Activity induced worsening of a tuberculous process in the vertebral column of a Late Bronze Age female from Liushui, Xinjiang (China)?

The partial skeleton of a 22-24-year old female from Liushui, Southern Silk Road, Xinjiang (China) was analyzed using morphological and biochemical methods. The most striking finding in this individual of a Late Bronze Age mounted nomadic population was the complete ossification of the caudal vertebral column including parts of the ligaments of this region due to chronic tuberculosis (Pott's disease). The morphological diagnosis is definitely confirmed by the results of the proteomic analysis.

A possible case of Langerhans-cell histiocytosis? Differential diagnosis in a rare case from the Late Antiquity Bavaria (Germany).

Objective: To outline the importance of accurate diagnosis in ancient rare diseases by presenting a possible case of Langerhans-cell histiocytosis.

Materials: Skeletal elements from a well-preserved skeleton of a nine to eleven-year-old, probably female child who lived around 300-400 AD Late Roman Neuburg / Donau (Germany).

Methods: Macroscopic, radiologic, light and scanning-electron microscopic and physical techniques were used.

Rare Case of an Ancient Craniofacial Osteosarcoma with Probable Surgical Intervention.

Osteosarcoma is the most common primary malignant bone tumor both today and in antiquity. Nevertheless, it is a comparatively rare tumor. This paper describes a case of a highly aggressive craniofacial lesion from the 11th-12th centuries AD, most likely representing osteosarcoma.

AG 85, a major secretion protein of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, can be identified in ancient bone.

For the confirmation of Ag 85 in ancient and recent ECM of native macerated human bone, five cases were investigated. In three individuals, highly positive results for Ag 85 were identified in Western blot: 1) a male from Arzhan, South Siberia, dating from the 7th century BC, 2) a male from Kirchberg in Hesse, Germany, dating from the 10th - 12th century AD and 3) a recent female with a proven diagnosis of TB. As a negative control, a recent male is presented who did not suffer from TB.

Two positive tuberculosis cases in the late Nigrovits family, 18th century, Vác, Hungary.

Two mummies of the Hungarian mummy collection from Vác were the subjects of anthropological, paleopathological, radiological, paleomicrobiological, paleohistological and paleoproteomic studies. Both individuals belonged to the same family. The father, József Nigrovits (No 29), died at the age of 55 on the 11th of November 1793; his son, Antal Nigrovits (No 54), died on the 16th of July 1803, at the age of 22.

Is it possible to diagnose TB in ancient bone using microscopy?

In paleopathology, light microscopy, particularly the use of polarized transmission light, is highly valued for the establishment of reliable diagnoses. Recently, there has been a considerable widening of our experience in the diagnosis of pathological conditions at the micro-level using thin-ground sections prepared from archaeological bone. Thus, the question has arisen as to whether it might also be possible to diagnose tuberculous disease in archaeological bone using microscopy.

Earliest evidence for social endogamy in the 9,000-year-old-population of Basta, Jordan.

The transition from mobile to sedentary life was one of the greatest social challenges of the human past. Yet little is known about the impact of this fundamental change on social interactions amongst early Neolithic communities, which are best recorded in the Near East. The importance of social processes associated with these economic and ecological changes has long been underestimated.

Oldest known case of metastasizing prostate carcinoma diagnosed in the skeleton of a 2,700-year-old Scythian king from Arzhan (Siberia, Russia).

To determine whether a 2,700-year-old tumor can be reliably diagnosed using microscopic and proteomic techniques and whether such prostate carcinomas show the same morphological pattern at the micro-level as modern-day carcinomas, this case was investigated. A 40-50-year-old Scythian king who lived during the Iron Age in the steppe of Southern Siberia (Russia) suffered from macroscopically visible osteoblastic and osteoclastic lesions throughout his entire skeleton. Macro-morphological (macroscopy, endoscopy, radiology) and micro-morphological techniques (histology, scanning-electron microscopy) as well as proteomic techniques (1-D- and 2-D-electrophoresis, Western blot) were applied.

Intact growth factors are conserved in the extracellular matrix of ancient human bone and teeth: a storehouse for the study of human evolution in health and disease.

For the first time we have extracted, solubilized and identified growth factors, such as insulin growth factor II (IGF-II), bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2), and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta), from archaeological compact human bone and tooth dentin dating from the late pre-ceramic pottery Neolithic (late PPNB) and the early Middle Ages. These factors are typical of special physiological or pathological situations in the metabolism of bone. The extracellular matrix proteins from bone and teeth of individuals from the late PPNB and early Middle Ages were separated by 2-D electrophoresis and more than 300 different protein spots were detected by silver staining.

Bone protects proteins over thousands of years: extraction, analysis, and interpretation of extracellular matrix proteins in archeological skeletal remains.

In a good state of preservation, bone conserves the entire protein pattern of extracellular bone matrix proteins over thousands of years. The quality of the profiles of matrix proteins isolated from ancient bones (ranging from the pre-Pottery Neolithic Phase to Early Modern Times from different archaeological sites in different geographical areas), separated by electrophoresis, is as good as those from recent bones. Molecules arising from collagenous proteins (e.