[A case of metronomic chemotherapy as an alternative cancer therapy for palliation].

An 82-year-old woman underwent colostomy and standard chemotherapy using tegafur/uracil and calcium folinate under a diagnosis of colon cancer. Recurrence occurred, with pulmonary metastasis, hydroureter, and numbness in the low extremities. When admitted to our palliative care unit, she and her family wanted to have mild and minimally toxic chemotherapy.

[Influence of body weight, age, and primary tumor site on opioid dose in advanced cancer pain patients].

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between maximum opioid dose and body weight, age, and primary site in terminal cancer patients in a palliative care unit.

Methods: Medical records of 152 terminal cancer patients were reviewed retrospectively. Body weight, primary tumor site, age, and analgesic state were used as independent variables, and the maximum opioid dose was used as a dependent variable.

Scandium(III) trifluoromethanesulfonate catalyzed aromatic nitration with inorganic nitrates and acetic anhydride.

The rare earth metal(III) trifluoromethanesulfonate (rare earth metal(III) triflate, RE(OTf)3) was found to be an efficient catalyst for aromatic nitration with carboxylic anhydride-inorganic nitrate as the nitrating agent. In the presence of a catalytic amount of RE(OTf)3, the nitration of substituted benzenes proceeded to afford the corresponding nitrobenzenes. Especially, scandium(III) trifluoromethanesulfonate (scandium(III) triflate, Sc(OTf)3) is the most active catalyst among our tested Lewis acids.