Fungus infection of the patients with chronic prostatitis was studied and the applied value of modified Sabourand's liquid medium in fungus culture explored. The causative fungus in expressed prospapic secrepion (EPS) of chronic prostatitis patients were examined by improved Sabouraud's liquid medium and Sabouraud's glucose agar medium. The fungus species were identified. The results showed that in 1138 cases positive for fungus，the specimens of 95 cases (8.35 %) were cultured in the improved Sabouraud's liquid medium and those of 30 cases (2.64 %) in Sabouraud's glucose agar medium. In the 95 cases，63 strains were Candida albicans (63.3 %)，15 Candida tropicalis (15.8 %)，and 17 other Candida (17.9 %). It was concluded that: (1) The relationship between chronic prostatitis and fungus infection can not be ignored. The attention should be paid to the possibility of fungus infection for those with chronic postatitis who were treated with long-time antibiotics but the curative effects were not satisfactory;(2) In Candidal prostatitis，Candida albicans was a common causative fungus;(3) Application of the improved Sabouraud's liquid medium could increase the positive rate of Candida.

Objective To find out the sensitivity and s pecificity of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) in identification of unstable atherosclerotic plaques. Methods Fourty-three patients diagnosed coronary heart disease, receiving coronary angiography and intravascular ultrasound examination,were divided into soft plaque and hard plaque group according to the echo reflectivity of atherosclerotic plaque by IVUS. Quantitative determination was performed between the two groups. Results The sensitivity of IVUS in detecting soft plaques from patients with acute coronary artery syndrome was 81.4 %, specificity 75.0 %, accuracy 79.1 %, positive predictive value 84.6 %. The lipid core areas and lipid to plaque ratio of soft plaques were significantly larger than those of hard plaques (P 0.05 ).Conclusions IVUS had higher sensitivity and specificity in detecting coronary vulnerable plaques in live bodies.

Objective To study the role of tumor necrosis factor alpha(TNF ?), interleukin(IL) 6 and IL 8 in the pathogenesis of condyloma acuminatum(CA). Methods Double antibody sandwich ELISA was used to study the levels of TNF ?,IL 6 and IL 8 in 21 cases of CA. Results The results showed that the levels of TNF ?,IL 6 and IL 8 of the plasma in the patients were significantly lower than those of normal controls. The levels of TNF ?,IL 6 and IL 8 produced by peripheral blood mononuclear cells in response to LPS mitogen in vitro significantly decreased in comparison with those of normal controls. The levels of IL 6 and IL 8 of the wart tissues excised from 17 patients were significantly lower than those of normal tissue. No TNF ? was detected in the tissues of both patient and normal groups. Conclusion These findings suggest that the monocyte macrophage function of CA patients might be decreased systemically and locally which may contribute to the disorder of lymphocyte function. Improvement of the monocyte macrocyte function might have some significant effect on the prevention and treatment of CA.

Objective The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness and safety of distal filtration protection devices during carotid artery stenting.Methods Between June and July in 2002, carotid artery stenting (CAS) were performed in 4 patients with asymptomatic severe carotid artery stenosis. Self-expendable stents (Smart, Cordis) and distal filtration devices (Angioguard XP, Cordis) were used in all patients. Primary endpoints were perioperative neurologic complications and mortality. Data were collected prospectively.Results All patients were male, their age were 59?4 years old. One patient had history of transient ischemic attacks(TIAs); and another had inferior myocardial infarction, and right coronary intervention was performed before CAS, and another one underwent CABG 6 months ago. There were two right internal carotid and two left internal carotid severe lesions (82.5?6.0)% were treated. The filtration devices and stents were delivered and deployed successfully in all target artery (technical success rate was 100%) and

A 15-year-old male patient presented with intermittent red secretion on the face, upper limbs, nail grooves, fingers and toes for more than 10 months. Ten months prior to the presentation, red secre-tions began to emerge on the face, especially ears, eyes and the surrounding area of nose, following a severe psychical stimulus. The attack typically lasted 2-3 minutes before spontaneous stop with the formation of blood crusts. The frequency was 1-4 per day during the attack of hemathidrosis which might last 1 week. The interval was irregular and varied from 10 days to months. There was no blood stasis, bruise or wound left on the skin after the wipe of bloodstain, and no itch or pain was complained of. Before the secretion of bloody sweat, the patient was always fidgety, irritable, and sometimes excited or difficult to sleep, but the secretion never occurred at night. After several episodes, bloody sweat also appeared in succession and symmetrically on the forearms, extensor crura, fingers, toes and perionychium. The cell components of bloody sweat were identical to those of peripheral blood. The patient was diagnosed as hemathidrosis. No abnormality was found in labora-tory tests, histopathological examination, electron microscopy or radiology. No relief of symptoms was achieved after treatment with vitamin C, rutoside and oryzanol. Hemathidrosis is a rare disease, and to clarify its patho-genesis is essential for its treatment.

Objective To evaluate the long-term results of rapamycin eluting stent in patients with coronary heart disease.Methods From Dec. 2001 to Nov. 2002, 143 patients were treated with 173 rapamycin eluting stents. Sixteen stents were implanted directly, the others were implanted with pre-dilation. Post-dilations were performed in 52 stents. All patients were administered aspirin and clopidogrel regularly before and after the procedures. Results Procedural succees rate reached 99.3% with completion of the follow-up in 138 patientes averaging (12.8 ?4.3) months. Thirteen patients has suffered with recurrent angina and 1 had acute myocardial infarction. Thirty eight patients received repetition of coronary angiography within 6 to 12 months after the procedure. Five patients showed instent restenosis, of which 4 received target lesion revascularization. The restenosis rate was 13.2% by angiography.Conclusion Rapamycin eluting stent can be used safely and effectively in patient with coronary heart disease, having long-term effect to reduce the restenosis rate after PCI.

Objective To investigate the expression of CD40/CD40L on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in patients with recurrent genital herpes (RGH). Methods Flow cytometric analysis was employed to identify the expression of CD40 and CD40L on PBMC and the T lymphocyte subgroups in the peripheral blood of 30 patients with RGH and 20 healthy controls. Results Percentage of the cells with either CD40 or CD40L expression in the patients with RGH was significantly lower than that in the controls (P = 0.0061 and 0.041, respectively). The RGH group had a significantly lower percentages of CD3+ T cells (P=0.025) and CD4+ T cells (P = 0.032) as compared to the controls. Conclusion Reduced costimulatory interaction of CD40 and CD40L in RGH patients may be one of the important factors for the recurrence.

Objective To investigate the role of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) in the host defense against systemic candidiasis in murine model.Methods Two groups of mice,a study group (C3H/HeJ mice with mutant TLR4 gene) and a control group (C3H/HeN mice with normal TLR4 gene) were set up in cyclophosphamide-induced immuno-suppressed murine model with systemic candidiasis.Colony forming units (CFUs) of C.albicans were determined in infected kidneys and spleens with plating dilution method.Histopathological changes of infected kidneys were measured.In addition,levels of tumor necrosis factor-? (TNF-?) in kidneys were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.Results CFUs of C.albicans were significantly higher in kidneys in the 1st day and 6th day after infection in the study group than those in the control group.Meanwhile,CFUs of C.albicans were significantly higher in spleens in the 1st day after infection in the study group than those in the control group.The scores of severity of infection,showed by histopathology,were significantly higher in kidneys in the 1st day and 6th day after infection in the study group than those in the control group(P

To observe the expression of CD40/CD40L on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in patients with condyloma acuminatum (CA), flow cytometry was employed to examine the expression of CD40 and CD40L on PMBC in 36 patients with CA and 20 healthy controls. Our results showed that mean level of CD40 expression in CA patients was significantly lower than that in the controls (6.58% +/- 2.74% vs 14.81% +/- 6.12%, t = 5.703, P < 0.05); the average level of CD40L in CA patients was also significantly lower than that in the controls (0.73% +/- 0.54% vs 2.67% +/- 2.43%, t = 3.532, P < 0.05). Our results suggest that the reduced costimulatory interaction of CD40 and CD40L in CA patients may be one of the important factors responsible for the low cellular immunity.

To compare the effects of polysaccharide nucleic acid fraction of bacillus calmette guerin (BCG-PSN) and thymopeptides on T-lymphocytes of normal and immunosuppressed mice, CD4+ and CD8+ T-lymphocyte subsets of single nucleic cell in thymus, spleen and peripheral blood were detected successively by flow cytometry after application of BCG-PSN and thymopeptides. Meanwhile, CD4+/CD8+ ratio was also calculated. The results showed that both BCG-PSN and thymopeptides could decrease the proportion of CD4+ CD8+ T-lymphocyte subsets in the thymus, at the same time increase CD4+ T-lymphocyte, CD8+ T-lymphocyte proportion in the three tissues. The fluctuation in amplitude was greater in thymopeptides group than that in BCG-PSN group. It is concluded that acting location of thymopeptides is in thymus, its stimulating action is stronger than that of BCG-PSN, while BCG-PSN not only accelerates the differentiation in thymus, but also has some direct stimulation to peripheral CD4+ T-lymphocytes, and can maintain CD4+/CD8+ ratio within normal range. So, BCG-PSN is safer.
Adjuvants, Immunologic/*pharmacology ; Immunocompromised Host ; Mycobacterium bovis/*chemistry ; Nucleic Acids/pharmacology ; Peptide Fragments/*pharmacology ; Polysaccharides, Bacterial/*pharmacology ; T-Lymphocyte Subsets/*drug effects ; Thymus Gland/chemistry