Medical Antropology Research Group
• Health status of bronze age populations in the Czech territory based on paleopathological findings
• Study of pathological changes on the skeletal remains of soldiers killed during the Napoleonic Wars in Moravia
• One of the oldest finds of multiple myeloma on human skeletal remains from the period of the bell-beaker culture from the locality of Troubsko
• Anthropological and paleopathological analysis of the medieval population from the extinct village of Trutmanice near Velké Pavlovice
• Occurrence and importance of tarsal coalitions in variously dated historical populations
• Paleopathological analysis of skeletons from an important ecclesiastical locality Výšina sv. Metoděje as part of an extensive study of the Great Moravian locality of Sady near Uherské Hradiště
• Manifestations of multiple epiphyseal dysplasia on skeletal remains from the Migration Period from the locality of Drnholec
The idea to establish a specialized anthropological department was started by prof. Karel Žlábek (the head of the Department of Anatomy in 1945-1962). However, this plan was first realized by his pupil, prof. Milan Dokládal, who founded the Department of Medical Anthropology in 1970, of which he became the head. From September 2019, the Department of Medical Anthropology was renamed as the Medical Anthropology and Clinical Anatomy Research Group.
Past heads of the research group:
prof. MUDr. Milan Dokládal, CSc. 1970 – 1995
doc. RNDr. Ladislava Horáčková, Ph.D. 1996 – 2018
Lenka Vargová
(19. 1. 1960, Jihlava), doc. MUDr., Ph.D.
Current head of the research group. Associate Professor of Anthropology. Medical doctor and paleopathologist. She is a graduate of the Medical Faculty of Masaryk University in Brno, majoring in pediatrics. She works as an associate professor at the Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University in Brno, where she leads practical and dissection courses in anatomy for students of general medcine and dentistry. Her professional focus deals with osteology and historical anthropology with a special focus on the paleopathology of medieval and modern-age populations. This topic is elaborated in her dissertation and in the majority of her forty professional publications. She wrote (together with Ladislava Horáčková and Eugen Strouhal) the 15th volume of Paleopathology for Anthropologists (2003). She is a member of the European Paleopathology Association, Czech Society of Anatomy and works in the committee of the Brno branch of the Czech Anthropological Society.
Michaela Račanská
(22. 6. 1976, Brno), RNDr., Ph.D.
A graduate of the Faculty of Science of Masaryk University in Brno (field of physical anthropology - Bc., Mgr., Ph.D.) and the Faculty of Science at Charles University in Prague (RNDr.). She currently works as an assistant professor at the Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University in Brno, where she leads anatomy practical and dissection courses for Czech and foreign students of general medicine at the Medical Faculty of Masaryk University. Her research focus is forensic and dental anthropology with a focus on age estimation. This topic is elaborated in her masters and dissertation thesis as well as in the majority of her professional publications. She is a member of the Czech Anatomical Society and works in the committee of the Brno branch of the Czech Anthropological Society. In 1999 she received the Award of the Biology Section of the Faculty of Science, Masaryk University in Brno and in 2003 the Award of the Rector of Masaryk University for outstanding achievements in scientific and research work and her publication activities.
Kateřina Vymazalová
(1. 11. 1985, Kyjov), RNDr., Ph.D.
A graduate of the Faculty of Science at Masaryk University in Brno in the field of physical anthropology. She also gratuated at the Faculty of Medicine at the same university in the postgraduate study program Anatomy, Histology, and Embryology. She currently works as an assistant professor at the Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University in Brno, where she leads anatomy practical and dissection courses for students of general medicine. She lectures and leads practical teaching of the anatomy of the locomotor system for Czech and foreign students in the field of physiotherapy. In her dissertation, she researched the variability, ontogenesis and phylogeny of the musculus pronator teres and its clinical significance. Her research area is also historical anthropology with a special focus on paleopathology. She is a member of the Czech Anatomical Society and the Czech Anthropological Society.
The activities of the Medical Anthropology and Clinical Anatomy research group focus on the goal to find available information on physical characteristics and health status of medieval and modern-age inhabitants of Moravia. To achieve this goal the group is executing standard anthropological analysis and palaeopathological examination of remains, and genetic mapping (studying congenital anomalies and hereditary diseases), in order to understand the influence of the natural and artificial environments on the occurrence of diseases and their impact on the physical characteristics of affected individuals and entire populations. The department also deals with the development of new methods of age estimation from skeletal remains, especially with the use of hard dental tissues, and their comparison with existing methods. New methods of age estimation using teeth are applied in the identification of skeletal remains of unknown origin in historical and forensic anthropology. Furhter research work includes anthropological analysis of osteological collections (including demographic data and identification of skeletal remains), paleopathological studies with case reports (analysis of pathological changes in individual cases), monitoring the health status of populations (epidemiology, frequency of diseases, natural and social environment, assessment of medical care in the studied historical period and possibilities of medical interventions), morphology of the musculoskeletal system (with a focus on bone variability).
From this point of view were studied for example skeletal remains from the Early Bronze Age from Mikulovice, from Líbivá u Břeclavi (the Migration Period), from the Slavic burial ground in Olomouc-Nemilan and from modern sites, namely from the ossuary in Křtiny, from the church of St. Peter and Paul in Brno, from Žerotín Square in Brno, from Kyjov, Veselí nad Moravou, from the Žerotín Tomb in Bludov, from the abolished Municipal Cemetery on Antonínská Street in Brno, from the mass grave of soldiers killed in the Battle of Austerlitz, from the cemetery of the Merciful Brothers Hospital in Brno and others.
The results of the research work are presented at domestic and foreign conferences and in scientific journals. The general public is also informed in the form of popular lectures and exhibitions (co-authorship at the exhibition "Man Against Diseases", paleopathological exposition in the Anatomical Museum of Professor Karel Žlábek, exhibition in the crypt of the Church of the Assumption in Křtiny).
Employees of the department also participate in opponent proceedings during the defenses of diploma theses at the Department of Anthropology and the Department of Experimental Biology, MU. They also make external examiner's reports for grant agencies and work as reviewers in scietnific journals.
Our research group has long collaborated with a number of Moravian and European archaeological, anthropological and medical institutions, such as the Moravian Museum, the Brno City Museum, the Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology of VFU Brno, the Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology of Faculty of Science at Masaryk University, the Institute of Anthropology of Faculty of Science of Masaryk University, Veterinary Research Institute in Brno, Department of Anthropology of the National Museum in Prague, Institute of Archeology of the Academy of Sciences in Prague, ÚAAP Brno, Institute of Criminalistics in Prague, Department of Dentistry of Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, Department of Anthropology in Szeged (Hungary), Institute of Egyptology of Leiden University (Netherlands).
VYMAZALOVÁ, Kateřina, Lenka VARGOVÁ, Ladislava HORÁČKOVÁ, Jiří KALA, Michal PŘICHYSTAL, Ivo SVĚTLÍK, Kateřina PACHNEROVÁ BRABCOVÁ a Veronika BRYCHOVÁ. Use of the radiocarbon method for dating of skeletal remains of a mass grave (Brno, the Czech Republic). Studia Geophysica et Geodaetica 2020, 64, s. 143-152. doi:10.1007/s11200-019-1217-4
VARGOVÁ, Lenka, Kateřina VYMAZALOVÁ a Ladislava HORÁČKOVÁ. A brief history of syphilis in the Czech Lands. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, HEIDELBERG: SPRINGER HEIDELBERG, 2019, roč. 11, č. 2, s. 521-530. ISSN 1866-9557. doi:10.1007/s12520-017-0558-6.
BABOSOVA, Ramona, Radoslav OMELKA, Maria ADAMKOVICOVA, Patrik SRANKO, Michaela RAČANSKÁ, Roman TOMAN, Marcela CAPCAROVA a Monika MARTINIAKOVA. A positive dose-response of quercetin on compact bone microstructure of male rabbits. Journal of Microbiology, Biotechnology and Food Sciences, Nitra: Slovak University of Agriculture, 2018, roč. 7, č. 5, s. 469-472. ISSN 1338-5178. doi:10.15414/jmbfs.2018.7.5.469-472.
VARGOVÁ, Lenka, Kateřina VYMAZALOVÁ a Ladislava HORÁČKOVÁ. A brief history of tuberculosis in the Czech Lands. Tuberculosis, Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone, 2017, roč. 105, s. 35-48. ISSN 1472-9792. doi:10.1016/j.tube.2017.04.006.
VYMAZALOVÁ, Kateřina, Lenka VARGOVÁ, Tomáš ZIKMUND a Jozef KAISER. The possibilities of studying human embryos and foetuses using micro-CT: a technical note. Anatomical Science International, New York: Springer, 2017, roč. 92, č. 2, s. 299-303. ISSN 1447-6959. doi:10.1007/s12565-016-0377-3.
VYMAZALOVÁ, Kateřina, Lenka VARGOVÁ a Marek JOUKAL. Variability of the pronator teres muscle and its clinical significance. Romanian journal of morphology and embryology, Bucurest: Editura Academiei Romane, 2015, roč. 56, č. 3, s. 1127-1135. ISSN 1220-0522.
VYMAZALOVÁ, Kateřina, Lenka VARGOVÁ a Marek JOUKAL. Uncommon course of the ulnar artery through the pronator teres muscle. Journal of the Nepal Medical Association, Kathmandu: Nepal Medical Association, 2014, roč. 52, č. 11, s. 946-948. ISSN 0028-2715.