Linear B Mycenaean Greek and medical nomenclature.

This brief report is intended to call attention to the fact that we use some very old terms in our daily medical speaking that were in use about 3500 years ago and were probably uttered as early as the late Bronze Age by Achilles, Agamennon and the other Homeric heroes outside the walls of Troy.

Two paleopathological cases suggestive of paralabral cysts of the shoulder.

Objective: To undertake differential diagnosis of scapular bone defects found in two medieval skeletons buried in different necropoles of Friuli Venezia Giulia (Italy) and to evaluate the clinical significance of paralabral cysts in the context of shoulder pathology.

Materials: Individual JoT36 is an adult male exhumed from a necropolis belonging to a rural agricultural settlement dated to the 10th to 11th century A.D.

The Cerebral Cortex and the Songs of Homer: When Neuroscience Meets History and Literature.

In this article we reconsider Homer's poetry in the light of modern achievements in neuroscience. This perspective offers some clues for examining specific patterns of brain functioning. Homer's epics, for instance, painted a synthetic picture of the human body, emphasizing some parts and neglecting others.

The craniovertebral junction, between osseous variants and abnormalities: insight from a paleo-osteological study.

The bony components of the craniovertebral junction (CVJ) have been investigated in 172 skeletons, dug up from several archaeological sites, to define the frequency of developmental dysmorphisms, and to acquire qualitative and quantitative data about their morphology. A review of the pertinent literature is also presented. Twenty-five individuals (14.

The fundamental contribution of James Maxwell Ross Cormack (1909-1975) in suggesting the term "apoptosis".

This study highlights the historical contribution of Professor James Cormack by providing a Greek term that describes the process of programmed cell death. In 1972 the ancient Greek word "apoptosis" first appeared in the scientific literature. This short manuscript will examine the actual meaning of the term and its historical and phylological background.