An 18th century understanding of migraine - Samuel Tissot (1728-1797)

During the period 1778-1780 the Swiss physician Samuel A A D Tissot (1728-1797) published his Traite des nerfs et de leur maladies, a work which continued to be available and widely influential until at least the middle of the following century. It contained a long chapter dealing with migraine, based on the earlier literature on the topic and on Tissot's own clinical experience. The work appeared at the beginning of the modern era of interest in migraine, and provided the first reasonably adequate and systematic account of the disorder to become widely available. Its descriptions of migraine phenomena have an enduring validity, though Tissot's ideas on the pathogenesis of the disorder, viz. that it usually arose from stomach disturbance, were not founded on satisfactory evidence and are long since superseded. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ultrastructure of the spermatozoon of Myrmecocichla formicivora (Vieillot, 1881) and Philetairus socius (Latham, 1790) (Aves; Passeriformes), with a new interpretation of the passeridan acrosome

Passerine spermatozoa exhibit apomorphies that distinguish them from non-passerine neognaths and palaeognaths. The acrosome is longer than the nucleus (excepting the suboscines, most Corvida, and a few Passerida). A perforatorium and endonuclear canals are absent. The proximal centriole is absent (except in the suboscines). The distal centriole is secondarily short, contrasting with its elongate condition in palaeognaths and Galloanserae. In the Passerida a single mitochondrial strand winds extensively along the axoneme (restricted to the anterior axoneme in suboscines and Corvida). A fibrous, or amorphous, periaxonemal sheath, seen in palaeognaths and many non-passerines, respectively, is absent. The acrosome in Myrmecocichla formicivora and Philetairus socius is bipartite: an acrosome core is surmounted by an acrosome crest; the core is ensheathed by a layer which is a posterior extension of the crest. The acrosome helix is a lateral extension of the crest and the crest layer with (Myrmecocichla) or without (Philetairus) protrusion of material of the acrosome core into it. In M. formicivora, as in other muscicapoids, a fibrous helix is intertwined with at least the more proximal region of the mitochondrial helix. The fibrous helix is absent at maturity in Philetairus and other described passeroid spermatozoa with the possible exception of Passer italiae. In Philetairus a granular helix precedes the mitochondrial helix.