[BTLA Characterization and its association with disease progression in patients with chronic HIV-1 infection.].

Aim: To characterize the B and T lymphocyte attenuator (BTLA, CD272) expression on CD4(+); and CD8(+); T lymphocytes during chronic HIV-1 infection, and analyze the clinical significance for its expression and disease progression.

Methods: BTLA expression on T cells in peripheral blood from 34 patients with chronic HIV-1 infection and 15 healthy donors was measured using flow cytometry. The correlation between BTLA expression and CD4 T cell counts and virus load was also analyzed.

[Dynamic expression of PD-1 in HBV-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes correlates with memory T-cell development in acute hepatitis B patients].

Objectives: Programmed death-1 (PD-1) up-regulation impairs virus-specific CD8+ T-cell responses during chronic viral infection. Whether PD-1 expression influences the virus-specific CD8+ T cells in humans with acute viral infection remains largely undefined. This study aims to characterize the PD-1 expression during acute hepatitis B (AHB), and further addresses the association between the PD-1 dynamics and memory T-cell formation during acute HBV infection.

[Photoluminescence from Si and Er dual-implanted Si-rich thermal oxidation SiO2/Si thin films].

Si and Er ions were implanted into Si-rich thermal oxidation SiO2/Si thin film using metal vapor vacuum arc (MEVVA) ion source implanter, which could produce ion beams with high-fluence and strong-flux. Rutheroford backscattering spectra show that Er concentration in as-implanted sample is attained to 10 at. % corresponding to the level of 10(21) atoms.