Acta Universitatis Carolinae. Medica. Monographia最新文献

This review argues for the segmental basis of chordate head organization which, like somite-based segmental organization in the trunk, takes its origin from early mesodermal development. The review builds on, and brings up to date, Goodrich's well-known scheme of head organization. It surveys recent data in support of this scheme and shows how evidence and arguments supposedly in conflict with it can be accommodated. Many of the arguments revolve around matters of methodology; the limitations of older LM, SEM (on which the concept of "somitomeres" is based) and recent molecular evidence (which has sometimes been seen as allocating the central role in head organization to the CNS and the neural crest) are highlighted and shown to explain a number of claims contrary to Goodrich's. We provide (in Part 2) a new, comparative survey of the best available evidence most directly relevant to the Goodrich Bauplan, with a special emphasis on stem chordates. The postotic region has commonly been seen as segmentally organized: the critical issues concern the preotic region. There are many reasons why Goodrich's three preotic segments may become specialized during evolution and why the underlying initial segmental organization may be overridden in later stages during embryonic development; we refer to a number of these. We conclude that the preotic segmental Bauplan is remarkably conserved and most explicitly demonstrated among stem forms, but we also suggest that the concept of the prechordal plate requires careful reexamination. Central to our overall analysis is the importance of the epigenetic nature of embryogenesis; its implications are made clear. Finally we speculate on evolutionary implications for the origin of the head and its specialized features. The review is intended to serve as a resource giving access to references to a wealth of now neglected, older data on anamniote embryology.

The United States National Science Foundation has recently funded a large collaborative project on "A History of Health in Europe from the Late Paleolithic Era to the Present," whose goal is to measure and analyzes the evolution of skeletal health by combining data from human remains with information gathered from sources in archaeology, climate history, geography, and history. The goal of this international collaborative project is to create a series of database that will allow researchers to reinterpret the history of human health in Europe from the late Paleolithic era to the early twentieth century. During this period, human health and welfare were transformed enormously by the transition from foraging to farming; the rise of cities and complex forms of social and political organization; European colonization; and industrialization. With a trans-Atlantic network of collaborators, we will undertake large-scale comparative studies of the causes and health consequences of these and other dramatic changes in arrangements for work, living, and human interaction.

Central Europe is situated just in the place, where two main eastern and western migration waves overlaped in the Migration period (4th to 6th centuries). The progress of the eastern migration wave, its beginning, course and disappearance is characterised by deformations of skulls. The deformations are indirect expression of the migrations of the Huns and the Sarmatian-Alanian tribes. Diet and social stratification at the Sarmatian burial ground Madaras was reconstructed based on the analyses of contents of trace elements Sr, Zn, Pb in 44 skeletons. At Madaras the principal foodstuffs in the diet were of vegetal origin. Based on statistical testing by means of Scheff's test a significant difference (p = 0.0003) in strontium content in the bones of rich women (garnitures 200, 300, 400) was found being the average 506 microg Sr/g of bone) compared with men with iron knife and the individuals without grave goods (garnitures 100, 800) where the average was 268 microg Sr/g of bone. Western migration wave with German tribes in the 6th century characterised by artificial grinding of front teeth was found in the largest Langorbardic burial-ground in Moravia at Luzice. Compact bone of the femora from two Moravian Prelangobardic sites (Vyskov and Strachotin, N-20 skeletons) of German population dated from Migration period was analysed by content of lead as a cultural factor and Zn and Sr from a health point of view. The Pb exposure was much lower than that from the Roman period (5.7-23 microg Pb/g of bone in the German tribes on the north of Danube) being on an average below 3 microg Pb/g of bone tissue. Content of zinc in migrating German population in the region of the middle Danube (Strachotin, at an average of 188 microg Zn/g of bone; Vyskov, at an average of 111 microg Zn/g of bone) are lower than those from the original settlements (230-500 microg Zn/g of bone). The strontium content in bones was directly proportional to the level of social rank. From 20 analysed skeletons from Strachotin and Vyskov signifies the statistic difference between the social groups of warriors in which concentration of strontium (340 microSr/g bone) was higher compared with woman with jewels (204 microSr) and graves without grave goods (228 micro Sr). The societies in the Germans and the Sarmatians were less differentiated than in the La Tène period. Especially the garnitures 400, 500 and 600 feature little differentiation. The garniture 500 is even missing in the Prelangobardic population at Strachotin.

The Jesuit college in the Czech town of Klatovy was founded in 1636 and canceled in 1773. It had its own grammar school and numerous contacts with local nobility and church dignitaries. The college was the most important house of a catholic order in the area and baroque festivities organised by the jesuits were visited (or it would be better to say taken part in) by a wide spectrum of members of the local society. The Jesuits concerned not only on careful arrangement of their ecclesiastical celebrations, but also on presence of the important guests. They recorded numbers of the guests who visited the college and their social status in the college manuscripts. The records were then used for an internal need of the order. Till the present day three manuscripts related to the college in Klatovy have been preserved. The most interesting records of the guests are in the diary of father "minister" of the college. The article focuses on a reconstruction of a not very conventional view of social structure in an average Czech town in the beginnig of 18th century. I'm trying to describe the social situation from the jesuit point of view using internal records of the order.

Today we register 380-390 pieces of grave coins from 66 localities (mostly rustic linear necropoles) of the 11th and 12th century in region of Moravia. The beginning of the systematic use of coin as a grave artifact falls to the 1st quarter of the 11th century, its maximal development to interval 1060-1085 and the conclusion to the 1st half of the 12th century. Predominantly we find only one coin in one grave. The most often we find the coin in palms of the dead (26%) or in such position, to which they could get out from the hands (15-20%). No relation between coin position and sex, age, position or orientation of the dead has been proved. The coins belong to prominent means for dating graves and grave inventory. The most frequently the coin in grave was used as a dead obole, it means it was given to grave intentionally and on the ritual ground. It is very probable, that the coin compensated the former material grave gifts because of its small size as a reaction on intensified church supervision, which controlled the observance of Christian principles in burial rite. In such way it indicates the persistence of heathen thinking of common people in 11th and 12th century in environment, that already was officially Christian.

The Greater Moravian Empire (9th-10th century AD) was the first early state formation of the Slavonic populations in Central Europe. The focus of this research is the comparative assessment of the health status of three cemeteries of different socio-economic status in the area surrounding the Mikulcice castle. We have compared about 850 skeletons from (1) the castle cemetery and (2) non-castle cemeteries in Mikulcice and (3) a cemetery from the poor village of Josefov located eight kilometres from Mikulcice. The following characteristics were examined: linear enamel defects, dental caries, cribra orbitalia, Harris lines, trauma, degenerative joint disease and occupation stress markers, sexual dimorphism and demographic estimators. Hypoplastic defects of enamel determined on the permanent dentition of children appear with high frequency (over 80%). As the incidence of these defects is found mostly in individuals between the ages of 2 to 4 years, it is interpreted to be a consequence of weaning stress. Cribra orbitalia appears more frequently in the rural Josefov cemetery. Inhabitants at the extramural settlement exhibit poorer dental health than people buried inside the castle. Demographic estimators showed also clear the differences between the cemeteries in the Mikulcice settlement and inside the castle. The results show that there were significant differences between the health status of early Slavonic populations from South Moravia.