BACKGROUND: Rheumatoid factor (RF) is a kind of autoantibody which is routinely used as a factor in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) to evaluate disease activity and severity.But in clinical practice, it occurs frequently that RF values do not decrease according to clinical improvement in RA patients. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between rheumatoid factor (RF) and activity or disease severity of RA.DESIGN, TIME AND SETTING: A randomized cross-sectional study was performed in the Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University during September 2006 and September 2007.PARTICIPANTS: Seventy-six patients,65 females and 11 males,mean age of (44±13) years,with RA diagnosed according to the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria for RA were included in this study. METHODS: Seventy-six patients with active RA were randomly recruited and assessed for functional status,radiographic change,joint pain,morning stiffness, tender joint count (TJC), tender joint score (TJS), swollen joint count (SJC), swollen joint score (SJS), Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP),RF,and hemoglobin. The method of Pearson correlation or Spearman rank correlation was performed for assessing the association between RF and these indices separately, normally distributed data for Pearson correlation, nonnormally distributed data for Spearman rank correlation. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Correlation of RF with above mentioned factors. RESULTS: None of the correlation coefficients between RF and indices including age,disease duration, functional status,radiographic change,joint pain, morning stiffness, TJC,TJS,SJC,SJS,HAQ,ESR,CRP,hemoglobin were significant (P＞0.05). CONCLUSION: No associations between RF and activity or severity of RA are studied.

OBJECTIVE：To study the effects and mechanism of oncolytic virus M 1（called M 1 virus for short ）inducing the apoptosis of cervical cancer C-33A cells. METHODS ：MTT assay was used to detect survival rate of C- 33A cells that were treated with different titers （0，0.001，0.01，0.1，1，10 PFU/cell）of M 1 virus. C- 33A cells were divided into control group （0 PFU/cell）， low-dose，medium-dose and high-dose groups of M 1 virus（0.001，0.01，0.1 PFU/cell）. After treated with corresponding titers of M1 virus for 48 h，flow cytometry was used to detect the apoptotic rate and infection rate of cells；Western blot was performed to detect the protein expression of C/EBP homologous proteins （CHOP），caspase-12，caspase-3 and cleaved-caspase- 3. RESULTS ： After treated with different titers of M 1 virus，the survival rate of C- 33A cells decreased significantly （P＜0.01），and showed a dose-dependent tr end. Compared with control group ，the apoptotic rate and infection rate of cells in M 1 virus groups as well as the protein expression of CHOP ，caspase-12 and cleaved-caspase- 3（except for medium-dose group ）in M 1 virus medium-dose and high-dose groups were increased significantly （P＜0.01）. CONCLUSIONS ：M1 virus can induce the apoptosis of cervical cancer C-33A cells ，and its mechanism may be related to the activation of endoplasmic reticulum stress pathway.