Blood pressure hyperreactivity: an early cardiovascular risk in normotensive men exposed to low-to-moderate inorganic arsenic in drinking water.

Background: Essential hypertension is associated with chronic exposure to high levels of inorganic arsenic in drinking water. However, early signs of risk for developing hypertension remain unclear in people exposed to chronic low-to-moderate inorganic arsenic.

Objective: We evaluated cardiovascular stress reactivity and recovery in healthy, normotensive, middle-aged men living in an arsenic-endemic region of Romania.

Length-scale mediated adhesion and directed growth of neural cells by surface-patterned poly(ethylene glycol) hydrogels.

We engineered surfaces that permit the adhesion and directed growth of neuronal cell processes but that prevent the adhesion of astrocytes. This effect was achieved based on the spatial distribution of sub-micron-sized cell-repulsive poly(ethylene glycol) [PEG] hydrogels patterned on an otherwise cell-adhesive substrate. Patterns were identified that promoted cellular responses ranging from complete non-attachment, selective attachment, and directed growth at both cellular and subcellular length scales.