Analysis of 1,2-diol diesters in vernix caseosa by high-performance liquid chromatography - atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry.

Fatty acid diesters of long-chain 1,2-diols (1,2-DDE), or type II wax diesters, were analyzed in the vernix caseosa of a newborn girl. 1,2-DDE were isolated from the total lipid extract by the semipreparative TLC using plates coated with silica gel. Chromatographic separation of the 1,2-DDE molecular species was achieved on the non-aqueous reversed-phase HPLC with two Nova-Pak C18 columns connected in series (a total length of 45cm) and using an acetonitrile-ethyl acetate gradient. 1,2-DDE eluted from the column in the order of their equivalent chain number. The analytes were detected as ammonium adducts by an ion-trap mass spectrometer equipped with an atmospheric pressure chemical ionization source. Their structures were elucidated using tandem mass spectrometry with MS, MS(2) and MS(3) steps in a data-dependent mode. More than two thousand molecular species of 1,2-DDE were identified in 141 chromatographic peaks. The most abundant 1,2-DDE were monounsaturated lipids consisting of a C22 diol and a C18:1 fatty acid together with C16:0, C14:0 or C15:0 fatty acids. The positions of double bonds were characterized by the fragmentation of [M+C3H5N](+) formed in the ion source.

Executions and scientific anatomy.

The very word "anatomy" tells us about this branch's connection with dissection. Studies of anatomy have taken place for approximately 2.300 years already. Anatomy's birthplace lies in Greece and Egypt. Knowledge in this specific field of science was necessary during surgical procedures in ophthalmology and obstetrics. Embalming took place without public disapproval just like autopsies and manipulation with relics. Thus, anatomical dissection became part of later forensic sciences. Anatomical studies on humans themselves, which needed to be compared with the knowledge gained through studying procedures performed on animals, elicited public disapprobation and prohibition. When faced with a shortage of cadavers, anatomists resorted to obtaining bodies of the executed and suicide victims - since torture, public display of the mutilated body, (including anatomical autopsy), were perceived as an intensification of the death penalty. Decapitation and hanging were the main execution methods meted out for death sentences. Anatomists preferred intact bodies for dissection; hence, convicts could thus avoid torture. This paper lists examples of how this process was resolved. It concerns the manners of killing, vivisection on people in the antiquity and middle-ages, experiments before the execution and after, vivifying from seeming death, experiments with galvanizing electricity on fresh cadavers, evaluating of sensibility after guillotine execution, and making perfect anatomical preparations and publications during Nazism from fresh bodies of the executed.

Newborn boys and girls differ in the lipid composition of vernix caseosa.

Vernix caseosa protects the skin of a human fetus during the last trimester of pregnancy and of a newborn after the delivery. Besides its cellular and proteinaceous components, an important constituent and functional agent is a complex lipid fraction, implicated in a multitude of salubrious effects of vernix caseosa. Little is known about how the chemical composition of vernix caseosa lipids is affected by various biological characteristics of the baby, such as the gestational age, birth weight, and, last but not least, the gender of the newborn. This study reports on the chemical variability of lipids contained in the vernix caseosa of twenty newborn girls and boys and shows that the quantitative patterns of the lipids are sex-specific. The specificity of lipids was investigated at the level of fatty acids in the total lipid extracts and intact lipids of several neutral lipid classes. Hydrocarbons, wax esters, cholesteryl esters, diol diesters and triacylglycerols were isolated using optimized semipreparative thin-layer chromatography, and the molecular species within each class were characterized using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry. Statistical evaluation revealed significant quantitative sex-related differences in the lipid composition of vernix caseosa among the newborns, pronounced in the two lipid classes associated with the activity of sebaceous glands. Higher proportions of wax esters and triacylglycerols with longer hydrocarbon chains were observed in newborn girls.

Leonardo da Vinci and Kethem-Kiveris vena.

In the drawing of coitus by Leonardo da Vinci are pictured the contemporary hypotheses regarding this act. The authors analyze the mamillaruteral connection depicted by the artist and grow up to believe that this is a hypothetical kiveris vena, female vein described by Anatomist Master Nicolai Physicus from the Salerno School. The Hebrew roots were found in the name. The connection is described also by Mondino in The Anathomia. The same connection can be found in the picture of the pregnant woman in Fasciculus Medicinæ by Johannes De Ketham.

Mechanical reaction of the frontal abdominal wall to the impact load during gravidity.

THE AIM OF THE STUDY: Selected parameters of mechanical characteristics of the gravid abdomen under impact load. TYPE OF THE STUDY: Experimental biomechanical study carried out in a human in vivo. METHOD: Damped vibration of the gravid abdomen was detected after a defined impact load using speed cinematographic recording of 103 pictures/sec. A women in 32nd week of gestation, performing toe stand and fall down to the heel, the drop was 0.08 m. The recording was digitalized and the values mathematically analysed. The method used was PAM (polynomial approximation method) of approximation of discrete coordinates. The umbilikus' trajectory in reaction to the impact load was described analytically and interpreted graphically. Parameters of abdomen vibration were detected in horizontal profile by tensometric belt. Impact in interaction of soles with the underlay was detected with the help of tensometric platform Kistler. Ultimate strength point of myometrium was set by tearing experiment in 12 samples. RESULTS: Calculation of characteristics of damped, aperiodic vibration of hydro-viscous elastic system as the outside behaviour of the gravid abdomen. Parameters in vertical direction of umbilicus: impulse in abdominal area - 2,72 Ns, T-period - 0.1299 s, amplitude - 0,009 m, frequency - 7,7 Hz, functional damping - from -6 to +12 Nsm-1. In horizontal direction: frequency 5,4 Hz, damping 123 Nsm-1. Impact in soles' sphere 40 Ns with maximum value 1511 N, which represents level 2,2 G. Ultimate strength point of myometrium is 0,1 - 1,1 MPa. CONCLUSION: The results show one of the possible critical, risky frequencies of the gravid abdomen, that is, in this concrete case, the frequency of the vibrating system of cca 7,7 Hz in vertical direction and cca 5,4 Hz horizontally. This implies that e.g. this frequency is dangerous (possible abruptio placentae) and is necessary to be avoided e.g. when travelling by means of public transportation. The applied analytic methods and presented parameters will be used for e.g. modelling the examined gravid system under impact load of a general character--locomotion, work-load, car accidents, etc.