In our study, BMSC intracoronary transplantation in patients with anterior AMI did not result in increase in EF. Slight improvement of myocardial perfusion was noticed in the BMSC group. This finding may indicate better microcirculation enhanced by BMSCs, but small number of patients allow for hypothesis rather than final statement.

B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL) is the most common form of leukemia affecting adults in Europe and North America. Large B-cell lymphoma known as Richter’s syndrome (RS) may develop approximately in 3–15 % patients. Furthermore, other hematological malignancies may also occur as RS variants, among them—Hodgkin lymphoma (HL). CLL/SLL transformation into HL is observed in about 0.5 % of patients, and till now, fewer than 100 cases have been reported in the medical literature. We present two cases of HL transformation of CLL/SLL and review the previously published literature.

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Nitric oxide (NO) generation by systemic neonatal neutrophils is not clarified. It is also not known whether local anaesthetics (LAs) transferred to the fetal systemic circulation following maternal epidural blockade may affect this process. In the present study, NO generation was evaluated in neutrophils from cord blood (CB, n = 11) and adult blood (n = 10) following exposure to bupivacaine (0.0005, 0.005, 1 mM), lidocaine (0.002, 0.02, 4 mM) and ropivacaine (0.0007, 0.007, 1.4 mM) using flow cytometry, as well as indirectly by determining nitrite concentrations in cell incubation media. To determine the role of NO synthase (NOS) isoforms in NO generation following exposure to LAs, experiments were repeated in the presence of the NOS inhibitors, NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester and aminoguanidine; in addition, the expression of NOS isoforms was analysed. CB neutrophils produced less NO than adult neutrophils. LAs, especially ropivacaine and lidocaine, stimulated neutrophil NO generation, but in CB neutrophils this effect was negligible at clinically relevant drug concentrations. A mechanism involving NOS activity was responsible for the observed phenomena. In conclusion, LAs are able to upregulate neutrophil NO production, but in neonates this effect is likely to be clinically insignificant.

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