• Web Site Pages

  • Tags

  • Article Categories

  • Article Archives

  • Random Quote

    My young son asked me what happens after we die. I told him we get buried under a bunch of dirt and worms eat our bodies. I guess I should have told him the truth, that most of us go to Hell and burn eternally, but I didn’t want to upset him. — Jack Handey, Deep Thoughts

  • Administration

  • Current Moon Phase


    New Moon
    New Moon

CT-scan of a 3,500-yr-old mummy princess reveals oldest known coronary artery disease

Filed May 20 2011 in: Science by: DeltaV

Via CT scans on her mummy, Princess Ahmose-Meryet-Amon is now the first person in history known to have had atherosclerosis, 3,500 years ago. Cynthia Graber reports.

Princess Ahmose-Meryet-Amon enjoyed a privileged lifestyle in what is now Luxor about 3,500 years ago. But she may not have been a happy princess towards the end. Two of her three main coronary arteries were calcified, a marker of atherosclerosis. Someone in her situation today would have bypass surgery.

Scientists discovered her condition with a full-body CT scan of her mummified remains. The princess has thus become the oldest known case of coronary artery disease. Researchers presented their finding at the International Conference of Non-Invasive Cardiovascular Imaging in Amsterdam. [A. H. Allam et al., "Atherosclerosis Was Common in Ancient Humans: Results of the Horus Study of Ancient Egyptian Mummies"]

The ancient Egyptian diet included fruit and vegetables, wheat and barley, small amounts of meat, and bread and beer. And Egyptians were active. Sounds like a recipe for a healthy heart. So why did the Princess die in her 40s?

The researchers suggest that she could have been genetically predisposed to heart problems. Or she may have eaten a richer diet than commoners did. She could have had inflammation from common parasitic diseases. Or there may be an as yet unknown cause of some cardiovascular pathology. The mummy scans show that heart disease, considered a result of our modern lifestyle, may not be so modern after all.

 

via Mummy Says Princess Had Coronary Disease: Scientific American Podcast.


Related Articles

Back to Top
Tags: ,

Write a Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.

  • Join us in the Paltalk Room

    - Windows Paltalk Client
    - Mac / Web Paltalk Express
    - iPhone, Android, Blackberry

    We're in the "Paltalk /
    Religion & Spirituality / Christianity / Debate Faith with AAL" room.

  • Atheist At Large Store

  • Deity of the Day

    DEITY OF THE DAY
    Daily Gods powered by
    www.godchecker.com

  • Recent Articles

  • NASA Image of the Day

    A Supernova Cocoon Breakthrough

     
    Observations with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have provided the first X-ray evidence of a supernova shock wave breaking through a cocoon of gas surrounding the star that exploded. This discovery may help astronomers understand why some supernovas are much more powerful than others. On Nov. 3, 2010, a supernova was discovered in the galaxy UGC 5189A, located about 160 million light years away. Using data from the All Sky Automated Survey telescope in Hawaii taken earlier, astronomers determined this supernova exploded in early October 2010 (in Earth's time-frame). This composite image of UGC 5189A shows X-ray data from Chandra in purple and optical data from Hubble Space Telescope in red, green and blue. SN 2010jl is the very bright X-ray source near the top of the galaxy. A team of researchers used Chandra to observe this supernova in December 2010 and again in October 2011. The supernova was one of the most luminous that has ever been detected in X-rays. The results of these observations were published in a paper that appeared in the May 1, 2012 issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Royal Military College of Canada/P.Chandra et al); Optical: NASA/STScI
    Read More

  • Spam

    159
    Spam comments blocked