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The purpose of this paper is to present the identified skeletal collection (by age, sex, cause of death, occupation and preservation state) from the Certosa Cemetery of Bologna (Italy), which was reviewed and checked through a consultation of the cemetery archives. The collection consists of 425 skeletons of individuals (from newborn to 91 years old) who died in Bologna between 1898 and 1944. The personal details associated with the skeletons were cross-checked with the data contained in the cemetery and municipal archives. For each skeleton, the biological profile was assessed using current anthropological methods in order to confirm its correct identification. Four hundred and eighteen skeletons (98.4%), mostly complete and well preserved, are identified at least for sex, and for 95% of these, the age is known. The distribution of sexes in the various age groups is fairly well balanced. The cause of death is known in 93% of the individuals. Approximately 30% of the individuals died from infectious diseases. The occupation is known for more than 92% of the individuals. Most of the women were housewives, while the men were employed in various jobs. The cross-check between archival data with the anthropological analysis of the remains enabled a reliable identification of the skeletons. The sexes and various age groups are well represented, and the sample is substantially uniform as far as geographical origin and socio-economic conditions (lower social classes) are concerned. Thanks to the reliability of the information collected, the Certosa collection is an excellent anthropological tool for the development and validation of osteobiographic methods. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

It is known that in the course of osteoarthritis (OA), articular cartilage develops biochemical and structural changes. In the last years, serum and urinary markers of both the synthesis and destruction of cartilage have been dosed, above all in order to carry out an early diagnosis of OA. Among them, the urinary excretion of pyridinoline seems to correlate with the entity of the degradation of cartilage. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the above mentioned markers in OA patients compared to control subjects. Moreover, the possible influence on cartilage of two different non steroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), in particular Nabumetone and Piroxicam, has been verified. The study shows that the urinary excretion of pyridinoline is able to express the severity of OA. At last, the study shows that the tested drugs do not interfere with the metabolism of cartilage.

Objectives Sex estimation in subadult skeletal remains is still considered highly problematic. The aim of this research is to test the reliability of the method of subadult sex assessment proposed by Luna and co-workers in 2017, based on the analysis of the auricular surface of the ilium. Materials and methods Seven ratios and three morphological traits were recorded for 127 subadult individuals (63 males and 64 females), aged between 0 and 17 years, from several Identified Skeletal Collections of the University of Bologna. Nonparametric Mann Whitney test, Kolmogorov Smirnov test, and the Pearson correlation coefficient were used for continuous variables, whereas the Cramer Coefficient was calculated for qualitative variable. A principal component analysis was also performed on ratio values. The statistic ƞ was taken into account for both types of variables. Results None of the ratios presented significant dimorphic results. Two qualitative variables show statistically significant differences between sexes. The overall morphology proved to be an accurate sex predictor among children aged ≥4 years (78%-86%) and meets the minimum accuracy standard (75%) for subadult sex estimation for individuals between 1 and 17 years of age. The morphology of the retroauricular end of the superior demiface (MRS) can be used with a high level of accuracy for sexing individuals from 1 to 12 years (77%-81%). Conclusions The metric variables did not replicate the accuracy values originally obtained by Luna and co-workers. Otherwise, the evaluation of the morphological variables proposed by the authors yielded promising results as a reliable sexing technique for individuals who died before puberty.

Le necropoli di Campochiaro, Vicenne e Morrione, costituiscono un ampio complesso barbarico datato al VII secolo d.C. (Ceglia, 2000). Lo studio archeologico e antropologico della necropoli di Vicenne ha messo in luce una realtà sociale che riflette il contesto di drammatiche trasformazioni proprie dell’Alto Medioevo: emerge l’immagine di una società multietnica, gerarchizzata, coinvolta in attività belliche e sottoposta a condizioni di vita dure (Belcastro et. al, 2003, 2007). In questo contesto vengono presentati i dati relativi alla distribuzione della mortalità infantile delle due necropoli, un parametro che fornisce importanti indicazioni sul generale benessere e sullo stato di salute della popolazione. Gli scavi di Campochiaro hanno portato alla luce 167 sepolture nell’area di Vicenne e 234 nell’area di Morrione. Pratiche di sepoltura differenziale degli infanti non sembrano avere luogo in questi siti e sulla base di questo dato il campione in esame non sarebbe stato quindi selezionato rispetto alla popolazione vivente. Lo studio dei reperti ha evidenziato una mortalità dei subadulti compresa tra il 25% e il 35% nelle due aree. In entrambe le necropoli i decessi sono concentrati nei primi otto anni di vita. Si tratta di un dato di mortalità alto, che esprime le difficili condizioni di crescita all’interno di questa popolazione, ma confrontabile con i valori osservati per l’Europa altomedioevale (Barbiera e Dalla Zuanna, 2007, Del Panta et al., 1997).