Toll-like receptors are an important pattern recognition receptors that recognize specific components of microbes and certain host molecules.Through initiated cell signaling pathway,they can induce immunocyte.Their activation triggers the innate immune response,and is crucial to the successful induction of Th1/Th2-phenotyped adaptive immunity.This review will give a brief overview of our current knowledge of TLRs as key components in immune responses and their regulation in respiratory tract diseases such as asthma.

Objective To study the efficiency of large dose intravenous immunoglobulin(IVIG) in decreasing incidence of asthma following bronchiolitis.Methods One hundred and sixty-eight children with bronchiolitis were chosen to use different treatment plans,81 children receiving large dose of IVIG[ 0.4 g/(kg?d)] daily,on the basis of routine treatment for 5 days,while other 87 children were reserved as control group receiving routine treatment only,which were followed up 5 to 10 years.Results After following up 5 to 10 years,only 17 cases in 81 patients with bronchiolitis receiving large dose IVIG developed into asthma.However,46 cases in control group developed into asthma.The incidence of asthma was 20.99% and(52.87%) in two groups,respectively,showing significant(differe-)nce between them(P

Objective To observe the incidence of bronchial asthma thereafter by 3 to 10 years′ follow-up of 280 children with bronchio-litis and analyze the correlation factors affecting the development of asthma.Methods Two hundred and eighty children with bronchitis were chosen and treated from Jan.1995 to Dec.2002,220 males,and 60 females.The review research and clinical revisits were carried out to investigate and analyze the subjects in terms of whether receiving large dose of intravenous injection immunoglobulin(IVIG) treatment or not,whether getting vaccinated with bacille calmette guerin(BCG)as planed or not,whether having asthma family history and the allergic physique or not,the way of feeding,and so on.Results The rate of asthma was 29.29%(82/280),and the incidence of asthma was significantly lower in children with administering the large dose of IVIG,vaccinating BCG vaccine as planed,having no allergic physique,having no asthma family history or breast feeding than those without administering the large dose of IVIG,vaccinating BCG vaccine as planed,brest feeding,with allergic physique,asthma family history(Pa

Objective To study pathogensand diagnostic value of beta2-microglobulin(?2-MG) in cerebrospinal fluid(CSF) in children with aseptic meningitis(AM).Methods Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) assay,enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and passive particle agglutination were employed respectively to detect herpes simplex virus type-1(HSV-1) DNA,enterovirus(EV) RNA in CSF and the specific antibodies of HSV-1 and mycoplasma pneumonia(MP) in blood and CSF from 80 children with AM (AM group) and 20 cases of complete remission acute leukaemia(control group).Children with AM were divided into the EV meningitis group,HSV-1 meningitis group and MP meningitis group according to respective diagnostic criteria.The levels of ?2-MG in CSF from all groups were detected by radio immunoassay.SPSS 13.0 software was used to analyze the data.Results The infection rate of EV,HSV-1 and MP were 52.5%,11.25%and 5.0%,respectively in children with AM.The infection rate of EV was highest.The sensitivity of PCR was higher than ELISA.There could be false negative PCR results in bloody CSF specimens with HSV-1 DNA.The levels of ?2-MG in CSF was significantly higher in children with AM than that in control group(P

Streptococcus pneumoniae is one of the most common cause of invasive disease,such as bacteremia,meningitis,and empyema,et al.But there has significant difference on the incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease among different regions and differernt groups of people.In addition the severity and mortality of invasive pneumococcal disease are closely related to the changes of serotypes,virulence of streptococcus pneumoniae and also the human immune response.The pneumococcal vaccination is an important measure to prevent streptococcus pneumoniae infection,providing good protection to vaccinees and createing herd immunity effect.This article briefly describes the pathogenesis,risk factors and preventive strategies of invasive pneumococcal disease.

Background There still is no a uniform diagnostic criteria for increasing population of dry eye.Studies showed that high tear osmotic pressure is one of causes of a variety of ocular surface discomfort,and the change of tear osmolality has been included in the definition of dry eye syndrome by Dry Eye World Study Group (DEWS) in 2007.It is very clinically significant to study the relationship of tear osmolality with dry eye.Objective This clinical trial was to study the correlation between tear osmolarity and dry eye severity based on Preferred Practice Pattern(PPP)of DEWS.Methods A descriptive study was performed.Fifty-four eyes of 54 patients with dry eye disease were asked to complete an evaluation of dry eye signs and symptoms questionnaire based on PPP.The ocular anterior segment was examined under the slit lamp biomicroscope.Cornealfluorescein staining,tear-film breakup time (BUT),Schirmer test Ⅰ (S Ⅰ t)without anesthesia were performed,and tear sample was collected for tear imageology and tear osmolarity admeasurement.The correlation between dry eye score with tear osmolarity was evaluated using Pearson linear correlation analysis.Written informed consent as obtained prior to any relevant medical procedure.Results The ratio of male and female patients was 1: 2 in this study.The negative correlations were found between tear osmolarity with S Ⅰ t or BUT(r =-0.456,-0.699,P＜0.01),and significantly positive correlations were found between tear osmolarity with tear imaging examination,corneal fluorescein staining,conjunctival hyperemia or dry eye symptom score(r=0.545,0.686,0.691,0.803,P＜0.01).Conclusions As a diagnostic method,tear osmolarity can objectively reflects dry eye severity.It can be a biomarker in dry eye severity grade when combined with clinical symptom.

In order to investigate the genetic basis of morphological variation of tetraploid plantlets of Atractylodes macrocephala, diploid plantlets were taken as experimental material, sterile filtration colchicine was used to soak 0.5-1.0 cm long buds. The difference between morphology and stomatal of diploid and tetraploid of A. macrocephala was compared, and genome polymorphism was explored by AFLP. The results showed that the buds dipped in 0.1% colchicine solution for 36 h was optimal conditions to induce tetraploid of A. macrocephala with induction rate of 32.0%. Morphological indexes such as leaf area index, leaf length and width, the density of stomas and the number of chloroplast of tetraploid were distinctly different from diploid. Four hundred and fifty-one bands ranging with 80-500 bp were amplified with 24 pairs of primers, the rate of polymorphism was 32.59%. These amplification sites of diploid were different from tetraploid of A. macrocephala, and the differences in morphology of them were reflected in the DNA polymorphism.
Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism Analysis ; methods ; Atractylodes ; genetics ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Tetraploidy

Objective To observe the lecithin's effect on membrane of African green monkey kidney cells (Vero) exposed to sodium arsenite(NaAsO2). Methods Vero cells cultured in vitro were divided into 4 groups:control group (saline), model group (2.20 mg/L NaAsO2), high eoncentration of lecithin and arsenic group (53.33mg/L lecithin + 2.20 mg/L NaAsO2), low eoncentration of lecithin and arsenic group( 13.32 mg/L lecithin + 2.20 mg/L NaAsO2), 6 bottles of cells in each group, medium was changed every 2 days, cultured for 120 h. Na+ ,K+-ATPase activities of membrane were measured by spectrophotometry, and membrane phospholipids composition including phosphatidylserine (PS), phosphatidylethano-lamine (PE), phosphatidylcholine (PC) and sphingmyelin (SM) were measured by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Results The Na~, K+-ATPase activities of membrane of control group, model group, high concentration of lecithin and arsenic group, low concentration of lecithin and arsenic group were (0.962 ± 0.081) × 106, (0.544 ± 0.037) × 106, (0.647 ± 0.043) x 106, (0.550±Compared with control group, the Na+ ,K+-ATPase activities of other 3 groups were significantly reduced (all P < 0.05). Compared with model group, the Na+ ,K+-ATPase activity in high concentration of lecithin and arsenic group was significantly higher (P < 0.05),but in low concentration of lecithin and arsenic group did not change significantly (P > 0.05). Compared with control group[(0.087 ± 0.003), (0.127 ± 0.053), (0.588 ± 0.105),(0.071 ± 0.029)g/L], PS, PE, PC, SM levels in model group[(0.051 ± 0.018), (0.073 + 0.030), (0.240 ±0.038), (0.047 ± 0.121 )g/L] were significantly lower(all P < 0.05) ;PS, PE, PC in high concentration of lecithin and arsenic group[(0.084 ± 0.011), (0.109 ± 0.363), (0.591 ± 0.476)g/L] did not change significantly(all P > 0.05), but SM[(0.057 ± 0.004)g/L] significantly decreased(P < 0.05) ;PS, PE, SM levels of low concentration of lecithin and arsenic group[(0.058 ± 0.020), (0.086 ± 0.177), (0.048 ± 0.103)g/L] significantly reduced (all P < 0.05), the PC did not change significantly [(0.521±0.098 )g/L, P > 0.05]. Compared with model group,the levels of PS, PE, PC, SM in high concentration of lecithin and arsenic group were significantly higher(all P <0.05);PS, PE, SM levels in low concentration of lecithin and arsenic group did not change significantly(all P > 0.05), and PC was significantly higher(P < 0.05). Conclusions High concentration lecithin has certain protective effect on Vero cell membrane exposured to sodium arsenite.

Astragalus polysaccharide has been widely used in food and medicinal industry owing to its health-promoting properties. In order to characterize better the relationship among molecular weight, structure-activity and activities, a simple method was used different concentration of ethanol including 30% (PW30), 50% (PW50), 70% (PW70), 75% (PW75), 80% (PW80) and 90% (PW90) to precipitate Astragalus polysaccharides into different molecular weight. As a result, PW90 showed smooth surface and the strongest antioxidant activity among these six fractions (P < 0.05). In conclusion, graded ethanol precipitation was a simple method to separate Astragalus polysaccharides into different molecular weight with different antioxidant activity fractions.
Antioxidants ; pharmacology ; Astragalus Plant ; chemistry ; Chemical Precipitation ; Ethanol ; chemistry ; Polysaccharides ; chemistry ; pharmacology

Abstract: Objective　To analyze the treatment outcomes of elderly patients with pulmonary tuberculosis in Chongqing, so as to provide reference for the prevention and control strategies of the epidemic of elderly pulmonary tuberculosis. Methods　The data of tuberculosis cases aged ≥65 years in Chongqing from 2015 to 2020 were collected from the National Health Insurance Information Project Disease Prevention and Control Information system. Descriptive statistical methods were used to analyze the data. Results The registration rates of elderly active pulmonary tuberculosis patients and etiological positive patients were 110.95/10-5and 32.25/10-5 in 2015 and 84.06/10-5 and 57.29/10-5 in 2020. The annual decline rate of active tuberculosis registration was 5.40%, and the annual increase rate of pathogenic-positive tuberculosis registration was 12.18%. The registration rates of active tuberculosis patients and etiological positive patients in the whole population were 70.75/10-5 and 17.63/10-5 in 2015 and 50.34/10-5 and 29.14/10-5 in 2020. The annual decline rate of active tuberculosis registration was 6.58%, and the annual increase rate of pathogenic-positive tuberculosis registration was 10.57%. From 2015 to 2020, a total of 25 931 cases of elderly pulmonary tuberculosis were registered, of which 21 374 (82.43%) cases were successfully treated and 4 010 (15.80%) cases had unfavorable outcomes. The proportion of cured and death patients showed an increasing trend year by year (χ2trend=313.853, 100.502, P<0.01). From 2015 to 2020, the average annual successful treatment rate of elderly pulmonary tuberculosis in the whole city was 82.43%, with the lowest rate in southeast Chongqing (74.23%), followed by urban areas (81.99%). The success rate of elderly pulmonary tuberculosis treatment in the whole city, west Chongqing, northeast Chongqing and southeast Chongqing showed a downward trend year by year (χ2trend=230.199, 35.278, 108.076, 112.130, all P<0.01), with annual decline rates of 2.77%, 2.26%, 3.0% and 4.12%, respectively. Among the registered elderly patients, female, 65-<75 years old, Han nationality, newly diagnosed, no complications, and negative for etiology (χ2=15.234, 255.910, 146.842, 179.998, 25.575, 131.170, P<0.01) had higher success treatment rates. Conclusions The prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis in the elderly population in Chongqing City is declining, but the positive registration rate of etiology is increasing annually, and the success rate of treatment is decreasing. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the systematic management, publicity and education of elderly patients (especially those in southeast Chongqing, male, positive patients and severe patients) to effectively control the epidemic of tuberculosis in the elderly.