Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow: a Century of Dedication

Dr. Fecher presents findings, covering 70 years, of health studies of members of United States religious communities with a view to providing suggestions for possible solutions to the problem of providing adequate continuing health care for American women religious

Secondary organizing pneumonia (bronchiolitis obliterans with organizing pneumonia) associated with adalimumab for treatment of chronic plaque psoriasis

Organizing pneumonia is defined histopathologically by intra-alveolar buds of granulation tissue, consisting of intermixed myofibroblasts and connective tissue. The pathological pattern of organizing pneumonia may be idiopathic or related to a determined cause, termed secondary organizing pneumonia. We report a 68-year-old woman with a longstanding history of chronic plaque psoriasis, treated with the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitor, adalimumab. After 8 years of treatment, she developed a gradual-onset, non-productive cough with associated generalized fatigue and mild dyspnea. Radiological investigations demonstrated ground-glass opacities in the left lower lobe and bronchoscopy revealed a fibroinflammatory process consistent with organizing pneumonia. Her biologic treatment was ceased and corticosteroid treatment commenced, with resolution of both her symptoms and the radiological findings. Given the increasing incidence of biologic treatment in the management of dermatological conditions, clinicians should be aware of secondary organizing pneumonia as a possible side effect of TNF inhibitor therapy

Evidence of an early information processing speed deficit in unipolar major depression

Background. Slowing of the speed of information processing has been reported in geriatric depression, but it is not clear if the impairment is present in younger patients, if motor retardation is responsible, or if antidepressant medications play a role. Method. Twenty unmedicated unipolar depressed inpatients were compared with 19 medicated depressed in-patients and 20 age-, sex- and verbal IQ-matched controls on inspection time (IT), a measure of speed of information processing that does not require a speeded motor response. We also examined the relationship between IT and current mood and length of depressive illness. Results. Unmedicated depressed patients showed slowing of information processing speed when compared to both medicated depressed patients and controls. The latter two groups were not significantly different from each other. Slowing of IT was not associated with current mood, but was negatively correlated with length of illness since first episode. No differences in IT were found between patients receiving medication with anticholinergic effects and patients receiving medication with no anticholinergic effects. Conclusions. The findings indicate that unipolar depression is associated with a slowing of speed of information processing in younger patients who have not received antidepressant medication. This does not appear to be a result of motor slowing.G. Tsourtos, J. C. Thompson and C. Stoug

Acid-catalysed carboxymethylation, methylation and dehydration of alcohols and phenols with dimethyl carbonate under mild conditions

Dimethyl carbonate (DMC) chemistry has been extended to include acid-catalysed reactions of different aliphatic alcohols and phenols. For the first time, p-toluenesulfonic acid (PTSA), H2SO4, AlCl3 and FeCl3 have been shown to aid carboxymethylation for primary aliphatic alcohols at catalytic loadings with quantitative conversion and selectivity. For carboxymethylation of secondary alcohols, stoichiometric PTSA and catalytic AlCl3 both gave quantitative conversion and selectivity. Stoichiometric FeCl3 and H2SO4 promoted dehydration of linear aliphatic alcohols. Additionally FeCl3 catalysed methylation of cyclohexanol, whilst AlCl3 resulted in methylation of phenolic compounds. This research expands the range of potential application for DMC in green chemistry

Synthesis of cholesterol-reducing sterol esters by enzymatic catalysis in bio-based solvents or solvent-free

Enzymatic synthesis of a β-sitosterol ester in bio-based solvents was compared with conventional solvents. Limonene and p-cymene gave higher initial reaction rates than n-hexane, and comparable conversions after 24 hours (∼75%). Importantly, a solvent-free system yielded the highest conversion (88%)