The Chemistry of the Universe: Historical Roots of Modern Cosmochemistry

During the second half of the twentieth century, the domain of geochemistry has greatly expanded and the field is today often seen as a branch of an extended chemistry of the Earth, called cosmochemistry. This paper is a historical introduction to cosmochemistry in which the wider cosmic aspects are surveyed up to about 1915, when nuclear physics changed the scene. These wider aspects or themes include, firstly, the attempts to determine the relative abundances of the elements, secondly, the extension of geochemistry to include physical geochemistry, thirdly, the study of meteorites and, fourthly, the spectroscopic study of the stars within the astrochemical tradition. Because of the lack of reliable data, a great deal of the protocosmochemistry described in the present paper was speculative. Nonetheless, by 1915 the contours of the cosmochemistry of the future were just visible and the developments here singled out can thus be seen as belonging to the prehistory of modern cosmochemistry.     

Melatonin,clock genes and mitochondria in sepsis

After the characterization of the central pacemaker in the suprachiasmatic nucleus, the expression of clock genes was identified in several peripheral tissues including the immune system. The hierarchical control from the central clock to peripheral clocks extends to other functions including endocrine, metabolic, immune, and mitochondrial responses. Increasing evidence links the disruption of the clock genes expression with multiple diseases and aging. Chronodisruption is associated with alterations of the immune system, immunosenescence, impairment of energy metabolism, and reduction of pineal and extrapineal melatonin production. Regarding sepsis, a condition coursing with an exaggerated response of innate immunity, experimental and clinical data showed an alteration of circadian rhythms that reflects the loss of the normal oscillation of the clock. Moreover, recent data point to that some mediators of the immune system affects the normal function of the clock. Under specific conditions, this control disappears reactivating the immune response. So, it seems that clock gene disruption favors the innate immune response, which in turn induces the expression of proinflammatory mediators, causing a further alteration of the clock. Here, the clock control of the mitochondrial function turns off, leading to a bioenergetic decay and formation of reactive oxygen species that, in turn, activate the inflammasome. This arm of the innate immunity is responsible for the huge increase of interleukin-1β and entrance into a vicious cycle that could lead to the death of the patient. The broken clock is recovered by melatonin administration, that is accompanied by the normalization of the innate immunity and mitochondrial homeostasis. Thus, this review emphasizes the connection between clock genes, innate immunity and mitochondria in health and sepsis, and the role of melatonin to maintain clock homeostasis.     

Differential diurnal variations of anandamide and 2-arachidonoyl-glycerol levels in rat brain

The endogenous ligands of cannabinoid receptors, also known as endocannabinoids, have been implicated in many physiological and pathological processes of the central nervous system. Here we show that the levels of the two major endocannabinoids, anandamide and 2-arachidonoyl-glycerol (2-AG), in four areas of the rat brain, change dramatically between the light and dark phases of the day. While anandamide levels in the nucleus accumbens, pre-frontal cortex, striatum and hippocampus were significantly higher in the dark phase, the opposite was observed with 2-AG, whose levels were significantly higher during the light phase in all four regions. We found that the activity of the fatty acid amide hydrolase, which catalyzes the metabolism of anandamide, was significantly lower during the dark phase, thus providing a possible explaination for the increase in anandamide levels. However, the activities of monoacylglycerol lipase and diacylglycerol lipase, two of the possible enzymes catalyzing the degradation and biosynthesis of 2-AG, respectively, changed significantly only in the striatum. These data suggest that the levels of the two major endocannabinoids might be under the control of endogenous factors known to undergo diurnal variations, and underscore the different roles, suggested by previous studies, of anandamide and 2-AG in neurophysiological processes.Received 9 December 2003; received after revision 15 January 2004; accepted 20 January 2004     

The ‘Darwin-Marx correspondence’: a correction and revision

The logical links between the Judaeo-Christian doctrine of creation and the practice of natural philosophy on the one hand, and the rejection of belief in demonic agency on the other, were made explicit in the seventeenth century by, among others, Balthasar Bekker (1634–98), whose ideas I argue to have been not without influence. In section 1, I present the accounts of three historians of the opposition to belief in witchcraft and of the decline of the witch-persecution, Hugh Trevor-Roper, Keith Thomas, and Brian Easlea. In section 2, I maintain that Bekker has been underestimated both by Trevor-Roper and by Easlea. In section 3, I investigate more generally some of the connections between the new natural philosophy and belief in supernatural interventions, cast doubt on the view that rejection of belief in witchcraft and the devil requires rejection of belief in creation, and thus supplement or qualify the accounts of Trevor-Roper, Thomas, and Easlea of why belief in witchcraft faded away.     

Fred Neufeld and pneumococcal serotypes: foundations for the discovery of the transforming principle

During the first decade of the twentieth century, the German bacteriologist Fred Neufeld, later Director of the Robert Koch-Institute in Berlin, first described the differentiation of pneumococci into serotypes on the basis of type-specific antisera. This finding was essential for subsequent research at the Rockefeller Institute of Medical Research (RIMR) in New York, and elsewhere, aiming for the conquest of human pneumococcal pneumonia, including antiserum therapy, the discovery that the type-specific antigens were carbohydrates, and the development of effective multivalent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccines. Moreover, on the basis of pneumococcal serotypes Fred Griffith, in 1928 in London, discovered pneumococcal transformation, and Oswald T. Avery and coworkers, in 1944 at RIMR, identified DNA as the transforming substance. This sequence of events, leading to today’s knowledge that genes consist of DNA, was initiated by a farsighted move of Simon Flexner, first Director of the RIMR, who asked Neufeld to send his pneumococcal typing strains, thus setting the stage for pneumococcal research at RIMR. Here, we describe Fred Neufeld’s contributions in this development, which have remained largely unknown.     

Aristotle, Copernicus, Bruno: centrality, the principle of movement and the extension of the Universe

This paper¹ studies the different conceptions of both centrality and the principle or starting point of motion in the Universe held by Aristotle and later on by Copernicanism until Kepler and Bruno. According to Aristotle, the true centre of the Universe is the sphere of the fixed stars. This is also the starting point of motion. From this point of view, the diurnal motion is the fundamental one. Our analysis gives pride of place to De caelo II, 10, a chapter of Aristotle’s text which curiously allows an ‘Alpetragian’ reading of the transmission of motion.In Copernicus and the Copernicans, natural centrality is identified with the geometrical centre and, therefore, the Sun is acknowledged as the body through which the Deity acts on the world and it also plays the role of the principle and starting point of cosmic motion. This motion, however, is no longer diurnal motion, but the annual periodical motion of the planets. Within this context, we pose the question of to what extent it is possible to think that, before Kepler, there is a tacit attribution of a dynamic or motive role to the Sun by Copernicus, Rheticus, and Digges.For Bruno, since the Universe is infinite and homogeneous and the relationship of the Deity with it is one of indifferent presence everywhere, the Universe has no absolute centre, for any point is a centre. By the same token, there is no place that enjoys the prerogative of being—as being the seat of God—the motionless principle and starting point of motion.     

Chemistry and Chemists at the London Institution 1807-1912

The London Institution, established in the City of London in 1807, was devoted, as its full title proclaimed, to the 'advancement of Literature and the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge'. With its extensive lecture programme, splendid reference library, reading rooms, laboratory and other amenities, it provided for its members a scientific and cultural centre, modelled on the highly successful and fashionable Royal Institution in London's West End. Among its scientific activities, chemistry long maintained a leading role, in terms of both the sheer volume and variety of its presentations, and the high standing of its lecturers; they included Faraday, Playfair, Hofmann, Roscoe, Odling, Norman Lockyer, Meldola, and Sir William Ramsay, as well as other visiting lecturers, specially selected for their ability to present their subject in an interesting and attractive fashion to a wider lay public. The laboratory of the Institution, although limited in size and facilities, was the scene of instruction in practical chemistry, and between 1863 and 1884 attained the reputation of a significant centre of chemical research during the successive tenure of the professorship in chemistry by J. A. Wanklyn and H. E. Armstrong. Their publications, appearing under the device 'From the Laboratory of the London Institution', were a frequent feature of the leading chemical periodicals. Thus, within its many-sided activities, the Institution promoted significantly the public appreciation of the function of chemistry, as a contributor both to pure knowledge, and to technical and economic progress. It achieved this in an environment of influential City merchants, manufacturers and financiers and doubtless led to beneficient, if unrecorded, consequences. It was only towards the close of the nineteenth century, when the universities had become increasingly concerned with the systematic study of the discipline, that chemistry lost its direct impact in the London Institution, but continued to maintain a presence within its cultural framework.     

系统论视野下小流域生态补偿机制构建思路——以秋浦河为例

针对小流域生态补偿实践中存在的补偿标准偏低、静态、管理体制不健全、补偿方式单一等弊端,采用系统研究、文献分析、实证检验等方法,揭示了秋浦河流域生态补偿机制,包括流域协调与管理机制;生态补偿法律机制;多元补偿方式机制;政府主导,市场参与的多元融资机制;公众参与、监督机制;动态补偿机制;科学确定补偿标准机制。基于秋浦河上游生态服务主导效应因子价值、生态保护成本、发展机会成本,下游社会经济发展实际,2009年下游补偿上游金额为41448．0277。秋浦河流域生态补偿机制构建,有利于促进秋浦河流域上、下游协调发展与社会公平,可为我国小流域生态补偿构建与实践提供借鉴与参考。     

Leibniz on the requisites of an exact arithmetical quadrature

In this paper we will try to explain how Leibniz justified the idea of an exact arithmetical quadrature. We will do this by comparing Leibniz's exposition with that of John Wallis. In short, we will show that the idea of exactitude in matters of quadratures relies on two fundamental requisites that, according to Leibniz, the infinite series have, namely, that of regularity and that of completeness. In the first part of this paper, we will go deeper into three main features of Leibniz's method, that is: it is an infinitesimal method, it looks for an arithmetical quadrature and it proposes a result that is not approximate, but exact. After that, we will deal with the requisite of the regularity of the series, pointing out that, unlike the inductive method proposed by Wallis, Leibniz propounded some sort of intellectual recognition of what is invariant in the series. Finally, we will consider the requisite of completeness of the series. We will see that, although both Wallis and Leibniz introduced the supposition of completeness, the German thinker went beyond the English mathematician, since he recognized that it is not necessary to look for a number for the quadrature of the circle, given that we have a series that is equal to the area of that curvilinear figure.     

Galanin – 25 years with a multitalented neuropeptide

The skin, the largest organ of the body, functions as a barrier between the body proper and the external environment, as it is constantly exposed to noxious stressors. During the last few years, the concept of an interactive network involving cutaneous nerves, the neuroendocrine axis, and the immune system has emerged. The neuroendocrine system of the skin is composed of locally produced neuroendocrine mediators that interact with specific receptors. Among these mediators are neuropeptides, including members of the galanin peptide family--galanin, galanin-message-associated peptide, galanin-like peptide, and alarin--which are produced in neuronal as well as nonneuronal cells in the skin. Here we review the expression of the galanin peptides and their receptors in the skin, and the known functions of galanin peptides in different compartments of the skin. We discuss these data in light of the role of the galanin peptide family in inflammation and cell proliferation.     

Putting the Indices into practice: censoring science in early modern Portugal

ABSTRACT

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Inquisition was the institution most invested in the censorship of printed books in the Portuguese empire. Besides publishing the Indices of Forbidden Books, the Holy Office was also responsible for overseeing their implementation and ensuring their efficacy in preventing the importation, reading, and circulation of banned books. Overall, the sixteenth-century Indices condemned 785 authors and 1081 titles, including 52 authors and 85 titles of medicine, natural history, natural philosophy, astronomy, chronology, cosmography, astrology, and divinatory arts. By looking at the largest collection of early modern scientific books in Portugal, I will argue that a closer inspection of marginalia and ownership, and the establishment of a typology of expurgations is essential for the comprehension of the actual practices and the mechanisms of censorship. By examining the material evidence of censorship, in order to reconstruct expurgation practices, this paper reveals the processes and effectiveness of ecclesiastical control in the Portuguese Inquisition and highlights the differences between what inquisitors wrote in the Indices and what others put into practice.     

The migration of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) neurons from the medial alfactory placode into the medial basal forebrain

Summary Over the years, investigators have noticed, in a wide variety of species of vertebrates, large numbers of cells migrating from the olfactory placode to the forebrain. These cells were considered to be Schwann cells or ganglion cells of the terminalis nerve. Recently, immunocytochemical localization studies have shown that many of these migrating cells contain luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH), a brain peptide that regulates reproductive functions by evoking the release of luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone from the anterior pituitary gland. The origin of LHRH cells in the epithelium of the medial olfactory placode, their migration across the nasal septum and into the forebrain, with branches of the terminalis nerve, also a derivative of the medial part of the olfactory placode, has led to some interesting speculations, from evolutionary and physiological perspectives, about the origin of these cells and the role of the terminalis nerve in their migration.     

Pre- and post-natal ontogeny of neutral endopeptidase 24-11 ('enkephalinase') studied by in vitro autoradiography in the rat.

Neutral endopeptidase (NEP, enkephalinase, CALLA) which is present in various neural and non-neural tissues, is able to cleave a variety of regulatory peptides. The distribution of NEP has been studied during rat pre- and post-natal development by autoradiography after in vitro binding of the tritiated inhibitor [3H]HACBO-Gly to whole-body and organ sections. In the central nervous system (CNS), where the presence of NEP has been related to the termination of the action of enkephalins, the external layer of the olfactory bulbs is the only structure prominently labeled before birth. Other CNS structures rich in NEP in the adult, such as the nigrostriatal tract, are progressively labeled after birth. Outside the CNS, the progressive appearance of NEP in the kidney, the lungs and the salivary glands suggests its concomitant involvement in adult physiological functions, including fluid balance control, possibly by cleaving the atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and other peptides. On the other hand, transient or enhanced expression of NEP is observed during the development of several organs such as the sensory organs, the heart and the major blood vessels, the intestine, the bones and the genital tubercle. In addition to the still incompletely known physiological functions of the enzyme, the developmental pattern of its expression in several tissues strongly suggests a modulatory role for NEP in the ontogeny of a large number of organs.     

The plague fighter: Wu Lien-teh and the beginning of the Chinese public health system

At the end of 1910, when the Qing dynasty was on the verge of collapse and the whole Chinese empire in a process of transformation, North Manchuria was devastated by a large pneumonic plague epidemic. The Russian and Japanese governments wanted to use the outbreak of the disease as a pretext to invade north-east China, making plague an issue of international politics. At this dramatic moment the empire relied on the skills of the young Chinese doctor Wu Lien-teh, the first Chinese medical graduate from Cambridge. Wu investigated the disease on the spot, chaired an international plague conference in Shenyang (Manchuria) in April 1911, and, later on, became the figurehead of fundamental public health reforms in Republican China. Highly ambitious, striving for personal fame and international renown for China, supported by an excellent network of personal connections, and equipped with a medical training considered the best in the world at the time, he launched on a startling career as one of China's key medical reformers and international representatives. His history is an example of the inseparable links between personal fate and historical events, and between the interests of scientists, medical men, politicians, and businessmen on the national and international stages.     

Crustal layering, simplicity, and the oil industry: The alteration of an epistemic paradigm by a commercial environment

This paper proposes that the gradual alteration of the predominant epistemic paradigm in crustal seismology in the interwar period—namely, simplicity—came about because of the strong influence of a particular commercial environment, i.e. the oil industry. I begin by demonstrating the interwar predominance of Jeffreys’ ‘simplicity postulate’ and his probabilistic epistemology, highlighting the espousal by several seismologists (Bullen, Stoneley, Byerly), whose crustal models drew on mathematical idealisations. Next, I demonstrate that the renunciation of simplicity in the 1930s came about too quickly, and, above all, too heterodoxically to have been the result of new geological evidence. Rather, I argue, the paradigm shift among seismologists was a result of the significant rise in seismic exploration generated by the oil industry. Driven by market demands, American petroleum companies pioneered new technologies, organised research initiatives, and trained young geophysicists who, through the fusion of experimentalism and field experience, brought about fundamental progress in earthquake seismology. Remarkably, historians of science have almost entirely failed to recognise the interwar primacy of the simplicity paradigm as well as its subsequent renunciation. More importantly, they have failed to acknowledge the role the oil industry played in contributing to this renunciation and to the development of new paradigms in seismology.     

Multiple roles for the actin cytoskeleton during regulated exocytosis

Regulated exocytosis is the main mechanism utilized by specialized secretory cells to deliver molecules to the cell surface by virtue of membranous containers (i.e., secretory vesicles). The process involves a series of highly coordinated and sequential steps, which include the biogenesis of the vesicles, their delivery to the cell periphery, their fusion with the plasma membrane, and the release of their content into the extracellular space. Each of these steps is regulated by the actin cytoskeleton. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge regarding the involvement of actin and its associated molecules during each of the exocytic steps in vertebrates, and suggest that the overall role of the actin cytoskeleton during regulated exocytosis is linked to the architecture and the physiology of the secretory cells under examination. Specifically, in neurons, neuroendocrine, endocrine, and hematopoietic cells, which contain small secretory vesicles that undergo rapid exocytosis (on the order of milliseconds), the actin cytoskeleton plays a role in pre-fusion events, where it acts primarily as a functional barrier and facilitates docking. In exocrine and other secretory cells, which contain large secretory vesicles that undergo slow exocytosis (seconds to minutes), the actin cytoskeleton plays a role in post-fusion events, where it regulates the dynamics of the fusion pore, facilitates the integration of the vesicles into the plasma membrane, provides structural support, and promotes the expulsion of large cargo molecules.     

Crystallization of RNA

Even as the number of RNA structures determined and under study multiplies, the critical step in X-ray diffraction analysis, growth of single well-ordered crystals, remains at the boundary between art and science. Recent advances in methods of RNA synthesis, purification, and characterization, as well as empirical and technical improvements in crystallization techniques, the development of cryo-crystallography, and the wider availability of bright, tunable, X-rays from synchrotron sources are improving the chances of obtaining RNA crystals suitable for X-ray structural analysis. In this review, we summarize the current status of the design, preparation, purification, and analysis of RNA for crystallization and describe the latest approaches to obtaining diffraction-quality crystals. Received 17 October 2000; revised 6 December 2000; accepted 8 December 2000     

William Hasledine Pepys FRS: A Life in Scientific Research,Learned Societies and Technical Enterprise

In a long and many-sided career, William Hasledine Pepys (1775-1856) contributed significantly to the advancement of the chemical and physical sciences during the first half of the nineteenth century. As an original investigator he determined, in collaboration with William Allen, the composition of carbon dioxide, and the density of ammonia, and elucidated the chemical phenomena of respiration in man, animals, and plants. The success of these researches was largely due to the use of ingenious apparatus of his own invention and design. In the field of experimental physics, he investigated several aspects of the recently discovered Voltaic electricity: his 'Voltaic coil', consisting of only two plates, but of very large dimensions, was particularly suited for investigating electromagnetic phenomena and was so used in Davy's researches. Pepys was one of the co-founders of the Mineralogical and Geological Societies, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1808. As a prominent member of both the Royal and London Institutions, he held honorary office as Manager and Vice-President, contributing materially to the direction of the affairs of these bodies. Pepys was a friend of Humphry Davy and was acquainted with nearly all the leading scientists and medical men of the day. At the same time, he superintended a notable manufacture of surgical instruments in the City, and promoted by his active directorship the affairs of two public companies, both pioneers in their technological fields, namely the Imperial Continental Gas Association, which was active in introducing the new gas illumination to cities and towns across Europe, and the General Steam Navigation Company, which first maintained a regular passenger and cargo service to Continental ports by the exclusive use of steam-propelled vessels. Pepys' advice in scientific and technical matters was widely sought and freely given; he retained his mental powers to the end of his long life, fulfilling his professional commitments until a few days before his death.