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Central nervous system tuberculosis remains a clinical diagnostic challenge. The ex vivo Mycobacterium tuberculosisspecific enzyme-linked immunospot assay (ELISPOT) is a novel assay for the rapid detection of M. tuberculosis-specific T-lymphocytes in the peripheral blood. However, when performed on peripheral blood, this assay cannot distinguish between active tuberculosis or latent tuberculosis infection. On the assumption that M. tuberculosis-specific T-lymphocytes migrate to sites of infection, we were able to demonstrate high levels of M. tuberculosis-specific cells by ELISPOT in the cerebrospinal fluid of a patient with tuberculous meningitis and intracerebral tuberculoma four weeks before cerebrospinal fluid culture became positive for M. tuberculosis by culture.

INTRODUCTION Under the European Union (EU) Tobacco Products Directive (2014/40/EU) (TPD), manufacturers and importers of tobacco products are required to report information to the European Commission (EC) and Member States (MS) on products intended to be placed on the market. We describe the distribution of notifications to the EU Common Entry Gate (EU-CEG) and identify key fields for improvement on reporting cigarettes or roll-your-own (RYO) tobacco. METHODS A cross-sectional analysis of secondary data reported in the EU-CEG was conducted for tobacco products notified within EU-CEG between June 2016 and October 2019 for 12 EU MS. Analysis of compliance to specific regulations for priority additives that refer to cigarettes and RYO was conducted for 10 EU countries. RESULTS Overall, 39170 tobacco products were notified. This included 16762 (42.8%) notifications of cigars, followed by cigarettes 11242 (28.7 %), waterpipes 3291 (8.4%), cigarillos (n=1783), pipe (n=1715), RYO (n=1635), chewing tobacco (n=1021), novel tobacco products (n=839), herbal products for smoking (n=535), other (n=258), nasal (n=74) and oral tobacco (n=15). In cigarettes and RYO tobacco products, the proportion of ingredients notified in all countries that contained an unknown Chemical Abstract Services (CAS) number was 3.8% and 2.1%, respectively. The proportion of underreporting flagging of priority additives ranged from 15.9% in Malta to 41.3% in Lithuania, the mean proportion of underreporting of the variable 'priority additive' for the 10 countries together was 24.7%. CONCLUSIONS In the EU-CEG data base, for the period of analysis, a significant number of product notifications took place while large variations in the number of types of tobacco products notified across EU countries was noted. The timely monitoring of these data is needed so that products non-compliant within the EU-CEG system are assessed.

Hydrogen peroxide bleached spruce ( Picea abies L.) made of thermo mechanical pulp (BTMP) fi bres were modifi ed with layered double hydroxides (LDH). The LDH particles were precipitated onto the BTMP fi bre surfaces from aqueous solutions of urea and NaOH. The modifi ed BTMP was further functionalised with sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) surfactant to produce pulp with hydrophobic character. The contact angle measurement with water on paper showed that the functionalisation with SDS was successful. The apparent contact angles varied in between the initial θ = 75 ° of the reference pulp up to θ = 135 ° of the SDS functionalised pulp. A hydrophobic surface was obtained already with 2.0 % weight to weight ratio of SDS in pulp suspension. A high affi nity between the LDH particles and the BTMP fi bres was found as well. The investigated fi bre modifi cation route offers a new feasible tool in fi bre surface treatment.