Interpretation of Art. 54 of the Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement

The paper discusses the problem of the ne bis in idem principle stipulated in the Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement (CISA) and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. Article 54 of the CISA makes the application of the principle ne bis in idem subject to the condition of execution of the penalty. An analogous condition is not provided for in the Charter. These differences caused doubts regardingthe application of the ne bis in idem principle and were subject of the question for preliminary ruling in the Spasic case (C-129/14 PPU). The paper contains a critical review of the reasoning of the Court of Justice of the European Union in this judgment. In addition, the article also contains an analysis of the CJEU’s decision in Case C-398/12 M. in which the CJEU has analysed the meaning of “final disposal” of the judgment in the context of the ne bis in idem principle. Based on the above judgments, the article presents arguments indicating that the reasoning of the CJEU on the conditions for the application of the ne bis in idem principle in judicial cooperation in criminal matters in the EU is not consistent

The Principle of Mutual Trust in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice. Analysis of Selected Case Law

The paper concerns the principle of mutual trust and its interpretation by the Court of Justice of the European Union as well as two other important European courts: the European Court of Human Rights and the German Constitutional Court. The paper presents the important change of direction in interpretation of the principle of mutual trust by the CJEU. Initially, the belief in the existence of mutual trust between member states was firm. Over time, however, it has turned out that even in the EU – which follows from a number of judgments of the ECtHR – violations of human rights sometimes happen. This dramatically undermines trust in foreign judicial systems. This led the CJEU to the conclusion that the principle of mutual trust is rebuttable and that in some circumstances limitations to the principles of mutual recognition and mutual trust can be made. This conclusion can be treated as an answer in the specific ‘judicial dialogue’ of the CJEU with the ECtHR and the German Constitutional Court – the two latter courts seemed to notice earlier that mutual trust between member states cannot be blind and unconditional

Pecam-1 expression in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis

PECAM-1 is an adhesion molecule - a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily - involved in the transendothelial migration of leukocytes. PECAM-1 is expressed on lymphocytes, monocytes and granulocytes. It is also found on endothelial cells and platelets. We present data showing that the cell-bound form of PECAM-1 expression on monocytes is increased in MS patients, compared to controls. We also show that PECAM-1 is significantly over-expressed on lymphocytes in patients with active MRI lesions, when compared to those without gadolinium-enhancing lesions. Our results suggest that the cell-bound form of PECAM-1 can be regarded as a marker of MS activity

Adhesion molecules of immunoglobulin gene superfamily in stroke

Stroke-induced inflammatory reaction leads to the accumulation of leukocytes in the brain ischaemic region, where they exert a detrimental effect - promotion and extension of cerebral damage. Intracerebral infiltration of peripheral blood leukocytes requires prior endothelial-leukocyte interactions that are mediated by such cell surface proteins as adhesion molecules. Among adhesion molecules, it is the immunoglobulin gene superfamily (IgSF) that is responsible for strong attachment and transendothelial migration of leukocytes. The principal members of IgSF are: intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) and platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (PECAM-1). In this review the following issues were described and discussed: an increased expression of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 in ischaemic brain as well as a detection of their soluble(s) forms in sera of stroke victims. The presented data suggest the involvement of both ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 in the sequence and timing of the infiltration of leukocytes into the brain ischaemic zone after stroke. They have also revealed changes in serum concentrations of sICAM-1 and sVCAM-1 that are characteristic for stroke. Recently, increase in sPECAM-1 levels in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) has been shown within 24 h of the onset of stroke, having indirectly suggested involvement of the molecule in the inflammatory events during the early phase of stroke

The levels of TNF-alpha in cerebrospinal fluid and serum do not correlate with the counts of the white blood cells in acute phase of ischaemic stroke

Stroke-induced inflammatory reaction, which leads to invasion of leukocytes into the evolving brain infarct, seems to play a key role in the deterioration of brain ischaemic impairment. We have studied CSF and serum levels of tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), the potent proinflammatory cytokine, and peripheral white blood cells (WBC) counts in patients within the first 24 hours of ischaemic stroke. TNF-alpha levels in CSF and serum as well as WBC counts were increased. There was no correlation between TNF-alpha levels either in CSF and serum or in WBC counts. The results of our study suggest that increased CSF TNF-alpha levels may represent acute intracerebral inflammation in stroke, whereas elevated levels of TNF-alpha in serum may reflect the peripheral proinflammatory state as well as stroke-induced systemic inflammatory reaction. Increased CSF and serum TNF-alpha levels do not correlate with the elevation of WBC counts, suggesting that TNF-alpha overexpression observed in early phase of stroke is not dependent on increased total number of peripheral leukocytes

Heterogeneous phenotypic manifestations of maternally inherited deafness associated with the mitochondrial A3243G mutation. Case report

The A3243G mutation is one of the most frequent mutations of mitochondrial DNA. The phenotypic expression of the A3243G mutation is variable and causes a wide range of syndromic and non-syndromic clinical disorders. Mitochondrial myopathy, encephalopathy, lactic acidosis and stroke-like episodes (MELAS) syndrome is the most frequent syndromic manifestation of the A3243G mutation. Stroke-like episodes seem to be the dominant feature of MELAS. We have investigated the case of a family with A3243G mutation, in which a dominant symptom in three generations was the maternally inherited hearing loss with absence of stroke-like episodes. Besides deafness, we found also other clinical features such as myopathy, neuropathy, migraine, ataxia, short stature, diabetes mellitus, and cardiomyopathy

The level of chemokine CXCL5 in the cerebrospinal fluid is increased during the first 24 hours of ischaemic stroke and correlates with the size of early brain damage

Inflammation is an important feature of the pathophysiological response to ischaemic stroke. The ischaemic brain-invading leukocytes, neutrophils in particular, contribute to the exacerbation of tissue injury in stroke. Chemokines are a growing family of proteins performing chemotactic activity on selective leukocyte subpopulations. Chemokines are broadly divided into two major subfamilies on the basis of the arrangement of the two N-terminal cysteine residues, CXC and CC, depending on whether the first two cysteine residues have an amino acid between them (CXC) or are adjacent (CC). CXC chemokines possessing, close to the N terminus, the amino acid sequence glutamic acid-leucine-arginine (ELR motif) specifically act on neutrophils. CXCL5 is one of the ELR-expressing CXC chemokines and is a potent neutrophil attractant and activator. The objective of the study was to detect CXCL5 levels in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and sera of stroke patients and to investigate the relation between these levels and the volume of brain computed tomography (CT) hypodense areas representing early ischaemic lesions. A total of 23 ischaemic stroke patients were studied. CSF and blood sampling and brain CT were performed within the first 24 hours of stroke. The control group consisted of 15 patients with tension headache. CXCL5 levels were determined by the ELISA method. CSF CXCL5 levels in stroke patients were significantly higher in comparison with the control group (38.2 &plusmn; 18.4 pg/ml vs. 18.7 &plusmn; 8.2 pg/ml; p < 0.001). No significant differences in serum CXCL5 levels were found between the stroke patients and the control group. CSF CXCL5 levels correlated positively with the volume of early brain CT hypodense areas (p < 0.0001). The results suggest that CXCL5 may play a role in the inflammatory reaction during the early phase of ischaemic stroke

Acute ischaemic stroke increases the erytrocyte sedimentation rate, which correlates with early brain damage

The acute phase response follows tissue injury and contributes to its exacerbation with pro-inflammatory and pro-thrombotic mechanisms. Acute phase proteins promote erythrocyte aggregation and falling, with the result that the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) is a measure of the acute phase response. As the acute phase response accompanies ischaemic brain damage, we studied ESR values in patients within the first 24 hours of ischaemic stroke and evaluated whether these values may be related to the volume of anatomically relevant single hemispheric brain computed tomography (CT) areas observed at the same period, indicating early stroke-related cerebral changes. We observed an increase in ESR in stroke patients and a positive correlation between the ESR values and the volume of early brain CT hypodense areas. The results suggest that elevation in ESR values is observed soon after a stroke and may reflect the relationship between the degree of acute phase response in the early phase of ischaemic stroke and the extent of local brain damage

Nummular headache in a patient with ipsilateral occipital neuralgia—A case report

Nummular headache (NH) is a rarely recognized primary headache, the diagnostic criteria of which are contained in the appendix to the 2nd edition of the International Classification of Headache Disorders (code A13.7.1). We present the case of a 61-year-old female who suffers, regardless of NH, from right-sided occipital neuralgia. The applied treatment – gabapentin and mianserin – had no effect. Injection of bupivacaine twice to the right occipital region resulted in neuralgia resolution up to three months, with no effect on NH. This confirms the independence of two abovementioned head pain conditions