The new muscle relaxing compounds revealed.pdf

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extracted text: TWO NEW MUSCLE RELAXING COMPOUNDS REVEALED Two new muscle relaxing compounds, said to be five times as potent in animal tests as mephenesin, a presently used relaxant, have been developed in the United States. The new chemi cals, based on the compound pyrimidine, block muscle activity by 80 to 100 per cent, according to Dr. Donald E. Heitmeier, a senior organic che mist at Irwin, Neisler and Company in Decatur, Illinois. Besides their muscle relaxing ability, they are sedatives comparable to the barbiturate drugs and also have hypnotic properties, he said. They have not yet been clinically tested. Muscle relaxants are used to depress body reflexes during surgery and to treat spasms asso ciated with certain forms of paralysis. The new drugs, resulting from chemical changes in phenyramidol, whicli, is both an analgesic and a mus cle relaxant, showed “marked enhancement of centrally induced muscle relaxant properties, a sharp reduction in analaesic activity and the ap pearance of strong, sedative-hypnotic properties,” Dr. Heitmeier told a recent meeting of the Am erican Chemical Society. * * is, by the accident of his trade as a collector and dis seminator, the prototype of what should exist in acade mic and public life, the com municator of information on which judgements can be made. In his own working life, his function is to con vey to the mass of people the facts about science, but also to convey an interpreta tion of the social implica* tions of new developments. I know that many of my colleagues think that they should confine themselves to description and explanations and leave the value judge ments to others. I disagree profoundly. Our access to in formation. our point of van tage on the scientific scene, give us responsibilities which, in the present situation, we must not shirk. — (tjnesco) 32 Panorama
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