Psychosexual health among students during pubertal transition and associated family factors / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To investigate psychosexual health of students during pubertal transition in Taizhou and explore the influence of family factors.@*Methods@#A questionnaire survey was conducted among 1 215 students in senior grades of primary school, junior and senior high schools in Taizhou by stratified cluster sampling.@*Results@#The average score of adolescents sexual and mental health questionnaire was (3.82±0.52), the sexual knowledge score was (3.31±1.00) and the score of sexual adaptation was (4.29±0.68). Sexual attitude and sexual control among female students were significantly better than male students (t=4.53,6.96，P<0.01). The four dimensions of physiological knowledge, sexual knowledge, sexual concept and self-adaptation made significant progress with the improvement increased with educational background(F=157.18，85.18，85.96，65.54，P<0.01). The parent-child relationship, parental sex education, the only child in the family, education background of parents, family economic status and the long-term separation from parents in early childhood had predictive effects on the development of puberty students’ psychosexual health (P<0.05).@*Conclusion@#Students during pubertal transition in Taizhou show moderate level of psychosexual health. Schools should strengthen sexual knowledge education.In order to promote students’ psychosexual health, more attention should be paid to the influence of family factors.

The immunologic aspects in advanced ovarian cancer patients treated with paclitaxel and carboplatin chemotherapy.

Till now, little is known about the effects of chemotherapy on the immunity of cancer patients and the ideal timing ("window" period) for immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy. In this study, we addressed the immunogenicity of apoptotic ovarian cancer cells induced by paclitaxel and carboplatin, the immunologic aspects in ovarian cancer patients under chemotherapy, and the CTL response when CD8(+) T cells were stimulated with tumor antigen in the "window" period. The immunogenicity of apoptotic ovarian cancer cells was detected first. Then, blood samples from each ovarian cancer patient were obtained before (S(0)) and at days 5-7 (S(1)), days 12-14 (S(2)) and days 25-28 (S(3)) after chemotherapy. The proportions of immunocyte subsets and the function of NK cells were studied. We found that apoptotic ovarian cancer cells elicited a powerful CTL response with antitumor activity in vitro. The proportions of CD3(+) T cells, CD4(+) T cells and the ratio of CD4(+) to CD8(+) cells did not change significantly on S(1), S(2) and S(3), compared to S(0), whereas the percentage of Treg cells decreased remarkably on S(2). The proportions of Th1, Tc1, CD45RO memory T, NKT cells and the ratio of Tc1 to Tc2 cells increased significantly on S(2). IFN-gamma secreting CD8(+) T cells also increased remarkably on S(2), especially when CD8(+) T cells were stimulated with autologous tumor antigen. From our point of view, chemotherapy induces temporary immune reconstitution and augments anti-tumor immune response. It is probable that the "window" period of days 12-14 after chemotherapy provides the best opportunity for immunotherapy.

[Immune reconstitution in advanced ovarian cancer patients undergoing first line chemotherapy].

AIM: We investigated the numbers and proportions of lymphocyte subsets in advanced ovarian cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, so as to identify whether there is immune reconstitution after chemotherapy, and seek rational chemo-immunotherapy strategies in ovarian cancer treatment. METHODS: Blood samples from each ovarian cancer patient were obtained before (S(0)) and at day 5-7 (S(1)), day 12-14 (S(2)) and day 25-28 (S(3)) after chemotherapy in 13 patients. Flow cytometry technique was employed to analyse the numbers, proportions of CD3(+), CD4(+), CD8(+), CD4(+) CD25(+) Treg and memory-like phenotype lymphocyte subsets. RESULTS: Lymphopenia was observed at S1 after chemotherapy, but lymphocytes were found gradually recovered after S1. The numbers of CD3(+), CD4(+), CD8(+) T cells and CD4(+) CD25(+) Treg cells reduced to the lowest on S(1). The proportions of CD8(+) T cells and CD4(+) CD25(+) Treg cells reduced to the lowest on S(1) and S(2) respectively. The proportions of CD45RO(+) memory T cells increased significantly on S(2) while the proportion of CD8(+) CD45RA(+) T cells decreased remarkably on S(2). CONCLUSION: Paclitaxel and carboplatin induce lymphopenia at day 5-7 after chemotherapy, then comes the temporary immune reconstitution. It probably turns out that the "window period" during immune reconstitution offers a best opportunity for cancer immunotherapy.

[Effect of apoptotic ovarian cancer cells induced by paclitaxel-cisplatin on antigen presentation function of DC].

AIM: To explore wheather apoptotic ovarian cancer cells induced by paclitaxel-cisplatin could be cross-presented by antigen presenting cells and promote immune responses. METHODS: DCs were generated from peripheral blood monocytes in RPMI1640 supplemented with GM-CSF and IL-4. After 6 days' incubation, DCs were further co-cultured with either apoptotic HO8910 cell lines induced by paclitaxel-cisplatin or control cells for four hours. Maturation of DCs was compared among different groups according to their surface markers through flow cytometry assay and their phagocytosis ability was evaluated by confocal microscopy scanning assay. RESULTS: Apoptotic ovarian cancer cells induced by paclitaxel-cisplatincan were phagocytized more efficiently by DCs.Resulting is more cellularity and maturation of DCs in apoptotic cell-induced groups than control group (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Apoptotic ovarian cancer cells induced by paclitaxel-cisplatin exhibit strong immunogenicity, which in turn promote the maturation and antigen presentation of DCs.