Histology of pulmonary tuberculosis in a 19th-century mummy from Comiso (Sicily, Italy).

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate potential evidence of tuberculosis in mummified remains.

Materials: The natural mummy of an anonymous friar from the mortuary chapel of the church of Santa Maria della Grazia in Comiso (Sicily) METHODS: The mummy was studied through macroscopic examination; tissue sampling was conducted through breaches in the dorsal surface of the thorax. Radiological, histological and immunohistochemical analyses were performed on the pulmonary parenchyma.

Proposed complementary osteological indicators: Advancing the estimation of puberty stages in Bioarcheology.

Objectives: The study of puberty is a well-established area of bioarcheological research, which greatly enhances our understanding of adolescence and growth in the past. Since the publications of Shapland and Lewis' works, which have become "standards" for estimating puberty in skeletal material, no additional osteological indicators of puberty have been proposed. Nevertheless, clinical practice constantly develops skeletal maturation markers that could be useful in bioarcheology.

Diets, stress, and disease in the Etruscan society: Isotope analysis and infantile skeletal palaeopathology from Pontecagnano (Campania, southern Italy, 730-580 BCE).

Susceptibility to morbidity and mortality is increased in early life, yet proactive measures, such as breastfeeding and weaning practices, can be taken through specific investments from parents and wider society. The extent to which such biosocialcultural investment was achieved within 1st millennium BCE Etruscan society, of whom little written sources are available, is unkown. This research investigates life histories in non-adults and adults from Pontecagnano (southern Italy, 730-580 BCE) in order to track cross-sectional and longitudinal breastfeeding and weaning patterns and to characterize the diet more broadly.

Infantile scurvy as a consequence of agricultural intensification in the 1st millennium BCE Etruria Campana.

The 1st millennium BCE in Italy was a time of agricultural intensification of staple cereal production which shaped sociocultural, political, and economic spheres of pre-Roman groups. The lifeways and foodways of the Etruscans, the greatest civilization in western Europe before Roman hegemony, are traditionally inferred from secondary written sources, funerary archaeology, archaeobotany, and zooarchaeology. However, no direct data extrapolated from the study of human skeletal remains are available to evaluate the extent to which agricultural intensification and decreased dietary diversity impacted health and the expression of skeletal indicators of metabolic disease.

A 14th century CE Brucella melitensis genome and the recent expansion of the Western Mediterranean clade.

Brucellosis is a disease caused by the bacterium Brucella and typically transmitted through contact with infected ruminants. It is one of the most common chronic zoonotic diseases and of particular interest to public health agencies. Despite its well-known transmission history and characteristic symptoms, we lack a more complete understanding of the evolutionary history of its best-known species-Brucella melitensis.

Solitary osteochondromas in paleo-oncology: A case report from 4th-century BCE Pontecagnano (southern Italy).

Objective: This study presents a new case of solitary osteochondroma (SOC) identified on the proximal tibia of a 4th-century BCE individual from Pontecagnano (Salerno, Italy) with an aim to contribute to differential diagnosis of bone tumors in archeological contexts.

Materials: Paleopathological assessment of a male individual with an estimated age-at death of 45.9-62.

Contextualizing bilateral asymmetry and gender: A multivariate approach to femoral cross-sectional geometry at rural Medieval Pieve di Pava, Italy.

Objectives: Our objective was to identify the relationship between biocultural factors of sex-gender and age and patterns of femoral cross-sectional geometry with historical evidence about labor and activity from an archeological skeletal sample excavated from the rural Medieval site Pieve di Pava.

Materials And Methods: The study site, Pieve di Pava, was a rural parish cemetery in Tuscany with osteoarcheological remains from the 7th to 12th centuries. Cross-sectional geometric analysis of femora from 110 individuals dated to the 10th-12th centuries were used to examine trends in bone quantity, shape, and bending strength between age and sex groups, as well as in clusters identified through Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA).

Back to the Middle Ages: Entomological and Botanical Elements Reveal New Aspects of the Burial of Saint Davino of Armenia.

The natural mummy of Saint Davino Armeno (11th century) is preserved in the church of Saint Michele in Foro in the city of Lucca (Tuscany, Central Italy). The body of Davino is one of the oldest Italian mummies of a Saint, and his paleopathological study was performed in 2018. In the present research, we investigated the arthropod fragments and botanical remains collected from the body, coffin, and fabrics of Saint Davino.

Osteoma of the zygomatic bone from 16th century Sardinia (Italy) in the framework of a paleoepidemiological study.

Objective: The aim of this paper is to evaluate a case of osteoma of the zygomatic bone in a post-medieval individual in the context of a paleoepidemiological approach.

Materials: Forty-five skulls from the plague cemetery of Alghero (Sardinia, Italy), dating back to the end of the 16th century, were evaluated for the presence of osteomata on the outer surface of the cranial vault and facial bones.

Methods: Macroscopic examination was performed using standard anthropological methods.

Examining pathogen DNA recovery across the remains of a 14th century Italian friar (Blessed Sante) infected with Brucella melitensis.

Objective: To investigate variation in ancient DNA recovery of Brucella melitensis, the causative agent of brucellosis, from multiple tissues belonging to one individual MATERIALS: 14 samples were analyzed from the mummified remains of the Blessed Sante, a 14 century Franciscan friar from central Italy, with macroscopic diagnosis of probable brucellosis.

Methods: Shotgun sequencing data from was examined to determine the presence of Brucella DNA.

Results: Three of the 14 samples contained authentic ancient DNA, identified as belonging to B.

A 16 century Escherichia coli draft genome associated with an opportunistic bile infection.

Escherichia coli - one of the most characterized bacteria and a major public health concern - remains invisible across the temporal landscape. Here, we present the meticulous reconstruction of the first ancient E. coli genome from a 16 century gallstone from an Italian mummy with chronic cholecystitis.

Exploring activity-induced dental modifications in medieval Pieve di Pava (central Italy, 10th-12th centuries AD).

Objective: This study aims to investigate the following aspects: i) presence of activity-induced dental modifications (AIDMs) in a medieval population from Pieve di Pava (Siena, central Italy); ii) sex-specific and age-specific distribution of AIDMs in the sample; iii) potential correlations between AIDMs and the tradi tional activities and cultural habits of rural communities in medieval Italy.

Design: The permanent teeth of 204 individuals buried at Pieve di Pava (10th-12th centuries AD) were systematically examined in order to assess the distribution of five types of AIDM, i.e.

Paleopathology of Endocranial Lesions: A Possible Case of a Middle Meningeal Artery Aneurysm in an Etruscan Child from Pontecagnano (Southern Italy).

A middle meningeal artery (MMA) aneurysm is a type of intracranial aneurysm that has been rarely documented and is not completely understood in clinical medicine and especially in pediatrics, because juvenile cases have been extremely uncommon. Vascular conditions have occasionally been diagnosed in osteoarchaeological remains, providing evidence of their occurrence in previous eras. In the present report, we have described a lesion that was highly consistent with a case of an MMA aneurysm observed in an Etruscan child, whose remains had been exhumed during archaeological excavations in the necropolis of Pontecagnano (Salerno, southern Italy).

Maxillary sinusitis as a respiratory health indicator: a bioarchaeological investigation into medieval central Italy.

Objective: This study aims to assess chronic maxillary sinusitis in an osteoarchaeological sample from the medieval rural site of Pieve di Pava (central Italy), to investigate triggers responsible for sinus inflammation, and to compare prevalence rates with coeval European rural sites.

Materials: The analysis focused on 145 10-12-century adults with at least one preserved maxillary sinus.

Methods: Sinusitis-related lesions were observed macroscopically and microscopically.

Francesco Maria Fiorentini (1603-1673): An Italian physician in 'The Iron Century'.

The aim of this paper is to shed light on the figure of Francesco Maria Fiorentini, a 17th-century physician from Lucca (Tuscany, Italy) and member of the Iatromechanical School, who distinguished himself for his role during the plague and the typhus epidemics that spread throughout Italy in the first half of that century. His work must be contextualized in a precise historical moment, which marked the gradual transition of Western medicine from the archaism of Galenic doctrine to that of the Iatromechanical School, when the foundations started to be laid for an experimental type of medicine that based its assumptions on the direct observation of phenomena concerning the human body. In this work, we mainly focus on the medical biography of Fiorentini and on the reasons why he enjoyed great social prestige among the most prominent figures of his time.

A possible case of juvenile idiopathic arthritis from Renaissance Lucca (Tuscany, central Italy).

Objective: The skeletal remains of a young individual (Guinigi US 1278) are described and a differential diagnosis is performed to determine the potential etiology of bone alterations.

Materials: Archaeological excavations conducted at the private funerary chapel of the upper class members of the Guinigi family (14th-17th centuries AD) of Lucca (Tuscany, central Italy) brought to light the fragmented human skeletal remains of a young individual (Guinigi US 1278) with pathological osseous modifications.

Methods: Morphological and radiological analyses were followed by differential diagnosis.

A 13th-century cystic echinococcosis from the cemetery of the monastery of Badia Pozzeveri (Lucca, Italy).

Objective: To differentially diagnose a calcified formation recovered from a 13th century AD grave from the Tuscan monastery of Badia Pozzeveri, Lucca, Italy.

Materials: A calcified formation from the thoraco-abdominal region of a skeleton buried in the monastery cemetery.

Methods: Cone Beam Computed Tomography, Scanning Electron Microscope and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy.

Dental health in adults and subadults from the 16th-century plague cemetery of Alghero (Sardinia, Italy).

Objective: The aim of this study is to examine a set of dental health indicators, including caries, periodontal disease, abscesses, ante-mortem tooth loss, calculus, and tooth wear of a 16-century population from the city of Alghero, Sardinia (Italy), in order to evaluate the state of dental health and the diet.

Design: The cemetery is referable to the plague outbreak that ravaged the city in 1582-1583. A total of 160 individuals (81 adults and 79 subadults) were suitable for dental examination.

A human MMTV-like betaretrovirus linked to breast cancer has been present in humans at least since the copper age.

The betaretrovirus Mouse Mammary Tumor Virus (MMTV) is the well characterized etiological agent of mammary tumors in mice. In contrast, the etiology of sporadic human breast cancer (BC) is unknown, but accumulating data indicate a possible viral origin also for these malignancies. The presence of MMTV-like sequences (MMTVels) in the human salivary glands and saliva supports the latter as possible route of inter-human dissemination.

The 1918/19 Spanish Flu in Pisa (Tuscany, Italy): Clinical, Epidemiological and Autoptic Considerations.

The Spanish flu pandemic spread in 1918-19 and infected about 500 million people, killing 50 to 100 million of them. People were suffering from severe poverty and malnutrition, especially in Europe, due to the First World War, and this contributed to the diffusion of the disease. In Italy, Spanish flu appeared in April 1918 with several cases of pulmonary congestion and bronchopneumonia; at the end of the epidemic, about 450.

Identification of Italian Renaissance noble women through a bioarchaeological study of skeletal remains.

Three female skeletons, dated back to the beginning of the 15 century were recovered during an archaeological excavation in the Guinigi Chapel in Lucca (Italy). Archaeological and historical sources indicated that the remains might be those of Paolo Guinigi's wives. At the beginning of the 15 century Paolo Guinigi ruled Lucca for nearly 30 years (1400-1429), providing a long period of wealth and peace to the city.

Cone-Beam Computed Tomography vs. Multi-Slice Computed Tomography in paleoimaging: where we stand.

Paleopathology and anthropology are fields of research which have benefited from the use of diagnostic imaging since its introduction in the clinical setting. The deriving discipline, that is, paleoimaging, has effectively employed several diagnostic techniques. However, while Multi-Slice Computed Tomography (MSCT) has found its role in paleoimaging, Cone-Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT), despite its several advantages with regard to MSCT, is still struggling to find a clear position in this field.