László Józsa

• professor emeritus
• Tampere University

Objectives: According to paleopathological records, tumors have a great antiquity. The prevalence of cancer in ancient populations might have differed from that in modern humans because of substantial differences in environmental factors, life expectancy and the availability of treatment. This study presents 3 cases of probable skeletal metastatic...

According to paleopathological literature, tumors have a great antiquity. The prevalence of tumor metastases in historical populations might have differed from that in modern humans, because of substantial differences in environmental factors, life expectancy, and the availability of treatment. This study presents two probable cases of skeletal met...

Photos and/or copies of one hundred Upper Paleolithic (45,000-40,000 to 10,000 BP) statues were studied, the photos having been taken from the frontal, lateral and back view. Among the 97 female idols studied, 24 were skinny (mainly young women), 15 were of normal weight, while more than half of them (51) represented overweight or very obese female...

Byzantine hospitals developed out of Christian institutions for the poor and homeless. Philanthropy provided the initial impulse to create hospices (xenons) and to expand these institutions into specialized medical centers (iatreons or nosokomeions). However the Byzantine nosocomeions resemble more closely modern hospitals than they do any of the i...

Pathologies depicted in sacral works of western civilisation are widely known. However, in this regard, the very rich and important Byzantine art, and particularly sacral art, has been largely ignored. Research carried out on 500 artworks has disclosed 119 pictures revealing 36 different physiological conditions (gravidity, labour) or pathological...

Religious and magical ways of healing have been known and practiced since the very beginning of human history. In the present article, the Byzantine philosophical, cultural, historical and "methodological" aspects of this way of healing are discussed. The article outlines the development of magic healing in Byzantium from the 4th to the 15th centur...

The exact mechanisms by which mechanical loading-unloading affects bone tissue are mostly unknown. Recently, osteocalcin, a direct product of osteoblasts, has been shown to reflect the activity of the mineralization phase of the newly formed bone matrix, and therefore, the in situ detection of osteocalcin could be used for studying the effects of p...

After an immobilization period of 3 weeks, the effects of free remobilization (8 weeks) as well as low- and high-intensity treadmill running on the bone mineral content (BMC) and density (BMD) of the hindlimbs of Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 70) were studied using a dual-energy x-ray absorptiometric scanner. In the low-intensity running program, the ra...

Disuse is associated with bone loss, which may not be recoverable. It is not known whether intensified remobilization is beneficial in restoring disuse-related bone loss nor if any such benefit would depend upon continuing mobilization for its maintenance. After an immobilization period of 3 weeks, the effects of free remobilization (11 weeks), and...

Summary: Bony ankylosis of articulations is a rarely described alteration in the palaeopathological literature. This study presents 30 cases of ankylosis among 426 skeletons of the cemetery Bátmonostor (Southern Hungary) from middle ages. The material comprised four cases of knee, one case of hip, eight cases of tibio-fibularis joints and eight cas...

In this paper I present 100 neolithic figurines (97 female and 3 male) made of ivory, mammuth bone, limestone and other substances. The sculptures were found on the Eurasian continent, from the Pirenees to Lake Baikal and the river Amur. More than half (57.3%) of the idols show various types of female obesity. However, they are named ironically "Ve...

Numerous written relicts, belletristic works (poems of Martial, Juvenal, Ovid etc.) indicate that oral hygiene and its tools (toothbrush, toothpick, use of tooth pastes and tooth-powder) were used long before our times. Already ancient people started to remove, file, dye and inlay teeth. The teeth were dyed red, green or black in Egypt, red or brow...

This study describes the histological alterations of the internal organs of Prince Joseph Habsburg (1776-1847) and his first wife, Alexandra Pavlovna Romanova (1783-1801). Both corpses were mummified and the internal organs were stored separately in rosemary oil, in metal vessels. Royal Prince Joseph Habsburg died on 13 January 1847. The microscopi...

Compared with the knowledge on immobilization, the effects of remobilization on musculoskeletal tissues have not been well established. What is sure is that remobilization and rehabilitation of any component of the musculoskeletal tissues require much more time than the time needed to cause the immobilization atrophy. With intensive rehabilitation,...

Unlabelled: Proximal femur macroanatomy of 118 medieval and 67 contemporary adults, 84 contemporary elderly, and 48 contemporary hip fracture cases was evaluated. Within approximately 1000 years, the femoral neck axis has become longer, and its cross-section has become proportionally smaller and more oval in shape. These changes in the present ext...

Heat shock proteins play an important regulatory role in the cellular defence. Oxidative stress is one of the factors inducing heat shock protein expression. This study tested the effects of 4 weeks of immobilization and subsequent remobilization on heat shock protein expression and oxidative stress in the lateral gastrocnemius and plantaris muscle...

Trephination of the cranial vault is the oldest known surgical procedure and has often been reported in literature. Residuals of ancient trephinations have been found all over Europe. In present study both the recorded and unpublished trephined cases found in Hungary are reviewed. Four Neolithic, two Copper Age, eight Bronze Age, seven Covering Age...

Cripples from the medieval hospital of Bátmonostor, Hungary. People with disabilities were generally burdened with a painful fate in ancient times, however in the hospitals was no effective therapy. The hospital of Batmonostor was founded at late 13th century, The authors examine by morphological, radiological and histological methods 426 complete...

The changes associated with increasing age result in a decline in the structure and function of human tendons. Age correlates with decrease in the number of tenoblasts and overall tenoblastic activity. Structurally, collagen fibers increase in diameter, vary in thickness, lose tensile strength, and become tougher with increasing age and so the ulti...

To study collagen fibre thickness and crimp formation in healthy and ruptured human tendons. The thickness, crimp angle and wavelength of the collagen fibres were analyzed by interference and polarization microscopy and the samples were studied by transmission and scanning electron microscopy in four different healthy human tendons (Achilles, Quadr...

Four weeks of immobilisation with two types of re-mobilisation programmes (intensive concentric treadmill exercising during 6 days, and free exercising, and immobilisation without any re-mobilisation period were studied to clarify possible exercise-induced calf muscle damage especially in fast-twitch fibres used in running compared to non-immobilis...

This study presents the frequency of enthesopathies in the osteological material ABSTRACT This study presents the frequency of enthesopathies in the osteological material ABSTRACT of a medieval cemetery. The development of the phenomenon is explained as a result of the exerting way of living. The bony outgrows appear in the patellae and the calcane...

We cannot often read about the developmental anomalies of the sternum in ABSTRACT We cannot often read about the developmental anomalies of the sternum in ABSTRACT paleopathological literature (Brothwell 1965; Tóth and Buda 2001); medical publications on anomalies resulting in chest deformity based on recent population are also rare (Keszler and Sz...

Tenascin-C is a hexabrachion-shaped matricellular protein with a very restricted expression in normal musculoskeletal tissues, but it is expressed abundantly during regenerative processes of these tissues and embryogenesis. To examine the importance of mechanical stress for the regulation of tenascin-C expression in the muscle-tendon unit, the effe...

Author presents and analyses informations of non-medical texts of Byzantine historians and chroniclers concerning diseases of Byzantine emperors, concluding that diseases were implicated in certain political and military difficulties. Only one third of the emperors died due to natural causes (i.e. illnesses). Some historians, such as Anna Comnena a...

➤ The combination of Achilles tendon pain, swelling, and impaired performance indicates the clinical diagnosis of Achilles tendinopathy. ➤ The chronic form of Achilles tendinopathy is not an inflammatory condition. ➤ In its early phases, Achilles tendinopathy often responds favorably to conservative treatment with rest or modified activity, cold, s...

Tendon injuries and other tendon disorders are a source of major concern in competitive and recreational athletes and in many working conditions requiring repetitive movements. The exact etiology, pathophysiology, and healing mechanisms of the various tendon complaints are, however, only partly known and even origin of pain in the chronic tendon di...

Collagen fiber network is a major contributor to the coherence and tensile strength of normal skeletal muscle. Despite the well-recognized importance of the intramuscular connective tissue to the normal integrity and function of the skeletal muscle, the specific architecture including the location and three-dimensional orientation of the intramuscu...

Juxtacortical osteosarcoma occurred on the right tibia and fibula of a 20-22 years old man found in a medieval period cemetery of Budapest. MACROSCOPIC DESCRIPTION: The tumor is located circumferentially on the midshaft of the tibia and fibula and appears cone-shaped. The lesion measured 160 mm in length and 3-5 mm in height. The surface of the tum...

Seventy 9 to 11-week-old Sprague-Dawley male rats were divided into seven groups [baseline, 3-week, 11-week control groups; a group with a left limb immobilization for 3 weeks; and three groups with a similar immobilization and subsequent 8-week free (FR), low-intensity running (LR) or high-intensity running (HR) remobilization] to determine the si...

The Achilles tendon is the strongest tendon in the human body. Because most Achilles tendon injuries take place in sports and there has been an common upsurge in sporting activities, the number and incidence of the Achilles tendon overuse injuries and complete ruptures have increased in the industrialized countries during the last decades. The most...

Tenascin-C (TN-C) is a hexabrachion-shaped extracellular matrix (ECM) protein which has very restricted expression in normal musculoskeletal tissues, but is expressed in large quantities in these tissues during embryogenesis as well as during regenerative and healing processes. TN-C is an elastic protein which has a number of binding sites for othe...

In this mini review, I will attempt to briefly provide the microscopic possibilities in the diagnosis of muscle and tendon disorders based on more than 1000 muscle and 2000 tendon biopsies. The routine histological sections and light microscopy are still of value in the diagnosis of tendon and muscle pathology. The morphologic methods are time-cons...

The authors studied the dental calculus of 20 mummies with ligth microscopy, polarized ligth microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Gram positive bacteria could be detected in all preparates, while Gram negative bacteria in 12 and fungi only in 3 dental calculus was visible. Animal food remains within five, and plant remains in all dental cal...

Elastic extracellular matrix protein tenascin-C (TN) has very restricted expression in normal tissues, but is expressed in large quantities during embryogenesis and hyperplastic processes. To examine the importance of mechanical stress on the regulation of TN expression in vivo, the effects of various mechanical loading states (immobilization and t...

The study assessed immunohistochemically the location and distribution of various non-collagenous matrix proteins (fibronectin, laminin, tenascin-C, osteocalcin, thrombospondin-1, vitronectin and undulin) in musculoskeletal tissues of rat. Fibronectin and thrombospondin-1 were found to be ubiquitous in the studied tissues. High immunoreactivity of...

After a cast immobilization of 3 weeks, the effects of 4-week remobilization by free cage activity or treadmill running on the morphology of the rat soleus and gastrocnemius muscles were studied. The studied morphometric parameters were: percentage volume of intramuscular connective tissue, capillary density, muscle fiber size, number of fibers wit...

After 3 wk of immobilization, the effects of free cage activity and low- and high-intensity treadmill running (8 wk) on the morphology and histochemistry of the soleus and gastrocnemius muscles in male Sprague-Dawley rats were investigated. In both muscles, immobilization produced a significant (P < 0.001) increase in the mean percent area of intra...

The effect of Achilles tenotomy on resting blood flow of rat gastrocnemius muscle and Achilles tendon was studied by radioactive microspheres. Tenotomy produced an immediate, marked decrease in both intramuscular and intratendinous blood flow and it remained significantly lowered at both sites till the end of the observation period, i.e., day 18 af...

Surgically removed nodules from ten patients with recurrent Dupuytren's disease were studied by electron microscopy. Myofibroblasts were found in eight cases in the active (involutional) stage. The distinctive ultrastructural features were similar to those of the original Dupuytren's disease. We believe that, in addition to other factors, myofibrob...

Since a tendon is a living tissue, it is not a surprise that tendon shows the capacity to adapt its structure and mechanical properties to the functional demands of the entire muscle-tendon unit. However, compared with muscle, the experimental knowledge of the effects of strength or endurance-type training on tendon tissue is scarce and clinical hu...

Tendon injuries and other tendon disorders represent a common diagnostic and therapeutic challenge in sports medicine, resulting in chronic and long-lasting problems. Tissue degeneration is a common finding in many sports-related tendon complaints. In the great majority of spontaneous tendon ruptures, chronic degenerative changes are seen at the ru...

A spontaneous rupture of a tendon may be defined as a rupture that occurs during movement and activity, that should not and usually does not damage the involved musculotendinous units (1). Spontaneous tendon ruptures were uncommon before the 1950s. Böhler found only 25 Achilles tendon ruptures in Wien between 1925 and 1948 (2). Mösender & Klatnek t...

The mechanoreceptor system of the myotendinous junction (MTJ) of human palmaris longus muscle obtained at autopsy was studied histologically from six patients with flaccid paralysis (complete acute tetraplegia 4–6 weeks before the autopsy, due to a spinal cord injury), eight patients with spastic paralysis (chronic hemiplegia due to cerebral stroke...

Muscle injuries often occur at or near the myotendinous junction. Immobilization decreases the tensile strength of the myotendinous junction and predisposes it to strain injury. However, there are no data available on whether physical training or remobilization can lower the susceptibility of the myotendinous junction to strain injuries. We investi...

The effect of anterior cruciate ligament replacement on the other ligaments of the knee, including the medial or lateral collateral and posterior cruciate ligaments, was studied histologically in the canine knee. The anterior cruciate ligament was replaced either with the medial third of the patellar tendon or with a prosthetic ligament. Histologic...

JÓZSA, L. & PAP, I. (1995): Histochemical and immunohistochemical analysis of mummy skin. -Annls hist.-nat. Mus. natn. hung. Abstract -Two Egyptian mummies' facial skin fragments were analysed by histochemical and immunohistochemical methods. The melanin contents of epithelium and the glycoproteins and pro­ teoglycans of corium were clearly present...

Effect of free and forced remobilization on the mineral content and distribution of the mineral content in the formerly immobilized bones of the extremities was examined. Authors performed after plaster immobilization free and forced (on production line) remobilization in rats. After the 3 weeks immobilization and the following 8 weeks remobilizati...

JÓZSA L, PAP I. (1994): Hypophyseal tumour on a male skull from the ll-13th centuries period, Hungary. -Annls hist.-nat. Mus. natn. hung. Abstract -The authors discovered hypophyseal tumour when X-raying a male skull from the 11-13th centuries. The depth of sella turcica is 25%, the length of it is 60% and the area is 64% more than the greatest val...

Intraarticular particulate silicone rubber created by abrasion of silicone arthroplasty of the hand may be responsible for the development of an iatrogenic granulomatous synovitis and ostitis. Histological and ultrastructural appearances of the involved tissues are presented, together with a discussion of the possible mechanism and methods of patho...

NORs are loops of DNA that transcribe to ribosomal RNA, and their number reflects the rDNA transcription, and, in this way, cell proliferation. The effect of muscle immobilization and remobilization on the number of nucleolar organizer regions (NORs) in the muscle cells and fibroblasts of rat calf muscles was studied histologically using a silver-s...

The sensory-nerve-ending system of 40 myotendinous junctions of human palmaris longus and plantaris muscles was studied histologically. All the known four types of nerve endings were identified. The Ruffini corpuscles could be found in equally small numbers (one to five) in both the muscular and tendineal sites of the junction. Also the free nerve...

So-called amianthoid fibres were identified in 17 of 460 tendons (3.7%) after spontaneous rupture. These tendons belonged to 10 men and 7 women with an age-range from 18 to 67 years. In 445 postmortem control tendons taken of accidentally killed previously healthy persons amianthoid fibres were not found. Ultrastructurally the tendineal amianthoid...

Authors report on the clinico-pathological analysis of cases of silicon granuloma, developed 5-15 years after the insertion of the prosthesis. It is thought on the basis of histological and electron microscopic examinations that the process of granulation already started, is augmented by the granules, newly arising from the attrition. The silicon g...