Anaesthetics depress the sensitivity of cortical neurones to L-glutamate

1 The effects of general anaesthetics on the responses of neurones to iontophoretically applied L-glutamate have been examined in slices of the guinea-pig olfactory cortex in vitro. 2 Concentrations of pentobarbitone, ether, methoxyflurance, trichloroethylene and alphaxalone that are known to depress synaptic transmission in the prepiriform cortex also depressed the sensitivity of prepiriform neurones to L-glutamate. 3 Halothane, in concentrations that depress synaptic transmission (less than 1%) did not alter sensitivity of neurones to glutamate. Higher concentrations (greater than 1% produced a dose-related depression of the glutamate sensitivity of neurones. 4 All four volatile anaesthetics tested caused some cells to alter their glutamate-evoked firing pattern to one in which the spike discharges were more closely grouped. Pentobarbitone and alphaxalone had no such effect. 5 If the sensitivity of the neurones to the endogenous excitatory transmitter is affected by anaesthetics in the same way as the glutamate-sensitivity, these results suggest that halothane depresses synaptic transmission by decreasing the amount of transmitter released from the nerve terminals, whereas the other anaesthetics depress the sensitivity of the post-synaptic membrane to the released transmitter.     

Combinaed chemotherapy with cyclophosphamide, vinblastine, procarbazine, and prednisone (CVPP) for patients with advanced Hodgkin''s disease. An alternative program to MOPP

When electroshcok therapy was administered to male psychiatric patients without anticonvulsive premedication, serum growth hormone (GH) increased; the increase was not prevented by an infusion of 20% glucose (5 ml per min) 20 min prior to electroshock. Therefore, the GH rise is not caused by muscle exercise during convulsions. Infusing 30 mg of phentolamine 40 min prior to electroshcok inhibited the GH response. Phentolamine's effect shows that the stress-induced GH release that follows electroconvulsive therapy is mediated by alpha-adrenergic neurons.     

Electric services and building fires

This paper discusses various issues regarding the supply of electric power and building fires. The scope of the paper is limited to services, service entrances and power supply. Electrical fires involving customer property are rarely caused by electric services or supply problems but instead are usually caused by customer systems and equipment. Physical evidence of shorting or faulting of the service or service entrance is commonly found at fire scenes but seldom is evidence of fire cause.Those service-related problems which do create fire hazards involve the customer system, physical damage, lightning, or improper service voltage. Fire hazards created by the connected service typically willinvolve either lightning or improper service voltage. Electric utilities are responsible for the supply system and for power supply within the system voltage range. Customers are responsible for premises wiring systems.     

GNU Octave and reproducible research

GNU Octave¹ has been available for nearly two decades. During that time the scope of the project has grown from a simple interface to numerical tools intended for classroom use to a capable system with hundreds of thousands of users worldwide.This paper provides an overview of the Octave project, summarizes some recently completed additions, and describes in detail the ways in which Octave may be used to perform reproducible research.