Perinatal transmission of Human immunodeficiency virus(HIV),also called mother-to-child transmission(MTCT),accounts for 90% of infections in infants worldwide and occurs in 30%-45% of children born to untreated HIV-1 infected mothers.Among HIV-1 infected mothers,some viruses are transmitted from mothers to their infants while others are not.The relationship between virologic properties and the pathogenesis caused by HIV-1 remains unclear.Previous studies have demonstrated that one obvious source of selective pressure in the perinatal transmission of HIV-1 is maternal neutralizing antibodies.Recent studies have shown that viruses which are successfully transmitted to the child have growth advantages over those not transmitted,when those two viruses are grown together.Furthermore,the higher fitness is determined by the gp120 protein of the virus envelope.This suggests that the selective transmission of viruses with higher fitness occurred exclusively,regardless of transmission routes.There are many factors contributing to the selective transmission and HIV replicative fitness is an important one that should not be neglected.This review summarizes current knowledge of the role of HIV replicative fitness in HIV MTCT transmission and the determinants of viral fitness upon MTCT.

Objective To investigated the effects of long term use of very low protein diet(VLPD,0 3 g?kg-1?d-1) treatment on patients with chronic renal insufficiency without essential amino acids(EAAs) or related ketoacids supplement.Methods Thirty seven patients with established severe chronic renal failure (CRF)[Scr(588 2?123 5)?mol/L, Ccr(9 77?3 48)ml?min-1?(1 73m2)-1]were divided into 2 groups according to their actual protein intake: 20 patients with protein intake of (0 33?0 04)g?kg-1?d-1 were used as VLPD group, while other 17 CRF patients whose protein intake was 0 6 g?kg-1?d-1 were served as low protein diet group (LPD). Results All patients in VLPD group showed good compliance to this very low protein diet,and no one presented signs of protein malnutrition during the observation. The concentrations of serum albumin and transferrin were maintained in normal ranges during the follow up period despite the transferrin levels in both groups gradually decreased as time went on. The serum concentration of transferrin was higher in VLPD patients than that in LPD patients at the end of study (P

Objective To analyse the mental health of adolescents with cochlear implants and provide the ref‐erence for programming the personalize rehabilitation schedule of audio - speech -psychological .Methods The mental health test(MHT) was used to evaluate the mental health status of 60 adolescent with cochlear implants ,and compared with those of adolescent with normal hearing .Results The incidence of psychological problems was 3 .33% in adolescent with cochlear implants .The hypersusceptilility scores of the group of cochlear implants (5 .63 ± 2 .22) was higher than that of in normal hearing group(4 .05) in ,which was significantly different(P<0 .01) . The body syndrome scores in the cochlear implants group (4 .03 ± 2 .72) was lower than that of in normal hearing group(4 .99) ,which was significantly different(P<0 .01) .The phobic tendency scores in cochlear implants group (1 .95 ± 2 .01)was significantly lower than that of in normal hearing group (3 .06)(P<0 .01) .Conclusion The over‐all mental health of adolescent with cochlear implants is good .Cochlear implants can help them improve hearing and speech function ,and improve quality of life ,but they still need parents ,teachers and the community to pay more at‐tention and care to help them get through adolescence ,and return to mainstream society .

Objective The aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between the development of audito‐ry and speech in infants with hearing loss after hearing aid fitting and discuss the development of speech with the a‐bility of auditory in infants with different degree of hearing loss and different stage of evaluation after hearing aid fit‐ting .Methods A total of 32 infants (17 boys and 15 girls) with prelingual hearing loss participated in this study . The age at hearing aid fitting ranged from 3 to 34 months with a mean of 15 .6 months .According to their hearing level ,all infants in this study were divided into three groups :group of profound hearing loss(16) ,group of severe hearing loss(11) ,group of moderate hearing loss(5) .CAP and SIR were used to evaluate their abilities of auditory and speech at pre -fitting ,1 ,3 ,6 ,9 and 12 months after hearing aid fitting respectively .A linear and regression a‐nalysis was done in the statistic procedure .Results There was a significant correlation between the scores of CAP and SIR for the three groups respectively .The correlation from low to high followed by the group of profound hear‐ing loss (R=0 .656 ,P=0 .000<0 .05) ,group of severe hearing loss (R=0 .758 ,P=0 .000<0 .05) ,group of mod‐erate hearing loss (R=0 .849 ,P=0 .000<0 .05) .There was also a significant correlation between the scores of CAP and SIR for the different evaluating stages respectively .The correlation from low to high followed by pre -fitting (R=0 .559 ,P=0 .000<0 .05) ,1 month after hearing aid fitting (R=0 .575 ,P=0 .000<0 .05) ,3 months after hearing aid fitting (R=0 .726 ,P=0 .000<0 .05) ,6 months after hearing aid fitting (R=0 .823 ,P=0 .000<0 .05) , 9 months after hearing aid fitting (R=0 .838 ,P=0 .000<0 .05) ,12 months after hearing aid fitting (R=0 .855 ,P=0 .000<0 .05) .Conclusion The development of auditory ability is closely related to speech ability which increases with the improvement of auditory ability .The less the infants have the hearing loss and the longer the infants use the hearing aids ,the higher the auditory ability is related to speech ability in infants after hearing aid fitting .

The envelope protein(Env) of lentiviruses such as HIV,SIV,FIV and EIAV is larger than that of other retroviruses.The Chinese EIAV attenuated vaccine is based on Env and has helped to successfully control this virus,demonstrating that envelope is crucial for vaccine.We compared Env variation of the four kinds of lentiviruses.Phylogenetic analysis showed that the evolutionary relationship of Env between HIV and SIV was the closest and they appeared to descend from a common ancestor,and the relationship of HIV and EIAV was the furthest.EIAV had the shortest Env length and the least number of potential N-linked glycosylation sites(PNGS) as well as glycosylation density compared to various immunodeficiency viruses.However,HIV had the longest Env length and the most PNGS.Moreover,the alignment of HIV and SIV showed that PNGS were primarily distributed within extracellular membrane protein gp120 rather than transmembrane gp41.It implies that the size difference among these viruses is associated with a lentivirus specific function and also the diversity of env.There are low levels of modification of glycosylation sites of Env and selection of optimal protective epitopes might be useful for development of an effective vaccine against HIV/AIDS.

AIM:To determine whether human peritoneal mesothelial cells express CD40. METHODS:Human peritoneal mesothelial cells (HPMC) were harvested from spent peritoneal dialysis effluent and maintained under defined in vitro conditions. Expression of CD40, CD40L and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) on HPMC under normal culture or stimulation with interferon-γ (IFN-γ), tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α), interleukin(IL)-1 and LPS were detected by FACS analysis. The relationship between CD40 expression and ICAM-1 expression on HPMC was analyzed.RESULTS:HPMC cultured in vitro expressed CD40 constitutively. The surface expression of CD40 was markedly up-regulated following stimulation with IFN-γ, but not with TNF-α, IL-1 and LPS. CD40L expression on HPMC was not detected. The expression of ICAM-1 on HPMC was significantly increased by stimulation with IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-1, LPS, respectively; the most effective inducer on ICAM-1 expression was IFN-γ. The CD40 expression co-localizes with the expression of ICAM-1 and there was positive correlation between CD40 and ICAM-1 expression on HPMC. CONCLUSION:HPMC functionally expressed CD40.

AIM: To investigate the effect of IL-4, CD40L on RANTES production in murine renal tubular epithelial cells (TEC). METHODS: TEC were obtained from mouse, expression of RANTES and CD40 on TEC were measured. RESULTS: (1) Activation of TEC with IL-4 resulted in significant increase in CD40 expression (P

AIM: To observe the changes of cardiomyocytes after stimulation by TNF-?, IL-1?, LPS.METHODS: Cardiac ventricular myocytes were cultured in vitro. Different doses of TNF-?, IL-1?, LPS were added to stimulate the cardiomyocytes, the hypertrophy of cardiomyocytes 8 h, 24 h, and 48 h after stimulation was determined and the apoptosis were also observed 24 h, 48 h, 72 h after stimulation. RESULTS: Compared to the normal myocytes, the cardiomyocytes were hypertrophied after stimulation by 10 ?g/L, 15 ?g/L of TNF-?, 20 ?g/L, 100 ?g/L of IL-1? and 10 mg/L, 15 mg/L, 20 mg/L of LPS, and the effect was dose-dependent, the strongest effect was showed in 24 h. Moreover, 20 ?g/L of TNF-?, 100 ?g/L of IL-1? and 30 mg/L of LPS caused cardiomyocyte apoptosis, especially in 72h. CONCLUSION: TNF-?, IL-1?, LPS induced the cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and apoptosis, suggesting the inflammation may be the main cause of cardiovascular disease.

AIM: To detect the expression of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), transforming growth factor-?_1 (TGF-?_1) and ?-smooth muscle actin (?-SMA) in rat unilateral ureteral obstructive (UUO) nephropathy animal model, and to observe the kinetic changes at different stages of firosis. METHODS: Male SD rats were subjected to either left ureteral ligation or sham operation, then killed at 3, 7, 14, 21 or 28 days after UUO or sham operation (n=6 at each time point). HE, Masson or PAS staining were applied to the renal tissue sections. The extent of tubulointerstitial injury was determined by Banff classification. RESULTS: The extent of tubulinterstitial fibrosis became serious with the time of obstruction. Tubules were mostly atropic and replaced by proliferative fibrous tissue at day 28. The expression of CTGF and ?-SMA were consistent with the damage of tubulointerstitial. The positive correlation among CTGF or ?-SMA and the tubulointerstitial injury scores were significant. The expression of TGF-?_1 came to peak at day 7 to 14, and gradually decreased at day 21 and 28. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that the expression of CTGF may be upregulated by TGF-? in UUO rats, and CTGF may be involved in tubulointerstitial fibrosis through the development of myofibroblasts.

AIM: To investigate the effect of 4.25%peritoneal dialysis solution (PDS) on CD40 expression in rat peritoneal mesothelial cells so as to reveal the potential mechanisms by which CD40-CD40 ligand (CD40L) interaction may be involved in the inflammation of peritoneal membrane. METHODS: Rat peritoneal mesothelial cells (MC) were harvested from the peritoneal cavity and maintained under defined in vitro conditions. Expression of CD40 on MC under normal culture or stimulation with 4.25%PDS or 4.25%PDS+IFN-? was detected by RT-PCR and FACS analyses. After activation of CD40 on MC with CD40 mAb, the expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) on MC was analyzed by FCAS. RESULTS: MC cultured in vitro expressed CD40 constitutively. 4.25%PDS markedly up-regulated the expression of CD40 mRNA and its protein. The expression of CD40 mRNA and its protein following stimulation with 4.25%PDS+IFN-? was significantly higher than 4.25%PDS alone. The expression of ICAM-1 on MC was significantly increased after activation of CD40 with CD40mAb.CONCLUSIONS: MC functionally express CD40. The up-regulated CD40 expression on MC following stimulation with 4.25%PDS may play an important role in local peritoneal defense mechanisms and may be involved in the chronic inflammatory process of the peritoneum.