 It has also been suggested that she was a Middle Eastern slave.In January 2010, Dr Vito Franco, professor of pathological anatomy at Palermo University, published research in an article in "La Stampa" newspaper and at a medical conference in Florence which suggested that the subject showed clear signs of xanthelasma, small accumulations of cholesterol-rich material under the skin, perhaps caused by problems in her biliary tract, due to hyperlipidemia, an inherited metabolic disorder.Dr Franco also suggested that she shows signs of having a lipoma behind her right eye.