Continuous blood pressure measurement using the pulse transit time: Comparison to intra-arterial measurement.

Continuous blood pressure (BP) measurement allows the investigation of transient changes in BP and thus may give insights into mechanisms of BP control. We validated a continuous, non-invasive BP measurement based on the pulse transit time (PTT), i.e., BP(PTT), by comparing it with the intra-arterial BP (BP(i.a.)) measurement. Twelve subjects (five females and seven males) were included. BP(i.a.) was obtained from the radial artery using a system from ReCor Medical. Systolic and diastolic BP were calculated using the PTT (BP(PTT), SOMNOscreen). (PTT) was determined from the electrocardiogram and the peripheral pulse wave. The BP was modulated by application of increasing doses of dobutamine (5, 10, 20 µg/kg body mass). Systolic BP(PTT) and systolic BP(i.a.) correlated significantly (R = 0.94). The limits of agreement in the Bland-Altman plot were ± 19 mmHg; the mean values differed by 1 mmHg. The correlation coefficient for the diastolic BP measurements was R = 0.42. The limits of agreement in the Bland-Altman plot were ± 18 mmHg, with a mean difference of 5 mmHg in favour of the BP(PTT). The study demonstrates a significant correlation between the measurement methods for systolic BP. The results encourage the application of PTT-based BP measurement for the evaluation of BP dynamics and pathological BP changes.

Poly-guanosine strings improve cellular uptake and stimulatory activity of phosphodiester CpG oligonucleotides in human leukocytes.

CpG-oligonucleotides (CpG-ODN) have been shown to exert strong immuno-stimulatory effects through activation of Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR-9). However, TLR-9 triggering takes place in endosomal compartments and thus CpG-ODN have to be taken up prior to signal transduction. We here report that 3'-poly-guanosine strings can improve cellular internalisation of phosphodiester but not of phosphorothioate CpG-ODN. Improved cellular uptake correlated with enhanced IL-6 secretion and proliferation of PBMC. Also, TLR-9 transfected HEK293 cells were activated more efficiently by poly-guanosine modified CpG-ODN. The results indicate that the synthesis of stimulatory CpG-ODN based on a phosphodiester backbone is feasible via such poly-guanosine substitutions. In addition we observed that phosphorothioate ODN were able to exert immunostimulatory effects independent of the presence of CpG motifs.