Validation of the Omron M7 and Microlife 3BTO-A blood pressure measuring devices in preeclampsia.

Objective: Validation of two automatic blood pressure devices (Microlife 3BTO-A, Microlife, Taipei, Taiwan and Omron M7, OMRON, Kyoto, Japan) in preeclampsia.

Methods: Women (n = 34) admitted to the obstetric department of the Academic Medical Center and the Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gasthuis, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, because of preeclampsia were included. Intermittent auscultatory and oscillometric device measurements were performed to form three measurement pairs for each oscillometric device.

Microglia: gatekeepers of central nervous system immunology.

Microglia are perhaps the most underestimated cell type of our immune system. Not only were immunologists unaware of their capabilities until recently, but also, some neuroscientists denied their actual existence until the late 20th century. Nowadays, their presence is confirmed extensively, as demonstrated by numerous reports describing their involvement in virtually all neuropathologies.

Effects of the pig renal epithelial cell line LLC-PK1 and its conditioned medium on the phenotype of porcine microglia in vitro.

Microglia are dispersed throughout the central nervous system. Under physiological circumstances they display a 'ramified' resting phenotype. In different neuropathologies microglia reversibly transform into the activated form, an amoeboid phagocyte with a broad spectrum of immune effector functions.

Inhibition of microglia multinucleated giant cell formation and induction of differentiation by GM-CSF using a porcine in vitro model.

Multinucleated giant cell (MNGC) formation is an important histopathologic feature of AIDS dementia complex and tuberculous meningitis. We investigated the effect of several cytokines (GM-CSF, IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha, IL-3) and other stimuli (vaso-I, LPS, PMA) on MNGC formation in vitro by microglia from porcine neonatal brain. GM-CSF dose-dependently inhibited giant cell formation at physiological conditions (10 ng/ml) up till 4 days in culture.

Presence and release of the chromogranin B-derived secretolytin-like peptide KR-11 from the porcine spleen.

Chromogranin B (CgB) is a major matrix protein in secretory granules/large dense-cored vesicles and a precursor for smaller peptides. In an earlier study, we have identified a secretolytin-like peptide (KR-11, pCgB(637-647)) from porcine chromaffin granules. Further evidence is presented here to show the processing of chromogranin B to this peptide during axonal transport in the splenic nerve and its release in the spleen upon various conditions of stimulation.