Neuroradiology and art: a review and personal contribution.
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Radiology has attracted the world of art with the esthetic value of its images, and as a new medium for the artistic expression. In order to investigate the links between neuroradiology and art, we examined 12,763 artworks presented in corresponding publications and in Google images on the Internet. The selected artworks were created by 1,964 authors. To give our own contribution to this field, we produced several artful radiological images using the X-ray of 4 cerebral hemispheres, one dissected brain, serial sections of one head and brain, the vascular casts of 2 brains, the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of one volunteer, and various options in Photoshop. Among the examined artworks, neuroradiological images were used in 129 artworks (1.01%) that were created by 31 artists (1.58%). The artists applied different radiological techniques: X-ray, angiography, computed tomography (CT), multislice CT, MRI, functional MRI, positron emission tomography (PET) or single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), either alone or in various combinations. They used the original images, i.e. radiographs or scans, or their electronic modifications in Photoshop or three-dimensional (3D) software. Some artworks presented the skull, yet others the brain, and still others both, either with or without a head image. The neuroradiological artworks were created as paintings, photographs, digital works and sculptures. Their authors were professional artists, designers, amateurs and radiologists. In conclusion, thanks to the esthetics of some radiological images and the valuable creations of certain artists, neuroradiology has become an important field of contemporary art. (+info)
Historical perspective on the etiology of rheumatoid arthritis.
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Syphilis in art: an entertainment in four parts. Part 1.
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It is widely recognised that the history of art reveals the contemporary attitudes of societies and artists to changing patterns of social and sexual behaviour. This collection of artistic creations shows that representations of syphilis in art, over more than five centuries, are consistent with this view. The first quarter century of the morbus gallicus in Europe, starting in 1493, coincided with the spread of Renaissance influence, including printing. A host of pamphlets with woodcut illustrations reflected public alarm at the epidemic proportions and severity of the new disease, with its disabling and sometimes deadly consequences. Also revealed in these early works are the astrological and theological beliefs of disease causation as well as identifiable and serious attempts at public education. These twinned themes of understanding and educational endeavour recur together throughout the centuries and take many forms as man attempts to outline and influence attitudes and so improve his medico-social health. Attitudes to causation changed with experience so that by the beginning of the 17th century the morbus gallicus is no longer a mere contagion but recognised socially and represented artistically, as a morbus venereus. Its clinical presentation had changed remarkably from the alarming early days; and so too had its prevalence--from epidemic to endemic proportions. We find that the artists of both the 16th and 17th centuries, while somewhat reticent about syphilis, are nonetheless at pains to suggest that sex is not without its serious side effects. Their artistic exhortations suggest women as the source of the disease, so that we find Venus shown as both ideal love and the source of contamination. Such attitudes contrast strikingly with what follows. The 18th century is characterised by the sophisticated elements of European societies taking an irreverent or satirical view of sex and syphilis. In England this is reflected in the works of Hogarth and other notable caricaturists. The fierce castigation of men and their follies is matched by more understand and rational attitudes towards women. But it does not last. Indeed it seems almost to invite the studied censoriousness of the 19th centrury with women again stigmatised as a source of degradation and disease. In essence this collection of examples of syphilis in art illustrates wide variations in attitude and behaviour from alarm to tolerance and from intolerance through liberality to licence and much the same again, over nearly five centuries. Just occasionally an artist seems to be ahead of his times. (+info)
Blood and war.
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In 1894 Ulsterman and pathologist Almroth Wright described the citation of blood. Twenty-one years later it was introduced into wartime and clinical practice. Harvard Medical School had a large part in providing Colonel Andrew Fullerton, later Professor of Surgery, Queen's Belfast, with the intellectual and practical help for the Allies to deploy blood on the post-Somme Western Front and in Salonika. The key investigators and clinicians were Americans and Canadians who with Fullerton and Wright instructed the Allies. The key enablers were two Harvard-trained surgeons surnamed Robertson-Oswald H. ("Robby") and L. Bruce (no relation). Physician Roger I. Lee of Harvard, surgeon George W Crile of Cleveland, Peyton Rous of the Rockefeller Institute and Richard Lewisohn of Mount Sinai Hospital, both located in the Upper East Side of New York City, played key roles.By Armistice in 1918, indirect citrated nutrient-enhanced blood transfusion was widely used by the Allies. Geoffrey Keynes was taught the techniques of blood transfusion by Dr. Benjamin Harrison Alton of Harvard at a Casualty Clearing Station near Albert at the time of the Battle of Passchendaele. Professor "Robby" Robertson, DSO, Sir Geoffrey Keynes and Sir Thomas Houston established blood banking. (+info)
The interpretation of the figure of the prophet Jonah by Michelangelo on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel: anatomical urological vision.
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PURPOSE: A detailed analysis in the iconography and pictorial appearance of the scene of the "Prophet Jonah" painted by the artist Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel between the years 1508 and 1512. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Literature review on the Italian Renaissance period and the life of Michelangelo Buonarroti and analysis of historical aspects of the evolution of studies of human anatomy in this period and the works of the artist. RESULTS: A comparative analysis of the representation of the figure of the fish on the left thigh of "Jonah " with a cross section of penis shows a curious similarity. The pictorial and iconographic analysis reveals an intensity of light on the pubic area and the position of the prophet with the legs spread apart and left hand placed on this region. A tube-shaped cloth covers the region and the angel at the side seems to be looking at this anatomical region of "Jonah". In fact, sets of iconographic and pictorial relate to the deciphered code. CONCLUSIONS: This description helps to confirm the relationship of the Renaissance art with the human anatomy; science has been much studied in this period. The design of a cross section of the penis is revealed with the two cavernous bodies with the septum between them and the spongy body. Considering the circumstances in which Michelangelo had painted, subjectivity was fundamental due to religious motivations added to the vigorous implications of a limited scientific knowledge typical of that era. (+info)
First images of respiratory system in ancient Egypt: Trachea, bronchi and pulmonary lobes.
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Examination of ancient Egyptians' depictions of the respiratory tract, dating back to the 30th century BC, reveals their awareness of the pulmonary anatomy: reinforced with cartilaginous rings, the trachea is split into two main bronchi, which then enter the lungs (lungs being divided into pulmonary lobes). (+info)
Authentication of Rembrandt's self-portraits through the use of facial aging analysis.
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The Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) left behind the largest collection of self-portraits in the history of art. Although about 40 of his oil paintings could be considered "self-portraits," controversy still exists regarding 14 of them. We undertook to determine the identity of the painter or the subject. Our work was based on the generally accepted premise that these portraits represent a "realistic" rendering of the subject. Self-portraits on which there is consensus regarding the authenticity were chosen as the basis for our measurements. Using a computerized technique we measured the brow ptosis. We also subjectively analyzed Rembrandt's facial aging and the unique asymmetrical elements in his face. We could not add any useful information on 6 of the 14 portraits and suggest that 8 should be considered authentic. Facial aging analysis and the unique surface anatomy allowed us to confirm Rembrandt as the painter in four of six self-portraits. We confirmed Rembrandt as the subject and painter in three more paintings. Of the two paintings in which the subject's identity was controversial, we determined Rembrandt as the subject in one. We were able to date Rembrandt's age in two other works and considered another portrait to be a copy. Our methodology may serve as an additional tool for the authentication of self-portraits. (+info)
Identifying the patient in George W Lambert's Chesham Street.
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