Alessandro Porro’s research while affiliated with University of Milan and other places

Background: Benzene is a highly flammable, highly volatile liquid aromatic hydrocarbon. It has been used in many industrial processes as a solvent or a starting material. At the beginning of the twentieth century, it was very widely used in the workplace, especially in printing and in the shoe manufacturing and rubber industries. Although benzene was first recognized to cause aplastic anemia, its association with leukemia has been investigated only since the 1930s. In 1963, Italy was one of the first countries in the world to adopt a law to ban benzene as a solvent in work activities. Objectives: This study analyzed the contribution of the Clinica del Lavoro in Milan, Italy, to studies of the relationship between exposure to benzene and leukemia. Methods: Scientific literature and historical sources on benzene and leukemia in the twentieth century were reviewed, and interviews with a first-hand witness of that period were conducted. Results: By 1928, several scholars had reported anecdotal cases of leukemia among workers exposed to benzene. Enrico Vigliani was the first to collect all of these cases and to try to conduct statistical analysis on these data, in order to support the association between benzene and leukemia. In the 1960s, Vigliani and Alessandra Forni showed that benzene could cause chromosome aberrations in the bone marrow that could produce leukemic clones. Conclusions: As a result of these studies and the subsequent regulations which banned benzene, exposure conditions changed in the workplace in the last few decades. The resulting low concentrations have prompted researchers to investigate new exposure biomarkers and to study any related health problems.

BACKGROUND In the 1950s, occupational medicine and occupational psychology found a common field of action in the Clinica del Lavoro in Milan. OBJECTIVES This study aims to analyze and document how this encounter took place and, in particular, the contribution of the Clinica del Lavoro to the development of occupational psychology in Italy. METHODS Historical sources of that period were investigated. RESULTS Before the 1950s, experimental psychology was only taught at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan. The first professor of clinical psychology in the School of Medicine at the State University of Milan, was Marcello Cesa-Bianchi (1926-2018). He collaborated with the graphic, textile and pharmaceutical industries for the personnel training and management, and carried out important research in occupational psychology on behalf of the European Coal and Steel Community. The Chair of Clinical Psychology was initially located in the Clinica del Lavoro and the activity of the team of Cesa-Bianchi was oriented towards the elaboration of professional profiles and job analysis. In those years Cesa-Bianchi also conducted pioneering research in the field of psycho-gerontology. CONCLUSIONS The historical experience that integrated psychology and occupational medicine in the scientific context of Milan contains a series of values, useful to today's reflection and practice. Our work also undelines the importance of preserving historical documents: only a better knowledge of history can guarantee a better destiny.

A group of 19th century inmates dead in the prison of Parma are the protagonist of an incredible scientific collection. Lorenzo Tenchini started the creation of this collection and dedicated his work and his studies to its completeness. Anatomist and academic, Lorenzo Tenchini (1852–1906) dedicated his scientific studies to macroscopic anatomy, particularly about central nervous system and its correlation with psychic function. In 1881 he became ordinary professor in Normal Human Anatomy at the University of Parma dedicating himself to the study of the anatomical organization of the brain and psychic and social disturbs. During the study of the skulls and brains of psychotic patients and the deformations of skulls belonging to patients admitted in the Hospital of Brescia, he started a collaboration with Alessandro Cugini (1829–1913), founder of the Institute of Legal Medicine at the University of Parma. Tenchini realized an anatomical collection, preserved today in the Museum of Biomedicine of the University of Parma. This collection represents the masterpiece of his research carried out during his academic activity and still a unicum in the western world, as there are no similar collection assembling such a multidisciplinary information. The peculiarity of this collection is due not only to the scientific interest of the anatomic samples and their full clinical documentation, but also to the methods employed in order to realize it. At the end of the 19th century, as a student of Cesare Lombroso (1835–1909), Tenchini based his work on the study of the face, the skull and brain of each dead inmate of Parma’s prison or Colorno’s mental hospital. These individuals as protagonists of Tenchini’s collection, leave a legacy identifiable as scientific heritage. Their skulls and brains, the reproduction of their faces through ceroplastic and other anatomical samples treated with other techniques, are accompanied by an autoptic and psychiatric full documentation, allowing the collection to be complete with every aspect related to the inmates studied. Through his work, a comparison between different kind of studies, such as psychiatry, psychology, neurology, legal medicine and anthropology, is suitable in scientific research to be realized. Moreover, data come from a forensic context: this allows a comparison with different methodologies employed in modern age by forensic expertise such as the comparison between modern and ancient medical diagnostic technique. This masterpiece represents Tenchini’s neuroanatomical research on behaviour and set a pioneering step in the history of biomedical science allowing further multidisciplinary studies.

Since the end of the 19th century, X-rays have been used to detect lung diseases. In Italy, 207,096 miniature chest radiographs were taken from 1941 to 1948. Traditional radiographs gave better results, but miniature chest radiographs were useful for screening. Indeed, the development of mobile miniature chest radiography units resulted in an improvement in mass X-rays screening for the detection of penumoconiosis. These mobile miniature units were mounted on a bus chassis, a solution that allowed to easily reach workers. The authors analyze some models of X-ray wagon units used by the "Clinica del Lavoro" in Milan in the 1950s. From the point of view of medical museology, the preservation of these devices requires appropriate spaces.

The Pellegrini–Stieda lesion is a common finding on conventional X-rays. Whether it originates in the medial collateral ligament (MCL) of the knee or the medial head of the gastrocnemius muscle or another structure remains under debate. We discuss the difference in the articles by Pellegrini and Stieda and follow the vision on the origin of the lesion through time. A systematic research in PubMed/MEDLINE was conducted, identifying all articles on the Pellegrini–Stieda lesion and analyzing them for proposed origin of the lesion. The articles with their conclusion based on either finding during surgery or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)/computed tomography were analyzed in more detail. Our PubMed/Medline search identified 4,997 articles. After exclusion of articles that were not on the Pellegrini–Stieda lesion and of doubles, 27 articles remained. By checking the references manually, 10 more articles were identified. Proposed origins were MCL, medial gastrocnemius, adductor magnus, vastus medialis, deep MCL, and superficial MCL. Although the MCL was most often coined as origin of the lesion (54% overall, 25% on MRI, and 57% during surgery), many cases remained undecided (50% on MRI) or no specific structure was found to be the origin (29% during surgery). There are diverse proposed origins of a calcification on the medial side of the knee. The eponymous term Pellegrini–Stieda lesion seems fitting, as it comprises two different thoughts on the origin of the lesion. MRI seems to be a noninvasive and quite accurate method for future research.

In 1864 in Milan, Giovanni Rosmini (1832-1896) opened an ophthalmic dispensary for workers. In 1874 this dispensary was transformed into the first ophthalmic hospital of the city. This hospital still exists today. The authors analyze a document that belonged to the lawyer Enrico Rosmini (1828-1898), brother of Giovanni, which helps to piece together the early years of the dispensary, where about 4,000 surgeries were carried out in the first four years of activity. This historical document is valuable as it sheds light on one of the first healthcare institution for workers in Milan.

Italian physicians have been interested in geology since the fifteenth century or earlier, with leading figures carrying out fundamental and enlightening studies in both fields of competence. Refined cultured men including Bernardino Ramazzini, Antonio Vallisneri, Tommaso Antonio Catullo, Carlo Gemmellaro, Leopoldo Pilla, Giuseppe Meneghini, Gaetano Giorgio Gemmellaro and Arcangelo Scacchi, in addition to the introduction of reasoning and basic concepts for the advancement of Earth sciences, conducted major studies in the medical field, proving once again the holistic interests of Italian intellectuals. Following the publication of Principles of Geology by Charles Lyell, some scientists were fascinated by the geosciences, carrying out both medical observations and geological studies, and contributing significantly to the development of modern geology. The biographies and works of some leading Italian physicians illustrate their scientific activity in the study of stratigraphy, geomorphology, palaeontology and volcanology, with acknowledgement internationally. These Italian scientists contributed to the political unification of Italy, actively participating in scientific and political discussion, and fulfilling government aims. They contributed to the foundation of the Geological Society of Italy, one of the oldest scientific fellowships in Italy.