Simon T Donell

• University of East Anglia

Preview only to respect copyright: Very recently, a comprehensive re-evaluation of the medical facts and observations surrounding the death of Empress Elisabeth “Sisi” of Austria (1837–1898) was published. The Empress was assassinated in Geneva by the anarchist Luigi Luccheni or Lucheni (1873–1910). In parallel to this recent publication, our stud...

The present article reflects on the evolution of clinical medicine throughout time by commenting on Picasso’s painting Science and Charity (1897) through a biomedical lens. The two souls of medicine, namely the cold scientific one and the compassionate one, are examined in their dichotomy and their relationship with today’s concepts of cure and wel...

This interdisciplinary investigation of the human remains of Balduin Helm, one of the most important abbots of the Fürstenfeld monastery, provides novel information on this historic individual. This is particularly interesting since Balduin, during the early 18th century, was involved in the renovation of this large Bavarian monastery. Metastatic p...

This study provides new data which suggest a novel interpretative hypothesis not only on the specific painting, but on the use of bloodletting as medical practice in the Florentine Quattrocento. As a part of a cycle of frescoes devoted to the Seven Corporal Works of Mercy, the examined lunette depicts the “Visit to the sick” in a domestic interior,...

This interdisciplinary investigation of the human remains of Balduin Helm, one of the most important abbots of Fürstenfeld monastery, provides novel information on that historic individual. This is particularly interesting since Balduin, during early 18th century, was involved in the renovation of this large Bavarian monastery. Metastatic prostate...

BACKGROUND: This report discusses the patholoanatomical features of a typical Jael Syndrome shown in the portrait of a16th century Hungarian Hussar Captain named Márk Baksa that is currently part of the “Wunderkammer” of Ambras Castle Museum, Innsbruck, Austria. It shows the soldier severely wounded by a lance that perforates the skull entering int...

One of the most important characteristics, which determine facial appearance, is eye colour. Among the different conditions that causes an alteration in the normal iris pigmentation is congenital Horner Syndrome. Here we describe a case of right unilateral segmental heterochromia iridum in the 16th to 17th century “Portrait of an unknown soldier” d...

Located at the base of the skull, the pituitary gland has a long and controversial history, not only in terms of its anatomy, but especially in the functions it performs and in the attempt to approach it surgically. Considered by Galen of Pergamon to have a role in releasing waste products of the brain, a theory accepted until the 17th century, the...

Medical imaging allows non-invasive investigation of human remains.While paleoimaging is undoubtedly necessary in mummy studies, it is intrinsicallylimited in the sense that it cannot provide mummy experts with information on thechemical composition of the embalming substances. This holds particularly true formodern embalmed mummies (19th-20th cent...

This study provides new data which suggests a novel interpretative hypothesis not only on the specific painting, but on the use of bloodletting as medical practice in the Florentine Quattrocento. In addition, the technical solutions adopted to implement the measurements campaign are illustrated as an experimental model for remote sensing investigat...

Resumo Objetivo Os métodos comumente usados para medir a propriocepção resultaram em relatos conflitantes sobre a propriocepção do joelho com ruptura do ligamento cruzado anterior (LCA) e a influência da reconstrução do LCA. Métodos A propriocepção de 100 indivíduos (50 pacientes com ruptura unilateral do LCA confirmada à radiologia e artroscopia e...

Dear Editor, We have read with interest the note on the potential PMR and GCA of Anton Ludovico Antinori (1704–1778) by L. Ventura and A. Foscati [1] and the discussion of the differential diagnosis that highlights the educational elements of discussing historical figures from the past. The prospect of an exhumation of the remains with an associate...

In this paper we offer an orthopaedic review of Marfan syndrome in antiquity highlighting the intrinsic difficulties diagnosing it as highlighted by two publications available in the palaeopathological literature. We propose a best diagnostic approach to implement when searching for Marfan syndrome in ancient human remains.

Stephan Schätzl was the parish priest of Viechtwang, Upper Austria. He lived in the aftermath of the Peace of Augsburg in a period of schism between Roman Catholics and Lutherans. His portrait, depicted only 6 days before his demise in 1590, shows that he had extreme ante mortem cachexia. Documentary sources detailed his life and ill-health and it...

The recent discovery of unpublished documents in the archives of the Camerata hospital, (Florence, I) sheds light on an important chapter in the history of nursing education and the role played by Grace Baxter (1869–1954), of English parentage but born and lived in Florence. The introduction of professional nurses was part of the international move...

Background: Numerous anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) clinical outcome measures exist. However, the result of one score does not equate to the findings of another even when evaluating the same patient group. Aim: To investigate if statistically derived formulae can be used to predict the outcome of one knee scoring system when the result of anot...

Background and aim: This paper, in the 50th anniversary of the author's death, examines the overall impact and influence of medicine, in particular of infectious diseases, on the literary production of Italian writer and novelist Dino Buzzati (1906-1972). Methods: Analysis of literary sources and historical study. Results and conclusions: Buzz...

The formal interactions between the living and the dead predate human history. How corpses are treated relate to the cultural and religious societies in which they lived. Differences in burial can also depend on whether the deceased is a member of the society or a social outcast, an enemy, or a criminal. It can also be different according to the ca...

Resumo Objetivo O objetivo do presente estudo foi investigar a diferença entre instrumentos de desfechos preenchidos por médicos e pacientes na detecção de melhora após a meniscectomia artroscópica para tratamento de rupturas de menisco. Métodos Trinta e quatro pacientes com rupturas de menisco foram avaliados de forma prospectiva usando 9 medidas...

SUMMARY- Alfredo Salafia (1869-1933) was a famous embalmer from Palermo, Sicily. He created an embalming fluid, the “Perfection fluid”, which was supposed to leave the corpse perfectly preserved in a “fresh state”. Within the remit of the Human Embalming Project© (H.E.P.), we performed referenced historical research on Salafia’s American period. We...

This paper examines the views on blood by the medieval poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), shedding light onto his knowledge of the differences between arterial and venous blood. The presentation and natural history of the resulting haemorrhages from both types of blood are as presented in his masterpiece "Divine Comedy". This information is contextu...

Background There are several clinical outcome scores relating to meniscal injuries reported in the literature. However, the result of one scoring system is often different from that of the others even when assessing the same group of patients. This makes the comparison of results of studies who have used different outcome measures restrictive and d...

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the proprioceptive function of patients with isolated articular cartilage lesions of the knee as compared to normal controls. Methods: The Cartilage group consisted of eight subjects with radiologically and arthroscopically confirmed, isolated, unilateral, articular cartilage lesions of the kn...

Introduction Clinical outcome measures are important in both the conduct of clinical research and evaluation of knee surgery in every day clinical practice. A wide variety of validated outcome scores are available in the literature. The objective of this study was to investigate if there is a difference between clinician-completed and patient-compl...

Background: Self-administration of medicines by patients whilst in hospital is being increasingly promoted despite little evidence to show the risks and benefits. Pain control after total knee replacement (TKR) is known to be poor. The aim of the study was to determine if patients operated on with a TKR who self-medicate their oral analgesics in t...

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to investigate the theoretical isometric point based of the curve of the femoral groove and relating it to the origin of the MPFL femoral tunnel on lateral radiograph by comparing a patellar instability cohort with a control cohort. Methods: From a Patellar Instability database the radiographs of 40 consecut...

Osteoarthritis is a major cause of disability and there is no current pharmaceutical treatment which can prevent the disease or slow its progression. Dietary advice or supplementation is clearly an attractive option since it has low toxicity and ease of implementation on a population level. We have previously demonstrated that sulforaphane, a dieta...

A lady aged 73 years old was sent for a second opinion 2 years after a right posterior-stabilised total knee replacement. Over the course of the previous 2 years, her patella had gradually subluxated laterally. Her immediate post-operative X-ray showed the patella congruent with the trochlea. At the same time her mobility worsened principally due t...

A 31-year-old man has been referred to the clinic by a physiotherapist with an MRI diagnosis of chondromalacia patellae. He presents to the clinic with 1-year history of left anterior knee pain. It is associated with exercise and tends to settle with rest. It is not associated with any swelling. The knee does not lock. He has reduced his activities...

A 42-year-old office worker was sent to the clinic for a second opinion by an orthopaedic surgeon from another hospital. At the age of 18, she had an ACL reconstruction using the extended Macintosh technique where a strip IT band is mobilised and left attached distally, passed through a tibial tunnel round the back of the lateral femoral condyle, a...

A 54-year-old man was sent for a second opinion having presented 5 weeks previously complaining of right thigh pain for 2 weeks and then heard a pop from his knee which became acutely painful when he was walking. From then he had found it difficult to weight-bear and to straight leg raise. He had pain and tenderness superolateral to his patella. He...

A 20-year-old female university student presented complaining of right knee instability. She had had two patellar dislocations in the last year which were spontaneous in onset on a background of knee instability for over 10 years. She was nonsporting.

A 16-year-old boy sustained an acute first-time dislocation to his left patella when he was tackled from behind playing rugby, landing directly on the inside of his knee. The knee was immediately swollen. He went to hospital and was admitted, the patella having spontaneously reduced. He was treated conservatively with a free-moving hinged knee orth...

A 22-year-old woman presented with problems with both knees. On the right, she had recurrent patellar dislocation, and on the left, the patella was dislocated throughout knee flexion. The left knee was the main problem and had been worsening over the previous 4 years. She had her first dislocation when she was 15 years old and a subsequent arthrosc...

A 15-year-old boy presented to the clinic having had a dislocation of his left patella just over 2 months ago. It was knocked against a coffee table. A paramedic attended and relocated the patella, and he did not seek further medical attention. Three days later, he twisted his leg in bed and his kneecap redislocated. He therefore attended the Emerg...

A 36-year-old medical secretary with recurrent left patellar dislocation since the age of 15 years old was sent for a second opinion. The original injury occurred when playing hockey where she had twisted her knee on the planted foot. The patella had reduced spontaneously. The knee was then treated in a cylinder plaster of Paris cast. Subsequently,...

A 34-year-old man presented to the clinic with a 7-year history of right anterior knee pain.

A 19-year-old man presented with problems with his right knee that began at the age of 15 years. At that time he was playing soccer when he was struck on the lateral side of the knee. He fell to the ground and at point of contact felt a “pop” in his knee. The knee swelled slowly over the course of approximately 2 h. He went to the Emergency Departm...

A 74-year-old woman was seen in a general orthopaedic clinic having been referred by her GP in response to an X-ray report. She had complained of pain in her knees. She was known to have cervical spondylosis, for which she had had facet joint injections and was taking strong painkillers. The X-rays had been reported as showing severe patellofemoral...

A 24-year-old painter and decorator complained of problems with his right knee. He first had problems at aged 18 years old when he had a direct blow on the outside of the knee. He says that at this point the kneecap dislocated and came out of joint. He had to pop it back in himself. Since then he has had multiple episodes of dislocation. The knee f...

A 21-year-old man presented to the clinic with long-standing problems with both knees. From the age of 7 years old, he had had pain and stiffness in his knees. He gave up soccer at the age of 12 years and martial arts at the age of 14 years; the latter following a number of falls directly onto his knee. At the age of 14, he dislocated his left pate...

A 13-year-old boy presents to the clinic with gradual onset of left anterior knee pain, particularly associated with sport, worsening over the previous 6 months. He is otherwise fit and well and plays football. It does not really limit what he does, but it does ache afterwards.

A 17-year-old boy presented with a long-standing history of problems with both legs culminating in a dislocating left patella in flexion. He was not sure of a specific first episode. He was still playing sports, notably soccer, on a regular basis and was able to cycle. However, his control of the left knee and ability to play sports were progressiv...

This book adopts a case-based approach to the management of patellofemoral disorders with the aim of helping orthopaedic surgeons at all levels of experience to decide whether individual patients referred with patellofemoral problems should be treated conservatively or operatively. A series of real-life case stories are used to illustrate every sta...

Objective Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) texture analysis is a method of analyzing subchondral bone alterations in osteoarthritis (OA). The objective of this study was to to evaluate the association between MR texture analysis and ground-truth subchondral bone histomorphometry at the tibial plateau. Design The local research ethics committee appr...

Objective: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) texture analysis is a method of analyzing subchondral bone alterations in osteoarthritis (OA). The objective of this study was to to evaluate the association between MR texture analysis and ground-truth subchondral bone histomorphometry at the tibial plateau. Design: The local research ethics committee...

Tendon injury is common, debilatating and associated with long term pain and ineffective healing. It is estimated to afflict 25% of the adult population and is often a career-ending disease in athletes and racehorses. Tendon injury is associated with high morbidity, pain and long term suffering for the patient. Due to the low cellularity and vascul...

Poly[2-(Dimethylamino) ethyl acrylate] (PDMAEA) based polymers have been studied as potential gene delivery system. However, few reports emerging in literature suggesting that star-shaped PDMAEA based polymers are performing better in polyplexation with DNA, cytotoxicity and transfection, as compared to linear counterparts. Nonetheless, little evid...

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease characterised in part by destruction of articular cartilage. There are currently no disease-modifying drugs to treat OA, with joint replacement the only treatment offered to patients at end-stage disease. With age the major risk factor for OA, the number of patients is predicted to double by 2030....

MicroRNAs have been shown to function in cartilage development and homeostasis, as well as in progression of osteoarthritis. The objective of the current study was to identify microRNAs involved in the onset or early progression of osteoarthritis and characterise their function in chondrocytes. MicroRNA expression in mouse knee joints post-DMM surg...

Background: This paper assessed the validity, internal consistency, responsiveness and floor-ceiling effects of the Norwich Patellar Instability (NPI) Score for a cohort of conservatively managed people following first-time patellar dislocation (FTPD). Methods: Fifty patients were recruited, providing 130 completed datasets over 12months. The NP...

Objectives: To determine the feasibility of MRI texture analysis as a method of quantifying subchondral bone architecture in knee osteoarthritis (OA). Methods: Asymptomatic subjects aged 20-30 (group 1, n = 10), symptomatic patients aged 40-50 (group 2, n = 10) and patients scheduled for knee replacement aged 55-85 (group 3, n = 10) underwent hi...

Background: The aim of this study was to compare two different methods of quantitative assessment of tibial subchondral bone in osteoarthritis (OA): statistical texture analysis (sTA) and trabecular microarchitecture analysis (tMA). Methods: Asymptomatic controls aged 20-30 (n = 10), patients aged 40-50 with chronic knee pain but without establi...

Background Smoking cessation before surgery reduces postoperative complications, and the benefit is positively associated with the duration of being abstinent before a surgical procedure. A key issue in providing preoperative smoking cessation support is to identify people who smoke as early as possible before elective surgery. This review aims to...

Objective: To use deep sequencing to identify novel microRNAs in human osteoarthritic cartilage which have a functional role in chondrocyte phenotype or function. Design: A small RNA library was prepared from human osteoarthritic primary chondrocytes using in-house adaptors and analysed by Illumina sequencing. Novel candidate microRNAs were vali...

Background: Fractures of the tibial plateau, which are intra-articular injuries of the knee joint, are often difficult to treat and have a high complication rate, including early-onset osteoarthritis. Surgical fixation is usually used for more complex tibial plateau fractures. Additionally, bone void fillers are often used to address bone defects...

In patients with patellar instability and severe trochlear dysplasia, trochleoplasty has become increasingly used as part of its surgical management. Deepening trochleoplasty for severe dysplasia in patellofemoral instability improves function and increases sports participation. Case series; Level of evidence, 4. Between 1995 and 2010, deepening tr...