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Materia medica
Published in Michael Stolberg, Gabrielle Falloppia, 1522/23–1562, 2023
De materia medicinali dealt with the various medicinal plants and substances, which Dioscorides discussed, one after the other, in the first book of his De medica materia. As Falloppia explained, this first book focused on rare and precious aromatic medicines and ointments, many of which were not to be found in Europe. Some of them, like cardamom and cinnamon, are known above all as spices today. Following Dioscorides and widely drawing on other sources as well, Falloppia described each of these medicinal plants or substances. He explained where they could be found, at what time or stage of development they were best collected, what they looked like, and with which other plants (or adulterated, fake medicines) they might be confused. Moreover, he discussed their facultates, their powers, and effects on the body, although usually without specifying for which particular kinds of diseases they were suitable. He concluded his lecture with a brief account on civet (De zibetto), which had such a pleasant smell that it was topped only be the smell of roasted meat, adding an advice, which, like the linteolum against the French disease, clearly was meant to appeal to his male students: when civet was applied to the male foreskin, it would powerfully incite women to intercourse and arouse the greatest pleasure (“delectationem”) in them.14
Pregnancy Prevention and Promotion
Published in Audrey Eccles, Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Tudor and Stuart England, 2018
If dietary methods and the right conduct of intercourse alone did not produce the desired conception there were other methods which could be tried. If the barrenness was due to humoral causes the usual ways of purging, bleeding and altering the humours were obviously the first thing to try. The well known pills grana angelica, one dram taken every 14 days, were recommended. On the other hand Spanish fly taken to excess could cause priapism: ‘It is not to be imagined what pains some have undergone, who by indiscreet taking of Cantharides have fallen into this grievous distemper’.24 Topical applications to the penis were no doubt safer; oil of mastich and wormwood with a few grains of musk and civet would help erection. Or the woman could take in wine the dried and powdered navel-string of a first-born boy that had never touched the ground; powder of bull’s pizzle, or powder of fox’s testicles, one dram taken in sheep’s milk, also helped barrenness. Also, ‘Several highly commend the Chimical Oil of the lesser sweet Marjoram, mixt with the Runnet of a Hare, and some few grains of musk to facilitate Conception.’25
The Most Probable Origin and Initial Global Spread of HIV
Published in James Chin, Jeffrey Koplan, The AIDS Pandemic, 2018
During the past 50 years, more than 25 new or newly recognized infectious disease agents have emerged and have been detected (seeTable 3.1). Included among these emergent infectious disease agents have been about a dozen influenza or influenza-like agents. Influenza A viruses are found in many different animals, including ducks, chickens, pigs, whales, horses, and seals. Wild birds are the primary natural reservoir for all subtypes of influenza A viruses and are thought to be the source of influenza A viruses for other animals. Pigs can be infected with both human and avian influenza viruses in addition to swine influenza viruses. Because pigs are susceptible to avian, human and swine influenza viruses, they potentially may be infected with influenza viruses from different species (e.g., ducks and humans) at the same time. If this happens, it is theoretically possible for the genes of these viruses to mix and create a new virus. While it is unusual for humans to get influenza virus infection directly from animals, sporadic human infection and outbreaks caused by avian and swine influenza A viruses have occurred. However, the emergence of a new influenza virus that “jumps” from animals to humans does not guarantee that a human disease pandemic will occur. The prime example of emergence of a non-pandemic influenza type A virus was the 1976 Swine flu outbreak! The emergence of SARS Corona virus apparently from civet cats to persons in close contact with them in southern China is another example of emergence of a non-pandemic infectious disease agent.
Negative and positive environmental perspective of COVID-19: air, water, wastewater, forest, and noise quality
Published in Egyptian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 2021
Ranjan K Mohapatra, Pradeep K Das, Khan Sharun, Ruchi Tiwari, Saumya Ranjan Mohapatara, Pranab K. Mohapatra, Ajit Behera, Tamoghna Acharyya, Venkataramana Kandi, Kudrat-E Zahan, Senthilkumar Natesan, Muhammad Bilal, Kuldeep Dhama
COVID-19 pandemic strikes the ecological balance in a very short period and made the wild animals to experience the sudden absence of human beings due to lockdown. It appeared as if the wildlife habitat is restored overnight. During the initial pandemic phase, several reports witnessed the movement of wildlife in unorthodox settings such as wild boar foraging in the city of Barcelona, nesting sea turtles in beaches of Brazil, the small Indian civet (nocturnal) in broad daylight on the road in Kerala. COVID-19 impacted the restoration of degraded habitats and facilitated forest and wildlife recovery [144].
The knowledge level and perceptions toward COVID-19 among Turkish final year medical students
Published in Postgraduate Medicine, 2020
Fatih Çalışkan, Özlem Mıdık, Zeynep Baykan, Yeşim Şenol, Esra Çınar Tanrıverdi, Funda İfakat Tengiz, Albena Gayef
The proximal origin for SARS-CoV-2 remains unclear, but the zoonotic transfer is suspected [21]. In response to the question ‘SARS-CoV is transmitted to humans from civet cats,’ which is about the origin of SARS, 22% of the participants answered correctly. In the literature, although questions were asked about the transmission from animals to humans, no specific animal species was identified [21]. This specific question reduced the rate of correct responses among the participants.
Emerging Human Coronavirus Infections (SARS, MERS, and COVID-19): Where They Are Leading Us
Published in International Reviews of Immunology, 2021
Horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus species) exhibit detectable antibodies to SARS-CoV proteins and carry CoVs phylogenetically related to SARS-CoV called SARS-CoV-like coronaviruses (SL-CoV) [29–31]. The genome of all of the SL-CoVs had significant differences with the SARS-CoVs genome as determined by the genome sequencing. For example, the receptor binding domains (RBDs) of the spike (S) proteins have significant difference between SL-CoVs and SARS-CoVs, which could not use the human SARS-CoV receptor, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), to enter host cells [26,31,32]. Also, bat SL-CoV ORF3 and ORF8 differ from human and civet SARS-CoV [31]. Various Bayesian molecular-clock model-based investigations have established the interspecies transfer of this SLCoV lineage from bats to the amplifying host (civets) around the median of 4.08 years before the SARS outbreak [33]. Further studies in 2013 indicated that two novel SL-CoVs, named RsSHC014 and Rs3367 had similarity with SARS-CoV than any previous SL-CoV, and are able to use ACE2 to enter cells were found in Chinese horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus sinicus) [34]. Previous studies have indicated that SARS-related CoV (SARSr-CoV) in horse shoe bats show sequence differences from SARS-CoV in S, ORF8, and ORF3 genes, and are unlikely to be the immediate progenitor of SARS-CoV [35]. However, a bat SARSr-CoV is highly similar to human SARS-CoV in ORF3b and in the split ORF8a and 8b [36]. Even this SARSr-CoV strain from the Yunnan cave horse shoe bats is more closely related to SARS-CoV in Nsp genes, ORF1a and 1b than those SARSr-CoV detected somewhere else [36]. The frequent recombination events within the S gene and around the ORF8 between these SARSr-CoVs have also been detected. Three newly identified SARSr-CoVs with different S protein sequences have shown their binding potential to the human ACE2 as the receptor to enter the host cells [36]. This suggests that RsSHC014 and/or Rs3367 or SARSr-CoV may be the direct ancestor of SARS-CoV in horseshoe bats and these viruses are still in the bat population, which mutated to become pathogenic to humans without causing any severe infection in bats.