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 Results: Historical references reveal that the cradle of the oral oncology was in ancient Egypt, the Asian continent and Greece and cancer management was confined to an approximate surgical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.
Introduction 3. Human gut microbiota composition 3.1 The evolution of microbiota from birth to old age 4. Microbial balance against colony development by pathogens 4.1 The intestinal microbiota in health 5. The Gut-brain, Gut-pulmonary and Gut-skin axes 6. Probiotics, prebiotics and gut microbiota 7. Conclusions 8. Author contributions 9. Ethics approval and consent to participate 10. Acknowledgment 11. Funding 12. Conflict of interest 13. References
Background: Medicine has gone through many thought processes until it has arrived in our days. At the beginning, it was based on the religion, superstition and magic plants for therapy. This has been for many centuries until arrived a period of cultural development. This will happen in the Greek world and new theories about nature (physiokratia) and humans advance. From the various mythical traditions, we passed to understand the natural phenomena that surround the universe, thanks to the knowledge of the “hidden causes” by the philosophy. Methods: The contribution to Western medicine of the ancient Greeks was the development of a rational system of thought that was transmitted in medical culture. This attempt to interpret was called philosophy. Hippocrates, with the arrival of the pre-Socratics, changes the old method of approach to the sick and the sick itself. So, he changed the approach to medicine and healing, influencing the therapy of other ancient popular cultures before and after the arrival of the preSocratics. We have researched ancient texts to determine the common roots between myth and therapy and religious separation from other medical cultures before Hippocrates. Results: This study is focused, particularly, on the period from the age before and during the world of pre-Socratic thought, showing that there are many similarities in the approach of therapy of various diseases. The ancient Greeks were influenced by the other civilizations on therapy, especially with plants with a different mythological view. Despite rationalism, remained the supernatural beliefs while the use of herbs does not remain in the magic myth. The first detachment of the magical therapy will happen later with the father of medicine, Hippocrates. Conclusion: The ancient Greeks invented rationalist doctrine for the medicine. The birth of the philosophy, crossing many stages, influenced the therapy models, especially with the medicinal herbs.
Background: Chemistry as experimental science it began only in the seventeenth century, when it began to analyze the matter and its transformations with scientific method, moving away from being one of the alchemy doctrines. Previously the ancient pre-Socratic philosophy through observation for nature is concerned with the laws that govern it and the property of matter. Later the Hellenistic Alexandrian culture took possession of the Hermetic doctrines of the Egyptians, mixing them, with the pre-Socratic thought and Gnosticism. In this historical moment, therefore, there would have been a fusion between the Greek philosophical patrimony and the influences on medicine. The Hermetic gnosis evolved over time to become later in alchemy and then in the birth of chemical science. Many doctors are wandering philosophers who deal with cosmogony to understand the body and the diseases and discover new healing drug for treatment and thus they were the first chemist therapists. Methods: What is the influence from the ancient physicians through the pre-Socratic philosophy for these prochemical theories and practice has been researched through ancient texts, so, to determine the legacy of paleo chemicals doctrines. Results: The study of various texts in particular from the Pre-Socratic age and the eminent physicians underline that, despite a different approach to the cosmogonic concepts of the nature and the matter the medicine had an important influence specially about therapy with drugs. Conclusions: The pre-Socratic philosophers it has influenced to the medicine practice towards the concept of the construction and properties of the matter for medical treatment and the causes of diseases.
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