Browsing by Author "Curate, Francisco"
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- Extracapsular fracture of the femur in an elderly male from Setúbal (Portugal)Publication . Antunes-Ferreira, Nathalie; Prates, Carlos; Curate, FranciscoHip fractures were certainly present in past communities, if not reasonably frequent. Often an outcome of osteoporosis and increased risk of falling among the elderly, these fractures affect predominantly older women but also aged men. In this case-study, an extracapsular fracture of the femur in an elderly man is described and contextualized.
- Extracapsular fracture of the femur in an elderly male from the Church of Nossa Senhora da Anunciada (Setúbal, Portugal)Publication . Antunes-Ferreira, Nathalie; Prates, Carlos; Curate, FranciscoIn modern populations, hip fractures in older people are associated with high morbidity and mortality. Their incidence is rising; notwithstanding, fractures of the proximal femur are still relatively uncommon in archeological contexts. This case study represents a well-healed hip fracture in an aged male skeleton from Church of Nossa Senhora da Anunciada (16th–19th centuries AD) in Setúbal (Portugal). The individual was also diagnosed with diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis. Fractures of the proximal femur are usually associated with bone loss but in this case other causes are proposed, including the anatomy of the proximal femur, and the potential combined effect of diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis, cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus and falls.
- Interpreting injury recidivism in a rural post-medieval male individual from Bucelas, PortugalPublication . Antunes-Ferreira, Nathalie; Prates, Carlos; Curate, FranciscoInjury recidivism studies assess the lived experience of individuals who endure multiple traumatic incidents, conveying a nuanced contextualization of individual suffering within a reticulate of social and cultural processes. During a recent archaeological excavation, a skeleton of a middle-aged male dating to the 17th–18th centuries AD was excavated in the churchyard of the Chapel of the Holy Spirit in Bucelas (Portugal). This individual exhibited a mixture of healed and healing fractures that prompted poor functional long-term outcomes and an increase in the risk of death. Macroscopic and medical imaging (computerized tomography) analyses revealed lesions in the right shoulder, right and left ribs, fifth right proximal phalanx and right distal femur. Fracture complications include myositis ossificans and chronic osteomyelitis. The results are interpreted in the broader sociocultural circumstances of Bucelas during the early modern period, in order to investigate the causes of this individual's accumulated trauma and the possibility of health-related care associated with it.
- Rib fractures in the Coimbra Identified Skeletal CollectionPublication . Curate, Francisco; Cunha, EugéniaThere is a high prevalence of rib fractures in human remains from archeological contexts, but these are seldom the focus in paleopathological studies pertaining skeletal trauma. This study aims to document rib fracture patterns in the Coimbra Identified Skeletal Collection, Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra. Specific aims of this study included the estimation of rib fracture prevalence in 252 individuals, from both sexes (females: 128; males: 124), with age-at-death varying from 20 to 96 years; and the analysis of the relationship between rib fractures and age-at-death, biological sex, and bone mineral density measured at the proximal femur. The crude prevalence of rib fractures is 6.3% (16 cases in a total of 252 individuals observed); while the true prevalence rate is 0.7% (38 fractured ribs in relation to 5656 ribs studied). Males have been more affected than females (males: 10.5%, 13/124; females: 2.3%, 3/128). Individuals with one or more rib fractures were significantly older (mean=66.19 years old; standard deviation [SD]=14.08) than those who have not experienced any rib fracture (mean=50.41 years old; SD=19.45). Bone mineral density was also associated with the presence of rib fractures but only in females. These results expand the scientific awareness about the prevalence of rib fractures in human skeletal collections.
- The Identification Potential of Atherosclerotic Calcifications in the Context of Forensic AnthropologyPublication . Monteiro, Sara; Curate, Francisco; Garcia, Susana; Cunha, EugéniaAtherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease that, in its more developed stages, can lead to the calcification of fatty plaques on the walls of arteries, resulting in the appearance of new bone elements. It is a condition that has been studied and documented little in the context of paleopathology, especially in the framework of forensic anthropology. This article analyzed the skeletal remains of 71 individuals (35 females and 36 males) from the Luís Lopes Identified Collection of the National Museum of Natural History and Science in Lisbon, 31 of whom had an autopsy report. An attempt was made to ascertain whether these bone elements resulting from atherosclerotic calcification would resist cadaveric decomposition and whether they would be recoverable several years after burial, and a survey was carried out of their distribution according to sex and age, as well as their association with other pathologies, such as osteoporosis and cardiac and renal pathologies. An imaging analysis of an atherosclerotic plaque was also carried out to complement the macroscopic analysis and present other methods of identifying plaques. It was concluded that each atherosclerotic calcification has a unique profile, which can be useful for identification, especially in cases where the individual shows a severe condition. In terms of identification potential, the analysis of calcified atherosclerotic plaques can be useful, as they can corroborate or reject an identification. However, it always requires the existence of ante-mortem imaging exams and must always be used in addition to other identification methods. Regardless of the identification, these plaques are bone elements resulting from a pathology and should, therefore, be known and recognized by the scientific community.