No abstract

Background: As many sufferers from phobic and panic (phobia/panic) disorders cannot get to suitable therapists, routine aspects of therapy were delegated to internet-accessed computer-aided self-help with or without exposure instructions. Methods: Phobia/panic referrals were randomised to computer-aided self-help via the internet at home in a 2:1 ratio either by self-exposure cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) [FearFighter (FF), n = 45] or by minimal CBT without exposure [Managing Anxiety (MA), n = 23]. All had brief backup phone advice from a clinician concerning their computer guidance. Results: On self-ratings and blinded assessor ratings, patients improved equally with each form of self-help over 10 treatment weeks but significantly more on 5 out of 10 measures by week 14 (1-month follow-up) when the self-help included self-exposure instructions than when it did not. In accord with this, standardised effect sizes (Cohen’s d) indicated superiority of FF over MA on 5 measures by week 14. Satisfaction with treatment in all patients pooled correlated positively with improvement after treatment and at 1-month follow-up. Conclusions: At the end of treatment, computer-aided CBT self-help at home via the internet plus brief live helpline support was effective with or without exposure instructions, and at 1-month follow-up it was more effective on some measures if exposure instructions had been included. Analysis is needed of how non-exposure CBT produced its shorter-term effect.

Cascade reactions appeared as ac utting-edge strategy to streamline the assembly of complex structural scaffolds from naturally available precursors in an atom-, as well as time,l abor-a nd cost-efficient way. We hereinr eport astrategy to control cationic cyclization cascades by exploiting the ability of anchoring dynamic substrates in the active site of terpene cyclases via designed hydrogen bonding.Thereby, it is possible to induce "directed" cyclizations in contrast to established "non-stop" cyclizations (99:1) and predestinate cascade termination at otherwise catalytically barely accessible intermediates.A saresult, we are able to provide efficient access to naturally widely occurring apocarotenoids,v alueadded flavors and fragrances in gram-scale by replacing multistage synthetic routes to as ingle step with unprecedented selectivity (> 99.5 %ee) and high yields (up to 89 %).

Trans-AT polyketide synthases (PKSs) are a recently discovered group of biosynthetic enzymes present in many bacteria. A strategy for the prediction of natural product structures from trans-AT PKS sequences was demonstrated to be a useful approach for the targeted isolation of bioactive polyketides from chemically poorly studied prokaryotic phyla, as exemplified by the elansolid-type antibiotics