Effects of pyruvate and dimethyl-α-ketoglutarate, either alone or in combination, on pre- and post-implantation development of mouse zygotes cultured in vitro.

Purpose: Dimethyl α-ketoglutarate (dm-α-KG) promotes in vitro development to blastocysts of C57BL/6J X C3He F1 mouse zygotes cultured in medium lacking pyruvate. Here, we examined the effects of pyruvate and dm-α-KG on in vitro development to blastocysts of ICR mouse zygotes and their post-implantation developmental ability.

Methods: Zygotes were cultured in medium with pyruvate at 0-0.

Rhus verniciflua Stokes extract induces inhibition of cell growth and apoptosis in human chronic myelogenous leukemia K562 cells.

Rhus verniciflua Stokes has been widely used as a traditional medicinal plant with a variety of pharmacological activities. We investigated the mechanisms involved in mediating the effects of Rhus verniciflua Strokes (R. verniciflua) extract in human chronic myelogenous leukemia K562 cells, including caspase-dependent apoptotic pathways related to cell-cycle arrest, as well as the inhibition of nuclear factor NF-κB activation and upregulation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway.

Drug-induced liver injury: A 2-year retrospective study of 1169 hospitalized patients in a single medical center.

Background: Although herbal medicines (HMs) are widely used in Asian and Western countries, medicinal information concerning their hepatic toxicity or interaction with conventional medicines (CMs) is sparse.

Purpose: The aim of our study was to estimate the prevalence of drug-induced liver injury (DILI) among total inpatients prescribed HMs or CMs. Furthermore, we noted all medications suspected to be associated with hepatotoxicity in the liver injury group during the period of hospitalization.