Multiple sclerosis is a demyelinating disorder of the central nervous system characterized by lesions disseminated in time and space. The diagnostic criteria for laboratory-supported definite multiple sclerosis involves two episodes of symptoms, evidence of at least one white matter lesion on MRI and abnormal oligoclonal bands in cerebrospinal fluid. Patients usually present in their early twenties and on average have up to one flare up per year. While vaccines play an important role in the prevention of many diseases, they have often been purported as a potential trigger of multiple sclerosis and multiple sclerosis relapses. The medical literature provides reliable information concerning the risk of developing multiple sclerosis and multiple sclerosis relapses following administration of most vaccines, but not much is known about the novel Moderna SARS-CoV-2 PF vaccine.

We report the case of 24-year-old male who presented with right sided facial weakness, dizziness, and dysarthria two days after receiving his first dose of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. Imaging studies noted both acute and chronic central nervous system lesions. He met the diagnostic criteria for laboratory-supported definite multiple sclerosis. His acute flare was treated with intravenous corticosteroids and the patient was subsequently started on Ocrelizumab.

This case serves as an important example of the novel Moderna SARS-CoV-2 PF vaccine as a potential trigger of multiple sclerosis relapse; it reviews the literature for similar occurrences with the other COVID-19 vaccines and provides reliable guidance for COVID-19 vaccination for patients with multiple sclerosis.

Autoimmune encephalitis (AIE) presents with a broad spectrum of neurological and psychiatric symptoms and can cause persistent brain damage. However, the absence of pathognomonic findings in CT and MRI screening, and the fact that relevant antigens for laboratory detection of autoantibodies mostly are unknown, makes its diagnosis still a challenging task.

In the present report the latter problem is overcome by the immunocytochemical detection of autoantibodies using brain sections, which in fact present nearly all neuronal antigens. Furthermore, we used a highly optimized immunoperoxidase technique, which allowed morphological high-resolution analyses of the immunoproducts

The 82-old female patient presented with unsteady gait pattern, ataxia, myoclonus, apraxia, as well as an unclear language. She suffered from panic attacks, cognitive and mnestic deterioration as well as delusions. She was alert but disoriented. Despite of normal MRI and EEG results and normal CSF laboratory data we prospectively diagnosed autoimmune encephalitis. After five days high dose corticosteroid therapy all symptoms disappeared completely. The autoimmune pathogenesis subsequently was verified unequivocally, when the patient´s CSF strongly stained neuronal and glial cell bodies in brain sections.

This report should be taken as proof of principle that immunocytochemistry with CSFs of neurological patients provides the possibility to recognize a considerable number morphological details at high resolution. This will provide the possibility to form groups of patients showing similar distributions of immunoreactivities. Such groups may represent distinct nosological entities and finally may allow for elaborating selective treatments for patients with distinct types of autoimmune inflammation of the CNS.

Background: Systemic and neurological signs and symptoms of patients suffering from Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) or from the post-COVID syndrome (also called long-COVID) are remarkable similar, with the exclusion of impaired cardio-respiratory function related to the past viral infection. Pathogenic mechanisms common to these diseases include persistent immune and inflammatory processes inducing dysfunction of cellular/mitochondrial energy production and glucose metabolism.

Materials and Methods: In the present real-life systematic registration we have compared the effectiveness of two therapeutic approaches that aim at improving general well-being, fatigue in particular. Oral therapy using a specific nutraceutical complemented with sodium-dichloroacetate and Meldonium (referred to as “oral therapy”) was given to 84 consecutive patients, and compared to intravenous infusion therapy using high dose magnesium together with multivitamins and essential amino acid (“infusion therapy”) given to 21 patients. After one month of treatment the effect of treatment on fatigue was measured using the Fatigue Severity Score (FSS).

Results: In a preliminary analysis both treatment approaches showed similar effectiveness with two thirds of patients reporting a variable degree of improvement, and no difference of effectiveness between ME/CFS cases and the post-Covid patients.

Conclusion: Two thirds of patients suffering from ME/CFS or from the post-COVID syndrome experienced a variable degree of reduction of fatigue thanks to treatment with a specific food supplement (QALY®) and the metabolism stimulating substances Meldonium® and sodium-dichloroacetate, or with intravenous infusions containing vitamins, minerals and selected amino acids. These preliminary finding must be interpreted with caution, and controlled trials including a larger number of patients and longer follow-up are mandatory.

Anaplastic astrocytoma (AA) is a malignant, primary tumor of the central nervous system. AA often occurs due to transformation from lower-grade astrocytomas or less commonly arises as a de novo tumor. WHO classification of AA is characterized by increased cellularity, nuclear atypia, increased mitotic activity, presence of glial markers, and absence of neuronal markers. Astrocytomas are the most common intramedullary tumor within the spinal cord in pediatric patients, and have the second highest incidence in adult patients with intramedullary spinal cord tumors, behind ependymomas. However, primary tumors of the spinal cord are rare, accounting for 3-6% of tumors located in the central nervous system. In a patient with spinal cord AA, the median survival from surgery to death is 6 months to 1 year. We report a case of primary AA within the spinal cord along with a brief review of the literature.