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To investigate the role of alveolar macrophages in airway remodeling in asthma.Sixteen Wistar rats were divided into two groups: control group and asthmatic group. The expressions of platelet-derived growth factor-b (PDGF-b) and transforming growth factor-beta. (TGF-beta 1) in the alveolar macrophages of allergic rats were detected by immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization.The expression of TGF-beta 1 in alveolar macrophages in allergic group was increased in both protein level (P0.05) and TGF-beta 1 mRNA(P0.01); but the expression of PDGF-b had no difference between the two groups.The alveolar macrophages may involve in the airway remodeling of asthma.

To explore the expression of interleukin-5(IL-5) and interleukin-10(IL-10) and their relationship in asthma, we measured the cells in bronchial alveolar lavage fluid(BALF) of guinea pigs, and examined the expression of IL-5 mRNA and IL-10 mRNA of bronchial tissue by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR) in control group(Group C, n = 10), asthmatic group(Group A, n = 11) and dexamethasone treatment group(Group B, n = 10). The results showed that the eosinophil(EOS) percentage and the expression of IL-5 mRNA were significantly higher in Group A[(48.64 +/- 17.8)%, (106.91 +/- 20.09)% respectively] than that in Group C[(15.10 +/- 11.48)%, (62.60 +/- 13.84)%] and Group B[(28.4 +/- 10.32)%, (75.30 +/- 10.70)%]. In contrast, the IL-10 mRNA expression in Group A[(47.5 +/- 5.3)%] was obviously lower compared with that in Group C[(101.2 +/- 4.2)%] and Group B[(80.1 +/- 8.3)%]. The correlation between the expression level of IL-5 mRNA and percentage of EOS was positive(r = 0.924, P0.01), whereas the IL-5 mRNA was negatively correlated with IL-10 mRNA expression(r = -0.731, P0.01).IL-5 and EOS might play a role in the pathogenesis of asthma, the inhibition of IL-10 mRNA expression may cause the increase of IL-5 expression in asthma. The beneficial effects of corticosteroid treatment in asthma may partly result from increasing IL-10 mRNA expression and inhibiting IL-5 mRNA expression.

The etiologic agents in 200 patients with pneumonia were studied by the bacterial culture of sputums obtained from the protected single catheter brush or quantitative expectoration at one morning or three-morning expectoration. Two hundred patients were divided into 3 groups. Group 1 was Nosocomial pneumonia (NP patients). Group 2-1 and Group 2-2 were community acquired pneumonia (CAP patients). All cases in Group 1 and Group 2-2 suffered from significant underlying diseases while Group 2-1 did not. Gram-negative bacilli(GNB) were isolated from the specimens in Group 1 (87%) and Group 2-2 (75%), respectively. Pseudomonas (30.8%) and klebsiella (20.5%) were the predominant bacteria (in Group 1 and pseudomonas bacteria) in Group 1 and pseudomonas (27.3%), acinetobacter (23%) and kledsiella (18%) were the major etiologic agents in Group 2-2. The commonest pathogens in Group 2-1 were gram-positive cocci (75%), in which streptococcus (38%) and staphylococcus aureus (25%) were the dominant agents. Compared with Group 2, Group 1 suffered from more mixed bacteria and the agents presented severer drug-resistant. The prognosis was worse in Group 2-2 than in Group 2-1. The results showed that the GNB pneumonia was more common in the cases who had underlying disease, no matter whether the pneumonia was NP or CAP. These patients had more trouble on their antibiotic therapy. Thus it is important that doctors should use vigorous antibiotics timely while treating these patients' underying diseases.