Virus encephalitis: pathogenesis in the immature brain

Neonatal polycystic encephalomalacia: four new cases and review of the literature

Four patients with pathologically documented polycystic cavitation of the brain had an acute illness characterised by stupor, seizures, CSF erythrocytic and monocytic pleocytosis, increased CSF protein, and diminished CSF glucose. The acute phase was followed by chronic decerebation, disappearance of the CSF abnormalities, and radiological evidence of polycystic cavitation of the brain. In one patient Herpes simplex was isolated from a cutaneous vesicle. The CSF abnormalities in the disorder have received scant attention, and have not previously been correlated with the acute and chronic stages. Clearly some cases are associated with Herpes simplex virus. The clinical profile should now be sufficiently distinctive to permit future identification of the aetiology in more neonates.

A search for the "multiple sclerosis virus"--lack of effect of brain extracts on myelin development in chickens, mice and rats

Attempts were made to transmit possible infectious agents from tissue of MS patients into three animal species, under conditions designed to enhance the development of such an agent. Myelination was monitored by measuring CNPase activity and myelin basic protein. Although no significant effects were observed, the usefulness of a new assay for CNPase was demonstrated. Nude mice were found to have a lower level of CNPase than their heterozygous littermates.