Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of acupuncture in treating male idiopathic oligoasthenozoospermia. Method A hundred patients with oligoasthenozoospermia were recruited and randomized into a treatment group and a control group, 50 cases in each group. The treatment group was intervened by acupuncture, while the control group was by placebo acupuncture at non-meridian points. The clinical efficacies and changes of the relevant parameters of sperms after treatment were observed. Result The clinical efficacy of the treatment group was significantly better than that of the control group (P<0.05); in the treatment group, the relevant parameters of sperms were significantly improved after intervention (P<0.05); after intervention, the changes of the parameters in the control group were statistically insignificant (P>0.05); after intervention, the improvements of the relevant parameters of sperms in the treatment group were more significant than that in the control group (P<0.05). Conclusion Acupuncture can effectively improve the sperm density, sperm motility, and sperm viability, and enhance the recovery rate in treating infertility, and it’s easy-to-operate, without significant adverse reactions, safe, and reliable.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the diagnostic value of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) level in patients with sepsis of blood-stasis syndrome. METHODS: The prospective method of clinical diagnostic test and evaluation principles of diagnostic test were applied. One hundred and seventy-four patients with sepsis were divided into two groups: blood-stasis syndrome group and non blood-stasis syndrome group. The levels of serum BNP in two groups were detected. RESULTS: The level of BNP in sepsis patients was related to blood-stasis syndrome (P<0.01). BNP cut-off level was 150 ng/L, sensitivity was 85.3%, specificity was 81%, the maximum value of Youden index was 0.663, and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) value was (0.886+/-0.025). CONCLUSION: BNP can be used as an objective index of blood-stasis syndrome diagnosis for sepsis, and BNP with boundary value of 150 ng/L is an optimal biological index.

Objective: To investigate the expression of mage-a mRNA in lung cancer tissues of mice induced by coal tar pitch(CTP) fume and to discuss the above model for lung cancer immunotherapy with mage-a. Methods: Tumor tissue samples of lung cancer and paired non-tumor tissues were obtained from 8 lung cancer mice. Total RNA was extracted and cDNA was synthesized. Nested polymerase chain reaction amplification using mage-a specific primer was performed to detect the expression of mage-a. The 2 clones of mage-a mRNA positive PCR products were sequenced by DNAs sequencer (PE-377). Results: Of 29 mice in the experimental group, 8 were induced to lung cancer.Among which 5 (5/8) expressed mage-a mRNA. The expression of mage-a gene was not found in adjacent lung tissues. The DNA sequencing confirmed that the target gene fragments in 2 samples of PCR products were mage-a cDNA. Conclusion: The mage-a gene is highly expressed in lung cancer in mice induced by CTP fume, suggesting that CTP-induced lung cancer in mice may be an ideal animal model for lung cancer therapeutic experiment with MAGE-A.

Objective To investigate the peripheral blood cytopenias in patients with portal hypertension complicated with splenomegaly. Methods The clinical data of 309 patients with portal hypertension who had been admitted to our department from January 1991 to December 2006 were retrospeetively analyzed. Results Of all patients, 278 showed peripheral blood cytopenia, ineluding 71 with paneytopenia, 48 with leukocyte and platelet decrease, 25 with erythroeyte and platelet decrease, 33 with leukocyte and erythroeyte decrease, 28 with platelet decrease, 26 with leukocyte decrease, and 47 with erythrocyte deerease. The number of blood cells increased significantly after splenectomy ( t=6.53, P<0.01). The whole blood cells of the remaining 31 patients without hematocytopenia were normal. Conclusions Patients with portal hypertension eomplieated with splenomegaly do not always accompany peripheral blood eytopenia. Peripheral blood cytopenia is one of the complications of splenomegaly, hut it dose not always appear. Splenectomy is effective in the treatment of hematocytopenia. The reason for some patients do not have peripheral blood cytopenia may be related to the slight pathological changes of spleen and severe hyperplasia of bone marrow.

Objective To explore a safe and effective posterior surgical operation for correction of the horacolumbar kyphotic deformity. Methods The study involved 16 patients with thoracolumbar kyphotic deformity treated with the modified posterior transpedicular-intervertebral disc wedge resection osteotomy and screws-rods internal fixation apparatus.There were 11 males and 5 females at an average age of 26.5 years(13-53 years).The kyphosis deformity was caused by ankylosing spondylit in four patients,old lumbothoracic fracture in nine,vertebral dysplasia in two and vertebral body in one.The preoperative kyphosis Cobb angle was 58.1(45°-85°),with the kyphosis deformity at T10 in two patients,at Thin two,at T12in six,at L1 in three and at L2 in three.The main clinical manifestations were different degrees of lower back pain and progressive aggravation of the deformity,influencing the work and living.The course of disease was 8.5 years(4-17 years).All patients underwent pesteriortotal vertebral osteotomy on the apex vertebra,trails-pedicular fixation combined with correction and fusion,after which the patients stayed in bed for four weeks and received orthosis fixation for three months after operation. Resuits The operation lasted for average 190 minutes(125-240 minutes),with average blood loss of 750 ml(450-1 900 m1).All patients were with single segment cut bone,with no spinal cord injury,neurological injury or hardware failure.The post-operative vertical plane facial deformity was corrected for average 55(44°-76°),wit average correction rate of 83%.The follow-up for 10-24 months showed firm internal fixation on the X-ray film and good fusion ofthe vertebral column,with no pseudoarticulation formation,loosening internal fixation or loss of correction.All the patients obtained obvious improvement in appearance of the deformity,with disappearance of the lower back pain and improvement of the quality of life. Conclusion One stage posterior transpedicular-interverte-bral disc wedge resection osteotomy is all effect and safe surgical technique for correction of horacolumbar kyphotic deformity.

SHIV-CN97001 played an important role in assessing the immune effect and strategy of the AIDS vaccine which included genes of the predominant prevalent HIV-1 strain in China. In this study, SHIV-CN97001 was in vivo passaged serially to construct pathogenic SHIV-CN97001/rhesus macaques model. To identify variation in the gp120 region of SHIV-CN97001 during passage, the fragments of gp120 gene were amplified by RT-PCR from the plasma of SHIV-CN97001 infected animals at the peak viral load time point and the gene distances (divergence, diversity) were calculated using DISTANCE. The analysis revealed that the genetic distances of SHIV-CN97001 in the third passage animals were the highest during in vivo passage. It had a relationship between viral divergence from the founder strain and viral replication ability. The nucleic acid sequence of the V3 region was highly conservative. All of the SHIV-CN97001 strains had V3 loop central motif (GPGQ) and were predicted to be using CCR5 co-receptor on the basis of the critical amino acids within V3 loop. These results show that there was no significant increase in the genetic distance during serial passage, and SHIV-CN97001 gp120 gene evolved toward ancestral states upon transmission to a new host. This could partly explain why there was no pathogenic viral strain obtained during in vivo passage.

Objective To compare the infectivity between laboratory adapted human inununodefi- ciency virus(HIV-1) and primary HIV-1 isolates for different mucosal epithelial cell lines. Methods Mu-cosal epithelial cells Caco-2, T-84, HeLa and lymphocyte MT-4 were infected with laboratory adapted HIV-1 SF33 and 2 primary HIV-1 isolates (02010561, 02010141). Culture supernatant and cells were collected respectively on 3-4 days interval after virus inoculation. The former was tested for HIV-1 antigen P24 level and viral load, and the latter was tested for total viral DNA and integrated viral DNA. Results All 3 virus strains could infect MT-4 cells and integrate into their genome. Only HIV-1 SF33 could infect Caco-2 cells but could not integrate into their genomic DNA. Both HIV-1 SF33 and 02010561 infected HeLa cells but only integration of HIV-1 SF33 was detected. All the 3 HIV-1 strains infected T-84 cells but only the integra-tion of HIV-1 SF33 and 02010141 was observed. Conclusion Although laboratory adapted and primary HIV-1 strains are able to infect human mucosal epithelial cell lines, transient or productive infection estab-lished in different mucosal epithelial cells is dependent on the character of cells and virus strains.

AIDS caused by HIV-1, is a major threat to human being. An anti-HIV formulation from Chinese herbs, so called "Qu Du Zeng Ning", have been recently developed. In this work, the pharmacodynamics of the formulation in vitro was studied. The results showed that Qu Du Zeng Ning inhibit the replication of HIV-1 efficiently in all cell-based assay, with IC50 at 105.2, 70.7, 77.4 microg mL(-1), separately. A significant synergy between the formulation and zidovudine (AZT) was observed, and it also showed a potent activity against HIV-1 drug-resistant mutant.

Objective To analyze the virologic and immunologic properties during SHIV-XJ02170passage in vivo and construct the clade C SHIV/Chinese origin Rhesus macaques AIDS model . Methods SHIV-XJ02170 cell-free virus tranfected in 293T was adapted by serial passage in nine Chinese-origin Rhesus macaques. CD4/CD8 ratio was detected by flow cytometry to analyze the changes in viral pathogenicity. Real-time RT-PCR and IFN-γsecreting ELISPOT methods were used to analyze changes in characteristics of virology and immunology. Results During in vivo passage, CD4/CD8 ratio did not deeply decline. However,the peak and setpoint viral load in the line 3 show a continuous upward trend. The strong humoral and cellular immune responses were induced after SHIV-XJ02170 infection. Meanwhile, there was significant positive correlation between the viral load and binding antibody titer. Conclusion There were no pathogenic viral strains, and upward trend in virulence of SHIV-XJ02170 was found during in vivo passaging. SHIVXJ02170/Chinese origin Rhesus macaques model will play an important role in effect evaluation of candidate AIDS vaccines in China.

Objective To identify the variation in the Env region of SHIV-XJ02170 during passaging in Chinese origin Rhesus Macaques.Methods Fragments of the SHIV-XJ02170 gp160 and gp120 gene were amplified by PCR and RT-PCR separately from the blood samples of SHIV-XJ02170 infected animals at the peak viral load time point.Purified RT-PCR product was ligated into T easy vector and transformed into JM109 competent cells,18 clones were selected by PCR method and sequenced by ABI 3730DNA sequencers.The gene distances(divergence,diversity)were calculated using DISTANCE.Results In all,the SHTV-XJ02170 gp120 gene evolved forward along the virus passaging.It could be found that viral divergence from the founder strain serially enhanced during in vivo passaging,but in the early phase of each passage,SHIV-XJ02170 gp120 gene evolved toward ancestral state upon transmission to a new host.All of the SHIV-XJ02170 strains had V3 loop central motif(GPGQ)and were predicted to be using CCR5 on the basis of the critical amino acids within V3 loop.Conclusion There was significant increase in the genetic distance during serial passaging,and SHIV-XJ02170 gp120 gene evolved forward along passaging.This could partly explain why the virus infectivity was enhanced during in vivo passaging.