Suchergebnisse

Abstract Background The Medici project consisted in archeological and paleopathological researches on some members of the great dynasty of the Italian Renaissance. The remains of Giovanni de' Medici, so-called "dalle Bande Nere" (Forlì 1498- Mantua 1526) have not been investigated yet. The enigma of the fatal injury and leg amputation of the famous Captain excited curiosity of paleopathologists, medical scientists and Italian Society of Orthopedic and Traumatology which contributed to realize the project of exhumation and study of his skeletal remains. The aim of the study is to report the first anthropological and paleopathological results. Case presentation The tomb of Giovanni and his wife Maria Salviati was explored and the skeletal remains were investigated. Anthropological and paleopathological examination defined: age at death, physical constitution and activity, skeletal diseases. The bones of the leg were studied macroscopically, under stereoscopic microscope, at X-ray and CT scans to detect type of injury and level of amputation. Conclusions The skeleton and muscular insertions of Giovanni revealed a young-adult and vigorous man, subjected to stresses of military activity since adolescence. Right tibia was amputated below the proximal half of diaphysis leaving long tibio-fibular stumps with a horizontal cut only at the lateral portion. Thus, the surgeon limited to complete the traumatic hemi-amputation. Amputation in the Sixteenth Century technically consisted in guillotine incisions below the knee using crescent shaped knife and bony saw, usually leaving a quite long tibial stump. Amputations in the Sixteenth Century were contaminated and grossly performed not providing vascular binding nor wound closure. The surgeon performed the procedure in conformity with surgical knowledge of that period.

We analyze the timing of photons observed by the MAGIC telescope during a flare of the active galactic nucleus Mkn 501 for a possible correlation with energy, as suggested by some models of quantum gravity (QG), which predict a vacuum refractive index ≃ 1 + (E / MQGn)n, n = 1, 2. Parametrizing the delay between γ-rays of different energies as Δ t = ± τl E or Δ t = ± τq E2, we find τl = (0.030 ± 0.012) s / GeV at the 2.5-σ level, and τq = (3.71 ± 2.57) × 10-6 s / GeV2, respectively. We use these results to establish lower limits MQG 1 > 0.21 × 1018 GeV and MQG 2 > 0.26 × 1011 GeV at the 95% C.L. Monte Carlo studies confirm the MAGIC sensitivity to propagation effects at these levels. Thermal plasma effects in the source are negligible, but we cannot exclude the importance of some other source effect. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. ; The MAGIC Collaboration thanks the IAC for the excellent working conditions at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos in La Palma and gratefully acknowledges the support of the German BMBF and MPG, the Italian INFN and the Spanish CICYT. This work was also supported by ETH Research Grant TH 34/04 3 and the Polish MNiI Grant 1P03D01028. The work of J.E. and N.E.M. was partially supported by the European Union through the Marie Curie Research and Training Network UniverseNet MRTN-CT-2006-035863, and that of D.V.N. by DOE grant DE-FG02-95ER40917. ; Peer Reviewed