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Although Frank Hartley (1856-1913) was mostly known as the deviser of the method of bisecting the ganglion of the trigeminal nerve within the skull for the relief of facial neuralgia, it should be noted that he had also done very important work in the surgical treatment of goiter which was neglected at his times but later followed by his successors. Furthermore, he also had interest in the surgical treatment of clubfoot and the exstrophy of the bladder.

In this work we investigated the effect of sunlight and its combination with TiO2 and sea-salt for the removal of five medicines, i.e. Zinadol, Zyrtec , Pricefil, Pariet and Panadol. Aqueous solutions of the ready for consumption medicine were subjected to direct photolysis and TiO2 photocatalysis with and without untreated sea-salt in the average concentration that it is encountered in the sea (3.5% w/w). The samples were exposed to sunlight for up to a few months and they were analysed via UV measurements and TOC analyses. Direct photolysis of the medicines resulted in some degradation of all medicine solutions in all cases but in the case of Panadol. The photocatalyst TiO2 seemed to play a more complex role, depending on the employed medicine and on whether NaCl was present or not. In all photocatalytic measurements without NaCl, UV absorption was constantly reducing; however, TOC was usually increasing after being reduced for some time, thus indicating desorption of intermediate products in the aqueous solution. This was not the case however, in NaCl-containing photolytically treated solutions; NaCl increased their resistance to degradation. Therefore, these medicines cannot be removed naturally from sea-water. Photocatalysis seems to be a very good method for Panadol minaralisation.

The aim was to study Adriaan van den Spiegel’s ideas on ocular anatomy. He is better known by his Latinized name as Adrianus Spigelius (1578 – 1625). He was a Flemish physician and anatomist who lived and worked in Padua, where in 1605 he was elected to be Professor of Anatomy and Surgery. Chapter IX of book ten of Spigelius’ work on human anatomy, entitled De humani corporis fabrica libri X tabulis aere icisis exornati (1627) was devoted to an anatomical description of the eye. Corresponding to contemporary ideas of the production of knowledge Spigelius endeavoured to enhance Andreas Vesalius’ (1514–1564) anatomy, he did not repeat his predecessor’s theories of ocular anatomy. He conceptualised that the eye has six muscles, five tunics and three humors, while he gave a brief description of ocular physiology combining anatomy and the functional role of the anatomic ocular parts.Conclusion. He managed to correct Vesalius’ errors and to present ocular anatomy with original notes, which so far, have been ignored and are highlighted now.

An experiment was conducted in both 2008 and 2009 to develop and evaluate strategies for the control of cucumber powdery mildew caused by Podosphaera xanthii. Effects of biological control agents (BCAs) Ampelomyces quisqualis and Pythium oligandrum and plant defence elicitors Milsana® VP 2002 (a plant extract of Reynoutria sachalinensis) and chitosan (derived from chitin) alone and in combination on disease incidence and fruit yield of two cucumber cultivars were investigated. As the cultivars Gloria and Palmera differed in their tolerance to powdery mildew it was possible to test if the use of tolerant cultivars could maximise any beneficial effects of the treatments. In both cultivars in both years, the elicitor Milsana® VP 2002 reduced the disease incidence and fruit yield was similar to that from plants treated with the chemosynthetic fungicide treatments. Whilst foliar application of the other elicitor chitosan significantly reduced powdery mildew, it was less effective than Milsana® VP 2002. BCAs A. quisqualis and P. oligandrum were less effective than the elicitors Milsana® VP 2002 and chitosan and fruit yield was similar to untreated control plants. There was no synergistic or additive effects on disease control or fruit yield detected with any combinations. Disease tolerance of cultivars significantly affected disease incidence. However, the more susceptible cultivar Palmera outyielded the tolerant one (Gloria) despite greater infection.