A ROUND TABLE ON SCIENCE , LETTER AND ART 

NIC'S CORNER

FROM THE STARS TO THE MIND

 XXX Rassegna d'arte internazionale " La telaccia d'oro 2005"

Olimpiadi 2006 <Premiazione> Patty Olimpiadi 2006 <La fiamma olimpica> Patty

Il cervello, organo negletto riscoperto da poco

di Bruno J. R. Nicolaus
Secondo un vecchio saggio, la conoscenza del passato offre la chiave per comprendere il presente,
mentre la comprensione del presente guida a prevedere il futuro...

I reggimenti svizzeri in servizio all'estero

- - - - - -

«L’ultimo turista»
1961 - incontro-scontro con l’isola verde e i suoi abitanti
descritto dall’attore e regista Victor Spinetti 

Le nubi nere interstellari, culla della vita nell’universo ?

Durante gli ultimi cinquant’anni, la visione dell’universo ha subito cambiamenti più
che drastici. Da Tolomeo e dagli antichi egizi avevamo ereditato il quadro
rassicurante di un mondo placido, bucolico, con al centro una terra tranquilla, baciata
dal sole e venerata dagli altri pianeti. Copernico ci ha brutalmente risvegliati da
questa visione idilliaca durata millenni e la terra è stata di colpo costretta a correre a
perdifiato attorno al sole e con esso su e giù per l’universo.Oggi abbiamo compiuto
un salto ulteriore verso un cosmo nevrotico, verso un universo che tende alla
dispersione o alla regressione infinita, frutto improvviso di una catastrofe immane dal
nome mostruoso: Big Bang . . . .

 

Ma qualcuno serve davvero

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bruno J.R. Nicolaus < Melanins and Human Brain – Reviewing critically the biological role and Speculating on an unified mechanism > V – Magistral Lecture at the < Congreso Regional Latinoamericano del Colegio Internacional de Neuropsicofarmacologia (CINP) > Lima, Perù 25-29 Nov.2005;

Newton’s axiom states that all life’s systems are run on the same lines of simplicity, as physical phenomena.

How can this rule apply to the complexity of human brain and biological systems?

Many organic variegated  pigments are found all over the planet. The black or brown pigments of the living world are called melanin’s and some of them are located at different sites of the body, where they are biologically active. All melanin’s include a three dimensional multi-layer graphite-like aromatic backbone, substituted by aliphatic chains and are composed of amorphous micro particles of different shape and size, which are fundamental to chemical and biological function.All melanin’s  show a variety of physical properties, like absorption and dissipation of light and sound, binding of metals and organic compounds, storing of liquids and gases, conduction of electrical current and transformation of light into electric energy. These properties have been related to disparate and sometimes conflicting biological functions, in ways that can be either beneficial or deleterious. This lecture  provides a critical review of the numerous and various biological functions so far attributed to neuromelanin and an attempt to provide a unified theory, based on the peculiar physical and chemical properties of the black particle (the neuromelanin cage).

 

 

< A CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE FUNCTION OF NEUROMELANIN AND AN ATTEMPT TO PROVIDE A UNIFIED THEORY>

                                                 Bruno J.R. Nicolaus, PhD[1][2]: 

                   ABSTRACT from:

                Medical Hypotheses (2005) 65, 791-796; http://intl.elsevierhealth.com/journals/mehy

 

This paper  provides a critical review of the numerous and various biological functions so far attributed to neuromelanin and an attempt to provide a unified theory based on the peculiar physical and chemical properties of the black particle (the neuromelanin cage).

 

< TRE SECOLI DI SANGUE E DI GLORIA >

                       I REGGIMENTI SVIZZERI IN SERVIZIO ALL’ESTERO: RIFLESSI POLITICO-CULTURALI

                       DELLA LORO ATTIVITA’ RILETTI IN CHIAVE MODERNA

                                                    Bruno J. R. Nicolaus[1]

                                                                 <<Les meilleures troupes, celles en qui vous

                                                                 pouvez avoir le plus de confiance,ce sont les Suisses.

                                                                 Elles sont braves et fidèles.

                                                                 Napoléon >>

E’ nel lontano 1496, che Carlo VIII  di Francia affidò la propria sicurezza personale ad un gruppo di soldati svizzeri di élite, denominato i  <Cent hommes de guerre suisses >.

Questa compagnia, formata da cento soldati, sempre schierati nelle immediate vicinanze del Re, rappresenta il primo nucleo militare svizzero in servizio permanente presso i Re di Francia, con un  compito specifico: salvaguardare la persona del Re e garantire la sicurezza all’interno del palazzo reale, dove un gruppo di  soldati stava di guardia ai sigilli reali ed al tesoro della Corona, ininterrottamente di giorno e di notte.

 

 

< FROM BUTTERFLIES TO PSYCHOTROPICS A CHEMICAL ODYSSEY>

  Bruno  J.R. Nicolaus      

            With the kind permission of the International College of Neuropsychopharmacology, CINP, partially      reproduced from: <Reflections on Twentieth- Century Psychopharmacology>,    Edits. Thomas A. Ban, David Healy and Edward Shorter; Vol.4 of the series <The History of   Psychopharmacology and the CINP, as Told in Autobiography>, Publ. Animula Publishing House, Budapest, 2004, pp. 250-253. 

 

...Chemistry, besides being science and art, is a good key for understanding  many of the mysteries of life and a thin chemical thread binds the elements of nature in a  wonderful net, from the very distant stars up to the mind… the colour of pteridins shifts from white to blue by chemical manipulation…colour and biological activity might be related, displaying important roles in nature... Neuromelanin,  occurs in different settings depending on its biological precursor… the bioelectrical properties of  neuromelanin  regulating the loco motor system… those people, hit by a sudden irrepressible urge to commit homicidal violence, Amokläufers, suffer from a molecular disease , with altered cerebral neurochemistry…  suicide is  a pathologic event  and, at the molecular level, it is a casual metabolic error, triggered by LETRA, an aberrant metabolite of catecholamines with hallucinogenic properties, originated in the brain through oxidative  radical aggression… we shall be faced with <NEW ATYPICAL DEMENTIAS> (NAD), with behavioural changes resulting from  environmental changes, i.e. the combined action on the brain of  pathogenic molecules, new free radical species  and longer lifetime exposure to radiation… 3-hydrazinopyridazines with enhanced vasodilating and antihypertensive activity developed and marketed ( Cadralazine, Cadraten )… oxygenated 2-pyrrolidinones (cyclic derivatives of GABOB), led to the development of the nootropic Oxiracetam, Neuromet …

 

ABSTRACT FROM  UPDATE, THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES MAGAZINE AUG/SEPT. 2004/pp.12 MEMBER NEWS (www.nyas.org):

<…lectured on  NEUROMELANINS AND BIOLOGICAL FUNCTION at the Accademia Pontaniana in Napoli, Italy, this June. The speaker is member of the Swiss Chemical Society and an emeritus fellow of the International College of Neuropsychopharmacology…>

For additional information, contact bruno.nicolaus@virgilio.it

 

- - -

 

Una delle ultime creazioni pittoriche di Patricia Nicolaus Badinotti, affronta in termini crudi e realistici un tema, che ha profonde radici nell’animo umano.

 Il quadro dal titolo <IL POTERE DEL DENARO> si è qualificato sesto alla 29ma. RASSEGNA D’ARTE INTERNAZIONALE <LA TELACCIA D’ORO 2004>, nella sezione a tema fisso<Il mondo del domani>.

Esso viene presentato, dalla Galleria d’Arte La Telaccia, alla Mostra Mercato d’Arte Contemporanea ART PADOVA 2004, la quale terrà la sua 15ma. Edizione a Padova, dall’11 al 15 Novembre.

 

 

< STAMINALI: SI; STAMINALI: NO >

UN PUNTO DI VISTA

Bruno J.R. Nicolaus *

Nei prossimi giorni di questo novembre, verremo chiamati a votare su di un problema, la cui importanza scientifica, morale e pratica travalica quanto immaginato dalla maggior parte delle persone. Su questo argomento sono stati sprecati fiumi di inchiostro e non è nostra intenzione dire ancor più di quanto abbiano già detto illustri colleghi e compatrioti; desideriamo, piuttosto, farvi partecipi di alcune riflessioni, che ci hanno aiutato a maturare un punto di vista ragionato.

- - -

 

 

<< WOOD AND WELLNESS; LEGNO E SALUTE; HOLZ UND GESUNDHEIT >>

INTERNAT. CONFERENCE , BOLZANO JUNE 17-18 2004

 

<< NEUROMELANINS AND BIOLOGICAL FUNCTION >>

<< SULLE NEUROMELANINE E LORO RUOLO BIOLOGICO >>

The neuromelanin’s (brain, eye, ear) belong to a family of  chemically different amorphous black particles, exercising specific biological functions on various substrates, at different sites. Notwithstanding their chemical diversity, they show  common physical properties, as particle structure, optical absorption (black colour), electrical conductivity, binding of ions and molecules. Light absorption and protection is, in fact, the main feature of both, eye and skin melanin’s. In the Substantia nigra, where light absorption and detoxification mechanisms are neglect able, the outstanding electrical and photoelectrical properties of neuromelanin’s  represent a common denominator, which appears to be very helpful in explaining their biological role, by an integrated approach. Complying, moreover with Newton’s axiom <Natura, enim simplex est>.

Le neuromelanine del cervello, occhio ed orecchio appartengono ad una famiglia di particelle nere amorfe, chimicamente differenti, le quali esercitano funzioni biologiche specifiche, su svariati siti e sostrati. Nonostante la diversità chimica, esse posseggono alcune proprietà fisiche comuni, come  struttura della particella, assorbimento ottico (colore nero),  conduttività elettrica ed azione sequestrante di ioni e molecole.  L’assorbimento della luce accomuna le melanine di occhio e pelle. Nel caso della Substantia nigra, dove assorbimento ottico e < meccanismi detossificanti > non possono che giocare ruoli irrilevanti, le proprietà elettriche e fotoelettriche rappresentano un denominatore comune, in grado di dare una spiegazione scientifica unitaria al ruolo biologico di questo pigmento, in ottemperanza all’assioma di Newton <Natura enim simplex est>.

Bruno J.R. Nicolaus, lecture held at theAccademia Pontaniana, Napoli,  June, 24, 2004. To be printed in extenso in the Annali dell’Accademia Pontaniana, Napoli Vol LIII (2004).

 

 

<<DAL 13 AL 17 NOVEMBRE SI DANNO APPUNTAMENTO OLTRE 166 GALLERISTI PROVENIENTI DA TUTTE LE REGIONI,PER OFFRIRE UNA

SELEZIONE DELLE LORO OPERE MIGLIORI.

LE OPERE ATTRAVERSANO DUE SECOLI DI STORIA, MA LARGO SPAZIO E’ RISERVATO ALLE NUOVE PROPOSTE ED AGLI ARTISTI EMERGENTI..>>

 

< PARACAS, paradiso dai mille colori >

 

Patricia Nicolaus Badinotti 

"Baraccopoli costa del Perù"

 

<LA TELACCIA D’ORO

2003>

                

Rassegna  d’Arte Internazionale 

di Pittura,Grafica,Incisione,

Scultura e Ceramica >

 

<50 artisti a Montecarlo>

Esposizione di 50 opere

Selezionate

 

<Penetrare l’invisibile nella

realtà delle cose,nel loro movi

mento, nel loro evolversi

all’infinito. Scoprire l’imma=

nenza che< sta nel profondo..>

(Enzo Schiavi>

 

 

     

 

    < A PROTESTANT SWISS COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF AT THE VERY OBSERVANT

    CATHOLIC COURT OF THE KINGDOM OF NAPLES AND BOTH SICILY > (*)

   

    < UN GENERALISSIMO SVIZZ ERO PROTESTANTE ALLA

    CATTOLICISSIMA CORTE DEL REGNO DELLE DUE SICILIE > (*)

 

    < EIN REFORMIERTER SCHWEIZER KOMMANDANT AM STRENG KATHOLISCHEN

    HOF VOM KOENIGREICH BEIDER SIZILIEN > (*)  

 

 

      <Holz, ein Wunder der Naturchemie >

      < Wood, one of the miracles of natural chemistry >

      < Il legno, miracolo chimico della natura >

 

Das Holz ist ein komplexer Naturstoff  und weist, als direkte Folge  seiner

chemischen Struktur, anwendungstechnisch massgebende Eigenschaften auf. 

Infolgedessen, werden sich gründliche Kenntnisse der Holzchemie, bei jeglicher 

praktischen Holzanwendung, als nützlich erweisen.

 

 

 

Life : what it is , what it does

With the end of the sparring match between evolutionists and creativists, the rational scheme of the theory of evolution  was 

accepted by modern culture, while  what we intend by life ( or state of life)  continues to resist the various attempts of physical or 

philosophical definition. More accessible, although still controversial, appears to be the definition of what life does.

Here below, we propose a multifactorial approach to defining what life does, based upon ten axioms, able to discriminate

between living and dead organisms . . .

 

(La vita : cosa è , cosa fa)

Superate le schermaglie tra evoluzionisti e  creazionisti,  la cultura moderna  ha oramai accettato la teoria dell’evoluzione, pur

 restando  irrisolto il teorema di cosa 

sia la vita stessa (stato di vita) e quali siano le sue origini. Più accessibile, seppur controversa, appare invece una definizione

 esauriente di cosa faccia la vita.

Nella presente nota, noi proponiamo un approccio multifattoriale  per definire cosa faccia  la vita, basato sull’applicazione di dieci 

parametri, i quali permettono di

discriminare tra esseri viventi e non viventi . . .

 

Polvere di stelle : la cosmologia in chiave poetica

(Stardust : a poetical approach to cosmology)

       

 

Suicide and its chemical pathology

(Suicidio e patologia chimica)

       

Many factors contribute to suicide:  biological, psychological and cultural.  Suicide is peculiar to mankind and crosses frontiers.  None of the many interpretations  that have been advanced so far gives a sactisfactory explanation  of the reasons behind suicide. 

The suicide rate among the elderly is the highest of all and it has not decreased significantly after the advent of antidepressants.  On the other hand, rates among the young  have increased sharply  in the last twenty years.  Social and economic factors (unemployment, stressful way of life, serious family problems, somatic diseases and mental disorders, etc.) augment the risk of suicide but they are not the only causes. 

Altered cerebral neurochemistry, low serotoninergic and noradrenergic tone, reduced cerebral neurotransmission, with low levels of neuromelanin, increase vulnerability and proneness to suicide, but do not determine it neither singly nor jointly.  Drugs and alcohol are important concauses.  All suicides present reduced serotonic tone.  However, only a minimum percentage of persons with a low tone commit or plan suicide.

Two hypothesis are advanced to explain the genesis of suicide:

1)      Suicide is a physiologic event:  either a simple casual error, an action planned by the organism to eliminate, analogously to cellular apoptosis, weak individuals that are not very interesting from an evolutionary point of view.  The mediator that is thought to trigger suicide is called “LETRA” (Lethal Transmitter).

2)      Suicide is a pathologic event:  at a molecular level, it is a casual metabolic error.  LETRA  is not a physiologic transmitter, but an aberrant metabolite of catecholamines with hallucinogenic properties.  It originates in the brain through oxidative radicalic aggression.

Both hypothesis are examined and discussed, as well as their coherency with the biochemical characteristics of suicide that are known.  Suitable experimental tests are suggested.

 

 

 

 

 

Globalisation – a biological and cultural challenge

       

Globalisation is an anti-entropic process peculiar to living organisms, and right now it is promoting the expansion of living matter all over the planet.  Increased organization and complexity, with a concomitant decrease in entropy, is the ruling mechanism of this process, which is increasingly taking on the characteristics of a universal biological law.    In prehistoric times globalisation made itself felt in the domains of “culture”, and was in fact instrumental in the evolution of homo sapiens.     Violation of biological and cultural niches (ecosystems) by humans has led to various past and present epidemics – plague, AIDS, Ebola, BSE, etc. – and could well cause further harm in the future.   In some circumstances globalisation can induce opposite reactions, varying in their violence and duration (antiglobal movements).   Their very nature needs to be reconsidered in the light of the law of complexity.   Globalisation and the law of complexity are universal in dimension, and are likely to regulate not only the planetary but even the cosmic expansion of life.

 

 

 

 

From the stars to the mind

                                                   

The nucleosynthesis of chemical elements in  the stars is described as an antientropic  process, fulfilled at cost of the strong increase of cosmic entropy  produced by stellar irradiation. It is  stressed,  how the chemistry of carbon, the main component of living matter, started in the carbonaceous stars with formation of various hydrocarbons, among which, acetylene. This highly reactive compound polymerised, forming linear cyclic and heterocyclic  products, which were subsequently erupted in the interstellar medium. Because of their peculiar chemical optical and electrical properties, two main functions were attributed to these materials, which are among the most common in space:  from one side accumulating chemical energy, from the other side storing the three key elements: carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen.  It was also stressed  how the  biogenous  molecules were synthesized in the interstellar grains starting from these polymers, with the aid of light. The second phase of this spatial and planetary process is characterized by a tendency to decreasing local entropy which is kept, on its turn,  by the increase of planetary entropy and by solar irradiation. This adventurous trip, from the Big Bang till the human brain across various theories and hypothesis, shows how exceptional is  <<life>>  within the global universe economy and how wonderful is  <<conscience>>  within the economy of life itself. Living matter is aimed at expanding abroad as much as possible, protecting its own genoma by means of a complex digital system, whereby the birth of  manifold  organisms  in such a short time makes evolution less casual. Life and human conscience are opposing a steady growth of  organisation and information against the global increase of cosmic entropy. In some way, we are going  to find  in the human brain,  what matter lost at cosmic level: an admirable virtual  reversed  image of our surrounding.

 

 

Molecular diseases

. . . led me to formulate a chemical interpretation of  the many afflictions involving our brains.   This approach gave rise to a fascinating hypothesis:   various psycho- and neuropathies, and behavioral disorders, can be grouped in a new class, with similar etiopathogenesis - I call them the molecular diseases.  Molecular diseases are caused by undue action of exogenous chemical and physical agents on our bodies . . .

Malattie molecolari

…sono giunto a formulare una interpretazione chimica delle tante malattie che affliggono il cervello…una ipotesi affascinante: svariate psico, neuropatie e disturbi del comportamento raggruppati in una nuova classe con simile eziopatogenesi, le < malattie molecolari >…causate dall’aggressione di molecole, atomi ed agenti fisici superreattivi sul nostro organismo…

 
 

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