Una planta sin clásicos. La berenjena en la farmacología medieval y renacentista

La berenjena (Solanum melongena L.) es una planta solanácea de múltiples variedades, cuyos ancestros salvajes se sitúan en Indochina y el este de África. Su cultivo fue muy temprano en zonas de China e India. Aun así, no se extendió al Occidente antiguo ni apenas se conoció, de ahí su ausencia en los textos clásicos de botánica y farmacología. Fueron los árabes quienes llevaron el cultivo de la planta por el Norte de África y Al-Andalus, de donde pasó ya a Europa. Los primeros testimonios occidentales de la berenjena aparecen en traducciones latinas de textos árabes, para incorporarse luego a la literatura farmacológica medieval y, más tarde ya, a la del Renacimiento, que empezó a tratar de ella por su posible parecido con una especie de mandrágora. Pese a que se le reconocían algunas virtudes medicinales, siempre se la tuvo bajo sospecha por ser de sabor poco agradable, indigesta y causante de algunas afecciones. Solo los botánicos de finales del Renacimiento describirían la planta y sus variedades con criterios más «científicos» y botánicos, ya sin apenas intereses farmacológicos.

Apport de Mustio à la représentation de la femme antique

This essay analyses the complex interactions of medical, social and cultural discourse in Mustio's Gynaecia. In the light of recent work on the history of classical medicine informed by gender studies, notably by H. King, L. Dean-Jones and R. Flemming, it highlights the original contribution of Mustio's Sorani Gynaeciorum uetus translatio Latina to a history of medicine that takes its social and cultural dimensions into consideration. Mustio's way of representing women in this treatise, notably his understanding of the female body through various physical states and specific illnesses, indeed reveals significant changes and developments that took place in the medical art as well as in ancient society at large.

The Rise and Fall of the Doctor-Patient Relationship

This talk will outline the history of the doctor-patient relationship in the West. It will touch briefly on medicine in Greek and Roman antiquity, using key texts from Hippocrates and Galen. It will also sketch the changing balance of the religious and the secular in medieval medicine. Finally, it will outline the rise of the modern personal doctor-patient relationship in the 18th century and analyze the chronic dissatisfaction that settled over relations between doctors and patients in the last quarter of the 20th century.

Las enfermedades mentales según Tomás de Aquino : sobre el concepto de enfermedad

Este artículo es la primera parte de un estudio sobre las enfermedades mentales según santo Tomás. Aquí se exponen los temas de las fuentes médico-biológicas del Aquinate (fundamentalmente Aristóteles, Galeno, Nemesio y Avicena), la naturaleza de la enfermedad, su relación con las pasiones del alma y algunas consecuencias que se siguen para el tema de la enfermedad mental. En un artículo posterior se entrará en el detalle de las categorías psicopatológicas que aparecen en las obras del Aquinate y su significado a la luz de sus fuentes, así como en los temas de las enfermedades psicosomáticas y lo que santo Tomás llama “aegritudo animalis".

Las enfermedades mentales según Tomás de Aquino : sobre las enfermedades (mentales) en sentido estricto

Continuando un artículo anterior en el que se definió el concepto de enfermedad, en orden al esclarecimiento del de enfermedad mental, en el presente estudio se desarrolla el tema de aquellas que pueden ser llamadas enfermedades en el estricto sentido del término. En un primer parágrafo, se mencionan los trastornos que son mencionados por Santo Tomás, y se los explica colocándolos en el contexto de la medicina medieval, con particular referencia al Canon de Medicina de Avicena. En un segundo parágrafo, se desarrolla el tema de las enfermedades psicosomáticas, es decir aquellas causadas por una “pasión animal". Se deja para un tercer artículo el esclarecimiento de la naturaleza de lo que el Aquinate llama “aegritudo animalis".

Il "De sanitatis custodia" di maestro Giacomo Albini di Moncalieri : con altri documenti sulla storia della medicina negli stati sabaudi nei secoli XIV e XV /

On title page: Testi, 2.

Geschichte der Medizin /

Includes index.

Between Herbals et alia: Intertextuality in Medieval English Herbals

This study reports a corpus-based study of medieval English herbals, which are texts conveying information on medicinal plants. Herbals belong to the medieval medical register. The study charts intertextual parallels within the medieval genre, and between herbals and other contemporary medical texts. It seeks to answer questions where and how herbal texts are linked to each other, and to other medical writing. The theoretical framework of the study draws on intertextuality and genre studies, manuscript studies, corpus linguistics, and multi-dimensional text analysis. The method combines qualitative and quantitative analyses of textual material from three historical special-language corpora of Middle and Early Modern English, one of which was compiled for the purposes of this study. The text material contains over 800,000 words of medical texts. The time span of the material is from c. 1330 to 1550. Text material is retrieved from the corpora by using plant name lists as search criteria. The raw data is filtered through qualitative analysis which produces input for the quantitative analysis, multi-dimensional scaling (MDS). In MDS, the textual space that parallel text passages form is observed, and the observations are explained by a qualitative analysis. This study concentrates on evidence of material and structural intertextuality. The analysis shows patterns of affinity between the texts of the herbal genre, and between herbals and other texts in the medical register. Herbals are most closely linked with recipe collections and regimens of health: they comprise over 95 per cent of the intertextual links between herbals and other medical writing. Links to surgical texts, or to specialised medical texts are very few. This can be explained by the history of the herbal genre: as herbals carry information on medical ingredients, herbs, they are relevant for genres that are related to pharmacological therapy. Conversely, herbals draw material from recipe collections in order to illustrate the medicinal properties of the herbs they describe. The study points out the close relationship between medical recipes and recipe-like passages in herbals (recipe paraphrases). The examples of recipe paraphrases show that they may have been perceived as indirect instruction. Keywords: medieval herbals, early English medicine, corpus linguistics, intertextuality, manuscript studies

Major depressive disorder and nutritional medicine : a review of monotherapies and adjuvant treatments

A literature review was conducted to examine the evidence for nutritional interventions in depression. It revealed a number of significant conclusions. Interestingly, more positive clinical trials were found to support adjuvant, rather than monotherapeutic, use of nutrients to treat depression. Much evidence exists in the area of adjuvant application of folic acid, S-adenosyl-methionine, omega-3, and L-tryptophan with antidepressants. Current evidence does not support omega-3 as an effective monotherapy to treat depression. However, this may be due, at least in part, to olive oil being used as the control intervention, some studies using docosahexaenoic acid alone or a higher docosahexaenoic acid to eicosapentaenoic acid ratio, and significant heterogeneity regarding depressive populations. Nevertheless, adjunctive prescription of omega-3 with antidepressants, or in people with dietary deficiency, may be beneficial. Inositol lacks evidence as an effective antidepressant and cannot be currently recommended. Evidence on the use of L-trytophan for depression is inconclusive and additional studies utilizing a more robust methodology are required.

Conducting research in herbal and complementary medicine

This paper outlines information and advice on how a practitioner can formally pursue research pertaining to herbal or complementary medicine. It recommends five practical steps: get advice and acquire skills, find out what other people have done already, consider what research you want to do, decide on a design and finalise a detailed research plan. Enrolling in a postgraduate research degree program is recommended as a way to acquire basic research skills and obtain support for an initial project.

Tesofensine : a novel potent weight loss medicine

Background: The incidence of obesity is increasing; this is of major concern, as obesity is associated with cardiovascular disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, respiratory tract disease, and cancer. Objectives/methods: This evaluation is of a Phase II clinical trial with tesofensine in obese subjects. Results: After 26 weeks, tesofensine caused a significant weight loss, and may have a higher maximal ability to reduce weight than the presently available anti-obesity agents. However, tesofensine also increased blood pressure and heart rate, and may increase psychiatric disorders. Conclusions: It is encouraging that tesofensine 0.5 mg may cause almost double the weight loss observed with sibutramine or rimonabant. As tesofensine and sibutramine have similar pharmacological profiles, it would be of interest to compare the weight loss with tesofensine in a head-to-head clinical trial with sibutramine, to properly assess their comparative potency. Also, as teso fensine 0.5 mg increases heart rate, as well as increasing the incidence of adverse effects such as nausea, drug mouth, flatulence, insomnia, and depressed mode, its tolerability needs to be further evaluated in large Phase III clinical trials.

Sir Neville Howse (VC), Private John Simpson Kirkpatrick and Private Martin O’Meara (VC) and their contributions to Australian military medicine

Medical personnel serving with the Defence Forces have contributed to the evolution of trauma treatment and the advancement of prehospital care within the military environment. This paper investigates the stories of an Australian Medical Officer, Sir Neville Howse, and two stretcher bearers, Private John Simpson (Kirkpatrick) and Private Martin O’Meara, In particular it describes the gruelling conditions under which they performed their roles, and reflects on the legacy that they have left behind in Australian society. While it is widely acknowledged that conflicts such as World War One should never have happened, as civilian and defence force paramedics, we should never forget the service and sacrifice of defence force medical personnel and their contribution to the body of knowledge on the treatment of trauma. These men and women bravely provided emergency care in the most harrowing conditions possible. However, men like Martin O’Meara may not have been given the same status in society today as Sir Neville Howse or Simpson and his donkey, due to the public’s lack of awareness and acceptance of war neurosis and conditions such as post traumatic stress disorder, reactive psychosis and somatoform disorders which were suffered by many soldiers during their wartime service and on their return home after fighting in war.

Flood fatalities in contemporary Australia (1997-2008) : disaster medicine

Objective: Flood is the most common natural disaster in Australia and causes more loss of life than any other disaster. This article describes the incidence and causes of deaths directly associated with floods in contemporary Australia. ---------- Methods: The present study compiled a database of flood fatalities in Australia in the period of 1997–2008 inclusive. The data were derived from newspapers and historic accounts, as well as government and scientific reports. Assembled data include the date and location of fatalities, age and gender of victims and the circumstances of the death. ---------- Results: At least 73 persons died as a direct result of floods in Australia in the period of 1997–2008. The largest number of fatalities occurred in New South Wales and Queensland. Most fatalities occurred during February, and among men (71.2%). People between the ages of 10 and 29 and those over 70 years are overrepresented among those drowned. There is no evident decline in the number of deaths over time. 48.5% fatalities related to motor vehicle use. 26.5% fatalities occurred as a result of inappropriate or high-risk behaviour during floods. ---------- Conclusion: In modern developed countries with adequate emergency response systems and extensive resources, deaths that occur in floods are almost all eminently preventable. Over 90% of the deaths are caused by attempts to ford flooded waterways or inappropriate situational conduct. Knowledge of the leading causes of flood fatalities should inform public awareness programmes and public safety police enforcement activities.