Leonardo Da Vinci

It’s official: A brand-new human organ has been classified.

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Researchers have classified a brand-new organ inside our bodies, one that’s been hiding in plain sight in our digestive system this whole time.

Although we now know about the structure of this new organ, its function is still poorly understood, and studying it could be the key to better understanding and treatment of abdominal and digestive disease.

Known as the mesentery, the new organ is found in our digestive systems, and was long thought to be made up of fragmented, separate structures. But recent research has shown that it’s actually one, continuous organ.

The evidence for the organ’s reclassification is now published in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology.

“In the paper, which has been peer reviewed and assessed, we are now saying we have an organ in the body which hasn’t been acknowledged as such to date,” said J Calvin Coffey, a researcher from the University Hospital Limerick in Ireland, who first discovered that the mesentery was an organ.

“The anatomic description that had been laid down over 100 years of anatomy was incorrect. This organ is far from fragmented and complex. It is simply one continuous structure.”

Thanks to the new research, as of last year, medical students started being taught that the mesentery is a distinct organ.

The world’s best-known series of medical textbooks, Gray’s Anatomy, has even been updated to include the new definition.

So what is the mesentery? It’s a double fold of peritoneum – the lining of the abdominal cavity – that attaches our intestine to the wall of our abdomen, and keeps everything locked in place.

One of the earliest descriptions of the mesentery was made by Leonardo da Vinci, and for centuries it was generally ignored as a type of insignificant attachment. Over the past century, doctors who studied the mesentery assumed it was a fragmented structure made of separate sections, which made it pretty unimportant.

But in 2012, Coffey and his colleagues showed through detailed microscopic examinations that the mesentery is actually a continuous structure.

Over the past four years, they’ve gathered further evidence that the mesentery should actually be classified as its own distinct organ, and the latest paper makes it official.

You can see the new organ illustrated below:

image 4479-Mesentery

And while that doesn’t change the structure that’s been inside our bodies all along, with the reclassification comes a whole new field of medical science that could improve our health outcomes.

“When we approach it like every other organ… we can categorise abdominal disease in terms of this organ,” said Coffey.

That means that medical students and researchers will now investigate what role – if any – the mesentery might play on abdominal diseases, and that understanding will hopefully lead to better outcomes for patients.

“Now we have established anatomy and the structure. The next step is the function. If you understand the function you can identify abnormal function, and then you have disease. Put them all together and you have the field of mesenteric science … the basis for a whole new area of science,” said Coffey.

“This is relevant universally as it affects all of us.”

It just goes to show that no matter how advanced science becomes, there’s always more to learn and discover, even within our own bodies.

Ectopia cordis interna – Tin Man syndrome

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Case Discussion:

Ectopia cordis interna, also known as Tin Man syndrome, is a rare variant form of ectopia cordis in which the heart is located completely within the abdominal cavity. It is almost always an asymptomatic condition found incidentally on imaging, or less often detected by physicians when attempting to auscultate the chest or at abdominal palpation.

 

History

There remains debate as to whether Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Organ networks of the thoracoabdominal cavity” illustration (c.1502) was based off a corpse with ectopia cordis interna, or whether his depiction of the heart’s location was a deliberate distortion of reality. Most legitimate scholars believe Da Vinci created the work as a flight of anatomical fancy.

Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Organ networks of the thoracoabdominal cavity” (c.1502). There remains academic debate as to whether this was based off a corpse with ectopia cordis interna, or whether the heart’s location was a deliberate distortion of reality by the artist.

The first ever description of the condition in the medical literature was in a controversial monograph submitted to the Royal Society in 1874 by Dr. Nohear Lubdub. Entitled “An unusual case of ectopia cardia epigasticum in a Haryana boy“, the monograph was later retracted when accusations were made that the images accompanying the text had been doctored.

It was not until 1908 that Dr Lubdub’s work was vindicated when existence of the condition was confirmed during the early years of chest radiography. Unfortunately, Dr Lubdub had fallen into a deep depression following his expulsion from the Royal Society, only occasionally seen wandering the streets of Chandigarh mumbling “and yet it beats”. His death was unrecorded.

Trivia

In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Hilary Duff credited the little known story of Nohear Lubdub which apparently “Like, really really spoke to me” as the inspiration behind her song “Beat of my heart“. Duff can be seen beating her hand over her umbilicus during the official video clip in further reference to Lubdub.

Lost Leonardo da Vinci painting of a noblewoman with same smile as the Mona Lisa discovered in Swiss vault after 500 years.

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·         The oil portrait of Isabella d’Este had been missing for five centuries

·         It was discovered in a family’s bank vault in Switzerland

·         It is a rendering of a well-known pencil sketch, which hangs in the Louvre

·         ‘There is no doubt the portrait is the work of Leonardo,’ says world expert.

Isabella d’Este

For five centuries, it has been one of the art world’s greatest mysteries, with even its very existence in doubt.

But now, almost 500 years after he painted it, a priceless Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece has been unearthed in a Swiss bank vault. 

In a story that seemed to come directly from the pages of a Dan Brown novel, the portrait of Italian noblewoman, Isabella d’Este, was discovered as part of a private collection in a Swiss bank.

The Italian owners have decided to keep their identity a secret. 

The painting is a canvas and oil, finished rendering of a well-known pencil sketch of the same woman, the wife of the Marquess of Mantua and one of Renaissance Italy’s most influential women

The sketch, which was drawn in 1499, hangs in the Louvre, and is considered a forerunner to his most famous painting, the Mona Lisa. 

Isabella, who appears to share the world-famous subject’s mysterious smile and rounded chin, wanted to be painted by the all the greatest artists of the day, which naturally included da Vinci.

The preliminary sketch was greatly admired by the aristocratic lady’s friends so she asked him to finish the commission.

But art historians had long been divided over whether the finished version of the commission existed. 

Da Vinci soon after begun one of his most compelling and large scale projects, The Battle of Anghiari, in Florence town hall. Then in 1503, he began the Mona Lisa. 

Leonardo da Vinci
Original sketch

The painting is a canvas and oil, finished rendering of a well-known pencil sketch of d’Este (right). The sketch, which was drawn in 1499 and hangs in the Louvre, is considered a forerunner to da Vinci’s (left) most famous painting, the Mona Lisa

Now experts believe that the striking portrait is indeed the work of the Italian genius.

Professor Carlo Pedretti of the University of California, Los Angeles, the world’s leading expert in da Vinci told Italy’s Corriere della sera newspaper. ‘There are no doubts that the portrait is the work of Leonardo.

‘I can immediately recognise Da Vinci’s handiwork, particularly in the woman’s face.’

Carbon dating has shown that there is a 95 per cent probability that the portrait was painted during the Renaissance period. 

And scientific tests have revealed that the primer used to treat the canvas is the same as that used by da Vinci

Further tests will make clear whether some of the lady’s accessories, including the gold crown, could have been painted by one of da Vinci’s assistants.

‘The Expendables 2’ Have Their Last Supper — POSTER.

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Well this is certainly one way to make a statement about your movie! The men of The Expendables 2 are perhaps…hungry…for a bit more press, so why not set them up to portray the iconic image of “The Last Supper,” famously painted by Leonardo Da Vinci, right? Perfectly logical next step for the men. While we let every art history professor in the world pick their horrified jaws up off the floor, let’s discuss this further shall we?

What are they trying to say with this image? Does this imply that this is the last sequel we’ll see for this franchise? Are we saying that Sylvester Stallone is like Jesus? Does this mean he’s going to die at the hand of his own Judas? And, if we follow the history of the painting…is Judas really Chuck Norris? Wouldn’t it make more sense if Dolph Lundgren was in that seat considering his own betrayal in the first film, rather than where Saint Peter sits? Does this mean that Lundgren will deny Stallone in the new film? Is he going to die, then? Will his death bring about a new religion? Is Expendables 2 actually an allegory for the birth of Christianity?! So many questions, you guys!

 

Source: Hollywood.com