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Edited by
Alejandra Laera, University of Buenos Aires,Mónica Szurmuk, Universidad Nacional de San Martín /National Scientific and Technical Research Council, Argentina
This chapter looks at politically defiant women’s theatre and performance in Argentina from the 1960s onward though the concept of the skin. It pays special attention to the varying ways in which women in theater and performance have engaged with the ever-pressing and pervasive issues of gender-based violence, power, the body, family, memory, and resistance. Drawing upon Griselda Gambaro’s visionary Información para extranjeros (1971/1987), we suggest multidirectional dialogues with the process of state-led terror and forced disappearance perpetrated during the 1976–83 military dictatorship. While discussing varying traditions of contestation and rebellion across feminist theater and performance, we build this dermography of contemporary women’s theatre and performance in which Piel de Lava (Skin of Lava) is not only the name of a group but the symbol of a new form of politically committed, “post-traumatic” feminist performance. In those terms, the chapter discusses some of the most audacious and innovative recent feminist pieces, including Lola Arias’ installations suggesting implicated forms of spectatorship, Romina Paula’s singular approach to motherhood through desiring mothers and dissident daughters, as well as the alternative forms of staging gender disobedience proposed by Albertina Carri and Analía Couceyro in their rereading of Tadeys (2019).
Clays have played an important role in medicine since the dawn of mankind and are still applied widely as active ingredients and/or excipients in pharmaceutical formulations. Due to their outstanding properties of large retention capacity, swelling and rheological properties, and relative low cost, they have been used widely as advanced carriers for the efficient delivery of drugs by modifying their release (rate and/or time), increasing the stability of the drug, improving the dissolution profile of a drug, or enhancing their intestinal permeability. In addition, recent studies have shed new light on the potential of clay minerals in the nanomedicine field due to their biocompatibility, beneficial effects of clay nanoparticles on cellular adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation. Use as active ingredients and excipients are exerted via the oral and topical administration pathways. Skin drug delivery represents an attractive alternative to the oral route, providing local and/or systemic drug delivery. Due to their complex structures, however, most drugs penetrate the human skin only with difficulty. Enormous efforts have been invested, therefore, in developing advanced drug delivery systems able to overcome the skin barrier. Most strategies require the use of singular materials with new properties. In particular, and on the basis of their inherent properties, clay minerals are ideal candidates for the development of intelligent skin drug delivery systems. In this article, the properties of clay materials and their use in the skin-addressed pharmaceutical field are reviewed. A brief introduction of skin physiology and biopharmaceutical features of penetration by a drug through the skin layers is also included and is designed to shed light on the optimum properties of ideal nanosystems for advanced skin drug delivery. Special attention is devoted to the pharmacological functions of clays and their biomedical applications in pelotherapy, wound healing, regenerative medicine, antimicrobial, and dermocosmetics.
This chapter distinguishes two ways in which the Middle Ages conceived the relationship between human and nonhuman creatures. The first, according to which humans are a unique kind of animal (in the Latin word’s sense of “living being”), is available primarily to the learned, whereas the second, widely attested in lay usage and practice, concerns the difference (or lack of it) between humans and “beasts.” The chapter explores the complication of both relationships in the French and English romances of William of Palermo (late twelfth-/early thirteenth-century and mid-fourteenth-century, respectively), in which one aristocratic protagonist is turned into a werewolf and others disguise themselves in the skins of bear or deer. Human exceptionalism appears to condition the story’s coding of social dysfunction as animalization, but the romances equally show medieval aristocratic and chivalric identity embracing its proximity to “beasts,” for example, in the notion of sovereignty, in the symbolic languages of heraldry and dreams, and in moments of explicit self-identification. The chapter concludes by arguing that the way these romances build their fiction with reference to animals is materialized in the manuscript books that transmit them, made up as they are of parchment pages, that is, of processed animal skins.
Chondrodermatitis nodularis helicis is a benign, but painful inflammatory condition of the ear, characterised by a tender nodule located on the helix or antihelix. This study aimed to investigate the occurrence of chondrodermatitis nodularis helicis associated with the use of coronavirus disease 2019 masks during the pandemic.
Method
A retrospective single-centre study was performed from February 2020 to February 2022 in the Maxillo-Facial Unit at the University Hospital of Siena, Italy.
Results
During the indexed period, 11 patients were affected by chondrodermatitis nodularis helicis. All patients wore a mask for more than 8 hours a day, every day for several months.
Conclusion
Although there is no certain proof of the correlation between masks and chondrodermatitis nodularis helicis, an increase in the incidence of this condition was highlighted in our single-centre experience in the pandemic period. The prolonged use of coronavirus disease 2019 masks may explain this correlation.
To describe the post-operative complications and audiological results related to percutaneous bone-anchored hearing devices.
Methods
A retrospective review was conducted of 44 patients with bilateral conductive or mixed hearing loss who were implanted with unilateral Baha Connect or Ponto devices. A generalised linear model for repeated measurements was used.
Results
Twenty patients were Baha Connect users, and 24 were implanted with Ponto devices. Twenty-seven patients experienced complications. No fewer complications were found in the group of patients using longer abutments. When we compared the frequency of complications between Ponto and Baha Connect users, there was no statistically significant difference (p = 0.90). Free-field hearing thresholds were statistically significantly improved when we compared pre- and post-operative results (p < 0.001). Average speech perception also improved (p < 0.001).
Conclusion
Despite percutaneous bone-anchored hearing devices having a high rate of complications, they provide significant audiological benefits.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of dietary n-3 very-long-chain PUFA (n-3 VLC-PUFA) on the maturation and development of skin tissue in juvenile Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in vivo, as well as their effects on skin keratocyte and human skin fibroblast cell migration in vitro. Atlantic salmon were fed different dietary levels of n-3 VLC-PUFA from an initial weight of 6 g to a final weight of 11 g. Changes in skin morphology were analysed at two time points during the experiment, and the effects on skin tissue fatty acid composition were determined. Additionally, in vitro experiments using human dermal fibroblasts and primary Atlantic salmon keratocytes were conducted to investigate the effect of VLC-PUFA on the migration capacity of the cells. The results demonstrated that increased dietary levels of n-3 VLC-PUFA led to an increased epidermis thickness and more rapid scale maturation in Atlantic salmon skin in vivo, leading to a more mature skin morphology, and possibly more robust skin, at an earlier life stage. Additionally, human skin fibroblasts and salmon skin keratocytes supplemented with n-3 VLC-PUFA in vitro showed more rapid migration, indicating potentially beneficial effects of VLC-PUFA in wound healing. In conclusion, VLC-PUFA may have beneficial effects on skin tissue development, function and integrity.
Radiation-induced malignancies are the most feared complications of radiotherapy. Depilatory radiotherapy for ringworm of the scalp in childhood was the cause of an increase in the incidence of skin tumours of the scalp in adults. The aim of our study was to describe the epidemiological, clinical and therapeutic characteristics of radiation-induced skin tumours of the scalp in order to highlight the characteristics of these tumours compared to non-radiation-induced tumours.
Methods:
This is a bi-centric retrospective study, extending over a period of 41 years, which collected 137 patients with 200 tumours of the scalp. These patients were selected after noting a history of depilatory radiotherapy for ringworm in childhood in the clinical records of all patients with scalp tumours.
We studied the epidemiological, clinical, therapeutic and evolving characteristics of this population.
Results:
The average age of consultation was 56·6 years. The sex ratio M/F was 3. Radiation dermatitis was found in 33% of cases. The average latency between depilatory radiotherapy and the appearance of radiation-induced tumours was 42·6 years. Multiple carcinomas (>2 tumours) were observed in 23·3% of cases. In 73% of cases, ulceration was the most frequent macroscopic aspect. The predominant histological type was basal cell carcinoma in 82% of cases. Radiation therapy has been the main treatment modality in 77·3% of cases, followed by surgery in 43% of cases. The appearance of new tumours on the scalp was observed in six patients.
Conclusion:
Radiation-induced tumours of the scalp are comparable in epidemiological and clinical characteristics to non-radiation-induced tumours. However, they may represent a challenge in therapeutic care and require regular monitoring.
This chapter explores the different kinds of sutures available, as well as some additional methods of skin closure. Surgical sutures are a medical device used to hold body tissue together following injury or surgery. There is evidence of suture use going back thousands of years. The application of a suture generally involves using a needle with an attached length of suture thread. Suture thread can be made from numerous materials. The original sutures were made from biological materials, such as catgut, cotton, and silk. Today, most sutures are made of synthetic polymer fibers, with silk being the only biological material still in use.
Chapter 2 discusses the scribes’ handling of damage and irregularity in parchment in manuscripts of English literature. It sets out how damage and irregularity arose and describes the methods scribes used to repair or counteract those features of parchment. From these methods, the author infers that scribes ignored and even obscured the organic oddity and damage in parchment, instead hylomorphically pursuing an idea of the page more perfect and more rectilinear than was the matter on which they imposed it, and in some cases worried about disruptions to the text’s appearance and reception. Rather than engage with the agency of their materials, they imposed on them immaterial ideas about the book and the use of its texts.
Lateral temporal bone resections are used in the management of locally advanced peri-auricular cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas, but there is still conflicting evidence regarding the staging, surgical and adjuvant treatment decisions.
Methods
A retrospective analysis was performed on all patients who underwent lateral temporal bone resection for cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma between January 2015 and December 2019 at a dedicated tertiary oncology referral centre.
Results
Twenty-nine patients were included, with a median age of 77 years. Computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography showed good diagnostic accuracy in identifying disease in the parotid gland, external auditory canal and mastoid bone, but had poor sensitivity in identifying cervical nodal metastasis. Six patients had recurrence at a median of 4.8 months post-operatively. Tumour differentiation (p = 0.0040) and post-operative radiotherapy (p = 0.0199) were associated with significantly better recurrence-free survival.
Conclusion
Lateral temporal bone resection for peri-auricular cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma requires careful surgical planning using clinico-radiological correlation, particularly in patients with poorly differentiated tumours.
In this chapter, we discuss the existential concerns of the great Maestro Ludwig van Beethoven and how he was able to compose musical masterpieces while confronting severe hearing loss. We also describe age-related changes in vision, smell, taste, skin sensation, proprioception, and balance. Age-related cognitive changes such as attention, processing, learning, and memory are presented. Finally, a resolution is offered as to how Beethoven still composed with hearing loss.
Thyroid and parathyroid surgery often involves the use of heated instruments for dissection. Whilst these are beneficial, accidental thermal damage to the exposed skin edges can occur, resulting in an unsatisfactory cosmetic outcome. Tonsil swabs can be used in head and neck surgery intra-operatively to control bleeding. This paper describes an alternative use for them in protecting wound edges during the procedure.
Method
Damp tonsil swabs are sutured onto the wound edges after the initial skin incision. They remain present for the duration of the surgery and are removed at the time of skin closure.
Results
The tonsil swabs provide protection and help avoid accidental injury to the skin. No complications with this technique have been experienced.
Conclusion
This paper describes a simple, effective and practical technique for protecting the skin during neck procedures using resources readily available in a standard ENT operating theatre.
In contrast to quantitative studies that rely on numerical data to highlight racial disparities in police street checks, this article offers a qualitative methodology for examining how histories of anti-Blackness configure civilians’ experiences of present-day policing. Taking the Halifax Street Checks Report as our primary object of analysis, we apply an innovative dermatological approach, demonstrating how skin itself becomes meaningful when police officers and civilians make contact in the process of a street check. We explore how street checks become an occasion for epidermalization, whereby a law enforcement practice projects onto the skins of civilians locally specific histories and emotions. To think with skin, we focus on the narratives shared by African Nova Scotians, a group that has been street checked at higher rates than their white counterparts. By doing so, we argue that current debates about police street checks in Halifax must attend to the emotional stakes of police-initiated encounters in order to fully appreciate the lived experience of street checks for Black civilians.
This chapter discusses the perception of commanders and surgeons of their black soldiers from 1795 to c. 1830. In an era so dominated by slavery, it is unusual to find so many positive reports about black men. Commanders generally thought them to be ideal soldiers – brave, committed and obedient, while their usefulness in battle was proved again and again. Even more important were the innate and permanent medical differences reported by regimental surgeons. Black skin, it was thought, afforded black soldiers special protection against tropical illness and healed far more rapidly than white skin, effectively functioning as a form of natural armour. The stamina and hardiness of West India Regiment soldiers enabled them to undertake marches in tropical heat without flagging. They also possessed hyper-attuned senses that made them ideal for tracking the enemy in difficult jungle terrain, more accurate with a rifle and better able to hear instructions conveyed via bugles and drums on the battlefield. By almost every measure commanders thought the West India Regiment soldier was an improvement on the white soldier, but the lasting legacy was a rich literature authored by army surgeons claiming that black and white bodies were fundamentally different.
Some of the most outward signs of ageing are mediated through the skin. This chapter concentrates on how skin care products chimed with understandings of what could be achieved by way of rejuvenation. Using a diverse range of sources, including advertising material which appeared in household magazines and newspapers, the company records of Boots, market research surveys, and ephemera relating to the products themselves, this chapter triangulates the myriad claims about what skin care products could achieve against prevailing social concerns with ageing, knowledge about the skin and conceptions of beauty. The principal argument is that through the twentieth century youthful skin became deeply entwined with a particular form of beauty: the two became inseparable and skincare preparations appealed to those who sought to increase both their attractiveness and youthfulness.
This chapter introduces the concept of rejuvenation as both a literal reversing of the ageing process and an attempt to appear younger. It demarcates rejuvenation from longevity – the former pertaining to a state of youth, the latter simply to extended lifespan – and identifies the relevant themes in the secondary literature of historical and sociological research. The search for rejuvenation – whether the mythical elixir of life to achieve eternal youth or everyday creams designed to keep the features looking young – was not an exclusively twentieth-century phenomenon, yet a combination of social, medical, cultural and economic factors resulted in an explosion of interest in anti-ageing in the period immediately following World War One. The first global conflict gave new impetus to efforts promoting strength and vitality in men, and fertility and attractiveness in women. Keeping the population healthy and economically productive was an essential feature of post–World War One western society.
In this volume, Stephanie M. Langin-Hooper investigates the impact of Greek art on the miniature figure sculptures produced in Babylonia after the conquests of Alexander the Great. Figurines in Hellenistic Babylonia were used as agents of social change, by visually expressing and negotiating cultural differences. The scaled-down quality of figurines encouraged both visual and tactile engagement, enabling them to effectively work as non-threatening instruments of cultural blending. Reconstructing the embodied experience of miniaturization in detailed case studies, Langin-Hooper illuminates the dynamic process of combining Greek and Babylonian sculpture forms, social customs, and viewing habits into new, hybrid works of art. Her innovative focus on figurines as instruments of both personal encounter and global cultural shifts has important implications for the study of tiny objects in art history, anthropology, classics, and other disciplines.
In early twentieth-century France, syphilis and its controversial status as a hereditary disease reigned as a chief concern for physicians and public health officials. As syphilis primarily presented visually on the surface of the skin, its study fell within the realms of both dermatologists and venereologists, who relied heavily on visual evidence in their detection, diagnosis, and treatment of the disease. Thus, in educational textbooks, atlases, and medical models, accurately reproducing the visible signposts of syphilis – the colour, texture, and patterns of primary chancres or secondary rashes – was of preeminent importance. Photography, with its potential claims to mechanical objectivity, would seem to provide the logical tool for such representations.
Yet photography’s relationship to syphilographie warrants further unpacking. Despite the rise of a desire for mechanical objectivity charted in the late nineteenth century, artist-produced, three-dimensional, wax-cast moulages coexisted with photographs as significant educational tools for dermatologists; at times, these models were further mediated through photographic reproduction in texts. Additionally, the rise of phototherapy complicated this relationship by fostering the clinical equation of the light-sensitive photographic plate with the patient’s skin, which became the photographic record of disease and successful treatment. This paper explores these complexities to delineate a more nuanced understanding of objectivity vis-à-vis photography and syphilis. Rather than a desire to produce an unbiased image, fin-de-siècle dermatologists marshalled the photographic to exploit the verbal and visual rhetoric of objectivity, authority, and persuasion inextricably linked to culturally constructed understandings of the photograph. This rhetoric was often couched in the Peircean concept of indexicality, which physicians formulated through the language of witness, testimony, and direct connection.