Vinylidene Homologation of Boronic Esters and its Application to the Synthesis of the Proposed Structure of Machillene

Alkenyl boronic esters are important reagents in organic synthesis. Herein, we report that these valuable products can be accessed by the homologation of boronic esters with lithiated epoxysilanes. Aliphatic and electron-rich aromatic boronic esters provided vinylidene boronic esters in moderate to high yields, while electron-deficient aromatic and vinyl boronic esters were found to give the corresponding vinyl silane products. Through DFT calculations, this divergence in mechanistic pathway has been rationalized by considering the stabilization of negative charge in the C-Si and C-B bond breaking transition states. This vinylidene homologation was used in a short six-step stereoselective synthesis of the proposed structure of machillene, however, synthetic and reported data were found to be inconsistent.</p

Projecting the dynamics of invading deer with pattern-oriented modelling to support management decision-making

Avoiding the undesirable impacts of invasive species requires robustly evaluating the effects of alternative management scenarios. Such evaluations depend on reliable spatio-temporal projections of changes in the distribution and abundance of the invasive species under different scenarios. However, commonly used modelling approaches are constrained for this purpose because they do not incorporate demographic processes and are seldom validated. We develop a spatially and temporally explicit grid-based population model for invasive fallow deer Dama dama in Tasmania, Australia, validated against observed distribution and abundance ‘targets’ using a pattern-oriented approach. We use this validated model to project the future invasion patterns of deer, including encroachment into areas of high conservation value, under eight harvest and habitat suitability scenarios. Projected population sizes of deer differ greatly depending on harvest and habitat suitability scenarios. Without harvest, the population grows sixfold, from about 80,000 deer in 2019 to over 500,000 by 2100. In contrast, the population stabilises at 32,000–41,000 deer with 25% annual harvest. Abundance in the environmentally sensitive Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA), a region of high conservation value, increases in all scenarios. We identify likely areas in the expanding range of deer where targeted removal should be most effective at minimising deer numbers in the TWWHA. Synthesis and applications: Using a pattern-oriented model validated with spatio-temporal data, we show how the future distribution and abundance of invasive fallow deer in Tasmania can be substantially reduced by targeted increases in harvest and prioritising areas for removal around high conservation value regions. Our approach can be used to project likely effects of management interventions on future distributions and abundances for a range of invasive taxa.</p

Common cancer-associated imbalances in the DNA damage response confer sensitivity to single agent ATR inhibition

ATR is an attractive target in cancer therapy because it signals replication stress and DNA lesions for repair and to S/G2 checkpoints. Cancer-specific defects in the DNA damage response (DDR) may render cancer cells vulnerable to ATR inhibition alone. We determined the cytotoxicity of the ATR inhibitor VE-821 in isogenically matched cells with DDR imbalance. Cell cycle arrest, DNA damage accumulation and repair were determined following VE-821 exposure. Defects in homologous recombination repair (HRR: ATM, BRCA2 and XRCC3) and base excision repair (BER: XRCC1) conferred sensitivity to VE-821. Surprisingly, the loss of different components of the trimeric non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) protein DNA-PK had opposing effects. Loss of the DNA-binding component, Ku80, caused hypersensitivity to VE-821, but loss of its partner catalytic subunit, DNA-PKcs, did not. Unexpectedly, VE-821 was particularly cytotoxic to human and hamster cells expressing high levels of DNA-PKcs. High DNA-PKcs was associated with replicative stress and activation of the DDR. VE-821 suppressed HRR, determined by RAD51 focus formation, to a greater extent in cells with high DNA-PKcs. Defects in HRR and BER and high DNA-PKcs expression, that are common in cancer, confer sensitivity to ATR inhibitor monotherapy and may be developed as predictive biomarkers for personalised medicine

α‑Sulfinyl Benzoates as Precursors to Li and Mg Carbenoids for the Stereoselective Iterative Homologation of Boronic Esters

The stereoselective reagent-controlled homologation of boronic esters is one of a small number of iteratable synthetic transformations that if automated could form the basis of a veritable molecule-making machine. Recently, α-stannyl triisopropylbenzoates and α-sulfinyl chlorides have emerged as useful building blocks for the iterative homologation of boronic esters. However, α-stannyl benzoates need to be prepared using stoichiometric amounts of the (+)- or (−)-enantiomer of the scarcely available and expensive diamine sparteine; also, these building blocks, together with the byproducts that are generated during homologation, are perceived as being toxic. On the other hand, α-sulfinyl chlorides are difficult to prepare with high levels of enantiopurity and are prone to undergo deleterious acid–base side-reactions under the reaction conditions for homologation, leading to low stereospecificity. Here, we show that the use of a hybrid of these two building blocks, namely, α-sulfinyl triisopropylbenzoates, largely overcomes the above drawbacks. Through either the sulfinylation of α-magnesiated benzoates with either enantiomer of Andersen’s readily available menthol-derived sulfinate or the α-alkylation of enantiopure <i>S</i>-chiral α-sulfinyl benzoates, we have prepared a range of highly enantiopure mono- and disubstituted α-sulfinyl benzoates, some bearing sensitive functional groups. Barbier-type reaction conditions have been developed that allow these building blocks to be converted into lithium (<i>t-</i>BuLi) and magnesium (<i>i-</i>PrMgCl·LiCl) carbenoids in the presence of boronic esters, thus allowing efficient and highly stereospecific homologation. The use of magnesium carbenoids allows carbon chains to be grown with the incorporation of sensitive functional groups, such as alkyl/aryl halides, azides, and esters. The use of lithium carbenoids, which are less sensitive to steric hindrance, allows sterically encumbered carbon–carbon bonds to be forged. We have also shown that these building blocks can be used consecutively in three- and four-step iterative homologation processes, without intervening column chromatography, to give contiguously substituted carbon chains with very high levels of enantio- and diastereoselectivity

1963

Trees for a Beautiful Golf Course by Philip Scott (page 1) The Golf Course\u27s Worst Enemy by Charles Amorim and Hal Haskell (2) Message from the President by James f. Gilligan (2) Turf Management Club News (3) Quotes from 1962 Freshman (4) When I consider How my Night is Spent Leonard Mailloux(5) Protection of a Golf Course by Pay Lucas Jr. (6) Safety - The Superintendents\u27 Responsibility by Gerald Peters (7) Picture - Senior Stockbridge Turf Majors (8) Picture - Freshmen Stockbridge Turf Majors (9) Kansas - In the Transition Zone by Carl Beer (10 Seeds by Don Daigle (11) Picture - Dean F. P. Jeffrey, Dr. W.G. Colby and Director J. R. Beattie (12) Picture - Graduates of Winter School for Turf Managers - 1963 (13) The Effect of Last Year\u27s Weather Upon This Year\u27s Incidence of Turf Insects by John C. Schread (A-1) Labor-Management Relations by Mortimer H. Gavin S.J. (A-4) Massachusetts Labor Laws by Andrew C. SInclair (A-7) Golf Course Budget by John Espey (A-10) Golf Course Budgets by Robert St. Thomas (A-12) Purpose & Method of Budgeting by Leon St. Pierre (A-13) The Committee Chairman, His Duties by Charles Connelly (A-16) Long-range vs. Short-range Planning by George Farber (A-18) The Golf Course Superintendent, His Duties by Sherwood Moore (A-20) The Budget by Leo Kowalski (A-25) Public Relations by Leon St. Pierre (A-26) A Study of WIlt by Harry Meusal (A-28) Specifications for a Method of Putting Green Construction by Alexander Radko (A-33) Management of Kentucky Bluegrass & Grass Mixtures for Turf by F.V. Juska (A-38) What\u27s New in Fertilizers by Geoffrey S. Cornish (A-40) Methylene Ureas by Harvey Stangel (A-42) Plastic Coated Fertilizers by Louis I. Hansen (A-44) The Role of Sewage Sludge by James Latham Jr. (A-49) The Role of Ureaforms in the Turf Fertilizer Industry by Robert T. Miller (A-51) Why Low Phosphorus & Higher Potassium by L. J. Sullivan (A-55) Uptake of Potassium by Evangel Bredakis (A-59) Responsibility of Industry & Community in Land Usage & Plantings by Joseph L. Beasley (A-61) Turf & Other Planting Problems by H. Thurston Handley Jr. (A-65) Weeds & Diseases by Dominic Marini (A-67) General Maintenacne & Equipment by Lewis Hodgkinson (A-68) Fertilizer Problems by William J. Bennett (A-70) Lawn Construction & Insect Problems by herbert C. Fordham (A-71

Directing Modernist Spirituality: Evelyn Underhill, the Subliminal Consciousness and Spiritual Direction

Outlining an alternative trajectory for modernist spirituality to that traced in Pericles Lewis’s 'Religious Experience and the Modernist Novel' (2010), I argue that modernist religious thought, far from playing heir to the long march of secularization, was in fact conditioned by a late-nineteenth-century cultural crisis that issued in a range of religious experiments and renewals, one of which was Evelyn Underhill’s 'Mysticism: A Study in the Nature and Development of Man’s Spiritual Consciousness' (1911), a text that not only brought together mystical traditions and scientific discoveries, but also used this interdisciplinary remit to counter existing secularizing perspectives. An important dimension of Underhill’s work was its collaborative nature; it offers, I argue, not access to rarefied enlightenment, but rather a bold attempt to navigate a treacherous religious landscape

Clinical Utility of Random Anti–Tumor Necrosis Factor Drug–Level Testing and Measurement of Antidrug Antibodies on the Long-Term Treatment Response in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Objective: To investigate whether antidrug antibodies and/or drug non-trough levels predict the long-term treatment response in a large cohort of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treated with adalimumab or etanercept and to identify factors influencing antidrug antibody and drug levels to optimize future treatment decisions.  Methods: A total of 331 patients from an observational prospective cohort were selected (160 patients treated with adalimumab and 171 treated with etanercept). Antidrug antibody levels were measured by radioimmunoassay, and drug levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 835 serial serum samples obtained 3, 6, and 12 months after initiation of therapy. The association between antidrug antibodies and drug non-trough levels and the treatment response (change in the Disease Activity Score in 28 joints) was evaluated.  Results: Among patients who completed 12 months of followup, antidrug antibodies were detected in 24.8% of those receiving adalimumab (31 of 125) and in none of those receiving etanercept. At 3 months, antidrug antibody formation and low adalimumab levels were significant predictors of no response according to the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) criteria at 12 months (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve 0.71 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.57, 0.85]). Antidrug antibody–positive patients received lower median dosages of methotrexate compared with antidrug antibody–negative patients (15 mg/week versus 20 mg/week; P = 0.01) and had a longer disease duration (14.0 versus 7.7 years; P = 0.03). The adalimumab level was the best predictor of change in the DAS28 at 12 months, after adjustment for confounders (regression coefficient 0.060 [95% CI 0.015, 0.10], P = 0.009). Etanercept levels were associated with the EULAR response at 12 months (regression coefficient 0.088 [95% CI 0.019, 0.16], P = 0.012); however, this difference was not significant after adjustment. A body mass index of ≥30 kg/m2 and poor adherence were associated with lower drug levels.  Conclusion: Pharmacologic testing in anti–tumor necrosis factor–treated patients is clinically useful even in the absence of trough levels. At 3 months, antidrug antibodies and low adalimumab levels are significant predictors of no response according to the EULAR criteria at 12 months

The development and validation of a scoring tool to predict the operative duration of elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background: The ability to accurately predict operative duration has the potential to optimise theatre efficiency and utilisation, thus reducing costs and increasing staff and patient satisfaction. With laparoscopic cholecystectomy being one of the most commonly performed procedures worldwide, a tool to predict operative duration could be extremely beneficial to healthcare organisations. Methods: Data collected from the CholeS study on patients undergoing cholecystectomy in UK and Irish hospitals between 04/2014 and 05/2014 were used to study operative duration. A multivariable binary logistic regression model was produced in order to identify significant independent predictors of long (> 90 min) operations. The resulting model was converted to a risk score, which was subsequently validated on second cohort of patients using ROC curves. Results: After exclusions, data were available for 7227 patients in the derivation (CholeS) cohort. The median operative duration was 60 min (interquartile range 45–85), with 17.7% of operations lasting longer than 90 min. Ten factors were found to be significant independent predictors of operative durations > 90 min, including ASA, age, previous surgical admissions, BMI, gallbladder wall thickness and CBD diameter. A risk score was then produced from these factors, and applied to a cohort of 2405 patients from a tertiary centre for external validation. This returned an area under the ROC curve of 0.708 (SE = 0.013, p  90 min increasing more than eightfold from 5.1 to 41.8% in the extremes of the score. Conclusion: The scoring tool produced in this study was found to be significantly predictive of long operative durations on validation in an external cohort. As such, the tool may have the potential to enable organisations to better organise theatre lists and deliver greater efficiencies in care