The effect of abdominal wounding on the rate of tissue regeneration

Zusammenfassung Verwundung induziert Regeneration in entfernten Stellen bei männlichen und weiblichen Kaninchcn. Dies gilt für frühe Regenerationsstadien bei männlichen Tieren, während bei Weibchen die Regenerationswirkung mindestens 49 Tage anhält. Es wird vermutet, dass es sich um hormonale Einwirkungen infolge Stress handelt.     

C16-methyl derivatives of progesterone and 17α-acetoxyprogesterone: Preparation and biological activities

Zusammenfassung Mehrere Derivate des 16-Methyl-progesteron wurden synthetisiert und biologisch geprüft. Die Einführung einer C16-Methylgruppe ergab keine gesteigerte Progesteronaktivität in den getesteten Verbindungen.     

Plate tectonics of the Red Sea and East Africa

The relative motion between the plates on each side of the East African Rift Valley can be obtained from the opening of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The calculated direction of relative motion agrees well with fault plane solutions for earthquakes north of the equator.     

Active tactile exploration using a brain-machine-brain interface

Brain-machine interfaces use neuronal activity recorded from the brain to establish direct communication with external actuators, such as prosthetic arms. It is hoped that brain-machine interfaces can be used to restore the normal sensorimotor functions of the limbs, but so far they have lacked tactile sensation. Here we report the operation of a brain-machine-brain interface (BMBI) that both controls the exploratory reaching movements of an actuator and allows signalling of artificial tactile feedback through intracortical microstimulation (ICMS) of the primary somatosensory cortex. Monkeys performed an active exploration task in which an actuator (a computer cursor or a virtual-reality arm) was moved using a BMBI that derived motor commands from neuronal ensemble activity recorded in the primary motor cortex. ICMS feedback occurred whenever the actuator touched virtual objects. Temporal patterns of ICMS encoded the artificial tactile properties of each object. Neuronal recordings and ICMS epochs were temporally multiplexed to avoid interference. Two monkeys operated this BMBI to search for and distinguish one of three visually identical objects, using the virtual-reality arm to identify the unique artificial texture associated with each. These results suggest that clinical motor neuroprostheses might benefit from the addition of ICMS feedback to generate artificial somatic perceptions associated with mechanical, robotic or even virtual prostheses.