Photochemical behaviour of 5-formyl and 5-acetyl uracils in the presence of ethene

Atypically for uracils, 5-formyl and 5-acetyl uracils react photochemically with excess ethene to produce non-acylated cyclobutane adducts whose formation can be explained by a novel, tandem [2+2] cycloaddition/Norrish-I α-cleavage proces

Studies on the stability of the cyclobutane b-aminoacid skeleton : a cautionary tale

The 2-amino-1-cyclobutanecarboxylic acid skeleton undergoes facile retro-Mannich type ring opening in solution, which may lead to unexpected by-products during its synthesis or manipulatio

The Importance of Importance: Self-Descriptors in Dysphoria

This study examined the relationship between importance ratings of positive and negative personal attributes and depressed mood. Undergraduate psychology students (n = 115) completed the Beck Depression Inventory-II and made self-referential ratings on several adjectives. Participants subsequently indicated how important it was for them to possess or fail to exhibit each of these traits. The results demonstrated that the perceived lack of important positive traits was related to increased depressed mood whereas not exhibiting important negative traits was associated with less depressed mood. Moreover, depressed mood was related to the degree to which respondents were certain about their endorsement of the traits. The implications of these results are discussed

Development and Validation of Molecular Markers for \u3cem\u3ePhytophthora medicaginis\u3c/em\u3e Resistance in Lucerne

Resistance to Phytophthora medicaginis is an essential attribute to incorporate into lucerne (Medicago sativa) cultivars which are likely to be grown on heavy soils or in conditions where the soil remains excessively wet for prolonged periods. Current breeding strategies rely on recurrent phenotypic selection to maintain adequate levels of resistance in newly developed synthetic cultivars. However, little is known about the source or mechanism(s) of genetic resistance operating in the cultivar. A genetic linkage map was generated from a tetraploid M. sativa population using SSR markers anchored to existing genetic and physical maps. Large effect QTL were identified on linkage groups 2, 5, 6 and 7, each of which contributed between 11-30% of the phenotypic variation. Evaluation of the marker-trait associations in another sampling of the same population was undertaken, using a different isolate of P. medicaginis. The findings indicate that in the lucerne genotype examined in this study, a network of interactions involving at least three common loci, contribute to resistance to P. medicaginis. An alignment of the resistance loci identified in this study with those previously identified provided a framework for cataloguing the diversity of resistance loci present in lucerne, and will be used to guide future lucerne breeding efforts

Synthesis of functionalized tryptamines by Brønsted acid catalysed cascade reactions

An original synthetic protocol has been developed for the preparation of highly functionalized tryptamines from 2-hydroxycyclobutanone and secondary arylamines via a solvent-free Brønsted acid catalysed two-step reaction sequence

Control of the Platinum(II) ligating properties of rigid 1,2-diamines: the case of trans-2,3-diaminonorbornane.

Guided by a simple predictive model, a norbornane-based trans-1,2-diamine was identified as a potential bridging ligand for di-nuclear platinum complex formation; efficient synthesis and product characterization confirmed this hypothesis

Control theory for principled heap sizing

We propose a new, principled approach to adaptive heap sizing based on control theory. We review current state-of-the-art heap sizing mechanisms, as deployed in Jikes RVM and HotSpot. We then formulate heap sizing as a control problem, apply and tune a standard controller algorithm, and evaluate its performance on a set of well-known benchmarks. We find our controller adapts the heap size more responsively than existing mechanisms. This responsiveness allows tighter virtual machine memory footprints while preserving target application throughput, which is ideal for both embedded and utility computing domains. In short, we argue that formal, systematic approaches to memory management should be replacing ad-hoc heuristics as the discipline matures. Control-theoretic heap sizing is one such systematic approach

Uptake of hepatitis C specialist services and treatment following diagnosis by dried blood spot in Scotland

Background: Dried blood spot (DBS) testing for hepatitis C (HCV) was introduced to Scotland in 2009. This minimally invasive specimen provides an alternative to venipuncture and can overcome barriers to testing in people who inject drugs (PWID). Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine rates and predictors of: exposure to HCV, attendance at specialist clinics and anti-viral treatment initiation among the DBS tested population in Scotland. Study design: DBS testing records were deterministically linked to the Scottish HCV Clinical database prior to logistic regression analysis. Results: In the first two years of usage in Scotland, 1322 individuals were tested by DBS of which 476 were found to have an active HCV infection. Linkage analysis showed that 32% had attended a specialist clinic within 12 months of their specimen collection date and 18% had begun anti-viral therapy within 18 months of their specimen collection date. A significantly reduced likelihood of attendance at a specialist clinic was evident amongst younger individuals (<35 years), those of unknown ethnic origin and those not reporting injecting drug use as a risk factor. Conclusion: We conclude that DBS testing in non-clinical settings has the potential to increase diagnosis and, with sufficient support, treatment of HCV infection among PWID

A solution to the component instability problem in the preparation of peptides containing C2 substituted cis-cyclobutane b-aminoacids: synthesis of a stable rhodopeptin analogue.

Despite the inherent instability of C2-substituted cis-cyclobutane β-aminoacids, incorporation of such residues into peptides is shown to be possible through use of a 1-amino-2-(hydroxymethyl)cyclobutane derivative as a stable β-aminoacid surrogate. This synthetic strategy was validated by the synthesis of a rhodopeptin analogue