Women in Geology: An Historical Review

Emergence of the concept of endocrine function and endocrinology

The Political Economy of Development in Weak States: An Institutional Analysis of the Nigerian State

Triggering sarcomerogenesis: Examining key stimuli and the role attributed to eccentric training—Historical, systematic, and meta-analytic review

ObjectiveThis narrative review aims to summarize the historical steps of clubfoot treatment in Italy, identifying the centuries-old historical advancement in the deformity management and the most influent involved people.BackgroundClubfoot, also referred to as congenital talipes equinovarus, is a relatively common deformity that has significative consequences in the child if it is left untreated. Effective and early treatment of clubfoot has been praised as one of the most successful practice of modern pediatric orthopedics and both surgical and conservative techniques have been proposed over the decades. As an example, Codivilla’s posteromedial release (PMR) has been known internationally as one of the milestones of surgical treatment.MethodsThe narrative review includes clinical studies and reviews concerning clubfoot that were written in English, German and Italian. As an historical review, no limits of years were considered. The search was performed using PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, Medline and Cochrane Library databases up to January 2021. A combination of search terms including ‘history’, ‘clubfoot’, ‘conservative management’, ‘Codivilla’, ‘Ponseti method’, ‘relapse’ was utilized. Particular attention was given to papers written by Italian authors.ConclusionsCurrent clubfoot treatment arises from several studies and clinical research over the centuries. Many surgeons, starting from mid-16th century, have studied the deformity trying to find a successful and effective technique to achieve full correction. Italian scientists, surgeons and prestigious institutions surely took part in this process.

The international trade and industrial structure since the industrial revolution have changed significantly featured with a booming trade volume and unprecedented speed of industrialization. However, under the current of industrial process of western nations, the third-world countries, are experiencing a de-industrial process. Through industrialization and de-industrialization, the structure of the world was significantly changed, and the world was later classified as the developed and developing nations. This classification still works for current world order. Thus, tracing the reason that the process of world classification is vital, which could better enhance the understanding of contemporary world. This paper aims to analyse the reasons for the de-indudstrialization in the peripheries with a historical and econometric review.

The objective of this review was to look at the impact of agricultural value chain financing on the profitability of edible oil in South Africa. A historical review's aim is to find all narrative evidence which fits the pre-specified eligibility requirements to respond to a particular study question or hypothesis. The research used a historical narrative review as its analysis method. This included compiling and analysing more than 60 online resources relating to various and relevant the value chain financing on profitability from several past research. The research concentrates on some papers that looked at the impact of agricultural value chain financing on profitability, both nationally and internationally. Exploratory studies on the agricultural value chain financing, published from 2012 to 2022, were evaluated. According to the findings, just one paper failed to demonstrate an important association between agricultural value chain financing and profitability, whilst the others showed that agricultural value chain financing had a substantial effect on profitability. However, none specifically addressed the oil industry, indicating the necessity for narrative research to examine the link among agricultural funding and the profitability of the South African edible oil industry.

In this historical review we describe in detail the main stages of the development of nonholonomic mechanics starting from the work of Earnshaw and Ferrers to the monograph of Yu. I.Neimark and N.A. Fufaev. In the appendix to this review we discuss the d’Alembert–Lagrange principle in nonholonomic mechanics and permutation relations.

BackgroundWidespread urbanization over the next 20 years has the potential to drastically change the risk of malaria within Africa. The burden of the disease, its management, risk factors and appropriateness of targeted intervention across varied urban environments in Africa remain largely undefined. This paper presents a combined historical and contemporary review of the clinical burden of malaria within one of Africa's largest urban settlements, Nairobi, Kenya.MethodsA review of historical reported malaria case burdens since 1911 within Nairobi was undertaken using archived government and city council reports. Contemporary information on out-patient case burdens due to malaria were assembled from the National Health Management and Information System (HMIS). Finally, an audit of 22 randomly selected health facilities within Nairobi was undertaken covering 12 months 2009-2010. The audit included interviews with health workers, and a checklist of commodities and guidelines necessary to diagnose, treat and record malaria.ResultsFrom the 1930's through to the mid-1960's malaria incidence declined coincidental with rapid population growth. During this period malaria notification and prevention were a priority for the city council. From 2001-2008 reporting systems for malaria were inadequate to define the extent or distribution of malaria risk within Nairobi. A more detailed facility review suggests, however that malaria remains a common diagnosis (11% of all paediatric diagnoses made) and where laboratories (n = 15) exist slide positivity rates are on average 15%. Information on the quality of diagnosis, slide reading and whether those reported as positive were imported infections was not established. The facilities and health workers included in this study were not universally prepared to treat malaria according to national guidelines or identify foci of risks due to shortages of national first-line drugs, inadequate record keeping and a view among some health workers (17%) that slide negative patients could still have malaria.ConclusionCombined with historical evidence there is a strong suggestion that very low risks of locally acquired malaria exist today within Nairobi's city limits and this requires further investigation. To be prepared for effective prevention and case-management of malaria among a diverse, mobile population in Nairobi requires a major paradigm shift and investment in improved quality of malaria diagnosis and case management, health system strengthening and case reporting.

Toxicity of plant-based silver nanoparticles to vectors and intermediate hosts: Historical review and trends

Massive irreparable rotator cuff tears (MIRCTs) represent a complex clinical challenge, resulting in pain, pseudoparalysis, and functional disability. Over the past century, their surgical management has undergone significant evolution, from early open repairs to sophisticated reconstructive and joint replacement strategies. A historical narrative review was conducted, informed by a systematic search of PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, and landmark texts. Major surgical innovations-open repair, tendon transfers, debridement, superior capsular reconstruction (SCR), subacromial spacers, and reverse shoulder arthroplasty (RSA)-were examined in the context of their development and impact. Open repairs offered limited success for chronic MIRCTs. Subacromial decompression and debridement provided symptom relief in low-demand patients. Tendon transfers and graft interpositions emerged as joint-preserving strategies in select cases. RSA transformed management by reliably restoring function in pseudoparalysis and cuff tear arthropathy. Contemporary techniques such as SCR and biologic augmentation aim to preserve native anatomy, but outcomes remain inconsistent. MIRCT management has progressed from salvage repairs to a diverse toolkit of joint-preserving and reconstructive options. No single strategy is universally superior, underscoring the need for patient-specific approaches. Ongoing comparative trials and surgical consensus efforts are critical to optimising care.

A historical review and bibliometric analysis of research on lead in drinking water field from 1991 to 2007

The development of digital fabrication has reintroduced material processes with digital processes. There has been much discussion about the tool and the objects of the tool, but little discussion of the implication of the material process on the digital process. A brief historical review on the development of computer numerical control and the origins of the Bézier curve reveals an instrumental fact: computer numerical controlled tools necessitated advancements in computational surfaces which eventually led to NURBS (Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines) surfaces. In other words, the origins of NURBS surfaces resides in its relation to material processes, rather than many current approaches that develop free form surfaces and then force the tool onto the material without regard to the material properties. From this historical and mathematical review, this project develops toward more intelligent construction methods based on the integration of NURBS differential geometry paired with material qualities and processes. Specifically, a digital technique of developing conceptual NURBS geometry into piecewise surface patches are then flattened based on the material thickness and density. From these flattened patches, a material technique is developed to intelligently remove material to allow the rigid flat material to re-develop into physical surface patches. The goal of this research is to develop digital and material techniques toward intelligent construction based on the correspondence between digitally driven surface and digitally driven material processes. The application of this technique as a rational and flexible system is to support the dynamic response of form and material toward such performative aspects as structure, daylight, ventilation, and thermal properties.

Aim: This historical medical literature review aims at understanding the evolution of the medical existence of oral cancer over times, particularly better comprehending if the apparent lower prevalence of this type of cancer in antiquity is a real value due to the absence of modern environmental and lifestyle factors or it is linked to a misinterpretation of ancient foreign terms found in ancient medical texts regarding oral neoplasms. Methods: The databases MedLne, PubMed, Web of Science, Elsevier’s EMBASE.com, Cochrane Review, National Library of Greece (Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Athens) and the Library of the School of Health Sciences of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greece) were extensively searched for relevant studies published during the past century on the history of oral cancer and its treatment from antiquity to modern times, in addition to the WHO website to analyse the latest epidemiological data. In addition, we included historical books on the topic of interest and original sources. Results: Historical references reveal that the cradle of the oral oncology was in ancient Egypt, the Asian continent and Greece and cancer management was confined to an approximate surgical practice, in order to remove abnormal masses and avoid bleeding with cauterization. In the Medieval Age, little progress occurred in medicine in general, oral cancers management included. It is only from the Renaissance to modern times that knowledge about its pathophysiological mechanisms and histopathology and its surgical and pharmacological treatment approaches became increasingly deep all over the world, evolving to the actual integrated treatment. Despite the abundant literature exploring oncology in past civilizations, the real prevalence of oral cancer in antiquity is much less known; but a literature analysis cannot exclude a consistent prevalence of this cancer in past populations, probably with a likely lower incidence than today, because many descriptions of its aggressiveness were found in ancient medical texts, but it is still difficult to be sure that each single description of oral masses could be associated to cancer, particularly for what concerns the period before the Middle Ages. Conclusions: Modern oncologists and oral surgeons must learn a lot from their historic counterparts in order to avoid past unsuccessful efforts to treatment oral malignancies. Several descriptions of oral cancers in the antiquity that we found let us think that this disease might be linked to mechanisms not strictly dependent on environmental risk factors, and this might guide future research on oral cavity treatments towards strategical cellular and molecular techniques.

The concept of the evaluation of the thermal ageing behaviour of machine winding insulations goes back to the work done by Arrhenius, Montsinger, Bussing and Dakin. Its basic principles are found in the chemical reaction kinetics but it also takes decades of experiences into account, which were made in order to make sure, that insulation systems for rotating electric machines are both: economic and reliable. Today there is a set of IEC and IEEE standards available, which define the procedures needed for the qualification of winding insulation systems. They always use the approach of comparative functional evaluation, which compares the behaviour of an unknown candidate system with a service proven reference system. As these standards are reviewed and revised, they will be even more practicable in the future.

The history of production and application of the stable nitrogen isotope15N in Germany is mainly part of the history of the former Institute of Stable Isotopes, later a part of the Central Institute of Isotope and Radiation Research (Zentralinstitut fur Isotopen-und Strahlenforschung) in Leipzig. In 1956, after a relatively large fractionation during isotopic exchange in the system NO/HNO3 was reported by SPINDEL and TAYLOR, the construction of an isotope enrichment plant was planned and started work in 1958 on a laboratory scale. The prodution of 15N-labelled material in the institute started in 1960, followed in 1968 by the start of a separation plant in Wolfen as a branch of industrial fertilizer production. The economy was optimized by feeding back the 15N decreased efflux to the fertilizer production line. The material produced was used for studies at home and abroad. Close contacts with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna) and the development of an easy-to-handle optical in...