History of Mammography: Analysis of Breast Imaging Diagnostic Achievements over the Last Century.

Breast cancer is the most common forms of cancer and a leading cause of mortality in women. Early and correct diagnosis is, therefore, essential to save lives. The development of diagnostic imaging applied to the breast has been impressive in recent years and the most used diagnostic test in the world is mammography, a low-dose X-ray technique used for imaging the breast.

Analysis of the corrosive effects of hydrochloric acid (HCl) on human bone: Preliminary microscopic study and observations for forensic purposes.

The destruction of a corpse in caustic acid can cause complex forensic scenarios to deal with. Furthermore, the literature on the subject is poor, having been the few studies carried out only on animal bones. We carried out an experimental analysis on human cranial, ribs, vertebrae, and femur bone fragments.

Accessory sacroiliac joints and the iliosacral complex: two case studies from a medieval and post-medieval cemetery in northern Italy.

The detection of parturition markers on archaeological pelvic bones is relevant for the reconstruction of the biological profiles of female individuals, in whose life history pregnancy represents a crucial biological event. During a preliminary study on a sample of 18 individuals from the medieval and post-medieval cemetery of San Biagio in Cittiglio (northern Italy), two skeletons exhibited evidence of noteworthy bony projections at the sacroiliac level. In clinical studies, these occurrences can be connected to several biological variables such as age, obesity, and multiple births, suggesting that they are a possible consequence of weight-bearing stresses.

Pietro Pacifico Gamondi (1914-1993), tropical physician and ethnologist. A protagonist of medical research in the middle of the 20th century.

Pietro Pacifico Gamondi was a tropical physician, who was one of the main protagonists of medical research during the 20th century. His training as a doctor first saw him in Rome following doctor Aldo Castellani. Gamondi then left for Lisbon, London, and the extra-European countries that have characterized his path as a doctor and as a man.

Lithographic lecture notes. A tool of forensic medicine teaching. Observation on the lessons of Paolo Pellacani (1884-1885), forensic physician at the University of Pavia.

We focus our attention on the use of lithographed lecture notes written by professors, or more often by students, in the teaching of medicine and surgery courses, between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a period in which, to better understand the phenomena underlying life and death, collaboration between medical professionals and natural science researchers was intense (1). In particular, we analyzed the lithographed lecture notes of Professor Paolo Pellacani at the University of Pavia for the course of legal medicine.

History of use and abuse of X-ray: the early 20th century Italian pediatrics school.

In our paper we report a brief history of the X-rays discovery and discuss the implications of their use and abuse in the Italian pedriatic schools of the early 20th century. Indeed, history of the X-ray treatment in the Italian Pediatric School has not yet been well studied. Even if the scientific experience of many physicians is well known in literature, a summary was missing.

The Acetylcholine Therapy in the Treatment of Schizophrenia - The Experience of Mario Fiamberti in the Hospital of Varese (1937).

In the first half of the 20th century, in most European countries, it was thought that cholinesterase and other drugs that counteract acetylcholine should reduce the manifestations of schizophrenia. In 1937, Fiamberti (1894-1970) introduced the transorbital method of lobotomy which established the use of acetylcholine shock treatment for curing the disturbances of schizophrenia. Accepting the idea that the psychic alterations of schizophrenia were caused by a pathological interruption of nerve conduction at a presumably cortical level, Fiamberti thought he could apply this to the clinical field using the properties of acetylcholine, an acetic ester of choline.

Osteoarchaeology and the History of Medicine in our experience.

The encounter between archaeology and medicine is no longer the result of sporadic or intermittent research. Stemming from different areas of expertise and training, as well as historical sciences, archaeology, biology and medicine, common investigative objectives must come together in a coordinated manner. However, defining the boundaries of different areas of work, collaboration, interferences and interconnections is not an easy task.

Olive oil in pharmacological and cosmetic traditions.

Among the numerous natural substances used in medical remedies, oil certainly plays an important role and, over the centuries, there have been many functions and properties attributed to it. We present the processes that have seen it as protagonist in the pharmacological field and in the cosmetic field.

Osteological evidence of metabolic diseases from a post medieval North Italy archaeological site.

Skeletal lesions related to metabolic diseases in children have been systematically investigated in paleopathological literature only in recent years. This work presents an infant pathological specimen from the post-medieval cemetery of the St. Mary's Nativity church (15th-18th centuries, Segno, Trento, Trentino, Northeast Italy).

Some observations on the signs of certain death in the 18th century.

In 1783, the work of Ferdinand de la Boissiere, Letters above the certainty of death signs with various observations and experiences over the drowned, was published in Rome. Manuscript is a translation of the French work of Antoine Louis, Lettres sur la certitude des signes de la mort, printed in France in 1752 and in which the surgeon discussed on the certain diagnosis of death. The Louis's work represented an important contribute of medicine especially because in the 18th century only the appearance of the first putrefactive processes was recognized as the indisputable sign of death.

The Italian law on informed consent and advance directives: New rules of conduct for the autonomy of doctors and patients in end-of-life care.

Purpose: Italy has long lacked a law regulating patients' informed consent and advance directives (ADs). All previous attempts to introduce a law on this matter failed to reach positive outcomes, and aroused heated ideological debate over the exact meaning of life and death. We report on the new law on informed consent and ADs approved by the Italian Parliament on 14th December 2017.

[New italian law about end of life: self-determination and shared care pathway.].

The Italian Parliament has recently approved the Law n. 219/2017 concerning "Rules on informed consent and advance directives". The manuscript points out the main key points of the new law, in order to clarify the role of the advance directives and to provide clear operational guidelines for healthcare personnel.

An Osteological Museum inside the Varese Medical School? A proposal from the Medical, Antropological and Paleopatological point of view.

Not available.

[Ethical aspects of medical thought on the madness in the enlightenment].

The seventeenth century is a period of transition from religious views that are not authentic but dogmatic about demonic influences to the application of scientific and methodological criteria in science. During Enlightenment there was an approach heavily influenced by ethical issues. In this context, there is a rational recognition of the value of man free from the teleological type references.

[Angelo de Vincenti and the history of neurology].

Angelo De Vincenti was been considered are of the pioneers of neurology in Italy. He left few printed works and of testimonies of his clinical and managerial activity; this article deals in particular with De Vincenti's fundamental promoting the therapeutical role in value of Terme di Salice in the first years of xx XIX century.