Fabio Zampieri | Università degli Studi di Padova (original) (raw)
Papers by Fabio Zampieri
Medical Liability: Two Historical Cases from Padua
Introduction to Medical Humanities
Darwin’s Impact on the Medical Sciences
Integrating Evolutionary Biology into Medical Education
In early nineteenth century medicine, the concepts of organic evolution and natural selection eme... more In early nineteenth century medicine, the concepts of organic evolution and natural selection emerged in different contexts, partly anticipating Darwinian revolution. In particular, the anatomical concept of disease favored the perception that men and animals were very similar from a morphological, physiological and pathological point of view, and that this could indicate a certain degree of kinship between them. The debate around human races and human pathological heredity saw first formulations of the principle of natural selection, even if without a full appraisal of its evolutionary implications. Charles Darwin took many inspirations from these medical theories. The impact of the theory of evolution formulated by him in 1859 was only apparently slight in medicine. It is even possible to support that evolutionary concepts contributed in a significant way to the most important medical issues, debates and new discipline in the period between 1880 and 1940.
Agriculture
In its 800-year history, the University of Padova (Padua, Italy) has come to play an important ro... more In its 800-year history, the University of Padova (Padua, Italy) has come to play an important role in the development of animal science in Italy and Europe. Having founded the oldest university botanical garden (1545; UNESCO World Heritage Site) and anatomical theatre (1595), and awarded the first university degree to a woman (Elena-Lucrezia Cornaro-Piscopia, 1678), the University instituted the Public School of Agriculture (Orto Agrario) in 1765 and the Collegium Zooiatricum in 1773. Between 1986 and 1995, under the leadership of Professor Mario Bonsembiante, animal scientist and rector, the scientific-technological center of Agripolis was established, including the Faculties of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine (with the experimental farm and veterinary hospital), the Istituto Zooprofilattico delle Venezie, and Veneto Agricoltura. Agripolis rapidly became the most innovative center in Italy for teaching, research, and extension services in the fields of agricultural, animal, ve...
Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy, 2018
Web-based question answering (QA) systems are effective in corroborating answers from multiple We... more Web-based question answering (QA) systems are effective in corroborating answers from multiple Web sources. However, Web also contains false, fabricated, and biased information that can have adverse effects on the accuracy of answers in Web-based QA systems. Existing, solutions focus primarily on finding relevant Web pages but either do not evaluate Web pages' credibility or evaluate two to three out of seven credibility categories. This research proposed a credibility assessment algorithm that uses seven categories, including correctness, authority, currency, professionalism, popularity, impartiality, quality, for scoring credibility, where each credibility category consists of multiple factors. The credibility assessment module is added on top of an existing QA system to score answers based on the credibility of Web pages. The system ranks answers based on the Web pages' credibility from where answers have been taken. The research conducted extensive quantitative tests on 211 factoid questions, taken from TREC QA data from 1999-2001. Our research findings show that credibility categories including correctness, professionalism, impartiality, and quality significantly improved the accuracy of answers. On the other hand, categories such as authority, currency, popularity played a minor role instead. This research hopes to allow researchers and experts in using the Web credibility assessment model to improve the accuracy of information systems. Credibility scores should assist Web users in selecting credible information, while also forcing content creators to focus more on publishing credible content. INDEX TERMS Credibility assessment, information processing, natural language processing, web credibility, question answering.
Preface III
Wound Healing, Fibrosis, and the Myofibroblast, 2022
Il metodo di Morgagni nell’era della medicina molecolare
Morgagni rivive nelle Conferenze Clinico Patologiche
Emilio Campolongo, filosofo e medico patavino (1550-1604)
Malattie professionali dei cantanti castrati
Giornale italiano di medicina del lavoro ed ergonomia, 2017
The myofibroblast: Role in fibrosis development
Wound Healing, Fibrosis, and the Myofibroblast, 2022
Istituto Lombardo - Accademia di Scienze e Lettere - Incontri di Studio, 2021
Giovanni Battista Morgagni is considered the father of pathological anatomy. His contribution can... more Giovanni Battista Morgagni is considered the father of pathological anatomy. His contribution can be contextualized in the extraordinary development of anatomy between the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries, because along this period anatomy became the most important among the natural sciences. A new pathology based on anatomy was possible thanks to the mechanistic perspective which characterized this science during the seventeenth century, in particular through the work of Marcello Malpighi, whom Morgagni considered as his master. The approach of Malpighi and other ‘iatromechanists’ was widely debated: supporters of mechanisms and empiricism, as well as supporters of the Ancients, or Hippocratic-Galenic medicine, and of the Moderns, or ‘Neoteric’ medicine, were opposed and interlaced. The anatomo-clinical method of Morgagni can be fully understood only by being contextualized within this debate.
Wiener Medizinische Wochenschrift, 2020
It is well known that Padua Medical School, Italy, played a fundamental role in shaping modern me... more It is well known that Padua Medical School, Italy, played a fundamental role in shaping modern medicine. Its golden age lasted from the late XV to the late XVIII century, thanks in particular to its extraordinary anatomical school. One of the last fundamental achievements of the Padua Medical School was the founding of the anatomo-clinical method and organ pathology by Giovanni Battista Morgagni, Professor of Theoretical Medicine in Padua from 1711 and 1715 and of Anatomy from 1715 to his death. This method, which dramatically changed the course of medical diagnosis and therapy, was immediately developed by the so-called Anatomo-Clinical School of Paris. Figures such as Jean-Nicolas Corvisart and René Laennec improved this new approach in the clinical setting with the method of auscultation and the introduction of the stethoscope. However, organ pathology probably found its most important modern expression in the so-called Viennese School of Medicine, thanks to figures such as Karl von Rokitansky, Joseph Skoda and Theodor Billroth. In that period, this school was described by the anatomist Rudolf Virchow as "the Mecca of medicine." As is well known, Padua and Venice fell under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire between the end of the XVIII and the beginning of the second half of the XIX century. The most important influences and changes at the University of Padua were introduced by the Viennese School during the so-called Third Austrian Domination (1813-1866), with improvements of medical curriculum, the founding of new specialist medical institutes and a general advancement of medical science, inspired by the
Curator: The Museum Journal, 2018
The surface of nanoparticles (NPs) get coated by a wide range of biomolecules, upon exposure to b... more The surface of nanoparticles (NPs) get coated by a wide range of biomolecules, upon exposure to biological fluids. It is now being increasingly accepted that NPs with particular physiochemical properties have a capacity to induce conformational changes to proteins and therefore influence their biological fates, we hypothesized that the gold NP's metal surface may also be involved in the observed Fg unfolding and inflammatory response. To mechanistically test this hypothesis, we probed the interaction of Fg with gold surfaces using molecular dynamic simulation (MD) and revealed that the gold surface has a capacity to induce Fg conformational changes in favor of inflammation response. As the integrity of coatings at the surface of ultra-small gold NPs are not thorough, we also hypothesized that the ultra-small gold NPs have a capacity to induce unfolding of Fg regardless of the composition and surface charge of their coatings. Using different surface coatings at the surface of ultra-small gold NPs, we validated this hypothesis. Our findings suggest that gold NPs may cause unforeseen inflammatory effects, as their surface coatings may be degraded by physiological activity. Upon entry to any biological environment, a nanoparticle's (NP's) surface is spontaneously masked with a layer of proteins and other biomolecules, leading to the formation of the so-called "protein corona" 1. As protein corona can affect NP targeting 2 and exert immune-active conformational changes in the interacting proteins 3 , probing the interaction of individual proteins with the surface of NPs and their corresponding biological identity are one of the central challenges in the field of nanomedicine and have attracted a great deal of attention 4. Fibrinogen (Fg) is one of the most abundant blood proteins, and plays a crucial role in immune activation and blood clotting processes. With a diameter of 5 nm and a length of 45 nm 5 , Fg consists of six polypeptide chains, (α; β; γ) 2 , which are held by disulfide-bridges 6. Each chain consists of two outer D domains, which are connected to the central E domain by a coiled-coil segment 6. Lishko et al. indicated that Fg has a binding site (γ 377-395) in the D-domain for the Mac-1 receptor (CD11b/CD18 or α M β 2) and that conformational changes adjust the α M β 2-binding site in Fg and the subsequent inflammatory response 7. Because of Fg's ubiquity in serum and the potential inflammatory response due to Fg mis-folding, Fg-nanoparticle interactions are an important area of
Encyclopedia of Pathology, 2016
Eisenmenger, Victor (1864–1932)
Encyclopedia of Pathology, 2017
Encyclopedia of Pathology, 2017
History of Life Gabriele Fallopio was born in Modena, an ancient town in Emilia Romagna in 1523 (... more History of Life Gabriele Fallopio was born in Modena, an ancient town in Emilia Romagna in 1523 (Fig. 1). His exact birth date is uncertain. Fallopio's family had noble origins and his father, Geronimo Fallopio, worked as a goldsmith and later as a soldier. Geronimo died when Fallopio was 10 years old and the family faced financial troubles. By 1542, Gabriele Fallopio had to stop his education and became a priest in the Episcopal Church of Modena, inheriting the canonary of his uncle to relieve the financial difficulties of his family. Fallopio did not practice his priesthood and, after some years, he renounced his state as a priest. Fallopio began studying medicine in Modena under Niccolo Machella. Machella allowed Fallopio to perform his first dissection on a 21year-old female criminal. Fallopio also practiced surgery for some time, but due to fatal outcomes, he abandoned the practice and decided to study medicine. He only resumed surgical practice after being appointed as Chair of Anatomy and Surgery in Padua some years later. Around 1544, Fallopio moved to Ferrara, where he studied under Antonio Musa Brasavola (1500-1555), a famous physician who performed the first successful tracheotomy, and under Giambattista Canano (1515-1579). Subsequently, Fallopio left Ferrara and continued his education in the University of Pisa. Here he became later a lecturer and professor of anatomy. Fallopio also studied in Padua under the supervision of Giovanni Battista de Monte
[The method of "rational medicine" of Giovanni Battista Morgagni]
Physis; rivista internazionale di storia della scienza, 2013
Giovanni Battista Morgagni is considered the father of pathological anatomy. His contribution can... more Giovanni Battista Morgagni is considered the father of pathological anatomy. His contribution can be contextualized within the sphere of the extraordinary development of anatomy between the seventeenth and eighteenth century, the period in which this discipline became the "queen" of the natural sciences. A new pathology based upon anatomy became possible thanks to the mechanistic perspective that had characterized this science in the seventeenth century, in particular with the work of Marcello Malpighi, whom Morgagni regarded as his master. The approach of Malpighi and of the other "iatromechanists" was the subject of an ample debate in which the advocates of mechanicism and empiricism were opposed to, and intertwined with, the supporters of the "ancient," that is to say, Galenic medicine, with respect to those of the "modern," i.e., "neoteric" one. The anatomic-clinical method of Morgagni can be fully understood only when contextual...
[The enigma of the "punished suicide": an anatomical preparation of Lodovico Brunetti winner of the gold medal at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1867]
Physis; rivista internazionale di storia della scienza
This article reconstructs the figure of Lodovico Brunetti, the first Chair of Pathological Anatom... more This article reconstructs the figure of Lodovico Brunetti, the first Chair of Pathological Anatomy at the University of Padua, and Director of the homonymous Institute from 1869 to 1887. He was the inventor of a technique known as "tannization," for the conservation of animal tissue. In particular, we have reconstructed the episode related to a particularly choking anatomical preparation, created by Brunetti in 1863, called "The Punished Suicide." This composition, together with a series of 66 preparations, allowed him to win the "Gran prix" at the Universal Exposition of Paris in 1867.
European Heart Journal, 2020
'Millions of people are undergoing treatments for cardiovascular diseases. Understanding the heal... more 'Millions of people are undergoing treatments for cardiovascular diseases. Understanding the healthy heart will help us understand interactions between cell types and cell states that can allow lifelong function and how these differ in diseases. Ultimately, these fundamental insights may suggest specific targets that can lead to individualized therapies in the future, creating personalized medicines for heart disease and improving the effectiveness of treatments for each patient'.
Correction to: Did Antonio Vallisneri (1661–1730) really describe frontal sinus osteoma? Unexpected insights for paleo-neuroparasitology
Neurological Sciences
Medical Liability: Two Historical Cases from Padua
Introduction to Medical Humanities
Darwin’s Impact on the Medical Sciences
Integrating Evolutionary Biology into Medical Education
In early nineteenth century medicine, the concepts of organic evolution and natural selection eme... more In early nineteenth century medicine, the concepts of organic evolution and natural selection emerged in different contexts, partly anticipating Darwinian revolution. In particular, the anatomical concept of disease favored the perception that men and animals were very similar from a morphological, physiological and pathological point of view, and that this could indicate a certain degree of kinship between them. The debate around human races and human pathological heredity saw first formulations of the principle of natural selection, even if without a full appraisal of its evolutionary implications. Charles Darwin took many inspirations from these medical theories. The impact of the theory of evolution formulated by him in 1859 was only apparently slight in medicine. It is even possible to support that evolutionary concepts contributed in a significant way to the most important medical issues, debates and new discipline in the period between 1880 and 1940.
Agriculture
In its 800-year history, the University of Padova (Padua, Italy) has come to play an important ro... more In its 800-year history, the University of Padova (Padua, Italy) has come to play an important role in the development of animal science in Italy and Europe. Having founded the oldest university botanical garden (1545; UNESCO World Heritage Site) and anatomical theatre (1595), and awarded the first university degree to a woman (Elena-Lucrezia Cornaro-Piscopia, 1678), the University instituted the Public School of Agriculture (Orto Agrario) in 1765 and the Collegium Zooiatricum in 1773. Between 1986 and 1995, under the leadership of Professor Mario Bonsembiante, animal scientist and rector, the scientific-technological center of Agripolis was established, including the Faculties of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine (with the experimental farm and veterinary hospital), the Istituto Zooprofilattico delle Venezie, and Veneto Agricoltura. Agripolis rapidly became the most innovative center in Italy for teaching, research, and extension services in the fields of agricultural, animal, ve...
Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy, 2018
Web-based question answering (QA) systems are effective in corroborating answers from multiple We... more Web-based question answering (QA) systems are effective in corroborating answers from multiple Web sources. However, Web also contains false, fabricated, and biased information that can have adverse effects on the accuracy of answers in Web-based QA systems. Existing, solutions focus primarily on finding relevant Web pages but either do not evaluate Web pages' credibility or evaluate two to three out of seven credibility categories. This research proposed a credibility assessment algorithm that uses seven categories, including correctness, authority, currency, professionalism, popularity, impartiality, quality, for scoring credibility, where each credibility category consists of multiple factors. The credibility assessment module is added on top of an existing QA system to score answers based on the credibility of Web pages. The system ranks answers based on the Web pages' credibility from where answers have been taken. The research conducted extensive quantitative tests on 211 factoid questions, taken from TREC QA data from 1999-2001. Our research findings show that credibility categories including correctness, professionalism, impartiality, and quality significantly improved the accuracy of answers. On the other hand, categories such as authority, currency, popularity played a minor role instead. This research hopes to allow researchers and experts in using the Web credibility assessment model to improve the accuracy of information systems. Credibility scores should assist Web users in selecting credible information, while also forcing content creators to focus more on publishing credible content. INDEX TERMS Credibility assessment, information processing, natural language processing, web credibility, question answering.
Preface III
Wound Healing, Fibrosis, and the Myofibroblast, 2022
Il metodo di Morgagni nell’era della medicina molecolare
Morgagni rivive nelle Conferenze Clinico Patologiche
Emilio Campolongo, filosofo e medico patavino (1550-1604)
Malattie professionali dei cantanti castrati
Giornale italiano di medicina del lavoro ed ergonomia, 2017
The myofibroblast: Role in fibrosis development
Wound Healing, Fibrosis, and the Myofibroblast, 2022
Istituto Lombardo - Accademia di Scienze e Lettere - Incontri di Studio, 2021
Giovanni Battista Morgagni is considered the father of pathological anatomy. His contribution can... more Giovanni Battista Morgagni is considered the father of pathological anatomy. His contribution can be contextualized in the extraordinary development of anatomy between the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries, because along this period anatomy became the most important among the natural sciences. A new pathology based on anatomy was possible thanks to the mechanistic perspective which characterized this science during the seventeenth century, in particular through the work of Marcello Malpighi, whom Morgagni considered as his master. The approach of Malpighi and other ‘iatromechanists’ was widely debated: supporters of mechanisms and empiricism, as well as supporters of the Ancients, or Hippocratic-Galenic medicine, and of the Moderns, or ‘Neoteric’ medicine, were opposed and interlaced. The anatomo-clinical method of Morgagni can be fully understood only by being contextualized within this debate.
Wiener Medizinische Wochenschrift, 2020
It is well known that Padua Medical School, Italy, played a fundamental role in shaping modern me... more It is well known that Padua Medical School, Italy, played a fundamental role in shaping modern medicine. Its golden age lasted from the late XV to the late XVIII century, thanks in particular to its extraordinary anatomical school. One of the last fundamental achievements of the Padua Medical School was the founding of the anatomo-clinical method and organ pathology by Giovanni Battista Morgagni, Professor of Theoretical Medicine in Padua from 1711 and 1715 and of Anatomy from 1715 to his death. This method, which dramatically changed the course of medical diagnosis and therapy, was immediately developed by the so-called Anatomo-Clinical School of Paris. Figures such as Jean-Nicolas Corvisart and René Laennec improved this new approach in the clinical setting with the method of auscultation and the introduction of the stethoscope. However, organ pathology probably found its most important modern expression in the so-called Viennese School of Medicine, thanks to figures such as Karl von Rokitansky, Joseph Skoda and Theodor Billroth. In that period, this school was described by the anatomist Rudolf Virchow as "the Mecca of medicine." As is well known, Padua and Venice fell under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire between the end of the XVIII and the beginning of the second half of the XIX century. The most important influences and changes at the University of Padua were introduced by the Viennese School during the so-called Third Austrian Domination (1813-1866), with improvements of medical curriculum, the founding of new specialist medical institutes and a general advancement of medical science, inspired by the
Curator: The Museum Journal, 2018
The surface of nanoparticles (NPs) get coated by a wide range of biomolecules, upon exposure to b... more The surface of nanoparticles (NPs) get coated by a wide range of biomolecules, upon exposure to biological fluids. It is now being increasingly accepted that NPs with particular physiochemical properties have a capacity to induce conformational changes to proteins and therefore influence their biological fates, we hypothesized that the gold NP's metal surface may also be involved in the observed Fg unfolding and inflammatory response. To mechanistically test this hypothesis, we probed the interaction of Fg with gold surfaces using molecular dynamic simulation (MD) and revealed that the gold surface has a capacity to induce Fg conformational changes in favor of inflammation response. As the integrity of coatings at the surface of ultra-small gold NPs are not thorough, we also hypothesized that the ultra-small gold NPs have a capacity to induce unfolding of Fg regardless of the composition and surface charge of their coatings. Using different surface coatings at the surface of ultra-small gold NPs, we validated this hypothesis. Our findings suggest that gold NPs may cause unforeseen inflammatory effects, as their surface coatings may be degraded by physiological activity. Upon entry to any biological environment, a nanoparticle's (NP's) surface is spontaneously masked with a layer of proteins and other biomolecules, leading to the formation of the so-called "protein corona" 1. As protein corona can affect NP targeting 2 and exert immune-active conformational changes in the interacting proteins 3 , probing the interaction of individual proteins with the surface of NPs and their corresponding biological identity are one of the central challenges in the field of nanomedicine and have attracted a great deal of attention 4. Fibrinogen (Fg) is one of the most abundant blood proteins, and plays a crucial role in immune activation and blood clotting processes. With a diameter of 5 nm and a length of 45 nm 5 , Fg consists of six polypeptide chains, (α; β; γ) 2 , which are held by disulfide-bridges 6. Each chain consists of two outer D domains, which are connected to the central E domain by a coiled-coil segment 6. Lishko et al. indicated that Fg has a binding site (γ 377-395) in the D-domain for the Mac-1 receptor (CD11b/CD18 or α M β 2) and that conformational changes adjust the α M β 2-binding site in Fg and the subsequent inflammatory response 7. Because of Fg's ubiquity in serum and the potential inflammatory response due to Fg mis-folding, Fg-nanoparticle interactions are an important area of
Encyclopedia of Pathology, 2016
Eisenmenger, Victor (1864–1932)
Encyclopedia of Pathology, 2017
Encyclopedia of Pathology, 2017
History of Life Gabriele Fallopio was born in Modena, an ancient town in Emilia Romagna in 1523 (... more History of Life Gabriele Fallopio was born in Modena, an ancient town in Emilia Romagna in 1523 (Fig. 1). His exact birth date is uncertain. Fallopio's family had noble origins and his father, Geronimo Fallopio, worked as a goldsmith and later as a soldier. Geronimo died when Fallopio was 10 years old and the family faced financial troubles. By 1542, Gabriele Fallopio had to stop his education and became a priest in the Episcopal Church of Modena, inheriting the canonary of his uncle to relieve the financial difficulties of his family. Fallopio did not practice his priesthood and, after some years, he renounced his state as a priest. Fallopio began studying medicine in Modena under Niccolo Machella. Machella allowed Fallopio to perform his first dissection on a 21year-old female criminal. Fallopio also practiced surgery for some time, but due to fatal outcomes, he abandoned the practice and decided to study medicine. He only resumed surgical practice after being appointed as Chair of Anatomy and Surgery in Padua some years later. Around 1544, Fallopio moved to Ferrara, where he studied under Antonio Musa Brasavola (1500-1555), a famous physician who performed the first successful tracheotomy, and under Giambattista Canano (1515-1579). Subsequently, Fallopio left Ferrara and continued his education in the University of Pisa. Here he became later a lecturer and professor of anatomy. Fallopio also studied in Padua under the supervision of Giovanni Battista de Monte
[The method of "rational medicine" of Giovanni Battista Morgagni]
Physis; rivista internazionale di storia della scienza, 2013
Giovanni Battista Morgagni is considered the father of pathological anatomy. His contribution can... more Giovanni Battista Morgagni is considered the father of pathological anatomy. His contribution can be contextualized within the sphere of the extraordinary development of anatomy between the seventeenth and eighteenth century, the period in which this discipline became the "queen" of the natural sciences. A new pathology based upon anatomy became possible thanks to the mechanistic perspective that had characterized this science in the seventeenth century, in particular with the work of Marcello Malpighi, whom Morgagni regarded as his master. The approach of Malpighi and of the other "iatromechanists" was the subject of an ample debate in which the advocates of mechanicism and empiricism were opposed to, and intertwined with, the supporters of the "ancient," that is to say, Galenic medicine, with respect to those of the "modern," i.e., "neoteric" one. The anatomic-clinical method of Morgagni can be fully understood only when contextual...
[The enigma of the "punished suicide": an anatomical preparation of Lodovico Brunetti winner of the gold medal at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1867]
Physis; rivista internazionale di storia della scienza
This article reconstructs the figure of Lodovico Brunetti, the first Chair of Pathological Anatom... more This article reconstructs the figure of Lodovico Brunetti, the first Chair of Pathological Anatomy at the University of Padua, and Director of the homonymous Institute from 1869 to 1887. He was the inventor of a technique known as "tannization," for the conservation of animal tissue. In particular, we have reconstructed the episode related to a particularly choking anatomical preparation, created by Brunetti in 1863, called "The Punished Suicide." This composition, together with a series of 66 preparations, allowed him to win the "Gran prix" at the Universal Exposition of Paris in 1867.
European Heart Journal, 2020
'Millions of people are undergoing treatments for cardiovascular diseases. Understanding the heal... more 'Millions of people are undergoing treatments for cardiovascular diseases. Understanding the healthy heart will help us understand interactions between cell types and cell states that can allow lifelong function and how these differ in diseases. Ultimately, these fundamental insights may suggest specific targets that can lead to individualized therapies in the future, creating personalized medicines for heart disease and improving the effectiveness of treatments for each patient'.
Correction to: Did Antonio Vallisneri (1661–1730) really describe frontal sinus osteoma? Unexpected insights for paleo-neuroparasitology
Neurological Sciences
WOUND HEALING, FIBROSIS, AND THE MYOFIBROBLAST A Historical and Biological Perspective
Academic Press - Elsevier, 2022
Wound Healing, and the Myofibroblast: A Historical and Biological Perspective is the fruit of an... more Wound Healing, and the Myofibroblast: A Historical and Biological Perspective is the fruit of an interdisciplinary and international collaboration involving a historian of medicine (Dr. Zampieri), a physician (Dr. Coen), and a researcher (Prof. Gabbiani, world-renowned for his discovery of the myofibroblast). This book aims to draw a concise yet complete description of the conceptual evolution of wound healing, fibrosis and fibrosis-related pathologies from antiquity to present time, as well as commenting on the role of the myofibroblast and the key cell type essential for tissue repair and fibrosis (from its identification in 1971 throughout its 50-years-old history). By viewing this complex and century-long history from different perspectives, the book's authors aim to draw an exhaustive overview, with the hope of inspiring new and fruitful basic and clinical research.
L’Erma di Bretschneider, 2022
This book represents the first systematic investigation on ancient cardiology, which includes the... more This book represents the first systematic investigation on ancient cardiology, which includes the first civilizations of human history, such as those flourished in Mesopotamia, Pharaonic Egypt, Vedic India, and China. It includes also major pre-Hispanic civilizations at their apex, namely the Maya, Aztec and Inca, given that they shared fundamental features with the first ones. Finally, it closes with Greek medicine because it represents
crucial advancements which paved the way to modern cardiology. Nothing similar have been previously attempted, and we believe that just this feature represents an important value of this work.
The cardiovascular system was not well understood anywhere in antiquity. The heart and vessels were viewed as system of conduits containing all kind of physiological and pathological fluids, such as blood, sperm, sweat, urine, and feces. Arteries and veins were not distinguished from neither an anatomical nor a physiological point of view.
Circulation was far from being understood. After millennia of ignorance, William Harvey, in 1628, demonstrated that the heart was a pump and its function was to push blood in the systemic circulation. This is rightly considered the dawn of modern cardiovascular medicine. Consequently, all ideas, theories and practices of ancient medicine were reduced to unimportant superstitions. Historians of medicine, adapting to that “dogma”, relegated pre-Harveian cardiology to roughs notes, preventing a proper historical evaluation of many centuries of cardiovascular conceptions and practices.
All the ancient civilizations investigated in that book shared the conviction that the heart was the biological and spiritual center of the body, as the seat of emotions, mind, will, vital energy and the soul. That the heart maintained a special role both in religion and in medicine across millennia, surviving from cultural and scientific revolutions, deserves to be investigated and, possibly, explained. During the last decades, new advancements in cardiovascular and neurological physiology and pathology, shed new light on ancient ideas. Researchers are focusing on the so-called brain-heart axis, which demonstrate how these organs are strictly interconnected. Moreover, the role of the heart in emotions is becoming even more important. Indeed, ancient conceptions about the heart are founding a new validation in the physiological and neurological ground. Therefore, a first attempt of rediscovering the earliest theories and practices of cardiovascular medicine
couldn’t wait any longer. Finally, the celebration for the eight centuries of the University of Padua (1222-2022), represented the best occasion to undertake such an ambitious project. We hope to have been able to reach the goal, at least in the form of an original work which might inspire further researches and discoveries.
Il metodo anatomia clinico fra meccanicismo ed empirismo. Marcello Malpighi, Antonio Maria Valsalva, Giovanni Battista Morgagni
Il volume ricostruisce la storia della genesi del metodo anatomo-clinico che ha costituito una sv... more Il volume ricostruisce la storia della genesi del metodo anatomo-clinico che ha costituito una svolta epocale in medicina. Ancor oggi tale metodo, che si occupa della cosiddetta correlazione anatomo-clinica, cioè dell' analisi dei substrati morfologici delle malattie, è alla base del processo diagnostico e delle decisioni terapeutiche nel segno della collaborazione fra anatomo-patologi e clinici.
Nel suo focalizzarsi sulla lesione organica, cioè sui segni fisici che la malattia determina nell' organo, nei tessuti, nelle cellule e fino ai costituenti molecolari, il metodo anatomo-clinico ha costituto il passo decisivo nella nascita della medicina scientifica moderna. Prima della sua imposizione, infatti, i medici ritenevano che le malattie fossero causate e caratterizzate non tanto da lesioni organiche, quanto da squilibri umorali, secondo l'antichissima teoria degli umori e dei temperamenti che risaliva al pensiero classico di Ippocrate e Galeno.
Marcello Malpighi, bolognese, uno dei principali protagonisti della ricerca biomedica seicentesca, fra i primi a utilizzare il microscopio, fu il maestro di Antonio Maria Valsalva, uno dei più insigni anatomisti e chirurghi del suo tempo, docente anch'egli nello Studio di Bologna, che a sua volta trasmise gli insegnamenti malpighiani a Giovanni Battista Morgagni, laureato a Bologna e docente a Padova, al quale si deve la prima formulazione piena e consapevole del nuovo metodo anatomo-clinico e la fondazione dell'anatomia patologica come disciplina autonoma.
Per comprendere appieno il significato di questo evento storico, è stato necessario ricostruire minuziosamente il contesto in cui è sorto, caratterizzato da un ampio e aspro dibattito scientifico-metodologico che ha visto opporsi due scuole apparentemente inconciliabili: quella empirica, che riteneva non si potesse indagare sulle cause interne delle malattie, ma ci si dovesse limitare a osservare la storia clinica e gli effetti delle terapie sui pazienti; e quella dogmatica, neoterica o razionale, che sosteneva, al contrario, che si dovessero analizzare le cause interne delle malattie, in particolare attraverso l' anatomia e il metodo meccanicista, secondo il quale i processi biologici, obbedendo alle leggi fisiche, erano analoghi alle macchine costruite dall' uomo. La circolazione, in questo senso, era esemplificata dalle macchine idrauliche e la digestione era paragonabile a un processo di triturazione, cottura e filtrazione dei componenti nutritivi.
L'Erma di Bretschneider, Rome , 2021
To be published soon This volume collects essays dealing with the history of medicine in early m... more To be published soon
This volume collects essays dealing with the history of medicine in early modern Europe, and ranging from experiments and practices to the role of erudition in court-medicine, from the study of tarantism and plagues to the uses of drugs, from the collaborations and dissemination of medical knowledge to the epistemological classification of diseases. The essays aim to reveal the boundless investigation in medical knowledge, ultimately blurring the line of diverse fields, and focus on the extension of medicine as a scientia. Besides the investigation of specific figures and several case studies of early modern medicine, the volume opens with an exploration of the Medical School of Padua and also deals with some important locations that shape the science of medicine, such as anatomical theatres, botanical gardens, and museums.