Advance care planning for frail older people in China: A discussion paper.

As the aging population, including frail older people, continues to grow in Mainland China, quality of life and end-of-life care for frail older people has attracted much attention. Advance care planning is an effective way to improve end-of-life care for people with advanced diseases, and it is widely used in developed countries; however, it is a new concept in Mainland China. The effects of advance care planning and its acceptability in Mainland China are uncertain because of its culture-sensitive characteristics.

Associated changes in the transcription levels of IL-17A and tight junction-associated genes in the duodenal mucosa of rhesus macaques repeatedly exposed to simian/human immunodeficiency virus.

Background: Mucosal barrier dysfunction might play a key role in HIV/AIDS, yet the early effects of HIV-1 on intestinal mucosal barrier, especially tight junctions (TJ) have not been well addressed.

Aims: To investigate the effects of acute HIV-1 infection on the expression of intestinal IL-17A and TJ-associated genes using an NHP-AIDS model.

Methods: TaqMan probe real-time RT-PCR methods were established and claudin-1, claudin-3, occludin and zonula occluden-1 (ZO-1) mRNA levels in the duodenal biopsies of rhesus macaques collected before and after rectal exposures to SHIV-SF162P4 were examined and compared with that of IL-17A, IL-6, TGF-β, RORγt, T-bet, Foxp-3 and GATA-3.

Mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule-1 of rhesus macaques: molecular cloning, expression, and alteration after viral infection.

Background: Mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule-1 (MAdCAM-1), a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily, is essential for gut-specific homing of leukocytes; however, it has not been well characterized in rhesus macaques.

Aims: To obtain the complete nucleotide sequence of rhesus macaque MAdCAM-1 cDNA and determine its distribution in gut-associated lymphoid tissues (GALT) and its alteration in duodenal mucosa after simian/human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV) infection.

Methods: MAdCAM-1 cDNA was cloned from the colon mucosa of a rhesus macaque by 3'- and 5'-RACE.

Cellular bases for interactions between immunocytes and enteroendocrine cells in the intestinal mucosal barrier of rhesus macaques.

The roles of the interactions between nervous, endocrine, and immune systems have been well established in human health and diseases. At present, little is known about the cellular bases for neural-endocrine-immune networks in the gastrointestinal mucosa. In the current study, duodenum, jejunum, ileum, cecum, colon, and rectum autopsies from 15 rhesus macaques and endoscopic duodenal biopsies from 12 rhesus macaques were collected, and the spatial relationships between the endocrine cells and immune cells in the intestinal mucosa were examined by transmission electron microscopy.

Immunization with recombinant macaque major histocompatibility complex class I and II and human immunodeficiency virus gp140 inhibits simian-human immunodeficiency virus infection in macaques.

Genetic, epidemiological and experimental evidence suggest that the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is critical in controlling human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. The objectives of this study were to determine whether novel recombinant Mamu MHC constructs would elicit protection against rectal challenge with heterologous simian-human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV) strain SF162.P4 in rhesus macaques.

Elevated frequency of CD1c+ myeloid dendritic cells in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of simian/human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV) and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) repeatedly infected Chinese rhesus macaques.

CD1c+ myeloid dendritic cells (mDCs) in the peripheral blood of 30 SHIV-SF162p4 and SIVmac251 sequentially infected Chinese rhesus macaques were examined by flow cytometry to obtain further insight into mDC alterations in HIV/AIDS. The CD1c+ cells were found to be mononuclear leukocytes rather than granulocytes, and most of them expressed CD20. CD1c+mDCs (CD1c+CD20-) consisted of two morphological subsets: the granular and the large CD1c+mDCs.

mED2--a novel gene involved in mouse embryonic development.

Dissection of new genes underlying embryonic development is important for our understanding of the molecular mechanism of vertebrate embryonic development. In this study, the expression pattern and functional analysis of a new gene, called mED2, originally cloned from mouse embryos using subtractive hybridization was reported. mED2 expression patterns were characterized by RT-PCR-Southern hybridization and in situ hybridization.

[Transgenic mice produced by exchromosomal homologous recombination combined with cytoplasmic injection].

An expression construct specified in mammary gland with double cistrons of human G-CSF gene and IRES-EGFP gene under control of ovine beta-lactoglobulin gene flanking sequence, has been constructed in two parts (named fragment I and fragment II) that share an overlapping region of 2.2 kb sequence. Two sites of loxp and lox2272 for homologous recombination were inserted into both flanking regions of G-CSF.