Acta Medico-Historica Adriatica最新文献

Despite different lifestyles, humankind has suffered from osteoporosis for thousands of years. A literature review concerning the history of osteoporosis in the following databases: Index Medicus, Medline, PubMed, and PMC Citations was done. In the final analysis, 18 review articles and 31 original papers were included. The works were published during the period 1705-2020. Although there is evidence of the existence of osteoporosis for many centuries, it was first described as a disease at the beginning of the 18th century. It was first perceived as an unavoidable course of aging with no possibility to cure. This approach changed only in the 20th century thanks to sudden diagnostic and therapeutic progress. This paper presents the milestones and most important researchers in osteoporosis history. Rapid progress in diagnostic and therapeutic possibilities sheds new light on osteoporosis’ nature. A comprehensive outlook on its history may help find answers for the still unsolved problems of this disease.

In this paper, the first 20 years of publication of the scientific journal AMHA - Acta medico-historica Adriatica (2002-2022) are presented and analysed. This journal has undoubtedly become and remained the central activity of the Croatian Scientific Society for the History of Health Culture, which has rapidly evolved into a globally esteemed journal in the history of medicine. The beginning and the context of publishing the journal with reference to the scientific conference "Rijeka and Its Citizens in Medical History" are presented, as well as the journal's profiling into a distinguished international scientific journal, co-publishing with the Faculty of Medicine (University of Rijeka) and its fast development in the later years. The analysis shows the growth of the journal's visibility through indexation in different international journal databases, the number and ratio of scientific articles and the variety of published material. Finally, a review of the potential future directions of development and the significance of this journal within the national, regional and international context is given.

A complex epidemiological situation marked the health system at the time of the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic. Reducing the number of infectious diseases was an essential task of the State Administration of Health. It required new legislation and various steps directed at reducing infectious diseases. Serious infectious diseases, such as scarlet fever, diphtheria, typhoid, dysentery, smallpox, and malaria, were among the most significant health problems in Czechoslovakia. In 1920, Act No. 412 Coll. regarding compulsory smallpox vaccination was issued, as well as government Regulation No. 298, which describes vaccination obligations and stipulated proper isolation of patients with infectious diseases. Other steps that led to improvements included establishing the National Institute of Health and mobile disinfectant units. Conclusion: The systematic development of new legislation contributed to the new Republic's proficiency at the task and the gradual reduction in the number of infectious diseases.

This paper investigates the Latin works dealing with medicine and physicians, published in seventeenth-century Kraków. The main purpose of the research is to present the leading persons of academic medicine working in those times in this city and to follow through the selected works, which constitute a part of Neo-Latin literature in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The scholastic way of the discourse did not always mean overuse of the authorities, however both ancient and modern were being evoked. By presenting the segment of the medical milieu of seventeenth-century Kraków, namely those academics who published their works there, the author claims that sometimes the neglected Latin editorial production of the Cracovian printing shops is an important part not only for the history of the development of medicine in this region of Europe but also for the cultural heritage of the state's community. Although the Latin language might enable the broader extent of these medical works, most of them were addressed to a particular scientific public. The essay shows that many medical doctors were known for their activities in various fields, such as poetry and city management, and that the panegyrical works may serve as one of the sources of recognition of their biographies and medical output as well.

This paper provides an analysis of Andrija Štampar's activities after World War II on the establishment of effective international health. Analyzed archival materials have confirmed with numerous evidence that Štampar as the president of the Interim Commission of the World Health Organization (WHO) played a crucial role in the establishment of the ideological starting points and organization of the WHO system, which remain relevant to date. Apart from the strategic foundations, it has been shown that his principles regarding the need for practical action based on the best professional knowledge and experience have no alternatives. The above is presented in the paper with the details of Štampar's activities during the cholera epidemic in Egypt and associated with the experiences of the recent global crisis caused by the COVID pandemic.

Folk medicine is a traditional medical practice in the general population, especially in rural areas. Traditional medicine methods used herbal remedies as well as human and animal substances and minerals. The most commonly used drugs in the treatment of eye diseases were drugs of plant origin like chamomile, eyebright and greater celandine, then drugs of human and animal origin like breast milk, saliva, honey, animal bile, and copper sulfate from mineral origin. There is little information in the literature discussing the folk treatment of ocular diseases. The aim of this paper is to show how ocular diseases were treated in folk medicine in Dalmatia during the 19th century. Efforts were also made to explain the reasons for such empirical treatment that was passed from generation to generation. At the end of the 19th, and especially at the beginning of the 20th century, modern and scientific ophthalmology developed in Dalmatia, but also throughout Croatia, first in large cities. So gradually, folk medicine in the treatment of eye diseases became more and more forgotten.

The article describes health and health care development in Zagreb in the 19th century, with special attention to the last period of the century, using articles from Liječnički vjesnik for analysis. The development of the hospital and public health system is being considered, as well as the modernisation of other areas - pharmacy and dentistry. In addition, the paper presents basic health enlightenment thoughts as well as their authors. In the end, a brief analysis of treatment success is made on several separate examples.

Electrotherapy is the use of electrical energy as a medical treatment. In the nineteenth century, the "golden age" of electrotherapy, the development of this discipline was part of a historical-scientific context characterized by the affirmation of neurology as an autonomous branch and, finally, detached from psychiatry. After a period of limited scientific interest and development, in the second half of the 20th century, electrotherapy underwent a revival. Nowadays, the use of electrotherapy has been researched and accepted in various fields of medicine, including but not limited to rehabilitation, neurology, pain management, and oncology. From its first applications, electrotherapy joined neurology which used it for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. In Italy, several scientists carried out experiments on the subject, and an important contribution to the development of the discipline was provided by the "Neapolitan school of electrotherapy". This improvement was made above all by Francesco Vizioli (1834- 1899) and his pupil Francesco Paolo Sgobbo (1860-1936). Despite these premises, however, the decline of electrotherapy as an autonomous science soon came. Meanwhile, radiology, associated initially with electrotherapy, developed rapidly. When Mario Bertolotti (1876- 1957), former professor of Radiology at the University of Turin and one of the founders of Italian radiology, succeeded Sgobbo in 1935, the name (and the discipline) "electrotherapy" was deleted from the diction of the new chair, and from that of the department, which was indicated only as "Radiology". Radiodiagnostic devices, supplies, and roentgen therapy equipment replaced the numerous devices used for electrotherapy. This manuscript is focused on the Neapolitan school of electrotherapy from the late nineteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth. The work of the leading figures who have given the greatest impetus to the study and application of electrotherapy is described. Finally, the electrotherapy devices used are briefly illustrated.

The maternity ward at the Rebro Hospital in Zagreb was established in the newly opened new hospital on 12 May 1942. It operated discontinuously at the gynaecology and obstetrics department during three periods between 1942 and 1946, when it was closed. It was located on the second floor of the eastern part of the hospital with 24 beds. During the activity of the maternity ward from 13 May 1942 to 16 December 1942, 24 May 1944 to 28 August 1945, and from 6 February 1946 to 28 July 1946, there were 1,337 births. They were registered as live births, stillbirths and aborted children weighing 450 grams or more, so perinatal mortality was therefore significantly higher (38.89 ‰) because, in addition to physiological, a significant number of pathological births were performed in the hospital. The head of the newly established ward was Assoc. prim. Dr Filip Dražančić, who worked alongsideward doctors and midwives. Most of the women who gave birth were from Zagreb, with a smaller number of women from other parts of Croatia, primary housewives aged 20-30. In the mentioned period, three mothers died. All obstetric procedures, episiotomies, caesarean section, assistance during breech delivery, rotating of a baby, forceps, and treatment of perineallacerations were performed under local infiltration, spinal (lumbar) or general inhalation anaesthesia using ether. Along with a significant number of home midwifery deliveries and the already established hospital maternity wards in the Petrova and Merkur sanatoriums, the maternity ward at the Rebro hospital, until now only sporadically mentioned as an institution, had an important place in the development of hospital obstetrics in Zagreb and Croatia.

In the period from the eighteenth to the twentieth century, electrotherapy was applied worldwide with various incidence and different results. The application of electrotherapy is an indicator of the acquisition and transfer of knowledge from the basic sciences (physics) to medicine and the transfer and adoption of treatment procedures from foreign environments to our own. In Croatia, the earliest information on electrotherapy came from advertising electrotherapy devices in the daily newspapers. It was followed by lessons on electricity, as well as the possibilities of its application mostly written by physicists in their popular publications. Croatian doctors’ publications about their experiences were first uncovered in 1897 on the pages of the professional journal Liječnički Vjesnik. This paper elaborates on the publications written during the first half of the 20th century. From the very beginning, this method has been accompanied by debates about its effectiveness and justification for its use, which have continued until today. The preserved electrotherapeutic devices presented in this paper are an important addition to medical historiography and a valuable segment of material medical culture, traces of which have been preserved in Croatia.