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- Title
Show de horrores: a ciência por trás das aberrações.
- Authors
Borborema Mendes, Raíssa Arcoverde; Veloso Cunha, Gabriel; Mendes Azenha, Ettore; Rodrigues Costa, Verônica Cristine; Ferreira Mendes, Byannkah Abrão; Elisabeth Schroff, Bárbara; Pogue, Robert
- Abstract
During the complex process of human development, a range of different anomalies may arise, resulting in individuals with atypical appearances. Based on curiosity, legend, fascination and even revulsion expressed by different groups throughout history, there arose a significant market for freak shows. These were circus-type events, which were common during the 19th and early 20th centuries in various countries, presenting individuals with divergent features with a view not only to being informative, but also for entertainment. With increased scientific knowledge, we can now characterize many of the genetic aberrations that determine the occurrence of physical manifestations that once upon a time led to people being called monsters or freaks. The objective of this review is to describe some of the main phenotypes that were associated with the freak shows, detailing historical and social aspects as well as diagnostic hypotheses and their molecular-genetic etiologies. To this end we performed literature searches without time limitations using PubMed, Scielo and the CAPES portal, and where necessary due to limited information sources, we included references from general internet searches and text books. We describe a series of genetic disorders that result in pertinent phenotypes, and use well known cases of documented individuals with these diverse diagnoses, as well as others for with a definitive hypothesis remains unknown.
- Publication
Revista de Medicina e Saúde de Brasília, 2016, Vol 5, Issue 2, p333
- ISSN
2238-5339
- Publication type
Article