We reported previously (±)-2-(5-methylthiophen-2-yl)-3-phenyl-2,3-dihydroquinazolin-4(1H)-one [(±)-Retro-2(cycl)] as the chemical structure of Retro-2 that showed mouse protection against ricin, a notorious ribosome inactivating protein (RIP). Herein we report our chemical resolution of (±)-Retro-2(cycl), analog synthesis, and cell-based evaluation showing that the two optically pure enantiomer...

Acetic acid has been applied as an efficient catalyst and a green solvent for the two–component condensation reaction consisting of benzaldehyde, 2-amino-benzamide. The advantages of this protocol was excellent yield, short reaction time, mild reaction conditions, higher availability, low costs, more environmentally friendly, lack of need for column chromatography and simple work-up procedure. ...

Among the 162 Candida tropicalis isolates collected in the Taiwan Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance of Yeasts in 1999, 23 (14.2 %) had fluconazole MICs > or = 64 mg l(-1), and thus fulfilled the definition of resistance. Random amplified polymorphic DNA assay showed that all 23 fluconazole-resistance C. tropicalis isolates collected from different hospitals around Taiwan were closely rel...

In this paper, a set of 3-methylquniazolinone derivatives were designed, synthesised, and studied the preliminary structure-activity relationship for antiproliferative activities. All target compounds performed significantly inhibitory effects against wild type epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase (EGFRwt-TK) tumour cells (A431, A549, MCF-7, NCI-H1975). particular, compound 4d 3-flu...

Three papers in the Journal this month examine the impact on service use of particular service developments and patient/illness characteristics. Williams et al (pp. 480–485) compared patterns of service use, including hospital admission rates, before and after the introduction of a triage admission system in one large innercity mental health organisation. Overall, little difference was found be...

Several papers in the BJPsych this month address issues arising from the overlap or comorbidity between mental and physical ill health. In a UK sample of individuals with affective disorders, Forty et al (pp. 465–472) found significantly increased rates of several medical illnesses among those with bipolar and unipolar disorder compared with controls. Among those with affective disorder, migrai...

When you open your eyes in the morning, you usually see what you expect to see. Often it will be your bedroom, with things where you left them before you went to sleep. What if you opened your eyes and unexpectedly found yourself in a steaming tropical jungle? Why do we have expectations about what is about to happen to us? Why do we get surprised when something unexpected happens to us? More g...