As a connecting bridge between innate immunity and specific immunity,the Toll-like receptors (TLRs) play a significant role in inflammation,cellular signal transduction,and cell apoptosis.TLRs are also essential factors participating in immune regulation and immune escape in the pathogenesis and development of malignant tumors.A large number of clinical and experimental research have shown that the abnormal expression of TLRs can be detected in adenocarcinoma,such as lung cancer,breast cancer and colon caner.In recent years,the relationship between gynecologic malignant tumor and TLRs has received great interest.This article will review and summarize research progress of TLRs in ovarian cancer,cervical cancer,and endometrial neoplasia.

Objective To perform mutation screening on the OTOF gene of 76 Chinese patients with sporadic auditory neuropathy for investigating whether the patients contained mutational hotspots in the OTOF gene,identifying the distribution and frequencies of OTOF mutations,and detecting new mutation points in the OTOF gene.Methods Genemic DNA samples were extracted from peripheral venous blood samples of the patients.9 primer pairs were designed using the Primer 5.0 software package for 9 exons of the OTOF gene,in which mutations had been discovered in the past.The exons were amplified using polymerase chain reaction(PCR),and direct sequencing of the PCR products was performed to detect OTOF mutations.For analysing the sequence data,the DNAStar 5.0 software package was used.Results 8 types of OTOF polymorphic alleles were discovered in this study.Among them,the 82 769delAG deletion mutation was only found in a patient diagnosed with temperature sensitive auditory neuropathy.In exon 25 of this patient's OTOF gene,the AG deletion mutation caused the replacement of amino acid at positions 993~999 and resulted in a truncated protein at position 1 000 amino acid(exon 26),which caused an early stop codon.(This protein has 1997 amino acids in all).Nevertheless,no other mutations were found in this patient's OTOF gene.The heterozygous 76 378C/T and 82 913G/A polymorphisms were single nucleotide polymorphisms(SNP) discovered in this study.Other SNP found were 56 842A/C,82 885C/A,and 92 905G/A,which had been already published by NCBI.In addition,92 995C/T and 96 888C/T were heterozygous mutations found in the exons,but did not cause the replacement of acid amino.Conclusion Eight SNPs were found in the OTOF gene of the Chinese patients in this study.However,mutations,which were previously identified in other ethnic origins in the literature,were not found in these patients.Thus,the result implied that the Chinese patients with auditory neuropathy may contain new OTOF mutations or other relevant disease-causing genes.

BACKGROUND: "Public Health Report in 2000" shows that various indexes of body shape of the national infants increase with their age; Urban infants exceed rural even-aged ones in the body height, body mass and chest circumference; Urban infants also exceed rural even-aged ones in the mean increase of development of body shape at each index. Urban-rural disparity still exists.OBJECTIVE: To investigate the body shape of 3- to 6-year-old infants of Heibei province, and analyze the differences in body shape at different age stages between urban and rural infants.DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey.SETTING: Hebei Provincial Party School.PARTICIPANTS: Body-shape investigation was performed in 1 600 healthy 3- to 6-year-old urban and rural infants from Shijiazhuang,Cangzhou and Chengde in July 2000 with clustering stratified random sampling. Informed consents were obtained from the guardians of the infants.METHODS: By referring to related results, the body length and body mass at born of infants were investigated through questionnaire-style according to the performance criteria of "Public Health Monitoring Working Manual in 2000" formulated by general administration of sport of China.To be measured shape indexes included body height, body mass, sitting height, chest circumstance, skinfold thickness at upper buttocks, shoulder blade and abdomen, t test was used for the comparison of difference of measurement data.RESULTS: Totally 1 600 questionnaires were handed out, and all of them were completely and exactly filled in and retrieved. 800 were male and 800 were female; 800 were urban infants and 800 were rural infants. ① The body height and body mass of 3- to 6-year-old infants at born: Four year-old male infants were shorter than other age-stage infants at born. Six-year-old male infants were the longest, and the increased amplitude was the largest and the increased speed was the fastest. The body height of female infants developed in wave-tendency from born, decreased at 5 years old and rebounded at 6 years old. The body mass of male infants developed in wave-tendency, and decreased fastest in the largest amplitude at 6 years old. The body mass of female infants developed in year-by-year decreasing tendency. The increased amplitude and speed of the body mass of the female infants were the same between at 5 yearn old and at 6 years old. ② The changes in body height and body mass of 3- to 6-year-old infants: The body height and body mass of 3- to 6-year-old infants increased with age.③ Comparison of the measuring index of body shape between urban and rural 3- to 6-year-old infants: The urban male infants significantly exceeded the rural male ones in chest circumstance, skinfold thickness at upper buttocks, shoulder blade and abdomen [(55.22±3.56)vs(54.58±3.43) cm;(9.33±3.20)vs (8.34±2.29) mm;(6.19±2.55)vs (5.18±1.98) mm;(6.64 ±3.30)vs (6.05±2.49) mm, t=2.573, 5.034,2.375, 2.848,P ＜ 0.05-0.01].The body height, body mass and sitting height were close between urban and rural male infants (P ＞ 0.05). ④ Comparison of the measuring index of body shape between urban and rural 3- to 6-year-old female infants: Urban female infants significantly exceeded rural female ones in skinfold thickness at upper buttocks, shoulder blade and abdomen [(10.09±3.32) vs (9.08±2.52) mm, (6.68±2.45) vs (6.16±2.01) mm, (7.62±3.23) vs (6.84 ±3.07) mm, t=4.857, 3.266,3.481 ,P ＜ 0.01].The body height, body mass,sitting height and chest circumstance were close between urban and rural female infants (P ＞ 0.05).CONCLUSION: ①Male and female infants have the largest increased amplitude and fastest increased speed in the body height between at 3 years old and at 4 years old. Increased amplitude and increased speed develop constantly from 4 years old. ② The body mass of male infants had the largest increased amplitude at 6 years old, but that of female infants at 4 years old. The increased speed of body mass of male infants is higher at 4 years old and 6 years old than at 5 years old, and that of female infants increase with age. ③ Urban male nfants exceed rural male infants in upper body development and in vivo fat content. In vivo fat content of urban female infants is higher than that of rural ones.

Aptamers are oligonucleotides or peptides those are able to bind tightly,by their specific three-dimensional shapes,to a variety of targets.Because of numerous merits ( high affinity,high specificity,small size,little immunogenicity,stable structures,and ease of synthesis),aptamers represent a valid alternative to antibodies and become a valuable research tool and show great application to fundamental research,drug selection and clinical diagnosis and therapy.The review describe the applications and the possible applications of aptamers in the diagnosis,treatment and pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases.

Objective To investigate the effect of emulsified isoflurane preconditioning on focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury in rats and the mechanism. Methods Fifty-six healthy male adult SD rats weighing 250-280 g were randomly divided into 4 groups (n = 14): group Ⅰ sham operation (group S); group Ⅱfocal cerebral I/R; group Ⅲ emulsified isoflurane preconditioning and group Ⅳ fat emulsion preconditioning. Focal cerebral ischemia was induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) using a nylon thread with rounded tip inserted into internal carotid artery and advanced cranially until resistance was met. MCAO was maintained for 2 h followed by 24 h reperfusion. In group Ⅲ and Ⅳ 8% emulsified isoflurane 7.5 ml/kg and 3% fat emulsion 7.5 ml/kg were injected intraperitoneally at 24 h before MCAO respectively. Neurologic outcome was evaluated at 24 h of reperfusion and scored (0 = no deficit, 4 = unable to crawl, loss of consciousness). The animals were then killed and brains removed. The infarct size was assessed. The apoptotic cells were detected by TUNEL and calculated. The expression of Bax, Bcl-2, cytochrome C and caspase-3 protein was detected by immunohistochemical staining. Results The neurologic deficit scores were significantly lower in emulsified isoflurane preconditioning group than in I/R group. Preconditioning with emulsified isoflurane significantly decreased the infarct size and the number of apoptotic cells and increased the expression of Bcl-2 protein and inhibited the expression of Bax, cytochrome C and caspace-3 protein. Conclusion Emulsified iscflurane preconditioning can protect the brain from focal cerebral I/R by increasing Bcl-2 protein expression and decreasing Bax protein expression, and reducing cytochrome C release from mitochondria, caspase-3 activation and neuronal apoptosis.

Objective To observe the diagnostic value of thinprep cytologic test(TCT) and Pap smear in cervical disease.Methods The cervix cytological examination 7600 women were divided into two groups.The TCT was applied to the observation group(3800 cases).The Pap smear was applied to the control group (3800 cases).Results The positive rate of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia was higher in the observation group(17.26%,656/3800)than that in the control group(12.24%,465/3800)(P<0.01).The coincident rate with histopathology was higher in the observation group(96.34%,632/656)than that in the control group(87.53%,407/465)(P<0.05).But the positive rate of trichomonad was not obviously significant between the two groups(P>0.05).Conclusion The TCT is better than Pap smear,which is worthy of being recommended in diagnosis of cervical disease.

Occupational Health

OBJECTIVE:To establish a method for content determination of eucalyptol in Chimonanthus Zhejiangensis. METH-ODS:GC was conducted with Zebron ZB-WAX capillary column with temperature programmed;FID detector was used with the temperature of 250 ℃;the volume temperature was 220 ℃ and the carrier gas was nitrogen with high purity. RESULTS:Eucalyp-tol had a good linear relationship in the range of 0.017 69-1.415 mg/ml(r=0.999 1);the RSDs of precisions,stability and reproduc-ibility tests were no more than 1.87%and the average recovery was 99.72%(RSD=0.65%,n=6).There were big differences in dif-ferent areas of the same month and the maximum was more than one time (1.064%-0.450%);there were also big differences in the same area of different months(0.633%-1.064%). CONCLUSIONS:The method is simple,accurate,fast and reproducible and suitable for the quality control of Chimonanthus Zhejiangensis.

This study was aimed to detect the expression of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) in renal tissues of lupus nephritis (LN) mice with chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) and to investigate that LN could be intervened by fluvastatin at different doses through the inhibition of JNK expression.LN models with cGVHD in mice were established first,and then diseased mice were randomly divided into four groups:normal control,fluvastatin intervention at high-dose group (10 mg/kg),fluvastatin intervention at low-dose group (5 mg/kg) and models without treatment.After killing the mice sixteen weeks later,total urine protein of every mouse was determined by a Biuret colorimetric assay.The protein and mRNA levels of JNK and p-JNK in kidneys were measured by immunohistochemistry,Western blot and RT-PCR,respectively.Compared with normal control,otal urine protein,JNK and p-JNK expressions at both mRNA and protein levels were significantly increased in cGVHD group (P ＜0.01),but their expressions were suppressed by fluvastatin treatment (P ＜0.01).JNK may play an important role in the pathogenetic progress of LN in mice,and fluvastatin is able to prevent LN via inhibition of JNK expression in renal tissues in cGVHD mice.

Objective To explore the influence on each dimension of executive function of social drinkers with moderate dose of alcohol intake and different alcohol expectations.Methods 90 university students who were social drinkers allocated randomly by a lottery method to drinking group (n=31),control group (n=30) and placebo group (n=29).The Stroop task,1-Back task and local-global task were employed to measure executive function from three aspects respectively,namely the inhibition,updating and shifting process.Results Drinking group was compared with the Control group in the three dimensions of executive function:inhibition ((61.65 ± 26.31) ms,(42.48 ± 32.94) ms),updating ((557.23 ± 86.24) ms,(515.02 ± 70.24) ms),and shifting process ((718.85±246.03) ms,(553.95± 151.74) ms).The differences were statistically significant (P＜0.05 or P＜0.01).Placebo group was compared with the control group,in the three dimensions of executive function:inhibition ((39.25±29.35) ms,(42.48±32.94) ms),updating ((516.32±73.25) ms,(515.02±70.24) ms),and shifting process ((591.20± 193.07) ms,(553.95± 151.74) ms),all the differences had no statistically significance (P＞ 0.05).In the drinking group,positive expectation was negatively related to each dimension of executive function (-0.427,-0.330,-0.383).The inhibition and the shifting process appeared significant correlation(P＜0.05).Negative expectation was positively related to each dimension of executive function (0.251,0.323,0.377).The shifting process appeared significant correlation (P＜0.05).Regression analysis showed that positive expectation was significantly negative predictions of inhibition and shifting process.Conclusion Executive function of social drinkers is damaged after moderate alcohol intake,and there are differences between executive function damage of different alcohol expectancy drinkers.