Natural History and Information Overload: the Case of Linnaeus

Copyright © 2012 Elsevier. NOTICE: This is the author’s version of a work accepted for publication by Elsevier. Changes resulting from the publishing process, including peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting and other quality control mechanisms, may not be reflected in this document.Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, DOI: 10.1016/j.shpsc.2011.10.021Natural History can be seen as a discipline paradigmatically engaged in ‘data-driven research.’ Historians of early modern science have begun to emphasize its crucial role in the Scientific Revolution, and some observers of present day genomics see it as engaged in a return to natural history practices. A key concept that was developed to understand the dynamics of early modern natural history is that of ‘information overload.’ Taxonomic systems, rules of nomenclature, and technical terminologies were developed in botany and zoology to catch up with the ever increasing amount of information on hitherto unknown plant and animal species. In our contribution, we want to expand on this concept. After all, the same people who complain about information overload are usually the ones who contribute to it most significantly. In order to understand this complex relationship, we will turn to the annotation practices of the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778). The very tools that Linnaeus developed to contain and reduce information overload, as we aim to demonstrate, facilitated a veritable information explosion that led to the emergence of a new research object in botany: the so-called ‘natural’ system

Glucocorticoid Effects on the Programming of AT1b Angiotensin Receptor Gene Methylation and Expression in the Rat

Adverse events in pregnancy may ‘programme’ offspring for the later development of cardiovascular disease and hypertension. Previously, using a rodent model of programmed hypertension we have demonstrated the role of the renin-angiotensin system in this process. More recently we showed that a maternal low protein diet resulted in undermethylation of the At1b angiotensin receptor promoter and the early overexpression of this gene in the adrenal of offspring. Here, we investigate the hypothesis that maternal glucocorticoid modulates this effect on fetal DNA methylation and gene expression. We investigated whether treatment of rat dams with the 11β-hydroxylase inhibitor metyrapone, could prevent the epigenetic and gene expression changes we observed. Offspring of mothers subjected to a low protein diet in pregnancy showed reduced adrenal Agtr1b methylation and increased adrenal gene expression as we observed previously. Treatment of mothers with metyrapone for the first 14 days of pregnancy reversed these changes and prevented the appearance of hypertension in the offspring at 4 weeks of age. As a control for non-specific effects of programmed hypertension we studied offspring of mothers treated with dexamethasone from day 15 of pregnancy and showed that, whilst they had raised blood pressure, they failed to show any evidence of Agtr1b methylation or increase in gene expression. We conclude that maternal glucocorticoid in early pregnancy may induce changes in methylation and expression of the Agtr1b gene as these are clearly reversed by an 11 beta-hydroxylase inhibitor. However in later pregnancy a converse effect with dexamethasone could not be demonstrated and this may reflect either an alternative mechanism of this glucocorticoid or a stage-specific influence

M.D. Johrenii, M.D. & Profess. Physic. Ord. Vade Mecum Botanicum : Seu Hodegus Botanicus Non solum Botanophilis, sed etiam omnibus aliis cujuscunque Facultatis studiosis Liber quam maxime utilis, Quo tam illi, Qui studio herbas quaesitum eunt quam & isti : qui recreationis gratia exspatiantur, & memoriae in Nominibus imponendis consulere & Herbarum Characterem ita facillime sibi imprimere & hac ratione Plantarum Cognitionem acquirere possunt : Secundum Methodum Tournefortiam

Titelvignette; Erscheinungsjahr gem. Stabi BerlinSupralibros der Bibliothek der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Züric

Conradi Johrenii Praxis chymiatrica

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Disputatio Inauguralis Medica De Lithiasi

Quam ... In Illustri Athenaeo Hasso Schaumburgico Sub Praesidio ... Dn. Conradi Johrenii ... Eruditorum examini exhibet, Johannes Martinus Trost. Castellanus. ad d. 14. & 15. Novemb. ...Druck mit allgemein formulierter Widmung "Mecoenatibus Praeceptoribus, Parentibus ..." auf der Rückseite des Titelbl