Exposure to family and domestic violence in the prenatal period is associated with an increased risk of hospitalization for bronchiolitis in children under 2 years.

Background: Existing research has acknowledged a correlation between stress in pregnancy and poorer respiratory health in offspring. However, research focusing on stress caused by family and domestic violence in the prenatal period is missing.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study included children born 1987-2010 who were identified as being exposed to FDV in the prenatal period (n = 1477) from two sources: WA Police Information Management System and WA Hospital Morbidity Data Collection (HMDC) and a non-exposed comparison group (n = 41 996).

Human macrophage-mediated cytotoxicity of Schistosoma mansoni. Functional and structural features of the effector cells.

Human monocytes were purified from peripheral blood and cultured in vitro on hydrophobic membranes. Such cells developed into mature tissue-type macrophages after approximately 1 week in culture. During this maturation period the macrophages developed a potent cytotoxic mechanism whereby they could kill the schistosomula of Schistosoma mansoni in standard in vitro cytotoxicity assays.

The promotion and inhibition of collagen-breakdown in organ cultures of pig synovium: the requirement for serum components and the involvement of cyclic adenosine 3':5'-monophosphate (cAMP).

In many pathological situations connective tissue cells acquire the ability to degrade the macromolecular components of their extracellular matrix. To study the destruction of collagen we used organ cultures of porcine synovial tissue. In the presence of 15% rabbit serum explants shrink considerably during 10-14 days, owing to early loss of interfibrillar material followed by retraction and local destruction of collagen fibres, partly by phagocytosis.

Ultrastructural observations on the interaction in vitro between bovine eosinophils and juvenile Fasciola hepatica.

This ultrastructural study has shown that there is a layer of dense flocculent material on the surface of juvenile Fasciola hepatica incubated in vitro with specific bovine antiserum. This material corresponds to the complexes of secreted glycocalyx and bovine antibody previously characterized by fluorescence microscopy. Bovine eosinophils attach closely to those regions of the parasite's surface that are free of flocculent precipitates.

The response of human monocytes to interaction with immobilized immune complexes.

The interaction between human peripheral blood monocytes and immobilized immune complexes has been monitored by morphological and biochemical criteria using an established model system previously used with human eosinophils. The model consists of an agar layer containing immune complexes. Monocytes flatten extensively on these layers and make very close contact with the agar surface; cells incubated on control layers, without antibody, are more loosely attached.