A more sustainable isothiocyanate synthesis by amine catalyzed sulfurization of isocyanides with elemental sulfur.

Isothiocyanates (ITCs) are typically prepared using amines and highly toxic reagents such as thiophosgene, its derivatives, or CS. In this work, an investigation of a multicomponent reaction (MCR) using isocyanides, elemental sulfur and amines revealed that isocyanides can be converted to isothiocyanates using sulfur and catalytic amounts of amine bases, especially DBU (down to 2 mol%). This new catalytic reaction was optimized in terms of sustainability, especially considering benign solvents such as Cyrene™ or γ-butyrolactone (GBL) under moderate heating (40 °C).

Assessment of referrals to a multidisciplinary outpatient clinic for patients with back pain.

Objective: Each year our multidisciplinary outpatient clinic for patients with back pain receives a large number of referrals from primary care physicians, manual physiotherapists, and chiropractors. We wanted to assess the quality of the referrals regarding the information provided about case history, clinical findings, and results from additional investigations.

Material And Methods: Two hundred and eighty six consecutive referrals received in the time period from 1 October 2008 to 1 March 2009 were reviewed.

Dietary iron restriction or iron chelation protects from diabetes and loss of beta-cell function in the obese (ob/ob lep-/-) mouse.

Iron overload can cause insulin deficiency, but in some cases this may be insufficient to result in diabetes. We hypothesized that the protective effects of decreased iron would be more significant with increased beta-cell demand and stress. Therefore, we treated the ob/ob mouse model of type 2 diabetes with an iron-restricted diet (35 mg/kg iron) or with an oral iron chelator.