Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring

Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) in adults is proving to be useful. The aim of this study was to determine if ABPM is accurate in the lower blood pressure range encountered in children and, equally important, whether it is acceptable to children. Thirty one children, between the ages of 6 and 18 years, were assessed using an ambulatory blood pressure monitor that uses an auscultatory method. Blood pressure was measured in the contralateral arm with a mercury sphygmomanometer and an oscillometric device at the beginning and end of the study for comparison. Over a blood pressure range of 90-130 mm Hg systolic and 40-80 mm Hg diastolic, a close agreement was found with the sphygmomanometer; the limits of agreement (+/- 2 SD) were 11.6 mm Hg for systolic blood pressure and 13.6 mm Hg for diastolic blood pressure. The bias was less than 1.0 mm Hg. The ambulatory device was worn by all patients for at least 16 hours with an average of 52 recordings per patient. The majority found the device comfortable to wear and were not woken from sleep.     

Immune-reactive cells in multiple sclerosis mucosal secretions

External secretions from multiple sclerosis (MS) patients show immunoglobulin abnormalities consistent with mucosal inflammation. In this study we collected tears and parotid saliva from ten normal subjects and ten MS patients to examine for free-floating inflammatory cells. We found lymphocytes, macrophages, and plasma cells at low numbers in normal secretions, but at much higher numbers in MS secretions. Using an immunobead rosette technique, most of the lymphocytes were null cells. However, we found increased T lymphocytes in the secretions of clinically active MS patients. The extensive mucosal surfaces of the MS patient could provide a peripheral source for activated lymphocytes that subsequently enter brain.     

Effect of local or systemic treatment prior to primary tumor removal on the production and response to a serum growth-stimulating factor in mice

This report indicates that not only does the preoperative administration of cyclophosphamide or radiation prevent the kinetic changes observed in a distant tumor focus following tumor removal but that the preoperative administration of the antiestrogen tamoxifen and the luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone analogue Zoladex are equally effective in that regard. It also provides evidence indicating that serum obtained from mice treated with those therapies when transferred to a recipient bearing a tumor of a similar type to that in the donor fails to stimulate DNA synthesis in the tumor of the recipient. In contrast, an increase in labeling index occurs following transfer of serum obtained following tumor removal from untreated mice. Moreover, when tumor-bearing mice were treated by each of the four modalities prior to receiving serum obtained from untreated donors following removal of a tumor, no kinetic changes were observed in the tumor of the serum recipient.     

The effects of alkyl-lysophospholipids on leukemic cell lines. I. Differential action on two human leukemic cell lines, HL60 and K562

The action of an alkyl-lysophospholipid (ALP), ET180CH3, on clonogenicity, 3H-TdR uptake, and cell numbers was tested in two human leukemic cell lines, HL60 and K562, and short-term human leukemic bone marrow cultures. ALP eliminated clonogenicity in HL60 but not in K562 cultures; 3H-TdR uptake and cell numbers were depressed at low concentrations of ET180CH3 in HL60, but not K562 cultures. The action of the lysophospholipid analog on human leukemic bone marrow short-term cultures at low concentrations was similar to its action on HL60 cultures; clonogenicity and 3H-TdR uptake were depressed, but cell numbers were not significantly affected. The demonstration of differential action of ALP on two cell lines should significantly simplify the investigation of the mechanism of the reported differential action of ET180CH3 on normal and leukemic cell membranes.