OBJECTIVE:To compare different prescription strategies of antibiotics in the management of acute upper respiratory tract infection(AURTI).METHODS:A total of 984 patients with AURTI were divided into three groups:antibiotic group(treated with antibiotics throughout the course),delayed group(delayed use of antibiotics),and none-antibiotic group(receiving no antibiotics).The course of diseases,rate of return visits,incidence of adverse drug reactions(ADR)and total trea-tment costs were analyzed statistically.RESULTS:Course of diseases was the longest in the antibiotic group(P

Objective To determine the frequency of GJB2 mutations in the China hearing loss population, and to screen the GJB2 gene in both hearing loss and normal populations. Methods 141 patients with hearing loss and 150 normal persons (control) underwent mutation screening of single coding exon of GJB2 with bidirectional sequencing to identify sequences alterations. Results Three polymorphisms were found: 79G→A, 109G→A, and 341A→G; and four pathologic mutations were identified: 235delC, 455A→G, 176-191del16 and 504insGCAA. Conclusion The 235delC mutation was found to be the significant cause of hearing loss in Chinese population.

Objective To analyze and determine the genetic characteristics of a large Chinese family with autosomal dominant nonsyndromic deafness(named pedigree Z029).Methods A hereditary deafness family was found from the profuse genetic resource established in the Otolaryngology Institute of PLA General Hospital.A sequence of bilateral sensorineural hearing impairment transmitted through five generations was found by investigating 47 individuals in the pedigree.The genetic forms of hearing loss in 18 members of the Z029 pedigree were diagnosed by otologic,audiologic,and physical examination,as well as by the study on their family history.Pedigree map was drawn by using Cyrillic2.1 software.Results The phynotype of Z029 family showed that most affected individuals had sensorineural hearing impairment with subsequent gradual progression covering all frequencies.The phynotype was transmitted from 1 to 5 generations.One of the parents of every patient was definitely a patient of the same disease.The affected ratio was same in both sexes,and the incidence of deafness declined through the first to fifth generation.Conclusion The phenotype characteristics of Z029 family were of autosomal dominant nonsyndromic hereditary deafness.In this pedigree,hearing impairment occurred in the majority of affected individuals after their twentieth year of age,and the penetrance of the impairment appeared to be age-correlated.No obvious vestibular dysfunction and other associated abnormalities were found.It may provide a foundation for the study of gene mapping and gene cloning of the pathogenic gene to analyze and determine the phenotype characteristics of this pedigree.This pedigree also provided an excellent model for the further study on the pathological and molecular mechanisms of hereditary hearing impairment related to age.

Objective To observe teletherapy and local hyperthermia effects on VX2 carcinoma rabbits'cytokines and curative effect. Methods 60 male white health rabbits were selected, and divided them into three group. The group of teletherapy were 20. The group of local hyperthermia were 20. So were the group of comparison. Their tumors' changes, rates of death and changes of IL-2, IL-6, IL-8, TNF, IGF, CA-50 before and after VX2 carcinoma replanted and those treated after one, three, four weeks were observed. Results The diameters of tumors and rates of death from large to small in turn was comparison's group, hyperthermia's group and teletherapy's group. After VX2 carcinoma replanted IL-2, IL-8 were low but IL-6, TNF, IGF, CA-50 were high. After being treated one, three or four weeks, IL-2, IL-8 were getting lower and lower but there was significant difference between teletherapy's group with other group in IL-2 and IL-8(P

RNA interference mediated by short interfering RNA is widely used to study functional genes and also being developed for therapeutic applications. However, recent study demonstrated that siRNA might activate innate immune system and induce huge production of inflammatory cytokines in mammals, and also randomly inhibit expression of undesired genes. Designing highly effective siRNAs or modifying the siRNA to retain or enhance the silence efficiency and meanwhile abolish the off-target effects associated with immunostimulation then become the key techniques in application of siRNAs as safe and effective therapeutic agents.

Objective To assess and compare the advantages and disadvantages of five fields of three dimensional conformal radiation therapy(3DCRT),three fields of 3DCRT and the simulator-guided radiation therapy for patients with esophageal carcinoma.Methods Twenty patients with esophageal carcinoma were treated by three dimensional conformal radiation therapy,at the same TPS,three Dimensional conformal radiation therapy target and normal tissue of three radiotherapies were simulated.The treatment planning was five days per week with 1.8～2.0 Gy per fraction。 5 fractions per week,5OGy per 5～6 weeks. Results Compared with simulator-guided radiation therapy,3DCRT planning has better dose distribution and protection of normal tissue. Conclusion Esophageal cancer conformal radiotherapy can reduce the radiation injury of the normal tissue and complications,and improve treatment of conformal radiotherapy and the target dose distribution.

Objective:To investigate the theraputic effect of STAT3 Decoy-ODN combined with chemotherapy drugs for HCC commonly used in clinical,include doxorubicin (DOX),5-fluorouracil (5-Fu) and cisplatin;and,analyzing the impact of combination therapy on the immune system.Methods:MTT assay was used to detect cell proliferation,and Annexin-V /7AAD double staining assay was used to detect the apoptosis of Decoy ODN transfected-hepatoma cells treated with chemotherapy drugs.The tumor growth and survival rate of H22 tumor-bearing mice treated with DOX combined with STAT3 Decoy-ODN or not were observed.FACS was applied to analyze the subpopulation and activation of PBMCs from tumor-bearing mice treated as above,and to evaluate the influence of DOX or DOX-treated tumor cells on spleen lymphocyte activation.Results: DOX-induced the suppression and the apoptosis of H22 were significantly increased by Decoy ODN transfection.The combination treatment of Decoy ODN and DOX significantly reduced H22 tumor growth and extended the survival of tumor-bearing mice.Low-dose DOX could increase the proportion of T cells and CD69+T cells in PBMCs,as well as the expression of CD107a and IFN-γin NK cells.DOXt-reated H 22 cells increased the proportion of T cells.Conclusion:Targeted blocking STAT3 could enhance the sensitivity of liver cancer cells to doxorubicin.So,combination therapy may improve DOX therapeutic effect and reduce DOX-mediated side effects.Furthermore,low dose of DOX can promote the activation of host immune system by acting on tumor cells.

OBJECTIVE This study aimed at identifying inner ear malformation underlying molecular determinant(s) using a large five-generation Chinese family with multiple familial cases. METHODS Model-based genetic linkage analyses were performed with the use of microsatellite polymorphisms to determine the disease locus. Mutation screening was performed with the family and unrelated population-based controls to establish molecular evidence that caused the specific X-linked inheritance pattern in the family. RESULTS Clinical investigations of the pedigree demonstrated the extremely high penetrance in the male members, but no penetrance in the female members. Linkage analyses mapped the disease to the chromosomal region Xq13.1-Xq23 (maximum X-linkage LOD score = 3.27). Mutation screening of the candidate genes in the linkage region by direct sequencing revealed a de novo missense substitution (925T→C) in the well-known deaf gene POU3F4. Direct sequencing on 110 unrelated controls did not detect any mutation. CONCLUSION a novel mutation of POU3F4 gene was identified to be the causative reason for the hearing loss in family with inner ear malformation.

OBJECTIVE To investigate whether the KCNN4 gene and KPTN gene contribute to a Chinese non-syndromic hearing loss pedigree linked to DFNA4 with positional candidate approach. METHODS The complete coding region of the two genes were amplified with polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and bidirectional sequencing of the PCR products was subsequently applied in the 36 family members to identify the possible mutations or polymorphisms in the candidate genes. RESULTS Sequence analysis of coding regions and splice sites of the two candidate genes in 36 members including 12 hearing-impaired individuals in family Z002 failed to demonstrate any deafness-causing mutations of KCNN4 gene. There was one heterozygous mutation identified in exon10 coding sequence (942C/T) of KPTN gene, which did not result in amino acid change (P302P) as a repoerted synonymous SNP site (rs2293424). This SNP site did not cosegregate with the phenotype of family Z002. CONCLUSION Our study excluded the two candidates, KCNN4 and KPTN , as the causative genes involved in this Chinese DFNA4 pedigree.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the contribution of the GJB6 gene [encoding connexin 30 (C?30)] mutations in Chinese population with sporadic non-syndromic hearing impairment. METHODS PCR reactions were performed with two pair of primers for the coding sequence of GJB6 gene and for the deletion of GJB6. PCR products bidirectional sequencing was subsequently applied in 214 patients with hearing loss and 86 normal controls. RESULTS A novel heterozygous mutation-233(C→A) was found, which results in amino acid change, A78D. This mutation wasn't detected in the control subjects. The altered valine residue lies within the second conserved transmembrane domain. The large deletion△(GJB6/ D13S1830)] of GJB6 was not found in this group. CONCLUSION The large deletion of GJB6 was not found in the Chinese deafness population. A novel heterozygous mutation of GJB6 was found. These results indicated GJB6 mutations are not a major cause of hearing loss in the Chinese population.