Many structurally diverse general anaesthetics enhance inhibitory neurotransmission in the central nervous system by interacting with the GABA A receptor. By contrast, GABA receptors composed of the r 1 subunit are anaesthetic-insensitive. Here, we demonstrate that both d-hexachlorocyclohexane (d-HCH; 1 ± 100 mM), a positive allosteric modulator of the GABA A receptor, and the anaesthetic pentobarbitone (10 ± 600 mM) have no e ect on GABA-evoked currents mediated by wild-type r 1 recombinant receptors (expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes). By contrast, these agents produce up to a 10 fold enhancement of GABA responses transduced by a r 1 receptor in which a transmembrane located isoleucine residue is replaced by serine. However, not all general anaesthetics were similarly in¯uenced by this mutation, because propofol and 5b-pregnan-3a-ol-20-one (5b3a) remained ine ective. These data are discussed in relation to the speci®city of general anaesthetic action.

Uyghur, a Turkic language spoken mostly in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China, is at present undergoing changes in usage. The spread of Standard Chinese promoted by the national government and the growing Han population are contributing to the Sinicization of Uyghur and shaping new language practices. Language-related issues are therefore a common topic in the Uyghur community, in intellectual discourse as well as in daily conversation. This article analyses a Uyghur comedy sketch entitled

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