The Mobile Woman: Getting Around during the 1630 Plague in Bologna

Legal proclamations show that during the 1630 plague outbreak in Bologna, Italy, women were required to remain quarantined in their homes for the duration of the epidemic while men remained mobile. However, primary texts and visual sources demonstrate that despite these legal restrictions, women remained active players in the fight against the plague by circumventing regulations. Significantly, women played a key role in sustaining the Bolognese economy, in particular by travelling to work in the silk industry. Moreover, while male doctors enjoyed special dispensations to avoid visiting the sick directly, female nurses left their homes to care for the daily needs of patients in the lazzaretto, the plague hospital. Artworks and primary texts depict a mobile woman. They show women from the poorest of backgrounds who were compelled to move through the city’s public spaces, remaining active in the street life of the plagued city. For instance, along with unlicensed women healers and nuns, prostitutes commonly volunteered for service in the plague hospitals. This required a brief shift in the social status of these women as they moved from their brothels to the pestilent walls of the lazzaretto. This paper will address the contribution that these resilient women made to maintaining the family economy and the significant positions women held in administering care, which have been overlooked in the scholarship. It will argue that by performing these essential activities, Bolognese women enjoyed an increase in physical but also social mobility, albeit short-lived.

The metropolitan and the Theban silk industry: a hypothetical reconstruction

Many theories have been proposed to explain the success of the Theban silk industry from the twelfth century onward. To contribute to this discussion in the context of recent research developments, this article explores the Theban metropolitan's hypothetical contribution to the industry through the case study of John Kaloktenes, who initiated a series of projects during his tenure (before 1166–c.1190). The analysis of three of these projects suggests that they might have been designed to support the industry. Thus, this article proposes the working hypothesis that Thebes's industrial success might have benefited substantially from the local metropolitan's active promotion.

Origin and Promotion of Artificial Field Rearing Technology of Tussah

The artificial field rearing technology of Tussah silkworm is the first creation of China's sericulture, and thus opened the industrialization process of modern silk industry in the world. Because the literature on the origin and dissemination of the artificial field rearing of tussah is more in ancient Chinese books, the international overall research on the technology of the artificial field rearing of tussah academic papers is very rare. By referring to many ancient documents and translating them, this paper points out that the origin of artificial field rearing technology of tussah silkworm is in the late Ming and early Qing dynasty (from the beginning of the 15th century to the middle of the 15th century), and the only place of its origin is the mountainous area in the southwest of Shandong province, from which it spread to Henan, Sichuan, Anhui, Guizhou, Japan, Russia and European countries.

Management of Root-knot Nematode Meloidogyne incognita on Mulberry with Passiflora foetida

Background: The root knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita Chit wood infesting mulberry is economically important in silk industry as it affects the leaf yield both quantitatively and qualitatively which in turn affects the silkworm Bombyx mori L., growth and cocoon yield because its foliage is the sole food source of silkworm. Methods: Hence a pot experiment was conducted for the evaluation of efficacy of eco-friendly formulate like botanical extract from Passiflora foetida L., to manage nematode disease severity applied as soil amendment and aqueous leaf extract on nematode egg hatching. Result: After treatment, nematode infestation reduced significantly in terms of number of root knots/ g root weight and nematode egg masses / g root weight in mulberry plants and the treated plants showed better growth in shoot and root length compared to control plants. The aqueous extract of P. foetida showed maximum inhibition of egg hatchability with an increase in the concentration of plant extract.

A Study on the Status and Prospects of Tasar Sericulture Industry and its Impact on Tribal Lives in Jharkhand

This paper reviews the status and prospects of the “Tasar Silk Industry” in the state of Jharkhand. Tasar Sericulture is practiced in the states of Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Telangana and Bihar with Jharkhand being the leading producer with 80% of the tasar silk production employing around 1.5 lakh farmers in rearing, reeling and weaving activities, This is an agro-based, cottage industry practiced as “a way of life” by the various tribal inhabitants of this state like Santhals, Hos, Uraons, Kerwars and others. Tasar silk is not only known for its charm, texture and its natural golden color, but it also has a high ethical value. It is known as “Ahimsa Silk” as it does not kill the silkworm by boiling the cocoons while it is still inside it. The fibre is extracted only after the silkworm (Antherea Mylitta and Antherea Proyeli J) has left the cocoons. Tasar sericulture is being promoted widely through premier bodies like The Central Silk Board and its subsidiary i.e Central Tasar Research and Training Institute; Ranchi, which has undertaken research and development and training programs, since its establishment in 1964, thereby improving the silk production as well as empowering the lives of weak and marginalized tribes of Jharkhand. Growing demands from foreign countries, elucidate the promising future of the tasar silk industry in Jharkhand which in turn would uplift the living qualities of the rural people. Heavy investment in this industry now, would bring good returns in future, not just in terms of an improved economy, but also an improved society. This paper highlights the fact that apart from the huge potential to earn foreign exchange for the country, tasar culture has immense ethical values and truly carves for us a path towards sustainable development. Keywords: Tasar, sericulture, Jharkhand, tribal, Ahimsa Silk, Sustainable Development.

Silk production: global scale and animal welfare issues

At least 420 billion to 1 trillion silkworms are killed annually to produce silk. While only 61 billion to 170 billion of these worms die due to diseases and pests, diseases cause up to 99% of the cumulative days of potentially negative experiences I identified on farms, (with the remaining 1% caused by slaughter). This suggests that research to inform the prioritization of the silk industry for animal advocates ought to focus on the sentience of silkworms, not pupating silk moths, as has usually been assumed. Campaigns to ban silk or stop its sale at retail locations are plausibly the most promising avenue for animal advocates to reduce silk production, therefore reducing the days of potentially negative experiences caused by diseases on silk farms. Developing and promoting alternative silks may also be promising as an intervention. I think that while there are promising interventions to reduce the suffering of silkworms, marginal resources in the insect space might be better spent in other areas, such as reducing the painfulness of pesticides, reducing the number of insects farmed for animal feed, and reducing the harms of cochineal farming. That being said, given the scale of silk farming, advocacy on this issue could plausibly be highly cost-effective when compared on a species-neutral basis to interventions to reduce vertebrate farmed animal suffering.

An Analysis of the Founding and Changes of Journal of Silk

The history of Journal of Silk, especially the early history, is full of ambiguity because of missing sample publications and passing away or forgetting of founders. By capturing the relevant information from the existing sample publications, this paper can make precise speculations of some phases of the development of Journal of Silk. It concludes that the Journal of Silk has renamed six times since the establishment in 1956, which are Zhejiang Silk Industry News (1956-1962), Zhejiang Silk (1963), Silk (1964-1966), Silk Intelligence (1971-1972), Silk News (1973), Silk (1974 ~). The characteristics of Journal of Silk with each name are closely related to that era, and the founding of Journal of Silk is closely related to Zhu Xinyu.

Inhibition of Morusin From Mulberry Branches As An Agro-Waste to MDA-MB-453 and HCT116 Cancer Cells By Inducing Cell Apoptosis and Disturbing The Cell Cycle

Mulberry tree branches are one of the largest agro-wastes produced in silk industry. How to make full use of this waste has always been one of the most important issues for the silk industry and even the entire biological industry. The paper has first reported that the inhibition of morusin recovered from mulberry branch barks, a prenylated flavonoid, on 20 kinds of tumour cells, of which the IC50 values of the 80% cells reaches about 15 µM. Second, effects on the proliferation, invasion and apoptosis of two cancer cells were investigated in detail. The experimental results showed that the apoptotic ratio of the high concentration was 77.73% in MDA-MB-453 cells. Western blotting displayed that morusin upregulated E-cadherin and downregulated vimentin and N-cadherin in a dose-dependent manner, and thus reversed epithelial-mesenchymal transition. It could upregulate cleaved Caspase-3 and Bax and downregulate Caspase-3 and Bcl-2, which indicate that the cell apoptosis is induced by morusin. These cancer cells, MDA-MB-453, were blocked in G2 phase, and HCT116 were arrested in S phase when treated with morusin, which is possible that the cell cycle is disturbed. Therefore, morusin could inhibit cancer migration and growth and promote cancer cell apoptosis.