Effects of calcium on the spontaneous contractions of the isolated ventricle of the snailHelix pomatia

Zusammenfassung Untersuchungen über den Einfluss von Veränderungen der Calciumkonzentration auf die spontaneHelix-Herzkammertätigkeit weisen darauf hin, dass Calcim hier keine Wirkung ausübt, die von seiner Wirkung auf Muskelgewebe im allgemeinnen grundverschieden ist. Hochkonzentrierte Calciumlösungen steigern die Kontraktionsspannung und bei höchsten Konzentrationen kann die Muskelerregbarkeit abnehmen, während schwachkonzentrierte Calciumlösungen die Muskelerregbarkeït erhöhen.     

Mineralhaushalt und hormonale Aktivität im Winterschlaf

Summary A review is presented on the metabolism of sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium during natural hibernation in mammals, and its relation to endocrine activity. With the entrance into hibernation, a change of homeostasis and an initial vagoinsular stage occur, resulting for instance in a hyperpotassemia. When the body temperature falls further, a sympathicoadrenal stage is observed whilst the serum potassium attains its normal level, probably favoured by simultaneous activation of the zona glomerulosa. Most animals show an increase of serum calcium and magnesium in hibernation in consequence of anhydremia, as well as of probably parathyreoid activity. It is suggested that an aldosterone and/or ADH secretion is provoked by diminishing of the intravasal space in deep hibernation. The mineral metabolism of bats differs in several points from that of other hibernators.     

A central nervous system effect of a non-hallucinatory lysergic acid derivative

Zusammenfassung Ähnlich wie Serotonin und LSD-25 vermindert BOL-148, ein Lysergsäurederivat, das keine Halluzinationen erzeugt, die durch den Balken fortgeleiteten, postsynaptischen Potentiale. Vorbehandlung mit BOL-148 macht das Versuchstier für ungefähr eine Stunde unempfindlich gegen Serotonin. BOL-148 blockiert anscheinend im Zentralnervensystem wie auch in der Peripherie den Serotonineffekt. Es wird versucht, zu erklären, weshalb diese Droge keine Halluzinationen bewirkt.     

De novo mutations revealed by whole-exome sequencing are strongly associated with autism

Multiple studies have confirmed the contribution of rare de novo copy number variations to the risk for autism spectrum disorders. But whereas de novo single nucleotide variants have been identified in affected individuals, their contribution to risk has yet to be clarified. Specifically, the frequency and distribution of these mutations have not been well characterized in matched unaffected controls, and such data are vital to the interpretation of de novo coding mutations observed in probands. Here we show, using whole-exome sequencing of 928 individuals, including 200 phenotypically discordant sibling pairs, that highly disruptive (nonsense and splice-site) de novo mutations in brain-expressed genes are associated with autism spectrum disorders and carry large effects. On the basis of mutation rates in unaffected individuals, we demonstrate that multiple independent de novo single nucleotide variants in the same gene among unrelated probands reliably identifies risk alleles, providing a clear path forward for gene discovery. Among a total of 279 identified de novo coding mutations, there is a single instance in probands, and none in siblings, in which two independent nonsense variants disrupt the same gene, SCN2A (sodium channel, voltage-gated, type II, α subunit), a result that is highly unlikely by chance.