For centuries, depictions of the plague racing along the Silk Route, devastating cities and towns in its path, have been based on a misunderstanding of a rhyming story rather than a historical record.

The work in question is a "maqāma" -- an Arabic literary form that often features a wandering "trickster." Written by the poet and historian Ibn al-Wardi in Aleppo in 1348/9, the piece was later mistaken for an eyewitness account of how the disease traveled across the continent.

A Story Mistaken for Science

Modern genetic evidence suggests that the bacteria responsible for the Black Death most likely originated in Central Asia. Some scientists, influenced by Ibn al-Wardi's narrative, still argue that the plague spread from Kyrgyzstan to the Black and Mediterranean seas in less than ten years, setting off the catastrophic pandemic that swept Western Eurasia and North Africa in the late 1340s. This interpretation, sometimes referred to as the "Quick Transit Theory," rests heavily on taking Ibn al-Wardi's poetic work literally.

The new study challenges this idea, questioning whether it is realistic that the bacterium could have traveled more than 3,000 miles in just a few years and caused such a widespread outbreak between 1347 and 1350.

A Trickster Plague and a Century of Confusion

In his maqāma, Ibn al-Wardi personifies the plague as a mischievous wanderer who brings death to one region after another over a 15-year journey. The tale begins beyond China, moves through India, Central Asia, and Persia, and finally reaches the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, Egypt, and the Levant. Because the author later quoted sections of this story in his historical writing, many later readers assumed it was factual.

According to researchers Muhammed Omar, a PhD candidate in Arab and Islamic Studies, and Nahyan Fancy, a historian of Islamic medicine at the University of Exeter, the confusion began in the fifteenth century when Arab chroniclers -- and later European historians -- started to treat the story as a literal account of the Black Death's spread.

The Text at the Center of a Historical Web

Professor Fancy explained: "All roads to the factually incorrect description of the spread of the plague lead back to this one text. It's like it is in the centre of a spider's web of the myths about how the Black Death moved across the region.

"The entire trans-Asian movement of plague and its arrival in Egypt prior to Syria has always been and continues to be based upon Ibn al-Wardī's singular Risāla, which is unsubstantiated by other contemporary chronicles and even maqāmas. The text was written just to highlight the fact the plague travelled, and tricked people. It should not be taken literally."

The Cultural Role of the Maqāma

The maqāma genre emerged in the late tenth century and became especially popular from the twelfth century onward. During the fourteenth century, Mamluk writers in the Islamic world particularly valued the style, and many of their works -- including those about the plague -- survive today in libraries around the world. These stories were intended to be performed or read aloud in a single sitting.

Ibn al-Wardi's Risāla was one of at least three plague-themed maqāmas written in 1348-49. The study highlights how such texts offer insight not into the disease's route, but into how people of the time coped with unimaginable loss and upheaval.

Revisiting Earlier Outbreaks

Recognizing Ibn al-Wardi's work as a fictional composition allows historians to shift focus toward earlier, lesser-known epidemics, such as those that struck Damascus in 1258 and Kaifeng in 1232-33. Scholars can now explore how communities remembered these earlier crises and how such memories influenced later understandings of the Black Death.

Finding Humanity in Historical Crisis

Professor Fancy added: "These writings can help us understand how creativity may have been a way to exercise some control and served as a coping mechanism at this time of widespread death, similar to the way people developed new culinary skills or artistic skills during the Covid-19 pandemic.

"These maqāmas may not give us accurate information about the how the Black Death spread. But the texts are phenomenal because they help us see how people at the time were living with this awful crisis."

Osteoporosis weakens bones, making them fragile and more likely to break. As Japan's population continues to age, the number of people affected is projected to surpass 15 million. Among the various types of fractures caused by osteoporosis, compression fractures of the spine, known as osteoporotic vertebral fractures, are the most common. These injuries can result in long-term disability and severely reduce quality of life, highlighting the need for safer and more effective treatments.

How Fat-Derived Stem Cells Help Rebuild Bone

Stem cells derived from adipose tissue (ADSCs) show strong potential for repairing bone damage. These multipotent cells can develop into various types of tissue, including bone. When ADSCs are cultivated into three-dimensional spherical groups called spheroids, their ability to promote tissue repair increases. Pre-differentiating these spheroids toward bone-forming cells further enhances their effectiveness in stimulating bone regeneration.

Led by Graduate School of Medicine student Yuta Sawada and Dr. Shinji Takahashi, the Osaka research team used ADSCs to create bone-differentiated spheroids and combined them with β-tricalcium phosphate, a material commonly used in bone reconstruction. The mixture was applied to rats with spinal fractures, resulting in significant improvements in bone healing and strength.

The researchers also observed that genes responsible for bone formation and regeneration became more active after the treatment, suggesting that the approach stimulates the body's natural healing processes.

Promising Outlook for Future Treatments

"This study has revealed the potential of bone differentiation spheroids using ADSCs for the development of new treatments for spinal fractures," said Sawada. "Since the cells are obtained from fat, there is little burden on the body, ensuring patient safety."

Dr. Takahashi added, "This simple and effective method can treat even difficult fractures and may accelerate healing. This technique is expected to become a new treatment that helps extend the healthy life of patients."

The findings were published in Bone & Joint Research.

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