Objectives To understand current status of the admission and treatment for the patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in central hospitals of Shanghai area,and to evaluate the severity of patients admitted to the hospital with CAP by the criteria set in the Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment for CAP developed by the Chinese Medical Association in 2006 and provide evidence for its popularization and application throughout the country.Methods Medical records of 137 patients with CAP admitted to the hospital from January 1,2005 to September 30,2006 were retrospectively studied and analyzed with SPSS 10.0 software.Chi-square test and ANOVA were used to evaluate the severity of the patients with CAP by the criteria set in the Guidelines and to correlate it with pneumonia severity index (PSI).Statistical analysis was performed for the difference between length of hospitalization,cost,length of intravenous use of antibiotics,the number of risk factors,and fatality during hospitalization between three groups of patients categorized based on the severity criteria in the Guidelines.Results There existed a good relationship between the criteria for severity of CAP by the Guidelines and PSI,with a Pearson's coefficient of correlation of 0.577,P

Objective To investigate the early influences of laser photocoagulation on macular retinal thickness in diabetic retinopathy(DR). Methods Optic coherence tomography examination was performed in 30 eyes with DR(phase Ⅲ~Ⅳ) before, and on the 3rd day and the 7th day after photocoagulation respectively. The thickness of neuroretina and pigment epithelium were measured in the areas of fovea macula and 750 ?m from fovea macula. Results Three days after photocoagulation, significant thickening of neuroretina was observed in the fovea macula, which is positively related with age, fasting blood sugar and duration of DR. There was no significant changes in the thickness of pigment epithelium in macula and in the thickness of neuroretina 750 ?m from fovea macula. Conclusion Significant thickening of neuroretina in fovea macula in DR early after photocoagulation reveals progressed macular edema induced by photocoagulation which is positively related with age, fasting blood sugar and duration of DR.

Asbestos ; adverse effects ; Environmental Exposure ; GPI-Linked Proteins ; metabolism ; Humans ; Population Surveillance

Acupuncture Therapy ; Adult ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Musculoskeletal Manipulations ; Osteitis ; pathology ; therapy ; Sacroiliac Joint ; pathology ; Sclerosis ; therapy ; Young Adult

Objective To study the prognosis of the implanted xenogenic and allogenic menisci, and the implanted menisci's protection effects on articular cartilage. Methods 30 adult New Zealand white rabbits were divided equally into two groups and the medial meniscus defection models were established by medial meniscectomy. Allogenic medial menisci implantation were done in group A. Small pieces of menisci tissue were taken from pig meniscus and moulded them as the same shape and size as rabbit's medial menisci,then, xenogenic menisci implantation were done in group B with these moulded grafts. 6, 12 and 24 weeks after the operations, rabbits were sacrificed to observe the implanted menisci and the articular cartilage on medial tibial plateau, medial femoral condylus and femoral trochlea with naked eye and histological method. Results After allogenic meniscus transplantation, the state of implanted meniscus was good, and healed well around the capsula. 24 weeks post allogenic meniscus transplantation, the injury of the articular cartilage was not in evidence. In short time post xenogenic meniscus transplantation, the state of meniscus and cartilage was good and after 24 weeks the xenogenic meniscus was dissolved and absorbed, the articular cartilage also showed degeneration and injury. Conclusion With xenogenic meniscus moulded from pig meniscus tissue,the implanted meniscus was resolved and absorbed and the cartilage degeneration also appeared after half a year. Post allogenic meniscus transplantation, the meniscus structure and function were reconstructed well and the articular cartilage was also well protected.

Objective To study the type Ⅰ,Ⅱ,Ⅲ and Ⅹcollag e n expression in meniscus and articular cartilage and immunoreactions post xenoge nic and allogenic meniscus transplantation. Methods After men iscectomy,30 adult New Zealand white rabbits were divded into two groups:group A undertook allogenic medial meniscus transplantation and group B undertook xenog enic meniscus transplantation with fitted meniscus tissues harvested from swine. 6, 12 and 24 weeks post transplantation, the histological and immunohistochemical analysis of type Ⅰ ,Ⅱ,Ⅲ and Ⅹ collagens monoclonal antibody were investigated in menisci and a rticular cartilage. Peripheral blood were obtained for immunoreactions study thr o ugh the methods of CDMT (Complement Dependent Microlymphocytotoxicity Test) and RIA (Radioimmunoassay)of IL-2 and IL-6. Results The meniscu s and articular cartilage were good post allogenic meniscus transplantation, but the transplanted xenogenic meniscus appeared to be dissolved and absorbed and c art ilage lesions were observed in 24 week post operation. No significant difference was found between two groups in type Ⅰ,Ⅱ and Ⅲ collagen expression during e xperiment. From 1～12 weeks, no significant diffe rence was found among type Ⅰ,Ⅱ and Ⅲ collagen expression in articular cartil age in two groups. However,24 weeks post operation, type Ⅹ collagen's expressio n in cartilage was abnormally increased. Neither allogenic nor xenogenic meniscu s transplantation caused fatal immunoreaction during the whole experiment. Con clusion The transplantation meniscus began to be dissolved and absorbed after half a year, but allogenic meniscus transplantation achieved good results . Type Ⅰ,Ⅱ and Ⅲ collagen expression in transplanted meniscus and articular cartilage showed no difference between two groups, but the expression of type Ⅹ collagen was abnormally increased in xenogenic group 24 weeks post operation. No fatal immunoreaction was found in both groups.

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is overexpressed in many epithelial cancers,and is commonly caused by EGFR gene amplification and gene mutations. The most frequently occurring variant,the type III mutation (EGFRvIII) ,is characterized by an inframe deletion of exons 2-7 of the coding sequence. It is expressed only in tumors and not found in normal tissues, and therefore represents an attractive therapeutic target. The tumor therapy methods targeted for EGFRvIII include immu-notherapy, ribozyme, RNA interference, etc.

BACKGROUND: Sepsis is a tough problem in critical ill patients. This study aimed to investigate the dynamic changes of monocyte Toll-like receptor (TLR) 4 expression in peripheral blood of septic rats and to determine the effects of transforming growth factor (TGF) -β1 on TLR4 expression. METHODS: Altogether 132 clean level SD rats were randomly divided into a control group (n=12), a sepsis model group (n=60), and a TGF-β1 intervention group (n=60). In the sepsis model group and TGF-β1 intervention group, the rats were subdivided into five groups (2-hour group, 6-hour group, 12-hour group, 24-hour group, and 48-hour group), with 12 rats in each group. Cecal ligation puncture (CLP) was performed in the sepsis model group and TGF-β1 intervention group to establish models of sepsis. The rats in the sepsis model group were injected with 1 mL normal saline at the caudal vein 0.5 hour after the model establishment; the rats in the TGF-β1 intervention group were injected with 20 ng/mL or 250 g TGF-β10.5 hour after the model establishment. Flow cytometry was used to detect the change of monocyte TLR4 in peripheral blood, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect the change of TNF-α level in peripheral blood. RESULTS: At 6-12 hours after CLP, the monocyte TLR4 in peripheral blood started to decrease, and reached the lowest level at 12 hours. Compared to the control group, the monocyte TLR4 expression at 6 and 12 hours was lowered significantly (P<0.05). Compared to the sepsis model group at 2, 24 and 48 hours after CLP, the monocyte TLR4 expression in the TGF-β1 intervention group decreased dramatically (P<0.05), but there were no differences between the two groups at 6 and 12 hours respectively. Compared to the control group, the concentration of NF-κB in liver tissue increased significantly 6 hours after CLP (P<0.05). After use of TGF-β1, the concentration of NF-κB was decreased significantly but still higher than that of the control group. Compared to the control group, the concentration of TNF-α in peripheral blood was increased significantly at 2-48 hours after CLP (P<0.05). After use of TGF-β1, TNF-α was further increased. CONCLUSION: During sepsis, TGF-β1 can decrease the monocyte TLR4 expression and NF-κB in liver tissue, but facilitate the formation of proinflammatory mediator TNF-α. This finding indicates that TGF-β1 may play a role in promoting inflammatory response during sepsis, but this regulation is not via direct regulation of monocyte TLR4 in peripheral blood.

Objective: To verify that COX-2 promoter can drive its downstream genes specifically in COX-2-positive o-varian cancer cells; Moreover, comparing with CMV promoter, analyze the transcript efficiency of COX-2 promoter. Methods: Contacting the recombinant plasmids named COX-2-BAX and CMV-Luc. After transient transfection liposome-mediated with the plasmids COX-2-Luc and CMV-Luc, respectively, the expression of Luciferase reporter gene was measured in COX-2-positive ovarian cancer cell line-SKOV3 and COX-2-negative colon cancer cell line-SW480. SKOV-3 and SW480 were transfected with COX-2-BAX and CMV-BAX in the same way, respectively. The apoptosis rates were measured through flow cytometry. Results: The recombinant plasmids named COX-2-BAX and CMV-Luc were constructed successfully. The expression efficiency of reporter gene was 1554 ? 86. 5 in SKOV3 and 53. 7 ? 10.9 in SW480 after 24 hours transfected with phPES2, 9851. 7 ? 129. 5 in SKOV3 and 8831. 0 ? 167. 3 in SW480 after 24 hours transfected with CMV-Luc in the same way. The apoptosis rate was 10.4% in SKOV3 and 3.7% in SW480 after transfected with COX-2-BAX, 21.7%in SKOV3 and 25. 6% in SW480 after 36 hours transfected with pcDNA3-BAX in the same way. Conclusions: COX-2 promoter can drive its downstream genes specifically in COX-2-positive ovarian cancer cell lines, but its expression efficiency wasmarkedly lower than CMV promoters. With proper modification, COX-2 promoter is expected to be useful in gene therapy of ovarian cancers.

Materials Testing ; instrumentation ; Plastics ; chemistry ; Stress, Mechanical ; Temperature ; Water