IntAct--open source resource for molecular interaction data

IntAct is an open source database and software suite for modeling, storing and analyzing molecular interaction data. The data available in the database originates entirely from published literature and is manually annotated by expert biologists to a high level of detail, including experimental methods, conditions and interacting domains. The database features over 126 000 binary interactions extracted from over 2100 scientific publications and makes extensive use of controlled vocabularies. The web site provides tools allowing users to search, visualize and download data from the repository. IntAct supports and encourages local installations as well as direct data submission and curation collaborations. IntAct source code and data are freely available from .

Freud comes to Palestine. A study of psychoanalysis in a cultural context

The authors describe the founding of Hashomer Hatzair as a radical Zionist scouting movement in Eastern Europe between 1913 and 1919, a little known episode in the rich history of Freud's impact upon this century. As refugees in Vienna, the young adherents of the movement experienced enormous personal and collective turmoil. Desperate to construct new, viable identities, these intellectually vibrant young men and women were drawn to Freud as part of their project of self-creation. Beginning in the 1920s, as members of Hashomer Hatzair settled in agriculturally based collectives known as kibbutzim, the educational leadership of the movement argued that psychoanalytically informed education was the key to raising children free of bourgeois neuroses. They established strong ties with European analysts, translated and published psychoanalytic texts, insisted that educators be analysed or, at least, psychoanalytically informed, and built a complex educational system founded on their particular understanding of Freudian insights. For them, psychoanalysis was also seen as a general prophylactic guaranteeing the mental hygiene of the community as a whole. The authors examine the complex relationship between Hashomer Hatzair and psychoanalysis. In particular, they ask why these young adults were so drawn to Freud and what their particular reading of the psychoanalytic texts was, and demonstrate how these young pioneers created a 'usable Freud' as part of their project of designing and building a utopian society.

Absence of side-effects in the anticonvulsant action of cortically applied antagonists of N-methyl-D-aspartate

Three compounds reportedly blocking the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor, namely 2-amino-5-phosphonovalerate, gamma-D-glutamylglycine and 3-hydroxy-2-quinoxalinecarboxylic acid, were injected subdurally onto the cortex of freely moving rats. All 3 compounds effectively suppressed behavioral and electrographic seizure activity induced by strychnine, morphine and picrotoxin that were administered via the same route. The cortical application of the NMDA-receptor antagonists did not induce behavioral or electrographic changes, and behavioral side-effects commonly observed following intracerebroventricular administration of these compounds were absent. The anatomical separation of anticonvulsant action and side-effects induced by these compounds suggests that this class of compounds may eventually be useful as antiepileptic drugs.

Opiate and non-opiate aspects of morphine induced seizures

The intraperitoneal administration of morphine hydrochloride at doses of 300 mg/kg produced analgesia, catalepsy, and electrographic spiking in rats that developed into electrographic seizure patterns after approximately 2.5 h. Whereas naltrexone (12 mg/kg) reversed analgesia and catalepsy, and diminished electrographic spiking, it precipitated electrographic seizure activity similar to that observed following intraperitoneal morphine alone. These seizures were accompanied by behavioral convulsions. No tolerance to these seizures developed with repeated paired administration of morphine and naltrexone or in morphine tolerant rats, but rather potentiation was observed. The epileptogenic effects were found to be potentiated in amygdaloid kindled rats, as well. It was concluded that morphine at these doses activates two different epileptogenic mechanisms, one mediated by opiate receptors, the other not. The possibility of the simultaneous activation of a morphine sensitive anticonvulsant mechanism is discussed.