Psoriasis is a common autoimmune disease and mainly affects skin,joints,or both.Psoriasis is also a chronic relapsing disorder that can cause physical and psychological burdens to patients.Currently it is widely accepted that the immune system is involved in the development of psoriasis.Th17 cells,a subtype of CD4 +T lymphocytes,are characterized by its ability to secrete proinflammatory cytokine IL-17.Recent studies indicate that Th17 cells play a predominant role in the pathogenesis of psoriasis and other immune-mediated inflammatory diseases.Moreover,targeted therapies have been developed and approved for the treatment of moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis.This review summarizes the role of Th17 cells in the pathogenesis of psoriasis and several therapeutic biologics targeting this pathway in psoriasis.

Objective: To evaluate ultrasound biomicroscopy(UBM) in the surgical treatment of glaucoma complicated by cataract and in the observation of the post-operation changes of the anterior chamber angle and its related structure in patients with primary angle-closure glaucoma(PACG).Methods: Combined surgery of phacoemulsification,intraocular lens(IOL) implantation and trabeculectomy was performed in 30 patients(30 eyes) with cataract and PACG.The changes of the anterior chamber angle and anterior chamber distance were determined by UBM before and 1 month after the operation.At the same time,intraocular pressure was recorded and analyzed.Results:Intraocular pressure was obviously decreased after the operation.There were significant differences between pre-and post-operation in ACD,AOD500,TIA and TCPD(P0.05).Conclusion: Combined surgery for glaucoma and cataract could deepen the anterior chamber,widen the chamber angle,and reopen the trabeculae,which contributes to the control of intraocular pressure and reduces postoperative complications such as shallow anterior chamber.Long-term effect of the surgery needs to be further investigated.

Objective Face-down positioning after vitrectomy and gas tamponade is still the standard position for patients with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment.The study was to compare the nursing effects of face-down position and flexible position after vitrecto-my for the repair of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment. Methods We investigated 120 cases of patients with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment in this study.All patients received vitrectomy with long-acting gas for tamponade, 60 patients in face-down position and 60 in the flexible position.Patients were followed up for 6 months.Observation was made on the rates of anatomical retinal reattachment and postoperative complications between the groups. Results The rates of anatomical retinal reattachment after surgery were 88.33%in the face-down position group and 100% in the flexible position group respectively.As to the satisfaction of position, the flexible position group was 100%, which was much higher than 41.67%in face-down position group(P<0.01). Conclusion Flexible position nurs-ing after vitrectomy and gas tamponade for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment repair is safe and effective.Flexible position can replace face-down position for the comfort of patients with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment after vitrectomy with gas tamponade.

BACKGROUND: About one fourth of diabetic patients suffer from diabetic retinopathy(DR) and has greatly impacted their quality of life due to the decreased vision. Social support plays important role on rehabilitation of patients.OBJECTIVE: To analyze the relationship between social support and quality of life(QOL) in patients with diabetic retinopathy in order to direct clinical practice and improve the patients' QOL.DESIGN: Cross-sectional study based on patients with diabetic retinopathy.SETTING: Department of Ophthalmology, General Hospital of Nanjing Military Area Command of Chinese PLA.PARTICIPANTS: Totally 81 patients admitted into Department of Ophthalmology, General Hospital of Nanjing Military Area Command of Chinese PLA with diabetic retinopathy during January 2002 to May 2003 were selected. Inclusion criteria: suffer from diabetic retinopathy and willing to attend this study. Exclusion criteria: people with other complications (hypertension, kidney disease) . The patients were divided into two groups according to vision: 28 cases in the group with binocular vision between 0.06 -0. 1; 53 cases in the group with vision less than 0. 05.METHODS: Investigation was conducted to the two groups from three dimensions including objective support, subjective support and usage in order to assess the social support to patients with diabetic retinopathy of different vision. And modified quality of life index (MQLI) was used to assess the QOL in patients with diabetic retinopathy that covered 5 dimensions: somatic health, mental health, social function, self-image and material base.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The total score of social support and QOL of patients with diabetic retinopathy, score of somatic health, mental health,social functions and material base as well as the correlations among them.RESULTS: The total score of social support, score of objective support factor, subjective support factor and usage factor in roup with vision between 0.06 and 0. 1 were much higher than those in group with vision less than 0.05 ( P < 0.01 ). For patients with diabetic retinopathy, the social support had strong correlation with total score of QOL and factor score of other dimensions except of self-image( P < 0.05 or P < 0.01).CONCLUSION: Social support is an important factor that impacts QOL to patients with diabetic retinopathy. It will improve their QOL by reinforcing the social support.

Amygdala (AM) plays crucial roles in emotional learning, memory and behavior. These functions of AM are carried out by three main subnuclei (lateral nucleus, basolateral nucleus and central nucleus) in AM and closely related with a transcription factor, cAMP- responsive element binding protein (CREB) in the neurons of the AM. CREB can be phosphorylated (pCREB) in many kinds of neuronal processes to regulate the synthesis of proteins for the formation of memory processes. In order to identify what neuronal types express pCREB and how the pCREB levels changed at different time intervals after an emotional stress stimulation, the present study is designed to investigate pCREB-, glutamate (Glu)- and parvalbumin (PV)- immunoreactive (IR) profiles in AM and the levels of pCREB in AM after a stress of forced swimming (FS). The results showed that the pCREB expressed in the Glu-IR neurons but not in the PV-IR neurons, and the expression level of the pCREB increased dramatically after the stress. The present results suggested that pCREB modulates the emotional processes through the Glu-IR neurons and that the pCREB greatly upregulated to response to the emotional stimuli.

Objective To explore the changes of human mitochondrial COXI,ND1 and ND6 genes expression induced by ionizing irradiation.Methods Changes of human COXI,ND1 and ND6 gene expression were detected by RT-PCR and Real-time PCR 8 h after the irradiation in human lymphoblastoid cell lines,which were exposed to 1-10 Gy 60Co γ-rays.And the dose-effect relationships between expression changes of the genes and the doses were analyzed.The changes of these three genes expression were also analyzed at different post-radiation time-points between 0.5 h and 72 h after irradiation of 5 Gy in order to explore the time-effect.Results The expression of three genes COXI,ND1 and ND6,showed either the dose-effect or the time-effect after irradiation.The gene expression levels of three genes up-regulated generally and the peak change time-point was 4 h after irradiation.Conclusion Ionizing radiation,msht induce the changes of mitochondrial gene expression,and the gene expression level is up-regulated.

Objective To investigate the relationship between the methylation of CpG island of RUNX3 gene promoter and its expression in a human cutaneous malignant melanoma cell line A375, and to assess the role of RUNX3 gene methylation in the pathogenesis of human cutaneous malignant melanoma. Methods Cultured A375 cells were treated with various concentrations (0, 1, 5, 10, 20 μmol/l) of 5-azacyti-dine for 24 or 72 hours followed by another 5 days of culture. Then, methylation-specific PCR (MSP) was performed to evaluate the methylation status of RUNX3 promoter region, and Western-blot analysis to detect the protein expression of RUNX3 in A375 cells. Results The RUNX3 gene promoter region was hypermethylated in untreated A375 cells, along with the absence of protein expression of RUNX3. However, after the treatment with 5-azacytidine, the promoter region of RUNX3 gene was demethylated partly, and the expression of RUNX3 protein was restored in A375 cells. Further, the expression intensity was directly correlated with the concentration of 5-azacytidine. Conclusions The promoter hypermethylation of RUNX3 gene may be related to the silencing of RUNX3 gene expression in A375 cells, whereas 5-azacytidine can cause the demethylation of RUNX3 gene, reactivate the gene which has been inactivated by the promoter hypermethylation, and finally induce the re-expression of RUNX3 protein.

Objective:Iris-fixed IOL implantation is a new and effective therapy for phakic eyes. Because the patients are young,they know very few about the operation,which mandated delicate pre-and postoperative nursing. This article discussed how to nurse the patients receiving iris-fixed IOL implantation operation in phakic eyes for super high myopia. Methods:Fifty eight eyes of 30 patients with super-high myopia received iris-fixed IOL (Verisyse IOL) implantation. Pre-and postoperative nursing course were summarized. Results:Focused education through preoperative visits,active cooperation in the operation and meticulous postoperative nursery were beneficial for the operation. Significant vision improvement was found after surgery. Conclusion:The planned,step by step,focused nursing course can improve the effects of operation and reduce the postoperative complication.

It has been reported that the small type of neurons in the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) play an important role in pain regulation by a presynaptic mechanism via the metabotropic type-B γ-aminobutyric acid receptors ( GABABR ). In order to understand whether the 2populations of the small type of the neurons, peptidergic and nonpeptidergic, in DRG share the same role, immunoflourescent histochemical methods and confocal laser scanning microscope were employed to investigate the expression of the GABABR in the peptidergic and nonpeptidergic small DRG neurons. The results revealed that 92% of the peptidergic and 90% of nonpeptidergic small DRG neurons express GABABR in their perikarya and central processes, which distribute in the various laminae of the spinal dorsal horn. These results suggest both the peptidergic and nonpeptidergic populations of the small neurons in the DRG share similar role in pain modulation via presynaptic mechanisms but in given laminae of the spinal dorsal horn.

As the elements of local neuronal circuits, parvalbumin (PV)-containing interneurons in the basolateral nucleus (BL) of the amygdala play an important role in the amygdaloid functions of emotion, learning and memory. In order to investigate how the PV-containing interneurons in the BL are controlled, the synapses established on PV- containing interneurons in the BL of the rat amygdala were examined under immunoelectron microscopy using the double labeling methods with anti-PV and anti-dopamine (DA) antibodies for a reference of dopaminergic axon terminals. The results show that the PV immunoreactive (IR) neurons formed the synapses mainly on the dendritic structures from shafts of the dendrites to median and small dendritic branches. 68% of the synapses on the PV-IR profiles were formed by unlabeled axon terminals, and 32 % of them were formed by DA- (21 % ) and PV- (11 % )IR axon terminals. Majority of the synapses on the PV-IR neurons formed by unlabeled axon terminals were symmetric type, and only a small a mount of them were asymmetric that were observed between the PV-IR spines and unlabeled axon terminals and in the serial synapses in which an unlabeled axon terminal symmetrically contacted to another unlabeled axon terminal that, in turn, synapsed asymmetrically to the PV-IR dendritic profiles. The synapses formed between the PV-IR profiles and DA- or PV-IR axon terminals were exclusively symmetric. The present results suggest that the PV-containing interneurons in the BL of the rat amygdala were controlled by an inhibitory network formed by the symmetric synapses around them, among which the DA system was included.