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The Austrian Society for the Promotion of Sexual Medicine and Sexual Health (Österreichische Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Sexualmedizin und der Sexuellen Gesundheit [ÖGFSSG]) was founded in 2014. This foundation looked back upon the increasing efforts to develop this field of academic knowledge since the middle of the 19th century, in which Viennese medicine played an important role. This article highlights key Viennese players who had a particular interest in sexual medicine from a urological perspective around 1900. They worked in the wider area of several disciplines, striving for specialization in the environment of a rapidly growing metropolis with multiple cultural influences. The scholars presented here as a collection of sources contributed to the upswing in sexual medicine through their work by venturing into an area in which no medical or other discipline had previously been able to claim sovereignty of interpretation., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Objective: Which theoretical and practical competences do the neurological and psychiatric case histories of the Hippocratic Corpus convey?, Material and Methods: The 431 Hippocratic case histories have been studied for reports and communication on the diagnostics, treatment and prognosis of single persons and groups of patients suffering from neurological and psychiatric diseases., Results: In the 7 books of the Hippocratic Epidemics, a total of 128 patients with neurological and psychiatric symptoms are described. Epidemic fever and its variants were the leading predisposing conditions and the main symptoms were delirium, coma, insomnia, headache, speech disorders and convulsions. A number of patients with phrenitis and opisthotonos are also reported. The majority of the sick persons were male, were teenagers or adults and 47 of them are mentioned by name. The patient's information about the course is often just as informative as the doctor's observations. Treatment was limited to physical and dietary measures., Discussion: The Hippocratic physician diagnosed and attempted to treat a large number of neurological and psychiatric diseases. The often almost continuous observations of the patients led to astonishingly precise predictions of the course and the prospects of recovery. Numerous symptoms described in the case studies, including carphologia and opisthotonus, have entered the neurological vocabulary. The retrospective etiological analysis of the reports leads to the almost explicit identification of neurosyphilis and encephalitis lethargica. The therapeutic measures described by the author were, as the changeable course of the diseases shows, only of limited effectiveness despite a very differentiated application over time, both against the underlying diseases and the neurological and psychiatric complications., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Medizin Verlag GmbH, ein Teil von Springer Nature.)

This article explores anthropological research conducted in Hamburg during the 20th century and demonstrates how historically specific discourse networks (Aufschreibesysteme) shaped concepts of race and their subsequent use in politics. To this end, this study examines three paradigms within the history of German anthropology in terms of their underlying inscription technique: physical anthropology/loose-leaf collection, "Erblehre"/card index, and population genetics/electronic data processing. By outlining a data history of racialization, this article avoids the ontological pitfalls of recent debates about the category of race., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

This article aims to present some aspects regarding the critical reception of the novel Bietul Ioanide, whose subject is set in the post-war period. After circulating in typescript for a while, the publication of the novel (Editura de Stat pentru Literatură și Artă, 674 pages, 1953) sparked a wave of critical reactions among the adherents of socialist realism, followed by a veritable campaign of denigration. After the appearance of the second edition of the novel in 1965, a necessary revision of the reception of Bietul Ioanide took place, with various interpretative keys of a literary and ideological nature contributing decisively to illustrating the subtle game instituted by the novelist in a letter addressed in 1950 to Al. Piru, in which the writer asserts that in the mentioned novel, eros, not politics, is dominant. Bietul Ioanide is a problematising novel, in which G. Călinescu – starting from a historical event, namely the evolution of the Legionary Movement in Romania, in the years 1938-1941 – questions the credibility of official ideologies. Their representatives gain unlimited power by resorting to crimes and atrocities committed against humanity. At the same time, G. Călinescu abandons the prejudice regarding the intimate journal, considered by the writer to be an effeminate and egocentric creation.

Objectives: Which theoretical and practical competences do the orthopaedic and trauma surgery reports of the Hippocratic Corpus reveal?, Materials: The 431 Hippocratic case histories have been studied for reports and communication on diagnostics, therapy and prognosis of orthopaedic diseases and traumatic lesions., Results: The seven books of the Hippocratic "Epidemics" describe a total of 26 patients with orthopaedic diseases and traumatic lesions. In the field of orthopaedic diseases, arthritis, myo- and tenopathia and gangrene play a prominent role, among the consequences of injury the fracture of the skull (n = 10) is in first place. Mainly individuals, but also groups of patients are reported. The clients' information on the course of the disease was often cautious. Diagnostics were limited to inspection and palpation. In addition to the measures of conservative treatment, four trepanations are described. The majority of traumatic brain lesions resulted in death., Discussion: The Hippocratic doctor was faced with a variety of orthopaedic disases and traumatic lesions. Within the case reports, the subjective complaints, the objective findings and the course of the treatment are described in detail. Among the ailments of the musculoskeletal system, spinal disorders, especially hypercyphosis and scoliosis play an important role. The variety of reduction techniques reported suggests that most of the fractures detected were dislocated. Post-traumatic tetanus can be readily identified in several followup observations due to the development of opisthotonus. No other surgical intervention is discussed by Hippocrates as often and as variously as trepanation. It can be concluded with some certainty that perforating injuries of the skull were a common challenge in the life of a surgeon of classic antiquity., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Medizin Verlag GmbH, ein Teil von Springer Nature.)

This article focuses on the almost unknown novel Ben Ammar de Sevilla. Una tragedia en la España de los taifas, written by the famous medievalist Claudio Sánchez-Albornoz (d. 1984), who while paradoxically contributing greatly for the knowledge on the Muslim Iberia and its historiography, at the same time consolidated the 19th century discourses of the Reconquista and the «Hispanized» al-Andalus. The aim of this article is to study, on the one hand, how al-Andalus is depicted on Sánchez-Albornoz’s novel, and, on the other, to interpret why he wrote this book and how it blends with his general way of thinking the history of Spain and his own present. The paper argues that this novel must be read through Sánchez-Albornoz’s experience of civil war and exile, in which the problem of the unity of the Spanish people throughout its history becomes crucial in his historical thought. The Taifa period, in which the novel focuses, and the consequences of the fitna and disintegration of the Andalusi unity, are a mirror in which Sánchez-Albornoz reflects his own reality and his patriotic longings. Thus, the main characters of his novel, such as the exiled king of Seville al-Mu‘tamid, become (in)direct parallels of the author’s life. Ideas such as that of the homo hispanus, the concern for union and the avoidance of the fitna are fundamental for a global understanding of Sánchez-Albornoz’s historical proposal. These perspectives can explain the apparent contradictions in his approach on the history of al-Andalus, and can also explain how the Middle Ages consisted of a way to address his own present.

Članak daje kritički osvrt na knjigu Dejana Đokića „A Concise History of Serbia“, objavljenoj u Velikoj Britaniji i Sjedinjenim Američkim Državama 2023. godine. Analizirajući Đokićevu knjigu, ovaj rad ukazuje na njene propuste, kako u metodološkom tako i u faktografskom smislu. Članak aktuelizuje pitanje na koji način savremeni Zapad sagledava istoriju Srbije.

Artykuł omawia politykę historyczną państwa duńskiego – monarchów i ich otoczenia w okresie 1536-1648, czasach rządów szlachty. Skupia się na działaniach mających bezpośredni związek z twórczością dziejopisarską, konkretnie staraniach o stworzenie nowej syntezy dziejów Danii, odpowiadającej potrzebom politycznym monarchii oraz spełniającej wymogi nowoczesnej, renesansowej historii po łacinie, skierowanej do zagranicznego odbiorcy. Drugim wątkiem są podejmowane w epoce polemiki z odmiennymi stanowiskami, przede wszystkim ówczesną historiografią szwedzką.

As part of a literature review, a systematic search was carried out to determine how the focus of research on dystocia in cattle has changed in the German- and English-spoken literature between the 1960s and 2020 as well as to evaluate the the quality of the scientific literature to date. To this end, 621 references were analyzed. It is evident that the number of publications increased between 2010 and 2020, which emphasizes the importance of the subject. Case series (35.3%) are the most common type of publication. Controlled studies (4.5%) and meta-analyses (0.3%) were found much less frequently. The causes (43.8%) and consequences of dystocia (28.8%) have been investigated most frequently to date, while the frequency has only been analyzed in few studies (7.2%). While treatment methods were mainly evaluated from 1960 to 1979, no chronological focus can be found for the topics "causes of dystocia" and "consequences of dystocia". Publications focusing on the prevention of dystocia are increasingly found from the 1980s onwards.To summarize, it can be stated that publications on the causes of dystocia are currently the most relevant in quantitative terms. For future research projects, the studies should be planned in such a way that they can form the basis for systematic studies, reviews and meta-analyses., Competing Interests: Die Autoren bestätigen, dass kein Interessenkonflikt besteht., (Thieme. All rights reserved.)

The article lays out the method of the participatory Oral History project “Multilingual Memory of Migration” against the political background of an unacknowledged Austrian migration history and the political paradigm of monolingualism. The participatory concept engages students in a research process of Austrian migration history, addressing especially (but not exclusively) students with an own migration and multilingual background to conduct intergenerational biographical interviews. By benefitting from the students’ language skills and community outreach, the project aims at creating a contribution to a national “archive of migration” as such not institu–tionalized in Austria.

The Bosnian and Bosniak writer Jasmina Musabegović (1941-2023) is known to the cultural public of Bosnia and Herzegovina for her novels, essays, and translations from the French language. It is less known, however, that a small collection of lullabies in the Bosnian language is also attributed to Musabegović's research and writing work. The aforementioned collection was published by BZK „Preporod“(Bosniaks' Cultural Society „Preporod“) in 1997 in Sarajevo, with the editorial supervision of literary historian and folklorist Munib Maglajlić. In this paper, the aforementioned collection of writer Jasmina Musabegović will be presented through a thematic analysis of selected poems on a literary-poetic level, and then it will go into the broader context of the overall work of the collected folk lullabies among the Bosniaks so far. The most frequent themes and motifs also will be reviewed within the entire corpus related to that material. With this approach, we tried to draw attention to Musabegović's cultural contribution, which, apart from her literary work, was also reflected in her collection of folk wisdom.

Semi-structured interviews are widely used in the social sciences and, though less common, have also found a place in the humanities, particularly in oral history methodology. At the intersection of disciplines, this technique serves not only to uncover new historical facts and deepen existing knowledge but also to offer insights into subjective interpretations. This approach is particularly valuable in studies involving communities and collectivities whose perceptions of facts or “truth” may differ from the mainstream narrative – such as populations on opposing sides of active or past conflicts. These differing perspectives can shape political narratives, often making the “objective” truth less relevant to those directly involved. Researchers, in turn, access only a fragment of history, as told through the participants’ knowledge and memories. This text examines contexts in which semi-structured interviews may prove useful for research, drawing from current and representative literature, as well as the author’s own journalistic and professional experience. It also addresses important ethical considerations in interview-based research, such as the security of interviewee data, researcher biases, the risk of invoking psychological trauma, and the need for informed consent. By citing examples of studies that have successfully employed this method, this article provides a methodological framework that can guide researchers in applying this technique to social science research with a historical focus. Ultimately, the article advocates for the broader use of semi-structured interviews in research, emphasizing that the technique can provide valuable insights and should not be dismissed as unsuitable for the humanities.

Pain is a phenomenon whose recognition reflects historically different views of the human being. The various medical practices in the treatment of pain from antiquity and the Middle Ages to the late Enlightenment are an impressive testimony to the time of their emergence. When we look at the history of pain treatment, we have to go back at least as far as the Stone Age. This is where the palaeontological evidence of therapeutic experiments in the form of boreholes in the human skull can be found. It is very likely that this was a form of treatment for headaches, as a similar method can still be found today among African natives. The basis of this therapy was the assumption that the „evil spirit of pain“ could escape through this opening and the patient would be cured of the pain. The main aim of treating illness and pain was to expel these spirits from the body. The magical-religious understanding of pain was also present in other ancient cultures, e.g. Egyptian culture, for example the pain after an injury in battle was caused by the gods and spirits of the dead. In ancient Egypt, they believed that evil spirits entered the body through the nostrils or ears. This was directly followed by healing methods, for example in descriptions of treatments using vomiting, sneezing or urination to make the spirits leave the body. So although pain was usually seen as divine punishment, it was treated early on. Pain therapeutic endeavours through the use of opium can be traced back to the Assyrians, Sumerians and ancient Egyptians. In the following centuries of the Middle Ages, many of the findings from antiquity disappeared. Pain was largely seen as God‘s punishment for sins or as a test from God. Accordingly, healing and relief were sought primarily from God and the saints. Only the possibility of developing knowledge about the anatomical and physiological functions of the body and in particular the identification of the brain as the seat of all perception (including the perception of pain) freed pain therapy from magical historical elements. This is where the rational phase of medicine begins, focussing on expanding the development of the therapeutic possibilities of pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Up to the 1970s, a cultural battle raged in Germany and Europe about the question of the sense to inform and educate young people about gender, sex, and sexuality. One physician realized early that it is important to educate adults about their bodies and their genital and genitourinary disorders. Max Hodann (1894-1946), thus, unintentionally flooded urological practices with countless patients., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Anton Bruckner was a famous cathedral organist, university teacher, and symphonic composer, but his life, illnesses, death and dying are little or not known to many., Objectives: Which illnesses determined Bruckner's life and did lifestyle and illnesses influence his compositional work? From today's perspective, could modern intensive care medicine have helped him?, Materials and Methods: A detailed analysis of Bruckner's diseases was carried out using the scientific databases PubMed® and MEDLINE®. All published articles were evaluated and examined in detail. In addition, data from a concert tour of the author to Linz and the St. Florian Abbey Basilica were collected., Results: Anton Bruckner was born on 4 September 1824 in Ansfelden, Austria. As a child he received piano and organ lessons. After his father's death, he devoted himself to playing the organ and became in 1855 cathedral organist in Linz. His further career took him to Vienna, where he became a professor at the conservatory and turned to composition. His symphonies, his masses, and his Te Deum are his most famous works. During the first 40 years of his life, Bruckner suffered from psychopathological illnesses, including depression, delusions of persecution, and neuroses. Later, he suffered from chronic heart failure with recurrent right and left heart decompensation up to the development of cardiac cachexia, possibly caused by dilated cardiomyopathy due to alcohol toxicity. He died on 11 October 1896 in Vienna., Conclusion: Bruckners life was marked by a wide variety of illnesses. His penchant for death and the dead was also striking. Modern medicine would probably have improved his quality of life through consequent heart failure therapy; an implantable automatic defibrillator with resynchronization therapy would probably have prolonged his life., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Medizin Verlag GmbH, ein Teil von Springer Nature.)

The aim of this study was to describe how the therapy of anorexia nervosa (AN) and food refusal have been discussed in leading textbooks used in German-speaking academic psychiatry over the past 200 years. For this purpose, 18 textbooks of important school psychiatrists were selected. These were analyzed in a structured way to determine the content of the subject taught at universities in German-speaking countries at a given period. We found that AN was not taught as a distinct disorder until the end of the 20th century, although great attention had been paid to food refusal as a symptom and manifold therapeutic concepts had been developed much earlier. Whereas at the beginning of the 19th century forced feeding using feeding tubes was established, in the following years pharmacotherapies and special diets were developed. It is noteworthy that since the beginnings of academic psychiatry, some early forms of psychotherapy have been developed; for instance, special kinds of behavior were recommended when dealing with the patient, as the therapist was supposed to serve as a role model to encourage patients to eat. Treatment of food refusal by means of structured psychotherapeutic approaches were not established before AN was generally accepted as a distinct disease entity. The understanding of etiological factors that might lead to AN as well as potential psychotherapeutic interventions have changed fundamentally over the past decades., Competing Interests: Alle Autor*innen geben keinen Interessenkonflikt zum Inhalt dieses Beitrags an., (Thieme. All rights reserved.)

With the emergence of an early psychiatry around 1800, a number of questions arose on dealing with a group of persons whose "alien", irritating and disruptive behavior was considered to be a phenomenon of being sick. In the context of the growing importance of human rights, the term humanitarianism attained a high relevance as the reference for early psychiatrists. Based on historical sources it is shown that despite a multitude of psychiatric beliefs on humanitarianism the established psychiatric practice was dominated by patriarchal order regimes up to the first decade of the twentieth century, later superimposed by the challenges of somatophysiological and experimental research as well as perceptions of biological racism. The associated new ethical questions were partially addressed within psychiatry but did not prevent an increase in the assessment of the mentally ill as "inferior"., (© 2024. The Author(s).)