and late-time acceleration with matter and radiation domination era

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Odintsov, S. D.; Oikonomou, V. K.

2016-06-01

We present some cosmological models which unify the late- and early-time acceleration eras with the radiation and the matter domination era, and we realize the cosmological models by using the theoretical framework of F(R) gravity. Particularly, the first model unifies the late- and early-time acceleration with the matter domination era, and the second model unifies all the evolution eras of our Universe. The two models are described in the same way at early and late times, and only the intermediate stages of the evolution have some differences. Each cosmological model contains two Type IV singularities which are chosen to occur one at the end of the inflationary era and one at the end of the matter domination era. The cosmological models at early times are approximately identical to the R 2 inflation model, so these describe a slow-roll inflationary era which ends when the slow-roll parameters become of order one. The inflationary era is followed by the radiation era and after that the matter domination era follows, which lasts until the second Type IV singularity, and then the late-time acceleration era follows. The models have two appealing features: firstly they produce a nearly scale invariant power spectrum of primordial curvature perturbations and a scalar-to-tensor ratio which are compatible with the most recent observational data and secondly, it seems that the deceleration-acceleration transition is crucially affected by the presence of the second Type IV singularity which occurs at the end of the matter domination era. As we demonstrate, the Hubble horizon at early times shrinks, as expected for an initially accelerating Universe, then during the matter domination era, it expands and finally after the Type IV singularity, the Hubble horizon starts to shrink again, during the late-time acceleration era. Intriguingly enough, the deceleration-acceleration transition, occurs after the second Type IV singularity. In addition, we investigate which F(R) gravity

Dental and oral diseases in Medieval Persia, lessons from Hedayat Akhawayni

PubMed Central

Khodadoust, Kazem; Ardalan, Mohammadreza; Pourabbas, Reza; Abdolrahimi, Majid

2013-01-01

Persian physicians had a great role in assimilation and expansion of medical sciences during the medieval period and Islamic golden age. In fact the dominant medical figures of that period were of Persian origin such as Avicenna and Razes, but their works have been written in Arabic that was the lingua franca of the period. Undoubtedly the most substantial medical book of that period that has been written in Persian belongs to Abubakr Rabi ibn Ahmad al-Akhawayni al-Bokhari and his book, Hidayat al-Mutallimin fi-al-Tibb (Learner’s Guide to Medicine).There are two chapters related to oral and dental diseases in the Hidayat, a chapter on dental pain and a chapter on bouccal pain. Akhawayni’s views on dental diseases and treatments are mainly based on anatomical principles and less influenced by humeral theory and no mention about the charms, magic and amulets. False idea of dental worm cannot be seen among his writings. Cutting of the dental nerve for relieving the pain, using the anesthetizing fume, using the natural antiseptic and keeping the tooth extraction as the last recourse deserves high praise. PMID:24427486

The Role of Present Time Perspective in Predicting Early Adolescent Violence.

PubMed

Kruger, Daniel J; Carrothers, Jessica; Franzen, Susan P; Miller, Alison L; Reischl, Thomas M; Stoddard, Sarah A; Zimmerman, Marc A

2018-06-01

This study investigated the role of present and future time perspectives, and their relationships with subjective norms and beliefs regarding violence, in predicting violent behaviors among urban middle school students in the Midwestern United States. Although present time perspective covaried with subjective norms and beliefs, each made a unique prediction of self-reported violent behaviors. Future time perspective was not a significant predictor when accounting for these relationships. In addition, present orientation moderated the relationship between subjective norms and beliefs and rates of violent behaviors; those with higher present orientations exhibited stronger associations. We replicated this pattern of results in data from new participants in a subsequent wave of the study. Interventions that explicitly address issues related to time perspective may be effective in reducing early adolescent violence.

Design and characterization of a dead-time regime enhanced early photon projection imaging system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sinha, L.; Fogarty, M.; Zhou, W.; Giudice, A.; Brankov, J. G.; Tichauer, K. M.

2018-04-01

Scattering of visible and near-infrared light in biological tissue reduces spatial resolution for imaging of tissues thicker than 100 μm. In this study, an optical projection imaging system is presented and characterized that exploits the dead-time characteristics typical of photon counting modules based on single photon avalanche diodes (SPADs). With this system, it is possible to attenuate the detection of more scattered late-arriving photons, such that detection of less scattered early-arriving photons can be enhanced with increased light intensity, without being impeded by the maximum count rate of the SPADs. The system has the potential to provide transmittance-based anatomical information or fluorescence-based functional information (with slight modification in the instrumentation) of biological samples with improved resolution in the mesoscopic domain (0.1-2 cm). The system design, calibration, stability, and performance were evaluated using simulation and experimental phantom studies. The proposed system allows for the detection of very-rare early-photons at a higher frequency and with a better signal-to-noise ratio. The experimental results demonstrated over a 3.4-fold improvement in the spatial resolution using early photon detection vs. conventional detection, and a 1000-fold improvement in imaging time using enhanced early detection vs. conventional early photon detection in a 4-mm thick phantom with a tissue-equivalent absorption coefficient of μa = 0.05 mm-1 and a reduced scattering coefficient of μs' = 5 mm-1.

1969 MLA International Bibliography of Books and Articles on the Modern Languages and Literatures. Volume I: General, English, American, Medieval and Neo-Latin, and Celtic Literatures.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meserole, Harrison T., Comp.

Volume 1 of the 4-volume, international bibliography contains some 9,000 entries referring to books and articles which focus on general, English, American, medieval and neo-Latin, and Celtic literatures. The master list of the nearly 1,500 periodicals from which entries are derived is furnished at the beginning of the volume with a table of…

A foetal tile from an archaeological site: anthropological investigation of human remains recovered in a medieval cemetery in Northern Italy.

PubMed

Licata, Marta; Rossetti, Chiara; Tosi, Adelaide; Badino, Paola

2018-06-01

The recovery of foetal remains is very sporadic in archaeology, especially due the scarce degree of bone mineralisation. This paper presents the singular archaeological discovery of a foetal tile preserving the bone remains, object of our anthropological examination. The foetal tile was discovered during an archaeological excavation in a medieval site (Northern Italy). The tile was analysed by CT scan and later, human remains were anthropologically examined. The archaeological investigation revealed a special ritual destined to foetuses while forensic anthropological analysis allowed estimating the gestational age near to 21-24 weeks.

Detrimental Psychological Outcomes Associated with Early Pubertal Timing in Adolescent Girls

PubMed Central

Mendle, Jane; Turkheimer, Eric; Emery, Robert E.

2010-01-01

Though often discussed as though it were a discrete event, puberty comprises one segment of a larger developmental continuum and is notable for rapid transformation across a multitude of domains. Research suggests that an earlier rate of pubertal maturation in girls correlates with a number of detrimental outcomes compared with on-time or later maturation. The present review synthesizes the research on negative psychological sequelae of early pubertal timing in adolescent girls. Emphasis is on three theoretical perspectives by which precocious development is believed to affect the emergence of adverse outcomes: biological, psychosocial, and selection effects. PMID:20740062

"My reins admonish me at night" (Psalm 16:7): the kidneys in ancient and medieval Jewish sources.

PubMed

Kottek, Samuel S

2010-01-01

David Macht already stated that in several ancient languages the same term is used for kidneys and testes. "Preparation or elaboration of the semen was considered to be one of the functions of the kidneys in man". In the Bible, however, this confusion does not exist, at least not on the anatomical level. Together with the heart, the kidneys are paradigmatic of the innermost organs, wherefrom result their metaphoric association in being the seat of emotions and of wisdom. Some of these aspects will be delineated in the present study, briefly in Bible and Talmud, while stressing medieval Jewish sources, including the works of Shabtai Donnolo, Judah Halevi, Shem-Tov Falaquera, and Meir ibn Aldabi.

Early Pubertal Timing as a Vulnerability to Depression Symptoms: Differential Effects of Race and Sex

PubMed Central

Hamlat, Elissa J.; Stange, Jonathan P.; Alloy, Lauren B.; Abramson, Lyn Y.

2013-01-01

Robust evidence supports that girls and boys who experience early pubertal timing, maturing earlier than one’s peers, are vulnerable to developing symptoms of depression. However, it has yet to be clarified whether early pubertal timing confers vulnerability to African American as well as to Caucasian adolescents and whether this vulnerability is specific to depressive symptoms or can be generalized to symptoms of social anxiety. In previous studies, one race or one sex was examined in isolation or sample sizes were too small to examine racial differences. Our longitudinal study consisted of a sample of 223 adolescents (Mean age = 12.42, 54.3% female, 50.2% African American, and 49.8% Caucasian). At baseline, depressive symptoms, social anxiety symptoms, and pubertal timing were assessed by self-report. Nine months later, we assessed depressive symptoms, social anxiety symptoms, body esteem, and stressful life events that occurred between baseline and follow-up. Analyses indicated that early pubertal timing interacted with stressful life events to predict increased symptoms of depression, but only for Caucasian girls and African American boys. Results were found to be specific to depressive symptoms and did not generalize to symptoms of social anxiety. Additionally, there was a significant positive indirect effect of pubertal timing on symptoms of depression through body esteem for Caucasian females. PMID:24014162

Interpreting Medieval Inter-tidal Features at Weelie's Taing on Papa Westray, Orkney, NE Scotland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pollard, Edward; Gibson, Julie; Littlewood, Mark

2016-12-01

Investigation of the inter-tidal heritage of the Orkney Islands is used to interpret a previously perplexing complex at Weelie's Taing on Papa Westray. The study revealed a previously unknown type of harbour since identified in several locations around Orkney. Situated in exposed environmental situations, shelter is formed by an `ayre', a type of spit that encloses a loch, and which has been used historically as a landing place or crossing of the inter-tidal zone. A complex landing area, pier, tower and ship-blockage suggest Weelie's Taing was used as a harbour. Important fishing grounds exploited since the Neolithic are nearby, and Papa Westray was the site of water-focussed religious communities. It is suggested that Weelie's Taing was in use in the medieval period when Papa Westray was less isolated than today with the presence of ecclesiastical communities and situation on the Orkney-Shetland route.

Time to hospitalization for suicide attempt by the timing of parental suicide during offspring early development

PubMed Central

Kuramoto, S. Janet; Runeson, Bo; Stuart, Elizabeth A.; Lichtenstein, Paul; Wilcox, Holly C.

2013-01-01

Context Previous studies have suggested that children who experience parental suicide at earlier ages are at higher risk of future hospitalization for suicide attempt. However, how the trajectories of risk differ by offspring age at the time of parental suicide is currently unknown. Objective To study time at risk to hospitalization for suicide attempt among offspring after experiencing parental suicide or accidental death by offspring developmental period at the time of parental death. Design Population-based retrospective cohort study Setting Sweden Participants 26,096 offspring who experienced parental suicide and 32,395 offspring of accident decedents prior to age 25 from 1973-2003. Main Outcome Measures Hospitalization for suicide attempt. Parametric survival analysis was used to model the time to hospitalization for suicide attempt across offspring who lost a parent during early childhood (0-5 years old), later childhood (6-12), adolescence (13-17) and young adulthood (18-24). Results The risk in offspring who lost a parent during early or late childhood surpassed the other two age groups’ hazards approximately 5 years after the origin and, for the youngest group, continued to rise over the course of decades. Offspring who lost a parent during adolescence or young adulthood were at greatest risk within 1 to 2 years after parental suicide, and risk declined over time. The shape of hospitalization risk was similar among those who experienced parental fatal accident. When the shape of hospitalization for suicide attempt at each developmental period was fixed to be the same between the two groups, offspring who lost a parent to suicide had earlier risk to hospitalization for suicide attempt hospitalization than offspring who lost a parent to an accident. Conclusion The hospitalization risk for suicide attempt in offspring who lost a parent during their childhood is different from those who lost a parent during adolescence or young adulthood. The results suggest

Early-phase transmission of Yersinia pestis by unblocked fleas as a mechanism explaining rapidly spreading plague epizootics.

PubMed

Eisen, Rebecca J; Bearden, Scott W; Wilder, Aryn P; Montenieri, John A; Antolin, Michael F; Gage, Kenneth L

2006-10-17

Plague is a highly virulent disease believed to have killed millions during three historic human pandemics. Worldwide, it remains a threat to humans and is a potential agent of bioterrorism. Dissemination of Yersinia pestis, the etiological agent of plague, by blocked fleas has been the accepted paradigm for flea-borne transmission. However, this mechanism, which requires a lengthy extrinsic incubation period before a short infectious window often followed by death of the flea, cannot sufficiently explain the rapid rate of spread that typifies plague epidemics and epizootics. Inconsistencies between the expected rate of spread by blocked rat fleas and that observed during the Black Death has even caused speculation that plague was not the cause of this medieval pandemic. We used the primary vector to humans in North America, Oropsylla montana, which rarely becomes blocked, as a model for studying alternative flea-borne transmission mechanisms. Our data revealed that, in contrast to the classical blocked flea model, O. montana is immediately infectious, transmits efficiently for at least 4 d postinfection (early phase) and may remain infectious for a long time because the fleas do not suffer block-induced mortality. These factors match the criteria required to drive plague epizootics as defined by recently published mathematical models. The scenario of efficient early-phase transmission by unblocked fleas described in our study calls for a paradigm shift in concepts of how Y. pestis is transmitted during rapidly spreading epizootics and epidemics, including, perhaps, the Black Death.

Detection of early postseismic deformation from high-rate GNSS time series

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Twardzik, C.; Vergnolle, M.; Avallone, A.; Sladen, A.

2017-12-01

Postseismic processes after an earthquake contribute to the redistribution of stresses in addition to that induced by the coseismic rupture. With the exception of very few studies (e.g., Miyazaki and Larson, 2008), most postseismic analyses only start one or two days following the mainshock. This leaves a critical part of postseismic phase unexplored, from a few minutes up to a few hours after the earthquake. In this study, we use kinematic precise point positioning (K-PPP) to analyze continuous GNSS data in order to obtain 30s position time series. These time series provide information on the surface displacements a soon as the dynamic response of the earthquake is over. Our first analysis focuses on the 2016 Pedernales, Ecuador, earthquake (Mw7.8). Using spectral analysis, we show that the typical logarithmic postseismic displacement trend can be detected as early as one to six hours after the earthquake depending on the station location and the level of noise. This analysis also allows to estimate the bias on the coseismic offsets usually based on daily pre- and post- earthquake positions. We use the early postseismic time series to test whether rate-and-state friction laws, traditionally used to explain postseismic processes days after the earthquake, still hold right after the mainshock. This study is being extended to two other subduction earthquakes: the 2010 Maule, Chile, earthquake (Mw8.8) and the 2015 Illapel, Chile, earthquake (Mw8.2).

Times Past, Times to Come: The Influence of the Past on Visions of the Future.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Masson, Sophie

1997-01-01

Discussion of visions of the future that are based on past history highlights imaginative literature that deals with the human spirit rather than strictly technological innovations. Medieval society, the Roman Empire, mythological atmospheres, and the role of writers are also discussed. (LRW)

Early mechanical stimulation only permits timely bone healing in sheep.

PubMed

Tufekci, Pelin; Tavakoli, Aramesh; Dlaska, Constantin; Neumann, Mirjam; Shanker, Mihir; Saifzadeh, Siamak; Steck, Roland; Schuetz, Michael; Epari, Devakar

2018-06-01

Bone fracture healing is sensitive to the fixation stability. However, it is unclear which phases of healing are mechano-sensitive and if mechanical stimulation is required throughout repair. In this study, a novel bone defect model, which isolates an experimental fracture from functional loading, was applied in sheep to investigate if stimulation limited to the early proliferative phase is sufficient for bone healing. An active fixator controlled motion in the fracture. Animals of the control group were unstimulated. In the physiological-like group, 1 mm axial compressive movements were applied between day 5 and 21, thereafter the movements were decreased in weekly increments and stopped after 6 weeks. In the early stimulatory group, the movements were stopped after 3 weeks. The experimental fractures were evaluated with mechanical and micro-computed tomography methods after 9 weeks healing. The callus strength of the stimulated fractures (physiological-like and early stimulatory) was greater than the unstimulated control group. The control group was characterized by minimal external callus formation and a lack of bone bridging at 9 weeks. In contrast, the stimulated groups exhibited advanced healing with solid bone formation across the defect. This was confirmed quantitatively by a lower bone volume in the control group compared to the stimulated groups.The novel experimental model permits the application of a well-defined load history to an experimental bone fracture. The poor healing observed in the control group is consistent with under-stimulation. This study has shown early mechanical stimulation only is sufficient for a timely healing outcome. © 2017 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 36:1790-1796, 2018. © 2017 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Modelling changes in the coastal geomorphology of Unst, Shetland and the implications for understanding High to Late Medieval harbour changes in the Norse North Atlantic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Preston, John; Dugmore, Andrew; Newton, Anthony; Mudd, Simon

2016-04-01

The Norse settlement of the North Atlantic islands relied upon a network of harbours that also played a key role in the development of North European economies through the late Middle Ages. However, many of these harbours fell into disuse, their locations are uncertain and the reasons for this are unclear. A crucial geomorphological characteristic of a successful harbour is structural equilibrium. A harbour must have physical stability (or a dynamic equilibrium in the case of a beach) for boats to use it safely season to season, year on year. In the absence of a major civil engineering effort, something that was not possible in the pre-modern Atlantic islands, the geomorphology of a harbour is a key indicator of its physical equilibrium (or otherwise). Should the harbour be located on a changeable coastline (or one that becomes changeable) it may become unviable. Conversely, a harbour may be located on a coastline stable over centennial timescales, where little geomorphological change occurs, infrastructure can endure and many aspects of the physical environment remain predictable. The geomorphological setting of Norse harbours in the Atlantic is variable, with contrasting landform stability over short, medium and long time scales. We assess geomorphological change on the island of Unst, the most northerly of the British Isles, a coastline used by the Norse as well as earlier and later societies. This island offers a complex coastline of deep fjords and arcuate embayments and thus significant differences in forces acting upon the coastline. There is also evidence for instability in the beaches used by the Norse that could have been driven by the changes in climate conditions from the Medieval Climatic Anomaly to the Little Age and the present day. We model coastlines using the sediment dynamics model MIKE21. Model results agree well with the location of extant sandy beaches on Unst, but model runs with modern environmental drivers also build sandy beaches where

Early time evolution of a chemically produced electron depletion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Scales, W. A.; Bernhardt, P. A.; Ganguli, G.

1995-01-01

The early time evolution of an ionospheric electron depletion produced by a radially expanding electron attachment chemical release is studied with a two-dimensional simulation model. The model includes electron attachment chemistry, incorporates fluid electrons, particle ions and neutrals, and considers the evolution in a plane perpendicular to the geomagnetic field for a low beta plasma. Timescales considered are of the order of or less than the cyclotron period of the negative ions that result as a by-product of the electron attacment reaction. This corresponds to time periods of tenths of seconds during recent experiemts. Simulation results show that a highly sheared azimuthal electron flow velocity develops in the radially expanding depletion boundary. This sheared electron flow velocity and the steep density gradients in the boundary give rise to small-scale irregulatities in the form of electron density cavities and spikes. The nonlinear evolution of these irregularities results in trapping and ultimately turbulent heating of the negative ions.

Group-Based Modeling of Time Spent in Structured Activity Trajectories from Middle Childhood into Early Adolescence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mata, Andrea D.; van Dulmen, Manfred H. M.

2012-01-01

This study investigated trajectories of time spent in structured activities from middle childhood to early adolescence by using data from the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care. We used latent class growth analyses and identified five trajectories (stable low, increasing high, decreasing low,…

Healing with animals in the Levant from the 10th to the 18th century

PubMed Central

Lev, Efraim

2006-01-01

Animals and products derived from different organs of their bodies have constituted part of the inventory of medicinal substances used in various cultures since ancient times. The article reviews the history of healing with animals in the Levant (The Land of Israel and parts of present-day Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan, defined by the Muslims in the Middle Ages as Bilad al-Sham) in the medieval and early Ottoman periods. Intensive research into the phenomenon of zootherapy in the medieval and early Ottoman Levant has yielded forty-eight substances of animal origin that were used medicinally. The vast majority of these substances were local and relatively easy to obtain. Most of the substances were domestic (honey, wax, silkworm, etc.), others were part of the local wildlife (adder, cuttle fish, flycatcher, firefly, frog, triton, scorpion, etc.), part of the usual medieval household (milk, egg, cheese, lamb, etc.), or parasites (louse, mouse, stinkbug, etc.). Fewer substances were not local but exotic, and therefore rare and expensive (beaver testicles, musk oil, coral, ambergris, etc.). The range of symptoms that the substances of animal origin were used to treat was extensive and included most of the known diseases and maladies of that era: mainly hemorrhoids, burns, impotence, wounds, and skin, eye, and stomach diseases. Changes in the moral outlook of modern societies caused the use of several substances of animal origin to cease in the course of history. These include mummy, silkworm, stinkbug, scarabees, snail, scorpion, and triton. PMID:16504024

Healing with animals in the Levant from the 10th to the 18th century.

PubMed

Lev, Efraim

2006-02-21

Animals and products derived from different organs of their bodies have constituted part of the inventory of medicinal substances used in various cultures since ancient times. The article reviews the history of healing with animals in the Levant (The Land of Israel and parts of present-day Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan, defined by the Muslims in the Middle Ages as Bilad al-Sham) in the medieval and early Ottoman periods. Intensive research into the phenomenon of zootherapy in the medieval and early Ottoman Levant has yielded forty-eight substances of animal origin that were used medicinally. The vast majority of these substances were local and relatively easy to obtain. Most of the substances were domestic (honey, wax, silkworm, etc.), others were part of the local wildlife (adder, cuttle fish, flycatcher, firefly, frog, triton, scorpion, etc.), part of the usual medieval household (milk, egg, cheese, lamb, etc.), or parasites (louse, mouse, stinkbug, etc.). Fewer substances were not local but exotic, and therefore rare and expensive (beaver testicles, musk oil, coral, ambergris, etc.). The range of symptoms that the substances of animal origin were used to treat was extensive and included most of the known diseases and maladies of that era: mainly hemorrhoids, burns, impotence, wounds, and skin, eye, and stomach diseases. Changes in the moral outlook of modern societies caused the use of several substances of animal origin to cease in the course of history. These include mummy, silkworm, stinkbug, scarabees, snail, scorpion, and triton.

Geomaterials and architecture of the medieval monuments of Sardinia (Italy): petrophysical investigations on their construction materials and documentation on the architectonic aspects using digital technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Columbu, Stefano; Verdiani, Giorgio

2015-04-01

The Sardinia Island is in the core area of the Mediterranean Sea. Its position has made it the crossing point of many cultural and political events, but at the same time its isolation has favoured the manifestation of specific and unique Cultural Heritage phenomena. The network of several medieval monuments (i.e., Romanesque churches) disseminated all around the island clearly shows how an architectural language can be declined according to site specific materials and specific artistical and practical choices, always preserving its original logic and grammar. On the bases of different architectural characteristics and petrophysical features of their lithology, a significant number of churches have been chosen from the different medieval geographical-political areas of the Sardinia named (at that time) "Giudicati". Each of these churches were surveyed using the following methods: photography, 3D Laser Scanner for the whole interior and exterior parts (using a Leica HDS 6000 and a Cam/2 Faro Photon units), photogrammetry (using high resolution Nikon D700 and D800e) of a selected set of the extern surface of significant altered samples (aimed to the production of high quality and highly detailed 3D digital models), direct sampling of representative rocks and ancient mortars for geochemical and minero-petrographic analysis using optical polarized microscope, electronic microscopy (SEM), X-Ray fluorescence (XRF), X-Ray diffractometry (XRD). The physical-mechanical properties (real and bulk densities, open and closed porosity, water absorption and saturation, vapour permeability, flexion and compression strengths, etc.) of various geomaterials are determined with helium picnometry, microscopic image analysis, gas-permeability thermostatic chamber, oil-hydraulic press machine, Point Load Test (PLT), abrasimeter. For each church, when there was the occasion, some specific case study has been developed, matching the information about the materials and the specific events

Ultrasonic RF time series for early assessment of the tumor response to chemotherapy.

PubMed

Lin, Qingguang; Wang, Jianwei; Li, Qing; Lin, Chunyi; Guo, Zhixing; Zheng, Wei; Yan, Cuiju; Li, Anhua; Zhou, Jianhua

2018-01-05

Ultrasound radio-frequency (RF) time series have been shown to carry tissue typing information. To evaluate the potential of RF time series for early prediction of tumor response to chemotherapy, 50MCF-7 breast cancer-bearing nude mice were randomized to receive cisplatin and paclitaxel (treatment group; n = 26) or sterile saline (control group; n = 24). Sequential ultrasound imaging was performed on days 0, 3, 6, and 8 of treatment to simultaneously collect B-mode images and RF data. Six RF time series features, slope, intercept, S1, S2, S3 , and S4 , were extracted during RF data analysis and contrasted with microstructural tumor changes on histopathology. Chemotherapy administration reduced tumor growth relative to control on days 6 and 8. Compared with day 0, intercept, S1 , and S2 were increased while slope was decreased on days 3, 6, and 8 in the treatment group. Compared with the control group, intercept, S1, S2, S3 , and S4 were increased, and slope was decreased, on days 3, 6, and 8 in the treatment group. Tumor cell density decreased significantly in the latter on day 3. We conclude that ultrasonic RF time series analysis provides a simple way to noninvasively assess the early tumor response to chemotherapy.

A balancing act in an unknown territory: a metasynthesis of first-time mothers' experiences in early labour.

PubMed

Eri, Tine S; Bondas, Terese; Gross, Mechthild M; Janssen, Patricia; Green, Josephine M

2015-03-01

to integrate findings of individual studies in order to broaden the understanding of first-time mothers' experiences of early labour. the methodology was metasynthesis which is based on the interpretive meta-ethnography described by Noblit and Hare (1988). Metasynthesis is research on research which synthesises the findings of previous qualitative studies, and the focus is on interpretation and the creation of new knowledge. all included studies originated from high resource countries (USA 2, UK 4, and Scandinavia 5) and all were carried out in a context of hospital based maternity care. a total of 231 women participated in the studies. 11 articles were included. The main results are presented with the metaphor a balancing act in an unknown territory. The 'unknown territory' has a double meaning: as the personal experience of going into labour for the first time and as encountering the maternity care system. On both levels women have to make significant decisions: whether labour really has started and subsequently when to go to the hospital. A key challenge is to balance the arrival on the labour ward at the 'right' time, not too early and not too late. Arriving at the 'right' time leads to a positive path, while arriving 'too soon' might lead to a cascade of negative experiences. The results are further presented with five central themes: 'Finding out if labour has started is absorbing'; 'Dealing with labour at home'; 'Trying to arrive at the labour ward at the right time'; 'There is always a risk of being sent home'; 'Encountering health professionals arouses strong emotions'. the metasynthesis broadens the understanding of first-time mothers' experiences of early labour, and suggests that women's needs when planning a hospital birth are not being adequately met at this stage in the labour process. Three areas of future research are suggested: how to support and strengthen women during pregnancy in order to cope with early labour; women's experiences of early

Teste Albumasare cum Sibylla: astrology and the Sibyls in medieval Europe.

PubMed

Smoller, Laura Ackerman

2010-06-01

In the 1480s Dominican humanist Filippo de' Barbieri published an illustration of a supposedly ancient female seer called the 'Sybilla Chimica', whose prophetic text repeated the words of the ninth-century astrologer Abu Ma'shar. In tracing the origins of Barbieri's astrological Sibyl, this article examines three sometimes interlocking traditions: the attribution of an ante-diluvian history to the science of the stars, the assertion of astrology's origins in divine revelation, and the belief in the ancient Sibyls' predictions of the birth of Christ and other Christian truths. Medieval authors from the twelfth century on began to cite these traditions together, thereby simultaneously authorizing the use of astrology to predict religious changes and blurring the categories of natural and supernatural as applied to human understanding. This blending of astrology and prophecy appears notably in works by such authors as John of Paris, John of Legnano, Johannes Lichtenberger, and Marsilio Ficino. Ultimately the trajectory that produced Barbieri's astrological Sibyl would lead to a wave of astrological apocalyptic predictions in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as well as to the harnessing of astrology for the defense of the faith in the form of an astrological natural theology, sacralizing science as well as nature.

A hybrid body technique: does the pulse diagnostic cun guan chi method have Chinese-Tibetan origins?

PubMed

Hsu, Elisabeth

2008-01-01

This article investigates the medieval origins of the main pulse diagnostic method in contemporary Chinese medicine, sometimes known as san bu (three sectors) method, which requires physicians to examine the mai (vessels, vessel movements or pulse) on the wrist at the three locations cun guan chi (inch, gate, foot). The article provides evidence to suggest that this body technique grew out of an earlier Chinese one, the cun chi (inch-foot) method, which appears to have aimed at investigating the qualities of yin and yang in order to determine the condition of a patient by means of exploring fairly large areas of the patient's body surface with the palms. The article furthermore posits that the cun chi method was decisively transformed in medieval times, presumably due to the impact of early Tibetan pulse diagnostic practices: it became framed in a numerology of three and started advocating the use of the fingertips for sensing the pulse beats. The article, which draws on detailed textual analyses of medieval manuscripts, on visual evidence and also on psychophysical research, furthermore highlights how misunderstandings can constructively contribute to cultural communication.

Analytical procedure for characterization of medieval wall-paintings by X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and Raman spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Syta, Olga; Rozum, Karol; Choińska, Marta; Zielińska, Dobrochna; Żukowska, Grażyna Zofia; Kijowska, Agnieszka; Wagner, Barbara

2014-11-01

Analytical procedure for the comprehensive chemical characterization of samples from medieval Nubian wall-paintings by means of portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF), laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS) and Raman spectroscopy (RS) was proposed in this work. The procedure was used for elemental and molecular investigations of samples from archeological excavations in Nubia (modern southern Egypt and northern Sudan). Numerous remains of churches with painted decorations dated back to the 7th-14th century were excavated in the region of medieval kingdoms of Nubia but many aspects of this art and its technology are still unknown. Samples from the selected archeological sites (Faras, Old Dongola and Banganarti) were analyzed in the form of transfers (n = 26), small fragments collected during the excavations (n = 35) and cross sections (n = 15). XRF was used to collect data about elemental composition, LA-ICPMS allowed mapping of selected elements, while RS was used to get the molecular information about the samples. The preliminary results indicated the usefulness of the proposed analytical procedure for distinguishing the substances, from both the surface and sub-surface domains of the wall-paintings. The possibility to identify raw materials from the wall-paintings will be used in the further systematic, archeometric studies devoted to the detailed comparison of various historic Nubian centers.

Evidence of skeletal treponematosis from the medieval burial ground of St. Mary Spital, London, and implications for the origins of the disease in Europe.

PubMed

Walker, Don; Powers, Natasha; Connell, Brian; Redfern, Rebecca

2015-01-01

Treponematosis is a syndrome of chronic infectious diseases. There has been much debate on its origins and spread, particularly with regard to venereal syphilis, an unsightly and debilitating disease in preantibiotic populations. The osteological analysis of 5,387 individuals excavated by Museum of London Archaeology from the medieval burial ground of St. Mary Spital in London (dated c 1120-1539) provided an unprecedented opportunity to investigate the nature and prevalence of disease over a period of time. Twenty-five individuals were found with suspected treponematosis, originating from all but the earliest period of the burial ground. Descriptions of affected individuals from each period, together with supporting images, are provided. In this work, particular emphasis was given to the distribution of lesions on the skeleton and the variation in patterns by sex and over time. Little change was observed in the distribution of bony change between individuals dated to pre- and post-Columbian periods. However, a dramatic rise in the prevalence of the disease in the final period (c 1400-1539) may reflect documentary reports of a European epidemic from the late 15th century. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Reaction Time Is Negatively Associated with Corpus Callosum Area in the Early Stages of CADASIL.

PubMed

Delorme, S; De Guio, F; Reyes, S; Jabouley, A; Chabriat, H; Jouvent, E

2017-11-01

Reaction time was recently recognized as a marker of subtle cognitive and behavioral alterations in the early clinical stages of CADASIL, a monogenic cerebral small-vessel disease. In unselected patients with CADASIL, brain atrophy and lacunes are the main imaging correlates of disease severity, but MR imaging correlates of reaction time in mildly affected patients are unknown. We hypothesized that reaction time is independently associated with the corpus callosum area in the early clinical stages of CADASIL. Twenty-six patients with CADASIL without dementia (Mini-Mental State Examination score > 24 and no cognitive symptoms) and without disability (modified Rankin Scale score ≤ 1) were compared with 29 age- and sex-matched controls. Corpus callosum area was determined on 3D-T1 MR imaging sequences with validated methodology. Between-group comparisons were performed with t tests or χ 2 tests when appropriate. Relationships between reaction time and corpus callosum area were tested using linear regression modeling. Reaction time was significantly related to corpus callosum area in patients (estimate = -7.4 × 10 3 , standard error = 3.3 × 10 3 , P = .03) even after adjustment for age, sex, level of education, and scores of depression and apathy (estimate = -12.2 × 10 3 , standard error = 3.8 × 10 3 , P = .005). No significant relationship was observed in controls. Corpus callosum area, a simple and robust imaging parameter, appears to be an independent correlate of reaction time at the early clinical stages of CADASIL. Further studies will determine whether corpus callosum area can be used as an outcome in future clinical trials in CADASIL or in more prevalent small-vessel diseases. © 2017 by American Journal of Neuroradiology.

Sediments Exposed by Drainage of a Collapsing Glacier-Dammed Lake Show That Contemporary Summer Temperatures and Glacier Retreat Exceed the Medieval Warm Period in Southern Alaska

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Loso, M. G.; Anderson, R. S.; Anderson, S. P.; Reimer, P. J.

2007-12-01

In the mountains of southcentral Alaska, recent and widespread glacier retreat is well-documented, but few instrumental or proxy records of temperature are available to place recent changes in a long-term context. The Medieval Warm Period in particular, is poorly documented because subsequent Little Ice Age glacier advances destroyed much of the existing sedimentary record. In a rare exception, sudden and unexpected catastrophic drainage of a previously stable glacier-dammed lake recently revealed lacustrine stratigraphy that spans over 1500 years. Located near the Bagley Icefield in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Iceberg Lake first drained in A.D. 1999 and has not regained a stable shoreline since that time. Rapid incision of the exposed lakebed provided subaerial exposure of annual laminations (varves, confirmed by radiogenic evidence) that record continuous sediment deposition from A.D. 442 to A.D. 1998. We present a recalculated master chronology of varve thickness that combines measurements from several sites within the former lake. Varve thickness in this chronology is positively correlated with northern hemisphere temperature trends and also with a local, ~600 year long tree ring width chronology. Varve thickness increases in warm summers because of higher melt, runoff, and sediment transport, and also because shrinkage of the glacier dam allows shoreline regression that concentrates sediment in the smaller lake. Relative to the entire record, varve thicknesses and implied summer temperatures were lowest around A.D. 600, high between A.D. 1000 and A.D. 1300, low between A.D. 1500 and A.D 1850, and highest in the late 20th century. Combined with stratigraphic evidence that contemporary jokulhlaups are unprecedented since at least A.D. 442, this record suggests that late 20th century warming was more intense, and accompanied by more extensive glacier retreat, than the Medieval Warm Period or any other time in the last 1500 years. We emphasize

Time Outdoors at Specific Ages During Early Childhood and the Risk of Incident Myopia.

PubMed

Shah, Rupal L; Huang, Yu; Guggenheim, Jeremy A; Williams, Cathy

2017-02-01

Time outdoors during childhood is negatively associated with incident myopia. Consequently, additional time outdoors has been suggested as a public health intervention to reduce the prevalence of myopia. We investigated whether there were specific ages during early childhood when the time outdoors versus incident myopia association was strongest. Children participating in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) were studied from age 2 to 15 years. Parentally reported time outdoors and time spent reading were assessed longitudinally in early childhood (ages 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 9 years). Noncycloplegic autorefraction was carried out longitudinally in later childhood (ages 10, 11, 12, and 15 years). Information was available for 2833 participants. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to test for association between time outdoors and incident myopia. From 3 years of age onward, greater time outdoors was associated with a reduced risk of incident myopia. The hazard ratio for myopia changed progressively from 0.90 (95% CI 0.83-0.98, P = 0.012) at age 3 years, to 0.86 (95% CI 0.78-0.93, P = 0.001) at age 9 years, for each additional SD of time spent outdoors per day. These associations were independent of two major risk factors for myopia: time reading and number of myopic parents. Additional time spent outdoors across the 3 to 9 years age range was associated with a reduced incidence of myopia between ages 10 and 15 years. There was a trend for the association to increase toward the older end of the 3 to 9 years range.

Cultural Trauma and Christian Identity in the Late Medieval Heroic Epic, The Siege of Jerusalem.

PubMed

DeMarco, Patricia A

2015-01-01

This essay examines scenes of violence in the late medieval poem The Siege of Jerusalem in order to reveal the ways in which trauma is used as the grounds upon which Christian/Jewish difference is established. In particular, I argue that this poem serves as an example of a widespread element in Christian chivalric identity, namely the need to manage the repetitive invocation of Christ's crucifixion (ritually repeated through liturgical and poetic invocation) as a means of asserting both the bodily and psychic integrity of the Christian subject in contrast to the violently abjected figure of the Jewish body. The failure of The Siege protagonist, Wespasian, to navigate the cultural trauma of the crucifixion is contrasted to the successful management of trauma by the martial hero, Tancred, in Tasso's epic, Gerusalemme Liberata, illustrating the range of imaginative possibilities for understanding trauma in pre-modern war literature.

Effects of Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age on the hydrology of Mediterranean region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Markonis, Y.; Kossieris, P.; Lykou, A.; Koutsoyiannis, D.

2012-04-01

Medieval Warm Period (950 - 1250) and Little Ice Age (1450 - 1850) are the most recent periods that reflect the magnitude of natural climate variability. As their names suggest, the first one was characterized by higher temperatures and a generally moister climate, while the opposite happened during the second period. Although their existence is well documented for Northern Europe and North America, recent findings suggest strong evidence in lower latitudes as well. Here we analyze qualitatively the influence of these climatic fluctuations on the hydrological cycle all over the Mediterranean basin, highlighting the spatial characteristics of precipitation and runoff. We use both qualitative estimates from literature review in the field of paleoclimatology and statistical analysis of proxy data series. We investigate possible regional patterns and possible tele-connections with large scale atmospheric circulation phenomena such as North Atlantic Oscillation, Siberian High, African Sahel Rainfall and Indian Monsoon.

Perspectives of Medieval Persian Medicine on Multiple Sclerosis.

PubMed

Sahraian, Mohammad Ali; Parviz, Mohsen; Sheibani, Behnam; Schiess, Nicoline; Ghorbanifar, Zahra; Kamalinejad, Mohammad; Nazem, Esmail; Sadeghpour, Omid; Rezaeizadeh, Hossein

2018-01-01

Traditional Persian Medicine (TPM) was the prevailing practice of medicine in the Eurasia region up through the 18th century, a practice of medicine stemming back to Hippocrates and to the 5000 year old civilization of the region. It is a school of medicine which touches on many a delicate points which may seem unimaginable within the realm of modern allopathic medicine. This practice of ancient medicine besides shedding light on various possible theoretical modern day disorders serves as a vast resource for therapeutics. In this paper, we present study of the manuscripts of this ancient medical practice in search of symptom presentations coinciding with presentation of multiple sclerosis (MS). This paper represents a comprehensive search through TPM texts and manuscripts with the intention to seek possible clues on MS from potentially valuable age-old resources. We predominantly focused our search on the works of five eminent physicians of Medieval Persia: Avicenna (980-1037 AD), Haly Abbas (949-982 AD), Rhazes (865-925 AD), Averroes (1126-1198 AD) and Jorjani (1042-1137 AD). In this paper, the authors attempt a theory and conclude with high probability that a conjunction of a series of signs, symptoms found in TPM texts under the terms khadar, isterkha and falej form the symptoms and the disease pattern of modern day MS. This theory draws upon existent similarities in terms of disease pathology, disease patterns and predisposing factors seen between MS and the related morbidities within Persian Medicine. We recommend further examinations of such potentially valuable long-standing resources, examining the diagnoses and treatments as set forth by Persian Medicine through international collaboration within the global scientific community. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

Irregular oscillatory patterns in the early-time region of coherent phonon generation in silicon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Watanabe, Yohei; Hino, Ken-ichi; Hase, Muneaki; Maeshima, Nobuya

2017-09-01

Coherent phonon (CP) generation in an undoped Si crystal is theoretically investigated to shed light on unexplored quantum-mechanical effects in the early-time region immediately after the irradiation of ultrashort laser pulses. We examine time signals attributed to an induced charge density of an ionic core, placing the focus on the effects of the Rabi frequency Ω0 c v on the signals; this frequency corresponds to the peak electric-field of the pulse. It is found that at specific Ω0 c v's, where the energy of plasmon caused by photoexcited carriers coincides with the longitudinal-optical phonon energy, the energetically resonant interaction between these two modes leads to striking anticrossings, revealing irregular oscillations with anomalously enhanced amplitudes in the observed time signals. Also, the oscillatory pattern is subject to the Rabi flopping of the excited carrier density that is controlled by Ω0 c v. These findings show that the early-time region is enriched with quantum-mechanical effects inherent in the CP generation, though experimental signals are more or less masked by the so-called coherent artifact due to nonlinear optical effects.

Geologically Controlled Isotope-Time Patterns Reveal Early Differentiation and Crust Formation Processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bennett, V. C.; Nutman, A. P.

2014-12-01

The mechanisms of continental crust production and evolution in the early Earth remain controversial, as are questions of the relative roles of early differentiation versus subsequent tectonic procssing in creating Earth's chemical signatures. Here we present geologic observations integrated with whole rock major, trace element and Sm-Nd isotopic signatures and combined with U-Pb and Lu-Hf isotopic compositions of zircon populations from the same rocks, from the most extensive early rock record comprising the 3.9 Ga to 3.6 Ga terranes of southwest Greenland. These data reveal repeated patterns of formation of juvenile TTG crust and associated mafic and ultramafic rocks in convergent margin settings followed by formation of more evolved granites [1]. Our new zircon Lu-Hf data from rare 3.6-3.7 Ga tonalites within the Itsaq Gneiss Complex, obtained from single component, non-migmatitic gneisses with simple zircon populations, limited within sample Hf isotopic variability and accurate U-Pb ages, now document extraction of juvenile tonalites from a near chondritic mantle source between 3.9 Ga and 3.6 Ga. The more evolved, granitic rocks in each area show slightly negative initial ɛHf in accord with crustal reworking of the older (3.8-3.9 Ga) gniesses. There is no evidence for Hadean material in the sources of the granitoids. The Hf isotope-time patterns are consistent with juvenile crust production from a mantle source that experienced only modest amounts of prior crustal extraction. They are distinct from those predicted by reprocessing of an enriched Hadean mafic crust, as has been proposed for this region [2] and for the source of the Hadean Jack Hills zircons [3]. The well-documented, time decreasing, positive 142Nd anomalies [e.g., 4] from these rocks are further evidence of crustal derivation from a convecting mantle source, rather than reworking of an enriched mafic lithosphere. The 143Nd isotopic -time patterns are more complex, reflecting the interplay

The medieval metal industry was the cradle of modern large-scale atmospheric lead pollution in northern Europe

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Braennvall, M.L.; Bindler, R.; Renberg, I.

1999-12-15

There is great concern for contamination of sensitive ecosystems in high latitudes by long-range transport of heavy metals and other pollutants derived from industrial areas in lower latitudes. Atmospheric pollution of heavy metals has a very long history, and since metals accumulate in the environment, understanding of present-day pollution conditions requires knowledge of past atmospheric deposition. The authors use analyses of lead concentrations and stable lead isotopes ({sup 206}Pb/{sup 207}Pb ratios) of annually laminated sediments from four lakes in northern Sweden to provide a decadal record of atmospheric lead pollution for the last 3000 years. There is a clear signalmore » in the sediments of airborne pollution from Greek and Roman cultures 2000 years ago, followed by a period of clean conditions 400--900 A.D. From 900 A.D. there was a conspicuous, permanent increase in atmospheric lead pollution fallout, The sediments reveal peaks in atmospheric lead pollution at 1200 and 1530 A.D. comparable to present-day levels. These peaks match the history of metal production in Europe. This study indicates that the contemporary atmospheric pollution climate in northern Europe was established in Medieval time, rather than in the industrial period. Atmospheric lead pollution deposition did not, when seen in a historical perspective, increase as much as usually assumed with the Industrial Revolution.« less

Early and Real-Time Detection of Seasonal Influenza Onset

PubMed Central

Marques-Pita, Manuel

2017-01-01

Every year, influenza epidemics affect millions of people and place a strong burden on health care services. A timely knowledge of the onset of the epidemic could allow these services to prepare for the peak. We present a method that can reliably identify and signal the influenza outbreak. By combining official Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) incidence rates, searches for ILI-related terms on Google, and an on-call triage phone service, Saúde 24, we were able to identify the beginning of the flu season in 8 European countries, anticipating current official alerts by several weeks. This work shows that it is possible to detect and consistently anticipate the onset of the flu season, in real-time, regardless of the amplitude of the epidemic, with obvious advantages for health care authorities. We also show that the method is not limited to one country, specific region or language, and that it provides a simple and reliable signal that can be used in early detection of other seasonal diseases. PMID:28158192

Early Life Conditions and Physiological Stress following the Transition to Farming in Central/Southeast Europe: Skeletal Growth Impairment and 6000 Years of Gradual Recovery

PubMed Central

Macintosh, Alison A.; Pinhasi, Ron; Stock, Jay T.

2016-01-01

Early life conditions play an important role in determining adult body size. In particular, childhood malnutrition and disease can elicit growth delays and affect adult body size if severe or prolonged enough. In the earliest stages of farming, skeletal growth impairment and small adult body size are often documented relative to hunter-gatherer groups, though this pattern is regionally variable. In Central/Southeast Europe, it is unclear how early life stress, growth history, and adult body size were impacted by the introduction of agriculture and ensuing long-term demographic, social, and behavioral change. The current study assesses this impact through the reconstruction and analysis of mean stature, body mass, limb proportion indices, and sexual dimorphism among 407 skeletally mature men and women from foraging and farming populations spanning the Late Mesolithic through Early Medieval periods in Central/Southeast Europe (~7100 calBC to 850 AD). Results document significantly reduced mean stature, body mass, and crural index in Neolithic agriculturalists relative both to Late Mesolithic hunter-gatherer-fishers and to later farming populations. This indication of relative growth impairment in the Neolithic, particularly among women, is supported by existing evidence of high developmental stress, intensive physical activity, and variable access to animal protein in these early agricultural populations. Among subsequent agriculturalists, temporal increases in mean stature, body mass, and crural index were more pronounced among Central European women, driving declines in the magnitude of sexual dimorphism through time. Overall, results suggest that the transition to agriculture in Central/Southeast Europe was challenging for early farming populations, but was followed by gradual amelioration across thousands of years, particularly among Central European women. This sex difference may be indicative, in part, of greater temporal variation in the social status afforded

Medieval herbal iconography and lexicography of Cucumis (cucumber and melon, Cucurbitaceae) in the Occident, 1300–1458

PubMed Central

Paris, Harry S.; Janick, Jules; Daunay, Marie-Christine

2011-01-01

Background The genus Cucumis contains two species of important vegetable crops, C. sativus, cucumber, and C. melo, melon. Melon has iconographical and textual records from lands of the Mediterranean Basin dating back to antiquity, but cucumber does not. The goal of this study was to obtain an improved understanding of the history of these crops in the Occident. Medieval images purportedly of Cucumis were examined, their specific identity was determined and they were compared for originality, accuracy and the lexicography of their captions. Findings The manuscripts having accurate, informative images are derived from Italy and France and were produced between 1300 and 1458. All have an illustration of cucumber but not all contain an image of melon. The cucumber fruits are green, unevenly cylindrical with an approx. 2:1 length-to-width ratio. Most of the images show the cucumbers marked by sparsely distributed, large dark dots, but images from northern France show them as having densely distributed, small black dots. The different size, colour and distribution reflect the different surface wartiness and spininess of modern American and French pickling cucumbers. The melon fruits are green, oval to serpentine, closely resembling the chate and snake vegetable melons, but not sweet melons. In nearly all manuscripts of Italian provenance, the cucumber image is labelled with the Latin caption citruli, or similar, plural diminuitive of citrus (citron, Citrus medica). However, in manuscripts of French provenance, the cucumber image is labelled cucumeres, which is derived from the classical Latin epithet cucumis for snake melon. The absence of melon in some manuscripts and the expropriation of the Latin cucumis/cucumer indicate replacement of vegetable melons by cucumbers during the medieval period in Europe. One image, from British Library ms. Sloane 4016, has a caption that allows tracing of the word ‘gherkin’ back to languages of the geographical nativity of C

Calculational investigation of impact cratering dynamics - Early time material motions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thomsen, J. M.; Austin, M. G.; Ruhl, S. F.; Schultz, P. H.; Orphal, D. L.

1979-01-01

Early time two-dimensional finite difference calculations of laboratory-scale hypervelocity (6 km/sec) impact of 0.3 g spherical 2024 aluminum projectiles into homogeneous plasticene clay targets were performed and the resulting material motions analyzed. Results show that the initial jetting of vaporized target material is qualitatively similar to experimental observation. The velocity flow field developed within the target is shown to have features quite similar to those found in calculations of near-surface explosion cratering. Specific application of Maxwell's analytic Z-Model (developed to interpret the flow fields of near-surface explosion cratering calculations), shows that this model can be used to describe the flow fields resulting from the impact cratering calculations, provided that the flow field center is located beneath the target surface, and that application of the model is made late enough in time that most of the projectile momentum has been dissipated.

Turnaround Time for Early Infant HIV Diagnosis in Rural Zambia: A Chart Review

PubMed Central

Sutcliffe, Catherine G.; van Dijk, Janneke H.; Hamangaba, Francis; Mayani, Felix; Moss, William J.

2014-01-01

Background Early infant HIV diagnosis is challenging in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in rural areas where laboratory capacity is limited. Specimens must be transported to central laboratories for testing, leading to delays in diagnosis and initiation of antiretroviral therapy. This study was undertaken in rural Zambia to measure the turnaround time for confirmation of HIV infection and identify delays in diagnosis. Methods Chart reviews were conducted from 2010–2012 for children undergoing early infant HIV diagnosis at Macha Hospital in Zambia. Relevant dates, receipt of drugs by mother and child for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT), and test results were abstracted. Results 403 infants provided 476 samples for early infant diagnosis. The median age at the “6-week” and “6-month” assessments was 8.1 weeks and 7.0 months, respectively. The majority of mothers (80%) and infants (67%) received PMTCT. The median time between sample collection and arrival at the central laboratory in Lusaka was 17 days (IQR: 10, 28); arrival at the central laboratory to testing was 6 days (IQR: 5, 11); testing to return of results to the clinic was 29 days (IQR: 17, 36); arrival of results at the clinic to return of results to the caregiver was 45 days (IQR: 24, 79). The total median time from sample collection to return of results to the caregiver was 92 days (IQR: 84, 145). The proportion of HIV PCR positive samples was 12%. The total median turnaround time was shorter for HIV PCR positive as compared to negative or invalid samples (85 vs. 92 days; p = 0.08). Conclusions Delays in processing and communicating test results were identified, particularly in returning results from the central laboratory to the clinic and from the clinic to the caregiver. A more efficient process is needed so that caregivers can be provided test results more rapidly, potentially resulting in earlier treatment initiation and better outcomes for HIV-infected infants

The Role of Peer Stress and Pubertal Timing on Symptoms of Psychopathology during Early Adolescence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sontag, Lisa M.; Graber, Julia A.; Clemans, Katherine H.

2011-01-01

Stress is known to amplify the link between pubertal timing and psychopathology. However, few studies have examined the role of peer stress as a context for this link. The present study examined the interaction between perceived pubertal timing and peer stress on symptoms of psychopathology in early adolescence. The sample consisted of 264…

A study of the periodontal state of a late Medieval United Kingdom population.

PubMed

Gonçalves, Pedro César Gaspar; Griffiths, Gareth; Rawlinson, Andrew

2015-12-01

To study the severity of bone loss in a Medieval UK population, and compare this with other ancient UK populations from different time periods. Skulls from a burial site in York (XI-XV century) were investigated. Skulls with a minimum of 17 teeth were included and were divided from childhood into five age groups. Direct measurements from the cement enamel junction (CEJ) to the alveolar crest (AC) were undertaken at six points around each tooth with a UNC 15 probe. The mean bone loss was calculated for each tooth type. Seventy five skulls were included in the study (12-60 years of age). Bone loss was found to increase with age, but stabilized in older individuals (>45 years). The mean CEJ-AC distance varied from 2.1mm in the youngest group to a maximum of 4.1mm in 36-45 year olds. Results were compared with a Roman-British population (Whittaker et al., 1982) where comparable values for mean bone loss were 2.2mm and 5.4mm respectively, and a population of XVIII century Londoners (Whittaker et al., 1998) where bone loss of 1.1mm and 4.0mm was reported for the youngest and oldest age groups respectively. Measuring the CEJ-AC distance in dried skulls from ancient populations may be used as a proxy for the levels of periodontal disease irrespective of tooth wear. The findings from the current study suggest that the severity of periodontitis as determined by measurements of alveolar bone loss on dried skulls from this ancient population, seems to have declined in the United Kingdom from the III-V century to XVIII century. This may be due to changes in environmental factors including living conditions and diet, together with individual characteristics including systemic illness and genetic make up. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Time perception impairment in early-to-moderate stages of Huntington's disease is related to memory deficits.

PubMed

Righi, Stefania; Galli, Luca; Paganini, Marco; Bertini, Elisabetta; Viggiano, Maria Pia; Piacentini, Silvia

2016-01-01

Huntington's disease (HD) primarily affects striatum and prefrontal dopaminergic circuits which are fundamental neural correlates of the timekeeping mechanism. The few studies on HD mainly investigated motor timing performance in second durations. The present work explored time perception in early-to-moderate symptomatic HD patients for seconds and milliseconds with the aim to clarify which component of the scalar expectancy theory (SET) is mainly responsible for HD timing defect. Eleven HD patients were compared to 11 controls employing two separate temporal bisection tasks in second and millisecond ranges. Our results revealed the same time perception deficits for seconds and milliseconds in HD patients. Time perception impairment in early-to-moderate stages of Huntington's disease is related to memory deficits. Furthermore, both the non-systematical defect of temporal sensitivity and the main impairment of timing performance in the extreme value of the psychophysical curves suggested an HD deficit in the memory component of the SET. This result was further confirmed by the significant correlations between time perception performance and long-term memory test scores. Our findings added important preliminary data for both a deeper comprehension of HD time-keeping deficits and possible implications on neuro-rehabilitation practices.

Time Outdoors at Specific Ages During Early Childhood and the Risk of Incident Myopia

PubMed Central

Shah, Rupal L.; Huang, Yu; Guggenheim, Jeremy A.; Williams, Cathy

2017-01-01

Purpose Time outdoors during childhood is negatively associated with incident myopia. Consequently, additional time outdoors has been suggested as a public health intervention to reduce the prevalence of myopia. We investigated whether there were specific ages during early childhood when the time outdoors versus incident myopia association was strongest. Methods Children participating in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) were studied from age 2 to 15 years. Parentally reported time outdoors and time spent reading were assessed longitudinally in early childhood (ages 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 9 years). Noncycloplegic autorefraction was carried out longitudinally in later childhood (ages 10, 11, 12, and 15 years). Information was available for 2833 participants. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to test for association between time outdoors and incident myopia. Results From 3 years of age onward, greater time outdoors was associated with a reduced risk of incident myopia. The hazard ratio for myopia changed progressively from 0.90 (95% CI 0.83–0.98, P = 0.012) at age 3 years, to 0.86 (95% CI 0.78–0.93, P = 0.001) at age 9 years, for each additional SD of time spent outdoors per day. These associations were independent of two major risk factors for myopia: time reading and number of myopic parents. Conclusions Additional time spent outdoors across the 3 to 9 years age range was associated with a reduced incidence of myopia between ages 10 and 15 years. There was a trend for the association to increase toward the older end of the 3 to 9 years range. PMID:28245296

'Magic coins' and 'magic squares': the discovery of astrological sigils in the Oldenburg Letters.

PubMed

Roos, Anna Marie

2008-09-20

Enclosed in a 1673 letter to Henry Oldenburg were two drawings of a series of astrological sigils, coins and amulets from the collection of Strasbourg mathematician Julius Reichelt (1637-1719). As portrayals of particular medieval and early modern sigils are relatively rare, this paper will analyse the role of these medals in medieval and early modern medicine, the logic behind their perceived efficacy, and their significance in early modern astrological and cabalistic practice. I shall also demonstrate their change in status in the late seventeenth century from potent magical healing amulets tied to the mysteries of the heavens to objects kept in a cabinet for curiosos. The evolving perception of the purpose of sigils mirrored changing early modem beliefs in the occult influences of the heavens upon the body and the natural world, as well as the growing interests among virtuosi in collecting, numismatics and antiquities.

Geological and geotechnical properties of the medieval rock hewn churches of Lalibela, Northern Ethiopia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Asrat, Asfawossen; Ayallew, Yodit

2011-01-01

Lalibela is a medieval settlement in Northern Ethiopia famous for its 11 beautifully carved rock hewn churches, registered as World Heritage Site in 1978. The rock hewn churches are grouped into three based on their proximity: the Bete Medhane Alem (Church of the Holy Saviour), Bete Gabriel-Rufael (Church of St. Gabriel-Rafael) and Bete Giorgis (Church of St. George) groups. The churches are carved out of a single, massive scoriaceous basalt hill which was deposited along an East-West extending palaeovalley in the Oligo-Miocene Trap basalt of the northwestern Ethiopian plateau. The Rock Mass Rating (RMR) classification scheme was used to classify the rock mass (assuming each church as a separate rock mass) based on their uniaxial compressive strength and the spacing and conditions of discontinuities. Though most of the churches are hewn from medium to high strength rock mass, discontinuities make them vulnerable to other deteriorating agents mainly weathering, and water infiltration. Most of the rock hewn churches are affected by pre-carving cooling joints and bedding plane discontinuities, and by mostly but not necessarily post-carving tectonic and seismic induced cracks and fractures. Material loss due to deep weathering triggered by rain water infiltration and uncontrolled groundwater seepage affects most of the churches, particularly the Bete Merqorios (Church of St. Mark) and Bete Aba Libanos (Church of Father Libanos) churches. The scoriaceous basalt which is porous and permeable allows easy passage of water while the underlying basalt is impermeable, increasing the residence time of water in the porous material, causing deep weathering and subsequent loss of material in some of the churches and adjoining courtyards.

Non-invasive dendrochronology of late-medieval objects in Oslo: refinement of a technique and discoveries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Daly, Aoife; Streeton, Noëlle L. W.

2017-06-01

A technique for non-invasive dendrochronological analysis of oak was developed for archaeological material, using an industrial CT scanner. Since 2013, this experience has been extended within the scope of the research project `After the Black Death: Painting and Polychrome Sculpture in Norway'. The source material for the project is a collection of late-medieval winged altarpieces, shrines, polychrome sculpture, and fragments from Norwegian churches, which are owned by the Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo. The majority cannot be sampled, and many are too large to fit into the CT scanner. For these reasons, a combined approach was adopted, utilizing CT scanning where possible, but preceded by an `exposed-wood' imaging technique. Both non-invasive techniques have yielded reliable results, and CT scanning has confirmed the reliability of the imaging technique alone. This paper presents the analytical methods, along with results from two of the 13 objects under investigation. Results for reliable dates and provenances provide new foundations for historical interpretations.

Early mortality in multiple myeloma: the time-dependent impact of comorbidity: A population-based study in 621 real-life patients.

PubMed

Ríos-Tamayo, Rafael; Sáinz, Juan; Martínez-López, Joaquín; Puerta, José Manuel; Chang, Daysi-Yoe-Ling; Rodríguez, Teresa; Garrido, Pilar; de Veas, José Luís García; Romero, Antonio; Moratalla, Lucía; López-Fernández, Elisa; González, Pedro Antonio; Sánchez, María José; Jiménez-Moleón, José Juan; Jurado, Manuel; Lahuerta, Juan José

2016-07-01

Multiple myeloma is a heterogeneous disease with variable survival; this variability cannot be fully explained by the current systems of risk stratification. Early mortality remains a serious obstacle to further improve the trend toward increased survival demonstrated in recent years. However, the definition of early mortality is not standardized yet. Importantly, no study has focused on the impact of comorbidity on early mortality in multiple myeloma to date. Therefore, we analyzed the role of baseline comorbidity in a large population-based cohort of 621 real-life myeloma patients over a 31-year period. To evaluate early mortality, a sequential multivariate regression model at 2, 6, and 12 months from diagnosis was performed. It was demonstrated that comorbidity had an independent impact on early mortality, which is differential and time-dependent. Besides renal failure, respiratory disease at 2 months, liver disease at 6 months, and hepatitis virus C infection at 12 months, were, respectively, associated with early mortality, adjusting for other well-established prognostic factors. On the other hand, the long-term monitoring in our study points out a modest downward trend in early mortality over time. This is the first single institution population-based study aiming to assess the impact of comorbidity on early mortality in multiple myeloma. It is suggested that early mortality should be analyzed at three key time points (2, 6, and 12 months), in order to allow comparisons between studies. Comorbidity plays a critical role in the outcome of myeloma patients in terms of early mortality. Am. J. Hematol. 91:700-704, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Viscous cosmology for early- and late-time universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brevik, Iver; Grøn, Øyvind; de Haro, Jaume; Odintsov, Sergei D.; Saridakis, Emmanuel N.

From a hydrodynamicist’s point of view the inclusion of viscosity concepts in the macroscopic theory of the cosmic fluid would appear most natural, as an ideal fluid is after all an abstraction (exluding special cases such as superconductivity). Making use of modern observational results for the Hubble parameter plus standard Friedmann formalism, we may extrapolate the description of the universe back in time up to the inflationary era, or we may go to the opposite extreme and analyze the probable ultimate fate of the universe. In this review, we discuss a variety of topics in cosmology when it is enlarged in order to contain a bulk viscosity. Various forms of this viscosity, when expressed in terms of the fluid density or the Hubble parameter, are discussed. Furthermore, we consider homogeneous as well as inhomogeneous equations of state. We investigate viscous cosmology in the early universe, examining the viscosity effects on the various inflationary observables. Additionally, we study viscous cosmology in the late universe, containing current acceleration and the possible future singularities, and we investigate how one may even unify inflationary and late-time acceleration. Finally, we analyze the viscosity-induced crossing through the quintessence-phantom divide, we examine the realization of viscosity-driven cosmological bounces, and we briefly discuss how the Cardy-Verlinde formula is affected by viscosity.

Early medieval coinage in the territory of Slovenia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Šmit, Ž.; Šemrov, A.

2006-11-01

Silver coins minted in the territory of present Slovenia and neighboring countries Italy and Austria between the 12th and 14th century were analyzed by PIXE. Gold and bismuth were found as predominant impurities, which allowed distribution of coins into two groups. Coins with the predominant Bi impurity were minted from silver that was very likely mined in Carinthia and diffusion of this type of silver towards the mints in eastern Slovenia was observed. This finding confirms the historical hypothesis that silver currency in this period was largely produced for the trade with the east.

Ibn al-Haytham and His Influence on Post-Medieval Western Culture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Falco, Charles

Born in Basra in 965, but doing most of his work in Cairo's Al-Azhar Mosque, Ibn al-Haytham (Latinized as Alhazen or Alhacen) wrote nearly one hundred works on topics as diverse as optics, poetry and politics. For nearly four hundred years his treatment of a particular geometry of reflection from flat and curved surfaces has been known as ''Alhazen's problem,'' and today al-Haytham is primarily known for his writings on geometrical optics, astronomy, and mathematics. However, as I will discuss, with his landmark seven-volume Kitāb al-Manāzir [Book of Optics], published sometime between 1028 and 1038, al-Haytham made intellectual contributions that subsequently were incorporated throughout the core of post-Medieval Western culture. His seminal work on the human vision system initiated what remains an unbroken chain of development that connects 21st century optical scientists with the 11th century Ibn al-Haytham. The noted science historian, David Lindberg, wrote that ''Alhazen was undoubtedly the most significant figure in the history of optics between antiquity and the seventeenth century.'' Impressive and accurate as that characterization is, our recent discoveries show that it significantly understates the impact that al-Haytham had on areas as wide-ranging as the theology, literature, art, and science of Europe. Portions of this work was done in collaboration with David Hockney.

Tropical Pacific climate during the Medieval Climate Anomaly: progress and pitfalls

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cobb, K. M.; Westphal, N.; Charles, C.; Sayani, H. R.; Edwards, R. L.; Cheng, H.; Grothe, P. R.; Chen, T.; Hitt, N. T.; O'Connor, G.; Atwood, A. R.

2016-12-01

A vast trove of paleoclimate records indicates that the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA; 900-1200AD) was characterized by relative warmth throughout the Northern Hemisphere and significant hydroclimate anomalies - particularly well-resolved over North America - that posed a challenge to human populations. The global-scale nature of the climate anomalies has driven speculation that the tropical Pacific, with its rich spectrum of natural variability and far-reaching impact, may have undergone a prolonged reorganization during the MCA. While some key records from across the tropical Pacific document significant changes in temperature and/or hydrology, a dynamically-consistent picture of the MCA tropical Pacific climate state has proven elusive. In particular, there are few if any robust paleoclimate constraints from the central Pacific, where even modest changes in ocean temperature translate into distinct patterns of global atmospheric teleconnections. Here, we present a new collection of fossil coral multi-proxy records from Christmas Island (2N, 157W) that provide robust constraints on both temperature and hydrological changes during the MCA. We employ both modern coral data, instrumental climate data, and climate model output in developing a framework for quantifying the uncertainties associated with the new fossil coral data. In doing so, we illustrate the clear benefits of modern environmental monitoring campaigns that inform the generation of paleoclimate pseudo-proxies.

Mycobacterium leprae genomes from a British medieval leprosy hospital: towards understanding an ancient epidemic.

PubMed

Mendum, Tom A; Schuenemann, Verena J; Roffey, Simon; Taylor, G Michael; Wu, Huihai; Singh, Pushpendra; Tucker, Katie; Hinds, Jason; Cole, Stewart T; Kierzek, Andrzej M; Nieselt, Kay; Krause, Johannes; Stewart, Graham R

2014-04-08

Leprosy has afflicted humankind throughout history leaving evidence in both early texts and the archaeological record. In Britain, leprosy was widespread throughout the Middle Ages until its gradual and unexplained decline between the 14th and 16th centuries. The nature of this ancient endemic leprosy and its relationship to modern strains is only partly understood. Modern leprosy strains are currently divided into 5 phylogenetic groups, types 0 to 4, each with strong geographical links. Until recently, European strains, both ancient and modern, were thought to be exclusively type 3 strains. However, evidence for type 2 strains, a group normally associated with Central Asia and the Middle East, has recently been found in archaeological samples in Scandinavia and from two skeletons from the medieval leprosy hospital (or leprosarium) of St Mary Magdalen, near Winchester, England. Here we report the genotypic analysis and whole genome sequencing of two further ancient M. leprae genomes extracted from the remains of two individuals, Sk14 and Sk27, that were excavated from 10th-12th century burials at the leprosarium of St Mary Magdalen. DNA was extracted from the surfaces of bones showing osteological signs of leprosy. Known M. leprae polymorphisms were PCR amplified and Sanger sequenced, while draft genomes were generated by enriching for M. leprae DNA, and Illumina sequencing. SNP-typing and phylogenetic analysis of the draft genomes placed both of these ancient strains in the conserved type 2 group, with very few novel SNPs compared to other ancient or modern strains. The genomes of the two newly sequenced M. leprae strains group firmly with other type 2F strains. Moreover, the M. leprae strain most closely related to one of the strains, Sk14, in the worldwide phylogeny is a contemporaneous ancient St Magdalen skeleton, vividly illustrating the epidemic and clonal nature of leprosy at this site. The prevalence of these type 2 strains indicates that type 2F strains

Normal Mode Analysis of Ambient-Noise Induced Free Oscillations of a Slender Medieval Masonry Tower in Bologna (Italy)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morelli, A.; Azzara, R. M.; Cavaliere, A.; Zaccarelli, L.

2014-12-01

Analysis of the oscillations of buildings — either excited by earthquakes or by ambient noise — has become an effective tool to evaluate the response of such structures to strong ground motion, and hence to assess their seismic vulnerability. Response to small-amplitude ground motion may also provide crucial information on the elastic and anelastic properties of a structure — essential in the case of historical buildings — and constrain numerical full dynamic structural analyses. We report about an analysis carried out for a tall medieval monumental building in the urban center of the Norther Italian city of Bologna. Seismic monitoring, carried on for six months using field seismic instrumentation, has revealed the response to ambient noise, and has allowed to reconstruct, with high detail, the free oscillation modes of the tower. At 97 meters, the XII-century tower of the Asinelli is the tallest masonry building in Europe, and the most slender. We measured the fundamental, and several higher-order, flexural normal modes of oscillation, as well as the fundamental torsional mode. Asymmetry due to non-coincidence of centers of mass and of stiffness produces slightly different modal frequencies of oscillation in two orthogonal directions, consistently with dynamical modeling. Horizontal particle-motion polarization plots show the cyclic energy transfer between two degrees of freedom of the system. The Asinelli spectral signature can also be easily recognized in the motion recorded at the base of nearby Garisenda. We verify that there is correlation of spectral amplitudes with time of the day — in agreement with expected time-variance of anthropic disturbance —- but also with wind velocity and, intriguingly, with temperature variations inside the buidings. We are using these data to adjust the numerical dynamical models of the buildings, to examine time variations of behavior, and to identify the origin of anthropogenic sources of vibration in view of their

[Childhood in flux--Part I: Ancient world until modern times].

PubMed

Hardt, Jochen; Hoffmann, Sven Olaf

2006-01-01

Scientific research on childhood constitutes a relatively new field. As we know today, there is no other period in our lives that more strongly forms us and our culture. Hence, it is surprising that in the past this viewpoint was completely different. Until medieval times, a child's life did not count for much, that is, as long as the child was not the beneficiary of an inheritance. And even if so, social relationships were businesslike, e.g. concerning marriage. J.-J. Rousseau (1712-1778) demonstrated the worthlessness of children even in his recognition of them: The nature of humans is neither good nor bad, and is hardly different from that of animals. Despite Rousseau's idealistic concept of education as a kind of identification process for the child, he put his own five children into the foundling hospital of Paris; he was bothered by them when writing. Up to the beginning of the 19th century, the value of a child was determined by his or her ability to work. In the years 1813 to 1814 in Great Britain, 130,000 out of 213,000 weavers were children under the age of 14. Children had to take part in breadwinning at an early age; their character was regarded as being like that of an immature adult (i. e., a small barbarian). Specific childlike needs were rarely met or even acknowledged by adults.

Return to work after early part-time sick leave due to musculoskeletal disorders: a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Viikari-Juntura, Eira; Kausto, Johanna; Shiri, Rahman; Kaila-Kangas, Leena; Takala, Esa-Pekka; Karppinen, Jaro; Miranda, Helena; Luukkonen, Ritva; Martimo, Kari-Pekka

2012-03-01

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of early part-time sick leave on return to work (RTW) and sickness absence among patients with musculoskeletal disorders. A randomized controlled trial was conducted in six occupational health units of medium- and large-size enterprises. Patients aged 18-60 years with musculoskeletal disorders (N=63) unable to perform their regular work were randomly allocated to part- or full-time sick leave. In the former group, workload was reduced by restricting work time by about a half. Remaining work tasks were modified when necessary, as specified in a "fit note" from the physician. The main outcomes were time to return to regular work activities and sickness absence during 12-month follow-up. Time to RTW sustained for ≥4 weeks was shorter in the intervention group (median 12 versus 20 days, P=0.10). Hazard ratio of RTW adjusted for age was 1.60 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.98-2.63] and 1.76 (95% CI 1.21-2.56) after further adjustment for pain interference with sleep and previous sickness absence at baseline. Total sickness absence during the 12-month follow-up was about 20% lower in the intervention than the control group. Compliance with the intervention was high with no discontinuations of part-time sick leave due to musculoskeletal reasons. Early part-time sick leave may provide a faster and more sustainable return to regular duties than full-time sick leave among patients with musculoskeletal disorders. This is the first study to show that work participation can be safely increased with early part-time sick leave.

Synchronization of the astronomical time scales in the Early Toarcian: A link between anoxia, carbon-cycle perturbation, mass extinction and volcanism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ait-Itto, Fatima-Zahra; Martinez, Mathieu; Price, Gregory D.; Ait Addi, Abdellah

2018-07-01

The Late Pliensbachian-Early Toarcian is a pivotal time in the Mesozoic era, marked by pronounced carbon-isotope excursions, biotic crises and major climatic and oceanographic changes. Here we present new high-resolution carbon-isotope and magnetic-susceptibility measurements from an expanded hemipelagic Late Pliensbachian-Early Toarcian section from the Middle Atlas Basin (Morocco). Our new astronomical calibration allows the construction of an orbital time scale based on the 100-kyr eccentricity cycle. The Early Toarcian Polymorphum Zone contains 10 to 10.5 repetitions of the 100-kyr eccentricity both in the carbon-isotope and the magnetic-susceptibility data, leading to an average duration of 1.00 ± 0.08 myr. We also show that the Late Pliensbachian-Early Toarcian global carbon-cycle perturbation has an average duration of 0.24 ± 0.02 myr. These durations are comparable to previous astrochronological time scales provided for this time interval in the most complete sections of the Tethyan area, and longer than what has been provided in condensed sections. Anchoring this framework on published radiometric ages and astrochronological time scales, we estimate that the carbon-cycle perturbation of the Late Pliensbachian-Early Toarcian corresponds with the early phase of the Karoo and Chonke Aike large igneous provinces. Likewise, our new age constraints confirm that the Toarcian oceanic anoxic event is synchronous to the main phase of the Ferrar volcanic activity. Thus, these successive and short phases of the volcanic activity may have been at the origin of the successive phases of the mass extinctions observed in marine biotas in the Pliensbachian and Toarcian times.

Embodied Spirituality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trousdale, Ann

2013-01-01

This article explores the concept of embodied spirituality from early Celtic traditions through the British medieval mystic Julian of Norwich to the present day. A "high theology" of the body in early Christianity and early Christian understandings of the relation among body, soul and spirit gave way to the influences of Greek thought with its…

Reaction Time is a Marker of Early Cognitive and Behavioral Alterations in Pure Cerebral Small Vessel Disease.

PubMed

Jouvent, Eric; Reyes, Sonia; De Guio, François; Chabriat, Hugues

2015-01-01

The assessment of early and subtle cognitive and behavioral effects of cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) requires specific and long-lasting evaluations performed by experienced neuropsychologists. Simpler tools would be helpful for daily clinical practice. To determine whether a simple reaction time task that lasts 5 minutes and can be performed without external supervision on any tablet or laptop can be used as a proxy of early cognitive and behavioral alterations in CADASIL (Cerebral Autosomal Dominant Arteriopathy with Subcortical Infarcts and Leukoencephalopathy), a monogenic form of pure SVD related to NOTCH3 mutations. Twenty-two genetically confirmed patients with CADASIL having preserved global cognitive abilities and without disability (MMSE >24 and modified Rankin's scale ≤1) were compared to 29 age-and-gender matched controls to determine group differences according to: 1) conventional neuropsychological and behavioral testing; 2) a computerized battery evaluating reaction time, processing speed, and executive functions. In a second step, correlations between reaction time and cognitive and behavioral alterations detected using both conventional and computerized testing were tested in patients. Reaction time was significantly higher in patients than in controls (mean in patients: 283 ms - in controls: 254 ms, p = 0.03). In patients, reaction time was significantly associated with conventional and chronometric tests of executive functions, working memory, and apathy. Reaction time obtained using a very simple task may serve as a proxy of early cognitive and behavioral alterations in SVD and could be easily used in daily clinical practice.

Bim from Laser SCANS… not Just for Buildings: Nurbs-Based Parametric Modeling of a Medieval Bridge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barazzetti, L.; Banfi, F.; Brumana, R.; Previtali, M.; Roncoroni, F.

2016-06-01

Building Information Modelling is not limited to buildings. BIM technology includes civil infrastructures such as roads, dams, bridges, communications networks, water and wastewater networks and tunnels. This paper describes a novel methodology for the generation of a detailed BIM of a complex medieval bridge. The use of laser scans and images coupled with the development of algorithms able to handle irregular shapes allowed the creation of advanced parametric objects, which were assembled to obtain an accurate BIM. The lack of existing object libraries required the development of specific families for the different structural elements of the bridge. Finally, some applications aimed at assessing the stability and safety of the bridge are illustrated and discussed. The BIM of the bridge can incorporate this information towards a new "BIMonitoring" concept to preserve the geometric complexity provided by point clouds, obtaining a detailed BIM with object relationships and attributes.

Reconstruction of the inventory of materia medica used by members of the Jewish community of medieval Cairo according to prescriptions found in the Taylor-Schechter Genizah collection, Cambridge.

PubMed

Lev, Efraim; Amar, Zohar

2006-12-06

The Taylor-Schechter (T-S) collection at Cambridge University Library is the biggest of all Cairo Genizah collections in the world. The importance and the potential of research into the medical aspects of the Genizah documents were clear to researcher since the early 1960s. A few works have been published since, usually focusing on one subject, or even important single manuscripts. The current research concerned mainly with one aspect of the history of medicine of the Jewish community of Cairo (as a reflection of Eastern medieval societies), namely the practical uses of natural substances for medicine. The most interesting and original information is undoubtedly to be found in the 141 prescriptions, as they reflect the medical reality that actually existed. And indeed, 242 substances were recorded in the prescriptions identified: 195 substances of plants origin (80.6%), 27 inorganic materials (11.2%) and 20 substances of animal origin (8.2%) were recorded as being in practical used for medicinal purposes. The most frequently mentioned substances were the rose, myrobalan, sugar, almonds, and endive. The most prevalent ailments: eye diseases, headache, constipations (purgative), cough, skin diseases, stomach, fever, gynaecological problems, haemorrhoids, liver ailments, lice, swellings, dental trouble, ulcers, and problems of the urinary tract.

Methods for Detecting Early Warnings of Critical Transitions in Time Series Illustrated Using Simulated Ecological Data

PubMed Central

Dakos, Vasilis; Carpenter, Stephen R.; Brock, William A.; Ellison, Aaron M.; Guttal, Vishwesha; Ives, Anthony R.; Kéfi, Sonia; Livina, Valerie; Seekell, David A.; van Nes, Egbert H.; Scheffer, Marten

2012-01-01

Many dynamical systems, including lakes, organisms, ocean circulation patterns, or financial markets, are now thought to have tipping points where critical transitions to a contrasting state can happen. Because critical transitions can occur unexpectedly and are difficult to manage, there is a need for methods that can be used to identify when a critical transition is approaching. Recent theory shows that we can identify the proximity of a system to a critical transition using a variety of so-called ‘early warning signals’, and successful empirical examples suggest a potential for practical applicability. However, while the range of proposed methods for predicting critical transitions is rapidly expanding, opinions on their practical use differ widely, and there is no comparative study that tests the limitations of the different methods to identify approaching critical transitions using time-series data. Here, we summarize a range of currently available early warning methods and apply them to two simulated time series that are typical of systems undergoing a critical transition. In addition to a methodological guide, our work offers a practical toolbox that may be used in a wide range of fields to help detect early warning signals of critical transitions in time series data. PMID:22815897

Spotted phenotypes in horses lost attractiveness in the Middle Ages

PubMed Central

Wutke, Saskia; Benecke, Norbert; Sandoval-Castellanos, Edson; Döhle, Hans-Jürgen; Friederich, Susanne; Gonzalez, Javier; Hallsson, Jón Hallsteinn; Hofreiter, Michael; Lõugas, Lembi; Magnell, Ola; Morales-Muniz, Arturo; Orlando, Ludovic; Pálsdóttir, Albína Hulda; Reissmann, Monika; Ruttkay, Matej; Trinks, Alexandra; Ludwig, Arne

2016-01-01

Horses have been valued for their diversity of coat colour since prehistoric times; this is especially the case since their domestication in the Caspian steppe in ~3,500 BC. Although we can assume that human preferences were not constant, we have only anecdotal information about how domestic horses were influenced by humans. Our results from genotype analyses show a significant increase in spotted coats in early domestic horses (Copper Age to Iron Age). In contrast, medieval horses carried significantly fewer alleles for these phenotypes, whereas solid phenotypes (i.e., chestnut) became dominant. This shift may have been supported because of (i) pleiotropic disadvantages, (ii) a reduced need to separate domestic horses from their wild counterparts, (iii) a lower religious prestige, or (iv) novel developments in weaponry. These scenarios may have acted alone or in combination. However, the dominance of chestnut is a remarkable feature of the medieval horse population. PMID:27924839

Bullying Behavior, Parents' Work Hours and Early Adolescents' Perceptions of Time Spent with Parents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Christie-Mizell, C. Andre; Keil, Jacqueline M.; Laske, Mary Therese; Stewart, Jennifer

2011-01-01

This research investigates the relationships among bullying behavior, mother's and father's work hours, and early adolescents' perceptions of whether they spend sufficient time with their parents. In cross-sectional models, we find maternal work hours are modestly associated with increases in bullying behavior. However, in more rigorous change…

Inside stories: maternal representations of first time mothers from pre-pregnancy to early pregnancy.

PubMed

Hopkins, Julia; Clarke, David; Cross, Wendy

2014-03-01

According to the psychoanalytical literature, it is during pregnancy that maternal representations of the mother-infant relationship become activated. Midwives who are engaged with the mother and the baby have not drawn upon this concept in their practice. In order for this to happen, it is important to understand better the nature of maternal representations and when they are activated from empirical studies. The research question is: what are the maternal representations of a group of first time mothers from pre-pregnancy, early pregnancy and to the first ultrasound. A narrative approach was used to gain insight into the maternal representations of first time pregnant womens' account of their representations. The analysis method was based on thematic approach. Fifteen women aged between 23 and 38 years. A midwives clinic attached to a tertiary hospital in Melbourne, Australia. First-time pregnant women's maternal representations were activated when a woman begins to plan her pregnancy ('the time is right'), again at the onset of physical changes to her body as a result of conception ('my body is changing'), and at the first early ultrasound at around twelve weeks ('it' is a real baby). Maternal representations are important for the midwife and pregnant women because this concept provides another understanding in relation to the psychological dimension of pregnancy. Copyright © 2013 Australian College of Midwives. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Eyeless in Gaza: Some Reflections on Teaching Early English Literature in Israel

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ebel, Julia

1973-01-01

The author makes, in her words, a simplistic parallel between the rejection of white culture by American Negroes and the rejection of western literature, particularly the predominantly Christian literature of the Medieval and Renaissance periods in England. (MM)

Parental Monitoring during Early Adolescence Deters Adolescent Sexual Initiation: Discrete-Time Survival Mixture Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huang, David Y. C.; Murphy, Debra A.; Hser, Yih-Ing

2011-01-01

We used discrete-time survival mixture modeling to examine 5,305 adolescents from the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth regarding the impact of parental monitoring during early adolescence (ages 14-16) on initiation of sexual intercourse and problem behavior engagement (ages 14-23). Four distinctive parental-monitoring groups were…

Soil pollution indices conditioned by medieval metallurgical activity - A case study from Krakow (Poland).

PubMed

Kowalska, Joanna; Mazurek, Ryszard; Gąsiorek, Michał; Setlak, Marcin; Zaleski, Tomasz; Waroszewski, Jaroslaw

2016-11-01

The studied soil profile under the Main Market Square (MMS) in Krakow was characterised by the influence of medieval metallurgical activity. In the presented soil section lithological discontinuity (LD) was found, which manifests itself in the form of cultural layers (CLs). Moreover, in this paper LD detection methods based on soil texture are presented. For the first time, three different ways to identify the presence of LD in the urban soils are suggested. The presence of LD had an influence on the content and distribution of heavy metals within the soil profile. The content of heavy metals in the CLs under the MMS in Krakow was significantly higher than the content in natural horizons. In addition, there were distinct differences in the content of heavy metals within CLs. Profile variability and differences in the content of heavy metals and phosphorus within the CLs under the MMS were activity indicators of Krakow inhabitants in the past. This paper presents alternative methods for the assessment of the degree of heavy metal contamination in urban soils using selected pollution indices. On the basis of the studied total concentration of heavy metals (Zn, Pb, Cu, Mn, Cr, Cd, Ni, Sn, Ag) and total phosphorus content, the Geoaccumulation Index (I geo ), Enrichment Factor (EF), Sum of Pollution Index (PI sum ), Single Pollution Index (PI), Nemerow Pollution Index (PI Nemerow ) and Potential Ecological Risk (RI) were calculated using different local and reference geochemical backgrounds. The use of various geochemical backgrounds is helpful to evaluate the assessment of soil pollution. The individual CLs differed from each other according to the degree of pollution. The different values of pollution indices within the studied soil profile showed that LDS should not be evaluated in terms of contamination as one, homogeneous soil profile but each separate CL should be treated individually. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Overestimation of the earthquake hazard along the Himalaya: constraints in bracketing of medieval earthquakes from paleoseismic studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)