37 38 The nervous system frequently integrates parallel streams of information to encode a 39 broad range of stimulus strengths. In mammalian retina it is generally believed that signals 40 generated by rod and cone photoreceptors converge onto cone bipolar cells prior to reaching the 41 retinal output, the ganglion cells. Near absolute visual threshold a specialized mammalian retinal 42 circui...

feedback training can lead to large and significant changes in alpha densities when conditions have lowered alpha density below the levels seen spontaneously under optimal conditions. Subjects can acquire volitional control over alpha activity only under conditions which normally lead to decreased densities. Thus, during the initial orientation in the dark, when subjects experiment, but are not...

Sin,?Mr. Hall, of the Royal Artillery, in the last number of the Gazette, calls attention to the use of strychnine as a substitute for quinine in the treatment of malarious fevers, and " has never yet met with any mention, in books, of this medicine having been given as a substitute for quinine." In the Year Book of the new Sydenham Society for 1862, at page 51, there will be found a record of ...

Cutaneous stimulation within the rostral scratch receptive field in a low spinal-immobilized turtle elicits a fictive rostral scratch reflex characterized by robust rhythmic motor output from ipsilateral hindlimb muscle nerves and weaker, alternating motor discharge in contralateral nerves. Simultaneous bilateral stimulation elicits bilateral rostral scratch motor patterns in which activity on ...

Some plants used in Unani system of medicine are toxic, even deadly poisonous. The drugs having such plants as their components are detoxified before they are dispensed to the patients. One such drug, capsule Hudar, has Strychnos nux-vomica L. (Azraqi) seeds as one of its components and is very effectively used to elevate blood pressure. Ancient manuscripts describe many methods of its detoxifi...

A 52-year-old male was discovered supine on his bed in a state of early decomposition. Commercial strychnine-treated gopher pellets were found in the home, and suicide notes were present at the scene. Biological fluids and tissues were tested for basic, acidic, and neutral drugs using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Concentrations of strychnine in heart and femoral blood were 0.96 and 0.3...

Toluene is one of the most widely used solvents. Electrophysiological studies indicated that this solvent directly affects various ligand gated ion channels including NMDA, GABA(A), nicotinic and glycine receptors. The effect of toluene on seizures induced by chemoconvulsants acting on these receptors was compared. Mice were pretreated with toluene (100-1000 mg/kg, i.p.) or corn oil followed by...

Brucine is the predominant alkaloid present in the bark of the tree Strychnos nux vomica and is a weaker alkaloid when compared to strychnine. However, its toxicological property is akin to strychnine. We report a rare case of brucine poisoning complicated by acute renal failure and rhabdomyolysis. A 24-year-old male presented with a history of consumption of a decoction made from the bark of t...

Motoneuron responses to the inhibitory amino acids glycine and GABA, and the contribution of inhibitory synapses to developing sensorimotor synapses were studied in rat spinal cords during the last week in utero. In differentiating motoneurons, glycine and GABA induced Cl(-)-dependent membrane depolarizations and large decreases in membrane resistance. These responses gradually decreased during...