g , Kolbert, 2011) and among scientists from a variety of discipl

g., Kolbert, 2011) and among scientists from a variety of disciplines. Curiously, there has been little discussion of the topic within the discipline of archeology, an historical science that is well positioned to address the long term processes involved in how humans have come to dominate our planet (see Redman, 1999 and Redman et al., 2004). In organizing this volume, which grew out of a 2013 symposium at the Society of American Archaeology meetings held in Honolulu (Balter, 2013), we sought to rectify this situation by inviting a distinguished group of archeologists

to examine the issue of humanity’s expanding Dabrafenib supplier footprint on Earth’s ecosystems. The papers in this issue utilize archeological records to consider the Anthropocene from a variety of topical or regional perspectives. The first two papers address general and global issues, including Smith and Zeder’s

discussion of human niche construction and the development of agricultural and pastoral societies, as well as Braje and Erlandson’s summary of late Pleistocene and Holocene extinctions as a continuum mediated by climate change, human activities, and other factors. Several papers then look at the archeology of human landscape transformation within specific regions of the world: C. Melvin Aikens and Gyoung-Ah Lee for East Asia, Sarah McClure for Europe, Anna Roosevelt for Amazonia, and Douglas Kennett and Timothy Beach for Mesoamerica. Later chapters again address global issues: from Torben Rick, Patrick Kirch, Erlandson, and Scott Fitzpatrick’s summary of ancient human impacts on three well-studied Staurosporine datasheet island archipelagos (Polynesia, California’s Channel Islands, and the Caribbean) around the world; to Erlandson’s discussion of the widespread post-glacial appearance of coastal, selleck chemicals riverine, and lake-side shell middens as a potential stratigraphic marker

of the Anthropocene; and Kent Lightfoot, Lee Panich, Tsim Schneider, and Sara Gonzalez’ exploration of the effects of colonialism and globalization along the Pacific Coast of North America and around the world. Finally, we complete the volume with concluding remarks that examine the breadth of archeological approaches to the Anthropocene, and the significance and implications of understanding the deep historical processes that led to human domination of Earth’s ecosystems. In this introduction we provide a broad context for the articles that follow by: (1) briefly discussing the history of the Anthropocene concept (see also Smith and Zeder, 2014); (2) summarizing the nature of archeological approaches to understanding human impacts on ancient environments; (3) setting the stage with a brief overview of human evolution, demographic expansion and migrations, and the acceleration of technological change; (4) and identifying some tipping points and key issues involved in an archeological examination of the Anthropocene.

The contact of the bone that invaded the dental follicle space in

The contact of the bone that invaded the dental follicle space in the ALN specimens may have occasioned the earlier immunoexpression of Smad-4 by dental follicle cells, since the bony crypt is the source of signalling molecules: the cervical portion CHIR99021 of the dental follicle expresses BMP-2,24 while the basal alveolar crypt bone expresses TGF β-1 during the molar root formation of young rats;25 these molecules exert signalling functions over the dental follicle cells to induce their differentiation into cementum secreting cells, which was confirmed by the immunodetection of Smad-4 in the present study. These events are coordinated by the dental follicle,1 and 11 which

has been severely disrupted due to the effects of alendronate treatment on bone remodelling. However, despite the evidences of TGF-β/BMP signalling in ALN specimens, confirmed by the positive immunolabelling for Smad-4 BTK inhibition at all time points, it apparently did not stimulate HERS

cells and the downstream cascade of root odontoblast differentiation, as well as root elongation. Indeed, it was detected several TUNEL-positive odontoblasts and ectomesenchymal cells in the dental papilla of ALN unerupted molars at 30 days. Additionally, sodium alendronate increases the amelogenin deposition within the forming enamel and even promotes its accumulation into mantle dentine during crown formation of rat molars.18 As small amounts of amelogenin are secreted by epithelial diaphragm cells during the differentiation of ectomesenchymal cells into root odontoblasts,26, 27 and 28 it is possible that alendronate may interfere in the root formation, besides the above commented effects on dental follicle. The present findings indicate that resorption of the basal portion of the bony crypt is necessary to root formation. Smad-4

is a marker of the differentiation of ectomesenchymal cells from the dental follicle into the cementum secreting cells Flavopiridol (Alvocidib) cementoblasts and fibroblasts, which occurs in alendronate-treated tooth germs despite the disruption of dental follicle and HERS. These results contribute to the current understanding of periodontal development, as well as to the understanding of bisphosphonate therapy of young patients suffering bone diseases such as osteogenesis imperfect, Paget’s diseases, and others, for the risk of disturbing the tooth development, eruption and root formation. The authors declare no conflict of interest in this study. This study was authorized by the Ethical Committee for Animal Research of the University of São Paulo, Brazil (Protocol # 16/2007). This research was supported by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP – grants 06/60094-5 and 09/54853-9) and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) – Brazil.

The reaction was stopped by adding 5% TCA (300 μl) to this soluti

The reaction was stopped by adding 5% TCA (300 μl) to this solution. The samples were maintained at rest for 30 min and then centrifuged at 10,000 × g for 10 min. The absorbance of the supernatant was measured spectrophotometrically at 280 nm. The control experiment was carried out using the casein solution without the addition of serine proteinases. The caseinolytic activity was expressed as U/mg (caseinolytic unit per milligram of enzyme utilized). This experiment was repeated in triplicate. After running SDS–PAGE gels, the protein bands were

excised and in-gel trypsin digestion was performed according to Hanna et al. (2000). An aliquot (7.5 μL) of the resulting peptide mixture was separated onto an analytical C18 column Volasertib order (75 μm i.d. × 100 mm) (Waters, Milford, MA) for RP-HPLC coupled with nano-electrospray MS/MS on a Thermo Electron LTQ XL ion-trap mass spectrometer at a flow rate of 500 nL/min.

The gradient was 2–80% acetonitrile in 0.1% formic acid over 45 min. The instrument was operated in the ‘top ten’ mode, in which one MS spectrum is acquired followed by MS/MS of the top ten most-intense peaks detected. Full dynamic exclusion was used to enhance dynamic range – one spectrum before exclusion for 120 s. The resulting fragment spectra were processed using the MS convert tool ProteoWizard (Kessner et al., 2008) for database searching with Mascot (Matrix Science, UK) search engine against the NCBI NR database restricted to the taxa Serpents with a parent tolerance of 1.50 Da and fragment tolerance of 1.0 Da. Akt inhibitor Iodoacetamide derivative of cysteine and oxidation of methionine were specified in MASCOT as fixed and variable modifications, respectively. The sequence similarity and amino acids were analyzed by alignment using BLAST (Altschul et al, 1997), Jalview 2.8 (Waterhouse et al., 2009) and Clustal W (Thompson et al., 1994). An efficient protocol was developed for the rapid

purification of serine proteinases from B. alternatus and B. moojeni venoms. Using three chromatographic steps with different mafosfamide strategies, highly pure serine proteinase samples were obtained ( Fig. 1). Since the serine proteinase from B. alternatus contained minor contaminants (molecular masses of about 40 and 60 kDa) ( Fig. 2C), an additional cation-exchange chromatographic step was required ( Fig. 2E) and the serine proteinase, which possessed coagulant activity was detected in the first peak (1c) and was labeled SPBA. In the case of B. moojeni, two serine proteinases with apparent molecular masses of ∼32 kDa and ∼35 kDa were detected ( Fig. 2D) and were subsequently purified by cation-exchange chromatography ( Fig. 2F). The serine proteinase with a molecular mass of ∼32 kDa eluted in the first peak (peak 1c, weakly bound) and was labeled BM-IIB32 kDa, whereas the serine proteinase with a molecular mass of ∼35 kDa eluted in the second peak (2c) and was labeled BM-IIB35 kDa.

However, future studies with increased sample sizes should be con

However, future studies with increased sample sizes should be conducted to confirm the reported results. The SMA and pre-SMA have long been ascribed a crucial role in voluntary self-initiated action. Therefore, activation of the left SMA when making voluntary movements of the right hand is expected. Our results further show a correlation between activity in the left SMA and the subjective experience of binding between right hand actions and a subsequent tone. Other results are consistent with the SMA complex contributing to the experience of voluntary action, and not only to generation

of voluntary action. For example, stimulation in the SMA/pre-SMA caused a feeling of “urge” to move a specific body part in neurosurgical patients, in absence of any detectable physical movement (Fried et al., 1991). More recent data suggest important distinctions between SMA and pre-SMA. The pre-SMA has been associated with selleck kinase inhibitor the cognitive aspects of tasks and has been considered as a region of the prefrontal cortex (Picard and Strick, 2001). The SMA proper is thought to be more closely related to immediate action execution, and the pre-SMA to planning and initiation of actions, especially complex action sequences. Neurosurgical

recordings from single units in humans suggest that activity in the SMA proper correlates more strongly with the experience of conscious intention immediately prior to voluntary action than does activity in the pre-SMA (Fried ID-8 et al., 2011). In our study, the cluster activated in relation to the intentional binding effect was in selleckchem the SMA proper territory, and was clearly caudal to the pre-SMA. These considerations suggest that the neural circuits responsible for intentional binding may be more closely related

to immediate execution voluntary action than to the planning and initiation of action. The peak of the intentional binding cluster identified by our study was classified as being in the left SMA proper according to a standard automatic labelling technique (Tzourio-Mazoyer et al., 2002), but it was clearly more lateral and more posterior than the medial wall pre-SMA activations seen in some other studies of voluntary action and conscious intention (Lau et al., 2004). In fact, our cluster extended laterally into an area traditionally classified as dorsal premotor cortex. A widely-accepted view of Brodmann area 6 is based on a medio-lateral gradient, with medial portions being involved in internally-generated actions, and more lateral portions being involved in externally-triggered actions (Goldberg, 1985; Passingham et al., 2010; Krieghoff et al., 2011; Brass and Haggard, 2008). The location of the neural substrate of intentional binding at the junction of areas for internal and external control of action may reflect the fact that our binding involves linking representations of intentional action to their external effects.

They revealed a decreasing concentration of hemoglobin, RBC and p

They revealed a decreasing concentration of hemoglobin, RBC and platelet count. Finally, blasts become present in the peripheral blood (Tab. I). These disorders have become a reason for starting the hematological diagnostics. In the bone marrow biopsy the image was monotone, with very high amount of cells in the bone marrow

matrix. 91.6% of cells were young, blastic, of medium size. Red blood cell aplasia, few granulocytes and megakariocytes. Entinostat manufacturer In the cytochemical tests, PAS reaction was positive in 82% of blasts, POX reaction in blastach was negative. Based on the tumor cell immunophenotype – expression of markers: Td T+, CD19+, CD 22+, CD45+, cIgM+ patient was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia pre-B ALL. Cytogenetic study ruled out the presence of unfavorable prognostic fusion genes: BCR\ABL and MLL\AF4. Based on MK-2206 the results the patient was stratified to the intermediate-risk group (IR) and started therapy according to the ALL IC 2002 Protocol. The time from initial presentation to final diagnosis was nine weeks. Currently the described girl is in good condition. Control bone marrow biopsy after completion of therapy shows the characteristics of haematologic remission, the results of the mielogram reveal 2.4% blasts. Typical clinical picture of hematologic proliferative disease in the form of pale skin and mucous membranes,

weakness, fever, OSBPL9 bruising, bleeding, bone pain, arthralgia, abdominal pain, or lymphadenopathy may mimic other diseases common in pediatrics [2]. Differential diagnosis of bone pain in children is very broad. Among the most common causes are: trauma, congenital defects, infections, rheumatologic diseases, but also malignancies. Alarming symptoms include acute, increasing pain, restriction of movement, accompanying neurologic symptoms and ailments persisting despite antiinflammatory treatment [1, 3]. Findings reported in the literature and own observations indicate

that symptoms associated with the musculoskeletal system in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia are not uncommon [3, 4, 7]. Among the 25 patients diagnosed with ALL and treated in the Department of Hematology Children Clinical Hospital in Lublin during the last year, 11 (i.e. about 45%) reported such symptoms. Pain of long bones was the dominant one, with children complaining mostly of pain in the lower limbs and large joints, knee and hip pain. Back pain affected only one, currently presented patient. In most cases, pain was accompanied by fever. Such patients often pose a significant diagnostic problem for physicians. Frequently, they received a non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs and antibiotics. Lack of clinical improvement and subsequent symptoms, including weakness, loss of appetite, and bruising on the skin led to blood tests, which often revealed a profound anemia, and severe thrombocytopenia.

As a consequence, there may be a loss of Aδ and C fibers (cool an

As a consequence, there may be a loss of Aδ and C fibers (cool and warm specific) from the epidermis including nociceptors in the form of loss of intra-epidermal nerve fibers and consequently, the transected nerve fibers/degenerated terminal arbors acquire spontaneous discharge VX-770 datasheet and mechano-sensitivity due to hyper-responsiveness of remnant

nociceptors. The inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-α, IL-1 and IL-6 released from glial cells and macrophages of dorsal horn and DRG in response to anticancer agents also participate in this cascade by acting on sensory neuron localized cytokine receptors to elicit changes including activation of PKC and MAP kinase that contribute to development of neuropathic pain. Furthermore, these inflammatory mediators may also increase the expression levels of various ion channels including the sodium channels

to increase neuronal excitability and also act directly to increase the responsiveness of nociceptors Selleck Ulixertinib towards the noxious and non-noxious stimuli and contribute significantly in the pathogenesis of neuropathic pain The authors have no financial and material support to declare. The authors are grateful to Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Drug Research, Punjabi University, Patiala, India for supporting this study and providing technical facilities for the work. “
“Nanomaterials (NMs) are already included in many consumer products (clothing, food,

cosmetics, etc.) to improve handling, stability and efficacy of these products. In nanomedicine nanoparticles may find application in drug delivery, bio-imaging and regenerative medicine. Whereas developments in nanomedicine aim to improve cellular uptake and permeation of NMs to improve efficacy, consumers and workers worry about the risks of non-intended uptake. This article is focused on the evaluation of risk by exposure to consumer products. Sources of NMs relevant for oral exposure comprise mainly cosmetics (sunscreen, lipsticks, skin creams, toothpaste) and food (packaging, storage life sensors, food additives, juice clarifiers). Whereas NMs in food are intended to be ingested, nanoparticles for instance in cosmetics and ingredients in food packaging may accidently get into the gastrointestinal tract. Major materials Farnesyltransferase used in these products are: silver, and metal oxides of zinc, silica, and titanium (Hansen et al., 2008)). Nanosilver (Ag) is used in food packaging, amorphous silica (SiO2) in food additives, titanium dioxide (TiO2), gold (Au), platinum (Pt) and zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles in cosmetics, especially sunscreens and toothpastes. According to the Woodrow Wilson Nanotechnology Consumer Products Inventory 2011 Ag nanoparticles are the most commonly used new NM in consumer products followed by TiO2, ZnO, platinum (Pt) and silicium oxide NMs (http://www.nanotechproject.org/inventories/consumer/).

Jest również zarejestrowany do stosowania w układowych chorobach,

Jest również zarejestrowany do stosowania w układowych chorobach, takich jak: reumatoidalne zapalenie

stawów, młodzieńcze idiopatyczne zapalenie stawów, łuszczyca. Dobry efekt działania tego preparatu u dzieci z CD, zarówno w indukcji remisji, jak i w jej podtrzymaniu, został opisany w licznych pracach podsumowujących retrospektywnie podaż adalimumabu wśród tej grupy pacjentów [40], R428 in vitro [41], [42] and [43]. Lek jest podawany w odstępach dwutygodniowych. Jedynym prospektywnym badaniem opisującym skuteczność adalimumabu w leczeniu choroby Leśniowskiego i Crohna u dzieci jest badanie IMAgINE1 opublikowane w 2012 [44]. W badaniu wzięło udział 192 pacjentów z ciężką i średniociężką postacią CD, z czego 23% otrzymało infliximab przed przystąpieniem do badania. U większości z nich przed przystąpieniem do badania wystąpiła utrata odpowiedzi na infliximab lub reakcje nadwrażliwości

na infliximab. Badanie potwierdziło skuteczność stosowania adalimumabu u dzieci z PD98059 in vitro CD. Wykazano większą skuteczność podaży adalimumabu u pacjentów nieleczonych uprzednio biologicznie. Omówione powyżej preparaty anty-TNF-α są lekami, których skuteczność potwierdzono w wielu badaniach klinicznych wśród dorosłych i dzieci z CD. Jednak część pacjentów nie odpowiada na zastosowane leki biologiczne lub traci na nie odpowiedź. Rozwiązaniem może być podaż innych leków biologicznych. Istnieją badania przeprowadzone w populacji dorosłych, które potwierdzają skuteczność stosowania certolizumabu pegol [45] and [46] oraz natalizumabu [47] and [48]. Certolizumab pegol jest stosowany również w terapii reumatoidalnego

Isotretinoin zapalenia stawów. Jest to fragment Fab monoklonalnego przeciwciała skierowanego przeciwko anty-TNF-α. Dzięki połączeniu z glikolem polietylenowym wydłużeniu ulega czas półtrwania tego leku. U pacjentów biorących udział w przytoczonych badaniach uzyskano odpowiedź kliniczną na zastosowane leczenie. Dodatkowo zwrócono uwagę na większą skuteczność leczenia u pacjentów nieotrzymujących terapii biologicznej. Natalizumab jest to humanizowane przeciwciało monoklonalne skierowane przeciwko α-integrynie obecnej na leukocytach. W badaniach klinicznych wykazano skuteczność stosowania leku w stwardnieniu rozsianym oraz chorobie Leśniowskiego i Crohna. Jednak ze względu na ryzyko wystąpienia PML (postępującej wieloogniskowej leukoencefalopatii) obecnie ten preparat nie jest zarejestrowany do stosowania w leczeniu CD. U pacjentów otrzymujących leki biologiczne za względu na osłabienie układu odpornościowego istnieje większe prawdopodobieństwo wystąpienia infekcji, takich jak: gruźlica, zakażenia oportunistyczne, posocznica i zakażenia górnych dróg oddechowych [29], [49] and [50]. Do działań niepożądanych leków biologicznych należą również reakcje poinfuzyjne, spowodowane wytworzonymi przez organizm przeciwciałami skierowanymi przeciwko fragmentom leku [51].

This concept will offer novel perspectives in designing new pharm

This concept will offer novel perspectives in designing new pharmacological agents for therapeutic interventions in cancer, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. “
“Current Opinion in Genetics & Development 2012, 22:533–541 This review comes from a themed issue on Genetics of system biology Edited by James Briscoe and James Sharpe For a complete overview see the Issue and the Editorial Available online 4th January 2013 0959-437X/$ – see front matter, © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gde.2012.10.005 The blastoderm PD98059 price embryo of Drosophila melanogaster

is one of the most thoroughly and intensively studied morphogenetic fields. In the blastoderm, most of the nuclei are arranged as a monolayer at the cortex (or periplasm) of the embryo. This stage starts 1 min after completion of the ninth cleavage division when the nuclei have arrived at the cortex, lasts approximately 1.5 hours until the onset of gastrulation, and includes cleavage cycles 10–14A ( Figure 1a) [ 1]. The SB431542 basic body plan of Drosophila is determined during the blastoderm stage. Four systems of maternal protein gradients specify polarity along the main embryonic axes ( Figure 1b) [ 2, 3 and 4]. The anterior system, centered around the Bicoid (Bcd) gradient,

the posterior system, including the maternal Hunchback (Hb) gradient, and the terminal system, consisting of graded

signals of the Torso (Tor) MAP-kinase pathway, specify the antero-posterior (A–P) axis of the embryo. Graded nuclear localization of the Dorsal (Dl) morphogen specifies the dorso-ventral (D–V) axis. All of these maternal gradients act by regulating zygotic downstream gene expression ( Figure 1b). The A–P systems activate gap, pair-rule, and segment-polarity genes, which constitute the segmentation gene network, as well as homeotic genes that specify segment identity [ 5, 6 and 7]. The D–V system interacts with the Decapentaplegic (Dpp) morphogen, an ortholog of BMP signaling ligands, and activates targets that are involved in specification of the mesoderm, as well as the neural and dorsal ectoderm [ 8, 9 and 10]. All of these systems use graded signals to subdivide the embryo check details into discrete territories along the main embryonic axes. This agrees with a classic paradigm of pattern formation first described by the French Flag model [11 and 12]. Since then, the blastoderm embryo has been used by many pioneering modeling studies, which have established that the situation is a lot more complex than initially thought. Complex regulatory interactions among target genes lead to a dynamic view of positional information, encoded by expression domain boundaries that change location over time [13 and 14].

Primary

analysis showed that the mean change in distance

Primary

analysis showed that the mean change in distance walked at 12 weeks buy GDC-0199 was an increase of 8.05 ± 55.48 m in the immediate intervention group and a decrease of 11.45 ± 49.46 m in the wait list control group (p = 0.443) (Table 4, Fig. 2). Sensitivity analyses with imputation of data for the one subject in the wait list control group who had missing data on the 6MWT at 12 weeks were based on the best and worst scenarios, and yielded similar results (data not shown). The per-protocol analysis excluded one female subject who was incorrectly randomized but ineligible by hemoglobin criteria (with initial screening hemoglobin of 10.8 g/dL and a subsequent hemoglobin value drawn 12 days later of 11.5 g/dL, thus rendering her ineligible) and showed similar results (data not shown). There was a small but statistically significant increase in hemoglobin of 0.39 ± 0.46 g/dL at 12 weeks in the immediate intervention group compared to a decline in hemoglobin of 0.39 ± 0.85 g/dL in the wait list control group

(p = 0.026, Table 4). One patient in each group had an increase in hemoglobin of at least 1 g/dL 12 weeks after receiving the first dose of IVIS (received immediately after screening in the immediate intervention Afatinib order group and after 12 weeks in the wait list control group). Over time, mean hemoglobin levels rose in the immediate intervention group but decreased in the wait list control group (Fig. 3). Mean hemoglobin levels rose slightly in each study group 12 weeks after initiation of treatment with IVIS (from 11.19 g/dL to 11.58 g/dL in the immediate intervention group, and from 10.91 g/dL to 12.01 g/dL in the wait list control group). There were no significant differences in the two groups in change at 12 weeks for other secondary outcomes of physical, cognitive function, quality of life, and frailty (Table 4). There were no statistically significant correlations

between the week 12 change in hemoglobin from baseline and any of the iron indices at baseline in either the immediate intervention 4��8C group or the wait list control group (data not shown). This is the first exploratory intervention study aimed solely at treating older adults with UAE utilizing intravenous iron. We treated subjects with UAE and serum ferritin levels between 20 and 200 ng/mL (inclusive) with five weekly 200-mg doses of IVIS. Unfortunately, because of early termination of the study due to poor recruitment, the study is substantially underpowered to detect differences in the primary outcome. Thus, although the direction of changes in 6MWT results were as hypothesized—that is, the 6MWT improved in the immediate intervention group compared to the wait list control group—the differences between the groups were not significant. These results are compatible with a trial in older adults with heart failure and similar ferritin levels treated with intravenous ferric carboxymaltose [19].

The LD50 of honokiol microemulsion in mice was calculated to be 5

The LD50 of honokiol microemulsion in mice was calculated to be 50.5 mg/kg body weight. The treatments produced no effect on body weight gain and food consumption of surviving mice during the 14 days SNS-032 mouse of observation. During the experimental period, both treatment and recovery, all the animal, regardless of dose, did not display any obvious toxicity symptoms related to the treatment. Compared with the vehicle-treated rats, there was no significant difference in body weight gain during the treatment and recovery period (p>0.05) (Fig. 2). No significant difference was observed either in food consumption of animals in

treatment groups compared with the vehicle control group (p>0.05) (Fig. 3). Compared with the rats of vehicle control group, a significant reduction in RBC was observed at

the end of the treatment period in female rats of the 2500μg/kg group (p<0.05), so was HCT (p<0.05) and WBC (p<0.01) in the 500μg/kg group. However, no significant differences were observed at the end of the recovery period. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in male rats at the end of the treatment period. But after recovery, HGB in male rats of the 100μg/kg group significantly increased compared with the vehicle control group (p<0.05) (Fig. 4). The blood coagulation parameter values determined on D31 and D45 are summarized in Table 2. The coagulation parameters (PT, APTT, FIB and TT) selleckchem did not display any significant alterations in any of the treated rats. At the end of the treatment period, a significant reduction was observed in BUN in females treated with 500μg/kg honokiol microemuision (p<0.05). At the end of the recovery period, there was a significant reduction in AST in females of the 2500μg/kg group (p<0.05), CK in females of the 500 (p<0.05) and 2500μg/kg (p<0.01) groups decreased significantly, so did LDH of the 100 (p<0.05) and 2500μg/kg (p<0.01) groups. Significant reduction was observed in TCHO in males of the 500μg/kg group, so was BUN in males of both 100 and 2500μg/kg groups (p<0.05). All the significant differences observed were compared with the

vehicle control group and are presented in Table 3. The results showed that there was a significant increase in K+ in female rats of the 100μg/kg (p<0.05) and the 2500μg/kg (p<0.01) groups, but the differences disappeared at the end of the recovery period. No significant Acyl CoA dehydrogenase differences were observed in male rats of any treatment group (Fig. 5). The results of organ weights and relative organ weights of rats are summarized in Table 4 and Table 5. Compared with the vehicle control group, the weight of spleen in females treated with 2500μg/kg dose increased significantly at the end of the treatment period (p<0.05). At the end of the recovery period, significant differences were observed in the weights of heart and liver in males of the 100μg/kg group, and the weights of heart, liver and kidneys in males of the 2500μg/kg group.