Memories of nursing in Singapore - an oral history approach.

Background: Documentation of the voices of nurses provided valuable insight and a greater understanding of the nursing experience in Singapore. Aim: To record nurses' experiences of journey of nursing profession in the acute care setting in Singapore from the early days of formalisation of nursing education to today's practice as a profession with various specialisation and career tracks. Method: An oral history research approach was adopted, with purposive and snowball sampling to recruit nurses (both current and retired) who had trained in Singapore from 1956 which marked the beginning of the founding of the School of Nursing to current. Interviews were conducted with an interview guide. Thematic analysis was utilised to analyse the audio-recorded data. Results: The 54 participants with a range of 10-54 years of nursing experience were interviewed and they completed their nursing training between 1952 and 2006. Four themes were generated: essence of nursing, inevitable changes across nursing profession, resilience and future outlook in nursing. Conclusions: Understanding the experiences of these nurses generated an in-depth understanding of the personal, social and historical events that were at play in fostering today's nursing practice. With the evolution of the roles in nursing, compassion in current practice needs to be re-evaluated. Continuous learning is essential to meet the needs of the changing healthcare landscape.

New meroterpenoids and C-methylated flavonoid isolated from Baeckea frutescens.

Phytochemical investigation of the aerial parts of Baeckea frutescens resulted in the isolation of three new mono- or sesquiterpene-based meroterpenoids, frutescones S-U (1-3), and one pair of new (±)-5,7-dihydroxy-8-isobutyryl-6-methyldihydroflavonol (4). Their structures and absolute configurations were established by HR-ESI-MS, 1D and 2D NMR, and quantum chemical ECD calculation. Compound 1 exhibited inhibitory effect on NO production in LPS-activated RAW 264.7 macrophages with an IC50 value being 0.81 µmol·L-1.

International tuberculosis research collaborations within Asia.

BACKGROUND: Asia bears more than half the global tuberculosis (TB) burden. Economic development in the region has increased available funding for biomedical research and opportunity for collaboration. We explored the extent of international tuberculosis research collaborations between institutions within Asia. METHODS: We conducted a Pubmed search for all articles with tuberculosis in the title published during a 12 month period with at least one author affiliation listed in Asia, then identified international collaborations from institution websites and internet searches. RESULTS: We identified 99 international collaborations involving an institution within Asia, of which only 8 (8.1%) were collaborations between Asian institutions. The remainder were with institutions outside of Asia. CONCLUSIONS: The paucity of intra-Asian international research collaboration represents a lost opportunity to optimise regional research funding, capacity building and the development of an Asia-relevant TB research agenda.

Optically pure polyfluoroalkanesulfinamides: synthesis and application as promising and monitorable chiral auxiliaries.

Efficient synthesis of enantiopure polyfluoroalkanesulfinamides (PFSAs) has been achieved. Their application as novel chiral auxiliaries with an electron-withdrawing and (19)F NMR monitorable polyfluoroalkyl group was initially demonstrated in an asymmetric Strecker reaction under mild conditions.

Bidirectional synthesis of the central amino acid of chloptosin.

[reaction: see text] An efficient total synthesis of (2S,2'S,3aR,3'aR,8aR,8'aR)-6,6'-dichloro-3a,3'a-dihydroxy-1,1',2,2',3,3a,3',3'a,8,8a,8',8'a-dodecahydro-5,5'-bipyrrolo[2,3-b]indole-2,2'-dicarboxylic acid, the central amino acid component of chloptosin (1), is described. Starting from m-chloronitrobenzene, this C(2)-symmetrical amino acid was synthesized by using a 14-step route, in which a Zinin benzidine rearrangement, intramolecular Heck reaction, and selenocyclization and oxidative deselenation served as key steps. The absolute stereochemistry of the target was confirmed by X-ray single-crystal studies on a key intermediate (17).