Robot-assisted radical prostatectomy in Hong Kong: a review of 235 cases

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Exon-Level Transcriptome Profiling in Murine Breast Cancer Reveals Splicing Changes Specific to Tumors with Different Metastatic Abilities

In breast cancer patients, tumor metastases at distant sites are the main cause of death. However, the molecular mechanisms of metastasis of breast cancer remain unclear. It is thought that changes occurring at the level of RNA processing contribute to cancer. Alternative splicing (AS) of pre-mRNA, a key post-transcriptional mechanism allowing for the production of distinct proteins from a single gene, affects over 90% of human genes. Such splicing events are responsible for generating mRNAs that encode protein isoforms that can have very different biological properties and functions. A well-studied example is the BCL-X gene, whose two major transcript isoforms produce two proteins having antagonistic functions: the short form (BCL-XS) promotes apoptosis while the long form (BCL-XL) is anti-apoptotic. Moreover, overexpression of BCL-XL has been reported to enhance the metastatic potential of breast tumor cells in patients

Manufacture Techniques of Chitosan-Based Microcapsules to Enhance Functional Properties of Textiles

In recent years, the textile industry has been moving to novel concepts of products, which could deliver to the user, improved performances. Such smart textiles have been proven to have the potential to integrate within a commodity garment advanced feature and functional properties of different kinds. Among those functionalities, considerable interest has been played in functionalizing commodity garments in order to make them positively interact with the human body and therefore being beneficial to the user health. This kind of functionalization generally exploits biopolymers, a class of materials that possess peculiar properties such as biocompatibility and biodegradability that make them suitable for bio-functional textile production. In the context of biopolymer chitosan has been proved to be an excellent potential candidate for this kind of application given its abundant availability and its chemical properties that it positively interacts with biological tissue. Notwithstanding the high potential of chitosan-based technologies in the textile sectors, several issues limit the large-scale production of such innovative garments. In facts the morphologies of chitosan structures should be optimized in order to make them better exploit the biological activity; moreover a suitable process for the application of chitosan structures to the textile must be designed. The application process should indeed not only allow an effective and durable fixation of chitosan to textile but also comply with environmental rules concerning pollution emission and utilization of harmful substances. This chapter reviews the use of microencapsulation technique as an approach to effectively apply chitosan to the textile material while overcoming the significant limitations of finishing processes. The assembly of chitosan macromolecules into microcapsules was proved to boost the biological properties of the polymer thanks to a considerable increase in the surface area available for interactions with the living tissues. Moreover, the incorporation of different active substances into chitosan shells allows the design of multifunctional materials that effectively combine core and shell properties. Based on the kind of substances to be incorporated, several encapsulation processes have been developed. The literature evidences how the proper choices concerning encapsulation technology, chemical formulations, and process parameter allow tuning the properties and the performances of the obtained microcapsules. Furthermore, the microcapsules based finishing process have been reviewed evidencing how the microcapsules morphology can positively interact with textile substrate allowing an improvement in the durability of the treatment. The application of the chitosan shelled microcapsules was proved to be capable of imparting different functionalities to textile substrates opening possibilities for a new generation of garments with improved performances and with the potential of protecting the user from multiple harms. Lastly, a continuous interest was observed in improving the process and formulation design in order to avoid the usage of toxic substances, therefore, complying with an environmentally friendly approach

The detector system of the Daya Bay reactor neutrino experiment

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Palladium-Catalyzed highly diastereoselective oxidative cascade cyclization reactions

Isoquinoline and quinoline have been discovered as novel ligands for palladium-catalyzed oxidative cascade cyclization reactions. With our new catalyst systems (Pd(OAc)2/isoquinoline or quinoline), unsaturated anilides cyclize under an oxygen atmosphere (1 atm) to furnish structurally versatile indoline derivatives in good yields. One C-N bond and two C-C bonds are formed in a single step with excellent diastereoselectivities (dr> 24:1). © 2009 American Chemical Society.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Pd(II)/tbu-quinolineoxazoline: An Air-stable And Modular Chiral Catalyst System For Enantioselective Oxidative Cascade Cyclization

An air-stable and structurally tunable chiral (t)Bu-quinolineoxazoline/Pd(II) catalyst system has been developed for the enantioselective oxidative cascade cyclization of a variety of disubstituted olefinic substrates, with the apparent advantages of good yields and excellent enantioselectivities (up to 98% ee) and diastereoselectivities (dr >24:1). A transition-state model has also been proposed to account for the excellent stereocontrol.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

A silica gel-supported ruthenium complex of 1,4,7-Trimethyl-1,4,7-triazacyclononane as recyclable catalyst for chemoselective oxidation of alcohols and alkenes by tert-butyl hydroperoxide

A silica gel-immobilized [(Me 3tacn)Ru III(CF 3 COO) 2(H 2O)]CF 3CO 2 complex (1-SiO 2, Me 3tacn = 1,4,7- trimethyl-1,4,7-triazacyclononane) was prepared by simple impregnation, and the catalyst was characterized by powdered X-ray diffraction, nitrogen adsorption/desorption, Raman, and diffuse reflectance UV-vis spectroscopies. The supported Ru catalyst can effect facile oxidation of alcohols by tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP). Primary and secondary benzyl, allylic, and propargylic alcohols were transformed to their corresponding aldehydes and ketones in excellent yields; no oxidation of the C=C and C≡C bonds was observed for the allylic and propargylic alcohol oxidations. Likewise alkene epoxidation by TBHP can be achieved by 1-SiO 2; cycloalkenes such as norbornene and cyclooctene were oxidized to their exo-epoxides exclusively in excellent yields (>95%). The 1-SiO 2 catalyst can be recycled and reused for consecutive alcohol and alkene oxidations without significant loss of catalytic activity and selectivity; over 9000 turnovers have been attained for the oxidation of 1-phenyl-1-propanol to 1-phenyl-1-propanone. 4-Substituted phenols were oxidized by the "1 + TBHP" protocol to give exclusively ruthenium-catecholate complexes, which were characterized by UV-vis and ESI-MS spectroscopies. No (tert-butyldioxy)cyclohexadienone and other radical coupling/overoxidation products were produced using the "1 + TBHP" protocol. The formation of ruthenium-catecholate is proposed to proceed via ortho-hydroxylation of phenol.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Pd(II)-catalyzed enantioselective oxidative tandem cyclization reactions. Synthesis of indolines through C-N and C-C bond formation

We have developed an efficient Pd(II)-catalyzed enantioselective oxidative tandem cyclization strategy using molecular oxygen as a green oxidant for the double 5-exo-trig cyclizations of N-(2-allylaryl) amides to afford a variety of indolines in good yields without the formation of undesired monocyclization products. By employing Pd(TFA) 2/(-)-sparteine as the chiral catalyst, we obtained tandem cyclization products with high enantioselectivity (up to 91% ee). Copyright © 2006 American Chemical Society.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Nitrido-ruthenium(VI) and -osmium(VI) complexes of multianionic chelating (N, O) ligands. Reactions with nucleophiles, electrophiles and oxidizing agents

This account presents the diverse reactivity of nitridoruthenium(VI) complexes with nucleophilic, electrophilic and oxidizing agents. [Ru VI(N)(L 1)Cl] (1) [H 2L 1 = 2,6-bis(2,2-diphenyl-2-hydroxyethyl)pyridine] reacted with excess phosphines such as PPh 3, PPhMe 2 and dppe to give [Ru III(HL 1)(PPh 3)Cl 2] (2a), [Ru III(L 1)(PPhMe 2) 2Cl] (2b) and [Ru III(L 1)(dppe)Cl] (2c), respectively. In the presence of py or Hpz, 1 was converted to LRu III(L 1)(py) 2Cl] (3a) and [Ru III(L 1)(Hpz) 3]Cl (3b), respectively. A dinuclear μ-nitridoruthenium complex, [Ru IV(L 1)Cl 2(μ-N)Ru VI(L 1)(C 8H 10N)Cl] (4), was obtained by treating 1 with 2,6-dimethylaniline, Based on X-ray crystallographic study, the compound is characterized by an unsymmetrical Ru-Nequiv;Ru moiety with the measured Ru-N distances being 1.661(5) and 1.837(5) Å. Complex 1 reacted with dmf to give [Ru III(HL 1)(dmf)Cl 2] (5) in 17% yield. Excess (Me 3O)BF 4 reacted with 1 to give a dinuclear μ-OH ruthenium complex, [Ru 2(N) 2(L 1) 2(OH)]PF 6 (6). The measured Ru-O (OH) distance is 1.984(3) Å and the average Ru-O-Ru angle was found to be 100.4(2)°. Other nitrido-metal complexes, [n-Bu 4N][M VI(N)(L)] [L = L 2 and L 3; M = Os and Ru; H 4L 2 = 1,2-dichloro-4,5-bis(2-hydroxybenzamido)benzene, H 4L 3 = 1,2-bis(2-hydroxybenzamido)benzene], underwent ligand protonation to form [M VI(N)(HL)] complexes, which have been characterized by X-ray crystallography. Oxidation of [n-Bu 4N][Os VI(N)(L 2)] by PhI(OAc) 2 produced [n-Bu 4N][Os VI(N)(L 2O 2)] (8) in 10% yield. X-ray structure analysis of 8 showed that the coordinated phenoxy moiety was converted to a benzoquinone moiety while the Os≡N group remained intact.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

A sterically bulky cyclic thiourea as an efficient ligand for palladium-catalyzed aerobic oxidation of alcohols

Sterically bulky N,N′-disubstituted cyclic thiourea ligand L1 has been demonstrated as an efficient ligand in palladium-catalyzed oxidation of alcohols using molecular oxygen as an oxidant. This new catalyst system has been applied to a wide variety of substrates such as benzylic alcohols, aliphatic secondary alcohols and allylic alcohols, producing the corresponding carbonyl compounds in good to excellent yields. © Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart.link_to_subscribed_fulltex