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Patients who undergo multiple-day chemotherapy sessions experience hard-to-treat nausea and vomiting. Currently, there is no effective standard treatment for this condition. This study compared the preventive effect of first-generation 5-hydroxytryptamine 3 receptor antagonists (5-HT 3 RAs) and second-generation 5-HT 3 RAs palonosetron in multiple-day chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. The design of this study was a retrospective case-control study of patients who received a five-day cisplatin-based chemotherapy and were treated with aprepitant, dexamethasone, granisetron, and ramosetron or palonosetron. The patients were divided into two groups: patients given granisetron and ramosetron (the first-generation group), and those given palonosetron (palonosetron group). The percentage of patients with a complete response or total control was assessed. They were divided into three phases: 0-216 h (overall phase), 0-120 h (remedial phase), and 120-216 h (after phase). The remedial phase was further divided into 0-24 h (early phase) and 24-120 h (later phase). Moreover, the nutritional status of each patient was assessed by noting the patients' total calorie-intake per day and total parenteral nutrition. First-generation 5-HT 3 RAs and palonosetron were used for treatment in 18 and 28 patients, respectively. The complete response rate and caloric oral intake of the later phase were higher in the palonosetron group than in the first-generation group. We conclude that palonosetron treatment was more effective than first-generation 5-HT 3 RAs in controlling multiple-day chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting.

In closed sea areas such as Tokyo Bay, a phenomenon known as a green tide often occurs, in which large amounts of Ulva seaweed grow abnormally and form mats along the coast. This is currently a serious environmental problem. Green tides are generated by the explosive growth of multiple types of Ulva algae. However, many Ulva species show similar characteristics to each other and are indistinguishable by appearance, making it difficult to identify the Ulva algae in green tides. In this study, we determined the entire nucleotide sequence of the chloroplast genome of Ulva pertusa (syn. Ulva australis) and identified two large inversions of gene order, suggesting the occurrence of genome inversions. We also detected structural polymorphisms among Ulva chloroplast genomes. Ulva pertusa was classified in a different clade from that containing U. lactuca and U. ohnoi, suggesting that U. pertusa is evolutionarily divergent from these species. Based on this knowledge, we constructed a genetic diagnosis system for Ulva algae. Using this approach, we established a simple method that can determine the species of Ulva algae by PCR using specific molecular markers, through which representative Ulva species such as U. lactuca, U. ohnoi and U. pertusa were easily distinguished.

Enantiocontrolled total syntheses of the breviones A, B, and C have been accomplished using a highly diastereoselective oxidative coupling of an α-pyrone with a tricyclic diene prepared from an optically pure Wieland-Miescher ketone derivative through the 7-endo-trig mode of acyl radical cyclization., (© 2011 American Chemical Society)