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Magnetite (Fe(3) O(4) ) nanoparticles with the surface hydroxyl groups were achieved by a polyol process. Using 2-(4-chlorosulfonylphenyl) ethyltrichlorosilane (CTCS) as initiator, 2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl phosphorylcholine (MPC) as monomer, poly(2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl phosphorylcholine) (PMPC)-grafted Fe(3) O(4) nanoparticles (MNP) were successfully prepared via the atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) method. The successful grafting of PMPC on the Fe(3) O(4) nanoparticles surface was ascertained from the FTIR analysis. The modified nanoparticles (MNP-CTCS-PMPC) showed a good biocompatibility in the cytotoxicity test in vitro. Performance testing of MNP-CTCS-PMPC was performed through magnetic resonance analysis (MR), and its r(2) /r(1) value was 24.1. These results indicated that the modified Fe(3) O(4) nanoparticles would be a potential MRI contrast reagent., (Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Background: The combination of cisplatin and vinorelbine is an evidence-supported regimen for adjuvant chemotherapy for treating non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). But this doublet has considerable toxicity and unfavorable tolerability, and results in poor compliance. The cisplatin and gemcitabine regimen is one of the most active and well-tolerated regimens against advanced NSCLC, but its toxicity and tolerability has not been adequately evaluated in the adjuvant setting., Methods: From a lung cancer database we retrospectively reviewed NSCLC patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy of cisplatin (75 mg/m(2)) and gemcitabine (1250 mg/m(2)) between January 2005 and December 2011. Postoperative demographics, compliance to adjuvant therapy and toxicity were retrieved from medical records., Results: A total of 132 patients met the criteria and were included in the study, 96 were male (72.7%) and 36 were female (27.3%). Median age was 60.5 years old, range 29 - 75 years, and 41.7% of patients were ≥ 65 years old. Overall, 68.2% patients received all four planned cycles, and the cumulative dose delivered for gemcitabine was 8333 mg (83.3% of the planned dose) and cisplatin 248 mg (82.7% of the planned dose). There were no treatment-related deaths. Grade 3/4 neutropenia developed in 47 patients (35.6%) and was the predominant hematologic toxicity. Common grade 3/4 non-hematologic toxicities were nausea/vomiting (22.0%), infection (12.3%), and febrile neutropenia (11.4%)., Conclusion: Cisplatin and gemcitabine are feasible for use in the adjuvant setting with a favorable toxicity profile and superior tolerability compared with published data on cisplatin and vinorelbine.

Objective: To evaluate the role of endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) in the diagnosis of isolated mediastinal lesions., Methods: A retrospective study was conducted of 73 consecutive patients with isolated mediastinal lesions of unknown origin without parenchymal lung abnormalities, who underwent EBUS-TBNA from September 2009 to April 2011. The patients who were nondiagnostic with EBUS-TBNA subsequently underwent surgical biopsies and a minimum of 6 months'clinical and radiologic follow-up., Results: EBUS-TBNA achieved definitive diagnoses in 60 patients of the 73 patients (82.2%, 60/73). Malignancies were diagnosed in 23 patients and benignancies in 37. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of EBUS-TBNA in distinguishing malignant mediastinal lesions were 95.8%(23/24), 100%(49/49) and 98.6%(72/73), respectively. EBUS was well tolerated by all of the patients with no complications., Conclusion: EBUS-TBNA of isolated mediastinal lesions is a minimally invasive and safe diagnostic technique with high yield.

Background: Mediastinal lesions are often difficult to diagnose in clinical practice because of the unique anatomical position of the mediastinum, which makes performance of biopsy difficult. The value of endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration in the diagnosis of lung cancer and mediastinal lymph node staging has been widely accepted. However, few studies have been conducted on the value of endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration in the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of mediastinal lesions. The current study was conducted to investigate the value of endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration in the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of isolated mediastinal lesions without lung abnormalities., Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the data of patients with isolated mediastinal lesions without lung abnormalities for whom endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration examination was performed at the Department of Thoracic Surgery of Peking University People's Hospital, between September 2009 and December 2010. For patients who could not be diagnosed with endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration, surgical biopsy or more than 6 months of clinical and imaging follow-up was carried out., Results: Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration was performed for 60 patients with isolated mediastinal lesions. Correct diagnosis was made in 48 cases. Nineteen cases were malignant, and 29 were benign. The rate of correct diagnosis was 80%. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration in distinguishing benign from malignant mediastinal lesions were 95%, 100%, and 98%, respectively. The examination was tolerable for all patients. No associated complications were observed., Conclusion: Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration is a safe and effective method of diagnosing mediastinal lesions.

Purpose: To examine the analgesic effect of preoperative administration of flurbiprofen axetil and that of postoperative administration of a combination of flurbiprofen axetil and fentanyl, as well as perioperative plasma β-endorphin (β-EP) levels in patients undergoing esophagectomy., Methods: Forty-five patients were randomly divided into three groups: group A: 100 mg flurbiprofen axetil preoperative, 10 μg/kg fentanyl + 10 ml placebo postoperative; group B: 100 mg flurbiprofen axetil preoperative, 10 μg/kg fentanyl + 100 mg flurbiprofen axetil postoperative; group C: 10 ml placebo preoperative, 10 μg/kg fentanyl + 10 ml placebo postoperative. Postoperative analgesia was achieved by intravenous infusion containing flurbiprofen axetil and/or fentanyl at 2.0 ml/h (total volume, 100 ml) using infusion pumps. The β-EP was measured at preanesthesia (T(1)), the end of surgery (T(2)), 24 h (T(3)), and 48 h (T(4)) after surgery. Visual analog scale scores (VAS) at T3, T4 (at rest), and rescue analgesic tramadol requirement was recorded., Results: The VAS of group B was significantly lower than group A and C (P < 0.01) at T(3) and T(4). The β-EP levels at T(2)-T(4) in group A did not differ significantly from those at T(1) (P > 0.05); however, the β-EP levels in group B at T(3)-T(4) increased significantly (P < 0.05), while those in group C increased at T(2) and decreased at T(4) (P < 0.05). The β-EP levels in group B at T(3) and T(4) were the highest as compared to its levels in groups A and C (P < 0.01). Tramadol consumption in group B was significantly lower than in groups A and C (P < 0.01)., Conclusion: These results show that flurbiprofen axetil enhances the analgesic effect of fentanyl associated with increase in β-EP levels.

Objective: To evaluate the clinical factors affecting the definite pathological diagnosis of solitary pulmonary nodules (SPN) with multivariate Logistic regression analysis, and to build the clinical prediction model to estimate the probability of malignancy., Methods: A retrospective cohort study in our institution included 371 patients (197 males and 174 females) with definite pathological diagnosis of solitary pulmonary nodules from Jan 2000 to Sep 2009 (group A). Clinical data included age, gender, course of disease, symptoms, history and quantity of smoking history, history of tumor, family history of tumor, site, diameter, calcification, speculation, border, lobulation, traction of pleural, vascular convergence sign, and cavity. The independent predictors of malignancy were estimated with multivariate analysis, then the clinical prediction model was built. Other 62 SPN patients (group B) with definite pathological diagnosis in our institute from Oct 2009 to Mar 2010, were used to validate value of this clinical prediction model., Results: 53.1% of the nodules were malignant, and 46.9% were benign in goup A. Logistic regression analysis showed that seven clinical characteristics [age of patient (OR: 1.073), diameter (OR: 1.966), border (OR: 0.245), calcification (OR: 0.199), spiculation (OR: 2.088) and the family history of tumor (OR: 3.550)] were independent predictors of malignancy in patients with SPN (P<0.05). The cut-off value was 0.463. The sensitivity in group B was 92.5%, specificity 81.8%, positive predictive value 90.2%, and negative predictive value 85.7%. The area under the ROC curve for our model was 0.888±0.054., Conclusion: Age of patient, diameter, border, calcification, spiculation and the family history of tumor are independent predictors of malignancy in patients with SPN. Our prediction model is accurate and sufficient to estimate the malignancy of patients with SPN.

Penehyclidine (PHCD) has been proposed to reduce lung and lethal toxicity. The present study was undertaken to investigate the mechanisms responsible for the protective effect of PHCD against acute lung injury (ALI) in rats. Tail-vein injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS; 5 mg kg(-1)) was used to induce ALI in rats. Secondary increases in total protein, lactate dehydrogenase activity in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and myeloperoxidase in lung tissue were used to evaluate the effects of PHCD on ALI in rats. Activated DNA binding activity and expression of nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) in lung tissue were measured using electrophoretic mobility shift assays assay and immunohistological staining. Levels and mRNA expression of tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin 1beta (IL-1beta) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. Pretreatment with PHCD (0.03 mg kg(-1), 0.1 mg kg(-1) and 0.3 mg kg(-1) i.p.) significantly attenuated the LPS-induced changes in lung injury parameters and inhibited the activation and expression of NF-kappaB in lung tissue. Furthermore, PHCD also substantially reduced the LPS-induced TNF-alpha and IL-1beta mRNA expression and production in lung tissue and suppressed neutrophil recruitment. The results suggest that PHCD attenuates LPS-induced acute lung responses through inhibition of NF-kappaB activation and LPS-induced TNF-alpha and IL-1beta production and resulting neutrophil recruitment associated with acute lung inflammation and injury. PHCD may be a useful adjuvant to treatment strategies targeting clinical situations of acute inflammation.

It has been predicted that whole-culture methods of synchronization cannot synchronize cells. We have tested whether thymidine block, one type of whole-culture synchronization, can synchronize L1210 cells. We demonstrate experimentally that the thymidine block method cannot produce a synchronized culture. Although thymidine-treated cells are arrested primarily with an S-phase amount of DNA, there is no narrowing of the cell size distribution and there is no synchronized division pattern following release from the thymidine block. In contrast to a whole-culture synchronization method, cells produced by a selective (i.e. non-whole-culture) method not only have a specific DNA content, but also have a narrow size distribution and divide synchronously. Generalizing the results to other cell lines, we suggest that these conclusions call into question experimental measurements of gene expression during the division cycle based on thymidine inhibition synchronization.

Objective: Previous studies have suggested that under hypoxic conditions hypoxia inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1 alpha) contributes to the progression of neonatal pulmonary hemorrhage (NPH) by increasing the expression of endothelin-1 (ET-1) gene. RNA interference (RNAi) refers to the process of sequence-specific post-transcriptional gene-silencing mediated by double-stranded RNA. This new gene-silencing technique has recently been shown to be a powerful approach for studying gene function. The aim of this study was to construct the small interfering RNA (siRNA) eukaryotic expression vectors specific to human HIF-1 alpha gene (pSIREN-Shuttle HIF-1 alpha siRNAin order to observe its silencing effect on HIF-1 alpha under hypoxic conditions., Methods: Six potential siRNA target sites (a-fspecific to human HIF-1 alpha gene were designed and synthesized to two complementary oligonucleotides (A-F) for each siRNA target site. Using a gene recombination technique, the recombinant expression vectors (A-F') were constructed by cloning the double strands oligonucleotide into RNAi-Ready pSIREN vector. The recombinant vectors were then transfected into the cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). After 48 hrs of culture, the cells were treated with CoCl2 (100 mu M) for 3 hrs. Expression of HIF-1 alpha mRNA and protein was detected using RT-PCR and Western blot. ET-1 level in cell culture supernates was detected using ELISA., Results: The recombinant HIF-1 alpha siRNA eukaryotic expression vectors A'-F'respectively aiming at sites (a-f) were constructed successfully. Compared to the non-transfection group, liposome-mediated gene transfection of pSIREN-Shuttle HIF-1 alpha siRNA expression vectors into HUVECs obviously down-regulated the mRNA and protein levels of HIF-1 alpha, and partly decreased the ET-1 level in the B' and D' transfection groups., Conclusions: The specific pSIREN-Shuttle HIF-1 alpha siRNA expression vectors B' and D' aiming at b and d sites can inhibit the expression of HIF-1 alpha, thus decreasing the level of its target gene ET-1. This may be helpful to study the relationship between HIF-1 alpha and neonatal pulmonary hemorrhage in vivo in future.

Octa-carboxylic phthalocyanine aluminium (AlPc(COOH)8) was used as fluorescent probe of infrared region. The interaction of octa-carboxylic phthalocyanine aluminium (AlPc(COOH)s) and bovine serum albumin(BSA) was studied by UV/ Vis and fluorescence spectra methods. The binding constant KA and n of phthalocyanine aluminium with BSA were determined. The results were K=5. 74 X 10(5) , n= 5. 7 and K= 3. 51 X 10(5) , for these two methods respectively. The same results by using two different analytical methods were obtained. Besides, hemin chloride(HE), ibuprofen(IB) and L-tryptophan(TRP) were used as probes, and the effects of these probes on the spectra of AlPc(COOH)8 )-BSA were studied by competitive binding method. The result indicated that, by adding HE into the AlPc(COOH)8)-BSA system, obvious spectral change of the system was observed, while adding TRP and IB caused no spectral changes. The binding site of octa-carboxylic phthalocyanine aluminium on the BSA was found to be at the I site by competitive binding method.

Objective: To study the effect of NADPH oxidase on hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1alpha and endothelin (ET)-1 expression in human umbilical endothelia cells (HUVECs) and its possible mechanism., Methods: Twenty-five bottles of HUVECs culture fluid were randomly assigned into five groups: group A (normoxic control), group B (hypoxic), group C (NADPH oxidase inhibitor apocynin + normoxic), group D (H2O2 which can degrade HIF-1alpha rapidly+hypoxic) and group E (H2O2+apocynin+normoxic), with five bottles in each group. The culture supernates were collected and the total protein was extracted 3 hrs after treatment. Western Blot and ELISA were used to detect the HIF-1alpha protein expression in HUVECs and the ET-1 level in the culture supernates respectively., Results: There was a lower expression of HIF-1alpha protein (0.336 +/- 0.012) and lower ET-1 levels (5.87 +/- 2.22 pg/mL) in group A. The HIF-1alpha protein expression in groups B and C (0.773 +/- 0.018 and 0.888 +/- 0.022) and ET-1 levels (95.38 +/- 8.06 and 33.67 +/- 4.21 pg/mL) were noticeably higher than in group A (P < 0.05). The groups D and E had the HIF-1alpha protein expression levels similar to group A, but the ET-1 levels in group D (108.43 +/- 8.38 pg/mL) and group E (109.66 +/- 5.80 pg/mL) were significantly higher than in group A (P < 0.05)., Conclusions: Hypoxia or apocynin can increase the HIF-1alpha and ET-1 expression in HUVECs. H2O2 can inhibit the HIF-1alpha expression but increase the ET-1levels. It is speculated that NADPH oxidase as an oxygen sensor regulates the HIF-1alpha expression by changing the intracellular redox reaction and that except HIF-1, H2O2 might contribute to ET-1 synthesis and release.

Objective: To probe into the mechanisms of thread implantation at Zusanli(ST 36) and Chinese herbs in treatment of chronic renal failure(CRF)., Methods: CRF rat model was made by Platt subtotal nephrectomy. They were divided into 5 groups, sham operation group, model group, Chinese herbs group, thread implantation group and thread implantation plus Chinese herbs group. After treatment of 8 weeks, serum parathyroid hormone (PHT), transforming growth factor beta1 (TGF-beta1) expression in residual renal cells, malondialdehyde(MDA) content in the residual renal tissue, serum urea nitrogen(BUN) and creatinine(Scr), protein in urine and pathological changes were investigated., Results: The above indexes after treatment by thread implantation at acupoint, Chinese herbs, and acupoint thread implantation plus Chinese herbs showed begin reversion, especially, the most obviously improvement in the acupoint thread implantation plus Chinese herbs treatment group., Conclusion: The mechanism of acupoint thread implantation and Chinese herbs in improvement of CRF is related with decrease of PTH, inhibition of TGF-beta1 expression, decrease of MDA content and resisting lesion of renal fibrosis.

Reform thought was the mainstream of thoughts among the modern Wenzhou intellectual communities. It exerted great and profound influences on medical learning and activities, with medical education as the chief reform practice of Wenzhou intellectual communities in the late Qing Dynasty. Liji Hospital and Liji Medical School were the symbols of the reform. Chen Qiu was a thinker and doctor; Xu Dingchao was an officer and doctor; Chen Baoshan was a professionally educated physician; and Xu Yunzhi was a folk doctor inherited the experiences handed down from his family. The four representatives of Wenzhou medicine, though with different social backgrounds, and their purpose of studying medicine and experience of being a doctor different alike, their medical thoughts are naturally different, reflected the overall condition of Wenzhou medicine in the late Qing Dynasty.

Objective: To observe the phenomenon of pulmonary hemorrhage (PH) induced by exogenous endothelin-1 (exET-1) and the antagonizing effect of exogenous calcitonin gene-related peptide (exCGRP) in newborn rats., Methods: (1) To study the exET-1 induced PH: 100 newborn Wistar rats were randomly assigned into control group (group A, n = 10) and experiment groups (20 rats in each of groups B, C, D and E and 10 in group F). Thirty microl of normal saline and different concentrations of exET-1 in saline (ranged from 2 x 10(-6) mol/L to 10 x 10(-6) mol/L) were dripped into the rats' trachea through intubation for control group and the experiment groups, respectively. (2) To study the antagonizing effect of calcitonin gene-related peptide against endothelin: 50 rats were randomly assigned into control group (group D(1), n = 10) and experiment groups D(2), D(3), D(4) and D(5) (10 rats in each group), and were treated with 30 microl of normal saline as control and 4 x 10(-6) mol/L exET-1 via tracheal dripping. Twenty microl of exCGRP (concentrations ranged from 6.7 x 10(-8) mol/L to 6.7 x 10(-6) mol/L) were given by dripping to rats in groups D(3) to D(5) 30 minutes after the administration of exET-1. (3) The rats were sacrificed 3 hours after the first tracheal dripping and the gross anatomical and histological (HE staining) changes in lungs were observed., Results: (1) Following the treatment with exET-1, the rats showed cyanosis and dyspnea rapidly. The severity of respiratory symptoms varied in a dose dependent fashion with the concentrations of exET-1. The symptoms were relieved in the survived rats in about 30 minutes. The rats of all exET-1 treated groups presented with different degree of PH and group D (treated with 4 x 10(-6) mol/L of exET-1) had the highest incidence (diffuse PH 30%, focal PH 25%, spotty PH 25% and 80% in total), with a mortality of 20%. Rats in group E and F had lower incidence of PH (50% and 20%) but higher mortality (35% and 60%). (2) After the administration of different concentrations of exCGRP, the skin of the exET-1 treated rats turned ruddy rapidly with a significantly decreased incidence of PH and all the rats survived. The best protective effect was observed with the concentration of 6.7 x 10(-6) mol/L, and the incidence of PH was reduced to 20% (focal PH 10%, spotty PH 10%)., Conclusion: A significant increase of the endogenous ET-1 in hemorrhagic lung tissue caused by rewarming and reoxygenation following hypothermia and hypoxia had been confirmed. Administration of intratracheal exET-1 could induce pulmonary hemorrhage. This suggests that a significant increase of endogenous ET-1 in lung tissue may be one of the mechanisms in pathogenesis of PH caused by rewarming and reoxygenation following hypothermia and hypoxia. Endotracheal administration of exCGRP showed protective antagonizing effect against PH induced by exET-1. The authors speculate that the exCGRP has the potential to treat or even prevent PH caused by a significant increase of the endogenous ET-1.

This paper presents two feedback neural networks for solving a nonlinear and mixed complementarity problem. The first feedback neural network is designed to solve the strictly monotone problem. This one has no parameter and possesses a very simple structure for implementation in hardware. Based on a new idea, the second feedback neural network for solving the monotone problem is constructed by using the first one as a subnetwork. This feedback neural network has the least number of state variables. The stability of a solution of the problem is proved. When the problem is strictly monotone, the unique solution is uniformly and asymptotically stable in the large. When the problem has many solutions, it is guaranteed that, for any initial point, the trajectory of the network does converge to an exact solution of the problem. Feasibility and efficiency of the proposed neural networks are supported by simulation experiments. Moreover, the feedback neural network can also be applied to solve general nonlinear convex programming and nonlinear monotone variational inequalities problems with convex constraints.

Based on a new idea of successive approximation, this paper proposes a high-performance feedback neural network model for solving convex nonlinear programming problems. Differing from existing neural network optimization models, no dual variables, penalty parameters, or Lagrange multipliers are involved in the proposed network. It has the least number of state variables and is very simple in structure. In particular, the proposed network has better asymptotic stability. For an arbitrarily given initial point, the trajectory of the network converges to an optimal solution of the convex nonlinear programming problem under no more than the standard assumptions. In addition, the network can also solve linear programming and convex quadratic programming problems, and the new idea of a feedback network may be used to solve other optimization problems. Feasibility and efficiency are also substantiated by simulation examples.

A new gradient-based neural network is constructed on the basis of the duality theory, optimization theory, convex analysis theory, Lyapunov stability theory, and LaSalle invariance principle to solve linear and quadratic programming problems. In particular, a new function F(x, y) is introduced into the energy function E(x, y) such that the function E(x, y) is convex and differentiable, and the resulting network is more efficient. This network involves all the relevant necessary and sufficient optimality conditions for convex quadratic programming problems. For linear programming and quadratic programming (QP) problems with unique and infinite number of solutions, we have proven strictly that for any initial point, every trajectory of the neural network converges to an optimal solution of the QP and its dual problem. The proposed network is different from the existing networks which use the penalty method or Lagrange method, and the inequality constraints are properly handled. The simulation results show that the proposed neural network is feasible and efficient.

The relationship between brain function and syndrome-types of TCM in 51 patients with non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) was observed. The syndromes were divided into three types. (1) Yin Deficiency with internal excessive Heat (YDIEH), 15 cases; (2) Qi-Yin Deficiency (QYD), 21 cases; (3) Deficiency of both Yin and Yang (DYY), 15 cases. The control group consisted of 30 healthy subjects matched in age, sex and educational level. The brain function were tested by neurobehavioral and neuroelectrophysiological tests. The former included short-term memory, thinking, eye-hand coordination and emotion tests; the latter consisted of brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEP), visual evoked potentials (VEP) and somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP). The results showed that the brain function in YDIEH group approached normal controls, and the brain function in QYD and QYY groups were significantly deteriorated. The results suggested that the brain function were correlated with the syndrome-types of patients with NIDDM. This would be valuable for diagnosis and treatment of NIDDM in TCM.

In order to make a systematic study of the effect of Coptis chinensis on free radicals, the authors used the method that the drug and the brain homogenate of rat were mixed and incubated to investigate the effect of Coptis on lipid peroxidation. The result showed that the malondialdehyde (MDA) product of rat brain homogenate inhibited by 5% Coptis was significantly different from control (P < 0.001). On the basis of the above-mentioned results, the effect of Coptis on lipid peroxidation and diabetes of rats induced by alloxan was investigated. The result showed: (1) The MDA product of both pancreas and liver homogenate in Coptis group was significantly less than that in control and alloxan group (P < 0.01, P < 0.05). (2) Superoxide dismutases (SODs) in erythrocytes activity was the same for all groups (P > 0.50). (3) The blood catalase (CAT) activity in alloxan group markedly decreased compared with control group (P < 0.05), but no significant change between Coptis and alloxan group (P > 0.05). (4) The value of serum glucose in alloxan group was significantly increased in comparing with control group (P < 0.05). There was a trend to decrease the value of serum glucose in Coptis group compared with alloxan group, but no significant difference between two groups (P > 0.05). The experiment indicated that there was very strong inhibitory effect of Coptis to the lipid peroxidation in vitro and in vivo. Coptis could protect rat from diabetes inducing by alloxan and that probably was due to the fact that Coptis was able to inhibit alloxan inducing free radicals.

The effects of desipramine (DMI) given i.p. 1 hour before administration of 14C-methadone (5 mg/kg s.c.) on the excretion of methadone in bile, feces and urine were studied. Rats with cannulated bile ducts excreted 52% of administered 14C into bile within 4 hours, 60% of the excretion as 2-ethylidine-1,5-dimethyl-3,3-diphenylpyrrolidine (EDDP) and 30% as water-soluble metabolite (WSM). The percentages of 14C excreted within 48 hours into the feces and urine of rats without biliary fistula were 60.6 and 17.4%, respectively. The excretion of 14C in feces consisted mostly of EDDP. Urinary excretion consisted of unchanged methadone, EDDP and WSM in the first 12 hours and consisted mostly of WSM thereafter. DMI treatment increased biliary flow but decreased the biliary excretion of 14C, mainly by a decrease in WSM. The fecal output was greatly decreased by DMI, thus decreasing fecal excretion of 14C in the first 12 hours. DMI treatment markedly decreased urinary volume but did not change the urine pH. The decreased urinary excretion of WSM in DMI-treated rats during the first 12-hour urine sample accounted for most of the decreased elimination of 14C. It is suggested that DMI-induced inhibition of methadone metabolism in the liver is a major factor responsible for the observed decreases in the biliary and urinary excretion of WSM...