Core-collapse supernovae are explosions of massive stars at the end of their evolution. They are responsible for metal production and for halting star formation, having a significant impact on galaxy evolution. The details of these processes depend on the nature of supernova progenitors, but it is unclear if Type Ic supernovae (without hydrogen or helium lines in their spectra) originate from core-collapses of very massive stars (>30 M) or from less massive stars in binary systems.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe reaction of (acetalaryl)arylmethanols with various phosphines PRRR (R = R = R = Ph; R = R = Ph, R = Me and R = R = Me, R = Ph) under acidic conditions (e.g., HCl, HBF, TsOH) unexpectedly led to the formation of (10-hydroxy-9,10-dihydroanthr-9-yl)phosphonium salts instead of the corresponding anthryl phosphonium salts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe ecotoxicological impact of pharmaceuticals has received considerable attention, primarily focusing on active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) while largely neglecting the potential hazards posed by pharmaceutical excipients. Therefore, we analyzed the ecotoxicity of 16 commonly used pharmaceutical excipients, as well as 26 API-excipient and excipient-excipient mixtures utilizing the Microtox test. In this way, we assessed the potential risks that pharmaceutical excipients, generally considered safe, might pose to the aquatic environment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntra-Annual Density Fluctuations (IADFs) are an important wood functional trait that determine trees' ability to adapt to climatic changes. Here, we use a large tree-ring database of 11 species from 89 sites across eight European countries, covering a climatic gradient from the Mediterranean to northern Europe, to analyze how climate variations drive IADF formation. We found that IADF occurrence increases nonlinearly with ring width in both gymnosperms and angiosperms and decreases with altitude and age.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis comprehensive review, covering the years 1968-2022, is not only a retrospective investigation of a certain group of linearly fused aromatics, called acenes, but also a presentation of the current state of the knowledge on the synthesis, reactions, and applications of these compounds. Their characteristic feature is substitution of the aromatic system by one, two, or three organophosphorus groups, which determine their properties and applications. The (P, P, P) phosphorus atom in organophosphorus groups is linked to the acene directly by a P-C bond or indirectly through an oxygen atom by a P-O-C bond.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Screening for cancer-related psychosocial distress is an integral yet laborious component of quality oncologic care. Automated preappointment screening through online patient portals (Portal, MyChart) is efficient compared with paper-based screening, but unstudied. We hypothesized that patient access to and engagement with EHR-based screening would positively correlate with factors associated with digital literacy (eg, age, socioeconomic status).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere has been a staggering increase in the incidence of rectal cancer, drawing our attention to early detection and optimization of its medical and surgical treatment. With this review we highlight all the major trials that revolutionized rectal cancer management and improved oncologic outcomes. We present the origins of the trimodal therapy and the studies that supported the sequence of treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Screening for cancer-related psychosocial distress is recommended for patients with cancer; however, data on the long-term prevalence of distress and its natural history in survivors are scarce, preventing recommendations for screening frequency and duration. We sought to evaluate longitudinal distress in cancer patients.
Methods: We evaluated longitudinal distress screening data for patients with cancer treated or surveilled at our institution from 2010 to 2018.
Diverticulitis is a common gastrointestinal disease that still garners significant attention and study because of its heterogeneity in presentation and outcome. We provide a review of the newest and most controversial topics in diverticulitis. Recent discoveries on the influence of diet and other environmental risk factors are discussed, showing how the epidemiology of the disease process is shifting away from what was previously felt to be a disorder primarily limited to older western populations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFor non-native tree species with an origin outside of Europe a detailed compilation of enemy species including the severity of their attack is lacking up to now. We collected information on native and non-native species attacking non-native trees, i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: There is an increasing emphasis on surgical trainees learning how to appropriately provide care for the geriatric patient. We hypothesized that little published formal curriculum on the topic exists. We sought to perform a scoping review to test this hypothesis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhile few studies show only symmetrical and poorly mono-SO (n = 0-2) substituted acenes, in this study, we present a synthesis of a new group of unsymmetrical, significantly substituted derivatives, which revealed unique photophysical properties. Both sulfides (S), sulfoxides (SO) and sulfones (SO) showed very high photochemical stabilities, unusual for these groups, during UV-irradiation at 254/365 nm (air O and Ar), which was higher than any found in the literature. For the (S)/(SO) series (254 nm), the stabilities of 80-519 min.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAmygdalin (d-Mandelonitrile 6--β-d-glucosido-β-d-glucoside) is a natural cyanogenic glycoside occurring in the seeds of some edible plants, such as bitter almonds and peaches. It is a medically interesting but controversial compound as it has anticancer activity on one hand and can be toxic via enzymatic degradation and production of hydrogen cyanide on the other hand. Despite numerous contributions on cancer cell lines, the clinical evidence for the anticancer activity of amygdalin is not fully confirmed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhysicochemical properties, in particular solubility and the associated bioavailability, are key factors in determining efficacy of poorly water-soluble drugs, which constitute 40% of new drugs in the market, and improving them is an important challenge for modern pharmacy. A recent strategy to achieve this goal is formation of stable co-amorphous solid dispersions with co-formers of low molecular weight. Here, the amorphization strategy was applied for low-soluble anti-hypertensive valsartan (VAL), an angiotensin II receptor blocker, and nicotinamide, which exhibits lung- and cardio-protective effects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRobinia pseudoacacia is one of the most frequent non-native species in Europe. It is a fast-growing tree of high economic and cultural importance. On the other hand, it is an invasive species, causing changes in soil chemistry and light regime, and consequently altering the plant communities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe interest in functional materials possessing improved properties led to development of new methods of their synthesis, which allowed to obtain new molecular arrangements with carbon and heteroatom motifs. Two of the classical reactions of versatile use are the Friedel-Crafts and the Bradsher reactions, which in the new heteroatomic versions allow to replace ring carbon atoms by heteroatoms. In the present work, we review methods of synthesis of C-S and C-P bonds utilizing - and -Friedel-Crafts-Bradsher cyclizations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn the Horn of Africa, little is known about temporal changes in hydroclimate owing to the influence of multiple weather systems, the complex terrain, and the sparse instrumental records. Absolutely dated tree-ring records offer the potential to extend our understanding of climate into the pre-instrumental era, but tree-ring studies in this region, and indeed all of tropical Africa, have been rare largely due to lack of an annual climate cycle that reliably produces annual tree-rings. In this study, 40 cores were obtained from 31 Juniperus procera trees growing in the grounds of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo churches in the Gonder region of Ethiopia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTwo heteroatom-variants of the Friedel-Crafts/Bradsher cyclization of o-acetalaryl(aryl)methyl ethers and o-dithioacetalaryl(aryl)methyl thioethers, have been realized with the ultrasound assistance. The environmentally friendly "oxo-variant" (Oxo-F-C/B), proceeding in a medium containing mineral acid and a large amount of water (HCl/CHCN) led to a very efficient formation of RO-substituted (hetero)acenes in less than 5 min. In the "thio-variant" (Thio-F-C/B), o-dithioacetalaryl(aryl)methyl thioethers underwent ultrasound-assisted cyclization in nonaqueous medium (FeCl/KI/EtOH) in less than 25 min.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe highly substituted mono-aryl/alkylthio-(hetero)acenes prepared in this study have been found to be thermally more stable (T =331-354 °C) than the known di-aryl/alkylthio-substituted acenes by an average of 25 °C. They are also much more photostable at 254 and 365 nm (in both argon and air) than the parent anthracene and other reported anthracenes. The most photostable aryl/alkylthio-anthracenes at 254 nm were found to be 60-70 (in air) and 130 (in argon) times more stable in solution than the unsubstituted anthracene, and much more stable than known EDG/EWG-substituted anthracenes (EDG=electron-donating group, EWG=electron-withdrawing group) with an extended aromatic core.
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