On the Pointlessness of Pointy Shoes

One also could not easily kneel, or pray, in such shoes, which were sometimes known as “Satan’s claws.” In 1215, Pope Innocent III prohibited clergy members from wearing, among other things, “shoes with embroidery or pointed toes.” The edict was unsuccessful enough that Pope Urban V tried again in 1362. Poulaines swept into England in…

The end of Darwin’s nightmare at Lake Victoria?

Lake Victoria, which came under the spotlight in 2004 by the documentary “Darwin’s nightmare”, is not only suffering from the introduction and commercialisation of the Nile perch. A study lead researchers from the University of Liège (Belgium) has highlighted other worrying phenomena, particularly climatic ones, which have an equally important impact on the quality of…

COVID-19 morbidity and mortality in people with rheumatic diseases

Arani Vivekanantham and colleagues investigated the association between RA and the risk of COVID-19 diagnosis, hospitalization with COVID-19,and COVID-19-related death. This population-based cohort study including all individuals registered in the Information System for Research in Primary Care (SIDIAP)- which covers over80% of the population of Catalonia, Spain. This information was linked to region-wide SARS-CoV-2 testing,…