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Biography 2013; 34(6): 501-503 PubMed PMID: 24378450 Citation  Keywords:  Art:history, History, 15th Century, History, Medieval, Humanism:history, Netherlands, Textbooks as Topic:history,.   

: The paper highlights the personality of the founder of European student exchange program ERASMUS (EuRopean Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students) Erasmus of Rotterdam. He was one of the leading European humanists and has left a literary legacy of large dimensions. His thoughts, ideas, opinions, and mainly the works have a great benefit for society even today. From 16th century to the present time they are the subject of unchanged interest....

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Biography 2012; 33(8): 732-735 PubMed PMID: 23391978 Citation  Keywords:  Anatomy, Artistic:history, Art:history, Coitus, Famous Persons, Female, History, 15th Century, Humans, Medicine in Art, Pregnancy, Terminology as Topic, Veins:anatomy & histology,.   

: In the drawing of coitus by Leonardo da Vinci are pictured the contemporary hypotheses regarding this act. The authors analyze the mamillaruteral connection depicted by the artist and grow up to believe that this is a hypothetical kiveris vena, female vein described by Anatomist Master Nicolai Physicus from the Salerno School. The Hebrew roots were found in the name. The connection is described also by Mondino in The Anathomia. The same connection can be found in the picture of the pregnant woman in Fasciculus Medicinæ by Johannes De Ketham....

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Historical Article 2008; 29(Suppl 1): 161-201 PubMed PMID: 19029874 Citation  Keywords:  Clinical Trials as Topic, Electroconvulsive Therapy, Ferrosoferric Oxide:therapeutic use, History of Medicine, History, 15th Century, History, 16th Century, History, 17th Century, History, 18th Century, History, 19th Century, History, 20th Century, Histor.   

: Since antiquity, the phenomenon of magnetism has been known, and it has been tried for therapeutic purposes. Through history, people have made use of both natural sources of magnetic fields (magnetic iron ore) and artificial ones (magnets, electromagnets). It was as late as the 19th century that we started to produce time-varying magnetic fields, making numerous observations about its impact on humans, the nervous system included. A majority of these observations were cognitive in nature. There are, however, studies aimed at assessing the therapeutic results of the influence of magnetic fields, particularly of low frequencies. In terms of magnetotherapy with the use of a low-induction magnetic field, there are serious doubts concerning its effectiveness in general, including therapy for mental disorders. The year 1985 witnessed the introduction of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) into medical practice as a diagnostic tool in neurology as well as in basic neurophysiologic and neuropsychological investigations. The 1990s began the epoch of investigations into possible applications of TMS in therapy of mental disorders, particularly depression. This work presents critical remarks and limitations of TMS, such as findings that its effectiveness is not particularly high. The traditional fixed stimulation of a definite area of the patient's head may lead to irritation of structures that, in a specific patient, may not be responsible for the symptoms of depression. The effectiveness could be improved only with the use of neuronavigation and prestimulation via functional neuroimaging diagnostics of the brain, which, however, would make TMS expensive and less practical....

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Historical Article 2007; 28(6): 749-756 PubMed PMID: 18063926 Citation  Keywords:  Behavior:radiation effects, Cultural Characteristics, Dissent and Disputes:history, Electromagnetic Fields, History, History, 15th Century, History, 16th Century, History, 17th Century, History, 18th Century, History, 19th Century, History, 20th Century, .   

BACKGROUND: Russian astronomer A.L. Tchijevsky published in the twenties of 20th century a study comparing the approximately 11-year cycling of "sunspot activity" and "historical process", analyzed globally since the 5th century B.C. to the 19th century A.D. According to him, phenomena of societal "excitation", as revolutions, occurred synchronously with the solar maxima, and, oppositely, those of peaceful activities of masses, as science and arts, with the solar minima. Recently, Slovak philosopher E. Páles describes periodic fluctuation of historical events in mutually distant geographic areas during more than three millennia. The period lengths, however, are longer, one of the most pronounced being around 500 years. THE QUESTION was therefore posed: does a similar correlation with sunspot activity, as found for 11-year cycles, exist also in the 500-year cycling?

MATERIAL AND METHODS: The historical data consisted of two time series concerning revolutions in Europe and China, and of eight time series from activities in science and arts registered from five geographic areas. For the comparison, parallel time series of sunspot (Wolf) numbers, available since IInd century B.C., were constructed. Using periodic regression function, the times of peaking were estimated for each data set.

RESULTS: In agreement with Tchijevsky's hypothesis, revolutions culminated near to solar maxima while cultural flourishing usually distinctly near to solar minima. This conclusion is based on the level of statistical significance alpha=0.05.

CONCLUSION: Solar impact on geomagnetic field could be one of elucidating mechanisms. Recently, electromagnetic influencing of brain function has been realized artificially....

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