The Role of Herman Hoppe of Cincinnati in the Initial Clinical Recognition of Myasthenia Gravis

One of the earliest papers describing a case of what came to be known as myasthenia gravis was written in 1892 in the German language by an American, Herman Hoppe, who at the time was an assistant in the Berlin polyclinic of the prominent German neurologist, Hermann Oppenheim. At Oppenheim’s instigation, Hoppe published the pathology of a case that Oppenheim had diagnosed during life; he collected all the reported similar cases and tried to establish a symptom-complex, for which he was given credit in Oppenheim’s great neurology textbook of 1894. Upon his return to Cincinnati, Ohio, Hoppe’s European experience qualified him as a specialist in nervous and mental diseases. His private practice of “neuropsychiatry” was his main occupation, but he also volunteered to teach as Professor of Nervous and Mental Diseases at the University of Cincinnati. In 1901 Oppenheim published the first monograph about what he called “ Die Myasthenische Paralyse (Bulbarparalyse ohne anatomischen Befund) ”, summarizing 60 cases described in the medical literature up to that time. Hoppe, on the other hand, wrote on myasthenia gravis only once again, a review article in 1914 in a Cincinnati weekly, giving Oppenheim credit for the establishment of the disease as a clinical entity.     

Contribution of a snake venom toxin to myasthenia gravis: the discovery of alpha-bungarotoxin in Taiwan

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is now recognized as an autoimmune disorder in which antibodies to acetylcholine (ACh) receptor lead to impairment of neuromuscular transmission. The discovery of alpha-bungarotoxin by Chang and Lee in 1963 has played a crucial role in establishing the new concept of MG. However, isolation of bungarotoxins from the venom of Taiwan banded krait, Bungarus multicinctus, was accomplished in the poorly funded and under equipped laboratory of the Department of Pharmacology, National Taiwan University, during the post-WWII period of economic depression and research isolation. Because alpha-bungarotoxin binds specifically and irreversibly with the muscle type nicotinic ACh receptor, it was used to localize ACh receptor and to isolate the ACh receptor protein, opening up a new era of receptor studies. It was also used to produce an antibody to ACh receptor and eventually an experimental autoimmune model of MG and clinical confirmation. The discovery of alpha-bungarotoxin has been considered the most important contribution to neurosciences from Taiwan.     

The contribution of Dr. Mary Walker towards myasthenia gravis and periodic paralysis whilst working in poor law hospitals in London

Dr. Mary Walker discovered in 1934 that physostigmine and Prostigmin temporarily restored muscle function in patients with myasthenia gravis. In the next five years, Dr. Walker and colleagues provided clinical evidence for the weakness of myasthenia gravis being caused by a "disturbance of transmission of excitation from motor nerve to voluntary muscle presumably caused by a deficiency of acetylcholine. Physostigmine (or Prostigmin) compensated for the lack of acetylcholine by delaying its destruction." Dr. Walker and colleagues also described the association between familial periodic paralysis and hypokalaemia.     

大宛考古学文化初探

大宛 ,中亚古国名 ,首见于《史记·大宛列传》。目前学界普遍认为其所在地即今乌兹别克斯坦的费尔干纳盆地。该国自西汉以来 ,我国史书屡有记载 ,南北朝时名为洛那、破洛那 ,唐代名为宁远。该古国和历代的中原王朝均有着密切的联系。囿于材料所限 ,我国学界对其研究仅限于史学方面 ,目前还没有从考古学方面来认识大宛的研究性成果。近来笔者在撰写博士论文时 ,从苏联考古学者的发掘材料中发现了一种考古学文化 ,从其时代和分布地域来看 ,均与我国史书中记载的大宛相符。故而不揣冒昧 ,介绍如下 ,并稍作分析研究。望同行批评指正。一2 0世纪…     

The role of the crown in Hung parliaments

The article deals with the role of the Queen's representative when no one party or stable alliance has a majority in the lower house of parliament Two types of questions are likely to arise: one set of problems relates to the choice of government and the role of the ministry in office when an election produces a hung parliament; the second concerns the situations where a head of government who has suffered (or fears) defeat in the lower house requests a dissolution and new elections. The author examines precedents that have occurred since Evatt and Forsey wrote on the subject and proposes some guidelines for the exercise of the governor's reserve powers.     

The role of the sartoria in post-war Italy

This article aims to build on established scholarship by highlighting a little-studied area of fashion production, that of the regional Italian dressmaker. Using one woman's wardrobe as a lens through which to consider established patterns of consumption, this article examines the role of the sartoria or dressmaker in post-war Italy. After a brief discussion of the reputation and dynamics of the related but more exclusive Italian couture, the author defines the characteristics of clothing produced by Italy's regional, small-scale dressmakers and their importance within Italy's fashion system. The author draws conclusions based upon close examination of one woman's wardrobe, created by the Turin workshop Sartoria Grimaldi and now housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum's permanent collection. A selection of this wardrobe was researched and exhibited for the first time in 2014 within the Museum's major exhibition ‘The Glamour of Italian Fashion 1945–2014’.     

The role of waterways in the spread of the Neolithic

The causes and implications of the regional variations in the spread of the incipient agriculture in Europe remain poorly understood. We use population dynamics models to study the dispersal of the Neolithic in Europe from a localised area in the Near East, solving the two-dimensional reaction-diffusion equation on a spherical surface. We focus on the role of major river paths and coastlines in the advance of farming, to model the rapid advances of the Linear Pottery (LBK) and the Impressed Ware traditions along the Danube–Rhine corridor and the Mediterranean coastline, respectively. We argue that the random walk of individuals, which results in diffusion of the population, can be anisotropic in those areas and hence lead to an effective advection. The standard reaction-diffusion equation is thus supplemented with an advection term, confined to the proximity of major rivers and coastlines. The model allows for the spatial variation in both the human mobility (diffusivity) and the carrying capacity, reflecting the local altitude and latitude. This approach can easily be generalised to include other environmental factors, such as the bioproductivity of landscapes. Our model successfully accounts for the regional variations in the spread of the Neolithic, consistent with the radiocarbon data, and reproduces a time delay in the spread of farming to the Eastern Europe, Britain and Scandinavia.     

The politics of identity,recognition and multiculturalism: the Kurds in Turkey

The politics of identity and recognition regarding the Kurds in Turkey has gained momentum since 2002 but has never been implemented fully. The rightful critics emphasising the continuity of the State's authoritarian character, however, have not so far analysed if their own normative suggestions are theoretically consistent and sociologically grounded. Based on the Author's fieldwork and contemporary social surveys, this article shows that there are conflicting views within the Kurdish community about the forms that the politics of recognition could take. By exploring the conflicts of interest within the Kurdish community from a bottom‐up approach, the article concludes that the recognition of an authentic Kurdish identity is problematic sociologically. It is also more likely to harm than help the Kurds in the country from a normative perspective. The article explains how the quest for an authentic Kurdish political identity and attempts to generate it actually limit the individual autonomy and exacerbate the disparity between the Turks and the Kurds in the country.