Continuous isomerisation of 2,5-dimethylfuran to 2,4-dimethylfuran over Ga-silicate.

2,4-dimethylfuran has a rare disubstitution pattern in the five-membered heterocyclic furan ring that is highly interesting chemically but challenging to access synthetically. We present a heterogeneously catalysed route to synthesise 2,4-dimethylfuran from commonly available 2,5-dimethylfuran using a zeolite packed-bed flow reactor. As supported by DFT calculations, the reaction occurs inside the zeolite channels, where the acid sites catalyse proton transfer followed by migration of a methyl group.

Methylation-directed regulatory networks determine enhancing and silencing of mutation disease driver genes and explain inter-patient expression variation.

Background: Common diseases manifest differentially between patients, but the genetic origin of this variation remains unclear. To explore possible involvement of gene transcriptional-variation, we produce a DNA methylation-oriented, driver-gene-wide dataset of regulatory elements in human glioblastomas and study their effect on inter-patient gene expression variation.

Results: In 175 of 177 analyzed gene regulatory domains, transcriptional enhancers and silencers are intermixed.

Thoracic Dorsal Root Ganglion Application of Resiniferatoxin Reduces Myocardial Ischemia-Induced Ventricular Arrhythmias.

Background: A myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (IR) injury activates the transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons. The activation of TRPV1 DRG neurons triggers the spinal dorsal horn and the sympathetic preganglionic neurons in the spinal intermediolateral column, which results in sympathoexcitation. In this study, we hypothesize that the selective epidural administration of resiniferatoxin (RTX) to DRGs may provide cardioprotection against ventricular arrhythmias by inhibiting afferent neurotransmission during IR injury.

Going Beyond Silver in Ethylene Epoxidation with First-Principles Catalyst Screening.

Ethylene epoxidation is industrially and commercially one of the most important selective oxidations. Silver catalysts have been state-of-the-art for decades, their efficiency steadily improving with empirical discoveries of dopants and co-catalysts. Herein, we perform a computational screening of the metals in the periodic table, identify prospective superior catalysts and experimentally demonstrate that Ag/CuPb, Ag/CuCd and Ag/CuTl outperform the pure-Ag catalysts, while they still confer an easily scalable synthesis protocol.

Multiple Sclerosis Followed by Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorder: From the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Case Conference Proceedings.

A woman presented at age 18 years with partial myelitis and diplopia and experienced multiple subsequent relapses. Her MRI demonstrated T2 abnormalities characteristic of multiple sclerosis (MS) (white matter ovoid lesions and Dawson fingers), and CSF demonstrated an elevated IgG index and oligoclonal bands restricted to the CSF. Diagnosed with clinically definite relapsing-remitting MS, she was treated with various MS disease-modifying therapies and eventually began experiencing secondary progression.