Cockle

КУКОЛЬ [Agrostemma githago, an annual field plant, family Caryophyllaceae (Saginaceae)], occurs as a weed in oat and wheat crops, less frequently in rye and other grasses. It blooms in late May. It is widely distributed in all countries and in the USSR (in the north and in the south). Cockle most often infests spring crops, less frequently winter crops; it loves chernozem soil and does not grow on saline soils; it easily reproduces in rainy years. From a sanitary point of view, the plant itself is not of interest, but its seeds (see Vol. X, Art. 692, Fig. 4), which, mixing with oat and wheat grains, can cause poisoning symptoms in humans and animals. The seeds of cockle, 1.5–2 mm in diameter, have an oval or triangular shape, black, sometimes brownish, rough on the surface, which, when viewed under a lens, has a bumpy appearance. The grain of cockle contains two saponins: agrostemma-saponin and agrostemma-sapotoxin. Cockle owes its poisonous properties to the presence of agrostemma-sapotoxin, the amount of which, according to Kobert, ranges from 4.1% to 6.6%. The saponins in cockle grain are contained exclusively in the husk and the germ. Like most saponins, they possess sharp hemolytic properties. Cockle sapotoxin can be absorbed through an intact mucous membrane and cause general poisoning symptoms. Humans, horses, sheep, pigs, chickens, pigeons, and guinea pigs are most sensitive to cockle poison; sheep and rabbits tolerate it more easily. The toxicity of cockle decreases during its long storage (by about 20%), as well as during the bread-baking process, during which cockle can lose 50–90% of its toxicity depending on the nature and duration of baking. This explains why fully reliable cases of poisoning by cockle bread are not described in the literature, although the sapotoxin of fresh cockle can undoubtedly cause gastrointestinal poisoning in humans. Closely linked to the question of cockle toxicity is the question of the maximum permissible amount of it in flour. The Austrian Food Code allows a content of cockle up to 0.1%. In Germany, up to 0.5% is allowed. In our country, a stricter norm of 0.06% was adopted. Recently, the Scientific Medical Council of the Narkomzdrav raised this norm to 0.25%. The degree of grain infestation is determined by sorting a certain weight of it and weighing the separated cockle seeds on sensitive scales. To clean grain of cockle, special machines—cockle separators (triers), built on the principle of selective cells—are used. An approximate qualitative detection of cockle in flour is performed by microscopic examination of the sifted flour (2 g), treated with a mixture of HCl (20 cm³) and baryta chloride (about 5 g). Under the microscope, the husks of cockle, built from toothed circles or ovals, interlocking with each other, are visible. For the quantitative determination of cockle in flour, there is Okolov's method, consisting in the fact that a daily infusion of flour in a physiological solution (25 g of flour + 125 cm³ of physiological solution + 0.3 cm³ of formalin) is tested for the degree of hemolytic properties, namely—the amount of rabbit blood which dissolves in 1 cm³ of this infusion is determined. For this purpose, increasing amounts of washed rabbit erythrocytes in a 1:18 dilution are added to the filtrate from the flour infusion poured into a row of test tubes. The degree of hemolytic effect indicates the amount of cockle in the flour under study. With a content of 0.1% cockle, 0.1 cm³ of diluted erythrocytes is hemolyzed; with a content of 0.2%—0.2 cm³, and so on, i.e., the amount of dissolved blood in cubic centimeters will correspond to the amount of cockle in the flour in percent.

F. Okolov. NULESHA Georgy Stepanovich (1866–1930), pathologist-anatomist and bacteriologist. Having completed the natural department of the physics-mathematics faculty of Moscow University and the medical faculty of the Derpt (Yuriev) University, N. from 1896 to 1923 served as prosector of the Maria-Magdalena Hospital (now named after Slutskaya) in Leningrad and also worked in a number of other laboratories. From 1896 to 1899 he worked under the guidance of the famous pathologist-anatomist Uskov at the Institute of Experimental Medicine. From 1911 he was a member of the expedition for the study of plague in Manchuria, where he acted as a speaker at the International Plague Conference in Mukden. In the same year he was elected privat-docent for the course of bacteriology at the Petrograd Women's Medical Institute. From 1915 to 1923 he was professor of pathological anatomy at the Petrograd Institute of Medical Knowledge. From 1923 to 1926 he was director of the Sevastopol State Bacteriological Institute and professor of the Crimean University in Simferopol. From 1926 he was professor of pathological anatomy of the Kuban State Medical Institute and director of the Kuban Scientific Research Medical Institute. N. wrote over 50 works devoted to pathological anatomy and bacteriology, mainly of acute infections. N. was the first to point out the existence of a hemato-genic measles pneumonia (“On pneumonia in measles,” dissertation, St. Petersburg, 1898) and developed the question of the damage to the bile passages in cholera (“On the pathological anatomy of Asiatic cholera,” St. Petersburg, 1911). N. belongs to the famous monograph “Bacillary Carriers and the Struggle Against Them” (St. Petersburg, 1914). A number of N.'s works concern paratyphoid B (1909), pulmonary plague (1912), influenza (1918), relapsing fever (1922), scarlet fever (1925), and leprosy (1928). He studied in detail the pathological histology of the Karachaevo goiter (together with V. Lauer—“Materials to the Histological Characterization of Karachaevo Goiter” in the collection Materials for the Study of Goiter in Karachay, pp. 70–120, Rostov n/d, 1929). Besides scientific and pedagogical activity, N. also carried out large sanitary organizational work on waterways of the Mariinsk system in the pre-war years. In recent years (1923–29), under N.'s guidance, research works on the spread of TB among Tatars in the Crimea, leprosy and goiter among the indigenous population of the North Caucasus were organized.

тогенной коревой пневмонии («O пневмонии при кори», дисс, СПБ, 1898) и разработал вопрос o поражении желчных путей при холере («K патологической анатомии азиатской холеры», СПБ, 1911). K. принадлежит известная монография «Бациллоносители и борьба c ними» (СПБ, 1914). Ряд работ K. касается паратифа B (1909), легочной чумы (1912), грипа (1918), возвратного тифа (1922), скарлатины (1925) и проказы (1928). Им подробно изучена патологическая гистология Карачаевского зоба (совместно c B. Лауэром-«Материалы к гистологической характеристике Карачаевского зоба» в сб. Материалы по изучению зобатости в Kapa-чае, стр. 70-120, Ростов н/Д, 1929). Помимо научной и педагогической деятельности K. вел еще в довоенные годы большую санитарную организационную работу на водных путях Мариинской системы. За последнее время (1923-29) под руководством K. были организованы обследовательские работы по распространению tbc среди татар в Крыму, проказы и зоба среди туземного населения Северного Кавказа.