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 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 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

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.

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.

Objective To study the relationship between the development of auditory and speech in children with hearing loss after hearing aid fitting and discuss the development of speech with the ability of auditory in children at different stages of evaluation, with different degrees of hearing loss and different ages respectively.Methods A total of 19 children (14 boys and 5 girls) with hearing loss participated in this study.The age at hearing aid fitting ranged from 3 to 8 years old with a mean of 5.42±1.86 years old.According to their hearing levels, the children in this study were divided into two groups: the moderate hearing loss group (n=10) and the severe group (n=9).According to their ages at hearing aid fitting, all children in this study were divided into two groups: the less than or equal to six years old (n=11) and greater than six years old (n=8).MAIS and MUSS were used to evaluate their abilities of auditory and speech at pre-fitting, 1, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months after hearing aids were worn respectively.A linear and regression analysis was done in the statistic procedure.Results There was a significant correlation between the scores of MAIS and MUSS (R=0.774,P<0.05).There was also a significant correlation between the scores of MAIS and MUSS for the different evaluating stages respectively.The correlations were pre-fitting (R=0.710,P<0.05), 1 month after hearing aid fitting (R=0.774,P<0.05), 3 months after hearing aid fitting (R=0.814,P<0.05), 6 months after hearing aid fitting (R=0.819,P<0.05), 9 months after hearing aid fitting (R=0.707,P<0.05), 12 months after hearing aid fitting (R=0.649,P<0.05).There was also a significant correlation between the scores of MAIS and MUSS for MAIS (items 3~6) (Sound awareness) and MAIS (items 7~10) (Sound understanding).The correlations for MAIS (items 3~6) were (R=0.768,P<0.05), and for MAIS (items 7~10) (Sound understanding) (R=0.794,P<0.05).There was also a significant correlation between the scores of MAIS and MUSS for different group of ages.The correlations for the group of <6years old were (R=0.808,P<0.05), and for the group of the ≥6 years old (R=0.775,P<0.05).There was also a significant correlation between the scores of MAIS and MUSS for different groups of hearing loss levels.The correlation for the group of moderate hearing loss was (R=0.771,P<0.05), and the group of severe hearing loss (R=0.787,P<0.05).Conclusion The development of auditory ability is closely related to the speech ability.The speech abilities increase with the improvement of auditory abilities.The less severe the hearing loss is, the longer the use of hearing aids, the younger the children are, the better the speech ability improved with auditory ability development after hearing aid fitting.

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.

AIM: To investigate expression and function of CD40 ligand by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). METHODS: Expression of CD40 ligand by PBMCs in patients with SLE and control were examined by flow cytometric analysis before and after stimulated by phytohemagglutinin(PHA)and depressed by Dexamethasone(Dex). The correlation between expression of CD40 ligand and SLE activity index(SLEDAI) was analysed in patients with SLE. RESULTS: The expression of CD40 ligand by PBMCs in patients with active SLE was higher than that in patients with inactive SLE and control. Though the expression of CD40 ligang by PBMCs could be stimulated by PHA in three groups, it was the highest in patients with active SLE. Dex depressed the expression of CD40 ligand by PBMCs significantly in patients with SLE , but not in control. There was high positive correlation between expression of CD40 ligand and SLEDAI in patients with active and inactive SLE. CONCLUSION: Increased expression of CD40L by PBMCs in patients with SLE may play an important role in pathogenesis of SLE.

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.