[Branches of natural science in the Halle Medical College program in the 18th and 19th centuries]

The subjects of natural sciences belonging in the 18th century to the complex of medicine in the early 19th century change over to the complex of reliability of the faculty of philosophy. The future physician passes a tentamen philosophicum. In the sixties of the 19th century the increase of knowledge in the field of natural sciences causes an increased consideration on these subjects for the basic medical training. On these conditions the tentamen philosophicum becomes the tentamen physicum, i.e. examination in natural sciences, the precursor of the preliminary medical examination of our time.

Constructing a phytotherapeutic concordance based upon tropical American and Indonesian examples

A comparison of Dutch East Indian (Indonesian) and tropical American botanical remedies (folk medicines) illustrates a method for locating similarities, discrepancies and contradictions which can indicate new lines of investigation in tracing active ingredients or other reasons that explain phytotherapeutic effects.

On the definition of cannabinoids: botanical? chemical? pharmacological?

Cannabinoids (or presumed synonyms such as cannabinols or cannabis-like agents) have been variously defined in botanical, chemical, or pharmacological terms, with unfortunate consequences. Botanical definitions include inactive substances such as cannabigerol, as well as alkaloids and other secondary constituents of Cannabis sativa, but exclude synthetics such as levonantradol and nabilone. Chemical definitions include inactive close analogs of THC but exclude a growing number of substances structurally remote from THC that share its actions. Pharmacological definitions have depended on relatively nonspecific or vague behavioral endpoints. However, animal testing methodology has recently been developed that can identify and quantify agents that share THC's unique subjective effects. To avoid preexisting ambiquity in the word cannabinoids, the term cannabimimetics has been coined to include all such agents, regardless of origin or structure. Such a classification emphasizes research toward improved biological selectivity and therapeutic advance. While no totally noncannabimimetic agents with potent analgesic effects have yet been identified among derivatives of THC, selectivity has been uncovered for levonantradol, HHC (racemic-9-nor, 9-beta-OH-hexahydrocannabinol) and several structurally related compounds.

Conditions relevant to the occurrence of acid-fast bacilli in sphagnum vegetation

Biotopes with intact sphagnum vegetation were studied in Naustdal, West Norway: the health district with the former highest leprosy incidence rates in Norway. Concentration of acid-fast bacilli and concentration of non-cultivable acid-fast bacilli found in the vegetation fluid were compared with a series of variables related to the local environment and to the samples of vegetation. In bivariate analyses high concentrations were found in biotopes with orientation toward South, with a high coverage of vascular plants and with presence of Ericaceae. High concentrations were also found where dry weight of a vegetation was high, where pH in the fluid was low and where dry weight of the fluid was high. In a multivariate analysis, log-linear model, based on concentration of acid-fast bacilli as the dependent variable and orientation, pH, dry weight of vegetation and dry weight of fluid as the independent variables, all two-factor effects including the dependent variable were retained in the model. Furthermore, orientation versus dry weight of vegetation and dry weight of fluid versus dry weight of vegetation were retained.

Significant journals of science

In 1974 the Science Citation Index (SCI) covered about 401,000 articles and communications in 2,443 scientific and technical journals. They cited about 3.2 million different publications an average of 1.8 times each. In this article some results of an analysis of more than 5 million citations in the references of journal articles indexed for the SCI in 1974 are presented and an attempt is made to interpret of those results in the light of an earlier study of 1969 citations.

An overview of botanical clearing technique

Clearing techniques are outlined with reference to their action on the chemical constituents of plant tissue. The most general technique would include pretreatment with solvents, dissolution of protoplasm, dissolution of other substances, bleaching, infiltration with a dense fluid, and staining. Extensive chemical changes go on during these steps and may prevent satisfactory clearing, an important example being the discoloration of phenolic compounds. Rational design of clearing methods for the chemically distinct cell types and tissue seems a likely future development.