The Indian Ideas Powering Today's World with Palki Sharma

Very recommendable!

(965) The Indian Ideas Powering Today's World | Bharat Bioscope with Palki Sharma | India Global Review - YouTube

Ancient Chinese anesthetic reveals Ming dynasty's sophisticated medicine

Amazing stuff!

"Microscopic analysis of residues on surgical scissors and tweezers from a 1348–1411 CE tomb in Jiangyin, China, finds the first evidence for the controlled application of a highly toxic chemical as anesthetic, highlighting the sophisticated medicine of the Ming dynasty. ...

However, conventional techniques are difficult to apply to ancient Chinese medical residues, which are rarely preserved and often fail to meet minimum sample requirements for identification. ...

To tackle this, archaeologists used a novel, non-destructive microscopic technique to analyze residues on a pair of surgical scissors and tweezers from the tomb of early Ming dynasty physician Xia Quan. ...

The researchers found evidence for residue of aconitine: an alkaloid derived from the plant Aconitum. Also known as wolfsbane or monkshood, Aconitum is extremely toxic.

This toxicity was recognized and several methods to mitigate it had been developed by the time of the Ming dynasty, from vinegar-boiling to detoxifying with mung beans. The resulting powder acted as an anesthetic, enabling pain-free surgery. ..."

From the abstract:

"The analysis of archaeological trace residues is offering expanding insights into various aspects of human (pre)history, including developments in medical knowledge.

Here, the authors present results from the analysis of two medical instruments (scissors and tweezers) found in a Ming Dynasty (c. 1368–1644 CE) tomb in Jiangyin, China. While the form and composition of the instruments themselves indicate developed understandings of tool production and use, novel application of stimulated Raman scattering microscopy reveals probable traces of aconitine, likely providing direct evidence for the use of this highly toxic substance, possibly administered as a topical anaesthetic, in ancient Chinese surgery."

Ancient anesthetic reveals Ming China's sophisticated medicine

Surgical anaesthesia in Ming China: scientific analysis of aconitine residues on medical instruments (open access)

Fig. 1 The sampled instruments and the residues analysed on each one. 

A majority of health research focuses on men's bodies. Nonprofit FemTechAZ aims to change that. Really!

A case of junk journalism! I have seen at least one other, similar news report this week!

Feminists have been repeating this story since the 1960s or so!

Yes, for historical reasons medicine focused on male bodies in the past, but this is not true anymore for at least the past 50 years. It time to cancel this false, outdated  propaganda!

Caveat: I did not read the entire article.

A majority of health research focuses on men's bodies. Nonprofit FemTechAZ aims to change that

The History of Plastic Surgery | How Healing Became a Billion-Dollar Industry

Recommendable! Remember the extremely disfigured faces of soldiers fighting in World War I.

The History of Medical Museums

Recommendable!

How enslaved women controlled their fertility | Resisting slavery with botanical knowledge about abortifacients

Recommendable!

Large-scale DNA study maps 37,000 years of human disease history

Amazing stuff!

Unfortunately, this article also spreads the most likely false narrative that Covid-19 was spread by zoonosis and not as a human modified virus from a dual use virology institute in China.

"A new study suggests that our ancestors’ close cohabitation with domesticated animals and large-scale migrations played a key role in the spread of infectious diseases.

The team ... recovered ancient DNA from 214 known human pathogens in prehistoric humans from Eurasia.

They found that the earliest evidence of zoonotic diseases – illnesses transmitted from animals to humans, like COVID in recent times – dates back to around 6,500 years ago, with these diseases becoming more widespread approximately 5,000 years ago. ...

The study detected the world’s oldest genetic trace of the plague bacterium, Yersinia pestis, in a 5,500-year-old sample. The plague is estimated to have killed between one-quarter and one-half of Europe’s population during the Middle Ages.

In addition, the researchers found traces of many other diseases including:

Malaria (Plasmodium vivax) – 4,200 years ago

Leprosy (Mycobacterium leprae) – 1,400 years ago

Hepatitis B virus – 9,800 years ago

Diphtheria (Corynebacterium diphtheriae) – 11,100 years ago

..."

From the abstract:

"Infectious diseases have had devastating effects on human populations throughout history, but important questions about their origins and past dynamics remain.

To create an archaeogenetic-based spatiotemporal map of human pathogens, we screened shotgun-sequencing data from 1,313 ancient humans covering 37,000 years of Eurasian history. We demonstrate the widespread presence of ancient bacterial, viral and parasite DNA, identifying 5,486 individual hits against 492 species from 136 genera.

Among those hits, 3,384 involve known human pathogens, many of which had not previously been identified in ancient human remains.

Grouping the ancient microbial species according to their likely reservoir and type of transmission, we find that most groups are identified throughout the entire sampling period.

Zoonotic pathogens are only detected from around 6,500 years ago, peaking roughly 5,000 years ago, coinciding with the widespread domestication of livestock.

Our findings provide direct evidence that this lifestyle change resulted in an increased infectious disease burden. They also indicate that the spread of these pathogens increased substantially during subsequent millennia, coinciding with the pastoralist migrations from the Eurasian Steppe."

Large-scale DNA study maps 37,000 years of human disease history | University of Cambridge "Researchers have mapped the spread of infectious diseases in humans across millennia, to reveal how human-animal interactions permanently transformed our health today."

The spatiotemporal distribution of human pathogens in ancient Eurasia (open access)

Fig. 3: Spatiotemporal distribution of selected ancient pathogens.

As heart attack deaths decline, chronic heart disease is on the rise

Food for thought! As we manage one disease/disorder with better medical treatments, other diseases/disorders have a better chance to evolve with longer lifespans.

We defeat one and extend the human lifespan, but others emerge. Seems to be a familiar pattern of the history of medicine. A part of the cycle of life.

Maybe with machine learning & AI we have a chance to beat this pattern.

And then there our lifestyle choices affecting our lifetime health.

"... Roughly half of heart disease deaths now are caused by non-ischemic conditions. Among the more common causes are heart failure, hypertensive heart disease, arrhythmias, and heart disease from pulmonary conditions. Some of the increase may be attributed to better diagnostics and changing disease definitions under the International Classification of Disease codes.

But it also reflects a rise in risk factors such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and physical inactivity, the researchers said. An estimated 50% of adults have diabetes or pre-diabetes, and 40% have obesity.

The U.S. population is also older – life expectancy in 1970 was 70.9 years compared with 77.5 years in 2022 – giving people more years to accumulate chronic conditions. ..."

As heart attack deaths decline, chronic heart disease is on the rise | Stanford Report "Since 1970, heart attack deaths have fallen by nearly 90%, driven by advances in treatment and public health efforts. But research also reveals a rise in deaths from other heart conditions, including heart failure, hypertensive heart disease, and arrhythmias."

3D-printed model of a 500-year-old prosthetic iron hand hints at life of a Renaissance amputee from Germany

Amazing stuff!

Since my childhood I have known of the marvelous iron hand of the German knight of Götz von Berlichingen (1480 - 1562 CE). I have seen this iron hand during my visit of the Museum der Burg Jagsthausen. This is not the same iron hand that was used for this study.

"... Yet, such artifacts are rare direct sources into the lives of historical amputees. We focus on the tools amputees used in 16th- and 17th-century Europe. There are few records written from amputees’ perspectives at that time, and those that exist say little about what everyday life with a prosthesis was like. ...

But computer-aided design software can help scholars reconstruct the artifacts’ internal mechanisms. This, in turn, helps us understand how the objects once moved. ...

For two years, my team of historians and engineers at Auburn University had worked tirelessly to turn an idea – recreating the mechanisms of a 16th-century artifact from Germany – into reality. The original iron prosthesis, the Kassel Hand, is one of approximately 35 from Renaissance Europe known today. ..."

3D-printed model of a 500-year-old prosthetic hand hints at life of a Renaissance amputee

The hands of time: Auburn historians, engineers solve 500-year-old mechanical limb mystery (original news release)

The Kassel Hand Project

Liste Eiserner Hände (List of known mechanical iron hands of the 15th & 16th century CE. Strange, this Wikipedia entry is only available in German language)

The original Kassel hand

The 3D printed models

Two historical drawings of these mechanical, iron hands.

Blood bowls, blades and bodies: the surgeon's gory operating table of bygone times

This seems to be a nice Halloween video! 😊

Evidence found of Europeans in Italy using cocaine for non medical purposes as far back as the 17th century

Amazing stuff! How did cocaine get to Italy this early from South America?

"A team of biomedical and medicinal specialists ... has found evidence of cocaine use by at least two people as far back as the 17th century in Europe. ...

[the team] analyzed the preserved brains of two people found in a crypt in Milan used as a burial site for people who died in the nearby Ospedale Maggiore—a well-known hospital of the time. ...

they discovered the remains of two people who had been mummified. Study of the remains showed that both had active components of the coca plant in their brains, which meant they had been chewing its leaves.

The research team also studied the pharmacological records of the Ospedale Maggiore and found no records of cocaine or coca plants being used for medicinal purposes. This suggested that the two people had been chewing the leaves for other reasons. ..."

From the highlights and abstract:

"Highlights

• The paper presents the first evidence of Erythroxylum spp. in Europe in the 1600s.

• 17th century brain tissue with active components of coca plant was found.

• Archaeotoxicology backdates Erythroxylum spp. use by almost two centuries in Europe.

Abstract

Cocaine hydrochloride salts are one of the most commonly used drugs of our days, yet there is very little hard evidence regarding when people started consuming such an extensively popular drug in Europe. In this paper, we report the exceptional finding of Erythroxylum spp. in human remains dated to the 1600's in Milan, Italy.

Toxicological analyses were performed on preserved human brains revealing the first evidence of Erythroxylum spp. use in Europe before the 19th century, backdating our understanding of the presence of the plant by almost two centuries. Specifically, the alkaloid of cocaine was detected in two separate biological samples and can be associated to Erythroxylum spp. consumption. Given that the plant was not listed inside the detailed hospital pharmacopeia, it may not have been given as a medicinal remedy but may have been used for other purposes. This study demonstrates the importance and the potential of the application of toxicological analyses to archaeological contexts and allows to backdate the arrival of the Erythroxylum spp. in Europe by almost two hundred years."

Evidence found of Europeans using cocaine as far back as the 17th century

Forensic toxicology backdates the use of coca plant (Erythroxylum spp.) in Europe to the early 1600s (open access)

Fig. 1. Signs of caries sicca on cranium C2, both photograph and X-rays image.

Fig. 8. Chromatographic spectrum (top) and mass spectral ion ratio (bottom) of cocaine detected in B9.

In medieval England, leprosy bounced between humans and squirrels

Amazing stuff! Concerning too! Are downplaying or ignoring zoonoses?

"For the first time, researchers have genetically identified leprosy-causing bacteria in archaeological animal remains—indicating, in this case, that the disease circulated between red squirrels and humans in medieval England. The evidence came from archaeological sites in the city of Winchester, which during the Middle Ages had both a thriving squirrel fur trade and a hospital for leprosy patients, setting the stage for interspecies transmissions. Some medieval Brits even kept the arboreal rodents as pets.

While some modern red squirrels in England still carry leprosy, there’s no evidence of them passing it to humans, as the disease requires frequent close contact with an infected host. But experts argue that considering the interspecies history of leprosy, rather than focusing solely on human infections, can help us anticipate where and how transmission risk might increase. That approach could apply to other nonhuman carriers, too—such as armadillos, which have been linked to a handful of human cases in the Americas. ..."

From the highlights and abstract:

"Highlights

• Genetic evidence of M. leprae infection in medieval English red squirrels

• Ancient M. leprae squirrel strain related to ancient human strains in the same city

• Results suggest a yet-undetected circulation of M. leprae in medieval animal hosts

• First One Health approach for M. leprae about a medieval animal strain

Summary

Leprosy, one of the oldest recorded diseases in human history, remains prevalent in Asia, Africa, and South America, with over 200,000 cases every year. Although ancient DNA (aDNA) approaches on the major causative agent, Mycobacterium leprae, have elucidated the disease’s evolutionary history, the role of animal hosts and interspecies transmission in the past remains unexplored. Research has uncovered relationships between medieval strains isolated from archaeological human remains and modern animal hosts such as the red squirrel in England. However, the time frame, distribution, and direction of transmissions remains unknown. Here, we studied 25 human and 12 squirrel samples from two archaeological sites in Winchester, a medieval English city well known for its leprosarium and connections to the fur trade. We reconstructed four medieval M. leprae genomes, including one from a red squirrel, at a 2.2-fold average coverage. Our analysis revealed a phylogenetic placement of all strains on branch 3 as well as a close relationship between the squirrel strain and one newly reconstructed medieval human strain. In particular, the medieval squirrel strain is more closely related to some medieval human strains from Winchester than to modern red squirrel strains from England, indicating a yet-undetected circulation of M. leprae in non-human hosts in the Middle Ages. Our study represents the first One Health approach for M. leprae in archaeology, which is centered around a medieval animal host strain, and highlights the future capability of such approaches to understand the disease’s zoonotic past and current potential."

ScienceAdvisor

Ancient Mycobacterium leprae genome reveals medieval English red squirrels as animal leprosy host (open access)

Figure 1Location of the leprosarium of St Mary Magdalen and Staple Gardens in Winchester (center circle), within the UK

The English town that stopped the plague in 1665

Very recommendable!

What Was The Earliest Surgery and medical treatment?

Very recommendable! Amazing stuff!

Toothpaste: A History of Oral Hygiene

Recommendable! Dental health issues are still a major problem for billions of people!

Der Schwarze Tod in neuem Licht: Nicht Flöhe, sondern Läuse sollen in Europa die Pest verbreitet haben

Eine neue, weltbewegende Erkenntnis! In ein paar Jahren wird es dann wohl der Waschbär gewesen sein, wie letztlich mit der Covid-19 Pandemie! 😊
Vorsicht: Ironie!

Pest: Nicht Flöhe, sondern Läuse haben die Krankheit übertragen Wanderratte und Rattenfloh: Dieses Zweiergespann soll im Mittelalter die Pest verbreitet haben. So hiess es bisher. Neue Erkenntnisse zeichnen nun ein ganz anderes Bild.

Why maggots are a medical marvel

Very recommendable! E.g. maggots have been used for wound treatment perhaps as far back as Genghis Khan! There is still so much we can learn from nature to improve medicine!

Shakespeare and The Four Humors

Recommendable! An online exhibition of the National Library of Medicine.

Were some of the characters in the literature of William Shakespeare based on the four humors? Don't laugh! 😊

“And there’s the humor of it” Shakespeare and The Four Humors

Credits: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: Global Health NOW

A Brief History of Abortion in the U.S. | Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health Magazine. Really!

What an absurd distortion of history!

How many women died when those historical abortions were performed?

How many women were forced to undergo abortion in the past?

What contraceptives were available in the past?

Given the much larger family sizes back then, any extra child could be ruinous etc.

"Abortion laws have never been stricter in the U.S. Yet for the first century of the country’s existence—and most of human history before that—abortion was a relatively uncontroversial fact of life.

“Abortion has existed for pretty much as long as human beings have existed,” says Joanne Rosen, JD, MA, a senior lecturer in Health Policy and Management who studies the impact of law and policy on access to abortion.

Until the mid-19th century, the U.S. attitude toward abortion was much the same as it had often been elsewhere throughout history: It was a quiet reality, legal until “quickening” (when fetal motion could be felt by the mother). In the eyes of the law, the fetus wasn’t a “separate distinct entity until then,” but rather an extension of the mother, Rosen explains. ..."

A Brief History of Abortion in the U.S. | Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health Magazine Abortion wasn’t always a moral, political, and legal tinderbox. What changed?

The Prosthetic Iron Hand of a 16th-century legendary German Knight

Yes, Götz von Berlichingen is among the most famous knights of Germany. I have once visited his castle many years ago. His famous two prosthetic iron hands are truly marvels!

Unfortunately, the article below contains fairly little about the mechanics or origins of the two iron hands! Very regrettable for a popular science article!

Wikipedia has an article specifically on the two iron hands, but it is avalable in German language only.

With his artificial hand, the knight was still able to conduct combat in battle! With his prosthetic hand he died at age 82. He penned even an autobiography before he died.

"... With a sizable chest of cash after years of looting, von Berlichingen upgraded to a new iron arm. Version 2.0 was splendid, equipped with joints at each knuckle and spring-loaded mechanisms to lock fingers into place, in a manner similar to the ratchet-and-pawl system used in handcuffs. ...
Before he passed away, the Iron Hand penned an autobiography that inspired Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ... to write Götz von Berlichingen, a dramatic play based on Berlichingen’s life published in 1773 ."

The Prosthetic Iron Hand of a 16th-century legendary Cyborg Knight The unbelievable story of a Bavarian knight who lost a hand in battle but gained a mechanical prosthetic hand that was way ahead of its time.

The first and older hand:

The newer and much better second hand: