Effects of dietary calorie restriction or exercise on the PI3K and Ras signaling pathways in the skin of mice.

Weight control by exercise and dietary calorie restriction (DCR) has been associated with reduced cancer risk, but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. This study was designed to compare the effects of weight loss by increasing physical activity or decreasing calorie intake on tumor promoter-induced Ras-MAPK and PI3K-Akt pathways. SENCAR mice were randomly assigned to one of the following five groups: ad libitum-fed sedentary control, ad libitum-fed exercise (AL+Exe), exercise but pair-fed at the amount as controls (PF+Exe), 20% DCR, and 20% DCR plus exercise (DCR+Exe).

Enantioselective synthesis of alpha-tertiary hydroxyaldehydes by palladium-catalyzed asymmetric allylic alkylation of enolates.

Chiral α-tertiary hydroxyaldehydes are very versatile building blocks in synthetic chemistry. Herein, we reported the first examples of a catalytic asymmetric protocol for the synthesis of such compounds from readily available α-halo or α-hydroxy ketones or enol silyl ethers with excellent yields and enantioselectivity. Its synthetic utility is demonstrated in the short, efficient formal synthesis of ()-oxybutynin.

Implications for prediction and hazard assessment from the 2004 Parkfield earthquake.

Obtaining high-quality measurements close to a large earthquake is not easy: one has to be in the right place at the right time with the right instruments. Such a convergence happened, for the first time, when the 28 September 2004 Parkfield, California, earthquake occurred on the San Andreas fault in the middle of a dense network of instruments designed to record it. The resulting data reveal aspects of the earthquake process never before seen.