Whitchurch Psychiatric Hospital, Cardiff https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitchurch_Hospital

https://twitter.com/cardiffian_news/status/708300833260183552

Powerful play pays tribute to history of Whitchurch psychiatric hospital #Whitchurch #play

https://imgur.com/a/HrcXh5B

Derek Richter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Richter

Derek Richter (14 January 1907 – 15 December 1995), English neuroscientist, was one of the founding fathers of the science of brain chemistry. Identifying monoamine oxidase and demonstrating its function in the brain early in his career, he became a prime mover in his field. In 1968 he was involved in the foundation of the British Brain Research Organization (BRA). Prior to this he helped to establish the Mental Health Research Fund, later renamed The Mental Health Foundation,(1949).[1] He also established the Journal of Neurochemistry (1956), of which he was one of the chief editors from 1956 to 1969. He was involved in the foundation of the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) (1960), of which he became secretary-general, and the International Society for Neurochemistry (ISN) (1967). After leading a research unit at Whitchurch Psychiatric Hospital (1947–1960), he became director of the Medical Research Council Neuropsychiatric Research Unit in Carshalton (1960–1971).[2] Throughout his life he promoted international collaboration in research.

In 1931 he gained a PhD (magna cum laude) for the autoxidation of aldehydes. He then moved to Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins Biochemical Laboratory at Cambridge alongside Nobel laureates Ernst Chain, Richard Synge, Frederick Sanger, Hans Krebs and Archer Martin. This was a defining period, working with Hermann Blaschko on monoamines that have great physiological interest. A year before the outbreak of World War II, he took a post at the Maudsley Hospital to work on amphetamines. Married to Beryl Ailsa Griffiths, with whom he had three children, he set up a wartime research laboratory for treating shell-shock in the Mill Hill Emergency Hospital.

..In 1947 Richter received a Rockefeller Foundation grant to set up a laboratory in the Whitchurch Psychiatric Hospital, Cardiff. Four years later, with one of the first Geiger counters to measure radioisotopes in the country, he and RMC Dawson had isolated nuclei from the cells of the cerebral cortex and demonstrated changes in brain metabolism with changes in brain function. With Linford Rees he carried out early work on biochemical changes concerning epilepsy and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and collaborated with W. Grey-Walter in EEG studies. With Miki Gaitonde, he worked on the metabolic activity of proteins of the brain.

At Carshalton, Richter gathered a multidisciplinary international group of scientists with a global approach to their research. He became involved with the World Health Organization, and Amnesty International. In retirement he was elected a fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and wrote a series of humanitarian books.

Concern for the childless women prompted him, through medical colleague Bertold Wiesner to become one of the first sperm donors at Mary Barton (Wiesner's wife)'s insemination clinic in London. Some of these children have been identified by DNA markers.[5][6] Between April 1945 and 1951 he made weekly contributions at a time when AID was strictly anonymous and very controversial.[7][8] It was a precursor to modern developments in reproductive technology such as IVF, that are leading to changes in the structure of families.

He continued to write and edit enlightened books, gardened passionately and joined his second wife, Molly Bullock, in establishing South Lodge, a refuge in Epsom for discharged mental patients.

Quinone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinone

The quinones are a class of organic compounds that are formally "derived from aromatic compounds [such as benzene or naphthalene] by conversion of an even number of –CH= groups into –C(=O)– groups with any necessary rearrangement of double bonds", resulting in "a fully conjugated cyclic dione structure".[1] The class includes some heterocyclic compounds.

Occurrence and uses

• Production of hydrogen peroxide

• Biochemistry

Derivatives of quinones are common in biologically active molecules. Some serve as electron acceptors in electron transport chains such as those in photosynthesis (plastoquinone, phylloquinone), and aerobic respiration (ubiquinone). Phylloquinone is also known as Vitamin K1 as it is used by animals to carboxylate certain proteins, which are involved in blood coagulation, bone formation, and other processes. Conversely, the toxicity of paracetamol is due to its metabolism to a quinone imine, which then reacts with liver proteins to cause liver failure.

..The auto-oxidation of the neurotransmitter dopamine and its precursor L-Dopa generates the comparatively stable dopamine quinone which inhibits the functioning of dopamine transporter (DAT) and the TH enzyme leading to low mitochondrial ATP production.

• Medicinal

Natural or synthetic quinones show a biological or pharmacological activity, and some of them show anti-tumoral activity. They embody some claims in herbal medicine.

• Dyes

Many natural and artificial coloring substances (dyes and pigments) are quinone derivatives. They are second only to azo dyes in importance as dyestuffs, with particular emphasis on blue colors.

• Battery charge carrier

9,10-Anthraquinone-2,7-disulphonic acid (AQDS) a quinone similar to one found naturally in rhubarb has been used as a charge carrier in metal-free flow batteries.