Brain levels of <Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis>-acylethanolamine phospholipids in mice during pentylenetetrazol-induced seizure

The N-acylethanolamine phospholipids (NAPE) are precursors for N-acylethanolamines (NAE), including anandamide (20∶4-NAE), which is a ligand for the cannabinoid receptors. Previously, NAPE were believed to be found only in injured tissue, e.g., after neurodegenerative insults. Neuronal injury may occur in response to seizure activity. Therefore, we investigated the effect of pentylenetetrazol (PTZ)-induced seizures in PTZ-kindled mice on the level of NAPE in the brain. Male NMRI mice were kindled with PTZ injections 3 times/wk, thereby developing clonic seizures in response to PTZ. Mice were killed within 30 min after the clonic seizure on the test day (12th injection) and the brains were collected. Eight species of NAPE were analyzed as the glycerophospho-N-acylethanolamines by high-performance liquid chromatography-coupled electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. No effect of the PTZ kindling on the NAPE levels in murine brains was observed. Total NAPE in control mice cortex (n=4) was 16.4±3.0 μmol/g wet weight of which 20∶4-NAPE accounted for 3.6 mol%, and the major species was 16∶0-NAPE, accounting for 52.1 mol%. Determination of the activity of NAPE-hydrolyzing phospholipase D and of N-acyltransferase in brain membrane preparations from adult and 3-d-old mice revealed an enzyme pattern in the adult mice that was favorable for NAE accumulation as opposed to NAPE accumulation. Thus, there was no difference in NAPE levels; at present, however, this does not exclude that NAE may accumulate during seizure.     

Reviews

Michal Kokowski, Copernicus’s Originality: Towards Integration of Contemporary Copernican Studies (Warsaw: Wydawnictwa Ihn Pan, 2004). 314 pp. pb. ISBN 83‐86062‐27‐4. Sharon E. Kingsland, The Evolution of American Ecology 1890–2000 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005). 313 pp. hc. $50. ISBN 0‐8018‐8171‐4. Graeme J.N. Gooday. The Morals of Measurement: Accuracy, Irony, and Trust in Late Victorian Electrical Practice (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004). xxv, 285 pp. hc. £55. ISBN 0‐521‐43098. Joan Vernet; Ramon Parés (eds.), La Ciència en la Història del Països Catalans. Vol. 1. Dels Àrabs al Renaixement (Valencia: University of Valencia, 2004). 630 pp. hc. €50. ISBN 84‐370‐ 6047‐8. Giuliano Pancaldi, Volta. Science and Culture in the Age of Enlightenment (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2003). 381 pp. hc. £32.50. ISBN 0‐691‐09685‐6. Wolfgang Lefèvre; Jürgen Renn; Urs Schoepfin (eds.), The Power of Images in Early Modern Science (Basel: Birkhäuser Verlag, 2003). 320 pp. pb. CHF 184, € 118. ISBN 3‐7643‐2434‐1. Olivier Darrigol, Worlds of Flow: A History of Hydrodynamics from the Bernoullis to Prandtl (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005). 356 pp. hc. L35.00. ISBN 0‐19‐856843‐6. Ad Meskens, Joannes della Faille s.j.: Mathematics, Modesty and Missed Opportunities (Brussel: Institut Historique Belge de Rome, 2005). 175 pp. hc. ISBN 90‐74461‐53‐0. Aant Elzinga; Torgny Nordin; David Turner; Urban Wråkberg (eds.), Antarctic Challenges. Historical and Current Perspectives on Otto Nordenskjöld’s Antartic Expedition 1901–1903 (Göteborg: Royal Society of Arts and Sciences, 2004). 330 pp. hc. $93. ISBN 91‐85252‐64‐6. Klaus‐Heinrich Peters, Schönheit, Exaktheit, Wahrheit: Der Zusammenhang von Mathematik und Physik am Beispiel der Geschichte der Distributionen (Berlin: GNT‐Verlag, 2005). 272 pp. pb. € 32.00. ISBN 3‐928186‐74‐4.     

How much is the workload of surgeons in Scandinavia?

According to figures presented at the Bianniul General Meeting of the Scandinavian Surgical Society, the mean number of operations performed per surgeon at some clinics of different sizes in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden ranged from 90 to 240 in 1996. This corresponds to 2.6 to 8.5 hours actual operating time, though figures are misleading since time spent assisting at operations, or on endoscopies, minor diagnostics and outpatient procedures, and essential pre- and post-operative tasks is not included. This level of operative activity is considered barely sufficient for training surgeons or for maintaining surgical skills. Surgeons could devote more time to surgery if a greater proportion of their non-surgical workload was taken over by other hospital staff, which would also reduce the number of surgeons required.     

Percutaneous transhepatic cholelithotripsy for difficult common bile duct stones

Laparoscopic myolysis, a procedure designed to shrink uterine myomas by coagulating their blood supply, is an alternative to myomectomy or hysterectomy in women who do not contemplate childbearing. Three patients conceived within 3 months after myolysis against the surgeon's advice. In two of these women the uterus ruptured at 32 and 39 weeks' gestation, respectively, associated with death of the 32-week fetus. The third patient had an uneventful elective cesarean section at 39 weeks' gestation. Until the risk of uterine rupture after myolysis has been accurately compared with that after myomectomy, women should not undergo myolysis if they wish to conceive. Should pregnancy occur after myolysis, caution and intensive surveillance of mother and fetus must be applied, and cesarean section should be performed at earliest signs and symptoms of uterine rupture and at term before onset of labor.     

Physical performances of blended cements containing calcium aluminosilicate glass powder and limestone

This work explores the suitability of calcium aluminosilicate (CAS) glass particles as an alternative to conventional supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) such as fly ash and blast furnace slag. The reason for adding CAS glass particles to the cement blend is to reduce the CO₂ emission of cement production at the same level of performance. For this purpose, blended cement mortars containing 30 wt.% clinker replacement are characterized with respect to workability and mechanical performance. The results indicated that real emission reductions are possible, particularly for combinations of finely ground limestone and CAS glasses which resulted in significantly higher strengths than would be predicted from the individual contributions of each constituent.     

The Full Moon Serpent. A Foundation Stone of Ancient Astronomy?

In 19 years the moon will approach the place of the Normal Stars where it approached before. Where there was a lunar eclipse, it takes place (again). If (the moon) passed by (a Normal Star) high, or if it passed by low, it will repeat this in your year.
[Cuneiform Text, British Museum 41004, rev. 18–19; translation by Neugebauer and Sachs: 17 , 205].