Sichere Lagerung von Stoffen in der chemischen Industrie

Safe storage of chemicals. Stored chemicals can be a health risk, combustible, unstable, or explosive. It is consequently necessary to prevent such substances and their reaction products from damaging the environment or endangering people as a result of their release, decomposition, fire, or explosion. Storage conditions must therefore always be appropriate for the properties of the substances. This paper starts by outlining the basic principles of safe storage, namely minimization of potential hazards, avoidance of potential causes of danger and containing of any possible effects. Examples illustrate how the properties of the substances are taken into account in practice.     

Habituation of the Acoustic and the Tactile Startle Responses in Mice: Two Independent Sensory Processes.

To test whether habituation is specific to the stimulus modality, the authors analyzed cross-habituation between the tactile startle response' (TSR) and the acoustic startle response (ASR). The acoustic artifacts of airpuffs used to elicit the TSR were reduced by using a silencer and were effectively masked by background noise of 90-100 dB sound-pressure level. ASR was elicited by 14-kHz tones. TSR and ASR habituated in DBA and BALB mice: both the TSR and ASR habituated to a greater extent in DBA mice than in BALB mice. In both strains, habituation of the TSR did not generalize to the ASR, and vice versa. From this, the authors concluded that habituation of startle is located in the sensory afferent branches of the pathway. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The efficacy of guanidine hydrochloride in the treatment of Werdnig-Hoffmann disease (author's transl)

The use of guanidine hydrochloride is reported in the treatment of 4 cases of Werdnig-Hoffmann disease. Improvement was achieved in two cases. Amelioration was initially observed in the third patient, but a relapse occurred during temporary discontinuation of therapy and the disease progressed, albeit at a slower rate, after resumption of therapy. The final case was a terminal one in which, however, slight temporary improvement occurred in response to therapy. A maximum dosage of 0.4 g (based on the assumption of an average body weight of 15 kg in these children) was reached by gradual increments. Side effects like shortlasting vomiting were observed only in case 1. The pharmacological action of guanidine hydrochloride is discussed. According to Otsuka and Endon the mechanism of action may be based on an increase in the end-plate potential amplitude. However, an augmented supply of spinal transmitters may also play a role in the mediation to the pharmacological action.     

Acoustic startle threshold of the albino rat (Rattus norvegicus).

The startle threshold of the albino Sprague-Dawley rat runs parallel to the curve of the hearing threshold. The difference between the startle and hearing threshold is 87 dB (SPL) at a background noise level of 75 dB (SPL). At 110 dB (SPL), the threshold has a range from 2 kHz to 50 kHz with a minimum at 10 kHz and a second minimum at 40 kHz. Amplitude and latency of the startle response are not only dependent on the sensation level of the acoustic stimulus but also on the frequency. At threshold, only the head movement component of the startle response is elicited. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)