Polysaccharides are a class of natural macromolecules with biological activities which could regulate the immune system by activating immune cells and promoting the secretion of cytokines to exert the anti-tumor and anti-oxidation activities.The article reviews the mechanism of polysaccharides acting on the immune system and its anti-tumor immunotherapy applications.

BACKGROUND: The incidence of cognition disturbance after cerebral infarction is about 20% -30% and effective drugs for its prevention and treatment are anticipated.OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of nicergoline on cognition disturbance after cerebral infarction and explore its mechanism.DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial based on patients.SETTING: Neurological department in a medical university.PARTICIPANTS: A total of 60 patients admitted to the Neurological Department of the Second Hospital Affiliated to Chongqing Medical University for cerebral infarction during October 1999 and April 2001 were recruited in this study, and randomly divided into two groups, nicergoline treatment group and control group with 30 in each.METHODS: Mini-mental state examination(MMSE) score was evaluated and cerebral blood flow was determined with transcranial Doppler' s ultrasonography within one week after admission and three months after admission, respectively, and data were analyzed with SPSS software.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: MMSE score and velocity of blood flow in treatment and control groups.RESULTS: MMSE score in memory, calculation and recollection decreased significantly[ (1.2 ± 1.3), (2. 2 ± 2. 1) and(1.0 ± 1.7), respectively] in control group but did not change much[ (3.9 ± 1.4), (4. 4 ± 1.9) and(4.0 ± 1.6) ]in treatment group. The velocity of blood flow in control group decreased apparently, while it increased in treatment group[(58.31 ±10. 15) and(65.79 ±9.74) cm/s in the right middle cerebral artery].CONCLUSION: Nicergoline can prevent and treat vascular cognition disturbance, and improvement of blood supply may be one of the mechanisms.

Objective To investigate the correlation between apolipoprotein E gene polymorphism and car-dio-cerebrovascular diseases. Methods Gene chip method was used to determine ApoE genotypes in 1427 pa-tients with cardiovascular disease and 450 health controls. Levels of serum lipid were compared. Results The highest genotype frequency of ApoE was ε3/3 in the patient group and control group. The allele frequency of ApoE from high to low wasε3,ε2 andε4. The genotype ofε3/3 in patient group was significantly lower than that in con-trol group(χ2 = 12.562,P < 0.01),whileε3/4 was significantly higher than that in control group(χ2 = 36.112, P < 0.01). No significant differences were found between patient groups in genotype or allele frequency of ApoE. The level of TCH,TG,LDL-c and sdLDL in the patient group were significantly higher than those in the control group,and HDL-c was significantly lower than those in the control group(P>0.05). The level of TCH and LDL-c significantly decreased in patients with E2 genotype,and increased in patients with genotype E4(P < 0.05). No significant differences were found in other indexes(P>0.05). Positive relationship was found between ApoE geno-type and phenotype of ApoE and LDL-c. Conclusions ApoE gene polymorphism plays an important role in the oc-currence and development of cardio-cerebrovascular diseases.

In August 2001, Chinese military released the "Diagnostic criteria, principles of principles of prophylaxis and treatment of military training injuries" for implementation in the armed forces for the first time in history. The "Criteria" standardizes the definitions of military training injuries, categorizes the various injuries with specific diagnostic criteria, and specifies the principles of their prevention and treatment. This paper gives a brief account of the main contents of the "Criteria", and reiterates the basis of designation of precuresor symptoms of various injuries which occur during military training. The paper points out that the army officers should revise the training plan in regard to its contents, duration and intensity timely, if the additive ratio of limb pain and joint swelling reaches 20% and 10%, respectively, during the 3rd-4th training week. During the period of implementation, the "Criteria" has shown to be practical and easy to operate. It has not only provided standardized technical bases for the case reports, stastistics, clinical investigations, and popularization of technics, but also provided a reliable and comparable theoretical foundation to the officers to formulate training protocols. Furthermore, because of the application of the principles of prevention and treatment of injuries during training as documented in the text, as well as psychological education has been emphasized, the incidence of military training injury has been lowered markedly. Through epidemiological study in 10 different army groups, it has been shown that the yearly add up ratios have been lowered from 30%-45% to below 10%.

Objective To investigate the correlation of serum sFasL level with carotid arterial intima- media thickness(IMT) and some known markers of inflammation, nutritional status in uremic patients with cardiovascular disease(CVD). Methods 134 uremic patients on hemodialysis were divided into two groups, CVD group (n=103) and non-CVD group (n=31). The serum level of sFasL, C-reactive protein (CRP), IL-6, TNF-? and albumin were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). The expression of Fas and FasL in radial arterial endothelial cells were observed both by immuohistochemical stain and by reverse transcription- polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The Carotid arterial IMTs were measured by Color doppler ultrasonography. Results Compared with the non-CVD group, CVD group showed significantly increased serum sFasL, CRP, IL-6, and TNF-?, and decreased serum albumin(P

Objective:To investigate and compare the effect and the possible mechanisms of 2 hypoxia-inducible factors(HIF) 1? and 2? on renal cell carcinoma(RCC) by RNA interference(RNAi) method.Methods: Chemically synthesized HIF-1? and HIF-2? RNAi were transfected into RCC cell line A498 by liposome transient transfection.Normal proximal tubule cell line HK-2 and A498 were separately treated with medium and liposome as controls.The expressions of VEGF,ET-1,bcl-2 and Ki67 were observed by RT-PCR or Western blot 24 h after RNAi.Cell apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy.Results: Expressions of HIF-1? and HIF-2? RNAi were higher in A498 than those in HK-2,and the 2 genes were successfully blocked after RNAi.HIF-1? RNAi resulted in a significant decrease of ET-1,bcl-2 and Ki67 expression,with increased apoptosis and necrosis of cells.HIF-2? RNAi only resulted in a decrease of VEGF.Conclusion: Both HIF-1? and HIF-2? play important roles in regulation of angiogenesis; moreover,HIF-1? might also regulate proliferation of tumor cells,possibly through regulating anti-apoptotic genes.It is implied the existance of different transcription regulation functions and gene combining sites between HIF-1? and HIF-2?.

Objective To reproduce an animal model of psychological simulation training,and to investigate the influence of psychological training on the ability of counter physical stress.Methods Thirty-two Wister rats were assigned to four groups,8 for each,namely control group(group A),psychological training group(group B),stress group(group C)and psychological training prior to stress(group D).Rats in group A received neither psychological training nor stress,group B received psychological training without stress,group C received stimulation including stress of strong noise and strong light,but without psychological training,and group D,after psychologically training for 4 weeks,received the same stress stimulation as group C.Twenty-four hours after stress,open-field experiment was done on group C and D.At last,rats in all the 4 groups were anesthetized by ether and 5ml of blood was drawn from each rat in order to detect the content of beta-endorphin(?-EP),corticosterone and IL-1?.Results In the open-field experiments,the psychologically trained groups(B and D)showed remarkably lower scores than the un-trained groups(A and C).The levels of ?-EP and corticosterone were significantly elevated in rats after receiving stress stimulation,while that of IL-1? lowered dramatically.The level of ?-EP and corticosterone in psychological training group(group D)was remarkably lower,while that of IL-1? was higher,than the stress group(group C)during the stress.Conclusion Psychological training can lessen the inhibitory effects of harmful stress on endocrine and immunologic functions,and enhance the physical ability to confront stress.

[Objective] To evaluate the histocompatibility of nano hydroxyapatite-zirconia composite bioceramic.[Methods]According to the standard of ISO 10993-1,cytotoxicity experiment,acute toxicity test,hemolysis test and in vivo implantation(90 days)test were conducted to evaluate the histocompatibility of nano hydroxyapatite-zirconia composite bioceramic.[Results]The score of cytotoxicity experiment was lower than grade I,and there was no significant inhibition of cell growth,no acute toxic reaction or hemolytic reaction.And the in vivo implantation met the requirements of the biological evaluation of implant materials.[Conclusion]Nano hydroxyzpatie-zirconia composite bioceramic showed a good histocompatibility.It has a broad prospect as a biomaterial scaffold in the bone tissue engineering.

In this study, acute cardiac ischemia was induced by ligation of the anterior descending branch of the coronary artery in rats. Radioimmunoassay was conducted to measure the contents of immunoreactive beta - en-dorphin (ir-?-EP)after ischemia and fructose -1,6 - diphosphate (FDP) treatment. Results showed that the contents of ir-?-EP were in-cereased in the plasma, some brain areas, pituitary and myocardium after ligation of the left coronary artery of the rats which resulted in the deterioration of the cardiac function includingdp/dtmax, Lvsp, total areas of force loop and blood pressure. Intravenous administration of FDP improved cardiac function and reduced the contents of ir - ? - EP in the above mentioned tissues suggesting that ir-?-EP correlate closely with cardiac function after ischemia,the reduction of which was possibly involved in the improve ment of cardiac function by FDP.

Objective:To explore the influence of liquid for post-operative irrigation on the effect of ESS.Method:192 cases with chronic sinusitis and/or nasal polyps of groupIIstageII who had undergone the ESS from September,1998 to June,1999 and completed a3-month follow-up were divided randomly into 3 groups to accept 3 different kinds of irrigation liquid.The evaluation of curative effect was according to the index of HaiKou ESS-97.Result:The curative effect of Herba Houttuyniae group was better than the other two.Conclusion:The post-operative care is important and the irrigation liquid can affect the effect of ESS.