Plasmodium falciparum immunodetection in bone remains of members of the Renaissance Medici family (Florence, Italy, sixteenth century)

Medical accounts and ancient autopsy reports imply that tertian malarial fevers caused the death of four members of the Medici family of Florence: Eleonora of Toledo (1522–1562), Cardinal Giovanni (1543–1562), don Garzia (1547–1562) and Grand Duke Francesco I (1531–1587).
All members of the Medici family hunted in the endemic malarial areas of Tuscany, such as the marshy areas surrounding their villas and along the swampy Maremma and were, therefore, highly exposed to the risk of being infected by Falciparum malaria. To determine if the original death certificates issued by the court physicians were correct, we carried out immunological investigations and then compared the biological results to the historical sources.
Bone samples were examined for the presence of Plasmodium falciparum histidine-richprotein- 2 (PfHRP2) and P. falciparum lactate dehydrogenase (PfLDH) using two different qualitative double–antibody immunoassays.
Our findings provide the first modern laboratory evidence of the presence of P. falciparum ancient proteins in the skeletal remains of four members of the Medici family. We confirm the clinical diagnosis of the court physicians, using modern methods.
Finally, this study demonstrates that immunodetection can be successfully applied not only to mummified tissues but also to skeletal remains, thus opening new paths of investigation for large archaeological series

Inserito il 07 settembre 2010
Letto 13 volte

Malaria Was “the Killer” of Francesco I de’ Medici (1531-1587)
Francesco was the first child of Cosimo I de’ Medici (1519-1574), First Grand Duke of Tuscany, and his wife, Eleonora of Toledo (1522-1562). He became Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1564, ruling until his death. Francesco was not interested in political affairs, which he delegated to his functionaries. Instead, he became a patron of the arts and sciences and a passionate alchemist. In 1565, he married Joan of Austria (1548-1578), and they had 7 sons. During this marriage, Francesco began a relationship with a Venetian noblewoman, Bianca Cappello, whom he married in 1579 after the death of his wife.

Inserito il 15 giugno 2010
Letto 256 volte

Pidocchi sulla testa del Re!
Un caso di pediculosi è stato riscontrato nella mummia di un sovrano italiano del XV secolo, a dimostrazione che anche le classi sociali più elevate erano soggette a questi tipi di infestazioni. La basilica di San Domenico Maggiore a Napoli custodisce trentotto sarcofagi lignei contenenti i corpi di dieci principi aragonesi e di altri nobili napoletani deceduti nel XV e XVI secolo.

Inserito il 05 aprile 2010
Letto 215 volte

STUDENTS’ PARTICIPATION IN AN ARCHAEOANTHROPOLOGY COURSE USING A CONTENT AND LANGUAGE INTEGRATED LEARNING (CLIL) METHODOLOGY
This paper has a dual purpose: on the one hand, it makes the first results of the excavations available to the widest possible audience; on the other hand, it describes the application of a CLIL methodology which uses a foreign language to study a specific discipline. In this case, English is used as supporting language to carry out a number of tasks on the archaeological site, within an environment of interaction where the peers, the archaeologist, the content and language teachers are working in collaboration.

Inserito il 23 marzo 2010
Letto 250 volte

Le telecamere Rai entrano nei laboratori della Divisione di Paleopatologia
Il 24 e il 25 febbraio 2010 la troupe del noto programma di divulgazione scientifica Superquark, condotta da Piero Angela, ha visitato i laboratori della Divisione di Paleopatologia, a Pisa, presso la Scuola Medica, ed a Calci, nella cornice della Certosa.

Inserito il 04 marzo 2010
Letto 515 volte

Rheumatoid arthritis, Klippel-Feil syndrome and Pott’s disease in Cardinal Carlo de’ Medici (1595-1666)
The skeleton of Carlo revealed a concentration of different severe pathologies. Ankylosis of the cervical column, associated with other facial and spine anomalies suggests a diagnosis of congenital disease: the Klippel-Feil syndrome. In addition, the cervical segment presents the results of the tuberculosis (Pott’s disease) from which the Cardinal suffered in his infancy. The post-cranial skeleton shows an ankylosing disease, mainly symmetrical and extremely severe, involving the large as well as small articulations, and characterized by massive joint fusion, that totally disabled the Cardinal in his last years of life.

Inserito il 16 febbraio 2010
Letto 769 volte

Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis in the Medici, Grand Dukes of Florence (XVI century)
Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) is a common systemic disorder characterised by the ossification of the anterior longitudinal spinal ligament involving at least three contiguous vertebrae and by diffuse extraspinal enthesopathies. The condition is associated with the male sex and with advanced age; its aetiology is uncertain, but seems to be related to obesity and diabetes. The most recent studies in archaeological series demonstrated a relation between high social status and the incidence of DISH. The present study examines two cases of DISH found amongst the members of the Medici family buried in the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence. The skeletons of the Grand Dukes Cosimo I (1519–1574) and his son Ferdinand I (1549–1609) showed the typical features of the condition. This result is related to the obesity of the Grand Dukes, attested by the written and artistic sources, and to the protein-based alimentation demonstrated by a paleonutritional study, thus furnishing further evidence to the significance of DISH as a life style.

Inserito il 15 febbraio 2010
Letto 595 volte

Il Ministero premia la Divisione di Paleopatologia
Il Ministero dell'Istruzione dell'Università e della Ricerca premia il progetto di PRIN (Programma di Ricerca Scientifica di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale) dal titolo "Tecniche Biomolecolari in Archeo-Antropologia per una Nuova Storia delle Malattie" presentato dalla divisione di Paleopatologia.

Inserito il 31 gennaio 2010
Letto 447 volte

HLA-DRB genotyping of an Italian mummy from the 16th century with signs of rheumatoid arthritis
Some paleopathological studies suggest that rheumatoid arthritis originated in the New World (among ancient Native American in Tennessee and neighbouring areas, 5000–500 BC); only after the discovery of America was the origin of the disease attributed to the Old World.1 In 1996, under the floors of the San Francisco church (Arezzo, Italy), a female mummy was discovered. This 50–55-year-old woman, re-named the ‘‘Braids Lady’’, died at the end of the 16th century.

Inserito il 08 dicembre 2009
Letto 271 volte

Food and disease at the Renaissance courts of Naples and Florence: A paleonutritional study
A paleonutritional study of the Medici Grand Dukes in Florence (16th–17th centuries) and of the Aragonese Princes in Naples (15th–17th centuries) was performed. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of bone collagen showed high values of d15N at the level of carnivores and demonstrated a diet that was very rich in meat. d13C values are in accordance with an intake of fish, especially for the Aragonese series from Southern Italy, which can be estimated at 14–30% for the Medici and 12–40% for the Aragonese. Adherence to medieval fasting is likely to have been the main reason for this dietary change.

Inserito il 07 dicembre 2009
Letto 474 volte