[This publication summarizes the scientific adventure with Professor Selye, and focuses on the specific effect of rare metal salts on reticuloendothelial functions. Rare earth metal ions markedly affect the functions of cells involved in inflammatory and immunological phenomena. The Kupffer cell blockade induced by GdCl3 is a generally accepted method for investigation of the physiological and pathophysiological roles of Kupffer cells. Potential beneficial effects of macrophage blockade have been demonstrated in different shock states, liver injury and obstructive jaundice.]

[Although Hans Selye is mostly known for his discovery & development of the stress concept, he also introduced the first physiologically sound, structure-activity classification of steroids that was also based on the chemical structure of steroids in 1943. He not only introduced the names of glucocorticoids & mineralocorticoids but discovered the anti- & pro-inflammatory properties, respectively, of these steroids in animal models. Furthermore, he not only described the first stress-induced gastric ulcers in rats (1936) & characterized the first human ‘stress ulcers’ during the air-raids in London during World War II (1943). Thus, Selye was a much more productive & creative scientist than it is generally considered.]

[The souvenirs of Hans Selye as a teacher of graduate and post graduate students are presented and discussed. The main aim of his teaching was to orient the student toward importance and originality of findings.]

[Background - The Movement Disorder Society-sponsored revision of the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS) has been published in 2008 as the successor of the original UPDRS. The MDS-UPDRS organizing team developed guidelines for the development of official non- English translations consisting of four steps: translation/back-translation, cognitive pretesting, large field testing, and clinimetric analysis. The aim of this paper was to introduce the new MDS-UPDRS and its validation process into Hungarian. Methods - Two independent groups of neurologists translated the text of the MDS-UPDRS into Hungarian and subsequently back-translated into English. After the review of the back-translated English version by the MDS-UPDRS translation administration team, cognitive pretesting was conducted with ten patients. Based on the results of the initial cognitive pretesting, another round was conducted. For the large field testing phase, the Hungarian official working draft version of MDS-UPDRS was tested with 357 patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) determined whether the factor structure for the English-language MDS-UPDRS could be confirmed in data collected using the Hungarian Official Draft Version. To become an official translation, the Comparative Fit Index (CFI) had to be ≥0.90 compared to the English-language version. Results - For all four parts of the Hungarian MDS-UPDRS, the CFI was ≥0.94. Conclusion - The overall factor structure of the Hungarian version was consistent with that of the English version based on the high CFIs for all the four parts of the MDSUPDRS in the CFA; therefore, this version was designated as the ‘OFFICIAL HUNGARIAN VERSION OF THE MDSUPDRS.’]

[Selye pioneered the stress concept that is ingrained in the vocabulary of daily life. This was originally build on experimental observations that divers noxious agents can trigger a similar triad of endocrine (adrenal enlargement), immune (involution of thymus) and gut (gastric erosion formation) responses as reported in a letter to Nature in 1936. Subsequently, he articulated the underlying mechanisms and hypothesized the existence of a “first mediator” in the hypothalamus able to orchestrate this bodily changes. However he took two generations to identify this mediator. The Nobel Laureate, Roger Guillemin, a former Selye’s PhD student, demonstrated in 1955 the existence of a hypothalamic factor that elicited adrenocorticotropic hormone release from the rat pituitary and named it corticotropin releasing factor (CRF). In 1981, Wylie Vale, a former Guillemin’s Ph Student, characterized CRF as 41 amino acid and cloned the CRF1 and CRF2 receptors. This paves the way to experimental studies establishing that the activation of the CRF signaling pathways in the brain plays a key role in mediating the stress-related endocrine, behavioral, autonomic and visceral responses. The unraveling of the biochemical coding of stress is rooted in Selye legacy continues to have increasing impact on the scientific community.]