Doctors Find Atherosclerosis in Scans of Egyptian Mummies

Who: The Journal of the American Medical Association and a team of cardiologists and other doctors.

What: Doctors used CT scanning on mummies from the Egyptian National Museum of Antiquities in Cairo to identify atherosclerosis,which can lead to heart attack or stroke. The article says that The cardiologists were able to identify the disease in some mummies because atherosclerotic tissue often develops calcification, which is visible as bright spots on a CT image.

When: Based on context in the article I would presume that these tests occurred recently, however the mummies lived between 1981 B.C. and A.D. 334.

Where: These mummies were taken to be tested from museums all around the world, 2o of them in fact. I am not sure as to where the testing took place.

Why it is important/My opinion: In my opinion, it is very important to have this new found knowledge because it can give us a better understanding of the disease and helps us in the future with mummies. We now know to test mummies for this disease instead of just assuming their death was a result to environment/lifestyle surroundings.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/24/health/24heart.html?ref=health

Extra Credit.

One show that i really enjoy watching is called House. It is about a doctor who is given the cases that others think are unsolvable. His patients usually have very rare diseases that other doctors would not be able to diagnose. This show relates to science in a big way. In order to be a doctor you have to be able to understand science and how the human body works. You need to obtain knowledge about cells and DNA. You must be able to explain the unexplainable. Also, on House the doctors write down the symptoms a given patient has and then they think of what disease they might be suffering from. Then they test these different diseases in order to eliminate some of them. The patient usually tests positive for something and then given treatment. Their process is much like the scientific method. With the scientific method you gather your information, form a hypothesis, test your hypothesis many times, and then draw your conclusions. This is much like what the doctors on House do. As you can see, the show House greatly relates to science.