Epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of 59 persons suspecting of being infected by the HIV virus despite having repeated negative laboratory findings / 中华流行病学杂志

Objective To describe the epidemiologic characteristics and clinical manifestations of 59 persons recruited via an intemet chat group who complained of AIDS-like symptoms, so as to formulate effective intervention strategies and measures. Methods Case was defined as onset of any three of the following self-reported AIDS-like symptoms in a member of relevant "intemet chat groups": persistent low grade fever, rash, swollen lymph node, fatigue, diarrhea, weight loss and low CD4+T count. We administered an internet-based questionnaire, and invited 59 of the 88 casepersons for voluntary physical examination and laboratory testing. Results The 59 case-persons came from 22 provinces; 54 (91.5 %)were men; the median age was 34 (range: 22-53)years; 84.7% of them had high-risk sexual behaviors before the onset of self-reported symptoms. The median time interval from exposure to onset was 15 d (range: 1-365 d). Blood specimens for all the 59 case-persons were tested negative for HIV and syphilis antibodies. There was also no evidence of Xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus infection. One case-person was tested positive for hepatitis C virus antibody. The average CD4'T lymphocyte count was 707/μl. Of the 59 case-persons,57 (96.6%) sought medical care from multiple providers; 40 were diagnosed to have no physical disorders. Conclusion None of the 59 case-persons had any evidence of infection with HIV or any other infectious agents that could explain their self-reported symptoms.

Effects and mechanism of lutein on apoptosis of esophageal carcinoma EC9706 cells / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the effects of lutein on apoptosis and its mechanism.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>The cells of human esophageal carcinoma EC9706 were grown in RPMI medium containing 10% bovine serum and were treated with lutein at 100 microg x mL(-1) concentration. Flow cytometry was employed to investigate the effects of lutein on cell apoptosis of EC9706 cells. Histochemistry was performed to determine apoptosis-related protein expresion.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Flow cytometry analyses revealed that lutein increased EC9706 cell apoptosis ratio when treated with lutein 100 microg x mL(-1) at 96 h. Lutein decreased the expression of Bcl-2 protein and increased the expression of Bax protein in EC9706 cells.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Lutein could inhibit mitosis and stimulate apoptosis of EC9706 cells. The apoptotic effect may result from the down-regulation of expression of Bcl-2 and up-regulation expression of Bax.</p>