Objective To evaluate the role of autologous septal cartilage in the rhinoplasty of the wide and bulbous nasal tip. Methods A big piece of autologous nasal septal cartilage was removed and transplanted to the front of nasal septum, acting as a septal extender to fix the nasal alar cartilage,and then the shape of nasal tip was reconstructed by middle crus suture technique, excessive soft tissue under skin of tip and a part of lateral crura cartilage were removed to stand out the shape of the nasal tip. Results After one year follow-up, 118 of 126 cases achieved satisfied effects, but 8 cases dissatisfied because of their undue thick skin. Conclusions This method is reliable in the correction of the wide and bulbous nasal tip.

Objective To investigate the clinical effects of transpedicular graft of biological artificial material (BAM) -induced artificial bone and posterior pedicle screw fixation in the treatment of osteoporotic thoracolumbar fractures.Methods A total of 72 patients with osteoporotic thoracolumbar fractures treated by transpedicular reduction by leverage,BMA-induced artificial bone grafting and posterior pedicle screw fixation from 2005 to 2010 were reviewed and followed up.The frontal and lateral X-ray radiograph of the spine was performed before and after operation and during the follow-up.The anterior and posterior height of the injured vertebrae,thoracolumbar kyphotic angle ( Cobb' s angle),ratio of anterior to posterior vertebral height were determined.Also,the America Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) scale was used to evaluate the neurological recovery and the visual analog scale (VAS) was applied to assess the back and waist pain.Results All patients were followed up for a mean period of 18.3 months,ranging from 12 to 28 months.Meanwhile,all the patients obtained bone union,with no rejection of artificial bone graft,breakage or loosening of screws,or obvious loss of both vertebrae height and deformity correction angle.Notable improvement of neurological function was achieved in all patients except for two patients with Frankel A nerve injury.The VAS score descended from pre-operative ( 8.4 ± 2.5 ) points to (2.2 ± 1.6 ) points at latest follow-up,which showed obvious alleviation of back and waist pain.Conclusions Transpedicular bone graft plus internal fixation is an effective,reasonable and easy method for managing osteoporotic thoracolumbar fractures.In addition,the implanted BAM-induced artificial bone is of good biological and mechanical properties.

ObjectiveTo observe the clinical effects of biological artificial material (BAM)induced artificial bone in the repair of lower extremity bone defects. MethodsThe study involved 32 patients with lower extremity bone defects treated by BAM artificial bone grafting from January 2008 to December 2010.Their age was at a range of 21-77 years (mean,32.5 years).The volume of bone defects was 1.0 cm × 2.0 cm × 2.5 cm-3.0 cm × 3.5 cm × 5.0 cm ( mean,15.4 cm3 ).The main causes of bone defects were comminuted fracture,bone cyst,fibrous dysplasia,and chronic osteomyelitis.A followup was performed immediately after the surgery and at 1,2,3,5,7,9,12,18 months after surgery to observe the systemic and local reactions,changes of blood calcium/phosphorus,repair of bone defect and restoration of function of the affected extremity.ResultsAll patients were followed up for 9-18 months (mean,10.5 months).There were no local or systemic grafts rejection from the postoperative period to the last follow-up.Follow-up X-ray films showed fuzzy boundary of BAM artificial bone implantation area and bone tissues around bone defects three months postoperatively and new bone formation. Apparent bone ingrowth into the BAM artificial bone implantation area,integrated artificial bone materials and bone tissues,and basically repaired bone defects were founded six months postoperaively.The time for full weight-bearing of the affected extremity was on postoperative 2.5-4 months ( mean,3.2 months).ConclusionBAM artificial bone is characterized by good biocompatibility,osteogenesis effect and a certain stiffness and strength of inner structure and can he used to repair the lower extremity bone defects.

To develop a safe and broad-spectrum effective hepatitis C virus (HCV) T cell vaccine,we constructed the recombinant adenovirus-based vaccine that carried the hepatitis C virus truncated NS3 and core fusion proteins. The expression of the fusion antigen was confirmed by in vitro immunofluorescence and western blotting assays. Our results indicated that this vaccine not only stimulated antigen-specific antibody responses,but also activated strong NS3-specific T cell immune responses. NS3-specific IFN-γ+ and TNF-α+ CD4+ T cell subsets were also detected by a intracellular cytokine secretion assay. In a surrogate challenge assay based on a recombinant heterologous HCV (JFH1,2a) vaccinia virus,the recombinant adenovirus-based vaccine was capable of eliciting effective levels of cross-protection. These findings have im- portant implications for the study of HCV immune protection and the future development of a novel vaccine.
Adenoviridae ; genetics ; metabolism ; Animals ; CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes ; immunology ; Cross Protection ; Female ; Genetic Vectors ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Hepacivirus ; genetics ; immunology ; Hepatitis C ; immunology ; prevention & control ; virology ; Humans ; Interferon-gamma ; immunology ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Recombinant Proteins ; administration & dosage ; genetics ; immunology ; Viral Core Proteins ; administration & dosage ; genetics ; immunology ; Viral Hepatitis Vaccines ; administration & dosage ; genetics ; immunology ; Viral Nonstructural Proteins ; administration & dosage ; genetics ; immunology

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) was identified as a novel human coronavirus and posed great threat to public health world wide,which calls for the development of effective and safe vaccine urgently. In the study, peptide epitopes tagrgeting spike antigen were predicted based on bioinformatics methods. Nine polypeptides with high scores were synthesized and linked to keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH). Female BALB/C mice were immunized with individual polypeptide-KLH, and the total IgG was detected by ELISA as well as the cellular mediated immunity (CMI) was analyzed using ELIs-pot assay. The results showed that an individual peptide of YVDVGPDSVKSACIEVDIQQTFFDKTWPRPIDVSKADGI could induce the highest level of total IgG as well as CMI (high frequency of IFN-γ secretion) against MERS-CoV antigen in mice. Our study identified a promising peptide vaccine candidate against MERS-CoV and provided an experimental support for bioinformatics-based design of peptide vaccine.
Animals ; Antibodies, Viral ; immunology ; Computational Biology ; Coronavirus Infections ; immunology ; prevention & control ; virology ; Female ; Humans ; Immunization ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus ; genetics ; immunology ; Peptides ; administration & dosage ; genetics ; immunology ; Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus ; administration & dosage ; genetics ; immunology ; Viral Vaccines ; administration & dosage ; genetics ; immunology

Objective To investigate the development strategy of novel T cell based vaccine against HCV infection.Methods BALB/c mice were primed with pSCK-based DNA vaccine and boosted with type 5 adenoviral vector-based vaccine, which expressed the structural proteins ( Core, E1 and E2) de-rived from a Chinese HCV patient (genotype 1b, Hebei strain).Enzyme linked immunospot assay (ELIS-POT) and intracellular cytokine staining ( ICS) were used to analyze the elicited antigen-specific immune re-sponses and the efficacy of cross-protection.Results Immunization of mice with the prime-boost vaccination strategy elicited stronger T cell immune responses against multiple HCV antigens than using the DNA vac-cines alone, especially the IFN-γ-secreting T cell responses against E1 protein as indicated by ELISPOT as-say.ICS data indicated that the prime-boost regimen elicited more TNF-α-producing CD4+and IFN-γ-produ-cing CD8+T cells against E1 protein and high levels of IFN-γ-producing CD4+and CD8+T cells against E2 protein in comparison with immunization with DNA vaccines.Moreover, the prime-boost vaccination was ca-pable of eliciting effective cross-protection in a surrogate challenge model based on a recombinant heterolo-gous HCV (JFH1, 2a) vaccinia virus.Conclusion The prime-boost vaccination using DNA and rAd5-based vaccine expressing HCV structural antigens induced significant cellular immune response and cross-protection in mice, suggesting the possibility of using it as a promising T cell based vaccine against HCV in-fection.

Objective To develop an effective and broad immune protective vaccination strategy by using DNA and recombinant vaccinia-based H5N1 vaccines.Methods BALB/c mice were immunized with various prime-boost regimens by using different DNA ( pIRES-based or pVRC-based) and recombinant vaccinia (Tiantan strain, rTTV)-based H5N1 vaccines expressing multivalent antigens (HA, NA, M1 and M2).The differences of immunity induced by two DNA vaccines were compared between intradermal electro -poration (IDE) and intramuscular electroporation (IME) deliveries.Immune responses were analyzed by hemagglutination inhibition( HAI) assay, neuraminidase ( NA)-specific antibody measured by ELISA , mi-croneutralization assay and IFN-γELISPOT assay .Results High levels of humoral immunity and T cell re -sponses were induced in mice primed with DNA-based vaccine than those primed with rTTVb-ased vaccine . DNA priming by IDE resulted in higher levels of neutralizing antibody in mice than those by IME delivery . Higher levels of HAI and anti-NA antibodies as well as NA-specific T cell responses were induced by pVRC-based DNA prime than those by pIRES-based DNA prime .HA-specific T cell responses were also enhanced in mice primed with pVRC-based DNA than those primed with pIRES-based DNA by IME .Conclusion The prime-boost strategies by using DNA-based vaccine in combination with rTTV-based H5N1 vaccine could induce humoral and T cell responses in mice against multi-antigens .Immunities induced by vaccines in com-bination might be modulated by various prime regimes .The study provided references for the further develop-ment of novel H5N1 vaccine and the optimization of immunization programs of combined multi-antigen vac-cine candidates .

Objective To investigate the immunogenicity and cross protective effects of two novel HCV DNA vaccines in a mice model.Methods Two self-replicating alphavirus vector-based HCV DNA vaccines, pSCK CE1E2Y and pSCK H155, were constructed based on the genes encoding the structural pro-teins (Core, E1 and E2) and structural and NS3 fusion proteins (Core, E1 , E2 and NS3) of a HCV strain isolated from a Chinese patient (genotype 1b, Hebei strain), respectively.Western blot analysis was per-formed to detect the expression of fusion antigens.The BALB/c mice were intradermally immunized with the recombinant DNA vaccines by using electroporation.The immune responses induced in mice and the cross protective effects of the recombinant DNA vaccines were evaluated.Results The DNA vaccines effectively expressed the target antigens in vitro.The antigen-specific antibody responses and specific T cell immune re-sponses were induced in mice by the immunization of replicative DNA vaccines.However, no effective cross protection was provided by either of the DNA vaccines in the surrogate challenge model based on a recombi-nant heterologous HCV (JFH1, 2a) vaccinia virus strain.Conclusion Although no effective cross protec-tion was observed, both of the two replicative DNA vaccines could induce strong humoral and cellular im-mune responses against multi-target antigens of HCV strains.This study has paved the way for further inves-tigation on the development of novel HCV vaccines.

Objective: To develop a health management system for outpatient follow-up of kidney transplant patients. Methods: Access 2010 database sotfware was used to establish the health management system for kidney transplantation patients in Windows XP operating system. Database management and post-operation follow-up of the kidney transplantation patients were realized through 6 function modules including data input, data query, data printing, questionnaire survey, data export, and follow-up management. Results: The system worked stably and reliably, and the data input was easy and fast. The query, the counting and printing were convenient. Conclusion: Health management system for patients after kidney transplantation not only reduces the work pressure of the follow-up staff, but also improves the effciency of outpatient follow-up.

Objective To explore the dynamic changes of soluble interleukin-2 receptor(SIL-2R) and tumor necrosis factor ?(TNF-?) levels in pediatric malignant solid tumors clinical value.Methods The levels of SIL-2R and tumor necrosis factor ?(TNF-?) were measured by ELISA in 15 cases with pediatric malignant solid tumors before and after chemotherapy.Results Before chemotherapy the levels of SIL-2R and TNF-? of every group patients were significantly higher those that of normal control group (P