Respiratory infections have an important relationship to asthma as they provoke wheezing and increase symptoms in many patients.Respiratory syncytial virus and rhinoviruses are the principal triggers to wheezing and worsening of asthma.It has been disccused that the mechanisms,clinical picture,and treatment of asthmatics with respiratory infections.

Special considerations are required in managing asthma in relation to pregnancy,surgery,rhinitis,sinusitis and nasal polyps,occupational asthma,respiratory infections,gastroesophageal reflux,aspirin-induced asthma and anaphylaxis.

OBJECTIVE:Inhaled glucocorticoids(GC) are the first-line medicine for bronchial asthma during relieve phase, thereby this study was designed to explore if patient tends to suffer osteoporosis due to long term inhalation of glucocorticoids. DATA SOURCES:Literatures about GC and osteoporosis were computer-searched in Medline and Embase from January 1980 to December 2003, with the key word of " asthma, bone density, bone metabolism and inhaled glucocorticoids" and language limited to English.Meanwhile it was also computer-searched in CBM, CBM disc and manually searched in Chinese Journal of Clinical Rehabilitation between January 1990 and April 2004 with language limited to Chinese. DATA SELECTION: Literatures about the comparison of bone density and bone metabolic change between inhaled GC group and control group were consorted deleting randomized controlled trial(RCT) so as to look up the whole content of healthy controls;While patients in the treatment group received GC inhalation.Exclusive standards:obvious non-RCT. Quality assessment is mainly focused on the reality of data,the strictness of design and implementation,and the rationality of statistical management. DATA EXTRACTION:Totally 30 randomized and nonrandomized studies about the influence of inhaled GC on the bone density and bone metabolism of patients with asthma were referred to amongst which 18 studies were admitted with the other 12 excluded for similarity in content in 8 and Meta-analysis in 4. DATA SYNTHESIS:A total of 1 153 asthmatic patients in 18 studies were divided into GC inhalation group and non-inhalation control group for comparing the difference of bone density and/or bone metabolism between them. CONCLUSION:Although the results of studies on the influence of long-term inhaled GC on bone quantity were different, but there was still not enough evidence to demonstrate that osteoporosis was due to long-term GC inhalation.

Objective To observe the effect and mechanism of imiquimod on T helper (Th) cell subsets in the Parabronchial lymph node (PBLN) cell cultures from ovalbumin (OVA)-sensitized rats.Methods PBLN were isolated and cultured. PBLN cells were divided into A~F, according to different concentrations of intervention. Cultured for 0, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48 hours, the expressions of IL-4 and IFN-? in supernatants were determined by ELISA. The mRNA expressions of the cytokines in cells were detected by RT-PCR.Results In the group A, only low concentrations of IFN-? were detected. Based on the cultured time, the concentrations of IFN-? were increased significantly if imiquimod concentration was between 1 and 10 ?g/ml. Levels of IL-4 were increased slowly compared with those in the group B (P0.05).Conclusion Imiquimod show the best effect on antigen-specific Th cell subsets when cultured for 12h. The results suggest that imiquimod have benefit in atopic diseases such as the late inflammation reaction of asthma.

The effect of tranilast on the down- regulation of beta- adrenoceptor agonist was investigated. Male guinea pigs were divided into 3 groups, one group is control. Others were received injection of terbutaline or terbutaline plus tranilast for successive 5 days. The radioli-gand binding assays for beta-adrenoceptors in the lung membranes of the guinea pigs were per-formed. The results showed the numbers of maximal binding sites (Bmax) of beta-adrenoceptors in terbutaline group was significantly less than that in control group ( P 0. 05).The affinity ( Kd) of beta-adrenoceptors both in terbutaline group and in terbutaline plus tranilast group was higher than that in control (P

Objective To investigate the effect of 15-deoxyspurgualin (DSG) on graft coronary arteriosclerosis (GCA) and the platelet-derived growth factor-A (PGDF-A) mRNA expression of graft myocardium after heterotopic heart transplantation and the possible mechanism. Methods The rat heterotopic heart transplantation model was developed. Two groups of Lewis rats ( n =7 in each group) underwent heterotopic heart transplantationin from Wistar-King donors and were treated with either DSG (5 mg/kg daily, DSG group) or cyclosporine A (10 mg/kg daily, control group). Histological examinations of rejection and coronary arteriosclerosis, as well as Northern blot analysis of graft PDGF-A mRNA expression were made 60 days after transplantation. Results No significant difference in the degree of rejection was found between the two groups. However, the degree of coronary arterial intimal thickening in the DSG group was significantly less than that in the control group ( P

Aim To explore the role of cytoplasmic FKBP52 in AAV-mediated transduction.Methods Murine embryo fibroblasts(MEFs)cultures from FKBP52 wild-type(WT),heterozygous(HE),and knockout(KO)mice were established.The role of FKBP52 in intracellular trafficking of AAV was analyzed by fluorescence-activated cell sorting(FACS)analyses,electrophoretic mobility shift assays(EMSA),southern blot,immunoprecipitations and western blot analyses.Results Conventional AAV vectors failed to transduce WT MEFs efficiently,and the transduction efficiency was not significantly increased in HE or KO MEFs.AAV vectors failed to traffick efficiently to the nucleus in these cells.Treatment with hydroxyurea(HU)increased the transduction efficiency of conventional AAV vectors by～25-fold in WT MEFs,but only by～4-fold in KO MEFs.The use of self-complementary AAV(scAAV)vectors,which bypass the requirement of viral second-strand DNA synthesis,revealed that HU treatment increased the transduction efficiency～23-fold in WT MEFs,but only～4-fold in KO MEFs,indicating that the lack of HU treatment-mediated increase in KO MEFs was not due to failure of AAV to undergo viral second-strand DNA synthesis.Following HU treatment,～59% of AAV genomes were present in the nuclear fraction from WT MEFs,but only ～28% in KO MEFs,indicating that the pathway by which HU treatment mediates nuclear transport of AAV was impaired in KO MEFs.When KO MEFs were stably transfected with an FKBP52 expression plasmid,HU treatment-mediated increased in the transduction efficiency was restored in these cells,which correlated directly with improved intracellular trafficking.Intact AAV particles were also shown to interact with FKBP52 as well as with dynein,a known cellular protein involved in AAV trafficking.Conclusion These studies suggest that FKBP52,being a cellular chaperone protein,facilitates intracellular trafficking of AAV,which has implications in the optimal use of recombinant AAV vectors in human gene therapy.

AIM:To optimize the I?B? mutant(I?B?M)gene derived from human placenta tissue by deleting N-terminal phosphorylation sites of serine 32/36,and to construct and identify its replication-deficient recombinant adenovirus(AdI?B?M).METHODS:The I?B?M gene(203-1 003 bp)was acquired by positional cloning,followed by subcloning it into pShuttle and pGEM-T vectors for further PCR,double digestion,DNA sequencing and homology analysis.Subsequently,the expression unit of pShuttle-I?B?M containing CMV promoter,I?B?M cDNA and poly A signals was inserted into Ad5 vector,after which the resultant recombinant adenovirus AdI?B?M was packaged in 293 cells by cotransfection with lipofectamine.Western blotting analysis and electrophoretic mobility shift assay were utilized to detect the AdI?B?M-mediated expression of I?B?M gene in 293 cells and its suppressive effect on phorbol myristate acetate(PMA)-induced nuclear factor ?B(NF-?B)activation in ECV304 cells,respectively.RESULTS:The relevant nucleotide and amino acid sequence of I?B?M gene was consistent with that of GenBank(accession number M69043).The titer of the prepared AdI?B?M was 4.0?10 12 pfu/L.Moreover,the I?B?M gene was expressed in 293 cells,and potently inhibited the PMA-induced NF-?B activation in ECV304 cells in a dose-dependent manner.CONCLUSION:AdI?B?M is a nonvel vector for both efficient transfer and expression of I?B?M gene as well as specific inhibition of NF-?B activity,providing a promising future for gene therapy of asthma.

Objective To study the diagnostic value of fractional exhaled nitric oxide(FeNO)in non-typical bronchial asthma.Methods Ninety-five patients with unknown-cause respiratory symptoms including wheezing,cough and breathlessness were enrolled.FeNO was measured by nitric oxide analyzer.The clinical symptoms and bronchial bronchodilator test were defined as golden standard for asthma diagnosis.The diagnostic value of FeNO was assessed and the optimal operating point of FeNO test was determined by means of the receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve.Results Among 95 patients,44 cases were diagnosed as asthma,51 cases were diagnosed as non-asthma.The level of FeNO of asthma patients were higher than that of non-asthma patients[(55.2±14.0)nmol/L vs.(18.9±5.2)nmol/L,P＜0.01].A non-linear correlation of FeNO with FEV1％ was revealed in the cases with asthma(r=-0.162,P＞0.05).Area under ROC curve was 0.858.The optimal diagnostic cut off point was 36 nmol/L which was capable of differentiating asthma and non-asthma with sensitivity of 80.2％,specificity of 79.5％,positive predictive value of 85.4％,negative predictive value of 83.3％ and accuracy of 85.9％.Conclusions FeNO test may be helpful in the diagnosis of non-typical asthma with high sensitivity and specificity,which can also improve the diagnostic effectiveness and avoid misdiagnosis,missed diagnosis when combined with lung function test.

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Azithromycin in the treatment of the bacterial infections. Method s: 94 patients with lower respiratory tract infection were randomly d ivided into 2 groups(47 for each gruop). The treated group were given Azithrom ycin 500mg in 5% glucose injection 500mL, iv drip, bid, for 5-7 days. Another 12 patients (including 4 patients with pelvic inflammatory disease and 8 patients with lower respiratory tract infection) were treated with Azithromycin as the op en group. Results: The treated group yielded a recovery ra te 61.7%, aeffective rate 91.5% and abacterial clearance rate 95.8%, which wer e higher than the controlled group [31.9%, 70.2%, and 76.6% (P＜0.01)]0,res pectively. The total response rate and the cure rate in 59 patients treated with Azithromycin were 93.2% and 62.7%, respectively. The incidence of clinical adve rse drug reactions in the treated group was 12.8%, being lower than 34.0% in the controlled group (P＜0.05). Conclusion: Azithromycin is an effective agent in the treatment of the acquired lower respiratory tract infection, urogenital and urogenital tract infection with slight adverse reaction .