[Protective effect of total flavonoids of epimedium on the kidney in experimental diabetic rats].

Objective: To investigate the influence of total flavonoids of epimedium (TFE) on the streptozocin (STZ)-induced kidney injury in diabetic rats and discuss the possible mechanism.

Methods: Diabetes was produced by a single injection of streptozocin (40 mg/kg, iv) in male SD rats. The rats were randomly divided into three groups (n = 10): control group, model group and TFE group (100 mg/kg, ig).

The drug cocktail network.

Background: Combination of different agents is widely used in clinic to combat complex diseases with improved therapy and reduced side effects. However, the identification of effective drug combinations remains a challenging task due to the huge number of possible combinations among candidate drugs that makes it impractical to screen putative combinations.

Results: In this work, we construct a 'drug cocktail network' using all the known effective drug combinations extracted from the Drug Combination Database (DCDB), and propose a network-based approach to investigate drug combinations.

Exploring drug combinations in genetic interaction network.

Background: Drug combination that consists of distinctive agents is an attractive strategy to combat complex diseases and has been widely used clinically with improved therapeutic effects. However, the identification of efficacious drug combinations remains a non-trivial and challenging task due to the huge number of possible combinations among the candidate drugs. As an important factor, the molecular context in which drugs exert their functions can provide crucial insights into the mechanism underlying drug combinations.

[Quantity and distribution of CD44+/CD24- cells in breast cancer tissue and the cell lines].

Objective: To study the distribution and quantity of CD44+/CD24- cells in breast cancer tissue and the cell lines, and as well as its correlation with the expression of various breast cancer markers and molecular subtyping of breast carcinoma.

Methods: The expression of CD44/CD24, estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, HER2, human estrogen-induced protein PS2, bcl-2 and nm23 in 60 cases of invasive ductal carcinoma of breast were studied by either single or double immunohistochemical staining. The co-expression of CD44 and CD24 in 3 breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7, MDA-MB-468, and MDA-MB-231) was also examined.