[Effect of Astragalus membranaceus on Peripheral Blood Th17 in Patients with Allergic Rhinitis].

Objective To observe the effect of Astragalus membranaceus (AM) on expression levels of helper T cell 17 (Th17) and its related factors in patients with allergic rhinitis (AR). Methods Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were sampled from 31 AR patients (recruited in the AR group) and 22 healthy subjects (recruited in the control group). PBMCs were isolated and in-vitro inter- vened by high and low dose AM injection (2 000 and 500 µg/mL) respectively for 24 h. mRNA expression levels of related orphan receptor C (RORC) were detected by real time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). Ex- pression levels of IL-17A and IL-22 in the supernatant were measured by ELISA. Expression levels of Th17 cells were measured by flow cytometry. Results Expression levels of Th17, RORC mRNA, IL- 17A, and IL-22 were higher in the AR group than in the control group (P <0. 01). mRNA expression levels of RORC, Th17 and its cytokines were not changed statistically in the AR group and the control group after PBMCs were intervened by low dose AM (P>0. 05). After intervened by high dose AM,mRNA expres- sion levels of RORC decreased statistically in the AR group and the control group (P <0. 05 for the AR group, P <0. 01 for the control group). Meanwhile,the expression levels of Th-17 and its cytokines de- creased in the AR group and the control group with statistical difference (P <0. 01). Conclusions Ex- cessive activation of Th17 is one of key factors-for AR. AM could further inhibit inflammation of AR and control the inflammation state of AR possibly through inhibiting the differentiation of Th17 cells and promo- ting the release of its cytokines.

Development and evaluation of the Nurotron 26-electrode cochlear implant system.

Although the cochlear implant has been widely acknowledged as the most successful neural prosthesis, only a fraction of hearing-impaired people who can potentially benefit from a cochlear implant have actually received one due to its limited awareness, accessibility, and affordability. To help overcome these limitations, a 26-electrode cochlear implant has been developed to receive China's Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) approval in 2011 and Conformité Européenne (CE) Marking in 2012. The present article describes design philosophy, system specification, and technical verification of the Nurotron device, which includes advanced digital signal processing and 4 current sources with multiple amplitude resolutions that not only are compatible with perceptual capability but also allow interleaved or simultaneous stimulation. The article also presents 3-year longitudinal evaluation data from 60 human subjects who have received the Nurotron device. The objective measures show that electrode impedance decreased within the first month of device use, but was stable until a slight increase at the end of two years. The subjective loudness measures show that electric stimulation threshold was stable while the maximal comfort level increased over the 3 years. Mandarin sentence recognition increased from the pre-surgical 0%-correct score to a plateau of about 80% correct with 6-month use of the device. Both indirect and direct comparisons indicate indistinguishable performance differences between the Nurotron system and other commercially available devices. The present 26-electrode cochlear implant has already helped to lower the price of cochlear implantation in China and will likely contribute to increased cochlear implant access and success in the rest of the world. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled .

An aryl hydrocarbon receptor ligand acts on dendritic cells and T cells to suppress the Th17 response in allergic rhinitis patients.

A predominant Th17 population is a marker of allergic rhinitis (AR). The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) exhibits strong immunomodulation potential via regulation of the differentiation of T lymphocytes and dendritic cells (DCs) after activation by its ligand, such as 2-(1'H-indole-3'-carbonyl)-thiazole-4-carboxylic acid methyl ester (ITE). The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of AhR on Th17 differentiation by investigating the action of ITE on DCs and CD4(+) T cells from patients with AR. In all, 26 AR patients and 12 healthy controls were included in this study. The expression of interleukin (IL)-1ß, IL-6, IL-10, and IL-17 in the culture supernatant and the presence of Th17 cells in CD4(+) T cells and DC-CD4(+) T-cell co-culture system were measured before and after treatment with ITE. We show that ITE significantly induced cell secretion of IL-10 and inhibited IL-1ß and IL-6 production in DCs, and promoted IL-10 production and suppressed IL-17 expression in CD4(+) T cells in vitro. It also suppressed the expansion of Th17 cells in vitro. Our work demonstrates that ITE acts on DCs and CD4(+) T cells to inhibit the Th17 response that suppresses AR; the AhR-DC-Th17 axis may be an important pathway in the treatment of AR. ITE, a nontoxic AhR ligand, attenuated the Th17 response; thus, it appears to be a promising therapeutic candidate for suppressing the inflammatory responses associated with AR.

The relationship between binaural benefit and difference in unilateral speech recognition performance for bilateral cochlear implant users.

OBJECTIVE: The full benefit of bilateral cochlear implants may depend on the unilateral performance with each device, the speech materials, processing ability of the user, and/or the listening environment. In this study, bilateral and unilateral speech performances were evaluated in terms of recognition of phonemes and sentences presented in quiet or in noise. DESIGN: Speech recognition was measured for unilateral left, unilateral right, and bilateral listening conditions; speech and noise were presented at 0° azimuth. The 'binaural benefit' was defined as the difference between bilateral performance and unilateral performance with the better ear. STUDY SAMPLE: Nine adults with bilateral cochlear implants participated. RESULTS: On average, results showed a greater binaural benefit in noise than in quiet for all speech tests. More importantly, the binaural benefit was greater when unilateral performance was similar across ears. As the difference in unilateral performance between ears increased, the binaural advantage decreased; this functional relationship was observed across the different speech materials and noise levels even though there was substantial intra- and inter-subject variability. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that subjects who show symmetry in speech recognition performance between implanted ears in general show a large binaural benefit.

Effects of speaking style on speech intelligibility for Mandarin-speaking cochlear implant users.

Cochlear implant (CI) users' speech understanding may be influenced by different speaking styles. In this study, speech recognition was measured in Mandarin-speaking CI and normal-hearing (NH) subjects for sentences produced according to four styles: slow, normal, fast, and whispered. CI subjects were tested using their clinical processors; NH subjects were tested while listening to a four-channel CI simulation. Performance gradually worsened with increasing speaking rate and was much poorer with whispered speech. CI performance was generally similar to NH performance with the four-channel simulation. Results suggest that some speaking styles, especially whispering, may negatively affect Mandarin-speaking CI users' speech understanding.