Toll-like receptors are an important pattern recognition receptors that recognize specific components of microbes and certain host molecules.Through initiated cell signaling pathway,they can induce immunocyte.Their activation triggers the innate immune response,and is crucial to the successful induction of Th1/Th2-phenotyped adaptive immunity.This review will give a brief overview of our current knowledge of TLRs as key components in immune responses and their regulation in respiratory tract diseases such as asthma.

Objective To study the efficiency of large dose intravenous immunoglobulin(IVIG) in decreasing incidence of asthma following bronchiolitis.Methods One hundred and sixty-eight children with bronchiolitis were chosen to use different treatment plans,81 children receiving large dose of IVIG[ 0.4 g/(kg?d)] daily,on the basis of routine treatment for 5 days,while other 87 children were reserved as control group receiving routine treatment only,which were followed up 5 to 10 years.Results After following up 5 to 10 years,only 17 cases in 81 patients with bronchiolitis receiving large dose IVIG developed into asthma.However,46 cases in control group developed into asthma.The incidence of asthma was 20.99% and(52.87%) in two groups,respectively,showing significant(differe-)nce between them(P

Objective To observe the incidence of bronchial asthma thereafter by 3 to 10 years′ follow-up of 280 children with bronchio-litis and analyze the correlation factors affecting the development of asthma.Methods Two hundred and eighty children with bronchitis were chosen and treated from Jan.1995 to Dec.2002,220 males,and 60 females.The review research and clinical revisits were carried out to investigate and analyze the subjects in terms of whether receiving large dose of intravenous injection immunoglobulin(IVIG) treatment or not,whether getting vaccinated with bacille calmette guerin(BCG)as planed or not,whether having asthma family history and the allergic physique or not,the way of feeding,and so on.Results The rate of asthma was 29.29%(82/280),and the incidence of asthma was significantly lower in children with administering the large dose of IVIG,vaccinating BCG vaccine as planed,having no allergic physique,having no asthma family history or breast feeding than those without administering the large dose of IVIG,vaccinating BCG vaccine as planed,brest feeding,with allergic physique,asthma family history(Pa

Objective To investigate the relationship between flow-mediated dilatation of the brachial artery(FMD) and cardiovascular risk factors as well as target organ damage in elder patients with isolated systolic hypertension(ISH).Methods Ninety patients with ISH were divided into two groups: ISH group(n=51) and ISH with hyperlipidemia group(n=39).Color Doppler ultrasound for FMD was performed on all the patients,and carotid artery ultrasound and cardiac ultrasound were also conducted. Results Patiens with hyperlipidemia had lower FMD than those of ISH group(P=0.021).It was revealed by univariate analysis that FMD was negatively related to systolic blood pressure,carotid intima-media thickness and total cholesterol(P

Objective Use McGurk effect paradigm materials to explore the role of lip-Reading for hearing-impaired children in phonetic identification.Methods Thirty-six severe prelingually hearing-impaired children and thirty-six normal healthy children(binaural PTA≤20 dB HL)were recruited in the study.The test material was composed of audio and video,including/ba/,/da/,/bi/,/di/,/bu/,/du/six stimulation sounds which were video recorded as pronounced.Under 3 different conditions,the two groups were evaluated for the accuracy of audi-tory responses.Results The accuracy of auditory responses of hearing-impaired children group was 0.71 ±0.19, 0.96±0.07,0.11 ±0.16 for auditory-only mode,audio -visual consistent mode and audio -visual inconsistent mode,respectively,0.93±0.10,0.96±0.11,0.54±0.23 for normal hearing children in auditory-only mode,audi-o-visual consistent mode and audio-visual inconsistent mode,respectively.Conclusion The Audio-visual con-sistent mode is the best one and the lip-reading can help hearing-impaired children in phonetic identification.

Objective Receptor was screened to find out the interaction between outer membrane protein 25 of Brucella(OMP25) and Brucella infected macrophages.Methods Recombinant OMP25 protein was expressed and purified.The 7 peptide was screened out with OMP25 protein by phage display technology.OMP25-7 peptide interactions were further confirmed by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) after candidate peptides were predicted with bioinformatics software.Four potential 7 peptides were synthetized.Their functions were estimated after Brucella abortus 2308 infected murine macrophages RAW264.7.Results Forty-two cyclic 7 peptides were screened out based on purified OMP25 by the M13 Phage Library Kit.Four peptides,named as ST-7,MT-7,TF-7 and SN-7,were confirmed with ELISA.Colony forming unit(CFU) result demonstrated ST-7,MT-7,TF-7 and SN-7 showed some function for inhibition of intracellular parasite.ST-7 inhibition ratio was 14.4％-51.8％ for Brucella abortus 2308; MT-7 inhibition ratio was 49.6％-69.5％ for Brucella abortus 2308; TF-7 inhibition ratio was 43.2％-74.4％ for Brucella abortus 2308; SN-7 inhibition ratio was 57.5％-82.2％ for 2308.ELISA result showed,that compared to control group,tumor necrosis factor α(TNF-α)increased no statistical significance in each time point of ST-7,MT-7 experiment groups (all P ＞ 0.05).There was no statistical significance in 8 h ago of TF-7,SN-7 experiment groups (all P ＞ 0.05),but there was statistical significance in 12,24 h (all P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions We have obtained four effective OMP25 receptors through phage display technology; TF-7 and SN-7 have inhibited Brucella abortus 2308 invasion and intracellular survival in murine macrophage cells,while ST-7 and MT-7 have only prevented the invasion against Brucella abortus 2308.

Streptococcus pneumoniae is one of the most common cause of invasive disease,such as bacteremia,meningitis,and empyema,et al.But there has significant difference on the incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease among different regions and differernt groups of people.In addition the severity and mortality of invasive pneumococcal disease are closely related to the changes of serotypes,virulence of streptococcus pneumoniae and also the human immune response.The pneumococcal vaccination is an important measure to prevent streptococcus pneumoniae infection,providing good protection to vaccinees and createing herd immunity effect.This article briefly describes the pathogenesis,risk factors and preventive strategies of invasive pneumococcal disease.

Background There still is no a uniform diagnostic criteria for increasing population of dry eye.Studies showed that high tear osmotic pressure is one of causes of a variety of ocular surface discomfort,and the change of tear osmolality has been included in the definition of dry eye syndrome by Dry Eye World Study Group (DEWS) in 2007.It is very clinically significant to study the relationship of tear osmolality with dry eye.Objective This clinical trial was to study the correlation between tear osmolarity and dry eye severity based on Preferred Practice Pattern(PPP)of DEWS.Methods A descriptive study was performed.Fifty-four eyes of 54 patients with dry eye disease were asked to complete an evaluation of dry eye signs and symptoms questionnaire based on PPP.The ocular anterior segment was examined under the slit lamp biomicroscope.Cornealfluorescein staining,tear-film breakup time (BUT),Schirmer test Ⅰ (S Ⅰ t)without anesthesia were performed,and tear sample was collected for tear imageology and tear osmolarity admeasurement.The correlation between dry eye score with tear osmolarity was evaluated using Pearson linear correlation analysis.Written informed consent as obtained prior to any relevant medical procedure.Results The ratio of male and female patients was 1: 2 in this study.The negative correlations were found between tear osmolarity with S Ⅰ t or BUT(r =-0.456,-0.699,P＜0.01),and significantly positive correlations were found between tear osmolarity with tear imaging examination,corneal fluorescein staining,conjunctival hyperemia or dry eye symptom score(r=0.545,0.686,0.691,0.803,P＜0.01).Conclusions As a diagnostic method,tear osmolarity can objectively reflects dry eye severity.It can be a biomarker in dry eye severity grade when combined with clinical symptom.

AIM: To study the effect of ?-amyloid protein (?-AP) on the fluidity of mitochondrial membrance in hippocampus of the aging model of rats.METHODS: Based upon the model of aging rats induced by D-galactose (D-gal) and hippocampal microinfusion of ?-AP, the behaviors of rats were observed. Using DPH as fluorescent probe, the viscous cofficient (?) of mitochondrial membrane was determined, and Na +-K +ATPase activity was measured.RESULTS: In the D-gal+?-AP group rats, Na +-K +ATPase activity was lower than D-gal and ?-AP groups ( P

Objective To evaluate the effect and mechanism of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor simvastatin on experimental interstitial fibrosis. Methods Experiments on rat 5/6 nephrectomy chronic renal failure model and primary cultured renal interstitial fibroblast cells were conducted in this study. The cell proliferation, extracellular matrix, c-fos mRNA expression of rat interstitial fibroblasts were measured by MTT assay, immunohistochernitry, semi-quantitative reverse-transcript PCR methods, respectively. Results Serum cholesterol, triglyceride and creatinine of treated group were significantly reduced by simvastatin as compared with controls. No statistical significance in BUN was observed between untreated and simvastatin-treated rats. Histological examination revealed that simvastatin caused a reduction in the glomeruli with sclerosis. Tubulointerstitial injury paralleled the degree of glomerular damage. Simvastatin in a dose-dependent manner inhibited the proliferation of renal intersititial fibroblasts, decreased the secretion of lamimn( LN), and suppressed the expression of c-fos mRNA, as compared with normal controls. No obvious effect on hyaluronic acid( HA) secretion of fibroblasts was found. Conclusions Simvastatin is anti-proliferative in interstitial fibroblasts and decreases the secretion of laminin. This effect is exerted, at least in part, via inhibition of the c-fos and c-jun-dependent mitogenic pathway. Simvastatin may prevent interstitial fibrosis development and attenuate renal damage in uremic rats with hvperlipidemia.