The Rise of Boron-Containing Compounds: Advancements in Synthesis, Medicinal Chemistry, and Emerging Pharmacology.

Boron-containing compounds (BCC) have emerged as important pharmacophores. To date, five BCC drugs (including boronic acids and boroles) have been approved by the FDA for the treatment of cancer, infections, and atopic dermatitis, while some natural BCC are included in dietary supplements. Boron's Lewis acidity facilitates a mechanism of action via formation of reversible covalent bonds within the active site of target proteins. Boron has also been employed in the development of fluorophores, such as BODIPY for imaging, and in carboranes that are potential neutron capture therapy agents as well as novel agents in diagnostics and therapy. The utility of natural and synthetic BCC has become multifaceted, and the breadth of their applications continues to expand. This review covers the many uses and targets of boron in medicinal chemistry.

Organocatalytic trans Phosphinoboration of Internal Alkynes.

We report the first trans phosphinoboration of internal alkynes. With an organophosphine catalyst, alkynoate esters and the phosphinoboronate Ph2 P-Bpin are efficiently converted into the corresponding trans-α-phosphino-ß-boryl acrylate products in moderate to good yield with high regio- and Z-selectivity. This reaction operates under mild conditions and demonstrates good atom economy, requiring only a modest excess of the phosphinoboronate. X-ray crystallography experiments allowed structural assignment of the unprecedented and densely functionalized (Z)-α-phosphino-ß-boryl acrylate products.

Effect of age and race on quality of life in young breast cancer survivors.

BACKGROUND: Given their early age at diagnosis, young breast cancer survivors (YBCSs) face issues that differ widely from their older counterparts. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We mailed a survey to 2209 patients who were ≤ 45 years at the time of breast cancer (BC) diagnosis. Each survey was composed of the Quality of Life in Adult Cancer Survivors instrument, Menopause Symptom Scale, and questions aimed at obtaining pertinent background information. RESULTS: One thousand ninety patients completed the survey. Mean age at time of diagnosis was 39.5 years; median years from diagnosis was 6.6 years. Distress related to vaginal dryness (P = .0002) and pain from intercourse (P = .0014) was significantly higher in patients who were < 5 years from diagnosis compared with those > 10 years from diagnosis. In the area of financial problems, black women had greater distress than did white women (P = .0010). Compared with white women, Hispanic women had worse family distress scores (P = .0028) and summary cancer-specific scores (P = .0076). Patients > 10 years from diagnosis had less sexual interest (P = .003) than did women who were closer to diagnosis. Women ≥ 40 years at diagnosis had significantly lower sexual interest (P = .0016) than did women < 40 years. Stage and neoadjuvant chemotherapy did not have a significant effect on quality of life (QOL). CONCLUSION: Even in comparison to stage and neoadjuvant chemotherapy, race, age at diagnosis, and time from diagnosis have significant long-term effects on QOL after treatment for BC.

Randomized pilot test of a lifestyle physical activity intervention for breast cancer survivors.

OBJECTIVE: This paper will report the results of a pilot test of a 6-month, 21-session intervention to increase breast cancer survivors' physical activity by teaching them to incorporate short periods of moderate activity into their daily routines (lifestyle intervention). The effect of the intervention on physical performance, quality of life, and physical activity are reported. METHODS: Sixty breast cancer survivors were randomized to either a lifestyle intervention or a standard care control group. Physical performance, quality of life (Medical outcomes study short form-36 [SF-36]), and physical activity (7-day recall and motivation readiness), were assessed at baseline and 6 months. RESULTS: The lifestyle group had significantly better performance in the 6-min walk task than the controls (p=0.005) at 6 months. The intervention had positive effects on the bodily pain (p=0.020) and general health (p=0.006) subscales from the SF-36. The lifestyle group had a greater motivational readiness for physical activity at 6-month than standard care, but no significant differences were seen between the two in terms of number of minutes of moderate or more intense physical activity or number of days on which they did > or =30 min of moderate or more intense activity. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the small sample size, the lifestyle intervention showed promise for improving physical functioning and quality of life and increasing physical activity, and should be tested in a larger randomized trial. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: If the lifestyle approach is shown to be effective in a larger trial, it represents a highly feasible intervention that it can be delivered to cancer survivors by health care institutions or community organizations without dedicated exercise facilities and equipment.

Predictors of susceptibility to smoking and ever smoking: a longitudinal study in a triethnic sample of adolescents.

This report describes a longitudinal study of the natural course of smoking initiation in a school-based, ethnically diverse (42% White, 37% African American, 20% Hispanic) sample of adolescents in grades 5, 8, and 12 who were followed prospectively for 1 year. A cohort of 659 students was identified who were never smokers at baseline and who completed questionnaires both at baseline and at 1-year follow-up. From this cohort, predictor variables were used to identify ethnic-specific risk factors for (a) "susceptibility to smoking" among the 509 students who were nonsusceptible, never smokers at baseline and (b) "ever smoking" among all 659 students who were never smokers at baseline (both susceptible and nonsusceptible). Logistic regression analyses revealed that parental and household influences (parental education, marital status, household smoking) were important predictors of ever smoking, but not of susceptibility to smoking, for African Americans. Hispanic adolescents were significantly influenced by environmental influences, namely smoking by other household members (ever smoking) and by peers (susceptibility and ever smoking), although peer pro-tobacco influences (friends who smoke or friends' approval of smoking) were important predictors of susceptibility to smoking or ever smoking for all three ethnic groups. Exposure to tobacco-related advertising was a risk factor for White (susceptibility and ever smoking) and African American (susceptibility only) adolescents but not for Hispanic adolescents. Inclusion of the susceptibility to smoking variable in the model predicting ever smoking substantially reduced the importance of other predictors in the model, suggesting that susceptibility to smoking was not an independent risk factor for ever smoking but rather a potential mediating variable. The results of this study offer important insights for designing ethnic-specific strategies for preventing smoking during adolescence.

Self-reported health status, health vulnerability, and smoking behavior in college students: implications for intervention.

Health-related factors, including prevalence of respiratory symptoms and perceived health status, were analyzed by smoking status and by stages of change for quitting to evaluate their potential use as motivators for tobacco cessation. Data were obtained from a survey of 1,283 Houston-area community college students. Respiratory symptoms were most frequent among current smokers and least frequent among never smokers. A higher prevalence of reported respiratory symptoms was associated with being in later stages of readiness to change. An "optimism bias" regarding smoking-related health was evident among smokers; over half of the current smokers believed that their health was better than the average same-age smoker's health, and 19% believed that their health was better than that of the same-age nonsmoker. Furthermore, virtually all of the smokers perceived that their health was either not at all or only slightly affected by smoking, and almost half of smokers thought that quitting would bring either no benefit or only minor benefit to their health. Of the smokers, 45% believed that continuing to smoke would have only minor or no impact on their health. Differences in perceived health vulnerability were observed across the various stages of readiness to quit; precontemplators reported the lowest perceptions of health vulnerability related to smoking, and those in the preparation stage reported the highest perceptions of vulnerability. Smoking cessation counselors should consider measuring and demonstrating the early tobacco-attributable health problems to young smokers to possibly enhance motivation to quit.