Heightened resting neural activity predicts exaggerated stressor-evoked blood pressure reactivity.

Individuals who express relatively large-magnitude or "exaggerated" blood pressure (BP) reactions to behavioral stressors are presumably at increased risk for cardiovascular disease. As shown by recent neuroimaging studies, individuals who express exaggerated stressor-evoked BP reactivity also express heightened neural activity in corticolimbic brain areas that centrally regulate the cardiovascular system. These studies, however, have exclusively examined BP reactivity and concomitant neural activity during stressor exposure.

Increased circulating interleukin (IL)-23 in children with malarial anemia: in vivo and in vitro relationship with co-regulatory cytokines IL-12 and IL-10.

Severe malarial anemia (SMA) is a leading cause of mortality among children in sub-Saharan Africa. Although the novel cytokine, interleukin (IL)-23, promotes anemia in chronic inflammatory diseases, the role of IL-23 in SMA remains undefined. Since IL-23 and IL-12 share the IL-12p40 subunit and IL-12Rbeta1 receptor, and are down-regulated by IL-10, relationships among these cytokines were explored in Kenyan children with varying severities of malarial anemia.