Objective To investigate the correlation between the human chemokine type 1 chemokine ligand 3 (CCL3L1) and chemokine ligand 4 (CCL4L) gene expression and the immune reconstitution of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients after antiretroviral therapy.Methods The gene copy numbers of CCL3L1 and CCL4L were detected by real time polymerase chain reaction in 217 AIDS patients before antiretroviral therapy.And the correlation between CCL3L1 and CCL4L gene copy numbers and the level of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes were analyzed.The changes of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes were defined as mean change value per month after 48 months treatment.The change rates of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes were defined as the logarithm of the ratio of the value after 48 month to that at baseline.Comparison between groups was conducted using analysis of variance.Results The median of gene copy numbers of CCL3L1 and CCL4L were 2 (range:0-8) and 3 (range:0-7),respectively.After antiviral treatment,there were significantly different changes of CD8+ T lymphocyte level (F=3.054,P＜0.05) and change rate of CD4+/CD8+ (F=3.520,P＜0.05) among groups of high (gene copy 4-8),median (gene copy 2-3) and low (gene copy 0-1) CCL3L1 gene copy numbers.The changes of CD8+ T lymphocyte levels (P=0.023) and change rates (P=0.038) in high and low CCL3L1 gene copy groups were both significantly different.There were significant differents changes rate of ratio of CD4+/CD8+ T lymphocyte among high and median (P=0.010),high and low CCL3L1 gene copy numbers (F=4.397,P＜0.05).The significant difference of the change rates of CD4+/CD8+ were found between the gene copy 3 group and gene copy 4-7 group CCL4L (P=0.005) and between the gene copy 4-7 group and gene copy 0-2 group of CCL4L (P=0.030).The change ratio of CD4+/CD8+ T lymphocytes increased with the increase of copy numbers of CCL4L gene.Conclusions The gene expressions of CCL3L1 and CCL4L might be associated with the ability of immune reconstitution of AIDS patients after antiretroviral therapy.

Objective To assess the left ventricular longitudinal shrinkage function in liver cirrhosis patients with two-dimensional speckle tracking imaging (2D-STI). Methods Echocardiography and Doppler echocardiography were performed in 34 patients with liver cirrhosis and 35 healthy subjects of corresponding ages. High frame rate two-dimensional images were recorded from apical long-axis view, four-chamber view and two-chamber view of left ventricle; then the left ventricular diameter, left atrium diameter, the peak filling velocity of E wave and A wave, E/A ratio, EF and FS were measured. The peak systolic strain of left ventricular segment was measured with two-dimensional strain software. Results Compared with healthy subjects, left ventricular diameter, left atrium diameter, EF and FS of liver cirrhosis patients were not statistically different (P>0.05), but the E/A ratio was lower (P<0.05). The peak systolic strain of most left ventricular segment in liver cirrhosis reduced significantly (P<0.05), except that of base segment of posterior wall, anterior wall, inferior wall, anterior and posterior interventricular septum, as well as middle segment of posterior interventricular septum. Conclusion The heart shape, systolic and diastole function of liver cirrhosis are abnormal. 2D-STI can early and accurately evaluate the systolic function of liver cirrhosis.

Objective Probe the value and the operation risk for HIV/AIDS patients with surgical compli-cations. Methods Investigated 27 HIV-infected patients(male 26, female 1, age 27-74 years) were investi-gated. All patients had pre-operative detection of immune function, standardized surgical procedures, careful surgical process to reduce the operation damage, continuous infusion of coagulation factors for haemophilia during operation, conventional application of antibiotics to prevent infection and prompt treatment of compli-cations. Results No incision infected in 8 cases of class one incision, 1 incision infected in 6 cases of class two incision, 3 cases were not healed in 30 days after operation in 13 cases of class three incision. One case died of severe sepsis 12 days after operation, the others discharged with recovery or improvement. Conclu-sion Suitable operation and treatment method may obtain curative effect for HIV-infected patients.

Objective To investigate the characteristics of opportunistic infections in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients.Methods A comprehensive retrospective chart review study was conducted of 603 AIDS patients with different opportunistic infections in a special hospital authorized for AIDS patients.Results In all 603 patients,327 cases (54.2％) were infected with Pneumocystisjiroveci,251 cases (41.6％) were infected with fungus and 210 cases (34.8％) were infected with mycobacterium.Totally 367 cases (60.9％) had only one pathogen and 236 cases (39.1％) were co-infected with more than one pathogen.A total of 390 cases (64.7％) had a single site of infection with the respiratory tract being most frequently involved (271 cases,69.5％),and 213 cases (35.3％) had more than one infected site.The most common coinfected sites were oropharynx and respiratory tract (111 cases,52.1％).Conclusions AIDS patients are usually coinfected with multiple pathogenic organisms and multi-systems involved.Most of the opportunistic infections can be cured by timely diagnosis and effective treatment to prolong life and improve the quality of life of AIDS patients.

Objective: To investigate the surgical techniques for establishing the rat model of orthotopic liver transplantation.Methods: On the basis of the double-cuff technique of Kamada,we improved the techniques for the separation and perfusion of the donor liver,the shearing and anastomosis of the superior and inferior caval veins,and the anastomosis of the bile duct.Results: Of the 40 rats that underwent orthotopic liver transplantation,80% survived longer than 24 hours and 70% over 7 days.Conclusion: With extreme patience and carefulness,the operator can successfully establish the rat model of orthotopic liver transplantation by shortening the anhepatic phase with skillful surgical techniques.

Objectives To investigate the markers of endothelial injury, adipocytokine and thrombotic activity and explore whether there are cardiovascular disease risk factors in antiretroviral-naive HIV patients. Methods Clinical data and venous blood samples were collected from 43 anti-retroviral naive HIV-infected patients during February -October 2009 in our center, and compared with 17 healthy subjects.Plasma leptin, adiponectin, soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 ( sICAM-1 ), D-dimer were measured by ELISA. Four markers and cholesterol, triglyceride, fasting plasma glucose were compared between the two groups. The CD4+ T cells and percentages of CD38, HLA-DR on CD8+ T were determined by flow cytometry and plasma HIV copies were detected with bDNA analyzer among HIV-infected participants.Spearman correlations between the significant markers and CD4+ T cells, CD8+ CD38+/CD8+, CD8+ HLA-DR +/CD8+, HIV viral load were examined among HIV-infected participants. Analyses were conducted by using Stata version 7. Results Thirty-eight of the 43 patients were sexually infected by HIV and the median absolute CD4+ T cell count was ( 133 ± 82 ) cells/μl, HIV RNA was (4. 42 ± 0. 66 ) lg copies/ml. HIV-infected patients, compared with healthy subjects, had lower leptin [11.41 (7.91,14. 53 )μg/L vs 55.31( 16. 49,229.65 ) μg/L, P= 0. 0005], adiponectin [1.79 ( 1.40,4. 00 ) mg/L vs 3.36 ( 2. 92,4. 18 ) mg/L,P =0. 003] and higher sICAM-1 [1.71 (1.11,2.40) mg/L vs 0. 69 ( 0. 57, 0. 80 ) mg/L, P = 0. 0000].No significant differences exist in cholesterol, triglyceride, fasting plasma glucose. For HIV-infected participants, sICAM-1 tended to correlate with CD8+ CD38+/CD8+ and HIV viral load ( r= 0.3378, P= 0.0267;r = 0.3904,P = 0.0096). Conclusion Patients with untreated HIV infection have lower leptin, adiponectin and higher sICAM-1 levels and the relationship of these markers to HIV-mediated atherosclerotic risk requires further study.

Objective To assess the preferential expressions of peripheral blood T cell receptor beta chain variable region (TRBV) subfamilies in patients with psoriasis vulgaris(PV), and to estimate their role in the pathogenesis of psoriasis. Methods Thirty-three upstream primers were designed to target the human functional TRBV genes, downstream primers to target the common T cell receptor beta constant (TRBC) gene,with T cell receptor alpha constant (TRAC) gene as the internal reference. Total RNA was extracted from the peripheral blood T cells of 10 health human controls and 10 patients with PV, and transcribed into cDNA.Then, TRBV genes were amplified by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR (RFQ-PCR) and the fluorescence intensity of each samples was detected. The expression levels of TRBV genes in the control group were used to calculate the cut-off values (mean expression levels of TRBV subfamilies in the 10 normal controls + 3 standard deviations). When the expression level of a TRBV subfamily from patients with PV was equal to or higher than the cut-off value, it was considered as the preferentially expressed TRBV subfamily. Results The threshold cycle (Ct) value varied from 21 to 24 for TRAC gene. The difference in the Ct value between TRBV subfamily genes and TRAC gene in patients with PV was 2.98 for TRBV2 gene, 3.24 for TRBV5-7 gene, 2.52 for TRBV6-6/6-9 gene, 2.04 for TRBV 12 gene, 3.56 for TRBV 24 gene, and 4.12 for TRBV 29 gene, and the expression levels of these subfamily genes were significantly higher than those in the normal controls (all P ＜ 0.05). According to the above standard, TRBV6-6/6-9, TRBV12 and TRBV29 were considered to be preferentially expressed subfamilies. Conclusions There is a preferential expression of TRBV gene subfamilies in peripheral blood of patients with psoriasis vulgaris, which may play a vital role in the abnormal T cell-mediated immune responses in psoriasis.

Objective To investigate the prevalence of drug-resistant mutations in reverse transcriptase and protease coding regions of HIV-1 in treatment-na(i)ve patients. MethodsPlasma specimens were collected from 88 patients from Zhejiang, Shanghai, Henan and Anhui. The entire protease gene and the first 1-251 amino acids of the reverse transcriptase gene were amplified by RT-PCR from viral RNA and sequenced. The sequences were analyzed with HIV drug resistance algorithm, and phyligenetic analyses were performed by PHYLIP software. SPSS 13.0 was used for statistical analysis, and Fisher' s exact test was performed to compare the proportions of each subtype between the groups. Results79 gene sequences were obtained, subtyping analyses indicated that 68.4％ (54/79) were subtype B, followed by CRF01 _AE 24.8％ (22/79), CRF07_BC2.5％ (2/79),andCRF08_BC1.3％ (1/79). 7 (7/79,8.9％)presented with primary mutations associated with resistance to antiretroviral drugs, mutations conferring primary resistance to nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) and non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors ( NNRTIs ) were detected in 3 ( 3. 8％ ) and 4 ( 5. 1％ ) cases, respectively. Protease inhibitors (Pls)associated primary resistance mutations were not found.Conclusion Antiretroviral drug resistant mutations have been found in treatment-na(i)ve patients with HIV-1 infections, while the prevalence level is low, which indicates that drug resistance test is not necessary for most HIV-1infected treatment-na(i)ve patients.

Objective To analyze the causes of death for 89 HIV/AIDS patients,and the association of CD4+ T lymphocyte counts with the mortality.Methods Data were collected from 89 deceasedpatients who were admitted to Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center from Jan 1996 to Sep 2007,and wereretrospectively analyzed with t-test.Results Heterosexual,blood transfusion and blood products were themajor transmission routs for 89 deceased HIV/AIDS patients.The primary causes of death varied with different levels of CD4+ T lymphocyte counts.With higher CD4+T lymphocyte counts,patients were more likelyto die from non-AIDS-related opportunistic infections such as upper digestive tract hemorrhage.Serious pulmonary infection induced by various etiologies was the primary cause of death.Co-infections of multiple etiologics were often seen in these death cases.Conclusion Opportunistic infection is the primary cause of death for HIV/AIDS patients.Appropriate therapies should be based on CD4+ T lymphocyte counts and patients' specific conditions to reduce the mortality.

Objectives Occult HBV infection is defined by positive HBV DNA in individuals with undetectable levels of HBsAg.The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of occult HBV infection in HIV-infected patients.Methods Serum samples were obtained from 105 HBs Ag-negative HIV patients who were hospitalized and were not giyen anti-virus treatment at Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center.Microparticle enzyme immunoassay(MEIA)was used to detect HBV serologic markers(HBsAg,anti-HBs,HBeAg,anti-Hbe and anti-HBc).EUSA was used to detect HCV antibody.CD4+ T cell count was examined with flow cytometry.Nested PCR was used to amplify surface protein region of HBV.Results 32(30.5%)patients(27 men,5 women)were HBV DNA positive in the 105 HBsAg-negative HIV-infected patients(92 men and 13 women).22 patients(including 5 patients with HBV DNA+)were in 16-30 years group,44 patients(including 15 patients with HBV DNA+)were in 31-49 years group and 39 patients(including 12 patients with HBV DNA+)were in 50-75 years group.5 patients were negative for all HBV serologic markers and 27 patients detected with at least one of anti-HBc.anti.Hbe or anti-HBs.14 patients (29.8%)with HBV DNA+in 47 HIV-infected patients were coinfected with HCV,18 patients(31.0%)were HBV DNA+in 58 HIV-monoinfected patients.The median absolute CD4+T eell count was 145.1cells/μ1(4-623 cells/μ1),26 patients(34.7%)were HBV DNA+in 75 AIDS patients with CD4+T cell＜200 cells/μ1 and 6 patients(20.0%)HBV DNA+in 30 HIV-infected patients with CD4+ T cell＞200cells/μ1.No statistical significant association could be established between the above factors.Conclusions It is found tIlatoccult HBV did occur in HIV-infected patients.No statistical significant association could be established between occult HBV infection and gender,age,HBV serologic markers,coinfected HCV and CD4+T cell count.