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Rational polytherapy in the treatment of refractory epilepsy has been the main therapeutic modality for several years. In treatment with two or more antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), it is of particular importance that AEDs be selected based on their high anticonvulsant properties, minimal side effects, and impact on the formation of new neurons. The aim of the study was to conduct an in vivo evaluation of the relationship between treatments with synthetic cannabinoid arachidonyl-2′-chloroethylamide (ACEA) alone or in combination with valproic acid (VPA) and hippocampal neurogenesis in a mouse pilocarpine model of epilepsy. All studies were performed on adolescent male CB57/BL mice with using the following drugs: VPA (10 mg/kg), ACEA (10 mg/kg), phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride (PMSF—a substance protecting ACEA against degradation by fatty acid hydrolase, 30 mg/kg), pilocarpine (PILO, a single dose of 290 mg/kg) and methylscopolamine (30 min before PILO to stop peripheral cholinergic effects of pilocarpine, 1 mg/kg). We evaluated the process of neurogenesis after a 10-day treatment with ACEA and VPA, alone and in combination. We observed a decrease of neurogenesis in the PILO control group as compared to the healthy control mice. Furthermore, ACEA + PMSF alone and in combination with VPA significantly increased neurogenesis compared to the PILO control group. In contrast, VPA 10-day treatment had no impact on the level of neurons in comparison to the PILO control group. The combination of ACEA, PMSF and VPA considerably stimulated the process of creating new cells, particularly neurons, while chronic administration of VPA itself had no influence on neurogenesis in the mouse pilocarpine model of epilepsy. The obtained results enabled an in vivo evaluation of neurogenesis after treatment with antiepileptic drugs in an experimental model of epilepsy.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a ubiquitous γ-herpesvirus that infects more than 90% of the world population. The potential involvement of EBV in the clinical course of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) remains unexplained. The aim of this study was to determine whether EBV-DNA load in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of CLL patients may influence heterogeneity in the course of the disease. The study included peripheral blood samples from 115 previously untreated patients with CLL (54 women and 61 men) and 40 healthy controls (16 women and 24 men). We analyzed the association between the EBV-DNA load in PBMCs and the stage of the disease, adverse prognostic factors, and clinical outcome. Detectable numbers of EBV-DNA copies in PBMCs were found in 62 out of 115 CLL patients (53.91%). The EBV-DNA copy number/μg DNA was significantly higher in patients who required early implementation of treatment, presented with lymphocyte count doubling time <12 months, displayed CD38-positive or ZAP-70-positive phenotype, and with the del(11q22.3) cytogenetic abnormality. Furthermore, the EBV-DNA copy number/μg DNA showed significant positive correlation with the concentrations of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and beta-2-microglobulin. We have shown that in CLL patients, higher EBV-DNA copy number predicted shorter survival and shorter time to disease progression, and it was associated with other established unfavorable prognostic factors. This suggests that EBV may negatively affect the outcome of CLL.

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A total of 125 isolates were recovered from adenoids and/or nasopharynx of 170 children aged 2 to 5 from south-east Poland; they had undergone adenoidectomy for recurrent and/or persistent symptoms of upper respiratory tract infections. Pneumococcal isolates were analyzed by phenotyping (serotyping and antimicrobial resistance tests) and genotyping together with the clonality of the pneumococcal isolates based on resistance determinants, transposon distribution and multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Serotypes 19F, 6B and 23F constituted 44.8% of the isolates. Among all of the strains, 44.8% showed decreased susceptibility to penicillin and resistance to co-trimoxazole (52.8%), tetracycline (38.4%), erythromycin (53.6%), clindamycin (52.8%) and chloramphenicol (27.2%) was observed. Tn6002 was found in 34.8% of erythromycin-resistant isolates while composite Tn2010—in 16.7% of erm(B)-carrying isolates that harboured also mef(E) gene. Tn3872-related elements were detected in 27.3% of erythromycin-resistant strains. In the majority of chloramphenicol-resistant catpC194-carrying isolates (79.4%), ICESp23FST81-family elements were detected. The genotyping showed that pneumococcal population was very heterogeneous; 82 sequence types (STs) were identified, and the most frequent contributed to not more than 8% of the isolates. Nearly 44% STs were novel, each of them was recovered only from one child. Four STs belonged to one of the 43 worldwide spread resistant pneumococcal clones currently accepted by Pneumococcal Molecular Epidemiology Network (PMEN), i.e. Spain 9V-3, Spain 23F-1, Norway NT-42 and Poland 6B-20, accounting for 12 (16.7%) of the 75 nonususceptible isolates, and five STs were single-locus variants of PMEN resistant clones (England 14–9, Spain 9V-3, Spain 23F-1, Greece 21–30, Denmark 14–32), accounting 9 (12%) of nonsusceptible isolates. A few MDR clones belonging to 6B and 19F serotypes found among preschool children emphasizes rather the role of clonal dissemination of local strains in the community than international clones spreading in the increase of resistance among pneumococcal strains.