An enantioselective synthesis of carbafuranose sugars based on a linchpin carbacyclisation approach

Enantiopure carbafuranose derivatives were synthesised via a linchpin carbacyclisation process starting from 1,4-bisepoxides. Both 2-deoxy and 2-deoxy-6-hydroxycarbafuranose derivatives were obtained, which were converted to suitably protected precursors for carbanucleoside synthesis

The impact of oxytocin administration and maternal love withdrawal on event-related potential (ERP) responses to emotional faces with performance feedback.

This is the first experimental study on the effect of oxytocin administration on the neural processing of facial stimuli conducted with female participants that uses event-related potentials (ERPs). Using a double-blind, placebo-controlled within-subjects design, we studied the effects of 16. IU of intranasal oxytocin on ERPs to pictures combining performance feedback with emotional facial expressions in 48 female undergraduate students. Participants also reported on the amount of love withdrawal they experienced from their mothers. Vertex positive potential (VPP) and late positive potential (LPP) amplitudes were more positive after oxytocin compared to placebo administration. This suggests that oxytocin increased attention to the feedback stimuli (LPP) and enhanced the processing of emotional faces (VPP). Oxytocin heightened processing of the happy and disgusted faces primarily for those reporting less love withdrawal. Significant associations with LPP amplitude suggest that more maternal love withdrawal relates to the allocation of attention toward the motivationally relevant combination of negative feedback with a disgusted face. © 2012 Elsevier Inc

Comparison of Numerical Methods for Solving the Second-Order Differential Equations of Molecular Scattering Theory

The numerical solution of coupled, second-order differential equations is a fundamental problem in theoretical physics and chemistry. There are presently over 20 commonly used methods. Unbiased comparisons of the methods are difficult to make and few have been attempted. Here we report a comparison of 11 different methods applied to 3 different test problems. The test problems have been constructed to approximate chemical systems of current research interest and to be representative of the state of the art in inelastic molecular collisions. All calculations were done on the same computer and the attempt was made to do all calculations to the same level of accuracy. The results of the initial tests indicated that an improved method might be obtained by using different methods in different integration regions. Such a hybrid program was developed and found to be at least 1.5 to 2.0 times faster than any individual method