Most of the anticancer drugs have some limitations in clinical application,such as poor solubility,low targeting and cytotoxicity to normal tissue and organ.The application of drug carriers offers a solution of these problems to a certain extent.In recent years,some materials such as polymers,liposomes,carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were used as carriers of anticancer drugs.The utilization of these carriers improved drug targeting and reduced adverse reactions by targeted modification of carriers which ensured the slow release of the drugs and maintained the plasma concentration.In these carriers,CNTs,as a novel nano-material,have attracted more attention in nanomedical applications.CNTs not only possess nanoscaled diameter,hollow structure and large aspect ratio,resulting in large drug capacity,but also can selectively absorb near infrared lights and transform them into thermal energy,according to the research finding.The functionalized drug-loaded CNTs in combination with thermotherapy shows potential,which is expected to become a new targeting therapy of cancer.In this paper,the basic structure of CNTs,the application of CNTs as drug carriers,and the recent development of functionalized CNTs as drug carriers combined with thermotherapy in tumor therapy were summarized.

Objective To explore the effects of surface functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (FMWCNTs) on the cytotoxicity of human peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC).Methods Five different types of MWCNTs (hydroxylated,carboxylated,aminated,nickel-plated and pristine MWCNTs (P-MWCNTs)) with the same diameter and length were evaluated the dispersion and characterizations in physiological salt solution by transmission electron microscopy.PBMC were isolated by density gradient centrifugation from human peripheral blood,and 5 types of MWCNTs were ultrasonically dispersed in serum-containing medium respectively.After incubation with PBMC for 12,24,48 or 72 h,cytotoxicity was detected by CCK-8 kits.Results All the MWCNTs had well dispersion,especially the F-MWCNTs.Cytotoxicity results showed that all types of MWCNTs could induced PBMC death,and presented dose-dependence manner and a certain degree of time-dependence manner.Compared with the P-MWCNTs,F-MWCNTs changed cytotoxicity statistically,with the hydroxylated,carboxylated,aminated MWCNTs weakened,aminated MWCNTs significant (P＜0.05),nevertheless the nickel-plated MWCNTs increased.Compared with the P-MWCNTs (25 μg/ml),cell viability of PBMC after 24 and 48 h incubation with the same dose of nickelplated MWCNTs both decreased,and the differences was statistically significant (P＜0.01,P＜0.05).Conclusions The functional group modification affects not only the MWCNTs dispersion in medium,but also the cytotoxicity of the MWCNTs on PBMC.

We identified the routes of infection and evaluate the effect of disinfection on the field of an outbreak of an-thrax in a village of Wengan County ,Guizhou ,China ,thus trying to provide with basis for the implementation of policies for pre-vention and control of anthrax .The authors gathered the cases information by searching and interviewing the targeted persons house by house ,and reviewed the medical records in hospitals .The samples including patient’s discharging fluid ,residues of died horse ,and soil from the places where the villagers dismembered horse were gathered and cultured for Bacillus anthracis . The technique of multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA-8) was applied for revealing the genetic rela-tionships among those isolated Bacillus anthracis strains .Five cases of cutaneous anthrax occurred in the outbreak and the total attack rate was 7 .58% (5/66) among those contactors evolved in the activity of carrying ,dismembering ,washing ,chopping and eating the died horse .The attack rate was 100% (3/3) for those who carried ,dismembered ,washed ,chopped and ate that horse ,100% (1/1) for those who carried ,dismembered and ate ,and 7 .14% (1/14) for those who washed ,chopped and ate . The 25% (1/4) of the samples of discharging fluid from the cases with cutaneous anthrax were positive .After disinfection , 15 .38% (4/26) of the soil samples retained positive .The genetic similarity was 100% among the 5 isolate strains .The results suggested that the outbreak of anthrax in villagers occurred through the activities of carrying ,dismembering ,washing and chop-ping the died horse .Strengthening the risk communication and disinfection of the dismemberment places should be the crucial strategies to prevent and control anthrax epidemics in Guizhou in the future .