Chemistry and Pharmacology: Fentanyl is about 100 times more potent than morphine as an analgesic. It is a Âµ-opioid receptor agonist with high lipid solubility and a rapid onset and short duration of effects. Fentanyl rapidly crosses the blood-brain barrier. It is similar to other -Âµopioid receptor agonists (like morphine or oxycodone) in its pharmacological effects and produces analgesia, sedation, respiratory depression, nausea, and vomiting. Fentanyl appears to produce muscle rigidity with greater frequency than other opioids.
Babylonia, Iraq. c. 1750 BCE. Hammurabi, also spelled Hammurapi (born , Babylon [now in Iraq]âdied c. 1750 bce) sixth and best-known ruler of the 1st (Amorite) dynasty of Babylon (reigning c. 1792â1750 bce), noted for his surviving set of laws, once considered the oldest promulgation of laws in human history. See Hammurabi, Code of.
The Code of Hammurabi was inscribed on a stele and placed in a public place so that all could see it, although it is thought that few were literate. The stele was later plundered by the Elamites and removed to their capital, Susa; it was rediscovered there in 1901 in Iran and is now in the Louvre Museum in Paris.The code of Hammurabi contained 282 laws, written by scribes on 12 tablets. carving at the top of the stele portrays Hammurabi receiving the laws from the god Shamash or possibly Marduk, and the preface states that Hammurabi was chosen by the gods of his people to bring the laws to them.