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Frank Berger
Frank Milan Berger (25 June 1913 - 18 March 2008) was a Czech pharmacologist. He discovered meprobamate, carisoprodol, and felbamate, while working at Wallace Laboratories. He also discovered the 'tranquilising' effects of mephenesin Mephenesin (INN), also called myanesin, is a centrally acting muscle relaxant. It can be used as an antidote for strychnine poisoning. Mephenesin however presents with the major drawbacks of having a short duration of action and a much greater ef ... in rodents while working at a laboratory in the United Kingdom, and campaigned against the advertising of medications in the mass media. References {{DEFAULTSORT:Berger, Frank 1913 births 2008 deaths Scientists from Plzeň Czech pharmacologists Charles University alumni ...
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Plzeň
Plzeň (), also known in English and German as Pilsen (), is a city in the Czech Republic. It is the Statutory city (Czech Republic), fourth most populous city in the Czech Republic with about 188,000 inhabitants. It is located about west of Prague, at the confluence of four rivers: Mže, Úhlava, Úslava and Radbuza, together forming the Berounka River. Founded as a royal city in the late 13th century, Plzeň became an important town for trade on routes linking Bohemia with Bavaria. By the 14th century it had grown to be the third largest city in Bohemia. The city was besieged three times during the 15th-century Hussite Wars, when it became a centre of resistance against the Hussites. During the Thirty Years' War in the early 17th century the city was temporarily occupied after the Siege of Plzeň. In the 19th century, the city rapidly industrialised and became home to the Škoda Works, which became one of the most important engineering companies in Austria-Hungary and later ...
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Bohemia
Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historically it could also refer to a wider area consisting of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the List of Bohemian monarchs, Bohemian kings, including Moravia and Czech Silesia, in which case the smaller region is referred to as Bohemia Proper as a means of distinction. Bohemia became a part of Great Moravia, and then an independent principality, which became a Kingdom of Bohemia, kingdom in the Holy Roman Empire. This subsequently became a part of the Habsburg monarchy and the Austrian Empire. After World War I and the establishment of an History of Czechoslovakia (1918–1938), independent Czechoslovak state, the whole of Bohemia became a part of Czechoslovakia, defying claims of the German-speaking inhabitants that regions with German ...
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Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consisted of two sovereign states with a single monarch who was titled both the Emperor of Austria and the King of Hungary. Austria-Hungary constituted the last phase in the constitutional evolution of the Habsburg monarchy: it was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 in the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War, following wars of independence by Hungary in opposition to Habsburg rule. It was dissolved shortly after Dissolution of Austria-Hungary#Dissolution, Hungary terminated the union with Austria in 1918 at the end of World War 1. One of Europe's major powers, Austria-Hungary was geographically the second-largest country in Europe (after Russian Empire, Russia) and the third-most populous (afte ...
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Manhattan
Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, largest, and average area per state and territory, smallest county by area in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located almost entirely on Manhattan Island near the southern tip of the state, Manhattan constitutes the center of the Northeast megalopolis and the urban core of the New York metropolitan area. Manhattan serves as New York City's Economy of New York City, economic and Government of New York City, administrative center and has been described as the cultural, financial, Media in New York City, media, and show business, entertainment capital of the world. Present-day Manhattan was originally part of Lenape territory. European settlement began with the establishment of a trading post by Dutch colonization of the Americas, D ...
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Charles University
Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in continuous operation, the oldest university north of the Alps and east of University of Paris, Paris. Today, the university consists of 17 faculties located in Prague, Hradec Králové, and Plzeň. History Medieval university (1349–1419) The establishment of a medieval university in Prague was inspired by Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, Charles IV. He requested his friend and ally, Pope Clement VI, to create the university. On 26 January 1347, the pope issued the bull establishing a university in Prague, modeled on the University of Paris, with all four faculty (division), faculties, including theology. On 7 April 1348 Charles, the king of Bohemia, gave to the established university privileges and immunities from the se ...
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Meprobamate
Meprobamate—marketed as Miltown by Wallace Laboratories and Equanil by Wyeth, among others—is a carbamate derivative used as an anxiolytic drug. It was the best-selling minor tranquilizer for a time, but has largely been replaced by the benzodiazepines due to their wider therapeutic index (lower risk of toxicity at therapeutically prescribed doses) and lower incidence of serious side effects. History Frank Berger was working in a laboratory of a British drug company, looking for a preservative for penicillin, when he noticed that a compound called mephenesin (or myanesin) calmed laboratory rodents without actually sedating them. Berger subsequently referred to this “tranquilizing” effect in a now-historic article, published by the ''British Journal of Pharmacology'' in 1946. However, three major drawbacks existed to the use of mephenesin as a tranquilizer: a very short duration of action, greater effect on the spinal cord than on the brain (resulting in a very low therap ...
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Carisoprodol
Carisoprodol, sold under the brand name Soma among others, is an oral medication used for musculoskeletal pain. Effects generally begin within half an hour and last for up to six hours. Common side effects include headache, dizziness, and sleepiness. Serious side effect may include addiction, allergic reactions, and seizures. In people with a sulfa allergy certain formulations may result in problems. Safety during pregnancy and breastfeeding is not clear. How it works is not clear. Some of its effects are believed to occur following metabolic conversion into meprobamate, carisoprodol's main active metabolite. Carisoprodol was approved for medical use in the United States in 1959. Its approval in the European Union was withdrawn in 2008. It is available as a generic medication. In 2019, it was the 343rd most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, with more than 800thousand prescriptions. In the United States, it is a Controlled Substances Act#Schedule IV contro ...
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Felbamate
Felbamate (marketed under the brand name Felbatol by MedPointe) is an anticonvulsant used in the treatment of epilepsy. It is used to treat partial seizures (with and without generalization) in adults and partial and generalized seizures associated with Lennox–Gastaut syndrome in children. However, an increased risk of potentially fatal aplastic anemia and/or liver failure limit the drug's usage to severe refractory epilepsy. Mechanism of action Felbamate has been proposed to have a unique dual mechanism of action as a positive modulator of GABAA receptors and as a blocker of NMDA receptors, particularly isoforms containing the NR2B subunit. Although it is clear that felbamate does cause pharmacological inhibition of NMDA receptors, the relevance of NMDA receptor blockade as a strategy for the treatment of human epilepsy has been questioned. Therefore, the importance of the effects of felbamate on NMDA receptors to its therapeutic action in epilepsy is uncertain. Approva ...
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Czechs
The Czechs (, ; singular Czech, masculine: ''Čech'' , singular feminine: ''Češka'' ), or the Czech people (), are a West Slavs, West Slavic ethnic group and a nation native to the Czech Republic in Central Europe, who share a common Bohemia, ancestry, Czech culture, culture, History of the Czech lands, history, and the Czech language. Ethnic Czechs were called Bohemians in English language, English until the early 20th century, referring to the former name of their country, Bohemia, which in turn was adapted from the late Iron Age tribe of Celtic Boii. During the Migration Period, West Slavic Bohemians (tribe), tribes settled in the area, "assimilated the remaining Celtic and Germanic populations", and formed a principality in the 9th century, which was initially part of Great Moravia, in form of Duchy of Bohemia and later Kingdom of Bohemia, the predecessors of the modern republic. The Czech diaspora is found in notable numbers in the Czech American, United States, Germany ...
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Carter-Wallace
Carter-Wallace was a personal care company headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of Carter Products and Wallace Laboratories. The company had a research facility in Cranbury, New Jersey. History The company was formed as Carter Medicine Company which was incorporated in 1880 by John Samuel Carter of Erie, Pennsylvania. John Carter died in 1884 and his son, Samuel Carter took over. John Higgins Wallace Jr., a research chemist from Princeton, New Jersey was hired and he formulated Arrid deodorant in 1935. In 2001 the consumer product line was sold to Church and Dwight and MedPointe bought the diagnostics and drug businesses. CEOs *John Samuel Carter (?-1884) 1880 to 1884. *Samuel J. Carter, son of John. *Brent Good, a New York businessman that convinced John to incorporate. *Harry Good, son of Brent. *Charles Orcutt, brother-in-law of Harry. *Henry Hamilton Hoyt Sr., son-in-law of Charles; bought a controlling interest in the company. *Henry Hamilt ...
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Mephenesin
Mephenesin (INN), also called myanesin, is a centrally acting muscle relaxant. It can be used as an antidote for strychnine poisoning. Mephenesin however presents with the major drawbacks of having a short duration of action and a much greater effect on the spinal cord than the brain, resulting in pronounced respiratory depression at clinical doses and therefore a very low therapeutic index. It is especially dangerous and potentially fatal in combination with alcohol and other depressants. Mephenesin was the inspiration for the synthesis of a derivative of 1,3-propanediol, meprobamate, by Bernard Ludwig and Frank Berger, the first tranquilizer to see widespread clinical use. Mephenesin is no longer available in North America but is used in Italy and a few other countries. Its use has largely been replaced by the related drug methocarbamol, which is better absorbed. Mephenesin may be an NMDA receptor antagonist. Mephenesin was previously used in France as an OTC muscle relaxan ...
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1913 Births
Events January * January – Joseph Stalin travels to Vienna to research his ''Marxism and the National Question''. This means that, during this month, Stalin, Hitler, Trotsky and Tito are all living in the city. * January 3 – First Balkan War: Greece completes its Battle of Chios (1912), capture of the eastern Aegean island of Chios, as the last Ottoman forces on the island surrender. * January 13 – Edward Carson founds the (first) Ulster Volunteers, Ulster Volunteer Force, by unifying several existing Ulster loyalism, loyalist militias to resist home rule for Ireland. * January 18 – First Balkan War: Battle of Lemnos (1913), Battle of Lemnos – Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it will not venture for the rest of the war. * January 23 – 1913 Ottoman coup d'état: Enver Pasha comes to power. February * February 1 – New York City's Grand Central Te ...
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