Conference of the Physiological Section of the Society of Physicians at Kazan University, dedicated to the memory of prof. N. A. Mislavsky

The conference opened on Tuesday, May 21st at 6 pm in the auditorium of the Physiological Laboratory of Med. faculty chaired by prof. K. R. Viktorov, at whose suggestion the memory of prof. N.A.Mislavsky was honored by standing up. After a short introduction, an honorary presidium was elected. The selected were: from the Kazan Society of Physicians - prof. And P. Vasiliev, from the Society of neuropathologists and psychiatrists prof. A. V. Favorsky, dean of the medical faculty prof. T. I. Yudin, the oldest professor of med. faculty V. S. Gruzdev, the oldest physiologist of Kazan prof. A. F. Samoilov, the oldest student of N. A. Mislavsky prof. R. A. Luria, prof. J. Snapper and student representative.

Dissociation of tuberculous bacilli

On March 24, 1882, in the physiological laboratory of Du Bois Remond, Dr. Koch gave a lecture on the topic "About tuberculosis".

Effects of Transport Conditions on Behavioural and Physiological Responses of Horses

The regulations for minimal space and direction of travel for land transport in horses vary worldwide and there is currently no definitive guidance to promote equine health and welfare. This study evaluated the effects of bay size and direction of travel (forwards/backwards) in horses by comparing the behavioural, physiological, laboratory and gastroscopy parameters between transported and confined horses. A total of twenty-six mares took part in the study; 12 horses were confined for 12 h, and all mares underwent 12 hours’ transportation, travelling in single (n = 18) or wide bays (n = 8), and forward (n = 10) or rear (n = 16) facing. Behaviour was recorded during confinement/transportation and analysed using a behaviour sampling ethogram. Clinical examination, blood samples and gastroscopy were conducted before and after confinement/transportation. The frequency of behaviours relating to stress and balance increased during transport, and horses transported in a rear-facing position and in a wider bay size showed fewer balance-related behaviours. Balance behaviours, particularly loss of balance, were positively associated with the severity of gastric ulceration after transportation and elevated muscle enzymes, while increased stress behaviours correlated with decreased gastrointestinal sounds. Heart rate and rectal temperature after transportation were positively associated with balance and stress behaviours, and with squamous gastric ulcer scores. Transportation was associated with expected increases in cortisol and muscle enzymes, but positioning and space allowance had minimal effects on these analytes. Findings suggest that transportation in a rear-facing position and in wider bays might reduce the impact of transport on horse health and welfare, and monitoring behaviour in transit and physiological measurements after transportation should be recommended. Behavioural and physiological parameters were more sensitive than haematological, biochemical or endocrine analytes to identify horses suffering from transport stress.

Professor Nikolai Petrovich Sinitsyn (1900–1972) – surgeon, physiologist, experimental transplantologist and cardiac surgeon (to the 50th anniversary of the fi rst heart transplantation to a man)

The article is devoted to the outstanding Soviet scientist, the head of the department of pharmacology of the Gorky Medical Institute (now the Nizhny Novgorod Medical Academy), the honored worker of science, professor N.P. Sinitsyn (1900–1972). His achievements in surgery, physiology, experimental transplantology and experimental cardiac surgery have studied. It is shown that in 1937–1943. N.P. Sinitsyn was fi rst man in the world carried out successful transplantations of an additional and isolated heart to frogs in the thoracic cavity and for the fi rst time in Russia transplanted the dog’s head; in 1940–1955 (with interruptions) he conducted experiments on transplantation of the additional heart in the chest to dogs; in 1955–1956 he invented a way of visual control of cardiac activity of the biological and donor heart per se; in 1956 a model of a «two-headed» frog was created, and in 1959–1979 he conducted experiments on modeling and resection of heart aneurysms, plastic of the ventricles of the heart, stimulation of myocardial regeneration by electric current, studied regeneration of cardiac and papillary muscles. The reasons for not allowing the results of these experiments to go beyond the physiological laboratory are discussed in this article.