in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com).The synthesis of C 2 -oxygenates such as ethanol and acetic acid accomplished by CH 4 dissociation and subsequent CO 2 insertion onto methyl radicals, named the stepwise reaction technology, has been demonstrated to be both feasible and efficient through initial experiments conducted in microreactor units. This article describes the development of this technology, highlighting the aforementioned stepwise technology using a dual-reactor system, which can ensure that two raw gases enter the reactor uninterruptedly and are not mixed after reaction. The system productivity for acetic acid and ethanol displayed efficiencies greater than 5-10 times that of previous microreactor units. The investigation of mechanism indicates that acetic acid arises from insertion of CO 2 into MACH x , while ethanol is formed either by hydrogenation of acetic acid or by hydration of C 2 H 4 , which results from homo-coupling of CH 4 . The latter route is the preferred of the two. V

Extended thymectomy combined with immunotherapy is a preferred treatment with a satisfactory long-term remission rate. Patients with non-thymomatous myasthenia gravis have a much more promising prognosis than the patients with thymomatous myasthenia gravis. However, appropriate caution must be taken to discontinue pharmaceutical therapy as relapse remains a major concern after a patient who has already undergone thymectomy becomes symptom-free.

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Overexpression of breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) and mitoxantrone (MX) resistance protein can confer resistance to a variety of cytostatic drugs, such as MX, topotecan (TPT), doxorubicin, and daunorubicin. This study investigates the role of BCRP in resistance of ovarian cancer to TPT treatment. We have developed TPT-resistant human ovarian cancer cell line. Intracellular concentration of fluorescent dye rhodamine 123 (Rh123) was measured by flow cytometry. The expression of several membrane transporter proteins including P-glycoprotein (P-gp), multidrug resistance protein 1 (MRP1), and BCRP were determined by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting. The Rh123 concentration in parental cells was approximately three times of those in TPT-resistant cells. In contrast to undetectable level of P-gp messenger RNA (mRNA) and minimal level of MRP1 expression in TPT-resistant cells, overexpression of both the BCRP mRNA and the protein was detected in these cells. Introduction of antisense-phosphorothioate oligonucleotide derived from BCRP mRNA into TPT-resistant cells resulted in a significant increase in the concentration of intracellular Rh123. These results suggested a novel mechanism in which a reduced intracellular drug concentration may be mediated by BCRP gene products in human ovarian cancer cells.