Biomedical subjects
P Willey
Publications and source records attributed to P Willey.
Case records of the VA Maryland Health Care System/University of Maryland Medicine. A psychiatric clinicopathological conference.
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Dental filling materials in the Confederacy.
The mid-1800s were innovative and volatile times, both in the development of the United States and in dentistry. The political and social manifestation of this unrest was the Civil War. The strides in the country's dentistry are indicated by the founding of the first dental college, the first dental journal, and the first dental society during the two decades before the war.
Bone mineral density and survival of elements and element portions in the bones of the Crow Creek massacre victims.
The interpretation of archaeologically-derived skeletal series is dependent on the elements and portions of elements preserved for examination. Bone and bone portion survival is affected by factors, both intrinsic and extrinsic to the elements themselves, that influence deterioration and preservation. Among the intrinsic variables, the density of the element and element portion are particularly important with respect to the degree of preservation. Recently reported bone mineral density values from a contemporary human sample are compared to the survival of prehistoric limb bones of the Crow Creek specimens, a fourteenth-century massacre skeletal series. The contemporary density values are positively correlated with Crow Creek element and element portion survival. Two calculations of bone mineral density, however, are more closely related to preservation than a third. Such density information has implications for assessing minimum number of elements and individuals and documenting taphonomic processes.
Dental fillings in Civil War skulls: what do they tell us?
This article discusses the dental techniques, methods and materials used in the South during the Civil War based on the dental restorations found in the skulls of four confederate soldiers. The skulls display a variety of dental filling materials, including thorium, lead, tin and tin amalgam. These materials were used at a time when more valuable materials, such as gold and silver, were not readily available in the South.
Characteristics of Xanthomonas infections in critically ill surgical patients.
The aim of our study was to describe the characteristics of Xanthomonas infections in a population of critically ill surgical patients. The clinical records and microbiological data on 93 patients in a surgical intensive care unit (SICU) developing Xanthomonas infections were reviewed. Xanthomonas was isolated in 125 sites in the 93 patients. Their average age was 48 years (range, 14-94). Mortality occurred in 25 patients (26.9%) versus 10.3 per cent of SICU patients in general (P < 0.05). Patients were in the SICU for an average of 11.9 days before developing a positive Xanthomonas culture, and 87 per cent (81/93) of patients developed an infection at some other site before isolation of Xanthomonas. Trimethoprim sulfamethoxazole was the only drug to which the isolates were commonly sensitive (123/125 = 98.4%). We conclude that Xanthomonas 1) is associated with increased mortality; 2) is resistant to many of the drugs that usually cover Gram-negative infections; and 3) commonly complicates a prolonged intensive care stay, thus serving as a marker for severity of illness.
Oral health of Seventh Cavalry troopers: dentitions from the Custer National Cemetery.
To document the oral health of mid-nineteenth century frontiersmen, the dentitions of eight Seventh Cavalry troopers from the Little Bighorn Battlefield were examined for indications of disease. These observations are supplemented with historic records and compared with the oral health of other soldiers from the Indian Wars. The Seventh Cavalry troopers, despite their young ages, had a variety of oral problems, including abscesses, caries, periodontitis, attrition, antemortem tooth loss, and indications of tobacco use. One of the specimens had gold and tin foil fillings. Combining historic records and a dental approach to the archaeological specimens provides complementary insights which are unavailable otherwise from either of the individual fields.
Back to the Little Bighorn.
Fillings found in the skull of a 7th Cavalry trooper killed 118 years ago in the Battle of Little Bighorn show sophisticated, well-executed dentistry. Some fillings are examples of early preventive dentistry, using a variety of materials and techniques typical of 19th-century cavity preparation. Dental care most likely was delivered by a private dentist or performed in part at a dental school in the East or Midwest, in a large city or at West Point. The logical, deductive process suggests an identification: Cpl. George Lell. Without additional corroborative documentation, however, this is speculation. Whoever he was, the cavalryman was older and shorter and had better oral care and health than most of the comrades who died with him in 1876. He used tobacco, most likely by chewing it. His remains provide a glimpse into the reality of life and death, dental care and hygiene of the mid-19th century.
Inaccuracy of height information on driver's licenses.
Height is an important variable in identification. In cases involving decreased individuals, height is measured directly on the corpse or estimated from the skeleton. This postmortem measurement or estimation is then compared with antemortem records, usually the driver's license. The accuracy of the license information, however, has been questioned. To assess the accuracy of driver's license information, volunteers' statures were measured, and then these figures were compared with those printed on the subjects' licenses. Even in our comparatively young, well-educated sample, the license height was significantly greater than the measured height. Some inaccuracies may be caused by failure to update license information when new licenses are issued, but some inaccuracies may be from personal deception. The implications of these results for forensic anthropology cases are discussed.
Canid modification of human remains: implications for time-since-death estimations.
Time-since-death estimations are usually based on physical decomposition of the corpse, insect succession, and contextual associations. The rates of change and succession are based on decomposition studies, most of which control access of scavengers to the corpse; however, many naturally exposed corpses are subject to scavenger modification. These modifications change the rate of decomposition, the pattern of insect succession, and the context of associations, thus altering estimations of time since death. A controlled feeding study with captive wolves and road-killed deer is pertinent to understanding canid scavenging and how scavenging may alter postmortem changes. During feeding, the wolves commonly dismember and devour the deer in a predictable sequence. Although there are some variations in the usual sequence, the carcass is always moved, and skeletal elements are separated, diminished in size and scattered. Scavenging must, therefore, be considered in estimating time since death.
Extraradicular cemental fragments in the alveolar bone of prehistoric American Indians: report of three cases.
Heretofore unreported, grossly observable structures composed of cementum were found in the superficial alveolar bone--but not attached to the tooth root--in three prehistoric American Indian skeletons from South Dakota. The macroscopic, radiographic, and histologic morphology of these fragments is described and compared with other cemental structures that occur in the alveolar process.
Complexity in Arikara mortuary practice.
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