bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Calculation of Splicing Potential from the Alternative Splicing Mutation Database
Authors: Bechtel Jason M , Rajesh Preeti , Ilikchyan Irina , Deng Ying , Mishra Pankaj K , Wang Qi , Wu Xiaochun , Afonin Kirill A , Grose William E , Wang Ye , Khuder Sadik , Fedorov Alexei
Published: August 2008

Background

The Alternative Splicing Mutation Database (ASMD) presents a collection of all known mutations inside human exons which affect splicing enhancers and silencers and cause changes in the alternative splicing pattern of the corresponding genes.

Findings

An algorithm was developed to derive a Splicing Potential (SP) table from the ASMD information. This table characterizes the influence of each oligonucleotide on the splicing effectiveness of the exon containing it. If the SP value for an oligonucleotide is positive, it promotes exon retention, while negative SP values mean the sequence favors exon skipping. The merit of the SP approach is the ability to separate splicing signals from a wide range of sequence motifs enriched in exonic sequences that are attributed to protein-coding properties and/or translation efficiency. Due to its direct derivation from observed splice site selection, SP has an advantage over other computational approaches for predicting alternative splicing.

Conclusion

We show that a vast majority of known exonic splicing enhancers have highly positive cumulative SP values, while known splicing silencers have core motifs with strongly negative cumulative SP values. Our approach allows for computation of the cumulative SP value of any sequence segment and, thus, gives researchers the ability to measure the possible contribution of any sequence to the pattern of splicing.
Whole genome amplification and its impact on CGH array profiles
Authors: Talseth-Palmer Bente A , Bowden Nikola A , Hill Alyssa , Meldrum Cliff , Scott Rodney J
Published: August 2008

Background

Some array comparative genomic hybridisation (array CGH) platforms require a minimum of micrograms of DNA for the generation of reliable and reproducible data. For studies where there are limited amounts of genetic material, whole genome amplification (WGA) is an attractive method for generating sufficient quantities of genomic material from miniscule amounts of starting material. A range of WGA methods are available and the multiple displacement amplification (MDA) approach has been shown to be highly accurate, although amplification bias has been reported. In the current study, WGA was used to amplify DNA extracted from whole blood. In total, six array CGH experiments were performed to investigate whether the use of whole genome amplified DNA (wgaDNA) produces reliable and reproducible results. Four experiments were conducted on amplified DNA compared to unamplified DNA and two experiments on unamplified DNA compared to unamplified DNA.

Findings

All the experiments involving wgaDNA resulted in a high proportion of losses and gains of genomic material. Previously, amplification bias has been overcome by using amplified DNA in both the test and reference DNA. Our data suggests that this approach may not be effective, as the gains and losses introduced by WGA appears to be random and are not reproducible between different experiments using the same DNA.

Conclusion

In light of these findings, the use of both amplified test and reference DNA on CGH arrays may not provide an accurate representation of copy number variation in the DNA.
Conservation of CD44 exon v3 functional elements in mammals
Authors: Vela Elena , Hilari Josep M , Delclaux María , Fernández-Bellon Hugo , Isamat Marcos
Published: August 2008

Background

The human CD44 gene contains 10 variable exons (v1 to v10) that can be alternatively spliced to generate hundreds of different CD44 protein isoforms. Human CD44 variable exon v3 inclusion in the final mRNA depends on a multisite bipartite splicing enhancer located within the exon itself, which we have recently described, and provides the protein domain responsible for growth factor binding to CD44.

Findings

We have analyzed the sequence of CD44v3 in 95 mammalian species to report high conservation levels for both its splicing regulatory elements (the 3' splice site and the exonic splicing enhancer), and the functional glycosaminglycan binding site coded by v3. We also report the functional expression of CD44v3 isoforms in peripheral blood cells of different mammalian taxa with both consensus and variant v3 sequences.

Conclusion

CD44v3 mammalian sequences maintain all functional splicing regulatory elements as well as the GAG binding site with the same relative positions and sequence identity previously described during alternative splicing of human CD44. The sequence within the GAG attachment site, which in turn contains the Y motif of the exonic splicing enhancer, is more conserved relative to the rest of exon. Amplification of CD44v3 sequence from mammalian species but not from birds, fish or reptiles, may lead to classify CD44v3 as an exclusive mammalian gene trait.
Dark Aberrant Crypt Foci with activated Wnt pathway are related to tumorigenesis in the colon of AOM-treated rat
Authors: Lu Qing , Jiang Bo , Lin Chen , Shan Tao
Published: August 2008

Background

To evaluate the relationship between Aberrant Crypt Foci (ACF) and tumorigenesis, we observed the sequential development from ACF to tumor in the colon of azoxymethane-exposed wistar rats.

Methods

Sixty wistar rats were sacrificed at different time points after exposure to azoxymethane and the colons were stained with methylene blue for stereomicroscopic analysis.

Results

We found two types of early lesions: classic ACF and dark ACF. Dark ACF were characterized by dark blue staining, mildly enlarged or small compressed crypts that are not elevated from the surrounding epithelium. Large dark ACF and nascent tumors displayed the same surface morphology. Furthermore, dark ACF grew significantly faster than classic ACF and showed dysplasia without hyperplasia. In contrast, classic ACF showed hyperplasia without dysplasia. Dark ACF has significant higher expression rate of β-catenin (100%) and MMP-7 (81.82%) compared with the expression of β-catenin and MMP-7 in classic ACF (4.84% and 7.87%, respectively).

Conclusion

Our data indicated that dark ACF is closely related to tumorigenesis while classic ACF is not. Furthermore, Wnt signal pathway was activated during the early period of dark ACF.
Combined milrinone and enteral metoprolol therapy in patients with septic myocardial depression
Authors: Schmittinger Christian A , Dünser Martin W , Haller Maria , Ulmer Hanno , Luckner Günter , Torgersen Christian , Jochberger Stefan , Hasibeder Walter R
Published: August 2008

Introduction

The multifactorial etiology of septic cardiomyopathy is not fully elucidated. Recently, high catecholamine levels have been suggested to contribute to impaired myocardial function.

Methods

This retrospective analysis summarizes our preliminary clinical experience with the combined use of milrinone and enteral metoprolol therapy in 40 patients with septic shock and cardiac depression. Patients with other causes of shock or cardiac failure, patients with beta-blocker therapy initiated more than 48 hours after shock onset, and patients with pre-existent decompensated congestive heart failure were excluded. In all study patients, beta blockers were initiated only after stabilization of cardiovascular function (17.7 ± 15.5 hours after shock onset or intensive care unit admission) in order to decrease the heart rate to less than 95 beats per minute (bpm). Hemodynamic data and laboratory parameters were extracted from medical charts and documented before and 6, 12, 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours after the first metoprolol dosage. Adverse cardiovascular events were documented. Descriptive statistical methods and a linear mixed-effects model were used for statistical analysis.

Results

Heart rate control (65 to 95 bpm) was achieved in 97.5% of patients (n = 39) within 12.2 ± 12.4 hours. Heart rate, central venous pressure, and norepinephrine, arginine vasopressin, and milrinone dosages decreased (all P < 0.001). Cardiac index and cardiac power index remained unchanged whereas stroke volume index increased (P = 0.002). In two patients (5%), metoprolol was discontinued because of asymptomatic bradycardia. Norepinephrine and milrinone dosages were increased in nine (22.5%) and six (15%) patients, respectively. pH increased (P < 0.001) whereas arterial lactate (P < 0.001), serum C-reactive protein (P = 0.001), and creatinine (P = 0.02) levels decreased during the observation period. Twenty-eight-day mortality was 33%.

Conclusion

Low doses of enteral metoprolol in combination with phosphodiesterase inhibitors are feasible in patients with septic shock and cardiac depression but no overt heart failure. Future prospective controlled trials on the use of beta blockers for septic cardiomyopathy and their influence on proinflammatory cytokines are warranted.
On Hereditary Insanity
Authors: Stewart Hugh Grainger
Published: August 2008

The hereditary transmission of disease, or of a tendency to it, has of late attracted more attention than it formerly did, and medical literature has been enriched by many able and learned disquisitions on the subject. Its importance seems to be generally appreciated, to a certain extent, but not to so great an extent, as a more perfect knowledge of its operation, and the vastness of its influence, would justify. From Burton's ’Anatomy of Melancholy’ may be quoted many passages by ancient writers, showing a lively appreciation of the fact of hereditary transmission, especially of disease. Fernelius says, “Such as the temperature of the father is, such is the son's, and, look, what disease the father had when he begot him, his son will have after him, and is as well the inheritor of his infirmities as of his lands.” “And where the complexion and constitution of the father is corrupt, then,” saith Roger Bacon, “the complexion and constitution of the son must needs be corrupt, and so the corruption is derived from the father to the son.” Burton also quotes passages from Hippocrates, Buxtorfius, Lemnius, Paracelsus, Crato, Bruno Seidelius, Daniel Sennertus, Forestus, Rodericus a Fonseca, Lodovicus Mercatus, and many others, referring to hereditary transmission, or the transmission of melancholy. The last mentioned wrote a book on the subject, ‘De Morbis Hereditariis,’ and therein first notices what is now called atavism. “It skips, in some families, the father and goes to the son, or takes every other, and sometimes every third, in a lineal descent, and doth not always produce the same, but some like, and a symbolising disease.” This last remark is of importance, as anticipating a fundamental principle in modern investigations into the subject. Burton himself highly estimates the importance and power of hereditary transmission, when he says, “These secondary causes, hence derived, are commonly so powerful that (as Wolphius holds) they do often alter the primary causes and decrees of the heavens.” This most learned and far-seeing author mentions facts, and hints at conclusions which are only now being understood and arrived at, and shows that an appreciation of the truth of hereditary transmission had formed the basis of laws forbidding the marriage between persons in any whit allied, and of those stern and implacable decrees, which, among certain Indian tribes, and even in Scotland, at an early period, necessitated the destruction of those that suffered from madness, gout, falling sickness, or any such dangerous diseases.
An Oasis in the Desert of German Restraint
Authors: Mundy Baron
Published: August 2008

Dr. Ludwig Meyer, of Hamburg, has had the courage to defend the non-restraint system in Germany, and also himself to practise it in the Hamburg Asylum with the best success. It is true that Dr. Meyer had previously visited England, and examined with careful eyes, impartial goodwill, and practical mind, the non-restraint system. Why do not such physicians as Casimir Pinel of Paris, Renaudin of Mareville, Dick of Klingmünster, Neumann of Pöpelwitz, and Erlenmayer of Coblenz, visit England also, and with the same honest intentions as Meyer, study a system which has been practised here for more than twenty years amongst a population of insane amounting to 50,000 patients? It must be a messing to suffering humanity and a disgrace to those who have the boldness not only to assert that they do not comprehend these facts, but also to call the system an English swindle, to hear the voice of Dr. L. Meyer in the Desert of German Restraint.
The Present State and Future Prospects of Psychological Medicine; an Address
Authors: Le Morel M.
Published: August 2008

Considering the present state of Psychological Medicine, there are certainly few of us who may not be well satisfied. No one would have believed fifty years ago that in our day so many magnificent establishments should have been created throughout Europe. The legal position of these unfortunate persons has been secured; the abolition of the strait-jacket in English asylums has been accomplished;—results long before attempted by Pinel, Esquirol, Daguin, Tuke, Langerman, and by other reformers in mental science.
Suggestions for a Cottage Asylum. (With Plans)
Authors: Toller E.
Published: August 2008

My attention to the cottage system for the accommodation of chronic lunatics was revived soon after my appointment to the Gloucester County Asylum, by my finding that institution in a crowded condition; and although it possessed one cottage which answered well, there were no means of increased accommodation. The visiting magistrates of the asylum personally inspected the different workhouses belonging to the several unions in the county, and reported that they were not in a fit condition to receive harmless and chronic cases. Upon this, I addressed several questions to my brother superintendents, in order that I might have their opinions as to the best means to be provided for receiving the increased numbers that annually come to the portals of the county asylum for admission. I felt considerable diffidence in giving my opinion in favour of any innovation which had for its object the important plan of an altered system for the provision and treatment of any of the insane poor, or the so-called “chronic and harmless” lunatics. I have since then given the subject considerable thought and attention, the result of which has been to convince me that the cottage plan for asylums is the best means for the provision and treatment of the insane, as well as for relieving the present overcrowded condition of some of the county lunatic asylums. Previous to laying my plans and observations before the members of the association, I would take this the earliest opportunity that has arisen of acknowledging the kind and ready way in which so many of the members replied to the questions which I sent to them in reference to this subject.
On the Weight of the Brain, and on the Circumstances affecting it
Authors: Thurnam John
Published: August 2008

The weight of the brain in insane persons has been investigated by Dr. Parchappe in France, Dr. Bergmann in Germany, and on a larger scale, by Dr. Boyd in this country.∗ Further observations, however, were, for many reasons, to be desired; and having during many years past either weighed myself, or caused to be weighed, the brain of nearly every patient who has died whilst under my care, I ventured to think the large series of observations thus obtained, and which amount to 470 cases, were worthy of being collected, analysed, and compared with the weights recorded by previous observers.
Introductory Lecture to a Course on Psychiatry, Delivered at the Imperial Joseph Academy in Vienna, November, 1866
Authors: Mundy Baron J.
Published: August 2008

Upon the noble ship of medicine, which sails proudly on the ocean of knowledge, decked out with gay and varied flags, there floats, my honoured friends and colleagues, one banner inscribed with the word “Psychiatry.” It is, I might almost say, the last one added and the lowest in position. For although in the future we may hope that it will be uplifted higher, and acquire more and more prestige, so as probably at length to range itself on a level with its auxiliary sciences, with pathological anatomy, physiology, and practical medicine, and with other specialities of this last, as a worthy equal with them, yet, alas! this happy event is not yet realised! Still, my friends, we must feel impelled to advance further and fur ther along the new road that we have entered upon-that practical and positive path whereby alone we can attain to that goal at which we aim, the goal of truth and perfection. And, in fact, my friends, if I to-day, in this introductory discourse, do not unveil before you the dreary picture of the past in respect to this science of psychiatry–if I withdraw from memory all those dark deeds and barbarities that prevailed of old, and gladly let oblivion cover them, it is with the view that I may do homage to progress, and thereby place myself in harmony with you; for the purport of our inquiry into this science of psychiatry is, to find not what was, but what is, and still more what shall be, and what shall be for the better, and at the same time to investigate and advance it. In considering to-day the principles (stand-point) of this science, I shall therefore, first of all, take up that division which is known as clinical psychiatry.
The Non-Restraint System in the Treatment of a “Certain Class of Destructive Patients.”
Authors: Williams S. W. D.
Published: August 2008

In the April number of the ‘Journal of Mental Science,’ the editors append a foot-note to a paper by Dr. Edgar Sheppard,∗ asking from some members of the Association the results of their experience in the treatment of the troublesome class of patients referred to in that paper, and at the same time recording their dissent from the opinions expressed by the author. Moreover, at the end of his paper Dr. Sheppard writes:-
The Velocity of Nerve-Force
Authors: J. R. G.
Published: August 2008

The nerve-current which transmits sensations to the brain, and the orders of the will to the extremities of the body, requires a certain time to travel in. Impressions coming from without are not perceived at the instant they are produced, they travel along the nerves at the rate of 20 to 30 métres (25 to 40 yards) in a second, which is the same speed as that of the carrier pigeon, of a hurricane, or of a locomotive engine at its quickest, but very much less than that of a cannon ball. For instance, we can only be conscious of an injury to one of our feet about one twentieth of a second after it has actually occurred, and the commands of the will proceed equally lowly from the centre to the peripheries of the nervous system. In he human body the time thus occupied is unimportant, but let us take the case of a whale, where the telegraphic network of the nervous system is far more extensive. A boat attacks the whale, and a harpoon is driven into its tail. The impression thus produced has totravel over some forty yards before reaching the head-quarters of the will; a second is thus lost. How long a time is then required for reflection? That must depend upon circumstances; but at any rate it is certain that the will has need of some definite amount of time for its decision. The order to capsize the boat is despatched to the tail, but another second must elapse before the telegram reaches its destination, and in the time thus employed the whaling boat has pulled off and escaped the danger.
Suggestions for rendering Medico-Mental Science available to the better Administration of Justice and the more effectual Prevention of Lunacy and Crime
Authors: Laycock T.
Published: August 2008

That medico-mental science is often at variance with the doctrines and decisions of the courts of law is a fact too well known and too generally admitted to need formal proof. It is almost as generally assumed that the scandalous failures of justice, which too often result, must be attributed to the defective education and knowledge of the profession. It is alleged that, as a body, we are for the most part ignorant and theoretical in matters relating to insanity, and if not ignorant, then presuming, and often using the little knowledge we possess, rather with the intent to rescue thieves and murderers from the legal consequences of their crimes than to help the administration of justice. It is certainly a fact which many of us lament that the corporate bodies of the profession generally, including the general medical council, ignore the subject as a distinct department of medical education; and consequently medical practitioners, not being duly trained, do sometimes appear to great disadvantage in courts of law. Medical shortcomings are not, however, the subject of my paper, but certain fundamental defects in the principles and procedures of the law which render medico-mental science sometimes even worse than useless, and always less useful to the commonweal than it might be, if rightly adapted to the needs of modern society. Nor would it be difficult to show that some of the crime and folly which occupies our courts and fills our reformatories, prisons, workhouses, and lunatic asylums, is capable of prevention by a well-devised use of medico-mental science. As these matters are wholly beyond the powers of the profession, I shall ask leave to move at the close of the discussion that a committee be appointed, with power to take such steps as may be thought necessary to secure a thorough inquiry by the Government into the relations of medical science to the administration of the law in regard to all persons mentally disordered or defective, with a view to such improvements as may be practicable.
On Aphasia, or Loss of Speech in Cerebral Disease
Authors: Bateman Frederic
Published: August 2008

In the preceding papers I have endeavoured to review what is at present known of the clinical history of aphasia; having first ventured critically to analyse a certain number of cases recorded by independent observers in various parts of the world, I have then minutely detailed several cases which I have myself had the opportunity of personally watching.
Public Asylum Statistics
Authors: Phillips Charles Palmer
Published: August 2008

The following important circular has been issued to the Superintendents of the Public Asylums by the Commissioners in Lunacy:—
A Pathological Classification of Mental Disease
Authors: Tuke J. Batty
Published: August 2008

Nothing which has been written of late years so fully demonstrates the fact that Insanity is not regarded by the profession at large as a somatic disease, as the book intituled “The Nomenclature of Diseases, drawn up by a Joint Committee appointed by the Royal College of Physicians of London.” This work has been forwarded to every member of the medical profession in Great Britain and Ireland by the authority of the Registrar-General, and contains a list of some nine hundred diseases, a large assortment of poisons, and fifty-seven pages of accidents and malformations under which the British public is authorised to suffer or die. The mind of the Briton, however, is authorised to suffer from only six “Disorders of the Intellect;” the idea of disease as connected with madness is studiously ignored. On what principle the differentiation between a disease and a disorder is founded, or on what system of pathology the distinction is based, it is difficult to say; still, there the opinion stands expressed by very high authority, that Insanity is not a disease of the body, merely a disorder of the intellect.
On the Method of the Study of Mind
Authors: Browne J. H. Balfour
Published: August 2008

Many people buy things merely because they are cheap. No actual necessity dictated the purchase of the commodity, but “only 3s. 9d.” was irresistible! “If it is not useful now, it may be by-and-bye, besides Mrs. B—— has one,” is a sufficient argument to set off against that of economy, which would have us, as far as possible, gratify the demands of choice, but not create wants by the existence of supply. Now there is a somewhat similar tendency in mental economy. Subjects “made easy” are the snare of our nineteenth century enlightenment. Table-talk is a sign of our times! These are the days of wide spread but thin spread education. We must all know a little of everything. We must be able to converse rationally upon any subject, land tenure or ladies' gloves! and it consequently becomes a matter of some importance to have subjects “made easy.” We wish to get into the bowels of a science as we do into the bowels of a country, by train! Well, just as three and nine, and the fact that Mrs. B—— has one, tempted the purchase of the useless article, so the “made easy” and the small talk of a neighbour at dinner tempt to the acquisition of some very useless knowledge. And as it is true that purchases which are dictated by vanity and not by need do harm in trade, so do acquisitions of useless table-talk facts do harm in science. If a science is to have fair play, it is well for it if it does not become popular. Goethe somewhere says that when a man does a great thing the world seems to enter into a conspiracy to prevent him doing it again. It dines him and cheers him till he dies. He has only time to bow! So a science that is thought to have done some great thing becomes popular, and it is likely enough to die while the cheering lasts. A popular science, one that is “made easy,” is not likely to have much vitality in it. The intension of a science is in the inverse ratio to the extension.
The Good Old Times!
Authors: D. H. T.
Published: August 2008

At the present time, when several deeply to be lamented abuses in asylums for the insane have come to light, and have produced something like a reaction in favour of the old regime, the following unpublished letter, written by the late Godfrey Higgins, Esq., may serve to prove that the moral tone of our asylums was nearly as low then as now! I would especially commend it to the attention of the past-admiring editor of the “Pall Mall Gazette.”
Obituary
Authors: Meyer John , Meyer John
Published: August 2008

On May 9th, John Meyer, M.D. Heidelberg, F.R.C.P. Lond., Superintendent of Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum. Dr. Meyer was born in the year 1814, at Norwood, near London. He studied medicine at Heidelberg, where he graduated M.D. in 1886, and after a short residence in England, he left this country for Australia. In 1844 he was appointed Colonial Surgeon, and shortly after this he was placed in charge of the Hospital and Convict Lunatic Asylum at New Norfolk, in Tasmania. Returning to England on leave of absence during the Crimean war he was employed by the Government on matters connected with the hospital arrangements necessitated by that war, and eventually he was placed in charge of the Civil Hospital established in Smyrna, where he remained until the conclusion of hostilities. In 1858 he was appointed Chief Resident Physician of the Surrey County Lunatic Asylum, and on the establishment of the Criminal Asylum at Broadmoor, he was in 1862 appointed its superintendent. In the spring of 1866 he received from a patient a severe injury over the left temple, and from the effects of this injury he never completely rallied. A rapid journey on May 3rd to the West of England, undertaken at a moment's notice, in consequence of the sudden illness of a near relative, still further enfeebled a constitution already much shaken Symptoms which were considered to be the precursors of an attack of fever shewed themselves on the day after this journey, and although on Saturday, May 7th, the attempt to return home was made, Dr. Meyer was unable to proceed farther than Exeter. There he received the kindest attention from Dr. Drake and Mr. Cumming, of that city, but throughout Sunday life slowly ebbed, and on Monday morning, May 9th, far away from home and family, he breathed his last.
Clinical Instruction in Insanity
Authors: Sibbald John
Published: August 2008

At the meeting of members of the Medico-Psychological Association which took place last November, in Edinburgh, a resolution was passed expressing “a strong opinion as to the necessity of making clinical teaching in insanity imperative in every medical curriculum.” It was agreed that it would not be wise on our part, as an association, to specify the details of those measures, which we hoped the various medical schools might feel disposed to take in furtherance of this object. But it is evidently the special duty of members of this association to consider the subject carefully in every detail, and to be prepared to give a mature opinion upon it.
Illustrations of the Influence of the Mind upon the Body in Health and Disease, with especial reference to the Imagination
Authors: Tuke Daniel H.
Published: August 2008

Under the present section it remains to consider the influence of the emotions in inducing hydrophobia, tetanus, and catalepsy.
The Temperature in General Paralysis of the Insane
Authors: Mickle W. Julius
Published: August 2008

The thermometrical observations made for a considerable period of time in a number of selected cases of general paralysis of the insane, form the subject of this paper. In all of them, the pulse and respiration associated with each temperature is added to make the observations more complete. The cases chosen exhibit a considerable variety in etiology, in duration, in degree and rate of progression of the motor symptoms, and also in the phases and forms of concurrent mental disorder.
Illustrations of the Influence of the Mind upon the Body in Health and Disease, with especial reference to the Imagination
Authors: Tuke Daniel H.
Published: August 2008

Before proceeding to illustrate these several states, we wish to refer to the term Imagination, which, in its various significations, is directly or indirectly concerned with the greater part of the phenomena comprised under the Influence of the Mind upon the Body.
1. German Retrospect
Authors: Ireland W. W.
Published: August 2008

I have received the following periodicals, of whose contents a résumé is given:—
Case of Mental Excitement during the Secondary Stage of Syphilis
Authors: Cadell Francis
Published: August 2008

The subject of this case is a gentleman, 48 years of age, who contracted an infecting chancre in January, 1870. Nothing of any note occurred until the month of April, when a squamous syphilide made its appearance, and at the same time marked mental excitement came on, with an extreme amount of restlessness. This mental condition reached its height during August and September, almost amounting to delirium. The patient took almost no rest in bed, and was in the habit of riding and driving about recklessly during the night. Towards the end of October the excitement began to diminish until, in December, nothing remained to remind one of the dangerous mental condition the patient suffered from five months before. At this time all trace of the secondary syphilide had disappeared.
St. Luke's Hospital for Lunatics
Authors: J. C. B.
Published: August 2008

We have before us several papers and documents referring to this well-known hospital for the insane. Those who have paid the attention they deserve to the annual reports of the Commissioners in Lunacy will remember that, year by year, the site, the building, the internal arrangements, and the management of this institution, have been therein the subjects of censure and of earnest remonstrance, which the governors of the institution appear to have borne with remarkable equanimity, or perhaps more truly, with stolid apathy. In the earlier reports, the Commissioners put their recommendations in the mildest possible form; for instance, in June 1852, they suggest that “perhaps the governors may be disposed to consider favorably the hiring some land, &c.,” but during the past year, in which they visited the hospital twice, the Commissioners speak much more decidedly, “they regret very much to find that their suggestions have not been carried out, it is painful to them to revert so often to the various defects of the institution;” “the temperature of the galleries was much below what is usual in establishments of this nature; in the male wards being as low as 33° on February 29th, 1855; the extreme coldness of the hospital, together with the entire absence of furniture, presented a very bare and cheerless appearance, the means of occupation and amusement appear to be very scanty, &c.” We quote at length the report of the special inspection made by the noble Chairman of the Board, and two of the Visiting Commissioners.
Do the Public Asylums of England, as at present constructed, afford the greatest facilities for the care and treatment of the Insane?
Authors: Sankey W. H. O.
Published: August 2008

The treatment of insanity may be said to resemble more a long-continued siege than a vigorous warfare. It is not by action and measures, and certainly not by certain formulæ of medicinal agents that we can hope to make any progress against the disease; not that it is less the province of the medical practitioner to direct the treatment, whatever the means adopted: the progress of the malady has to be watched, and the means of cure varied as circumstances arise. But it is not a well-furnished dispensary, or a large assortment of drugs with which he has to be supplied, his agents are rather careful nursing, wholesome diet, regular employments, diversified amusements, cheerful dwelling, personal cleanliness, and such like; these constitute his materia medica, and these he should have at his command at all times.
The President's Address
Authors: Rogers Thomas Lawes
Published: August 2008

Gentlemen,—In assuming the honourable position to which, by your kindness, I have been elected, I must thank you sincerely for the confidence you have placed in me; at the same time I can assure you honestly that, so far from having sought this distinction, only the feeling that one ought not to shrink from any duty to which one is called by one's professional brethren, has induced me to accept it. Looking back upon the many distinguished names who have preceded me in this office, I may well feel some diffidence in addressing you.
On some Common Misapprehensions as to the Curability of the Admissions of County Asylums
Authors: Chapman T. Algernon
Published: August 2008

It has long been well-known that the curability of cases of insanity diminishes rapidly as the duration of the disease increases. In this respect it follows a parallel course to all other diseases, and indeed to every other evil under the sun. I do not propose in any way to object to this fact, or to dispute the accepted measure of the relation between duration and curability. The object I have in view is to call attention to one or two very grave fallacies of almost equally wide acceptance in the supposed application of this well-known relation. One meets everywhere with the statement that a large proportion of the patients sent to our County Asylums suffer from mental disorder of considerable duration, say over twelvemonths—so far true—but it is added that these cases ought to have been sent to the asylums when recent, in which case a large proportion of them would have recovered, and the accumulation of chronic cases in asylums would be largely or completely checked. All this sounds very logical, but as I propose to show, it is quite untrue, and to those who are well acquainted with the fact, must be so obviously incorrect, that one is surprised to meet this statement in various forms in a very large proportion of the reports of Medical Superintendents of Asylums, in Medical Journals, and elsewhere; nor do I recollect seeing anywhere a hint as to the erroneous use of statistics on which it rests. I cannot, perhaps, give a better view of the remarkable and erroneous opinions to which this error leads than by giving in full a recent instance from a leading Medical Journal of the deductions drawn from it.
On some Indications for the use of Digitalis in Acute Mental Disorders
Authors: Mackenzie G. Hunter
Published: August 2008

In the following brief contribution it is proposed to bring under notice a class of cases of mental disorder in which digitalis has been administered in this asylum with marked apparent benefit, and to deduce from them a few indications for its successful employment. This is not inclusive of instances of insanity complicated with, or dependent on, heart or other physical disease, in which ordinary medical experience has shown digitalis to be of great service as a therapeutic agent.
On Thought without Words, and the Relation of Words to Thought
Authors: Ireland William W.
Published: August 2008

The condition of uneducated deaf mutes often nearly approaches that of a being destitute of language. It is true that even if they are not taught signs they contrive a few of their own invention; but these signs are of a very simple kind, and neither fitted nor intended to express any abstract notions, so that the deaf and dumb are in a much worse condition for obtaining knowledge than the blind. The deaf mute sees everything, but understands nothing; whereas in using the senses still remaining to him the blind man is guided by the words of others into true interpretations. We thus find that the deaf and dumb in the narrow circle of their own cogitations are in a very benighted condition, but it would be absurd to say that they do not possess or exercise reason. After they have become educated and are able to communicate by signs or writing, deaf mutes sometimes detail what they remember of the bounded state of their intellect before being sent to school. They record accidents and events which have made an impression on their mind; but it is clear that their speculations upon the nature and causes of things have never gone below the surface. In the Reports of the American Asylum at Hartford, there are a number of answers to questions put with a view to find out what were the thoughts of uneducated deaf mutes. One of them when asked, What did you formerly think when you saw a person die ? replied that he thought “he was deceiving the people, and that he would rise up.” He thought that “a man that was died was buried alive, and wondered that he did not rise from the dead in a few days.” Other deaf mutes by observing that the dead bodies of animals rotted away, arrived at a nearer idea of death. They rarely thought that they would die themselves, and an existence beyond the grave occurred to none. Many attended public worship for years without knowing what was the object of it.
Contribution to the Study of the Death-rate of Persons in Asylums
Authors: Mitchell Arthur
Published: August 2008

In the population of Scotch Asylums, there are so few persons below the age of 10 years that, for practical purposes, it may be correctly said there are none. of the general community, on the other hand, 25·6 per cent. are persons below that age. It is clear, therefore, that the death-rate of the population of asylums cannot properly be compared with the death-rate of the general population. To make such a comparison it is necessary to deal only with the deaths occurring among the 74·4 per cent. of the general community who are above the age of 10 years. When this is done, it appears that the mean annual death-rate for the general population is 1·7 per cent. as compared with 8·3 per cent. for the population of asylums. These figures refer to the whole population of asylums, and to the whole of the general population above the age of 10 years; but in order to show the rates at which persons of different ages die in asylums, and the rates at which persons of corresponding ages die in the general community, the following table has been prepared. It is founded on 3,800 deaths occurring during the seven years, 1870–1876, in the Asylums of Scotland, which had a mean population of 6,421 during those years.
Two Visits to the Cairo Asylum, 1877 and 1878
Authors: Tuke William Samuel
Published: August 2008

In one visit to an asylum, during which all conversation has to be carried on through the medium of a dragoman, it is not easy, however intelligent he may be, to gain all the facts which one desires bearing on the many questions which arise in reference to the insane in a land placed under such different conditions from our own, as is Egypt. Hence no further excuse is needed for the insufficiency of my observations on the Cairo Asylum, which I visited on Dec. 11, 1878.
Five Years of Statistics
Authors: Deas P. Maury
Published: August 2008

The object which I propose to myself in this paper is twofold. The first is to lay before you briefly the general statistical results of five years, in regard to those who have been sent for treatment from the districts of Cheshire, to which the asylum is allotted; and the second is to give the results of some further experience, as bearing on the question of “Local Differences in the Distribution of Insanity,” of which I adduced some illustrations in my Annual Report for 1873, and which were subsequently published in a separate form in the “Journal of Mental Science” for April, 1875.
Case of Paralytic Idiocy with Right-sided Hemiplegia; Epilepsy; Atrophy with Sclerosis of the Left Hemisphere of the Cerebrum and of the Right Lobe of the Cerebellum
Authors: Major Herbert C.
Published: August 2008

Mary Ann C., æt. 23; single; was admitted into the West Riding Asylum on the 26th February, 1864. The patient had been previously an inmate of a Workhouse, but had to be removed from thence in consequence of her violent tendencies. It was stated that she was imbecile, and suffered from epileptic fits. No definite history or facts as to parentage and condition at birth were ascertained.
An Asylum, or Hospital-Home, for Two Hundred Patients: constructed on the principle of adaptation of various parts of the house to varied needs and mental states of inhabitants; with Plans, &c
Authors: Clouston T. S.
Published: August 2008

Principles of Construction, etc.—I think I am justified by modern Scotch and English experience, as well as by my own, in laying down the following principles for the construction of an asylum for the insane, accommodating two hundred patients, and suitable for every class of the population, which, I understand, is an essential element in the solution of this problem in America.
The Chemical Constitution of Cerebrine
Authors: Geoghegan Edward G.
Published: August 2008

To judge from the sparse literature of the subject, cerebrine has not often been chemically studied. The first work of any importance was done by W. Müller. Müller obtained the body, which he called “Cerebrine,” free from phosphorus by digesting the brain with baryta-water. He also analysed it, and proposed the formula, C34 H33 NO6.
The Conditions Necessary for the Successful Training of the Imbecile
Authors: Brodie David
Published: August 2008

The education of the imbecile is an enterprise the inception of which dates from a very recent period. The generation has not yet passed away, which frankly insinuated that the idea of teaching the idiot could only enter the brain of one somewhat closely related to the class. It is now everywhere recognised as an important and imperative duty which cannot be neglected without shame and loss; yet for efficient practical effort, it is still but the day of small things.
On Hypertrophy of the Brain in Imbeciles
Authors: Beach Fletcher
Published: August 2008

Hypertrophy of the Brain is a comparatively rare disease, and has attracted little notice in England. Laennec first drew attention to its occurrence in children, and to its similarity to chronic hydrocephalus in many of its symptoms, and the likelihood of its being mistaken for it. The cause of the disease is obscure. Brunet defines it “as an increase in the weight of the organ due to a disorder of nutrition, leading to an alteration in the nervous “substance.” The process is not one of mere increased growth, but the nutrition of the organ is modified in character as well as increased in activity. According to Rokitansky the augmented bulk is not produced by the development of new fibrils, or by the enlargement of those already existing, but by an increase in the intermediate granular matter, most probably due to an albuminoid infiltration of that structure. My own observations lead me also to the opinion that the disease, as seen in imbeciles, is due to an increase in what appears to be granular matter, for in some sections, which I have in my possession, this is seen. The change is accompanied by an increase in the number of the blood vessels, and the presence of a large number of leucocytes. Andral states that in two post-mortems made by himself, the white matter resembled the white of egg hardened by boiling. In one post-mortem only have I noticed any peculiarity in the white matter, and in that case I find I have recorded that it was of a “peculiar whiteness.” The parts affected are chiefly the white matter of the two hemispheres, sometimes the corpus striatum and optic thalamus, rarely the pons and cerebellum. MM. d'Espine and Picot consider the affection to be a congenital one, and in this opinion I concur. They hold, however, that imbecility only results when hypertrophy of the brain is accompanied by sclerosis. My experience does not lead me to this opinion, for in none of the seven post-mortems which I have made was sclerosis present. Brunet, too, describes two cases of hypertrophy of the brain without sclerosis which he has seen in idiots. Both d'Espine and Picot and Brunet describe two forms of the disease; in the one the hypertrophy is simple, in the other accompanied by sclerosis. The principal symptoms are headache, at times intensified, excitement followed by coma, blunting or arrest of development of the intelligence, difficulty in walking, and convulsions. The symptoms are said to be less marked in children than adults, because the brain is less compressed, the cranial cavity increasing in size as the brain enlarges. I proceed to relate particulars of some cases which have come under my observation.
Criminal Insane in Ceylon
Authors: Plaxton J. W.
Published: August 2008

“He that is strongly of any opinion must suppose (unless he be self-condemned) that his persuasion is built on good grounds, and that his assent is no greater than what the evidence of the truth he holds forces him to, and that they are arguments and not inclination or fancy that make him so positive in his tenets. Now, if after all his profession he cannot bear any opposition to his opinion, if he cannot so much as give a patient hearing, much less examine and weigh the arguments on the other side, does he not plainly confess it is prejudice governs him?”

John Locke
The Means of Determining Causation in Insanity
Authors: Huggard William K.
Published: August 2008

At the last meeting of this Association, it was seen that great discrepancy of opinion existed as to the value of tables of causation in insanity. On the one hand they were regarded as of the first importance; and on this ground a plea was put forward for unanimity in the mode of tabulation. On the other hand they were looked on as worthless, or almost so; and some applause followed when they were characterised as rubbish heaps.