Morphine Metabolism in Human Skin Microsomes

For patients with severe skin wounds, topically applied morphine is an option to induce efficient analgesia due to the presence of opioid receptors in the skin. However, for topical administration it is important to know whether the substance is biotransformed in the skin as this can eventually reduce the concentration of the active agent considerably. We use skin microsomes to elucidate the impact of skin metabolism on the activity of topically applied morphine. We are able to demonstrate that morphine is only glucuronidated in traces, indicating that the biotransformation in the skin can be neglected when morphine is applied topically. Hence, there is no need to take biotransformation into account when setting up the treatment regimen. Copyright (C) 2012 S. Karger AG, Base

Time and Its Object: A Perspective from Amerindian and Melanesian Societies on the Temporality of Images

This volume examines the way objects and images relate to and shape notions of temporality and history. Bringing together ethnographic studies from the Lowlands of Central and South America and Melanesia, it explores the temporality inhering in images and artefacts from a comparative perspective. The chapters focus on how peoples in both regions ‘live in’ and ‘navigate’ time each through their distinctive systems of images and the processes and actions by which these come to be manifest in objects. With original theoretical and ethnographic contributions, the book is valuable reading for scholars interested in visual and material culture and in anthropological approaches to time

CLIX®Campus and the imc Higher Education E-Learning Network: A Private Public Partnership-Approach to Creating New Educational Benefits.

In: A.J. Kallenberg and M.J.J.M. van de Ven (Eds), 2002, The New Educational Benefits of ICT in Higher Education: Proceedings. Rotterdam: Erasmus Plus BV, OECR ISBN 90-9016127-9The imc Higher Education eLearning Network is a Private Public Partnership in standard e-learning software development. Its goal is to provide universities with a standard platform that fits their specific needs. The paper presents the approach adopted by imc AG and its higher education partners and discusses some of the lessons learned

An augmented moment method for stochastic ensembles with delayed couplings: II. FitzHugh-Nagumo model

Dynamics of FitzHugh-Nagumo (FN) neuron ensembles with time-delayed couplings subject to white noises, has been studied by using both direct simulations and a semi-analytical augmented moment method (AMM) which has been proposed in a recent paper [H. Hasegawa, E-print: cond-mat/0311021]. For $N$-unit FN neuron ensembles, AMM transforms original $2N$-dimensional {\it stochastic} delay differential equations (SDDEs) to infinite-dimensional {\it deterministic} DEs for means and correlation functions of local and global variables. Infinite-order recursive DEs are terminated at the finite level $m$ in the level-$m$ AMM (AMM$m$), yielding $8(m+1)$-dimensional deterministic DEs. When a single spike is applied, the oscillation may be induced if parameters of coupling strength, delay, noise intensity and/or ensemble size are appropriate. Effects of these parameters on the emergence of the oscillation and on the synchronization in FN neuron ensembles have been studied. The synchronization shows the {\it fluctuation-induced} enhancement at the transition between non-oscillating and oscillating states. Results calculated by AMM5 are in fairly good agreement with those obtained by direct simulations.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures; changed the title with correcting typos, accepted in Phys. Rev. E with some change

Negative thermal expansion in the plateau state of a magnetically-frustrated spinel

We report on negative thermal expansion (NTE) in the high-field, half-magnetization plateau phase of the frustrated magnetic insulator CdCr2O4. Using dilatometry, we precisely map the phase diagram at fields of up to 30T, and identify a strong NTE associated with the collinear half-magnetization plateau for B > 27T. The resulting phase diagram is compared with a microscopic theory for spin-lattice coupling, and the origin of the NTE is identified as a large negative change in magnetization with temperature, coming from a nearly-localised band of spin excitations in the plateau phase. These results provide useful guidelines for the discovery of new NTE materials.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure

Thermodynamics of the coupled spin-dimer system TlCuCl3 close to a quantum phase transition

We present thermal expansion alpha, magnetostriction and specific heat C measurements of \tal, which shows a quantum phase transition from a spin-gap phase to a Neel-ordered ground state as a function of magnetic field around H_{C0}->4.8T. Using Ehrenfest's relation, we find huge pressure dependencies of the spin gap for uniaxial as well as for hydrostatic pressure. For T->0 and H->H_{C0} we observe a diverging Grueneisen parameter Gamma(T)=alpha/C, in qualitative agreement with theoretical predictions. However, the predicted individual temperature dependencies alpha(T) and C(T) are not reproduced by our experimental data.Comment: 6 pages including 7 figures, contribution to the III Joint European Magnetic Symposia 2006, San Sebastia

Electrical resistivity ofYb(Rh1-xCox)2Si2 single crystals at low temperatures

We report low-temperature measurements of the electrical resistivity of Yb(Rh1-xCox)2Si2 single crystals with 0 <= x <= 0.12. The isoelectronic substitution of Co on the Rh site leads to a decrease of the unit cell volume which stabilizes the antiferromagnetism. Consequently, the antiferromagnetic transition temperature increases upon Co substitution. For x = 0.07 Co content a subsequent low-temperature transition is observed in agreement with susceptibility measurements and results on YbRh2Si2 under hydrostatic pressure. Above the Neel transition the resistivity follows a non-Fermi liquid behavior similar to that of YbRh2Si2.Comment: 4 pages, submitted to SCES0