Physical Activity Monitoring in Adolescents With Juvenile Fibromyalgia: Findings From a Clinical Trial of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy.

Juvenile fibromyalgia (JFM) is a chronic musculoskeletal pain condition that is associated with reduced physical function. Recent research has demonstrated that cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is effective in improving daily functioning among adolescents with JFM. However, it is not known whether these improvements were accompanied by increased physical activity levels. Our objective was to analyze secondary data from a randomized clinical trial of CBT to examine whether CBT was associated with improvement in objectively measured physical activity and whether actigraphy indices corresponded with self-reported functioning among adolescents with JFM. Participants were 114 adolescents (ages 11-18 years) recruited from pediatric rheumatology clinics that met criteria for JFM and were enrolled in a clinical trial. Subjects were randomly (1:1) assigned to receive either CBT or fibromyalgia education (FE). Participants wore a hip-mounted accelerometer for 1 week as part of their baseline and posttreatment assessments. The final sample included 68 subjects (94% female, mean age 15.2 years) for whom complete actigraphy data were obtained. Actigraphy measures were not found to correspond with self-reported improvements in functioning. While self-reported functioning improved in the CBT condition compared to FE, no significant changes were seen in either group for activity counts, sedentary, moderate, or vigorous activity. The CBT group had significantly lower peak and light activity at posttreatment. Actigraphy monitoring provides a unique source of information about patient outcomes. CBT intervention was not associated with increased physical activity in adolescents with JFM, indicating that combining CBT with interventions to increase physical activity may enhance treatment effects. Copyright © 2013 by the American College of Rheumatology

Quinone-mediated hydrogen anode for non-aqueous reductive electrosynthesis

Electrochemical synthesis can provide more sustainable routes to industrial chemicals. Electrosynthetic oxidations often may be performed "reagent-free", generating H2 derived from the substrate as the sole byproduct at the counter electrode. Electrosynthetic reductions, however, require an external source of electrons. Sacrificial metal anodes are commonly used for small-scale applications, but more sustainable options are needed at large scale. Anodic water oxidation is an especially appealing option, but many reductions require anhydrous, air-free reaction conditions. This constraint motivates the growing interest in the electrochemical hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) under non-aqueous conditions. Here, we report a mediated H2 anode that achieves indirect electrochemical oxidation of H2 by pairing thermal catalytic hydrogenation of an anthraquinone mediator with electrochemical oxidation of the anthrahydroquinone. This quinone-mediated H2 anode is used to support nickel-catalyzed cross-electrophile coupling (XEC), a reaction class gaining widespread adoption within the pharmaceutical industry. Initial validation of this method in small-scale batch reactions is followed by adaptation to a recirculating flow reactor that enables hectogram-scale synthesis of a pharmaceutical intermediate. The mediated H2 anode technology disclosed here offers a general strategy to support H2-driven electrosynthetic reductions

Metal-free coupling of saturated heterocyclic sulfonylhydrazones with boronic acids

The coupling of aromatic moieties with saturated heterocyclic partners is currently an area of significant interest for the pharmaceutical industry. Herein, we present a procedure for the metal-free coupling of 4-, 5-, and 6-membered saturated heterocyclic p-methoxyphenyl (PMP) sulfonylhydrazones with aryl and heteroaromatic boronic acids. This procedure enables a simple, two-step synthesis of a range of functionalized sp2−sp3 linked bicyclic building blocks, including oxetanes, piperidines, and azetidines, from their parent ketones. ■ INTRODUCTIO