Recognition of disease in the archeologic record is facilitated by characterization of the skeletal impact of documented (in life) disease. The present study describes the osteological manifestations of leukemia as identified in the skeletons of two…
A controlled study of the relationship of two standard clinical indicators of osteoarthritis and porosity failed to demonstrate a relationship. Porosity appears to be a curiosity that has no clinical correlation and is not a sign of an identifiable…
This study was conducted to determine whether individual bony lesions are specific for recognizing multiple myeloma and thereby distinguish it from metastatic cancer and leukemia. The lytic skeletal lesions of multiple myeloma are characterized by…
Slight variation in manifestation of different diseases may allow a single individual with one disease to mimic the "classic" appearance of another, as evidenced by the frequent confusion of spondyloarthropathy with rheumatoid arthritis. Analysis of…
This study was conducted to characterize macroscopically and by conventional radiography the bony lesions in a case of Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia and to compare and contrast it with those of the other major hematologic lymphoproliferative…
Occasional reports in isolated fragments of dinosaur bones have suggested that tumors might represent a population phenomenon. Previous study of humans has demonstrated that vertebral radiology is a powerful diagnostic tool for population screening.…
OBJECTIVES: To assess the specificity of dactylitis for the diagnosis of spondyloarthropathy, sarcoidosis, and gout; and to characterize dactylitis specifically associated with gout. METHODS: Dactylitis was prospectively assessed among all…
Recognition of syphilis in Europe in the late 15th century and its prior absence suggest New World origin. Skeletal populations were examined from sites with documented Columbian contact in the Dominican Republic. Examination of 536 skeletal remains…
In order to assess the presence of tuberculosis in Pleistocene bison and the origin of tuberculosis in North America, 2 separate DNA extractions were performed by 2 separate laboratories on samples from the metacarpal of an extinct long-horned bison…
OBJECTIVES: This study was performed to assess osseous contributions to osteoarthritis, obviating the analysis challenges presented by confounding factors in humans and rarity of osteoarthritis in free-ranging mammals. METHODS: Frequency of…
Is rheumatoid arthritis one disease or a "catch-all" term for inflammatory arthritis that tends to spare axial joints? We have subdivided "rheumatoid arthritis," utilizing the criteria of periarticular osteopenia and marginally (distributed),…
This study was conducted to further characterize the nature of leprosy-related bone alterations, to develop a hypothesis of their pathophysiology, and to define the impact of treatment on bone damage. Radiographs of 60 patients under care at the…
This systematic survey of museum ratite (Pterocnemia, Rhea, Casuarius, Struthio, Dromias and Apteryx) skeletal collections was performed to reevaluate previous perspectives and assess effect of captivity on macroscopically detectable pathology.…
As the arboreal ape, Pongo, has an unusual ground ambulation adaptation, it was of interest to assess the impact of Pongo gait on patterns of arthritis. While osteoarthritis was not identified in Pongo, 11% of individual skeletons were afflicted with…
OBJECTIVE: To assess diagnostic implications of abnormalities of the pedal digital tufts and to identify features to facilitate distinguishing of spondyloarthropathy and leprosy. BACKGROUND: Better criteria for distinguishing between these disorders…
New bone formation (e.g., periosteal reaction) is one component of bone and joint disease diagnosis. Its application in the archeologic record has been compromised by lack of standardization. An objective technique for validating observations seems…
Population data are presented for erosive arthritis, osteoarthritis, diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH), joint eburnation and dental injury in a fauna from Natural Trap Cave, Wyoming, represented by over thirty thousand bones from…
OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to test several hypotheses: 1. That rheumatoid arthritis and syphilis were New World diseases, only transmitted to the Old World subsequent to the passages of Christopher Columbus; 2. To indirectly test the…
This study was conducted to assess the feasibility of COX1 NSAID substitution for aspirin for preventative therapy related to circulating anticoagulants, as manifest by inhibition of platelet aggregation. There was no difference in platelet…
Documentation of the treponemal etiology of reactive bone formation in a pleistocene bear supports unprecedented antiquity of treponemal bone infections. The spectrum and implications of osseous treponemal disease in the New and Old World are…
Recognition of sacroiliac disease has been integral to arthritis diagnostic approaches. However, intra- and inter-observer variation have been recognized as limiting factors in radiologic assessment of the sacroiliac joint. The assumption that such…
OBJECTIVE: Definition of the nature of calcaneal "erosions" in sickle cell anemia. METHODS: Skeletons of individuals demonstrated to have had sickle cell anemia were examined for the presence of calcaneal surface discontinuity. RESULTS: Calcaneal and…
OBJECTIVE: Spondyloarthropathy has clearly been documented as not limited in occurrence to humans. Transmammalian in nature, it is of interest to understand the antiquity, and perhaps the origins, of this disorder in animal groups sufficiently…
OBJECTIVE: To characterize hypertrophic osteoarthropathy (HOA) in skeletons to allow its recognition in the archeologic record. METHODS: Individuals diagnosed in life with diseases known to cause HOA were examined from the Hamman-Todd, Grant, and…
OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationship of what has been called pre-Columbian Old World rheumatoid arthritis (RA) to the RA identified in pre-Columbian North America. METHODS: All published claims of pre-Columbian Old World RA were reviewed against…
OBJECTIVES: To assess the specificity of dactylitis for the diagnosis of spondyloarthropathy, sarcoidosis, and gout; and to characterize dactylitis specifically associated with gout. METHODS: Dactylitis was prospectively assessed among all…
Identification of a 3100-year-old lithopedion in the Archaic Southwest antedates its first clinical notation by 21 00 years. It was only the ''autopsy'' of time (excavation of the site) that allowed its presence to be brought to light.
Decompression syndrome (caisson disease or the "the bends") resulting in avascular necrosis has been documented in mosasaurs, sauropterygians, ichthyosaurs, and turtles from the Middle Jurassic to Late Cretaceous, but it was unclear that this disease…
Bone and joint alterations were characterized in the skeletons of 498 individuals age 64+ who died in Northeast Ohio between 1913 and 1933. Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis, rare in young individuals, was found in 27% of men over age 65,…
Analyses of New World skeletal populations for the presence of erosions an other osseous alterations and their character, distribution, and radiologic appearance shows that osteoarthritis is predominantly a disease of animals raised in artificially…
Bejel clearly has a long history in the Middle East and the Sudan, but was it transmitted to Europe? As the major manifestation of bejel is presence of periosteal reaction in 20-40% of afflicted populations, absence of significant population…
