A wiki for the life sciences where authorship matters

WikiGenes is the first wiki system to combine the collaborative and largely altruistic possibilities of wikis with explicit authorship. In view of the extraordinary success of Wikipedia there remains no doubt about the potential of collaborative publishing, yet its adoption in science has been limited. Here I discuss a dynamic collaborative knowledge base for the life sciences that provides authors with due credit and that can evolve via continual revision and traditional peer review into a rigorous scientific tool.     

Effect ofd -amphetamine on the activity of single neurons of the cat's tectum opticum

Zusammenfassung d-Amphetamin (2–4 mg i.v.) verstärkt bei Neuronen des Tectum opticum der Katze die Reizantwort auf optische Bewegungsreize und vermindert oder beseitigt die während einer Reizfolge auftretende neuronale Adaptation.     

Activité protéosynthétique des glandes prothoraciques et titre d'ecdysone chez des larves permanentes deLocusta migratoria obtenues par irradiation sélective du tissu hématopoïétique

Summary The prothoracic glands of permanent fifth instar larvae ofLocusta migratoria (moulting blocked by selective X-ray treatment of the hemocytopoietic tissue) are in a state of high activity as evidenced by the rate of incorporation of a labelled amino-acid into the proteins synthesized in these glands. Such permanent larvae apparently synthesize no ecdysone nor ecdysterone.     

Juvenile hormone and reproduction in the cricket. II. Effect of rearing temperature on corpus allatum activity (in vitro) in adult females

Summary In the Mediterranean field cricket,Gryllus bimaculatus, reproduction is controlled by temperature and the corpus allatum (CA) hormone JH III. In CA of females reared at 24°12°C(168 h) (high reproduction rate) a first peak in JH III synthesis is reached about 4 days earlier than in those of 20°C females (low reproduction rate). Furthermore, in 20°C animals CA activity is low during the entire oviposition period, whereas at 24°12°C high CA activity is found during this period of adult life. The results indicate a stimulation of CA activity and reproduction by thermoperiods around a constant low temperature.Supported by the DFG (SFB 87 A 4).     

Targeted pharmacological depletion of serum amyloid P component for treatment of human amyloidosis

The normal plasma protein serum amyloid P component (SAP) binds to fibrils in all types of amyloid deposits, and contributes to the pathogenesis of amyloidosis. In order to intervene in this process we have developed a drug, R-1-[6-[R-2-carboxy-pyrrolidin-1-yl]-6-oxo-hexanoyl]pyrrolidine-2-carboxylic acid, that is a competitive inhibitor of SAP binding to amyloid fibrils. This palindromic compound also crosslinks and dimerizes SAP molecules, leading to their very rapid clearance by the liver, and thus produces a marked depletion of circulating human SAP. This mechanism of drug action potently removes SAP from human amyloid deposits in the tissues and may provide a new therapeutic approach to both systemic amyloidosis and diseases associated with local amyloid, including Alzheimer's disease and type 2 diabetes.     

« Codeless Scanning », ein neues Verfahren der automatischen Dokumentation

Summary Codeless Scanning is a new documentation system using exclusively plain language and precisely defined key-words for mechanical information retrieval. It can be applied over the whole range of science and enables the co-operation between different documentation departments.     

Blood-forming tissues in orthopteran insects: An analogue to vertebrate hemopoietic organs

Résumé Des cellules sanguines différenciées sont produites tout au long de la vic larvaire et imaginale des Insectes Orthoptères par des tissus hématopoïétiques spécialisés. Nos études morphologiques et expérimentales soulignent l'analogie que présentent ces tissus avec les organes hématopoïétiques des Vertébrés, à la fois sur le plan structural et sur la plan fonctionnel.     

Über den biologischen Abbau eines Glutarsäureimids

Summary In view of the therapeutic interest glutarimides have been found recently, the metabolism of -Phenyl--ethyl-glutarimide and 3-Phenyl-3-ethyl-2-piperidone have been studied by feeding experiments upon dogs. Both derivatives were degraded to -phenyl glutarimide, the ethyl side chain was thereby very probably eliminated by oxidation.