Dynamics of spontaneous thoughts: Exploration, attentional profile and the segmentation of the stream of thoughts.

For a long time, clinical knowledge and first-person reports have pointed to individual differences in the dynamics of spontaneous thoughts, in particular in the extreme case of psychiatric conditions (e.g. racing thoughts in Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder, ADHD; rumination in depression).

Cycloaddition of cyclopropanes for the elaboration of medium-sized carbocycles.

The stereocontrolled formation of medium-sized carbocycles is a major goal in modern organic chemistry due to their widespread occurrence in natural products and pharmaceutically active ingredients. One approach consists in the use of cycloaddition reactions which notably results in high selectivities and atom-economy. To this end, cyclopropanes are ideal substrates since they can provide readily functionalized three- or five-carbon synthons.

Successive addition of two different Grignard reagents to nitriles: access to α,α-disubstituted propargylamine derivatives.

The successive addition of two different Grignard reagents to acyl cyanohydrins was performed with success by taking advantage of the low reactivity of alkynyl Grignard reagents. The experimental conditions were adjusted so that they were not reactive during the first addition step, but reactive only in the second one. The synthetic utility of the prepared compounds was validated by the preparation of chiral quaternary α-amino acids.

A concise asymmetric synthesis of torcetrapib.

Optically active torcetrapib was synthesized in seven steps from achiral precursors without the need for protecting groups, utilizing an enantioselective aza-Michael reaction to achieve asymmetry.

MR imaging of relapsing multiple sclerosis patients using ultra-small-particle iron oxide and compared with gadolinium.

Background And Purpose: Inflammatory multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions are characterized by microglia activation and infiltration of T cells, B cells, and macrophages across the blood-brain barrier (BBB). In the experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) rat model of MS, previous MR imaging investigations with a new contrast agent ultra-small-particle iron oxide (USPIO) that accumulates in phagocytic cells revealed in vivo the presence of macrophage brain infiltration. The goal of this study was to characterize MS lesions with the use of this contrast agent.