So far, there is no effective treatment for most of patients with sensorineural hearing loss. Many studies have shown that gene therapy has become more promising in terms of protecting the inner ear from these diseases. In recent years, inner ear gene therapy has become a research focus in the field of otology. It has not yet appeared a feasible technique for inner ear gene therapy in clinical application due to the particularity of the structure and function of inner ear. On the other hand, in order to avoid the adverse effects of carcinogenic and immunity caused by viral vectors, many scholars devote themselves to develop new gene vectors based on non-viral materials, such as liposomes, polymers and other nanomaterials. In recent years, many great progresses have been made in development and application of non-viral vectors, which showing an inspiring prospect. The research status, progress and prospects of non-viral vectors in inner ear gene therapy will be discussed in this review.
Animals ; Ear, Inner ; Gene Transfer Techniques ; Genetic Therapy ; Genetic Vectors ; Humans

BACKGROUND: The wear resistance and hardness of artificial tooth would affect repairing effects in clinic. However, there is lack of professional standard for resin teeth in China.OBJECTIVE: To provide a theoretic foundation for the choosing of the resin teeth in clinic via comparing the wear resistance and hardness among 7 different resin teeth.DESIGN, TIME AND SETTING: A contrast observation. The experiment was performed at the laboratory of Mechanical Engineering College, Shanghai Jiao Tong University from November 2003 to May 2004.MATERIALS: A total of 7 kinds of different resin teeth were selected, namely, hard multi-layer synthetic resin teeth (A); multi-layer synthetic resin teeth (B); synthetic resin teeth (C); EMDURA resin teeth (D); three-layer synthetic resin teeth (E); optostar four-layer synthetic resin teeth (F); and Cosmo HXL (G).METHODS: The wear test was processed by a pin-plate wear machine. The result was measured by the weight loss through wearing and the surfaces of the wear scar were observed by a scanning electronic microscope (SEM); hardness was measured by Knoop hardness. Meanwhile, the relativity between the hardness and wear resistance of resin teeth was analyzed.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The wear resistance and hardness of resin teeth.RESULTS: According to the weight loss and SEM examination, the wear resistance of the different resin teeth was D>A>G>E>B>F>C; and the hardness of different resin teeth was D>A>G>E>F>B>C. The correlation coefficient between the weight loss and hardness was -0.888 (P < 0.01).CONCLUSION: The variation of the wear resistance of the resin teeth may influenced by their different components, molecular weight and manufacturel methods. There are positive correlation between the hardness and wear resistance of resin teeth.

Objective To compare biomechanical performances of parallel plate fixation and vertical plate fixation for better clinical treatment of humeral intercondylar comminuted fractures (HICF).Methods Models of T-shaped fracture were created using an osteotome at the distal end of humerus in 6 specimens of upper limb in 3 human adult cadavers.The 2 fracture models of left and right humeri in the same cadaver were respectively fixated with parallel plating and vertical plating.On a biomaterial-testing machine,a vertical load was applied onto the fixated distal humerus at a speed of 5 N/s till it reached 2000 N.The loading was repeated 3 times.Vertical compression displacement,intercondylar separating displacement,deformation of medial and lateral condyles and vertical compression stiffness were documented for statistic analyses. Results Under the same load,parallel plating led to significantly less compression displacement,separating displacement and deformation of condyles( P ＜ 0.05) but significantly greater axial compression stiffness( P ＜ 0.05) than vertical plating. Conclusion In biomechanics,parallel plate fixation has better performance than vertical plate fixation for HICF.

Objective To investigate the relationship between the expressions of TMPRSS4 and clinical pathologi-cal parameters in gastric carcinoma. To explore its significance in judging the prognosis of patients. To analyze the expression of TMPRSS4 in the epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Methods The expressions of TMPRSS4, E-cad-herin and Vimentin were detected by immunohistochemistry ( SABC) in 100 cases of gastric carcinoma specimens and corresponding adjacent normal tissue. Results In gastric carcinoma, TMPRSS4, E-cadherin and Vimentin positive rate was 47%,45%,37%. In adjacent tissues,their positive rate was 9%,30%,4%. The differences be-tween tumor tissues and adjacent tissues had statistical significance ( P<0.05 ) . High expression of TMPRSS4 cor-related significantly with lymph node metastases and TNM stage (P<0.05), but not with gender, age, size, tumor histological type,depth of invasion (P>0.05). The 5-year survival rate of patients with high TMPRSS4 expression was significantly lower than that in patients with low expression. The high TMPRSS4 expression was significantly correlated in gastric carcinoma accompanied by low expression of E-cadherin (rs = -0.207,P=0.038) and high Vimentin expression (rs=0.233,P=0.020). Conclusion The expression of TMPRSS4 is closely related to the biological characteristics in gastric carcinoma,detection the expression of TMPRSS4 is valuable in predicting tumor prognosis,invasion and metastasis. TMPRSS4 may promote invasion, metastasis of human gastric carcinoma through epithelial-mesenchymal transition by reduce the expession of E-cadherin.

Objective To investigate the changes and clinical significance of the platelet parameters in tumor patients before or after radiochemotherapy.Methods The platelet parameters(PLT,PCT,MPV,PDW)were detected in 65 cases of tumor patients before and after radiochemotherapy by the Sysmex XN-1000 automatic hemacytology analyzer.Then the detection results were com-pared with those in the control group.Results Compared with the control group,PLT and MPV before therapy in the tumor pa-tients were significantly increased(P <0.01),but PCT and PDW had no statistical differences between the two goups(P >0.05). PLT,PCT and MPV after radiochemotherapy in the tumor patients were significantly lower than those before treated(P <0.01 ), but no statistically significant difference in PDW was found(P >0.05).Conclusion The measuration of platelet parameters in the tumor patients with radiochemotherapy has certain clinical significance to observe the status of the bone marrow suppression and es-timate the state of illness.

It was argued whether bisphenol A(BPA) can induce reproductive toxicity to male,so in the present paper the recently published articles on the reproductive toxicity induced by BPA to male were reviewed.It was indicated that BPA has no obvious embryotoxicity,but BPA can directly induce the reproductive toxicity to male reproductive system,and the testis and prostate were the main target organs of BPA.Even low level BPA exposure could produce toxic effects.

Objective To observe the clinical curative effect of baijiang enema liquid combined with special - ray therapeutic apparatus on chronic pelvic infection. Methods 120 cases with chronic pelvic infection were randomly divided into 60 cases in treatment group and 60 in control group. Cases in the treatment group were treated by enema of Baijiang enema liquid combined with special - ray therapeutic apparatus, and cases in the control group were treated by rectal administration of Kangfu Anti - inflammatory Suppository combined with special -ray therapeutic apparatus,with 15 days for a treatment course and 2 courses for treatment. Results The comprehensive effect, TCM syndrome effect and signs effect in treatment group were better than those in control group (P

Objective:To determine whether alpha-fetoprotein(AFP) messenger RNA(mRNA),a specifically hepatocyte-expressed gene,could be a marker of metastasis in hepatocellular carcinoma. Methods:Peripheral blood samples were obtained from 30 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).A sensitive reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction( RT-PCR) technique was used to detect the human AFP mRNA in the blood.Results:Of the 30 HCC patients,14(46.7%) patients had positive AFP mRNA.The presence of AFP mRNA correlated with the TNM clinical stages,the size of tumor,extrahepatic metastasis or with portal vein carcinothrombosis(P0.05).Conclusion:The positive of AFP mRNA in the peripheral blood can indicate the presence of hematogenous metastasis in patients with HCC.

OBJECTIVE:To observe the therapeutic effect of IF ?-2b plus compound glycyrrhizin on chronic hepatitis C. METHODS:56cases of chronic hepatitis C were divided into trial group(30cases)and control group(26cases).Trial group received IF ?-2b +compound glycyrrhizin and control group received IF ?-2b alone.The therapeutic course was24weeks in both groups.RESULTS:There was significant difference in recoversion rate of ALT between two groups either at the end of ther?apeutic course or24weeks after treatment(P

OBJECTIVE:To optimize the forming technology of Tongtong granules.METHODS:The category and ratio of the adjuvants were optimized taking moisture absorption percentage as index;the forming technology of Tongtong granules was optimized by orthogonal experiment with forming rate and moisture absorption percentage as indexes and with the ratio of extract to adjuvant,the concentration and amount of ethanol as factors.RESULTS:The optimal ratio of lactose to dextrin was 3:2.The optimal forming technology was as follows:the ratio of extract to adjuvant was 1:2;70%alcohol was used as the wetting agent with its amount at 12%(mL?g~(-1)).The Tongtong granules mobility enjoyed good flowability with a critical relative humidity of about 70%.CONCLUTION:The forming technology is feasible,stable,reasonable and reproducible and it serves as theoretic basis for industrial production.