The purpose of this study is to evaluate the interaction effects of In-Chen-How (Artemisia capillaries Thunb.) on the pharmacokinetics of acetaminophen and on liver microsomal cytochrome P450 enzyme activity in rats. The rats were divided into control group (n=8) without In-Chen-How and the pretreated group (n=8) administered with In-Chen-How (approximately 1.0 mL·kg-1, according to weight) for 5 consecutive days. Rats in the control group received water simultaneously. Each rat was then given acetaminophen. The pharmacokinetic parameters of acetaminophen of the two groups were significantly different. In the In-Chen-How pretreated group, the maximum concentration of acetaminophen and the area under the plasma concentration-time curve were reduced about 58.4%, 56.7% and 55.4%. To further explain the results, liver microsomal suspensions were obtained from rats that were randomly divided into control and In-Chen-How pretreated group. The levels of CYP1A2 and CYP2E1 in hepatic microsomal protein from pretreated group were increased as compared to that from the control group. It indicated that In-Chen-How can stimulate the activity of CYP isozymes. The changes in the pharmacokinetics of acetaminophen resulting from the administration of In-Chen-How are related to an increase in metabolic activity of CYP1A2 and CYP2E1.

BACKGROUND: As dental implants, pure titanium and Ti-6Al-4V has achieved broad clinical applications, but they also contain toxic vanadium and aluminum element. Moreover, their elastic modulus is so high as to produce stress shield. OBJECTIVE: To examine the micro-hardness and elastic modulus of the self-made Ti-30Nb-8Zr-2Mo titanium alloy. DESIGN, TIME AND SETTING: An observational experiment was performed at the laboratory of College of Material Science and Engineering at Hebei University of Technology between March 2003 and February 2006. MATERIALS: Titanium alloy was prepared using titanium sponge (≥ 99% purify), niobium strip (≥ 99.9% purify), molybdenum powder (≥ 99% purify) and zirconium sponge (≥ 99.4% purify).METHODS: The micro-hardness of the specimens was determined after uniformly annealing, hot-forging and solution. Compression test was conducted on post-aging samples. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Hardness and stress-strain curve.RESULTS: The maximal alloy strength was obtained after solution under 800 ℃ for 0.5 hours. Post-aging alloy's hardness was improved significantly although little change occurred on solution alloy. Compressive strength of alloy samples was 1 054 MPa, while elastic modulus reached 16.5 GPa. CONCLUSION: Both micro-hardness and elastic modulus of the self-made Ti-30Nb-8Zr-2Mo titanium alloy have satisfied performance requirements for dental implant materials.

Objective:To explore the long-term preservation value and repair effect of normothermic machine perfusion (NMP) on clinically discarded kidneys.Methods:A case of clinical discarded donor kidney was collected, and NMP was carried out in vitro for 9 hours with recovered blood. The dynamic changes of renal appearance, blood gas and biochemistry analysis of perfusate and renal pathology were recorded. Results:In the second to fifth hour of NMP, the appearance of renal was pink and ex vivo normothermic perfusion assessment score (EVNP) was grade Ⅰ. While, the sixth hour and beyond of NMP, the appearance of kidney turned to dark red and EVNP was grade Ⅲ. The renal perfusion blood flow maintained above 150 ml/min in the first 6 hours and decreased significantly after that, and at the end, was only 50 ml/min. During the whole process of perfusion, urine output was maintained at about 100 ml/h. PO 2 remained above 100 mmHg in the first 5 hours of perfusion and from the 6th hour, was lower than 80 mmHg and continued to decline, and was close to 0 at the end of perfusion. The results showed that although the K + concentration changes in blood and urine in the first 5 hours of NMP had a good consistency, the lactic acid level had been rising. In addition, there was no significant change in the histopathology at the fourth hour of perfusion compared with that before zero-point puncture, and the fibrinous thrombus in glomeruli was improved compared with that before perfusion. However, at the sixth hour after perfusion and before the end of perfusion, the pathological changes of renal tissue were significantly worse. There were a large of thrombosis in glomerular blood vessels, renal tubular atrophy and acute tubular necrosis. Conclusions:NMP can realize the evaluation of extended criteria donors before transplantation, and it proves the feasibility and repair potential of NMP in kidney to a certain extent. At the same time, NMP also provides a new way to expand the source of donor kidney and to pre-treat organ in vitro.