Poinsinet's Edition of the Naturalis historia (1771–1782) and the Revival of Pliny in the Sciences of the Enlightenment

This paper analyses the revival of Pliny's Naturalis historia within the scientific culture of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, focusing on a French effort to produce an edition with annotations by scientists and scholars. Between the Renaissance and the early eighteenth century, the Naturalis historia had declined in scientific importance. Increasingly, it was relegated to the humanities, as we demonstrate with a review of editions. For a variety of reasons, however, scientific interest in the Naturalis historia grew in the second half of the eighteenth century. Epitomizing this interest was a plan for a scientifically annotated, Latin-French edition of the Naturalis historia. Initially coordinated by the French governmental minister Malesherbes in the 1750s, the edition was imperfectly realized by Poinsinet a few decades later. It was intended to rival two of the period's other distinguished multi-volume books of knowledge, Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopédie and Buffon's Histoire naturelle, to which we compare it. Besides narrating the scientific revival of the Historia naturalis during this period, we examine its causes and the factors contributing to its end in the first half of the nineteenth century.     

Rôle of the nucleus in the maintenance of the protein level in the algaAcetabularia mediterranea

Riassunto Sono state studiate le variazioni del rapporto tra l'N proteico e non proteico in segmenti rigeneranti, nucleati ed anucleati, diAcetabul. medit. I risultati ottenuti hanno dimostrato che il predetto rapporto aumenta in entrambi i segmenti il primo giorno dopo l'operazione. Nei giorni seguenti esso diminuisce in entrambi i segmenti, ma più sensibilmente in quelli anucleati, nei quali va al di sotto del valore medio delle alghe normali già dopo il 3°–4° giorno.     

Influence of the structure of theN-terminal extremity ofα-MSH on the melanophore stimulating activity of this hormone

Zusammenfassung Drei strukturelle Analoge des-MSH wurden synthetisiert und auf ihre Melanophoren-stimulierende Wirksamkeit untersucht. Für das Auftreten einer ausgeprägten biologischen Aktivität scheint die Anwesenheit einerN-Acetyl-Gruppe an dem Aminoende der Peptidkette wichtiger zu sein als das Vorhandensein der zwei ersten amino-endständigen Aminosäurereste der-MSH-Kette.     

Unraveling the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease – the contribution of monogenic forms

The field of Parkinsons disease pathogenesis is rapidly evolving from the one of a monolithic and obscure entity into the one of a complex scenario with several known molecular players. The ongoing systematic exploration of the genome holds great promise for the identification of the genetic factors conferring susceptibility to the common non-Mendelian forms of this disease. However, most of the progress of the last 5 years has come from the successful mapping and cloning of genes responsible for rare Mendelian variants of Parkinsons disease. These discoveries are providing tremendous help in understanding the molecular mechanisms of this devastating disease. Here we review the genetics of the monogenic forms of Parkinsons disease. Moreover, we focus on the mechanisms of disease caused by -synuclein and parkin mutations, and the implications of this growing body of knowledge for understanding the pathogenesis of the common forms of the disease. Received 10 March 2004; received after revision 26 April 2004; accepted 29 April 2004     

The influence of N-methyl-N-β-chloroethyl hydrazines on the mitotic index of Ehrlich ascites tumor cells and the leukopoiesis of the mouse

Summary The cytostatic activity of N-methyl-N--chloroethylbenzaldehyd hydrazone, (B1) is at least equal to that of procarbazine when its effect is tested with the Ehrlich ascites tumor cells of the mouse and the Yoshida sarcoma of the rat. B1 causes a slighter decrease of mitotic cells and no shift from prophase to metaphase. These results suggest that the cytostatic effect of B1 is due to interference with cell metabolism or an effect at the cell membrane and not to an effect on cell proliferation. This assumption is supported by a considerable depression, of lymphocytes and a minor effect on granulopoiesis, which is especially sensitive towards proliferation toxins. All these findings suggest a different mechanism of action of B1 and procarbazine.     

Effects of N2, O2′-dibutyril cyclic GMP on the nucleoside phosphotransferase activity of the retina of the chick embryos

Summary In the retina of the chick embryo, 2 different forms of nucleoside phosphotransferase take part in the phosphorylation of thymidine. One is an unstable form with higher molecular weight. The other with lower m. wt is a stable form. This paper shows that N², O²-dibutyril cyclic GMP causes a marked decrement of the activity of the unstable nucleoside phosphotransferase.     

Antagonism by haloperidol of the suppression of exploratory locomotor activity induced by the local application of(−)3-(3-hydroxyphenyl)-N-n-propylpiperidine into the nucleus accumbens of the rat

Summary The injection of (–)3-PPP into the nucleus accumbens, 10 g/side, produced a suppression of exploratory locomotor activity without affecting treadmill locomotion. Furthermore, the suppression of exploratory locomotor activity produced by (–)3-PPP was antagonized by the administration of haloperidol, 25–50 g/kg i.p.Acknowledgments. The figures were prepared by M. Kröning at the Department of Psychology, University of Göteborg. This work was supported by Torsten and Ragnar Söderberg's Foundation, Magn. Bergvall Foundation and Åke Wiberg Foundation.     

On the glutamine and γ-aminobutyric acid contents of various regions of the cat brain

Résumé Les auteurs ont déterminé par la méthode de la chromatographie à deux dimensions, la teneur en glutamine et en acide -aminobutyrique des différentes parties du cerveau du chat. La concentration la plus élevée de l'acide -aminobutyrique a été trouvé dans l'hypothalamus, tandis que celle de la glutamine a été constatée dans le noyau caudé. Les concentrations les plus basses de ces deux protéines apparaissent dans la substance blanche du cerveau.     

The problem of ‘conditioning’ the action of antiphlogistic corticoids by the thyroid gland

Zusammenfassung Experimentell wurde die Wirkung von Prednison und Hydrocortisonacetat auf die Entwicklung des Fremdk?rpergranuloms an intakten und an thyreoid- und parathyreoidektomierten Tieren untersucht. Nach beidseitiger Thyreoidektomie konnte keine Unterdrückung der entwicklungshemmenden Effekte der Corticoide festgestellt werden.      

Does the moon influence the predatory activity of mites?

Periodicity in predatory activity was observed in overwintered females ofTyphlodromus pyri Scheuten (Acari: Phytoseiidae). Chronobiometrical analysis revealed that an approximately circabiseptan (about-14-day) rhythm is statistically significant, with a striking depression around the full moon.     

On the relation between the probabilistic characterization of the common cause and Bell׳s notion of local causality

In this paper the relation between the standard probabilistic characterization of the common cause (used for the derivation of the Bell inequalities) and Bell׳s notion of local causality will be investigated in the isotone net framework borrowed from algebraic quantum field theory. The logical role of two components in Bell׳s definition will be scrutinized; namely that the common cause is localized in the intersection of the past of the correlated events; and that it provides a complete specification of the ‘beables’ of this intersection.     

‘Land-marks of the universe’: John Herschel against the background of positional astronomy

John Herschel (1792–1871) was the leading British natural philosopher of the nineteenth century, widely known and regarded for his work in philosophy, optics and chemistry as well as his important research and popular publications on astronomy. To date, however, there exists no extended treatment of his astronomical career. This paper, part of a larger study exploring Herschel's contributions to astronomy, examines his work in the context of positional astronomy, the dominant form of astronomical practice throughout his lifetime. Herschel, who did not himself practice positional astronomy and who was known for his non-meridional observations of specific stellar objects, was nonetheless a strong advocate for positional astronomy—but for very different reasons than the terrestrial applications to which it was most often put. For Herschel, the star catalogues of positional astronomy were the necessary observational foundation upon which information about the stars as physical objects could be constructed. Positional astronomy practiced in the great national observatories was not about navigation or timekeeping; it was a way to standardize stellar observations and make them useful data for constructing theories of the stars themselves. For Herschel, the seeds of the new astronomy emerged from the practices of the old.     

Metabolism in porifera VI. Role of the 5,6 double bond and the fate of the C-4 of cholesterol during the conversion into 3β-hydroxymethyl-A-nor-5α-steranes in the spongeAxinella verrucosa

Summary During the conversion of cholesterol into 3 -hydroxymethyl-A-nor-5-cholestane by the spongeAxinella verrucosa, the carbon-3 of this latter originate from carbon-4 of cholesterol. Cholestanol moreover does not seem an intermediate in this conversion.     

Al-Bi⃛r¯uj¯ı’s Theory of the Motions of the Fixed Stars

Quarum causas in orbibus sub suppremo collocatis indagantes, in suppremo enim uniformitas semper cernitur, exploratum habuerunt id prouenire ex motibus giratiuis lulabinis appellatis, factis quidem a permistione motus orbis super suis polis cum motu eiusdem super polis alterius, itaque ex multis motibus simul collectis unus fit motus. Quae quidem theorica phisicis conformis rationibus cunctis ueteribus ad Aristotelem philosophorum principem usque uigebat, quin immo sui summi acie ingenii eam 2 de coelo textu commentario 35 teste Auerroe innuere non desinit.     

The effect of chronic marginal vitamin C deficiency on the α-tocopherol content of the organs and plasma of guinea-pigs

Summary Chronic marginal vitamin C deficiency lasting 270 days induced hypertriglyceridaemia, an abrupt fall of ascorbic acid in all organs and a significant decrease of -tocopherol in the liver and the lungs in guinea-pigs.     

Polar transport of the plant hormone auxin – the role of PIN-FORMED (PIN) proteins

The PIN-FORMED (PIN) protein family is a group of plant transmembrane proteins with a predicted function as secondary transporters. PINs have been shown to play a rate-limiting role in the catalysis of efflux of the plant growth regulator auxin from cells, and their asymmetrical cellular localization determines the direction of cell-to-cell auxin flow. There is a functional redundancy of PINs and their biochemical activity is regulated at many levels. PINs constitute a flexible network underlying the directional auxin flux (polar auxin transport) which provides cells in any part of the plant body with particular positional and temporal information. Thus, the PIN network, together with downstream auxin signalling system(s), coordinates plant development. This review summarizes recent progress in the elucidation of the role of PIN proteins in polar auxin transport at the cellular level, with emphasis on their structure and evolution and regulation of their function. Received 28 December 2006; received after revision 16 February 2007; accepted 26 March 2007